The shocking effect Pink Kryptonite has on Superman and how DC fixed it

Superman has faced a lot of variations of Kryptonite in DC Comics, but the one-off appearance of Pink Kryptonite has become one of the more memorable ones for all the wrong reasons.

Green Kryptonite has an interesting history in Superman stories. While it is a seemingly essential building block of any Superman narrative, it wasn’t actually introduced until he had been around for years. Even then, it was only created to write out Superman so the actor voicing him for a radio show could take a vacation. 

But with that came more color variations of Kryptonite than you can count. Red Kryptonite has a random effect. Gold Kryptonite permanently removes a Kryptonian’s powers. Blue Kryptonite is like Red Kryptonite, but for Bizarros. The list goes on and on. 

That’s when the weird stuff starts showing up. Silver Kryptonite? Superman acts like he’s high. X-Kryptonite? Supergirl’s cat gets superpowers from it. And then, in the mid-00s, DC introduced the wildest one yet: the incredibly offensive Pink Kryptonite. 

How does Pink Kryptonite affect Superman? 

Pink Kryptonite makes one appearance in a comic, and in that appearance, it seemingly makes Superman gay. 

The story is 2006’s Supergirl #79, the final story of that run. In it, then-current supergirl Linda Danvers goes back in time to Earth-One and takes the place of the pre-Crisis Supergirl Kara Zor-El, hoping to prevent her death. Linda lives an entire life with the Earth-One Superman but ultimately has to go back to let Kara face her destiny. 

During the story, Linda has a number of traditionally wacky Silver Age adventures. In one such fairly offensive instance, Superman is exposed to Pink Kryptonite. The more innocent Silver Age characters don’t pick up what’s happening as Superman compliments Jimmy Olsen’s bowtie and discusses window treatments, but Linda seems aware of the stereotype. 

How DC fixed Pink Kryptonite

Obviously, Pink Kryptonite was a bit controversial, so it seemed like DC was going to be content to let that one gather dust in the past. However, it did make one appearance in a more modern story where it was reworked to be less offensive.

The web series Justice League Action featured a short episode called True Colors, in which Superman is losing a fight to Metallo, whose armor is powered by Green Kryptonite. Fellow League member Firestorm attempts to transmute the Kryptonite so it’s not harmful, but he keeps messing up the formula and making things worse. 

In one instance, though, Firestorm turns it into Pink Kryptonite. Here, Pink Kryptonite turns Superman into Superwoman, which allows the Woman of Steel to at least hold her own until Firestorm can turn the Kryptonite into lead. The episode marks the final appearance of Pink Kryptonite as of this writing. 

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