Warning! Spoilers for Titans United #2 ahead!
DC Comics' latest Teen Titans series reveals a serious flaw with Superboy's X-ray vision. Conner Kent, the second iteration of Superboy, is a large part of Superman's history spanning 83 years. From his debut in 1993's The Adventure's of Superman #500 to his most recent appearances on the Suicide Squad, Conner has proven himself as both a hero, and as member of the Superman family. While he has all the same abilities as the Man of Steel, the most recent issue of Titans United shows a fatal flaw with one of his most useful powers.
Originally depicted as a genetically-engineered metahuman clone made by Project Cadmus as a duplicate of Superman, he was later retconned in Teen Titans #1, as a Kryptonian/human hybrid made from the DNA of Superman and Lex Luthor. He's been a main member of both the Teen Titans and Young Justice, and has made a number of appearances in various media, including a main role on HBO Max's Titans. He was eventually taken in by Superman's parents, officially taking the name Kent, and going on to sacrifice himself in Infinite Crisis. Since then, Conner has gone through many revamps as the Multiverse has been changed and re-written through the New 52, DC Rebirth and Infinite Frontier eras.
The new miniseries Titans United by writer Cavan Scott, penciller Jose Luis, inker Jonas Trindade, colorist Rex Lokus and letter Carlos M. Mangual has Conner facing a problem he's never dealt with before when he begins losing his powers. But in issue #2, it's shown that even when his abilities are at full capacity, he's not much help. When the Titans are investigating a scientist connected to giving people the powers of the team, he's suddenly assassinated by Lady Vic. While the scientist can't be saved, Superboy immediately tries to catch the killer, using his X-ray vision to spot her through a wall. However, the panel depicting this shows that Conner sees her skeleton and muscles, not her actual face. Because of this he's no use in identifying her, making his X-ray vision little to no advantage to him. They eventually determine the killer as Lady Vic in another way, but with this and his established recklessness in this issue, Superboy is practically meaningless as a member on this team.
When he debuted his powers started as something known as tactile telekinesis, or in other words, a telekinetic force field that surrounded his body and gave him skills that replicated some of Superman's superpowers like strength, flight, and invulnerability. Eventually, he started to develop the typical Kryptonian powers such as heat vision, X-ray vision, and super hearing. Although Superman and Superboy's powers make them seem like unstoppable forces who can do anything, this new series proves that's just not the case. Assuming that they work the same, this means Superman has the same limitations with his X-ray vision. Perhaps that is why the ability has been phased out and isn't used much by the Man of Steel in modern comics anymore.
With the Super-family's laundry list of overpowered abilities, it's easy to assume they can do anything and everything. With his powers fading and his shortcomings causing problems, it seems Conner is starting to feel the effects of these limitations on his mental health. Issue #2 ends with Superboy leaving the Titans and Earth, but hopefully when he returns he'll be able to help the team in a more memorable way.