There are few quotes that are more synonymous with a single superhero than the one describing Superman that includes the phrase "faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!" It turns out the description is more than accurate as Superman once outraced a bullet to save Lois Lane's life.

The popular Superman descriptor/introduction first appeared in the WOR-AM Adventures of Superman radio series that aired between 1940 to 1951. When Fleisher Studios adapted Superman into an animated series in 1941 they adopted the phrase, which was then popularized further in the iconic Adventures of Superman television series starring George Reeves. The phrase has continued to appear in modern Superman adaptations in both the page, small screen, and big screen. In one early Superman comic, the Man of Tomorrow proved that he's definitely faster than a speeding bullet.

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In Superman #3 (1939) by Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Clark Kent finds himself getting promoted at the Daily Planet as Lois Lane is demoted in his place. Clark uses the chance to try to ask Lois for dinner (read the room, dude) and is coldly rejected. As Lois is demoted into writing the lovelorn column, a woman comes to her aid looking for advice. She explains that her husband has fallen into a gang and beats her. Lois sees the story as a chance to get her job back and asks Clark to dinner in order to get closer to the gangster. Lois tricks the gangster into dancing with her and later discovers a note saying a shipment is coming that evening. Lois's investigation is eventually busted and Clark is thrown into the water (allowing him to change into tights). While the gangster later tries to kill Lois, Superman outruns a bullet as it's about to hit Lois and deflects it out of the way.

Superman outraces Bullet

In the blink of an eye, he speeds past the bullet and saves Lois's life. He subsequently beats up the gangsters and ignores Lois's advances. Later, Lois is shocked to see Clark not only wrote a story on the smugglers but that he survived the ordeal at all. Thankfully for Lois, Superman is very much faster than a speeding bullet. Otherwise, her storied history in the comics would be over almost as soon as they began.

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Source: Reddit