DCU is no stranger to many things. Just like villains, superheroes, superpets, supercreatures there are some elements too that can tilt the very balance of the multiverse. Metals and elements play big roles within the DCU.

Let us look at some strange metals in the DCU’s periodic table.

Nth Metal or Ninth Metal (Flash Comics #1, 1940): It has gravity-affecting, anti-magic and other significant properties. It is used famously by Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Even the Legion of Super-Heroes’ flight rings use Valorium, an Nth Metal alloy.

Kryptonite (Adventures of Superman, “The Meteor from Krypton,” 1940): A piece of Superman’s homeworld, Krypton. It has many variants and can affect Superman or other Kryptonians in different ways. Variants include:

• Green Kryptonite (Action Comics #61, 1943 and Adventure Comics #55, 1940, radio show): Weakens a Kryptonian and can even kill them on prolonged exposure
• Red Kryptonite (Superman #10, 1940): Can have unpredictable effects on a Kryptonian, usually for 48 hours, and makes them powerless mostly
• Blue Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134, 1970): Has the same effect as the Green ones have on a Kryptonian on Bizarro clones. And sometimes can boost Bizarros’ intelligence
• Black Kryptonite (Superman #123, 1958): Can split a Kryptonian and drive the darker version into a murdering frenzy
• White Kryptonite (Action Comics #140, 1948): It can kill the plant life
• Silver Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #163, 1973): Not much is known that it appears harmless and can make kryptonite highly unstable and do funny things like Superman craved for brownies and cereals, once.
• Gold Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #76, 1964): Renders a Kryptonian powerless forever
• Platinum Kryptonite (Action Comics #288, 1961): It can grant Kryptonian abilities to a non-Kryptonian, permanently
• Jewel Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #137, 1970): It allows a Kryptonian to focus their thoughts on telepathic abilities

• Meta-Nite (Superman: Earth One, 2010): Very much similar to the Green Kryptonite on Earth-23
• X-Kryptonite (Action Comics #261, 1959): This is similar to Platinum Kryptonite and is responsible for turning Streaky into a Super Cat
• Anti-Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #139, 1970): Deadly to a Kryptonian who’re unexposed to yellow solar energy
• Pink Kryptonite (Superman #129, 1958): Superman when exposed to pink kryptonite becomes gay.
• Orange Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #163, 1973): It gives powers to normal beings
• Slow Kryptonite (Superman #300, 1976): It is created by Metallo to affect humans. It releases ‘slow’ rays which are synced with the slow human body. It works like a green kryptonite on humans, but its effect on a Kryptonian is unknown so far
• Magno-Kryptonite (Superman: The Man of Steel #22, 1991): It was artificially created by Nero and it pulls in anything native to Krypton, which even Superman nor Bizarro can resist
• Bizarro Red Kryptonite (Superman #143, 1960): It is the “Red Kryptonite” to normal humans
• Krimson Kryptonite (Superman #144, 1960): A magical brainchild of Mr. Mxyzpltx. It can make Superman as powerless as the guy next door
• Purple Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #103, 1967): This one has a hypnotic effect on anyone nearby, allowing it to control their minds
• Purple Spotted Kryptonite (Krypto the Superdog, 1962): It appears in the show, Krypto the Superdog, and it has a strange fictional effect. It made Krypto chase his own tail
• Red/Green Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #110, 1967): A combination of red and green kryptonites. When exposed to it, Superman gets a third eye
• Opal Kryptonite (Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton, 2008): It is a synthesized variant created by Terrence Sloan on Earth 2. It can drive a Kryptonian insane temporarily. It can work its effect only for a short time and will turn to ordinary stone after that
• Yellow Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #163, 1973): A harmless yellow sphere, which was not a kryptonite. But the real yellow Kryptonite’s effect is not fully unknown. In DC Super Hero Girls, it is able to instill fear

• Synthetic Yellow Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #163,1973): It has some kind of temporal effect and can send the person used at back in time
• Artificial Synthetic Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #163, 1973): An artificial kryptonite. When exposed to it Superman turns into a sinister version
• Kryptonite Plus/Ultra Kryptonite (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #163, 1973): It’s a batch of 30 or so multi-colored stones, left behind by aliens who labeled it as Kryptonite Plus or Ultra-Kryptonite. But they were actually Tikron stones
• Blood Krytonite (Young Justice #11, 2011): It is just a painted rock, but during the ritual to resurrect Conner in a Kryptonian resurrection ceremony, the rock gets a strange effect and directs the life force of those present into the body intended to be brought back to life. It seems to drain the life of anyone near it and channel to the intended body
• Bizarro White Kryptonite (Action Comics #263, 1959): Cures Bizarro’s instability issue
• Magic K (Superman/Batman: The Search for Kryptonite, 2008): A silverish variant of Kryptonite makes Superman see everyone in a younger (kid) version and behave like a kid. It has magical properties. The one they find is a piece from Oblivion Bar which must be merged with a similar piece from Dinosaur Island for Superman to recover.
• Periwinkle Kryptonite (Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton, 2008): Created by Brainiac. Turned Superman and his costume Periwinkle and made him a charmer. Can make Kryptonians feel giddy. It could turn Bizarro fit with rage
• Amber Kryptonite (Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton, 2008): This Kryptonite variant helps to transfer the world’s Kryptonian’s abilities to the user before killing them. A Lois Lane variation of the Last 52 Multiverse used it on her world’s Superman
• Krypton Steel (Superman #12, 1940): It is a harmless form of Kryptonite that only Superman could break as per Lex Luthor. It is a refined metal with properties similar to iron alloy steel
• Kryponite-X/Kryptisium (Superman #171, 1964): It can restore Superman’s powers. By clinging to Superman, it accelerates his solar energy absorption rate and makes his power go berserk
• Fake Kryptonite (Superman 1940s): Fake as they can be. But they use humorous references like: Buy one, and have nothing to fear, even Superboy will run away from you!
• Fool’s Kryptonite (Superman 1940s): Looks like a green kryptonite, but is harmless to Kryptonian. It is harmful to humans and affects like a green kryptonite to a Kryptonian
  
• Some are hoax kryptonites like Silver Kryptonite, Blood Kryptonite, Kryptonite Plus, Purple Spotted Kryptonite, Fake Kryptonite, and Fool’s Kryptonite.

Eighth Metal (Dark Days: The Casting #1, 2017): This is a divine metal used to form the weapons and armory of the gods.

Element X or Tenth Metal (The New Gods #7, 1972): It is actually from the Forge. It is the purest form of creation, and powerful enough to resist anything from the Dark Multiverse. The technology of Fourth World is made, including the Mother Box from this. It is capable of creating and destroying matter as per its wielder’s desire and can show the near future. It can be used to rewrite the reality.

Electrum (Batman #2, 2011): A metal used to reanimate the Talons in the Court of Owls.

Dionesium (Batman #40, 2015): A liquid metal that gives the Lazarus Pits their potency.

Batmanium (Batman #45, 2015): An extremely dense metal that can be a liquid or a solid at room temperature.

Promethium (The New Teen Titans #9, 1981): An alloy used in Cyborg’s body and Deathstroke’s equipment.

Dionesium, Batmanium, Electrum, Nth Metal, and Promethium can open a portal to the Dark Multiverse if the same person has been in contact with all five.

These are some of the rare comic elements. And there are more. And to be honest, some even we’re coming to know for the first time. But DCU being vast, one thing we know is that there’s always something more waiting to be discovered.

P.S.: The new Metamorpho series by Al Ewing and Steve Lieber has hit the stores and we think it’s time you knew some elements in DCU roughly, at least, for now.

Metamorpho-the element man, Rex Mason had the power to transmute himself into any form of any element in the human body—earlier it was oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, but now, he has the ability to transmute himself into any element in the vast DCU.

^{Pic Credits: DC}