Kryptonite - What is yours?

For those who have read and / or watched Superman, Kryptonite is not a strange word. For those who haven't, here is a little story.

Kal-El was born on a planet called Krypton millions of light years away from Earth. Due to unstable conditions, the planet exploded and all the inhabitants perished. The explosion threw the radioactive shards of Kryptonite everywhere. However, just before the planet was destroyed, baby Kal-El was transported to Earth by his parents to save him, thus making him the sole survivor. It's another matter that as the story progresses many other survivors keep cropping up now and then. Kal-El comes to be known as Superman later on in life as he discovers his super powers and starts using them for the good of the world.

Are you with me so far? Good! This is how he looks like. All very super!

Christopher Reeve. THE Superman. Always. 
Source : Google Images

Now, Superman's powers were boosted by his Kryptonian body cells' ability to process the energy from our yellow Sun. Kryptonite (yes, the Green coloured one) being radioactive & from his planet, has this property of interfering with this ability, thus draining him of his powers, rendering him weak; especially if he cannot be in sunlight. The villains exploited this property of Krptonite, against Superman, to carry out their evil deeds. So, Kryptonite has become one of the accepted terms to describe something specific to a person, which renders him/her weak or helpless; Synonymous with Achilles' heel.

Source : Google Images

Interesting, isn't it, how this word also came to mean what it means today?

The other day someone said to me, "Everyone has their kryptonite" and I really liked the usage, because.... hey, it's associated with my all time favourite Superhero and the usage sounds very hip. So, I wanted to know more about it. Also, as it was ages since I had watched Superman (played by THE Christopher Reeve), I had to refresh my memory about the story, planet Krypton, Kryptonite, the works. So, that warranted a bit of digging up to do and that's how this little story comes to you.

Now, you are equipped with the origin of "Kryptonite" & it's usage. All you need to do now is to go into the world and use it!

Make sure others don't use your 'Kryptonite' against you! Stay safe.



Note:
* Miss you lots Christopher Reeve! Guess you are zipping around in your costume somewhere in the Universe saving some world from evil doers and destruction. *

This is for A-Z Challenge 2014


Here are some of my fellow challengers:

Anuradha

Arpita

Ghata

Kajal

Shrikant

Rinzu