Can a humanoid being with superior sensory powers and intelligence come from an extra-solar planet and live on Earth, passing himself off as a human being? I would say definitely not. Quite apart from the problems of crossing an interstellar distance and entering the Solar System undetected, evolution on another planet is not going to produce anything that looks remotely like us. Yet this proposition is the premise not only of Superman but also Poul Anderson's "Earthman, Beware!"
In Anderson's "Starfog," Daven Laure is satisfied that the Kirkasanters are human - or, at least, are of human descent - because of their detailed physical resemblance except, of course, for expectable racial differences. Joel Weatherfield does not resemble us in every detail but is close enough to carry off the deception. We just have to accept this as the kind of sf that was written in the 1950's. I don't think that Weatherfield arrived in a spaceship but will have to reread to check.
(Retold stories are updated. In 1938, Superman arrived, as a baby, in a small spacecraft. In the twenty-first century, such a craft would have been detected approaching Earth - except that it arrived as one small part of a massive meteor shower!)
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