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Topic: Marvel Strength Chart (???) (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Paulo Pereira
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 10:41am | IP Logged | 1  


 QUOTE:
Don't think the character scale is meant to be taken literally looking at how Spider-Man is portrayed.

Isn't he standing in the foreground, though?

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Robert White
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 10:45am | IP Logged | 2  

Yeah, the good old Marvel RPG.

She-Hulk and Colossus were both elevated fairly quickly during the 80's. If memory serves, the first OHOTMU listed both at the 50 ton level, (tells me Gruenwald had a change of hard after this chart was made) then the Deluxe Edition in '85 move them up to around the Thing/Namor level. I've always considered them just a tad below the Thing and Namor ever since.

It's glad to see that I'm not alone in my disturbing obsession with super-hero physical strength rankings.
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Robert White
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 10:50am | IP Logged | 3  

The scale is odd. The super-heavyweights seem to be drawn to scale, then after that it's hit or miss. Sasquatch is portrayed as being shorter than the Hulk when it was stated from day one that he's 10ft tall, She-Hulk is shorter than Luke Cage when she was often portrayed as being as tall as the Hulk in the early 80's, etc. Maybe Layton was simply trying to cram the characters in and for some reason ignored scale? We may never know...
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Paulo Pereira
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 10:53am | IP Logged | 4  


 QUOTE:
Maybe Layton was simply trying to cram the characters in and for some reason ignored scale? We may never know...

Looks that way plus it looks as if allowance was made for the word balloons, but I can't see that as an excuse.  The thing could have been laid out better.

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Ed Love
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 10:53am | IP Logged | 5  

Re: Captain Triumph. Think you got it pretty much right Chad. Like many
of the characters of the time, he had pretty much generic super-strength.
I don't know if he was actually in the 1939 Superman class or not but I
wouldn't sweat the details. Putting him around the GA Robotman level
would strike me as about right. Exceptionally tough, but not so much that
his stories have no conflict.
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Kevin Hagerman
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 11:04am | IP Logged | 6  

Allow me to point out that Layton did not do the layouts, absolving him at least partially for scale, and totally for rankings.
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Ron Chevrier
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | 7  

In the DCU the Spectre is at the top of the heap, probably in a strength class all by himself. I would almost hesitate to include him since he is more of a metaphysical creature, except that he has often held Earths 1 and 2 apart and has been shown trowing pieces of stars around at foes of a mystic nature. The Anti Monitor might be his closest rival at the height of his power during Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Also, I believe the current version of Cliff Steele, as depicted by Mr. Byrne, has strength said to approach the Man of Steel's according to Niles Caulder.

I would also place Iron and Lead of the Metal Men, and the Red Tornado's android body in the heavyweights section (his tornado form pretty much defies classification, as he has been shown to impersonate the entire JLA, in an early story.)

Ultra Boy and the other Marvels I would place somewhere between the heavyweights and super heavyweights.
 I would move Power Girl, Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter up to the super heavyweights.

Hawkman is at least in the middleweight category.
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Chad Carter
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 2:48pm | IP Logged | 8  

 

I'm probably showing a kind of sexism, but I can't put WW, Supergirl, and Power Girl in Superman's strength class. I base some of that on stories, like "For the Man Who Has Everything" in which Mongul crushed Wonder Woman and was about exactly equal with Superman. I mean, there it is, retcons be damned.

Captain Atom...I thought he was pretty doggone powerful strong. I must be basing this off of "Justice League Unlimited", where he goes up against Superman at one point.

I've always thought Mon-El is the future Superman, so he has to be top three at least. I included Earth 2 Superman because, well, he's still Superman. Or was. Or is the Kingdom Come Superman. Or whatever.

I can't see Robotman or Martian Manhunter as strong as Superman. Maybe JB's Superman or the Golden Age version, but not the Superman I think of.

Does the Nth Metal give Hawkman a strength boost or affect things he's lifting? I don't recall.

Also, Metamorpho  ...how to class his strength? He's no normal, but I don't necessarily think of him as super-strong. He seems to be able to control mass and density though, to a degree. He must gain power from changing his mass to cobalt and being able to throw a cobalt fist and so on.

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Steve D Swanson
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 3:10pm | IP Logged | 9  

Different places they get their powers, I believe, Chad. Wonder Woman gets her power from gods and magic and it doesn't rely on anything scientific. She can be as strong as the DC editors want her to be without my brain having a blip.

With Power Girl and Supergirl I have a different point of view in that their powers are scientifically based and since the powers are based on how much yellow sun radiation they can absorb and store in their cells then someone who is bigger should easily be more powerful.

Superman is six foot four and two hundred and thirty pounds (approximately), Powergirl is about 5'10, maybe 140, Supergirl; 5'8, about 115 (all approximate) so theoretically Superman should be able to absorb and store a lot more energy than either of those two. Non is larger than Superman and is shown to be more powerful than him so it would seem to hang together. Though personally I liked that it took twenty years for Superman to reach operational levels and would say any kryptonian who is a recent arrival couldn't have stored up the same amount of power. Maybe for short bursts of full out power, but he should be able to operate at his peak for much longer than kryptonians who haven't been on earth as long as him.

Though (and trust me on this), some fans will look at my explanation and claim that as sexism.

My main thing is that the character inspired by the original just shouldn't be more powerful than the original. So I have no problem with Wonder Woman being extremely powerful but would be annoyed if Supergirl was more powerful than Superman.

And repeated exposure to Nth metal over centuries is what's said to have given Hawkman (Carter Hall) his enhanced strength though I'm not sure just how much enhancement that is.

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Robert White
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Posted: 19 May 2008 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | 10  


 QUOTE:
Allow me to point out that Layton did not do the layouts, absolving him at least partially for scale, and totally for rankings.


True. To be honest, I had no idea that Mark Gruenwald could draw at all. Mystery solved?
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Mike Norris
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Posted: 20 May 2008 at 4:19am | IP Logged | 11  

I can see where there might be a difference between Superman's and Supergirl's strength, but not enough to drop Supergirl into a lower level.
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Chad Carter
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Posted: 20 May 2008 at 4:31pm | IP Logged | 12  

 

I don't think there's really anything embarrassing about Supergirl not being on Superman's level. It's rare air. Barkley was great, but he wasn't Jordan, and so on.

I put Cap Atom up there because, like Silver Surfer, he can tap into "umlimited" amounts of energy. In terms of how he uses that energy, like the Surfer, I suspect he can be as strong as he needs to be. It might be "cheating" but I just can't put Cap Atom any lower than Super Heavyweight.

Metamorpho: I meant to say, I guess, how does his changing to different elements affect his strength level? I know his mass/density is altered, but maybe I'm not understanding. I just want to figure out how strong he is.

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