Remember, the question was ‘strongest’, not most powerful - Val’s only got human level strength - it’s his technique that lets him stand against one of the strongest dudes in the galaxy.
Duplicate Boy, on the other hand, depending on who he’s encountered, has the potential, at least, to be top tier, although he can’t be STRONGER than anyone else, due to the workings of his power (unless he dupes the strongest person around, and then that person dies).
And the characters from Preacher aren’t superheroes at all, so… (I’m sure Ennis is already tracking you down to make you pay for even suggesting it.)
I thought it was always said that Wonder Man’s fists hit like Thor’s hammer? I’m surprised that Namor is so strong. I always just think of him as an angry Aquaman. And isn’t Steel just a guy in a metal suit (i.e., with human strength)?
The OP did not specify the Marvel or DC universe. Clearly the people in the Preacher series are fictional characters with superpowers; same as Superman or Hulk. Do Marvel/DC have a monopoly on “superheroes” such that nothing else counts?
True and does seem easily gotten around (just listen to jams on your iPod really loud while fighting him). Still, he is possessed by a superpowerful spirit so not sure if the word of god is his only trick.
Most superheroes have weak areas where they can be screwed (ala Wolverine v. Magneto) but are otherwise powerful.
That said he could square off against all the X-Men and Justice League simultaneously and defeat them with one word.
Or Xavier could telepathically erase English from their memories. He’s pretty good at instant language teaching, so I assume he could just as easily remove languages from peoples’ heads.
Here’s how it went in the old Marvel Super Heroes Role Playing Game: all attributes, including strength, were given a rating in the form of both a number and an adjective. The scale goes like this:
0 None
2 Feeble
4 Poor
6 Typical (most untrained humans fall here)
10 Good
20 Excellent (the limit of unenhanced human ability)
30 Remarkable
40 Incredible
50 Amazing
75 Monstrous
100 Unearthly
And there are some “shift” columns above 100 for bonuses, cosmic beings, and whatnot, but basically all the heroes fall somewhere on this scale. Spider-Man’s strength is Incredible, described as “able to lift up to 20 tons”; sounds about right, I seem to recall him lifting a railway car once, which was pretty much his limit.
The next step up, Amazing, would have characters like The Vision, who can lift up to 50 tons. The Thing has Monstrous strength, and can lift up to 80 tons. Unearthly strength is defined merely as “more than 80 tons”, and the only hero characters I’m aware of with Unearthly strength are the Hulk, Thor, and Wonder Man. The Juggernaut also has Unearthly strength.
But the champ has to be the Hulk, since as noted he gets stronger when he gets madder. During the Secret Wars, a mountain range was dropped on the Hulk and other heroes; the Hulk supported the weight of the mountain range until Reed Richards executed an escape plan. So, technically not a “lift”, but for about a minute, he was holding up 150 billion tons.
True, but sometimes power can be used to create physical strength. For instance, Dr. Strange once used his magic to alter his physical form so he could duke it out with the Hulk. I think the Silver Surfer has also used his power cosmic to alter his physical form into a more brutish Hulk-like form. I assume a lot of cosmic powered beings could transform their musculature that way, if they wanted to.
By that definition, Deanna Troi is a superhero, River Tam is a superhero, Major Makoto Kusanagi is a superhero, Edward Elric is a superhero, the Doctor is a superhero, and so forth.
Having powers does not make a character a superhero - or else a good majority of all science fiction and fantasy would be ‘superhero’ stories.
Superpowers are just one of the trappings of the superhero genre, and the least important - Batman, the characters from Watchmen (save Doctor Manhattan), Kickass - they’re all superheroes, though they lack powers.
Fine but by the definition you link Saint of Killers and Jesse Custer easily meet the criteria. They are possessed of “extraordinary or superhuman” powers. They may not meet the do-gooder criteria but I think that is too restrictive else you would have to say Magneto (as an example) is not a superhero (and often it is unclear such as with the Hulk in many cases). I suppose we could say “super anti-hero” but that seems unnecessary when talking about superheroes generically I think.
Also, I think River Tam or Deanna Troi could fit in a comic as superheroes. Not very powerful ones but they are possessed of superhuman powers (compared to regular humans). Heck, Xavier is just an amped up Deanna Troi. Where do you draw the line?
It’s Star Boy who couldn’t see through copper, during that very brief early period when he had Superboy/Mon-El-type powers. Ultra Boy can see through anything other than intertron, and I believe intertron is a problem for Superboy/man and Mon-El as well.
Sure thing, heh. I culled quite a bit of that from my previous posts on the subject; I don’t currently have access to any of my MSHRPG books.
Another oddity I remember: Wonder Man’s invulnerability. In addition to his immense strength, Wonder Man’s skin is actually harder and more damage-resistant than The Thing’s.
