the bad guys are called Supervillains.
costumed crime fighters with superpowers works as a definition for me, especially if they’re colourful.
Nitpick: Ozymandias had superhuman reflexes, and his intelligence/technological prowess is arguably also superhuman.
Wiki is really thin on his page. How do his powers work?
No moreso than Batman; both are supposed to be at the peak of possible human achievement due to their dedication, singlemindedness etc.
Legion names are pretty solidly descriptive, so exactly what it says on the tin - he duplicates powers. So, he can be as strong as the strongest superstrong person he’s met, but no stronger. Unless he runs into Nemesis Kid and can grab his ‘has whatever power he needs to win (so long as only one person is fighting him, and he’s not too busy gloating about winning his last fight, and underestimating the person coming at him this time)’ power.
Well, there’s this, and he’s pretty casual about it.
How do those planets not freeze in transit?
Heck, I’m curious what the chain is made of.
This along with the chains question is the transit time. Even at light speed we’re talking billions of years travel.
Quite the feat to do it and be home in time for dinner.
Unless they’ve retconned things since I followed the character, Steel is a metahuman, but his powers involve teleportation (usually of his armor) not strength, so in that regard, he’s kinda like Iron Man.
Back in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe days, they’d say Hulk was able to lift 90 tons, putting him behind guys like the Abomination who were Class-100 (100 tons or more), but when he gets mad, he gets stronger, with no upper limit. That’s the green Hulk, btw.
Grey Hulk was IIRC more in the 70-80 ton class, right around where Thing was in in his more spikey days (which was higher than where classic rocky Thing lies).
IIRC, Thor is flat out Class-100, plus he has a magic belt that doubles his strength or some such. He doesn’t use the belt much, though.
For reference, Spider-Man is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy down there in the 10 tons or so level.
For what it’s worth, I like Kurt Busiek’s definition – where superpowers are just one of the trappings, but none of the criteria are more important than any other. The idea is that you have to score three or higher out of five:
- Powers
- Costume
- Codename
- Heroic Mission
- Superhero Milieu
So, for example, Superman is the gold standard; he’s got powers (even in his first adventure he was a bulletproof strongman who could leap tall buildings in a single bound) and a costume (a cape-and-tights-with-underpants-on-the-outside ensemble complete with big chest emblem), and he’s got the whole “Clark (Superman) Kent” thing going on, and he fights crime and saves lives not as a paid bodyguard or whatever but just as a darned nice guy – and that’s four stars all by himself, regardless of the fifth.
Batman: no powers, but he (a) too goes for a cape-and-tights-with-underpants-on-the-outside-plus-chest-emblem look, and he (b) calls himself “Batman” when he’s out © fighting crime and saving lives likewise – and that’s three, which is good enough regardless of the fifth.
And if he teams up with Superman enough times, both of 'em start closing in on that fifth criterion – especially if they’re appearing every month in Justice League comics, alongside other three-star and four-star types like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern and the Flash and so on, and especially if they’re teaming up against superpowered costumed villains, and give Batman extra credit for solo adventures with Robin – eh, you get the idea.
Hmm…you know, this works.
So, revise my previous comment as ‘powers are neither necessary nor sufficient’.
Superhero Definition–
Where does that definition come from?
Doctor Who meets that definition, but he’s definitely not part of the superhero genre. So does Mr. Spock.
Doesn’t genius count as a superpower? I still think people would consider Lex Luthor a supervillain but Batman is not “super.”
Batman is a superhero. You can make whatever definitions you want but if Batman doesn’t fall into it your definition is flawed.
Lex Luthor and Batman are a supervillain and a superhero respectively.
Neither of them has superpowers (unless Lex is wearing his battle armour).
However, ‘genius’ can be a superpower - the Brainiac legacy (and Coluans in general) are so far above baseline humans, and other species, that their intelligence is classed as a superpower.
On the Marvel side, I believe Reed Richards is also so noted.
I also think it’s important to consider whether the person thinks of himself as a superhero. I’d count it as part of the milieu.
Also, I’ve never liked the idea that Superman, who is the Renaisance man, should be better than superheroes who specialize in that one talent. He can be stronger than some, but surely the strongest should be stronger than him. Just like the Flash should be faster, and Aquaman should be a better swimmer.
And the Hulk with his uncapped strength is definitely stronger than Superman, as Superman has faced villains stronger than himself. In a fight, it would surely be Hulk’s lack of intelligence that would be his downfall.
Unless you’re dealing with Hulk from World War Hulk!
Hercules and the Silver Surfer also had Unearthly strength.
In addition to The Thing, both Colossus and Namor were in the Monstrous (75) category. She-Hulk and Rogue were each either a 75 or a 50. Strong Guy and Iron Man were both Amazing (50) as well. Beast was down there with Spidey in Incredible (40).
For the record, Aunt May was Feeble. 