# Super Hero Strength Question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2002, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-hero-strength-question/107866 "2002-05-08T06:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-hero-strength-question/107866/21 "2002-05-08T22:03:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Saltire \* > \*\*Ditto on recommending Wild Cards. I sure wish they’d put out more of those. > > They postulate that those heroes seen lifting ships and buildings and such are not really doing it with their arms. They are actually telekinetics, so they lift the whole thing with their minds. This gets around both the sinking into the earth thing and the punching through the hull thing. > > The same thing was once used in a Fantastic Four comic. Mr. Fantastic realized that if Gladiator could lift the Baxter Building by one corner without breaking it, he must actually be manipulating it mentally. So he just had to break Gladiator’s concentration and confidence to make the Purple-Mohawk-Man vulnerable (if you’ve never seen what Gladiator looks like, think of Superman with lavender skin and an 18-inch-tall crest on his head). > > Holy Masking-Tape-Repaired Hornrims, Batman! That Saltire is a complete nerd! \*\* I was going to bring up gladiator in my original post, but didn’t think anyone would get the reference. Forgot where I was! And as far as having a little yellow target on your chest…even better, get a teenager in bright red, green and yellow to stand right next to you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-hero-strength-question/107866/22 "2002-05-08T22:24:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homer \* > \*\* > However, that answer almost fits with the question “Why does Batman dress all in black but have a big yellow bat on his chest?” the response being “Not in the face! Not in the face!” The yellow is a draw to the criminal, and in the dark of night with an all black costume, the bat emblem may be the only part that can be clearly made out. The yellow is then reinforced more than the rest of the suit, the hope being the criminal will aim at the yellow bat 9 times out of 10. \*\* Actually, it’s a black bat in a yellow oval. In any event, the original Batman, IIRC, didn’t have the yellow oval. It was just the black bat against the grey outfit. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-hero-strength-question/107866/23 "2002-05-09T12:29:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > \*\*Actually, **rjung** , the entire Shi’ar Imperial Guard was a ripoff of the Legion of Super-Heroes, courtesy of Dave Cockrum > > Chaim Mattis Keller \*\* Was it a ripoff, or homage? Didn’t they also do a Shi’ar version of Captain Kirk, Spock et. al? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-hero-strength-question/107866/24 "2002-05-09T14:45:10Z")
levdrakon: > [@](#): > > Was it a ripoff, or homage? I’d say ripoff simply because of the Cockrum connection. A homage is usually done by someone other than the creator of the original. Chaim Mattis Keller [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-hero-strength-question/107866.md?page=1)