# Would you rather have the powers of Superman for a week or the powers of Spider Man for life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 5, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791 "2024-07-05T23:34:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/41 "2024-07-06T15:04:59Z")
Same here. I wouldn’t be looking ahead at a superhero career so might as well spend a useful week at it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/42 "2024-07-06T15:07:27Z")
His Gecko Sense saved me…money, on my car insurance. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/43 "2024-07-06T15:15:28Z")
That’s exactly what I was thinking! You think it is tedious to listen to 35 year old former high school athletes relive their glory days? Could you imagine hearing me in a crappy neighborhood bar in 10 years…“you don’t understand, I could FLY man!” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/44 "2024-07-06T15:20:11Z")
Superman. He is by far the cooler one. Spend a week fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/45 "2024-07-06T17:07:02Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > But, since I’m 70, I might as well take Superman for a week and get something done. “I’ll have the soup.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/46 "2024-07-06T17:16:06Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Definitely Superman for a week even though the other option is **way** better for all of _you_ Been there, done that, eh? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/47 "2024-07-06T18:03:14Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Superman. He is by far the cooler one. Spend a week fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. Superman is the Big Blue Boy Scout. I am not. Having Superman’s _powers_ is not the same as _being_ Superman. There have been numerous stories over the years about that very thing. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/48 "2024-07-06T18:48:28Z")
I’d take Spider-Man powers for life (despite it being pointed out a couple of times, it seems people are forgetting that he is tremendously strong). But some of the posts are intriguing re: the stuff a Superman without any of his Boy Scout ethics could get done in a week. Rescue all the Hamas hostages, win the war for Ukraine, kill all the bad guy leaders (starting with Putin)—hell, wipe out Hamas with nary a civilian casualty. Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/49 "2024-07-06T18:55:40Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > hell, wipe out Hamas with nary a civilian casualty. Hmm… Maybe not that one. The difficulty in wiping out Hamas without civilian casualties is figuring out who they are, and that takes investigation. Certainly, X-ray vision and super-hearing will help a lot with that, but even with that, I don’t think that a week is a long enough time to get them all. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/50 "2024-07-06T19:32:34Z")
All right, then I’ll just fuck up their DoorDash deliveries. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/51 "2024-07-06T19:38:05Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > I’d take Spider-Man powers for life (despite it being pointed out a couple of times, it seems people are forgetting that he is tremendously strong). But some of the posts are intriguing re: the stuff a Superman without any of his Boy Scout ethics could get done in a week. > > Rescue all the Hamas hostages, win the war for Ukraine, kill all the bad guy leaders (starting with Putin)—hell, wipe out Hamas with nary a civilian casualty. Hmm… Sure - put out wild fires, epic thefts, visit Paris without the hassle of buying a ticket or going through TSA/customs, targeted assassinations, rescue various people in trouble, squeeze coal into diamonds, take one side or another in regional conflicts… there’s a lot of potential good _and_ bad there. Having powers for only one week would give me an incentive to behave because after that week I go back to being merely mortal and I don’t want governments, criminal cartels, and various other bad guys looking for payback. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/52 "2024-07-06T19:48:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The difficulty in wiping out Hamas without civilian casualties is figuring out who they are, and that takes investigation. No problem, Supes would just use his terrorist identification vision. Don’t forget, Superman has super pull-a-new-power-out-of-his-ass-when-he-needs-it powers. > **[Superman's 15 Weirdest Superpowers - IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/04/supermans-15-weirdest-superpowers)** > > Superman has exhibited a lot of bizarre powers over the years. These are some of our favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/53 "2024-07-06T20:00:25Z")
I thought your point was that both characters started out about the same time, and it is now obvious that they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Cmyers1980](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyers1980/32/11814_2.png) [@Cmyers1980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cmyers1980)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/54 "2024-07-06T20:50:31Z")
616 Punisher has been retconned to be a veteran of Iraq and the fictional Siancong War so he shouldn’t be significantly older than Peter Parker. Regardless, in this scenario you age normally and aren’t subject to a sliding timeline like comic book characters. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/55 "2024-07-07T17:45:44Z")
What impact could (one of us as) Superman have on climate change in a week? It seems like that is the biggest opportunity to do the most good in week. Providing clean water everywhere is a runner up. World peace seems out of reach since one strongman will replace another. Rounding up nukes in a week, even if possible, seems like it might leave a lot of instability on Day #8. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/56 "2024-07-07T17:52:25Z")
I actually thought about this one, but reckoned the answer is “nothing.” That’s based on the assumption that the collective governments more or less have the power of Superman (less the virtual invulnerability), and if they could muscle away climate change, they would. Plus, I notice that slacker hasn’t solved the problem in comic books, either. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/57 "2024-07-07T17:53:47Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Plus, I notice that slacker hasn’t solved the problem in comic books, either. As noted above, the reason that Superman hasn’t done that is due to his moral code, not due to any limitations of his Kryptonian powers. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/58 "2024-07-07T18:34:13Z")
I missed that. What part of his code prevents him from saving us from climate Armageddon? He might want to amend his bylaws. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/59 "2024-07-07T19:04:26Z")
I don’t read comic books, but there was a spiderman strip in my newspaper when I was a _lot_ younger. It was lame and dumb, so I just skipped it. Then, when the first movie was made they cast Tobey McGuire who squicks me way the hell out. So, those associations mean no spiderman for me. I suppose I’d have super stamina, too, if I chose superman, but his life just seems exhausting to me. So, guess I’d pass on both. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791/60 "2024-07-07T20:23:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Maybe not that one. The difficulty in wiping out Hamas without civilian casualties is figuring out who they are, and that takes investigation. True, but I could rescue all the hostages. And then 'take care" of those who raped and beat them. The Russian army would be in trouble, and so would Putin. The end of nuclear weapons- at least for the bad guys. Drug cartels would be hit hard- and there I’d gather up enough cash to retire comfortably. So, only those who have committed crimes against humanity. I’d resist the temptation to take care of some not so nice politicos here in the USA Note that at least once or twice Supes has gotten rid of such weapons. > [@Stratocaster](#): > > What part of his code prevents him from saving us from climate Armageddon? How could Supes do that? > [@Stratocaster](#): > > and if they could muscle away climate change, they would. They probably cant- altho they could slow it down a lot. There are scientific solutions- big mirrors in space- and maybe Supes could do that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-have-the-powers-of-superman-for-a-week-or-the-powers-of-spider-man-for-life/1003791.md?page=4)