FTR, I’ve seen all three movies and not read any of the comics, so I’m not a junkie by any stretch.
In the third movie they make a big deal of Mutant Classes, saying Jean Grey/Pheonix is a Class 5 and is the most powerful they’ve ever seen. Earlier when Magneto is in that town hall meeting he is approached by Callisto who can sense other mutants and their “level”. She claims that “none are higher than a level 3” except Magneto and Pyro.
The clear implication is that Magneto and Pyro are level 4’s or better. Later in the movie Professor X and Magneto explain that Jean is the strongest they’ve ever seen, a class 5, which implies that they are both not level 5’s.
So, do the comic books ever make clear what level the mutants are? It seems that Magneto is obviously much stronger than Pyro, but they are apparently both level 4’s if you read between the lines in the movie.
That lame-ass porcupine guy is made up to be powerful but he has probably the wussiest powers I’ve seen in the movies. Beast is apparently a hell of a powerful mutant, but aside from being blue and furry he’s just agile and strong, animal like, and not especially dangerous.
Some of them, in any case. They don’t use a number system, though. Greek letters. Alpha and Omega are, the two highest.
Wiki on Omega Level Mutants, including references to the lower levels. (Re: the potential Omegas…I’d say, if Apocalypse is only an Alpha, Legion, Scarlet Witch, and Jamie Braddock are the only ones on that list that might be Omegas.)
Beast is powerful not for physical reasons, but because he’s very very bright. Imagine Stephen Hawking in the body of Mike Tyson (which is amusing) and you’ll get the idea. The guy with spikes…eh. Not all mutations are very useful in a battle.
Magneto is more powerful than Pyro, but they’re still in the same neighborhood, since both can control something that’s very common and dangerous (fire & metal).
I find it amusing that Mr. Immortal is an Omega, but it makes sense.
Really? I couldn’t help but laugh every time Callisto’s skinny female friend in the mesh top appeared, because she never DID anything (except look like a sassy lesbian) until the last minute when it seemed like the writer/director had to justify her existence by having her send giant shockwave claps. Too funny.
Oh, I dunno. Multiple puncture wounds every time you strike an opponent or are hit by one? Imagine a fight between him and Beast, for example. Yeah, Spike probably won’t be able to lay a hand on Beast, but if Beast lands a kick he’s potentially crippled by having a dozen or more painful wounds to the soles of each of his feet.
I still give Beast the win in that fight, though. But at a cost.
I stopped reading comics by the early to mid-nineties. Up 'til then, I don’t recall much emphasis being put on “classing” mutant power levels. You were either “powerful” or not. Magneto controls magnetism, and is considered one of the most powerful beings on the planet. Polaris was a mutant woman who also controlled magnetism, but she was always much weaker than Magneto. I don’t think they assigned them a “class.” She was just a wimp compared to Magneto.
They introduced a new idea with Jean Grey/Phoenix. That is, an energy wielding mutant put under sufficient pressure & stress could possibly mutate even further into a cosmic power level being. The first was Phoenix, but one time they played with it with Storm. Dr. Doom had encased her in a statue-like thing, and being claustrophobic, she freaked out and started reaching those cosmic power levels the way Phoenix had. But they talked her down before she killed everyone in sight.
What they would do, if you were geeky enough to buy an encyclopedia of Super Heroes, was assign each Super Hero a “strength class.” It wasn’t specific to mutants. Thor was a Norse god. Iron Man was just a techno-geek. Everyone got assigned a strength level.
In the comics, I only ever heard “level” being applied to telepaths - and incidentally, telepathy seems to be the most common mutation. You see a lot of mutant telepaths/telekinetics, but not a lot of duplication of other abilities.
Then again, I haven’t read all of the comics, so I could have missed “level” being used to describe other mutants.
If you get a chance read the nitpicky discussions attached to the Wiki. I envy their passion. Especially because trying to keep track of Marvel heros is like counting sand in the sahara.
[QUOTE=Tengu]
Some of them, in any case. They don’t use a number system, though. Greek letters. Alpha and Omega are, the two highest. QUOTE]
Which of course makes sense in a nice ordered system of ranking, seeing as how Alpha and Omega are the FIRST and LAST letters in the alphabet! I wonder what the lowest level was supposed to be?
Epsilon-Delta, according to the wiki. At least that’s the lowest anyone’s bothered mentioning that I’ve seen.
Omega being the highest level makes a lot of sense, actually - these are mutants who can cause the apocalypse with a stray thought.
Omega are the insanely powerful, cosmic-level mutants, for the most part - Mr M and Franklin Richards (and the potentials I mentioned agreeing with) can change reality to their specifications, and the Phoenixes can trash galaxies without breaking a sweat. I’m not sure how someone like Iceman, or Mr Immortal manage to make the cut, though. I’m not familiar enough with the others to comment.
Alpha are the massively powerful mutants who still have a power level that a normal person can concieve of.
Beta would be the standard superhero/supervillain mutant.
Epsilon-Delta would be latent or near-useless mutations - the largest group before ‘M-Day’.
The only classification-type scheme I recall was one in which the Sentinels had a list of “the Twelve.” Cyclops, Storm, Franklin Richards and a few others were identified but I stopped reading the books before all of the Twelve were revealed or what they were supposed to be able to accomplish. I suppose there’s a Wiki article about it but…i don’t care.
Oh, who am I kidding. So it looks like the Twelve were Magneto, Polaris, Storm, Sunfire, Iceman, Cyclops, Phoenix, Cable, Bishop, Mikhail Rasputin, Professor X and the Living Monolith.
But since the concept was introduced something like 25 years before the storyline and a number of the characters didn’t exist at the time, who knows what if anything the people who thought it up had in mind.
Different concept. The strength classifications (at least for Marvel) were how much a person could physically lift/press.
Iceman potentially has control over all moisture on the planet, and in some versions can’t be killed, since how do you permanently destroy water? He’s just too insecure to tap into it.
Mr. Immortal apparently can’t be killed. By anything. That’s pretty good, power-wise.
I know. Now that we’re on the subject, I’m curious about where Dr. Strange fell into the scheme of things. Most heroes have powers or abilities that set them apart as “super.” Then you have your beings who wield the Power Cosmic. They seem to form a separate class of powers. Dr. Strange, as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, seemed like he could match a cosmic being in power levels.
Was he considered “cosmic” in power levels? I seem to recall he’s taken on the Hulk, Silver Surfer, and one time he took down a pre-weakened Galactus.
If he is, it’s either only on Earth or in that dimension. I have no idea as to Dr. Strange, but Magik is Limbo’s Sorceress Supreme and while when she’s there, she’s damn powerful, in the normal universe she’s substantially less so.
Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth Dimension, meaning he’s the most powerful wizard in the entire 616 universe and practically omnipotent despite his uneven handling so he would be the very definition of cosmic.
