Top 10 Most Powerful Superheroes of All Time

Top 10 Most Powerful Superheroes of All Time

Written by Zeromage 5,550 Comments
Last Updated:: May 23, 2008

Here it is folks, the biggest debate on the whole interweb. Never has there been a more well thought out argument for a completely non-existent thing. Which superhero could beat up which other superhero. Never has a group of people spent more time drawing graphs, doing calculations, making charts, and writing computer programs to prove that the hero they love is in fact the toughest. These people do more literature searches than a graduate student writing their dissertation on literature. One can only imagine what world problems could be solved if comic book nerds would instead focus this same energy on say; poverty, healthcare, the climate, pollution, the economy, childhood obesity, cancer, sudden infant death syndrome, racism, genetic disorders, violence against women, the melting ice caps, sending a man to mars, depression, solving Goldbach’s conjecture, creating a unified field theory, un-raveling the mystery of DNA, figuring out what happened before the big bang, resolving religious tensions in the Middle East, finding peace on Earth, making cleaner cars, sustainable energy, nuclear fission, getting rid of hippies, and the million other things that would make this world a better place to live in.

So in order to finish this debate once and for all we here at OW have finally finished THE list of the most powerful superheros. This is it folks. As every faithful reader knows that we here at OW are always right, we have proved it in the past. There can no longer be any debate. No more argument required. This list has taken us years to complete, and has threatened to destroy all that is OW. While making this list there was lots arguing, name calling, some shouting, a little bit of snuggling, more shouting, lots of your momma’s, but we finally came up with the definitive list of the most powerful superheroes of all time. We can’t be more clear on that last point, this is it. None of what you are about to read is opinion, it is fact. Next time one of your nerd buddies starts to argue you need only refer to this list, kindly pat him the head a give him one of the problems listed above to argue about. Here’s how we did it. First we excluded all super villains, this is heroes only, next we eliminated all exorbitantly overpowered cosmic beings (Phoenix, Odin, or the Highfather). And finally we ignored all heroes that would be considered ‘normal’ but have similar powers as those listed below. Then we plugged in all the facts and figures into the OW super computer and waited. Exactly 137 days later the answer was spit out. It then took us one year to figure out what that answer meant. Finally its over, these are the most powerful superheroes. Fact.

10. The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Despite coming in at number 10, The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) is one tough hombre. As a member of the Green Lantern Corps, he wields a power ring that can generate a variety of effects and energy constructs, sustained purely by the ring wearer’s strength of will. The greater the user’s willpower, the more effective the ring. The limits of the power ring’s abilities are never defined, but it has been referred to as “the most powerful weapon in the universe” on more than one occasion. It’s precious. Over the years, the ring has been shown capable of accomplishing almost anything within the imagination of the ring bearer. Often the rings are used to form solid-light constructs, the power and size of which are limited only by the ring-bearer’s willpower. And, if that wasn’t powerful enough, DC recently (in 2006) retconned the ring’s longtime lack of effect on yellow objects, stating that the ring-bearer need only feel fear and overcome it in order to affect yellow objects. With his protective bubbles and mean green energy bursts, the Green Lantern has fought with, and at varying times against, such heavyweights as Superman and Captain Marvel. But he’s still no match for number 9 on our list…

9. Doctor Strange

Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Steven Strange, has unparalleled sagicity of the mystic arts, and stands as humanity’s first and last line of defense against all magic-based menaces that threaten our dimension. I think Doc Strange is probably one of the more powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, and light years ahead of any of the crappy sorcerers from DC (although Zatanna is way hotter). Given that he can do pretty much anything that the person who is currently writing him can imagine, he could potentially beat any of the other characters in this list. In fact, he could probably beat some of them by simply wiggling his finger. Of course this assumes that he would enough time to do so. The problem is that most of the other heroes on this list won’t give him even that small amount of time. His lack of super speed, super reaction time, super senses and any sort of super human invulnerability, make Dr. Strange one of the easiest characters to defeat on this list. For this reason alone we put Dr. Strange at #5. If he had unlimited prep time before each fight, he could easily be number one on this list.

8. Black Bolt

Our seventh most powerful superhero of all time is Black Bolt, the king of the offshoot of humanity known as the inhumans. Black Bolt has often been described as one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe by other heroes, and for good reason. Through electron gathering and manipulation, Black Bolt can increase any aspect of his physical nature to superhuman levels, including his strength, speed, stamina and durability. In times of great need, he can channel this power into a single devastating punch called “The Master Blow”. He can also harness the electrons for matter transformation; the controlled projection of energy as concussive blasts or quasi-solid particle/electron fiends, broadcasting jamming frequencies, and flight. But Black Bolt’s most salient offensive weapon is his cacophonous voice, as a hypersonic shout that can level an entire city, and his merest whisper has been shown capable of stunning the Hulk. It’s even been suggested that his voice is capable of destroying an entire planet.

7. The Flash

People who don’t know a lot about comic books often assume that the Flash can run really fast, but is otherwise a normal guy. He can turn his opponent into a statue, or phase his hand through his opponent’s head, causing it to explode. He is also impressively durable for a normal human, and most, though not all, of his impressive feats of durability have been while moving faster than normal. Many times he’s taken hits from Class-100 opponents, various energy blasts, ect. and ranged from quickly recovers to unfazed. Not only is Flash faster than Pre-CRISIS Kryptonians(and Silver Age Superman was so fast, not only count he travel through time and dimensions through speed, but he nearly broke the barrier between Life And Death and was about to crash into Heaven), but he’ll probably have a few examples of simply phasing through to avoid, as well. And Flash doesn’t need to cause the charge that causes matter to explode every time he vibrates through something.

6. The Martian Manhunter

The Martian Manhunter’s chief super power is super strength. Super strength and durability. His two powers are super strength, durability and flight. His three powers are super strength, durability, flight and shapeshifting. Amongst his many powers are super strength, durability, flight and shapeshifting… I’ll come in again. The Martian Manhunter is basically the Swiss army knife of Superheroes. Along with all those powers, he has super speed and “Martian” vision, both at levels close to those of Superman himself. He not only can turn invisible but also alter his density to become incredibly strong, tough and ultimately intangible. In addition to his physical powers, J’onn is also a very powerful telepath. He also possesses 9 different senses, though these are ill defined and often forgotten by comic book writers. And if superhuman physical strength and mental powers aren’t enough, J’onn also has the ability to regenerate. In the past he’s even regenerated his entire body from only his severed hand.

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5,550 Comments

#1 Sandi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:17 pm

The case of dr strange is a peculiar one. If you thing he has some auto diffence so that superman can not harm him before Strange is ready then strange will hammer supe. As he does not need a direct hit on supe. He will just create a crytonite cage around.
But if Strange does not have auto shield then he should not be on list. Bcoz then any superspeed Flash/Wonder Women can take him before he could use a spell.
So either Starnge is 3 or not in the list at all.

#2 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:00 pm

And where do you get your figures Darryl?

A jumbo jet alone is actually about 450 tons maximum take-off weight, and the plane it was attached to dwarfed it to the point that the civilian plane wasn’t even half as big as ONE of the tail fins.

How does it require a max of 300 tons to throw, beyond Earth’s orbit, a space ship four times the size of an aircraft carrier? Air craft carriers weigh about 97,000 tons, and this thing was four times the size of an aircraft carrier.

I’d think breaking through a nuclear dome or casually ripping open a blast door would take more than 300 tons.

How would it take 300 tons max to lift something much bigger than a blue whale at least several miles away? The monster it’s self would probably weigh over 300 tons, and it wasn’t even visible after Superman threw it.

And after checking, it turns-out nuclear submarines actually weigh between 26,000 and 48,000 tons when submerged with water. Superman brought one up from the ocean floor so it’s submerged with water, and another one he casually held over his head with one hand.

Where do you get a mountain only weighs 300 tons?

And these aren’t even Superman’s impressive feats.

Where exactly do you get Wonder Woman can only lift 150 tons? I told you she lifted a battleship with one hand, those weigh well over 10,000 tons and Wonder Woman’s far more powerful now than she was when she lifted that battleship. Aquaman’s got strength feats that put him well above 500 tons. How much do you actually know about DC?

And I should remind you, those feats I gave for Superman are NOT even his impressive feats.

And 300 tons seems kinda pathetic level of strength for someone who’s completely nuke-proof, and taking nukes aren’t even Superman’s impressive feats of durability.

#3 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:03 pm

Sandi, Doctor Strange doesn’t have knowledge of Superman’s weakness to Kryptonite. I would assume he could do elemental transmutation, but I don’t know of any examples. Doesn’t seem like he fights like that.

But Superman’s taken shots from more powerful mages than Doctor Strange. Though mystics with normal human durability are really hard for me to rank amongst more traditional heroes, for reasons I’ve named before.

#4 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Oh and Darryl, on the Thor/Hercules thing, far as I know, at least regarding combat against each other, they’ve almost always been shown as equals in strength.

In terms of lifting feats I dunno who has more impressive feats to give which one the nod, since Thor’s had a good deal more appearances I’d lean towards Thor as I’ve seen little lifting/throwing feats from Hercules, but in terms of the two in hand-to-hand combat, they’re almost always shown as equals. They’ve also arm-wrestled a couple times to no winner.

#5 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:41 pm

Here’s a few more things Darryl.

Superman punched Lobo into orbit. I dunno how much strength that would require, but my guess is it’d be more than 300 tons. Still even if not, that throwing the space ship bigger than an aircraft carrier requires almost 30 times as much strength just to LIFT it with both hands for a maximum press.

I’ll give you the digging yourself out of countless tons of dirt and rock since that’s not an easily measurable lifting feat, but taking into account he had nearly all of his energy drained from him, it leans towards being well over 300 tons.

He’s drilled through the Earth’s crust to it’s magma layer.

When he was CONCUSSED and fatigued from fighting Doomsday and could barely keep it together since he said his body felt like jelly, and had to be careful not to tear apart the plane, he slowed down a falling plane he said weighed 775,000 lbs. which is 387.5 tons.

When he was worn and weakened from fighting then being captured and essentially tortured from Mongul and Bizzarro, over a few days period, and literally on his hands and knees in KRYPTONITE, he shrugs off a nuke hitting him and destroying most of an island. Then he spins around the thousands of tons of debris into the upper atmosphere, uses his heat vision to fuse it into a manageable mass, then throws it all the way to the son.

He pushed a space station said to be 600 miles in diameter, and it’s estimated it was 2,500 miles long. The weight’s not estimable since it was made from various types of natural resources from through-out the solar system, but it’s got to be well over 1,000 tons. Not only does he push it, but he pushes it through the resistance of hyperspace.

And there’s MUCH more impressive feats Superman has that aren’t combat strength feats. Still think Superman can only lift 300 tons?

#6 jerry says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:20 pm

Dr. Manhattan is the most powerful superhero.

#7 Horace says:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:27 pm

“I dunno how much strength that would require, but my guess is it’d be more than 300 tons.”

You get dumber and dumber by the minute. How much do you think Lobo weighs? Are you a special needs student?

“He pushed a space station said to be 600 miles in diameter, and it’s estimated it was 2,500 miles long. The weight’s not estimable since it was made from various types of natural resources from through-out the solar system, but it’s got to be well over 1,000 tons. Not only does he push it, but he pushes it through the resistance of hyperspace.”

How does hyperspace have resistence? Regular space has no resistence and no gravity, hence how hard do you think it is to push shit in space? You’re so dumb I wish I could punch you in the face.

#8 Horace says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:10 pm

“Oh and Darryl, on the Thor/Hercules thing, far as I know, at least regarding combat against each other, they’ve almost always been shown as equals in strength.”

This is funny. HILARIOUS even.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HDLEycm-LIE/Rnqmhkl721I/AAAAAAAACfk/OyWUzfLL8L4/s400/hulk1.jpg

This is what WWH did to Hercules. What chance does Thor have against the might of WWH?

#9 Horace says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:14 pm

http://www.coffeespy.com/hostedimages/coffeespymain/ComicPanels/Hulk107_HercSmashed.JPG

#10 Pete says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:06 am

1) Silver Surfer
2) Sentry
3) Hulk (physically impossible to overpower him)
4) Thor
5) Superman (Too many weaknesses)
6) Wolverine (He’s indestructable)
7) Professor X
Black Bolt
9) Wonder Woman
10) The Flash

#11 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:44 am

Wow Horace, Superman punched Lobo INTO ORBIT. It’s not like he just lifted him up, you’re an idiot.

And maybe because I vaguely recall the Hyperspace incident saying hyperspace caused resistance? It’s comics, and hyperspace is something fictional anyways. You’re comparing it to “real” space? It’s often an explanation to get something to travel faster than light.

And no, you do not wish you had the chance to punch me in the face. I guarantee I would make you regret it and beat you down like a little bitch.

And good stuff that WWH did that in a Hulk wankfest. WWH’s still the Royce Gracie of comics and Hulk is nowhere near as powerful as his fanboys claim. Thor’s still far more powerful than World War Hulk, and Thor’s got more options than hitting.

And Hulk never even beat Sentry.

And Superman’s far more powerful than Hulk.

#12 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 3:11 pm

Darryl, I don’t know why you’re not “buying” what I’m telling you about Superman and Wonder Woman lifting far beyond 500 tons. This isn’t a matter of opinion, I’ve given you numerous examples. For you to have said the majority of examples I gave for Superman would take 300 tons max is ridiculous, as submarines, battleships and mountains are in the thousands of tons.

Superman and Wonder Woman have both lifted mountains, and these can weigh upwards of over 150,000 tons, and these aren’t even the really good lifting feats.

This isn’t a matter of opinion. This isn’t a debatable issue. The evidence brought against you obliterates any argument you have, and I can make your case even worse. You shouldn’t even be arguing this. You saying Superman can lift 300 tons at most is a lot like the traffic light’s turned red, you see a cop car waiting, and you debate whether you should blow the light or not. And for the sake of argument, you don’t have some emergency you have to rush to the hospital for, or rush to someone to rush them to the hospital. It’s just stupid.

Please show me ONE example you have to actually make you think Superman’s limited to 250-300 tons or Wonder Woman to 150 tons, other than your own UNSUBSTANTIATED opinion, and I won’t think of you as a total idiot. And I’m not being an ass. I’m trying to be nice, really. But I think the only two reasons you could be arguing against me on this matter are stupidity or you just don’t want to admit you were wrong.

#13 Horace says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:37 pm

WWH is a wankfest? Okay, so because the Hulk defeated some of your favorite heroes its a wankfest? How about if I said that any time Thor has ever beaten someone else is a wankfest? Get a clue.

#14 Horace says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:40 pm

What a crybaby Thor fans are. When the Hulk trounches Thor its one of two excuses:

1) Hulk wankfest written by a Hulk fanboy ( I guess half of marvel’s writers are hulk fanboys)

2) PIS

Pathetic

#15 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:35 am

Horace, it’s not a wankfest because of Hulk defeating my favorite heroes. In fact that didn’t even happen in WWH. It’s a wankfest because Greg Pak made it to let Hulk fanboys use their green colored KY. That’s a fact.

I suppose B&T could be considered a Thor wankfest, but that storyline had him have a couple of power-ups.

Anyways you’re the crybaby to be throwing a hissy fit because people point facts out to you about your precious Hulk. I’m not a Thor fanboy, and you’re saying I’m whining, like you do all the time, over valid points.

And good you conceded your stupidity on trying to argue my points.

#16 Sandi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:26 am

Right Delta,

That is the point either you leave master of magic out of the list or put him over superman or wonderwoman. Bcoz magic is hard to define. As starnegs mystical power has no limits.
And about Thor Vs superman supes nail thor by speed but thor is immortal so he eventlally get a good shot with his hammer. So though in a time based fight supe wins but in battle to death there is only one winner. As thor can not die.

#17 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:04 am

Sandi, what does Thor being immortal have to do with anything? Immortality doesn’t mean you can’t be knocked-out, as Superman and others have KOed Thor before.

And actually, you’re wrong that Thor can’t die. He has two or three times to my knowledge. Once in AVENGERS ANNUAL #16 I think it was, he used Mjolnir to contain an explosion that was supposed to destroy one fifth of the universe. He did succeed, but died in the process. In the first issue of the second volume of THOR, he was killed by the Destroyer, but did come back to life. Then I believe he died in Ragnorak, as part of an eternal cycle.

Superman also is “immortal” in the sense of a long life, as shown in a couple occasions. An issue of ACTION COMICS had him brought to DC’s Asguard and fight Ragnorak there, where time flowed differently, and a thousand years went by in minutes for the main-stream dimension. Some argue that time flowed faster but Superman was unaffected, but the time went by for him as well and he showed no signs of aging, but a long beard like you see of the iconic deserted island victim finally rescued. Also in DC ONE MILLION he’s shown to be alive in the 853rd century, I think it was the year 85,271.

#18 Avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:08 pm

Jeffrey:this is most powerful, not strongest.

#19 inyoface says:
March 15th, 2010 at 3:22 am

What the hell…. Where is Pheonix?

#20 Avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:16 am

Pete:Superman’s only weakness is kryptonite. and as delta pointed out, that’s not as effective now as it was years ago. so i’m not sure what you man by too many weaknesses.

#21 Avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:17 am

”not sure what you MEAN by ”too many weaknesses.”

#22 Kilobyte70 says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:51 am

Um..kryptonite is NOT Supe’s only weaknesses, he is vulnerable to magic and a red sun..or absence of a yellow sun..

#23 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:27 pm

Actually Kilobyte, Superman’s vulnerable to magick, not outright weakened by it. It typically effects him as much as it does any other super powered being without specific defense against mystical attacks, like Captain Marvel or Wonder Woman. I’ve even seen him walk through an energy beam that took-out the rest of the JLA at the time, including Zauriel(a literal Angel) and Wonder Woman.

Red solar energy generally weakens him depending on how much he’s exposed to and what his reserve solar charge is. I’ve seen him take attacks at least partially based on red solar energy and be ok and seen him take attacks while being exposed to red solar energy and range from still standing to shrugging it off.

#24 LOL says:
March 15th, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Looking at fighting experience Thor has way more than SS! Actually SS, Galactus and other powerful beings have been rated by Marvel have pretty low fighting skills, but…………. far as power, that would be a different story.

People keep bringing up their first fight that was in the late 60’s or early 70’s. The Asgardians and Odin was considered more powerful than they are now, and Galactus weaker, even with Thor beating hungry Galactus.

I don’t see how a hammer made from elves can be more powerful than someone having a fraction of power than came from the previous universe. So that statement about Thor hammmer being more powerful than SS Power Cosmic was 40 years ago! But now it doesnt make a lick of sense!

Some say that WWH was out of proportion if that was the cause then so was Thor’s Warrior Madness saga. These storylines are getting ridiculous the last 20 years.

SS killed Primodial Gods, then got killed and power taken from the Red Hulk! (Lol)

Savage Hulk has beaten Thor, but lost to Spiderman and even Deadpool.

It gets to the point of saying who’s comic the fight is in, and what writer is writing it

#25 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:13 pm

Actually I Silver Surfer might have comparable experience to Thor. His fighting skills are average at best, but I think he’s been around thousands of years.

But Mjolnir was enchanted by Odin, so it’s not just some stone hammer made by elves.

#26 LOL says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:39 pm

What’s so ironic, with Thor having Thousands of years of combat experience, Marvel just rates him as a “experience” fighter.

His hammer like Odin spear, and the Destroyer suit is made out of “Uru” metal. I hope Thor has more power features on MUA2 than he did on the first one. What was funny was him and SS had the same “fury” power, hitting multiple enemies. I don’t think SS will be on MUA2 or havent’ heard about it.

#27 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 7:17 pm

Actually, Uru is stone, not metal. And I’m pretty sure the Destroyer wasn’t made out of Uru. And I was quite pleased by most of Thor’s abilities in MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE. I abused the tornado to grab and throw the enemies in the air followed by a massive lightning strike a whole lot.

Never got to play Silver Surfer, didn’t unlock him. If he isn’t in the sequel initially, he’ll probably be available as downloadable content.

#28 LOL says:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:30 pm

Storm had the same tornado abilities. His hammer swing about the same as Cap shield swing. I did like his hammer toss and “God Speed” mode. I usually gave him the Asgardian Armor costume

#29 Buikus says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:18 am

You’re still at it Delta? Damn, I go away for a while and you’re still making fun of Hulk fans? Good thing Horace has been keeping you in your place while I’ve been gone. LOL.

#30 Buikus says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:20 am

@Avi:

Are you and Delta on the same crack? How does kryptonite not affect superman? Normal humans can own him with Kryptonite. Damn, try reading some actual comics before you comment about them.

#31 Avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:32 am

when did I say it didn’t affect him at all? sorry about the ”only weakness” thing.

#32 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:29 am

Buikus, lmao You’re such a dipshit moron. Go whack off to more HULK comics you fagot. And Horace has been keeping me in my place? The two of you together get owned by me.

And Superman’s not nearly as effected by conventional exposure to Kryptonite as he used to be. If you, oh, I dunno, read a comic, you might know. Like once he was weakened and worn from fighting, then being tortured by Bizzarro and Mongul, over a few days. THEN was put on sand that was covered in powdered Kryptonite. He still shrugs off the nuke that he gets hit with that destroys the majority of an island.

How’s that for normal people owning Superman? Who’s the ignorant one now, huh? Idiot. But I expect nothing less than from a Hulk fanboy.

#33 Buikus says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:50 am

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/11309/superman_vs_batman.jpg

#34 Buikus says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:53 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kryptopoisoning.jpg

#35 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 1:59 am

Great job showing one panel that doesn’t even show Kryptonite, and an example of Metallo, who doesn’t use conventional exposure.

Metallo certainly isn’t a normal person, and we don’t know what Batman did. But of course you’re an idiot, so I’m expecting this of you, pussy bitch.

#36 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:07 am

Here’s the first part of what I told you.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/avalonofthewind/supesnuke.jpg

#37 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:07 am

Second part.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/avalonofthewind/supesnuke2.jpg

#38 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 3:08 am

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/1629/supessick6jm.jpg

There’s another example. Superman had a tumor engineered to pump Kryptonite through his system, over a period of weeks. Even when he’s glowing, it’s still difficult to puncture his skin to get a blood sample.

Still think you’re right, Buikus? Of course you do. You’re a Hulk fanboy, they’re too stupid to know when they’re wrong.

#39 Avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:55 am

inyoface:it said in the title no exorbitantly overpowered cosmic beings(Pheonix, Odin or the Highfather.)

#40 Avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:06 pm

in a sense Hulk was stronger but over all Superman was more powerful

#41 Butini says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:12 am

Dude where is Doc Manhatten? I mean he is basicly god! How isn’t he on the list he should be number 1

#42 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 6:19 am

Hilarious how the Hulk fanboys make such a big deal out of WORLD WAR HULK when Hulk in that is not even as impressive or powerful as Superman is. And I’m not even referring to Superman at his most powerful.

#43 Avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:38 am

agreed, delta.

#44 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:49 pm

The more and more I look, the less I’m thinking Hulk even has the strength advantage. Funny that it looks bad for Hulk even when I give him the strength advantage, so I wonder how bad it’ll look when Hulk finally loses that in my eyes.

Here’s a few examples for strength.

First General Lifting And Equivalent Feats

A much weaker than current Superman resisted the pull of technologically created black holes.

The John Byrne-era Superman throws a space ship that’s four times the size of an aircraft carrier into orbit. An aircraft carrier weighs close to 100,000 tons. So Superman showed the strength to throw something much heavier than that dozens of times the speed of sound.

Superman’s destroyed a space construct capable of destroying a solar system.

Superman’s punched Wonder Woman so hard that she goes from the sun to Earth, an average distance of 93 million miles, in just seconds.

Superman’s grabbed and towed a “young solar system” that was expanding in size, and it’s gravity causing havoc.

Superman had pushed against a machine, with ONE arm, that was causing force equivalent to 200 quintillion tons. With relative ease, and the scientist said they hadn’t found the limits of Superman’s strength. Quintillion is a number used for measurement after a trillion. The order goes billion, trillion, quadrillion then quintillion. So Superman, with one arm, did the equivalent of lifting 200,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons. And the scientist doing the testing said they still haven’t found an upper limit to Superman’s strength.

Superman and Wonder Woman slowed down the Spectre’s consciousness. This was the “Weight Of Eternity.” Yes, there were two of them, but even cut in half, each showed sufficient strength to slow down something that’s, well, infinite in weight.

Oh but no, that’s not just a One-Time-High-End-Never-Before-Seen feat. Superman and Captain Marvel worked together to lift a book that had an infinite number of pages occupying the same space. So they LIFTED infinite weight, instead of just slowing it down. Yes, there again was two of them. But again, half of infinite weight is still infinite weight.

Since the Hulk fanboys love to show Hulk facing against teams, I thought I’d throw this in. Before the Mongul Junior training sessions that powered-up Superman and the post-OUR WORLDS AT WAR power-up, it required the collaborative efforts of Supergirl, Superboy, Steel, Wonder Woman, Big Barda and Martian Manhunter to TEMPORARILY restrain Superman, and they lost that battle.

Since the Hulk fanboys love so much to throw around Hulk beating Hyperion and Gladiator, Marvel’s two Superman clones, I thought I’d include a list of fights against Hulk-like characters Superman’s had. But this time I’m including the special circumstances involved that the Hulk fanboys leave-out that allowed Hulk to beat Gladiator, only this time the special circumstances are AGAINST Superman, but he still prevails.

SUPERMAN #676 had a flash-back of Superman’s first time facing against Solomon Grundy, a Hulk-like character. So Superman’s a good deal weaker than he is now, and is of course holding back. He appears to “kill” Grundy even when holding back, and much less powerful than currently, manages to kill a zombie-creature similar to Hulk. Oh and if there’s a rip-off between Solomon Grundy and Hulk, it’s Hulk who’s the rip-off. Solomon Grundy predates Hulk by a bit more than a couple decades.

In SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #32, when weakened from weeks of yellow solar energy deprivation, he still manages to knock-out Mongul, another Hulk-like character.

JLA/TITANS #2 had Superman KO Wildebeest, another Hulk-like character, with a casual back-hand blow.

In SUPERMAN: THE DOOMSDAY WARS #3 Superman draws blood from the post-HUNTER/PREY Doomsday, who’s much more powerful than in DEATH OF SUPERMAN, and even DEATH OF SUPERMAN Doomsday is superior to Hulk. Post-HUNTER/PREY Doomsday is far superior to Hulk.

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #116 shows Superman, while potentially weakened, beating down Kalibak, another Hulk-like character.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #594 has a disoriented Superman get overwhelmed and by Kalibak. When Superman gets his mind cleared, he over-turns Kalibak’s superior position and beats the shit out of Kalibak in three panels.

SUPERMAN(Volume Two) #175 shows Superman overwhelming Doomsday hand-to-hand. The same Doomsday who’s far superior to Hulk. Though Superman does use super speed, Doomsday is far stronger than Hulk at base strength, also has his own dynamic strength, and has a degree of super speed himself to compensate for Superman’s super speed.

In SUPERMAN/BATMAN #3 Superman’s weakened by Kryptonite, and still proceeds to catch Mongul’s punch and then over-power Mongul. Like I said before, Mongul’s a Hulk-like character.

Examples Of Superman Moving, Damaging Or Moving Equivalents Of Celestial Bodies:

Superman at his weakest without deliberately being weakened, lifted over head a mystically animated mountain that was nearly big enough to “crush Metropolis with one step.” Then he throws it in orbit around the sun, and it’s large enough to develop it’s own gravity.

Superman easily stopped, then threw, a space ship the size of a small moon.

While under Kryptonite poisoning, Superman starts punching the Moon to vent his frustrations, and Martian Manhunter stops him saying if he continues he’ll knock the Moon out of orbit. WHILE UNDER KRYPTONITE POISONING. I’d have to say that knocking the Moon out of orbit with your punches is a Hell of a lot more impressive than shaking the eastern seaboard. And even without the Kryptonite poisoning, Superman’s much stronger now than he was then.

Superman split one of Saturn’s moons in half with a single blow.

Superman’s strength was used to power the gears of a weapon that dwarfed the Earth/Moon system.

Superman moved Krypton in the Phantom Zone. While he did this with assistance of massive engines, there’s factors to consider. One: Superman was likely weakened by using-up solar energy reserves to power those engines with his Heat Vision. Two: He was doing this while under a red sun. Three: Krypton is 16 times the mass of Earth.

Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern moved the Moon, which weighs over 80 billion tons, so fast through Earth’s gravity, that the atmosphere around it caught fire. Then when their goal was reached, they towed the Moon back to it’s proper orbit in seconds. So the three of them towed a weight of over 80 billion tons at near-lightspeed.

Superman contained a miniature black hole in his hand, keeping it from expanding. It was said it’d destroy the solar system if it’s expansion wasn’t stopped.

Superman’s one-shot destroyed a moon made of “dark energy.” So that’s even more impressive than were it just normal dirt and rock.

Superman and General Zod fought on the planet Metropia, and their connection to the planet caused damage to it with every blow they landed. They were tearing the planet apart and destroyed it during their fight. And for all those who bring-up, “Well Hulk would’ve destroyed the Earth in WORLD WAR HULK!!” should be informed that this was under a RED SUN.

Superman and Earth-2 Superman had a fight that was shattering the boundaries of space/time, and they were knocking each other in and out of alternate timeline versions of themselves. Their fight also destroyed Earth-2, and they were fighting in orbit ABOVE Earth-2.

So I’m more and more intensely questioning myself why I even give Hulk the strength advantage, slight as it might be.

#45 Horace says:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:44 pm

Delta, you are absolutely retarded. In STAN LEE’S OWN WORDS: Hulk’s strength is potentialy INFINITE. And no, Superman has never fought a Hulk clone. Someone who gets stronger and madder the more you hit him? LOL. You’re a fucking idiot.

#46 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:57 pm

So, basically the Hulk fanboys are utterly ignorant of Superman. They think World War Hulk is going to beat Superman so badly.

So I’ll break down the arguments.

Durability: From shrugging off nuclear explosions (including while worn from days of fighting/torture and weakened from Kryptonite) and various equivalents to nuclear explosions(including being thrown from orbit to the Earth so hard, it created the same effects as nuclear winter), to surviving black holes and worm holes, to surviving the heat and pressure of a planet’s core while weakened to nearly powerless, to failing to be incapacitated by a near-Hulk level opponent trying to KILL Superman when Superman’s nearly powerless, to surviving the destruction of planets and moons, to surviving in the outer layers of a red sun, to being knocked hard enough to go from the Earth to the Moon in seconds, to surviving the destruction of the Sun-Eater and surviving a supernova WHILE IN THE SUN THAT’S EXPLODING, to not being KOed by a punch that was equivalent to being hit by the planet Earth(while weakened by Kryptonite), to only being concussed by an explosion equal to a million nuclear explosions, to walking through an energy beam from a possessed Green Lantern trying to kill Superman(and Green Lanterns have destroyed planets, contained nuclear explosions, contained a supernova on one occasion and more), to taking beatings from beings stronger than Hulk(Doomsday, Pcoketverse Superboy, Quex-El, Superboy Prime) and not being incapacitated, to taking energy blasts from Skyfather-level beings on multiple occasions, to surviving a massive energy blast from the Cosmic/Abstract Entity Imperiex Prime, to surviving a beating and his heart being ripped-out by the universal-level reality warping Emperor Joker, to only being hurt and superficially injured in a fight that was tearing a planet apart while he was under a RED SUN, to not being seriously injured in a fight that shattered the boundaries of space/time and destroyed an alternate Earth while above it in orbit, Superman’s got the durability advantage over Hulk.

Strength: Superman starts-off significantly stronger than a calm Hulk, and Superman when weaker than he is now actually has various feats comparable to what Hulk fanboys brag about to pump Hulk up when they claim World War Hulk would destroy Superman. There’s even a couple feats from this weaker Superman that surpass anything from WORLD WAR HULK that gets bragged about. These include throwing a space station four times the size of an aircraft carrier(and those weigh nearly 100,000 tons, so this would weigh far beyond that) beyond Earth’s gravity, at his weakest lifting a mountain-sized golem that was nearly big enough to crush a city as large as Metropolis with one step, resisting the pull of technologically made black holes, punching THROUGH Cyborg-Superman and creating destructive vibrations that shatter him into hundreds of pieces, drawing blood from the post-HUNTER/PREY Doomsday, nearly knocking the Moon out of orbit with his punches while suffering from KRYPTONITE POISONING and grabbing and stopping a small moon-sized spaceship then throwing it a great distance. And the current more powerful Superman actually has a good number of feats that range from more impressive to far more impressive than anything pushed from World War Hulk. These include destroying a construct that capable of destroying the solar system, slowing down the Spectre’s consciousness with Wonder Woman’s assistance, punching Wonder Woman so hard she goes from the Sun to the Earth in seconds(and this takes light a little over 8 minutes to travel), pushing against the equivalent of 200 quintillion tons of weight with ONE arm and relative ease, lifting with Captain Marvel’s help a book that had infinite weight, splitting a moon in half, moving a planet 16 times Earth’s size after depleting reserves and under a red sun even if he had help, holding a miniature black hole, having a fight destroy a planet while under a red sun, and having a fight that shattered space/time boundaries and destroyed an alternate Earth while the two were in orbit above it. Simply because he’s the Hulk, I give him the strength advantage, but it’s barely there, and I’m VERY close to giving Superman the nod for a strength advantage between the two. Plus, like mentioned before, Superman has a significant strength advantage over a calm Hulk, so Hulk might not even get the chance to get strong enough to threaten Superman.

Speed: It’s really a joke to think Hulk has a chance in this category. Hulk’s pretty fast for a big guy like him, but he’s still owned in speed by Quicksilver and Spider-Man. Superman on the other hand has various speed showings that are pathetic to his most impressive speed feats, and his pathetic speed showings still put Spider-Man or Quicksilver to utter shame. When he was far slower than he is now, he matched and surpassed Doomsday in speed during DEATH OF SUPERMAN. Doomsday was shown to have a degree of super speed, said to be faster than Flash which MIGHT have been true at the time since Flash was often limited to the speed of sound then. Doomsday showed speed so superior to high-level, but still normal human athletes that they didn’t even see the attack coming. Doomsday showed superior speed to Maxima, who has speed at least comparable to Spider-Man, and the Bloodwynd-era Martian Manhunter, who has super speed. And this was just in DEATH OF SUPERMAN. He’s also completely speed-blitzed Doomsday in more recent fights. By comparison, Hulk was getting hit at least dozens of times by Quicksilver before Hulk finally got a lucky shot and knocked Quicksilver away. Had Quicksilver been able to punch Hulk hard enough to hurt Hulk, like Superman can more than do to Hulk, Quicksilver would’ve completely owned Hulk. But Superman has numerous examples of going from about 50% of lightspeed, to well beyond lightspeed, including roughly 3,000 times lightspeed, and him traveling from near a solar system that’s over 25 lightYEARS away and back to Earth in minutes. And numerous occasions have him out-racing energy beams, including an example of him blocking at least six energy beams like he was speed-blitzing an opponent. He’s casually caught bullets when not even actively using his super speed, has unpacked an apartment and brought back popcorn and a movie in literally a blink of an eye, showed he can move and plan well beyond the speed of thought, and showed he can plan things out in less than a nano-second, one billionth of a second or 0.000000001 for a number reference. Also, Superman’s stated lightning, which travels at about 60,000 miles per-second, moves in slow motion to him. So if Superman uses even 1% of his speed, there’s no way Hulk would have a chance.

Senses: Hulk has to my knowledge just regular senses, while Superman has a wide variety. Smell and touch are both enhanced far beyond the human norm, he can hear from anywhere on Earth and apparently even through space as well as pin-point people in a city of 11 million people by distinctive sounds like their heart beat and the rustling of their clothes, easily scan through the planet and can see out-side the galaxy, see through matter with X-Ray vision, see energy through-out the electromagnetic spectrum, and see things at least as small as a sub-atomic particle. Why do I bring up senses for a fight? Superman can see Hulk’s molecular, atomic and sub-atomic structure as well as the gamma irradiation of Hulk’s cellular structure, and can potentially find weaknesses. Plus it’s just one more thing that makes Superman more powerful than Hulk that people don’t tend to think about.

Energy Projection: Well we know Superman’s got Heat Vision and Hulk doesn’t have any energy projection(though did have energy weapons during WORLD WAR HULK). People think Superman can’t hurt Hulk with Heat Vision. They’re wrong. Superman’s used it to cauterize holes in the fabric of reality. He contribute to the recreation of the Big Bang. He hurt Doomsday with a full-intensity blast during their first fight after a lesser intensity blast AND the assistance of Booster Gold, Fire, Guy Gardner with Sinestro’s Power Ring and the Bloodwynd-era Martian Manhunter’s “Martian Vision” didn’t even scratch Doomsday. He KOed the Cyborg-Superman with one burst of Heat Vision. While under a red sun he used his Heat Vision to power massive engines that were made with moving a planet 16 times Earth’s mass in mind. He’s used Heat Vision to cauterize an Imperiex Probe, then blasted a hole through an Imperiex Probe. Imperiex Probes were durable enough not to even be scratched by explosions equivalent to nuclear detonations. He put Power Girl in agony with a low-intensity burst. While weakened by Kryptonite he used it to stun both Captain Atom and Captain Marvel. And once when not even going all-out, but deciding to stop “being polite” he melted Major Force’s skin with Heat Vision. Superman can very well hurt Hulk, BADLY, with his Heat Vision.

Super-Breath: Even though this wouldn’t cause significant damage to Hulk, it’s definitely an advantage Superman has that Hulk doesn’t. He’s used it to restrain superhumanly strong opponents before, so it can be used to restrain Hulk in ice, even if temporary. Considering Superman’s speed advantage though, even a few seconds can be like all the time in the world to Superman.

Experience, Fighting Skills And Intelligence:

Superman is far more experienced than Hulk is. In addition to having about 15 years of experience in the normal DC Universe, he’s got another thousand in DC’s Asguard, where time flowed differently. He’s also been better trained than Hulk in hand-to-hand combat and has some fighting skill feats that would be impressive even compared to the B-Class and lower-level A-Class Street Level guys like Nightwing and the second Green Arrow, so even a depowered Superman can hold his own against Batman or Captain America. This has been proven in his fights with Wonder Woman, Orion, when depowered against Kobra, a few times him depowered against mobs of opponents, and showing Martial Arts skills against Maxima and Captain Marvel. At the WORST for Superman, in regards to IQ and scientific knowledge, Superman’s almost as smart as Bruce Banner. Superman himself is a genius with a good deal of scientific knowledge, so he might even be smarter in this regard to Bruce Banner. And in terms of tactical and strategic intelligence, Superman is far superior to any version of Hulk.

Miscellaneous Powers: Hulk can do things like create that Thunder Clap, has regenerative powers, and his body can adapt to hostile environments, like his lungs altering to breath in water or survive in space. He can also live a really long time as shown in alternate timelines with The Maestro. Superman can also do this Thunder Clap, also has regenerative powers himself(though not as good as Hulk’s, though Superman’s durability advantage is so much higher than Hulk’s that it doesn’t matter), can drain/leech energy from other sources and can potentially drain Hulk’s gamma radiation, also can live a really long time with being in DC’s Asguard for a thousand years and still being alive in the 853rd century, has telepathic-like abilities including astral combat and illusions through Torqausm-Vo, has been showing a super-human voice(that’s obliterated a HUGE section of ocean apparently several miles wide and many more long) with potential to use it as a sonic attack, can generate enough static electricity to create a magnetic field powerful enough to contain a black hole and keep it from expanding, and has shown invisibility, intangibility, and the ability to create destructive vibrations or “exorcise” a “phantom planet” from reality by matching the reversing it’s vibrational pattern, with his speed.

“Hulk’s A Team Wrecker!!” Argument:

Superman’s also shown himself to be a team wrecker on numerous occasions, as well as matching or defeating beings shown to be team wreckers. And keep in mind, DC heroes and villains are more powerful than Marvel heroes and villains in general.

“Hulk’s DESTROYED Superman Clones” Argument:

Hulk defeated Hyperion, who’s much less powerful and much less experienced than Superman. Hulk defeated Gladiator, only through multiple special plot-device circumstances, and Gladiator’s not as powerful as Superman. On the other hand, Superman’s defeated Hulk-like characters on at least ten occasions, with four of them being Superman weakened by factors like yellow solar radiation deprivation or exposure to Kryptonite or other factors. Superman also has experience against Rampage and The General, also Hulk-like characters. And Superman’s beaten Doomsday on at least four occasions, and Doomsday has always been more powerful than Hulk. Three of those occasions Doomsday is so far above the Hulk it’s laughable to compare them. Also there’s the little fact that Superman beat Hulk in MARVEL VERSUS DC #3. Bitch all you want about it being a fan-voted crossover, but it’s only one more point Superman has against Hulk. And this is in addition to Superman’s victories and experience against numerous Hulk-like characters, including the much more powerful Doomsday.

“Superman’s Weak Against Red Solar Energy, Kryptonite And Magick!!” Argument:

Well, technically. He’s only out-right weak against Kryptonite, magick depends on the example but he’s shrugged-off mystical energy blasts from Skyfather-level beings and survived a fight with Emperor Joker, and red solar energy depends on his reserves and the duration and how he’s exposed to it. But even Kryptonite is becoming less and less effective to the point that he seems immune to it. But the fact of the matter is, even if they were devastating vulnerabilities, what the FUCK does that have to do with a fight against Hulk? Hulk neither has fore-knowledge of these vulnerabilities, nor any way for him to exploit them under his own power. So there’s no point in bringing these up.

So, basically Hulk fanboys are trying to argue that Hulk is going to beat someone who’s at BEST for Hulk near Hulk’s upper-level of strength and arguably a GOOD deal stronger than Hulk was ever shown in WORLD WAR HULK as well as starts-off significantly stronger than a calm Hulk, more durable than Hulk, so much faster than Hulk that Hulk’s a literal statue to him, has senses that could find exploitable weaknesses in Hulk’s structure, has Heat Vision that can really fuck-up Hulk were mercy not given to Hulk, is far smarter than Hulk in regards to battle tactics and is a far more experienced and better trained fighter, has a variety of more miscellaneous powers that can come in handy against Hulk, has shown numerous times himself to be a team wrecker, has more experience against Hulk-like characters than Hulk has against Superman-like characters AND has defeated Hulk before, can examine and find exploitable weaknesses in Hulk, and has no weaknesses Hulk could possibly exploit.

Why is there even an argument that Hulk has much of a chance? Because of how comics are, Hulk could win one or two here and there, but Superman has every advantage except strength, and that’s only a MAYBE in Hulk’s favor. So the odds are massively in favor for Superman, and more and more Superman’s gaining the ONLY advantage Hulk has.

#47 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 3:11 pm

So Horace, you’re conceding that Superman’s stronger than Hulk. Because Stan Lee saying Hulk’s POTENTIALLY infinite in strength is far inferior to the comics actually showing Superman lifting infinite weight.

And yes, Superman has fought Hulk-clones. Rampage, The General, Mongul, Kalibak, Solomon Grundy and Doomsday all would fall into that, though I use the term “clone” loosely since Solomon Grundy predates Hulk. Generally I mean huge hulking(no pun intended) bricks, often have regeneration and aren’t the brightest. I might even include Bizzarro as a Hulk-clone considering Bizzaro has a lot in common with Hulk other than having the majority of the basics of Superman’s power(except he has firebreath and ice vision). If they MUST have increasing strength to be a Hulk-clone, then yes, Rampage and Doomsday both fit that description. If I’m the one who’s absolutely retarded and you’re the competent one, why did this fail to come to mind about Doomsday, since I’ve mentioned more than once that Doomsday also has dynamic strength? I’ve also brought-up that Doomsday also starts-off a good deal stronger than Superman, so far beyond a calm Hulk’s strength level.

If I’m the fucking idiot, then why don’t you argue the facts I’ve brought-up instead of pitching a hissy fit like a 5 year old and actually debate with your own examples? Why didn’t you? Is it because I raped the fuck out of all your little arguments?

#48 Sammy says:
March 15th, 2010 at 7:08 pm

you know what I find funny is the fact that no one really knows how potentially strong either Superman or Hulk is or ever could be. They are probably about the same in strength. Why keep arguing about it when it’s not going to make a differance in anybodies opinion of their favorite? I say call it a tie or atleast just let it be. If Hulk is DC universe Superman wins. If Superman is Marvel universe then Hulk wins. Honestly it all comes down to where they are and who is doing the writing. Can’t we all just concede that it would be a kick ass fight and go on to something else?

#49 Delta says:
March 15th, 2010 at 7:16 pm

Not really Sammy. Even IF Hulk is stronger, which is becoming more and more questionable, Superman’s got way more advantages that make him far more powerful, not to mention is smarter tactically and a much better fighter.

Hulk’s ONLY advantage is slowly being lost as DC pushes Superman closer and closer to his peak of Pre-CRISIS levels.