Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

[Checkmate]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

To address your point more directly, Professor X was always supposed to be capable of this level of power, but he always took the high road. Theoretically, he could have probably solved a lot of the X-Men's problems by himself, but he and Magneto chose to fight it out through proxies for the most part. A very 1960s conceit, which is probably understandable considering when Stan Lee came up with all this.

Oh I completely agree, which is why I'm equally able to ignore it from both companies.

 

The trouble with your solution though, is that the numerous times Prof X turned Evil or the Evil Prof X from another dimension should have been able to do the same thing to their enemies, but yeah I love writers, let when they forget whole powers *Gambit's hypnotism). Take the good with the bad I guess.

[RexMundi]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Yeah but forgetting powers is something I'm used to (Martian Manhunter is the single biggest victim of this). STUPID stuff (Gambit, dropping Juggernaut), I find unforgivable. As far as Strongest HERO, by Company right now, it would look like this.

 

Marvel: The Hulk (No Naysayers here, Hulk is Strongest One there Is.)

 

DC: Superman

 

Wildstorm: Mr. Majestic

 

Top Cow: Tough one since they've gone all "I GOTS SHARP THINGS ON ME DIDGITS!" ....Playing it safe, and saying Patriot, from Rising Stars. If I can't use Rising Stars, then it's Pitt.

 

Image: Currently, most likely the Savage Dragon. Formerly Supreme. Samaritan trumps Dragon, but Supreme outclasses Samaritan. Could toss Invincible in there as well. Continuity is not an Image Strong point.

 

Arcade Comics: Supreme (Cause Liefelds a poofta)

 

Dark Horse: Toss up between Titan, and Grace. Goes back and forth though Vortex cheats and can beat both of them.

 

Dynamite: Tough call. Lot of Strong guys. Hero though, it has to go to Samson......Former Hero....Captain Future though Black Terror ranks with either of them.

 

Could add a Lot more if I want to touch on the Limbo companies or the Oddball Indies.

 

~Rex

[lapsedgamer]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Oh I completely agree, which is why I'm equally able to ignore it from both companies.

 

The trouble with your solution though, is that the numerous times Prof X turned Evil or the Evil Prof X from another dimension should have been able to do the same thing to their enemies, but yeah I love writers, let when they forget whole powers *Gambit's hypnotism). Take the good with the bad I guess.

 

The one thing I really liked about the Grant Morrison X books that I read was Cassandra Nova. She was really the answer to the question of what would happen if Professor X was a villain.

 

This is why I like my characters to be relatively uncomplicated. I prefer a character with a small tight group of abilities to Swiss Army knife characters with a little bit of everything thrown in. I think it makes fro a better story when you have someone trying to stretch their abilities to fit a tough situation as opposed to a situation where the writer has to have the hero forget a power, or a full range of powers, for the villain to be a challenge. Spider-Man or Green Arrow, not Superman or Iron Man.When I was playing Champions regularly, all my builds were along this line.

[casualplayer]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Is there a reason why no ladies made the list, other than most of the ones who would likely be included are female versions of men who made the list? Suprema and Supergirl and Mary Marvel and She-Hulk and such. Makes me think there needs to be a non-derivative powerhouse female.

 

There was a window of time when She-Hulk started weight training as Jen Walters and was so strong she had to wear a restraining suit just to function.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Is there a reason why no ladies made the list, other than most of the ones who would likely be included are female versions of men who made the list? Suprema and Supergirl and Mary Marvel and She-Hulk and such. Makes me think there needs to be a non-derivative powerhouse female.

 

There was a window of time when She-Hulk started weight training as Jen Walters and was so strong she had to wear a restraining suit just to function.

 

Titania is non-derivative, and her strength is fairly high up there. Maxima, too. Wonder Woman, of course. Zarda. Fairchild. Frenzy. Rampage. Night Girl. M, from New Mutants. I'm sure there are plenty more.

[lemming]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Nightgirl, as long as it was dark

[lapsedgamer]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Nightgirl' date=' as long as it was dark[/quote']

 

I read this Legion book recently where they finally hit upon the idea of teaming Night Girl with Shadow Lass. A definite case of the whole being more worthwhile than the individual parts. In that book, they also entertained that idea that Color Kid was actually tied into the emptional spectrum, amping his powers up quite a lot. They played with various little stunts like that so that the Subs actually were pretty tough in a fight.

[lemming]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

I read this Legion book recently where they finally hit upon the idea of teaming Night Girl with Shadow Lass. A definite case of the whole being more worthwhile than the individual parts. In that book' date=' they also entertained that idea that Color Kid was actually tied into the emptional spectrum, amping his powers up quite a lot. They played with various little stunts like that so that the Subs actually were pretty tough in a fight.[/quote']

 

Nice. Did they use Infectious Lass?

[SuperPheemy]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

I'm gonna have to go with Big Green here. His displays of strength are (dare I say..) subtle when compared to planet-moving, time-stream-punching, or other similar example which can be pulled from the thousands of years of mythology and fantastic tales. But what Hulk is written as doing is always pushing the limits of what he was established to do. Thor's Hammer, only lifted by the worthy? Hulk drags it from the ground, and gives everyone a shock. He punches Onslaught so hard that it shatters it into a being of pure psychic energy. Or in other words, there literally is no upper limit to the Hulk's strength as the character is defined.

 

Now, Hulk's baseline strength, like when he's running with the Banner Persona dominant, is simply really *really* strong. In the league with Thor or Martian Manhunter. So when he's "STRONGEST THERE IS", we're talking about his might becoming a plot device.

 

The same really can be said for almost any hero who's defining characteristic is strength though. The only real benchmark comparison I can make in this instance is that Hulk and Superman have tangled more than a few times in situations where they're representative of their respective Universe's definition of unbridled strength. In these fights, it's well established that Superman is stronger than Hulk, until Hulk gets too angry at which point even Superman realizes that the Hulk will indeed become stronger.

 

I'll extrapolate this a bit, because Superman has had more crossovers than Hulk between different companies, and in those instances, it's acknowledged that Superman is the strongest character in the room, so by that scale, the Hulk can grow stronger than those characters as well.

 

But we are going into a "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" type of argument here. All of these characters have been written at times so strong that the writer has had to if not make up terminology, at least think of really-super-big-scientific-numbers to describe how awesomely strong the character in question is. In the end is Superman's press of 200 Quintillion Tons that much less or more than Goku when his power goes "over 12,000!!!"?

[RexMundi]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Since someone brought it up, as far as the XX Chromosome characters out there, at least by company (And not dealing "age"), would look like this. Not listing villians or folks that cheat either. Raw Muscle.

 

DC: Wonder Woman. Followed by Power Girl, then Supergirl.

 

Marvel: She Hulk (Walters, not the....other one)....Marvels got a legion of other Super Strong Women but they all fall significantly behind the Jen Walters She Hulk.

 

Image: Suprema (this of course qualifies for Arcade as well), followed by Caitlin Fairchild when Gen 13 was an Image Title.

 

Wildstorm: No one. All the women in Wildstorm, tend towards Guns, Sharp Things, or Nanites. I honestly can't think of a super Strong Woman in Wildstorms line up. Wait! Caitlin Fairchild from Gen 13. The whole Image Exploding into 34,000 separate companies makes things annoying to qualify.

 

Dynamite: None. Dynamite goes more for the Femme Fatale "Pulp-esque" heroines. No real Muscle flexers there that I can think of.

 

Pretty much it. In comics, your Women, tend towards, Flashy stuff. Blasters Stuff Psi Stuff, anything that let's them pose as in a Thong stuff in a pose that would destroy the spine of even the most ardent Stripper. It's not from a lack of trying though, it's just that character wise, there's no real competing with what's already out there. Even more so then the "men", you just end up with "clones" and "Xerox Commandos".

 

~Rex

[Lucius]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Yeah but forgetting powers is something I'm used to (Martian Manhunter is the single biggest victim of this). STUPID stuff (Gambit, dropping Juggernaut), I find unforgivable. As far as Strongest HERO, by Company right now, it would look like this.

 

Marvel: The Hulk (No Naysayers here, Hulk is Strongest One there Is.)

 

DC: Superman

 

Wildstorm: Mr. Majestic

 

Top Cow: Tough one since they've gone all "I GOTS SHARP THINGS ON ME DIDGITS!" ....Playing it safe, and saying Patriot, from Rising Stars. If I can't use Rising Stars, then it's Pitt.

 

Image: Currently, most likely the Savage Dragon. Formerly Supreme. Samaritan trumps Dragon, but Supreme outclasses Samaritan. Could toss Invincible in there as well. Continuity is not an Image Strong point.

 

Arcade Comics: Supreme (Cause Liefelds a poofta)

 

Dark Horse: Toss up between Titan, and Grace. Goes back and forth though Vortex cheats and can beat both of them.

 

Dynamite: Tough call. Lot of Strong guys. Hero though, it has to go to Samson......Former Hero....Captain Future though Black Terror ranks with either of them.

 

Could add a Lot more if I want to touch on the Limbo companies or the Oddball Indies.

 

~Rex

 

Archie Comics: Big Moose.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Palindromedary Enterprises

[RexMundi]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Heh, technically speaking, Archie Comics would have been The Shield, from their Red Circle Line, still, DC bought that, so you are correct. It's All Moose now.

 

~Rex

[Bloodstone]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

DC: Wonder Woman. Followed by Power Girl' date=' then Supergirl.[/quote']

 

While I would put Wonder Woman at the top too, her strength level varies so much based on writer. Some writers get the idea that she's supposed to be on par with Superman. Others feel that she's clearly inferior in both strength and speed to the Kryptonians and the Marvel Family...

 

Wildstorm: No one. All the women in Wildstorm, tend towards Guns, Sharp Things, or Nanites. I honestly can't think of a super Strong Woman in Wildstorms line up. Wait! Caitlin Fairchild from Gen 13. The whole Image Exploding into 34,000 separate companies makes things annoying to qualify.

 

Zealot's actually got Spider-man level superstrength. So not on par with Fairchild, but no slouch either.

 

Dynamite: None. Dynamite goes more for the Femme Fatale "Pulp-esque" heroines. No real Muscle flexers there that I can think of.

 

Red Sonja? Pretty damn strong, if not an outright brick...

[Susano]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Red Sonja? Pretty damn strong' date=' if not an outright brick...[/quote']

 

By all rights, she should be weaker than Conan, who's not more than a 30 (I give him a 25).

[RexMundi]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Heh, I'll go with Red Sonja. She would be the most powerful Physically of the batch of folks Dynamite put out. As for Zealot in the Wildstorm Universe, Kinda iffy there really, she's still more "Sharp Things" then strong as her gimmick. Still, good point.

 

In DC though (current), Wonder Woman is the # 2 spot, more then capable of over powering Super Girl (Was one of the funniest fights ever) for example, slapping aside giant chunks of falling moon, holding up the golden gate bride etc. Only the DUMB writers, forget how strong she's supposed to be and if you ask the majority of the DC writers who the strongest one is after Superman, they're gonna say, Wonder Woman.

 

I would have tossed Mary Marvel in the list but right now, she doesn't have any powers so she doesn't count. Trying to keep the list at Current Production levels, heh. Another reason for avoiding the Spidey Strength girls, because then you would need 50 pages just for the marvel list. Golden Age Wonder Woman was able to pull the entire Island of Themescryia out of the way of a Tsunami, with one hand, and Golden Age Wonder Woman could increase her strength ten fold, by taking off the bracers, though berserk amazon rage, is not a good thing for collateral damage issues.

 

Going back to the Image thing, A lot of their Sharp Things and thongs crowd, started poofing in with super strength as more of an Add On then anything else. Lot of after the fact thing.

 

~Rex

[Susano]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Looking over my library, I made found these super-strong anime/manga characters. All STR values use HERO.

 

Goku and company from Dragon Ball. Most of the main cast is super strong, starting around 30 for the weakest and getting up near 50 (or more) for the strongest. This only takes into account DB and DBZ. I'm ignoring DB GT.

 

Haruko from FLCL. How strong is she? No idea, but she hits a baseball into orbit.

 

Aisha Clan-Clan from Outlaw Star. Exact strength is unkown, but no more than 35.

 

A-ko and B-ko from Project: A-ko. A-ko is the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman and can toss around MBTs like they were toys. B-ko's battlesuit is almost as powerful.

 

Gally/Alita from Battle Angel. Once again her strength is hard to say, but it's at least 40 and might be up around 60. She's really fast too, and most of her power comes from her extra Damage Classes on her martial arts, not just raw strength.

 

Mian Toris from Caravan Kidd. Minimum of 30 STR, maybe higher. Shion Claris from the same series has around a 40.

 

Oh, and Dark Horse has Empowered, who's suit lets her chuck Hummers around. STR of... well... 50? Might be higher.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

I stopped reading DC comics at the end of Infinite Crisis, but in that series it was at least implied that Power Girl's abilities finally stopped yo-yoing after contact with her cousin and Earth-2's Lois Lane. If she ended up running on all cylinders as a pre-Crisis Earth-2 Kryptonian from that point on, she should be considerably more powerful than Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel.

[RexMundi]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Nope PG is stabilized at More Powerful then Super Girl, Less powerful then Either Big Red S. (Because she's basically, the Adult Super Girl) but they pretty much tossed Pre Crisis Out the Window with the Exception of Superboy Prime otherwise Kal-L would have mopped the floor with ALL of them. Power Girl is being fixed up in her own series right now which I have to say, is VERY good, and well worth reading. She ended up running on all Cylinders, Just not Pre First Crisis All Cylinders. Most of her wonky power curve stuff though came from other Writers trying to do stuff with her (She's Atlantean! Yeah that's Right!), so they basically applied some "Subjective Reality" to the situation, and went back to her being Kryptonian.

 

Again, her new Comic, is very good. Arts a lot of fun to. I'd say, it ranks as good as Gail Simone's Secret Six Stuff. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, and drawn by Amanda Conner (Who draws a touch cartoony, but it's expressive and really works for some reason in this book).

 

 

~Rex

[Bloodstone]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

Again' date=' her new Comic, is very good. Arts a lot of fun to. I'd say, it ranks as good as Gail Simone's Secret Six Stuff. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, and drawn by Amanda Conner (Who draws a touch cartoony, but it's expressive and really works for some reason in this book).[/quote']

 

I read it and like it, but Jimmy does some very odd things with the book. It's pretty silly, so the tone doesn't quite fit in with rest of the DCU or even PG's other appearances.

 

It reminds me of She-Hulk, in a good way.

 

But I will have to protest if PG continues to give aliens a free pass on murder!

 

Oh, and Amanda is both skilled and rather cute

 

She's also Jimmy's GF, the lucky dog!

[RexMundi]

Re: Physical might: Strongest characters in comics and other media, and benchmarks

 

It should change. You're right the book is quirky, but it's Fun to read and look at. A lot of it carries over into the JSA and JSA All Stars book to where you run into PG doing Laundry and Mundane stuff like that (Which is really funny, but you have to see it). Honestly, that set of Writers and Artists have turned her into a very fun character, and her solo book, is worth adding to anyone's list. Even if it's not your Style, it grows on you fast. DC's current crop of writers and Artists are very good right now, and as far as the topic goes, DC's Top 5, Has three Women in it.

 

~Rex