DC COMIC fans..

[RobertScorpio]

Who do you think are the five strongest characters in DC comics??? Here is my selection (and my son's too)

Spectre
Phantom Stranger
Anti-Monitor (before his defeat in crisis of infinite earths)
Mordru
The Shazam Wizard...


Rob

 

[Hermiod]

It's a sad indictment on the current state of DC Comics that this list doesn't just consist of 'Superman'.

 

[byron lomax]

It's a sad indictment on the current state of DC Comics that this list doesn't just consist of 'Superman'.

Why?

Oh, how awful! There are characters more powerful than Superman! And some of those characters who have also been around for decades!

 

[RobertScorpio]

It's a sad indictment on the current state of DC Comics that this list doesn't just consist of 'Superman'.

Why?

Oh, how awful! There are characters more powerful than Superman! And some of those characters who have also been around for decades!

I'd stack GREEN LANTERN (Alan Scott or Hal Jordan) against Superman any day of the weak...and Scott's Green Lantern was around in the early 40s

Rob

 

[Hermiod]

It's a sad indictment on the current state of DC Comics that this list doesn't just consist of 'Superman'.

Why?

Oh, how awful! There are characters more powerful than Superman! And some of those characters who have also been around for decades!

I'll tell you why - Superman should be at the top of the tree, or at the very least very close to it - and he would be if not for the constant reboots and retcons and 'crises' he's been put through over the years.

They build him up and build him up and build him up and then have another crisis to put him back to struggling to lift a Volkswagen. It's disrespectful to the character to saddle him with writers so devoid of imagination that they can't think of challenges for him that don't involve rebooting the character every five minutes.

Supergirl gets it even worse, she's been repeatedly wiped from existence entirely.

 

[byron lomax]

It's a sad indictment on the current state of DC Comics that this list doesn't just consist of 'Superman'.

Why?

Oh, how awful! There are characters more powerful than Superman! And some of those characters who have also been around for decades!

I'll tell you why - Superman should be at the top of the tree, or at the very least very close to it - and he would be if not for the constant reboots and retcons and 'crises' he's been put through over the years.

They build him up and build him up and build him up and then have another crisis to put him back to struggling to lift a Volkswagen. It's disrespectful to the character to saddle him with writers so devoid of imagination that they can't think of challenges for him that don't involve rebooting the character every five minutes.

Supergirl gets it even worse, she's been repeatedly wiped from existence entirely.

Fair enough, but "big event" stories that have bombarded comics in the past twenty years or so are usually more down to editors than writers themselves. It's usually the writers who have their runs on a character disrupted by the latest crisis/life-changing event, which they pretty much have no choice but to take part in (at least that was the case in the 90s, anyway).

But anyway, the list shouldn't exist of JUST Superman.

 

[The Fatman]

It's a sad indictment on the current state of DC Comics that this list doesn't just consist of 'Superman'.

Why?

Oh, how awful! There are characters more powerful than Superman! And some of those characters who have also been around for decades!

I'll tell you why - Superman should be at the top of the tree, or at the very least very close to it - and he would be if not for the constant reboots and retcons and 'crises' he's been put through over the years.

They build him up and build him up and build him up and then have another crisis to put him back to struggling to lift a Volkswagen. It's disrespectful to the character to saddle him with writers so devoid of imagination that they can't think of challenges for him that don't involve rebooting the character every five minutes.

Supergirl gets it even worse, she's been repeatedly wiped from existence entirely.

Respectfully, I 100% disagree that Superman should even be in the top 10 most powerful beings in the DCU. Off the top of my head (In addition to the beings listed in "Robert Scorpio's original post) I can think of:

Monitor/Anti-Monitor
Krona
Mister Mxyzptlk
Darkseid, Metron, or any of the New Gods.
Any emotional entity (Ion, Parallax, etc...)
Guardians of Oa
RobertScorpio mentioned Mordru, but that should be expanded to include all the lords of Order and Chaos.

I agree with you that the frequent reboots of Superman do hurt the character. However, while you blame poor writers for depowering him, I blame poor writers for over-powering Kal-El to irrational levels of power. Do I want Supes de-powered to golden age levels? No... but the power levels he was depicted as having pre-crisis were ridiculous. Personally, I think John Byrne had the right idea about the appropriate power level for him.

 

[Hermiod]

^They're only ridiculous if he doesn't have challenges. I'm not suggesting that he go back to having a new superpower every week like you'd see on Superdickery, but with his core power set he shouldn't be getting blasted unconscious by Doctor frakking Light or losing fights to Wonder Woman.

 

[RobertScorpio]

^They're only ridiculous if he doesn't have challenges. I'm not suggesting that he go back to having a new superpower every week like you'd see on Superdickery, but with his core power set he shouldn't be getting blasted unconscious by Doctor frakking Light or losing fights to Wonder Woman.

Oh...I do agree with this. And Whoever decided to give him a weakness to magic really ruined him..they need to get rid of that weakness...

Rob

 

[Hermiod]

^Hmmmmm, he doesn't have a weakness to magic, he just has no more of a defence against it than anyone else does.

 

[RobertScorpio]

^Hmmmmm, he doesn't have a weakness to magic, he just has no more of a defence against it than anyone else does.

I thought SUPERMAN has a weakness to magic. That's how I've read it over the years I've been reading DC comics. Thats why Shazam can hold his own with him...why Wonder Woman's lasso can contain him...and why others with magic, even Mystlpliks, can defeat him...

Rob

 

[Nerys Myk]

In those cases the lasso and magics are doing what they do to everyone. Superman's powers do not include resistance to magical objects or spells. Being a "science" based hero how could he? Captain Marvel is really strong, thats how he can hold his own against Superman.

 

[Hermiod]

^He does not have a weakness to it, it just affects him the same way it does everyone else. His Kryptonian abilities just don't make him invulnerable to it.

Captain Marvel can go toe to toe with him because his magical abilities grant him the strength of Hercules, which is somewhat comparable to Superman's own strength. Wonder Woman's lasso can hold him because it can hold anyone else. Wonder Woman herself is no different, her powers are supernatural in nature too.

The only reason this is ever a problem for me is when they do it on Smallville - because the episodes always rank right up there with the show's worst.

 

[Unicron]

I'd stack GREEN LANTERN (Alan Scott or Hal Jordan) against Superman any day of the weak...and Scott's Green Lantern was around in the early 40s

Rob

Unless you wear a yellow costume or carry a wooden bat, depending on which version of the Lantern you'd prefer...

Is "strongest" mainly based on physical strength, or potential range of powers? A Green Lantern would certainly fall into the latter.

 

[The Fatman]

I'd stack GREEN LANTERN (Alan Scott or Hal Jordan) against Superman any day of the weak...and Scott's Green Lantern was around in the early 40s

Rob

Unless you wear a yellow costume or carry a wooden bat, depending on which version of the Lantern you'd prefer...

Is "strongest" mainly based on physical strength, or potential range of powers? A Green Lantern would certainly fall into the latter.

I can't speak for everyone, but I was considering potential range of powers. I absolutely would rank any of the Lanterns as more powerful than Superman, especially the new post-Rebirth Lantern Corp that doesn't have the yellow impurity.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I'd stack GREEN LANTERN (Alan Scott or Hal Jordan) against Superman any day of the weak...and Scott's Green Lantern was around in the early 40s

Rob

Unless you wear a yellow costume or carry a wooden bat, depending on which version of the Lantern you'd prefer...

Is "strongest" mainly based on physical strength, or potential range of powers? A Green Lantern would certainly fall into the latter.

I can't speak for everyone, but I was considering potential range of powers. I absolutely would rank any of the Lanterns as more powerful than Superman, especially the new post-Rebirth Lantern Corp that doesn't have the yellow impurity.

What about the Phantom Stranger? How powerful is this guy? And I cant wait until he shows up on BRAVE AND THE BOLD cartoon soon...

Rob

 

[Nerys Myk]

We're talking two different types of powere here. Physical power (strength) vs energy/mental powers. GL's powers are almost like magic. He wishes for it and the ring makes it happen.

 

[The Fatman]

Unless you wear a yellow costume or carry a wooden bat, depending on which version of the Lantern you'd prefer...

Is "strongest" mainly based on physical strength, or potential range of powers? A Green Lantern would certainly fall into the latter.

I can't speak for everyone, but I was considering potential range of powers. I absolutely would rank any of the Lanterns as more powerful than Superman, especially the new post-Rebirth Lantern Corp that doesn't have the yellow impurity.

What about the Phantom Stranger? How powerful is this guy? And I cant wait until he shows up on BRAVE AND THE BOLD cartoon soon...

Rob

Oh, the Stanger is definitely up there in terms of power, but he's much like Uatu the Watcher in the Marvel U in that the true scope of his power is unknown due to his policy of non-involvement. I know he's absolutely immortal (being neither living nor dead, the concept of death does not apply to him at all), he can travel anywhere instantly (time, space, dimensions, etc...), and he's seemingly omniscient. Even if he's physically no stronger than a regular mortal, I would say that qualifies him as pretty damn powerful.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Pre-crisis of Infinite earths, i had often wondered if the Spectre and Phantom Stranger had ever met....I thought Spectre was an Earth2 only here, and Phantom Stranger was definately an Earth1 only hero. But I recently found a Phantom Stranger website, and it definately shows that the two teamed-up, on Earth-one. Was this another spectre? or the same? Its left up in the air I think..

rob

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I heard somewhere that a recent Supergirl was actually strongr than Superman