>Spider-man is a funny hero who's jumping and quipping around villains >he fights the baddies, but it looks like they're also strong and can hurt Spidey >turns out he's much more powerful than anyone thinks he is >he's constantly holding back >except when a building falls over him and he has to find some inner strength to lift the debris >or when someone gets him so angry he goes batshit crazy and tears off faces, hunts down even his strongest enemies
So how strong is he exactly? Is it true that he holds back, and villains like the Kingpin are no match for him? But then why won't he simply overpower the baddies all the time?
>Is it true that he holds back, and villains like the Kingpin are no match for him? Yes. >But then why won't he simply overpower the baddies all the time? Because he holds back.
Bentley Baker
I mean he is insanely strong (pic related)
>Because he holds back.
Why, though? He could save countless life if he would simple beat his enemies with one or two simple blows.
Because it isn't an exact science and he can't just flawlessly calculate each blow to use 80% of his full strength or whatever every time. If he punches too hard just once, it could kill someone, so he never takes the chance.
Jacob Thomas
posting one of the typical "Spidey is under tons of debris, but then he realizes that love matters and great powers come with great responsibilities, and so he can lift the weight" moments
>So how strong is he exactly? Ragemode/Desperation Peter is probably about 100 tons vs his 10 ton normal rating. Peter has KO'd a herald of Galactus in a boxing match before without any tricks >Is it true that he holds back, Yes. When writers remember it, he actually has to roll with his villain's punches so they don't shatter their bones on him. >and villains like the Kingpin are no match for him? Kingpin isn't even peak human. Peter could make him his bitch with both arms and one leg tied behind his back. >But then why won't he simply overpower the baddies all the time? Bad writing so there's tension/worrying about other shit like hostages or bystanders/trying to keep up his "friendly neighborhood" rep. One time when he was actually angry he shredded so many baddies in so little time criminals were literally running to the cops for protection. He tore a building in half during that.
James Diaz
>has Spider-man a not-to-kill code like Batman has? He's killed a grand total of one person, but it was an accident and it took him a pretty long-ass time to get over it.
Juan Hughes
like everyone else in comics
Jose Williams
>he actually has to roll with his villain's punches so they don't shatter their bones on him
>has Spider-man a not-to-kill code like Batman has? Technically he has a "nobody dies" code. He got it shortly after JJ's wife died. The idea is Peter's sick of killing people and people dying around him so he vowed there be no more fatalities around him period.
It was a stupid fucking evolution for his character that hopefully get retconned soon both because of how out of character it is and how bad Peter's been about keeping to it. Literally the first villain he fought after that was Massacre. Guess who kills Massacre.
Before this vow Peter basically didn't give a shit. He'd try not to kill people needlessly, but deaths in combat were acceptable and he wasn't going to go out of his way to keep his villains alive, especially if they pissed him off. He's used human shields a few times in the past.
>He could save countless life if he would simple beat his enemies with one or two simple blows A lot of his classic rogues are just as strong, if not stronger than him (The Lizard, Sandman Rhino, Scorpion), aren't as strong but rely on technology or obfuscation to even the odds (Mysterio, the Vulture, Doctor Octopus). That and plenty of those issues also dealt with Peter having to fight while sick or injured, and you're left with a book where the hero has to rely on outhinking his enemies rather than relying on brute strength to just pummel them in to the dirt.
Though to be honest, his really broken and utterly inconsistent ability is his spider-sense. That shit goes from just "I have a vague idea there's a danger near me" to borderline omniscience depending on the writer.
Matthew Torres
>he can't just flawlessly calculate each blow to use 80% of his full strength
See this shit is why I hate anime sometimes. "OH ILL JUST USE 30 PERCENT OF MY POWER!" Like you can throw 30 percent of a punch. That shit's retarded. Unless you're like a robot or something. Which sometimes they are but still most of the time they're not.
Rhino is actually stronger than Peter. Scorpion definitely is not. I'm not sure of the strength ratings on Lizard and Sandman.
Daniel Cooper
Like I said, I'm mostly going off of their Ditko original appearances, and back then they definitely were stronger than him.
Henry Lopez
>he can't reliably ballpark fractional strength Look at him and laugh. No, but seriously, that's something normal people can do with minimal practice.
Kevin Smith
He used to a no-kill rule like that monorail scene in Batman Begins.
Brayden Allen
To Marvel's credit their prisons aren't quite as "revolving door" as sending them to Arkham asylum every time. Sure they always break out but there's greater attention to make it look like they're at least TRYING to keep their badguys locked up.
Joshua Perry
>that's something normal people can do with minimal practice.
No it's fucking not you goddamn retard. Especially not in the heat of a life or death battle against super powered villains.
HAMMER once said during Dark Reign before the Siege of Asard that Spiderman is as strong as an average Asgardian
Grayson Bailey
>No it's fucking not you goddamn retard. Especially not in the heat of a life or death battle against super powered villains. Do you realize there's literally an entire school of combat designed around precise application of fractional strength in the heat of combat?
I thought Rhino was just a really, really strong guy in a retarded suit.
Alexander Brown
And do you realize it's mostly bullshit?
Asher Reed
He can benchpress around 15-25 tons depending on which sourcebook you believe in. So he can easily toss cars around and such if he wants to.
Most of his iconic villains are on the same level or have some other power that can even it out.
Parker Fisher
He is, but he's strong because he had chemicals spilled on him or something. The retard suit just makes him impervious to most damage on top of having irradiated 'tard strength.
Grayson Carter
>I thought Rhino was just a really, really strong guy in a retarded suit. No. Rhino is a a really, really terrifying monster in a retarded suit. Read Amazing Spider-man 625.
Rhino used to be Spider-Man levels of strength in his first appearances, but he got his first power boost even before the 60s ended. Today he is physically on about the same level as base-level Hulk or Juggernaut, but since Hulk can just get stronger and Juggernaut has his unstoppable and invincibility deal he loses out heavily against them.
Scorpion when created was explicitly stronger than Spider-Man and kept losing because Spidey kept psyching him out. He's probably about Spidey's current power level overall.
Gabriel Jackson
what's going on in this page?
Nathaniel Parker
>He's probably about Spidey's current power level overall. Superior Spider-man put Scorpion squarely beneath Peter when Ock took his jaw off with literal ease.
>Today he is physically on about the same level as base-level Hulk or Juggernaut, but since Hulk can just get stronger and Juggernaut has his unstoppable and invincibility deal he loses out heavily against them. Juggernaut has literally infinite strength. About the only thing I'd put in the same class as Juggs is maybe a max power optic blast from Cyclops simply because I imagine being connected to a god of moment and being connected to a dimension of infinite force a probably functionally similar.
>what's going on in this page? Rhino is explaining to fake Rhino why they both died when fake Rhino killed his wife. Scene ends with pic related. The moral of the story is unless you're at least past low tier cosmic, don't give Rhino a reason to kill you.
And The Lizard was both faster and stronger than Spider-Man, and one of the few villains he seemed to be actively afraid of, though that was also in part because it was his friend Dr. Connors and he dreaded that becoming The Lizard would be irreversible.
Parker Miller
>though that was also in part because it was his friend Dr. Connors and he dreaded that becoming The Lizard would be irreversible. Are you sure it's not because he's a creepy cannibalistic sociopath with more knowledge of biochemistry than even Peter?
Cause quite frankly I'd find that terrifying too.
Colton Davis
>Rhino used to be Spider-Man levels of strength in his first appearances, but he got his first power boost even before the 60s ended. Today he is physically on about the same level as base-level Hulk or Juggernaut, but since Hulk can just get stronger and Juggernaut has his unstoppable and invincibility deal he loses out heavily against them.
I just checked him in the Marvel Database and he's stronger than Spidey. Also he is gamma-powered like the Hulk.
Jackson Ross
>Literally the first villain he fought after that was Massacre. Guess who kills Massacre Not Peter, going by that image.
Asher Flores
The thing about Spider-man is that he's at the mid high tier of almost everything. Intelligence, power, speed, etc. He's not top tier in any, but the combination is what makes him amazing.
Isaiah Bailey
I always found Spider-Man having super strength to be a poor choice. He can stop trains with just his body, yet the likes of his entire rogues gallery can kick his butt on a good day?
How about he gets enhanced strength and if he has to stop a big train or ship related tragedy, he has to get creative with his webs?
Brandon Lewis
It makes sense in Dragon Ball .
Adrian Powell
Fuck off. He has Spider-strength, deal with it.
John Allen
>Is it true that he holds back, and villains like the Kingpin are no match for him?
Oh yeah. Here's Otto in Spidey's body punching the Scorpion's fucking jaw off.
>But then why won't he simply overpower the baddies all the time?
Because he doesn't want to accidentally kill them.
Recall that scene in the first Raimi movie when Peter wipes the floor with Flash?
That was the first time he found out he had "super strength". He didn't know to hold back. If he really does have that kind of strength, Flash's head should have been pucnhed clean off.
Same could apply to anytime he first finds out he has super strength.
Joshua Morales
>But then why won't he simply overpower the baddies all the time?
>Because he doesn't want to accidentally kill them.
It's hard to take seriously if you know he could just flick the shocker in the head and put him in a coma depending on how hard he did it.
Even Rhino would get his head caved in with one punch depending on the material of his rhino suit.
Cameron Walker
The answer differs depending on the writer.
Some cast him as unsure of himself, frightened by the situations he finds himself in and using his humor to mask his anxieties as his wit and power shine through despite his unease
Others portray him as so completely in control and competent that he's doing exactly as much as he needs to in order to minimize collateral damage, including his enemy's health. He wants them in jail, not in traction.
