| Author |
|
Joseph Gauthier
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 11 March 2009
Posts: 1431
|
| Posted: 30 June 2025 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | 1
|
post reply
|
|
Rereading the Romita (Sr.) run on The Amazing Spider-man this summer, I'm reminded of the confusion I felt in the mid 80s as a brand new comic book reader--namely that the Spider-man I was reading about off the spinner rack was noticeably stronger than the Spider-man I was reading about in the Marvel Tales back issues I was finding at garage sales and flee markets. In those days, it seemed obvious to me that he must have been pulling his punches when fighting the gangsters and bank robbers he so often fought in the early issues, but I had a hard time, initially, wrapping my head around those very same gangsters and bank robbers knocking him out cold when I had just seen him go toe-to-toe with a super powered enemy in a comic bought off the spinner rack. Of course it didn't take long, even as a twelve-year-old, to realize that he was depicted, for whatever reason, as more powerful as time passed, and it was as simple as that. But that brings me back to my question...do you prefer the Spider-man who could get knocked out by a non-powered gangster, or the Spider-man who could defeat the X-Men (for example). And why?
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Brian Hughes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 June 2015
Location: United States
Posts: 357
|
| Posted: 30 June 2025 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | 2
|
post reply
|
|
Well, he started out as a teen in High School. And different from most heroes, we got to watch him grow up, graduate high school and college. That is years of aging and growing to manhood. He was always going to be getting stronger as he grew.
He went from getting knocked out by street level criminals to being able to knock out a herald of Galactus if you beleive what you read in the funny books (LOL, sorry, couldn't resist).
It is always up to the writer and editor to keep the character within their limits, but when they are as much fans as they are the guys controlling his fate, they are going to keep pumping him up to higher levels.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 134648
|
| Posted: 30 June 2025 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | 3
|
post reply
|
|
Spiders are very weak. But Stan mixed up the strength of the creatures with the estimated strength of their webs. So he gave Peter Parker “the strength of ten men”.Which works fine for me.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8211
|
| Posted: 30 June 2025 at 9:08pm | IP Logged | 4
|
post reply
|
|
By and large, I preferred the strength level in the earlier days.
As new characters were created, with greater strength, so the strength
levels of established characters increased to match.
But with ever increasing strength, comes the diminishment of the struggle,
and the increase of collateral damage.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
| |
Trevor Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 3597
|
| Posted: 30 June 2025 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | 5
|
post reply
|
|
City bus (with some strain) works for me. Knocked out by a
street level criminal is fine if they somehow manage to get
the drop on him - strength does not automatically grant
invulnerability (beyond what's required to not break your
hand when you punch something!).
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
| |
Joseph Gauthier
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 11 March 2009
Posts: 1431
|
| Posted: 30 June 2025 at 10:30pm | IP Logged | 6
|
post reply
|
|
..and the increase of collateral damage.
-------------------------------
That's an interesting in-world ethics question I've never considered before. I wonder if that is a consideration creators ask themselves when creating a new hero. At the end of the day, though, I hope it wouldn't be applied across the board, because I sure wouldn't want to miss out on the possibility of the Thing and Terrax trading punches in Downtown Manhattan.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Michael Hogan
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 2073
|
| Posted: 30 June 2025 at 11:17pm | IP Logged | 7
|
post reply
|
|
My first exposure to Spider-Man was in the Sunday comics
from the NY Daily News. In the first panel, he was always
shown holding a city bus over his head. As a youngster, I
figured that put him on Superman's level!
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
| |
Peter Hicks
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 2042
|
| Posted: 01 July 2025 at 12:43am | IP Logged | 8
|
post reply
|
|
There was a Silver Age Pinup of Spider-Man holding a platform over his head, and standing on it were the “only heroes possibly stronger than Spidey”. As I recall, those characters were The Thing, Hulk, Thor, Hercules, and Namor. So I have always viewed Spider-Man’s strength as slightly less than the Marvel heavy weights.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1518
|
| Posted: 01 July 2025 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | 9
|
post reply
|
|
Spiders are incredibly diverse across their species (with some specifically built for speed/jumping etc). While not in the strength class of say, a Dung Beetle, they are way stronger than us.
Personally, I like the idea of Spider-Man being able to flip a car over - but not hold one above his head!
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12951
|
| Posted: 01 July 2025 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | 10
|
post reply
|
|
Over forty years ago, it seemed to be a thought that Spider-Man was a "super medium-weight." Hmm. Okay. Of course that same ranking put him in league with Colossus. Hmm.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 134648
|
| Posted: 01 July 2025 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | 11
|
post reply
|
|
I was once asked what kind of spider it was that bit Peter. I said it didn’t really matter, since all North American spiders are venomous. But to suggest it was something other than a common house spider would stretch credulity (already at the snapping point!).
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 134648
|
| Posted: 01 July 2025 at 2:22pm | IP Logged | 12
|
post reply
|
|
A favorite anecdote:When I was still living in Calgary I was invited to appear on a local talk show. One of the questions asked by the hostess was what I thought would really happen if someone was bitten by a radioactive spider. I said so far as I knew the experiment had never been done, but I suspected it would come down to one of three choices: • the individual would be mildly sickened by the venom, but nothing major would result • the individual would get cancer and die • the individual would gain the abilities of the spider
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |