How important is it that Superman is the strongest one there is?

[LordUltimus]

Just curious as to what peoples opinions on this are. "Strongest" can mean both "physical strength" and "overall power".

[Osiris-Rex]

Somebody has to be the strongest so why not Superman?

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Isn’t Spectre considerably more powerful than Superman?

[Yoda]

I think it's important for Superman's character to be the strongest, and I mean that in the sense that his beliefs, sense of right and wrong, and good will should be the apex of what's expected in the DCU. Not that he can't have faults, but they should be shown in the context of his recognizing and overcoming them.

As for physical strength, I mean he hasn't been for decades and there's a laundry list of characters that match or exceed him. From Lobo, Darkseid, Mongul, Doomsday, etc. without getting into the magical characters that he has no extra special defenses against.

But tying into my first point, he's going to come out on top regardless because physical strength isn't the be all end all.

[stargazer01]

Just curious as to what peoples opinions on this are. "Strongest" can mean both "physical strength" and "overall power".

It's SUPERman. Being the strongest there is is his niche. His thing. Just like the fastest is The Flash.

He is also the first superhero. He created a whole genre of 'superheros.' He earned it. If you take that away from him, then he doesn't stand out from the rest.

[The World]

TBH I'm not really sure. One of my favorite versions of Superman was the Golden Age and in the beginning his powers were a fraction of what they are now and he had a good deal less of them. But there was an energy and determination in that era that doesn't exist once it's over.

On the other hand Superman himself is suppose to be like a modern Hercules and one of the points of the character is that he does amazing feats so after a while his powers are going to have to go up to keep wowing the reader. Through the Golden Age Supes powers slowly tick upwards and different powers got tacked on. So I think it's natural that Superman's power is suppose to be immense.

I'd say I'm okay with people being on his level or stronger as long as they aren't asking the Man of Steel to slow down for them to be able to do it.


Characters like Doctor Fate or the Specter could clean his clock, Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel are in his weight class, people like Green Arrow and Batman have no conceivable way to beat him.

On the other hand I think Superman is also the clutchman and can pull out the win if he really needs to.

[qwertyuiop1998]

surely,superman should be strongest(i mean just in ordinary superheroes range,spectre these are too OP),this just like batman is greatest detective.and since dc also repeatedly performance superman is strongest guy.

[stargazer01]

surely,superman should be strongest(i mean just in ordinary superheroes range,spectre these are too OP),this just like batman is greatest detective.and since dc also repeatedly performance superman is strongest guy.

I like the way Peter Tomasi puts it, "...but at the end is Superman the one who puts Doomsday down." Mark 3:30

I can't tell you how much I love when Diana tells Superman to not hold back or everybody will die. Chills.

[SiegePerilous02]

Yeah, it's kind of his whole deal. The playing field has kind of leveled out and all the other major Alpha heroes have niches that he doesn't occupy, so let him keep the strongest. I don't care whose feelings it hurts

Isn’t Spectre considerably more powerful than Superman?

He is and should be, but he's definitely beyond the typical superhero community, so I'm not sure he counts.

As far as the superhero community of the DCU, Superman should be overall the most powerful individual, especially in terms of strength. Other aspects like speed (the Flashes), fighting ability (Wonder Woman), detective skills (Batman), and the various magic users he'd have less advantages in, and WW/J'onn/Captain Marvel/Supergirl should not be far behind him in strength, but he should definitively be the strongest.

[Adekis]

I go back and forth on this a lot. I don't think Superman should be the absolute strongest ever, I like when he goes up against guys stronger than him and wins with pure cleverness. I like Golden Age Superman where he's pretty low-powered compared to later versions of himself. At the same time, I hate that thing that happened during the '00s all the time where everyone and their mom constantly showed him up, that's utter trash. Flash outran him blandfolded and running backwards, his ridiculously skinny 16 year old girl cousin was stronger than him, Batman trash talked him all the time... In that regard I think it's long, loooong past time the pendulum swings the other way and Superman is not only incredibly strong but also incredibly fast, smart, and whatever else, compared to every other hero on Earth.

Basically, I don't have a consistent view on how strong Superman should be, but however strong that is, I always want him to be the best.

[Kuwagaton]

I think that regardless of what people want to say about him, the idea is that under his own power he's phenomenally capable, to a problematic extent when it comes to writers.

For strength well, it's not like the adjective Super or epithets like "man of steel" are all that impressive. And they don't really indicate his relative strength, like Flash blatantly being titled "the fastest man alive." I think there are massive opportunities in a story where his powers aren't enough and it'd be a shame to lose that aspect in modern times. But... I don't like to go without giving him his credit. He should on average be treated as potentially the strongest and go last when the justice league are on a mission that showcases them individually, or something like that. That tends to go hand in hand with characters Worfing him early, but as long as you're not putting over an Aquaman villain or something I can roll with it.

Isn’t Spectre considerably more powerful than Superman?

For the most part. The neat thing to me is that after his original power nerf in the 80s, they balanced out the pecking order so that he rated better. Even with Darkseid and maybe Vartox, useful to assist/ somewhat competitive with Phantom Stranger, Spectre, and Occult, stronger than Mongul, and I think the only Daxamite he didn't beat was Dev-Em.

[Vordan]

A bit conflicted on this. I don’t personally care about his power level myself, one of my favorite runs was the Morrison New 52 AC run and in that he was back to Golden Age power levels. But I also don’t like seeing other heroes regularly beat him up. I was never a fan of Kara being stronger than him. So I guess I’d say that I’m fine with him being in the upper echelon of heroes, and having villains out there that straight outclass him, but if the story is good enough I’m ok with a weaker Superman too.

[Phoenixx9]

I think Yes, Superman should be the overall strongest.

However, other heroes such as Wonder Woman/Martian Manhunter/Cap Marvel/PG/Supergirl/Marvel Family are close behind.

There can be a hero or villain who newly shows up on par or greater in strength, but please, these type stories only like every 20-30 years, so not really many characters in this area.

[Stanlos]

Just curious as to what peoples opinions on this are. "Strongest" can mean both "physical strength" and "overall power".

It depends on what you mean by strongest. As the first superhero ever (well mega successful modern one at least) he should IMHO be the heroic inspiration for others and be premium in intelligence, strength, speed, AND invulnerability.

In other words, he should be what the intent of his design was. Since it is well documented historical fact I don't get why it is such an issue

[superduperman]

Physically stronger, yes. I don't mind characters like Flash being faster than him. Being fast is his gimmick. But the whole point of Superman is that he's the most powerful just in terms of raw power. Spectre is a magic being. Being more powerful than Superman in that case is not a surprise. The idea behind Superman is that he's supposed to be the best at what he does. If he's not the physically strongest then what sets him apart from everyone else? Why does he exist? What is his gimmick? He's noble but so are most heroes. He's the first but if everyone who comes after you is better than you, why does that matter? I don't mind WW being as strong as him. If he's the most powerful man, then there's no reason why she can't be the most powerful woman. No reason they can't be equals. But he needs something that sets him apart from everyone else.