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.

[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.

[jimmy]

Somebody has to be the strongest so why not Superman?

Agreed - Superman is all about power and the strength he can generate should be off the charts~

Is it selfish that I don't think Flash should be faster?

Flash really shouldn't be faster but, he may know how to use it better, as he is born to it like a fish is to water meanwhile...
Superman's overall endurance and invulnerability means he can go for ever. Superman has gone so fast as to rip through the dimensional barrier realms and would have broken even more if not for the Spectre and that was with out the "Cosmic Treadmill". Superman has to ramp up to it, but once he gets going his speed is limitless.

[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.

[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