Superman vs Cthulhu (H.P. Lovecraft)

[kingmyth]

How would Superman fair against Cthulhu.

[Surtur]

He hits harder then a steamboat, so he'd do very very well. It's also not like he'd even be driven insane or anything, he's come up against far more messed up creatures.

But yeah this is a terrible stomp. Even JLU Superman could probably take this fight.

[master of read]

big C is only powerful in theory.

by feats..........he really doesn't like boats.

[BitVyper]

It's also not like he'd even be driven insane or anything, he's come up against far more messed up creatures.

Depends on if it's just because Cthulhu is messed up, or if it's like, an actual automatic psychic effect.

[wjowski]

Depends on if it's just because Cthulhu is messed up, or if it's like, an actual automatic psychic effect.

Supposedly it's based on the viewer realizing how insignificant and ant-like they are in the face of the truth of the universe, so...yeah, Superman should be okay there.

[Primetime Harder]

Supposedly it's based on the viewer realizing how insignificant and ant-like they are in the face of the truth of the universe, so...yeah, Superman should be okay there.

"Oh, an unfathomable and ancient being from beyond time and space. Is it Thursday already?"

[BitVyper]

Yeah, that was kind of Lovecraft's idea, but if looking at him instantly drives you insane, it's pretty clearly a supernatural mental effect. Minds don't actually eat themselves in response to seeing things they don't understand.

[regnak]

Yeah, that was kind of Lovecraft's idea, but if looking at him instantly drives you insane, it's pretty clearly a supernatural mental effect. Minds don't actually eat themselves in response to seeing things they don't understand.

But the guy who hit him with the steamboat didn't go instantly insane and that was the only appearance of the big squid written by Lovecraft himself.

[Carabas]

Yeah, that was kind of Lovecraft's idea, but if looking at him instantly drives you insane, it's pretty clearly a supernatural mental effect.

The supernatural don't exist in Lovecraft's universe. It's all done with science. Sufficiently advanced at times, but never magic, although we may call it that.

[Powerboy]

In the Lovecraftian universe, Cthulu I guess had some sort of effect of making people realize how small and meaningless they were and possibly making them realize that order is an illusion we create to cope and the true nature of the universe is chaos. I guess another way is that insanity is normal and sanity is an illusion and we become insane when we see what reality is.

I've read only a little of the Cthulu stuff but I have friends who were really into it and described it plus there was the roleplaying game.

The problem is that these are normal people in that setting. It's different when Cthulu goes up against characters from other realities that face those sorts of mindbending horrors every other day and it barely phases them.

Basically, Superman beyotch slaps Cthulu for a ten count at least and probably dropkicks him back to the stars.

[Carabas]

In the Lovecraftian universe, Cthulu I guess had some sort of effect of making people realize how small and meaningless they were and possibly making them realize that order is an illusion we create to cope and the true nature of the universe is chaos.

More or less, except that it is not an ability of Cthulhu's and more a factor of plot and it being a horror story.

I've read only a little of the Cthulu stuff but I have friends who were really into it and described it plus there was the roleplaying game.

When it comes to the roleplaying game, all characters have a sanity rating between 0 and 100. Seeing bad stuf (anything really, a regular mugging, or seeing a dead body can cost you a few points. Seeing Cthulhu costs you 50 points on average.) Running out of Sanity points means you go irrevocably coocoo.

[Surtur]

Depends on if it's just because Cthulhu is messed up, or if it's like, an actual automatic psychic effect.

It really depends on his mental resistances. Post crisis Supes really should be able to resist a "I make you insane" power given his overall mental resistance and the fact Cthulhu never does this to anyone with comic book levels of willpower like Supes.

NuSupes I have no idea how he handles a mental attack.

[Carabas]

It really depends on his mental resistances. Post crisis Supes really should be able to resist a "I make you insane" power given his overall mental resistance and the fact Cthulhu never does this to anyone with comic book levels of willpower like Supes.

It's not a power or mental attack. In Lovecraft's universe it's simply what happens when mortal minds are exposed to stuff like that.

[BitVyper]

The supernatural don't exist in Lovecraft's universe. It's all done with science. Sufficiently advanced at times, but never magic, although we may call it that.

Astrology isn't science, and Cthulhu's entire resurrection cycle is based around alien astrology. Lovecraft's monsters were beyond the scope of human evolution (based in an incorrect, but popular, perspective on what evolution is), but also presented as something that humans might become with time, so I can see where one could take the implication that they themselves are evolved creatures, but Lovecraft didn't present Cthulhu with a family tree; he wrote about Cthulhu as a being beyond the reach of time or death. Note that Cthulhu DID have gods that did exist in the context of the universe, and weren't presented as just very advanced biological beings. And again, Lovecraft presented Cthulhu specifically as being beyond the reach of death, and being so immortal that you can, as implied, self resurrect after eons of being functionally dead, is pretty objectively supernatural, or requires some supernatural setting elements to make it natural.

At best, Lovecraft's monsters might qualify as natural within the context of their own setting, but it doesn't really matter what you want to call it because the effect is the same. There's no reason outside of pedantry to argue about whether it counts as natural or supernatural. Also I didn't say magic.

So if anything in Lovecraft's world is the result of science (and I highly suspect that Lovecraft's aliens would find the entire concept of science quaint), it's of the "something something something ABRA KA SCIENCE!" variety.

It really depends on his mental resistances. Post crisis Supes really should be able to resist a "I make you insane" power given his overall mental resistance and the fact Cthulhu never does this to anyone with comic book levels of willpower like Supes.

NuSupes I have no idea how he handles a mental attack.

I more or less agree, especially since I don't think Cthulhu's drive-you-insane-from-looking-at-me thing was actually well presented. I read the story years ago though, so I can't remember.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Superman is an Immortal creature from beyond the stars who eats sunlight to let him travel at interstellar speeds, emit heat and lasers, shove mountains and/or planets around, and have senses as far beyond a human being as to be incomparable on any rational scale. He understands and utilizes tech that makes modern humans look like concussed poodles and may eventually dwell with the wife he pulled from Death itself in the heart of the sun, which his presence apparently altered to fuel the dynasty of pseudo-Cosmic/actually-Cosmic beings which he spawned.

Clark isn't just used to dealing with creatures like Cthulhu, he essentially *is* a creature like Cthulhu, albeit a lot more benevolent and down to Earth.

Also, Cthulhu and company were kinda ultra-natural in their setting. The people who knew (or were, in the case of the abstracts) the truth of how reality worked, and operated on that scale, while human beings were essentially bugs who freaked out when they learned that not only did they not matter at all in the grand scope of things, but the beings that did either got off on your pain or only noticed the existence of humanity in the same way you might notice a pleasantly stocked candy bowl.