HOW did Squirrel Girl defeat Thanos?

[Charles RB]

On the one side, a girl with squirrel-based powers and control over squirrels.

On the other, a guy who is a hideously powerful, universe-level threat who is stronger than the Hulk, is impossible to kill, can manipulate matter, and wields cosmic energy.

Now. HOW THE SODDING HELL did Squirrel Girl beat this guy in the GLX-Mas Special?! He can kill her with his small finger. The only way she could feasibly beat him is if he'd just had his limbs severed, had a severe case of the flu and was asleep.

[Wannabe]

Psssst. That was the joke.

[MythicBrawn]

It's similar to Wolverine beating Lobo. The only way it could happen was off-panel. There is no way the companies could have shown either battles and make people believe it to be true.

[Charles RB]

Psssst. That was the joke.

Yeah, but it's a crap one.

[Joe Rice]

Yeah, but it's a crap one.

a) Welcome to the world of Squirrel Girl

b) Jesus, lighten up.

c) The ones with hearts on the outside.

d) Why did you type any of this instead of at least feeding boogers to homeless folks?

e) Love is so goddam painful and confusing!

[Jake V]

Good god. People who react with this much anger over comedy stories should have their comic books taken away.

[Alan2099]

Thanos is deathly allergic to squirrels. The only reasons it was never mentioned before if because he hadn't ever actually seen a squirrel prior to that issue and didn't know. Seriously. Show me one time Thanos interacts with a squirrel before this point.

[Siddon]

arm-wrestling

[Dermie]

She beat him the same way guys like Captain America manage to consistently beat foes who are far more powerful than they are--through determination, skill and a healthy dose of luck.

Also keep in mind that Thanos has a history of letting himself be defeated, whether it be consciously or unconsciously.

[StoneGold]

c) The ones with hearts on the outside.

So are you all up on Care Bears now with Dr. H's kid?

[Haunt]

nut power. all nut power.

[Annie get your Rum]

She beat him the same way guys like Captain America manage to consistently beat foes who are far more powerful than they are--through determination, skill and a healthy dose of luck.

Not really, she beat him through the power of silly comedy writing.

Also keep in mind that Thanos has a history of letting himself be defeated, whether it be consciously or unconsciously.


True, but this whole thing wasn't intended to be taken seriously, and except for very few comic fanboys, everyone knows it's just a lame joke. Nothing else.

[Drakenred]

Actualy squirl Girl has the power to beat anyone in the Marvel megaverse.

[Huzzah!]

Squirrel girl is like batman, she can beat anyone through her positive attitude.

[dingo]

Anyone in the MU would pass out if they had a squirell run up each of their pant legs and bite a *ahem* nut each.

[Sijo]

You know what the funniest thing in this thread is? That the people who complained about Charles RB's question don't realize how stupid they sound criticizing a comic book question on a comic book forum. :p

And it IS a good question. Not having seen the story, I (and other people, I'll bet) would like to know the answer. If the story was a joke, that is, not a part of the 'real' Marvel Universe, then no explanation is necessary... BUT the fact that it is a joke should be made clear in the comic itself. And from what I hear, the story IS part of the continuity. If so, an explanation IS needed. OK, I understand, she's an humorous character, her role is to make us laugh by triumphing over these oh-so-invincible villains. We need more characters like her in comics these days, honestly. But since most Marvel stories claim at least some realism, we do need at least a halfway decent explanation.

(One theory I have is that maybe Squirrel Girl is secretly being aided by some entity -The Numinus, maybe?- to defeat these villains for some reason- perhaps in order to send a message to them and/or the heroes. Like, LIGHTEN UP ALREADY, maybe .)

[dingo]

You know what the funniest thing in this thread is? That the people who complained about Charles RB's question don't realize how stupid they sound criticizing a comic book question on a comic book forum. :p


Not really.
If I asked "how can Superman fly?" one of the most appropriate answers would be "You are not meant to ask that question, you are meant to accept it and enjoy it". Same principal here. It is obviously a joke of sorts, just accept it and either enjoy it or hate it, up to you.
I know this is a place for comic questions, but sometimes the answer is not going to be anything other than " just because". The whole point of that sequence is that your own immagination could fill in the gaps better than if it was in panel.


And it IS a good question. Not having seen the story, I (and other people, I'll bet) would like to know the answer. If the story was a joke, that is, not a part of the 'real' Marvel Universe, then no explanation is necessary... BUT the fact that it is a joke should be made clear in the comic itself. And from what I hear, the story IS part of the continuity. If so, an explanation IS needed. OK, I understand, she's an humorous character, her role is to make us laugh by triumphing over these oh-so-invincible villains. We need more characters like her in comics these days, honestly. But since most Marvel stories claim at least some realism, we do need at least a halfway decent explanation.

Marvel doesn't claim realism at all, nor should all marvel comics have the same level of realism. Should "Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius" be canon?
You just have to make your own value judgement in this case.

(One theory I have is that maybe Squirrel Girl is secretly being aided by some entity -The Numinus, maybe?- to defeat these villains for some reason- perhaps in order to send a message to them and/or the heroes. Like, LIGHTEN UP ALREADY, maybe .)
See, that was the point, you fill in your own explanation and it is yours. You can come online and ask others for a possible explanation if you want, but that strikes me as less fun if you are doing it only to pick holes.

[Drakenred]

you see their in lies the problem

on the one hand, every Marvel comic book has been published in the Marvel Universe!(and the CCA was,(in the Marvel Universe) untill recently a Branch of the Federal Goverment which made Marvel comics a publisher of what were literaly legal documents

So technicaly all theis super idiots ever had to do was buy a bloody marvel comic to know that Peter parker was spiderman!

[foxfire]

Squirrel Girl is the modern day Irving Fribush :D

[Dan_Slott]

you see their in lies the problem

on the one hand, every Marvel comic book has been published in the Marvel Universe!(and the CCA was,(in the Marvel Universe) untill recently a Branch of the Federal Goverment which made Marvel comics a publisher of what were literaly legal documents

So technicaly all theis super idiots ever had to do was buy a bloody marvel comic to know that Peter parker was spiderman!

This is actually covered in dialogue in early issues of the last volume of SHE-HULK. Only "licensed" comics (ones approved by public heroes like the FF and the old Avengers) are used in court cases.

Physical comics in "our" world that reveal Marvel mysteries (characters secret id's, S.H.I.E.L.D. intel, cosmic truths of the Universe that man was not meant to know, etc.) have different physical counterparts in the "Marvel" universe-- and while those comics may contain a lot of similar stories, they probably have different art for those pesky pages and sequences. They probably have different ads too.

We actually had a scene that showed JUST that in last volumes SHE-HULK #2, but the scene was cut due to space. Why? There's only 22 pages in a book and that scene was one of the few that didn't advance the story.

If we ever got around to doing some kind of SHE-HULK annual or special, we'd probably cover this concept some a small feature.

Hope that clears that up. :)

On the one side, a girl with squirrel-based powers and control over squirrels.

On the other, a guy who is a hideously powerful, universe-level threat who is stronger than the Hulk, is impossible to kill, can manipulate matter, and wields cosmic energy.

Now. HOW THE SODDING HELL did Squirrel Girl beat this guy in the GLX-Mas Special?! He can kill her with his small finger. The only way she could feasibly beat him is if he'd just had his limbs severed, had a severe case of the flu and was asleep.

Okay...

As for the Squirrel Girl question:
How does she defeat Thanos in the GLX-MAS special?
Simple.
She finds a way.

Is it possible? Can Squirrel Girl defeat major Marvel U. threats?

Yes. We've seen her defeat Dr. Doom in a story plotted by Steve Ditko (Ditko plotted it, so it counts. Get over it.). And we saw her defeat MODOK in the first story of the GLX-MAS special.

In the first story we saw HOW she defeated MODOK. Did we need to see HOW she defeated Thanos (or, later on, Terrax)? No. Because that would be repetitive and counter to what the STORY was about. The point that such a mind-boggling adventure happened off panel is PART of the gag.

And the fact that you guys are still talking about it mid-June means that we did something right. :)

Should Thanos be able to defeat Squirrel Girl? Sure. In a vacuum. Where there's no context. And it's just two HeroClix going head to head. But you know what? That's asinine. If you look at things that way then David should ALWAYS lose to Goliath. (And if there were message boards, chatrooms, and VS. threads back in Biblical times, I'm sure the same kinds of people would be b*tching about THAT story...).

These characters live in worlds of context. And if A is greater than B, and B is greater than C, it's not always true that A gets to beat C in a fight. Why? Because "stuff" happens. If it didn't, Thanos would have beaten EVERYBODY when he had the Cosmic Cube. Thanos would have beaten EVERYBODY when he had the Infinity Gauntlet. And Thanos would have beaten EVERYBODY just because it was Tuesday.

But if you REALLY need an answer to how Squirrel Girl defeated Thanos in the GLX-MAS special... here goes:

Earlier in the GLX-MAS special, Thanos had a super-mega-cosmically-powered device called the Pyramatrix. With it he was going to enslave the Universe! Cue threatening music. (Really, it's all there on PAGE 9, go look).
The next time we see Thanos he is defeated... but the Pyramatrix is nowhere to be seen. So... Let's just assume that Squirrel Girl tricked Thanos (maybe turning his own hubris against him, stole the Pyramatrix, zapped him with it, and then destroyed it-- so that no one could ever again be tempted by its awe-inspiring power.

There. Done.

Now the REAL question is...

How did she defeat Terrax?!?


(Just kiddin'. Now lighten the @#*$ up.) ;)

[ninjapeps]

Squirrel girl is like batman, she can beat anyone through her positive attitude.
Batman has a positive attitude?

[steve2275]

e) Love is so goddam painful and confusing!
e) Love is so goddam painful and confusing!

[ocelotrevs]

It's simple, off panel heroes. Didn't you see Marty and the Doc from BTTF in there.

They went to the future to get an anti Thanos thing, that can beat him, tossed it to Squirrel Girl, she used it. They took it back to the future. That's why we didn't see it.

Or what Alan2099 said.

[Agentum]

Oh, the best thing with Squirrel Girl is when fanboys gets mad and starts serving points about how things cant happen.

THIS IS COMIC BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! anything can happen and i hope they keep some fun around like this to use now and then.

Dont try to reason how it happened it's just a joke, something to smile about and continue reading something else.

[F!NCH]

She ate his nuts.

[Soundrave]

Now. HOW THE SODDING HELL did Squirrel Girl beat this guy in the GLX-Mas Special?! He can kill her with his small finger. The only way she could feasibly beat him is if he'd just had his limbs severed, had a severe case of the flu and was asleep.


It's pretty elementary, really.

Squirrel Girl was able to get the upperhand because Thanos lacks a nut-sack.

[Haunt]

Anyone in the MU would pass out if they had a squirell run up each of their pant legs and bite a *ahem* nut each.

not the Silver Surfer.

[Charles RB]

a) Welcome to the world of Squirrel Girl

When I say something was a crap joke and get the response that that's the world of Squirrel Girl, it doesn't really encourage me to ever pick up any comic with Squirrel Girl in it.


Also keep in mind that Thanos has a history of letting himself be defeated, whether it be consciously or unconsciously.

The truth comes out - Thanos became a supervillain as a cheap way of getting in his BDSM kicks!

The whole point of that sequence is that your own immagination could fill in the gaps better than if it was in panel.

Probably is, my imagination is showing me Thanos going into a major battle with a load of heroes like the Silver Surfer and a chainsaw-wielding Jesus, being beaten after days of fighting, only just barely standing... and then Squirrel Girl jumps in at the end when he's about to collapse, pokes him and then takes credit for his defeat.

Damn, Squirrel Girl's a git.

[Charles RB]

Is it possible? Can Squirrel Girl defeat major Marvel U. threats?

Yes. We've seen her defeat Dr. Doom in a story plotted by Steve Ditko

Yeah, but I don't think the "swamp the villain with armies of squirrels to distract him while I free Iron Man" plan is going to work on guys that can, say, incinerate said armies of squirrels with ease.


And the fact that you guys are still talking about it mid-June means that we did something right. :)

Well, no, coz the last guy I talked about it with reasoned that he let her win for reasons unknown (he can't get his kinky jollies from being attacked by squirrels, after all). I don't think that was the effect we were going for.

If you look at things that way then David should ALWAYS lose to Goliath.

Well, if David's not going to attack Goliath with a projectile weapon aimed at Goliath's head from a distance, I'm thinking "yes".


How did she defeat Terrax?!?

Well, what she didn't tell anyone was that she actually defeated him in a friendly poker game (well, friendly until they let Captain America join, that guy cheats at cards all the time...).

not the Silver Surfer.

Poor Silver Surfer. No wonder he angsts all the time - you would too if you suddenly had no genitals.

[Alan2099]

You're taking it too seriously, Charlie. Relax. It's comics. Have some fun with it.

[Rod G]

Is Thanos a jobber?

[Lonewalker]

I never thought someone would take this "Squirrel Girl defeats Thanos" seriously...(!)

That was funny, but taking it seriously is way too funnier.

[Sijo]

Earlier in the GLX-MAS special, Thanos had a super-mega-cosmically-powered device called the Pyramatrix. With it he was going to enslave the Universe! Cue threatening music. (Really, it's all there on PAGE 9, go look).
The next time we see Thanos he is defeated... but the Pyramatrix is nowhere to be seen. So... Let's just assume that Squirrel Girl tricked Thanos (maybe turning his own hubris against him, stole the Pyramatrix, zapped him with it, and then destroyed it-- so that no one could ever again be tempted by its awe-inspiring power.
See, I'm perfectly willing to accept that. Hey, it's comics, I've seen far worse explanations. But you know what would've been better?

To have seen that actually HAPPEN in the comic!

Or is that the new Marvel Storytelling Approach? Wow, that'll save you a lot of money. Just jump from the first issue of Civil War to the last one. No one will miss the rest of the story! Just let the fans fill it in with their own imagination! (But still pay full price!) Right?

(Just kiddin'. Now lighten the @#*$ up.)
Yeah, You MUST be kidding. This thread doesn't even come within a mile of being obsessive by Message Board standards. We'll all forget this by the weekend. Maybe you should participate more often... :rolleyes:

[Green Goblin 4]

Well, no, coz the last guy I talked about it with reasoned that he let her win for reasons unknown (he can't get his kinky jollies from being attacked by squirrels, after all). I don't think that was the effect we were going for.


I love how you are arguing with the guy who wrote the comic, Dan Slott, that it's not what he was going for.

[Miss Kitty Fantastico]

Yep, it's basically a joke - while the GLXers are sincere and deep and very, very human (c'mon, Mr Immortal's personal life? Monkey Joe's demise and SG's tearful eulogy? Doorman's visit to his father in GLX-Mas? These are not knock-knock jokes, they're heavily emotional, if you buy into it), their stories are, at heart, humour, and some people don't get the joke. Me? I don't get Seinfeld. Lots of people do, I gather - I like the stand-up routines in the closing credits, but the show itself just leaves me flat. Does that mean Seinfeld should never have been made, or renewed for a bajillion seasons? Heck no.

Same for GLA/X - some people won't get it. And yeah, it sucks being told "Oh, you just don't get it," as if it's your fault. It's not. But give the book a break - we like it. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it ought to be burned and erased from history.

After all, History Incinerators aren't cheap, and there's a lot of Enterprise DVDs to get rid of...

[Sijo]

Miss Kitty, I agree with everything you said- including your opinion on Seinfeld! And no, I don't think Charlie wants to see the GLA story eradicated. In fact, I think he had a perfectly valid question (C'mon, if someone had told YOU that Thanos had got beaten by Squirrel Girl, wouldn't you have wanted to know how??) The problem was all the lip he was given for asking it. Now, if he had asked about a the realism in a Peter Porker story, we might be entitled to chuckle, but GLA is a part of the 'actual' Marvel Universe. You can't give us a story that's supposed to be at least partway serious then use the "it's just comics" excuse when we ask about it. That's a cop out. (And so is not showing how Squirrel Girl won.) Anyway, I predict SG's victories will eventually be explained away, most likely in a very casual way (e.g. "It was a Doombot.")

[ninjapeps]

adding any sort of logic to SG's wins would ruin the joke. besides, do you honestly think any of this will be mentioned in any other comic?

[Miss Kitty Fantastico]

In fact, I think he had a perfectly valid question (C'mon, if someone had told YOU that Thanos had got beaten by Squirrel Girl, wouldn't you have wanted to know how??)
I already know: because she's Squirrel Girl. I don't mind people wondering, but needing a plausible answer, and rejecting 'meta-answers' (like "It's a running gag")... I just don't think GLA is meant to work that way. But apologies if I seemed to overreact there. Kudos to Dan for explaining it logically (for there even being something resembling a logical explanation), but I think he'd agree (tell me if I'm wrong, Dan) that the fact that there's a semi-plausible way for Squirrel Girl to win isn't really the point of her string of victories over A-list villains.

It's like the Klingon foreheads from Star Trek. Enterprise had this big arc explaining why Original Series Klingons don't have bumpy heads, when Enterprise (pre-TOS) Klingons do, and post-TOS Klingons do too. And, I'm told, it's plausible, if a bit far-fetched (Enterprise season four is only just starting to air here, and I keep forgetting to watch it anyway, so this is just second-hand). But really, we all know it's got nothing to do with the internal logic of the Star Trek universe, it's just because they didn't have the budget for elaborate makeup back then, and they do now. For me, as a Trekkie, the best explanation possible is the one given by Worf in DS9: "We do not discuss it with outsiders!" It's just classic. Even the most serious fictional world sometimes, just sometimes, has to have a touch of the absurd. Goddess knows the real world has more than its share...

Anyway, I predict SG's victories will eventually be explained away, most likely in a very casual way (e.g. "It was a Doombot.")
Ahem, we have it from no less than Monkey Joe himself that it wasn't a Doombot ;)

I actually kind of hope there's never an explanation in the comics themselves - it seems like it'd be spoiling the gag. Sure we see how she does over Doom, and Modok (both arguably pure flukes), but a complete explanation for why Squirrel Girl consistently takes down supervillain after supervillain? I'm not sure I'd feel good about that. Possibly it'd be necessary, if GLA/X were ongoing, but I hope it'll continue as it is, with very limited appearances - I think staying beneath the over-exposure threshold of GLX's humour (especially the most disbelief-suspending parts of it, like Squirrel Girl's invincibility, or Grasshopper's ever-truncated adventures) is pretty critical to its success.

Think of it in terms of British comedies (for no particular reason). Fawlty Towers and Red Dwarf are, in my view, awesomely funny. Fawlty Towers only has twelve episodes, and is a classic in every sense. But Red Dwarf went on, season after season, and while I like the later seasons, I have to admit, it lost something somewhere along the way - you can't keep at the same joke forever. There's countless examples, in storytelling of all kinds, of awesome concepts that dwindled into mediocrity because they were over-used. The candle that burns brightest, and all that. So while I hope there will be more appearances of the GLXers, I also hope they're only occasional, and appropriate to their unique style. And always written by Dan Slott :D

That said, seeing as this isn't the official comics, I can air my theory, which I think I posted over on the Civil War GLX thread a couple of days back: Squirrel Girl and Grasshopper are opposite ends of a karmic balance. Averaged over the two of them, the laws of probability are maintained - it's just that she has all these awesome victories, while Grasshopper (in his various incarnations) can't walk down the block without getting killed.

[Agentum]

But why must it be explained at all?
Have everybody lost your sense of humour, those comics is for fun?

This is a problem in this day when continuity and serious storys is the main thing for superhero comics, people actully gets angry when they find somebody made fun of/with their favorite characters (there is similar treads about Giffens Defenders and so on).

The old Doom defeat was quite possible i think, hundreds of squirrels eating his armourelectrics, so he fled instead of trying to defeat them and also Iron Man that was free again.
I think sG would never have been used again, they just made her as a silly character with silly powers that got to show that she could be a hero in a world of grim and gritty heroes ,as was the popular trend then.

I mean Doom and Thanos will be back again and be as dangerous and grim as usual in your other comic books anyway.

[Expletive Deleted]

... but GLA is a part of the 'actual' Marvel Universe. You can't give us a story that's supposed to be at least partway serious then use the "it's just comics" excuse when we ask about it. That's a cop out.Expecting every aspect of the Marvel Universe to be both tonally and logically consistent is . . . unrealistic. Some books are dark and gritty, some books are light and irreverent, and that way there's something for everyone. GLX is by-and-large a humor book. We don't see Squirrel Girl defeating Thanos because it simply wouldn't be as funny.

And hey, if you still need a logical "out," the writer just chimed in with one. Everybody wins!

[Scavenger]

The truth comes out - Thanos became a supervillain as a cheap way of getting in his BDSM kicks!


His entire purpose is to get it on with Death, and you're only now figuring this out.

It runs counter to Slott's explanation, but I suspect the spirit of Death and the Ghost of Mokey Joe had something to do with her victory....posibly her eye make-up, which is a bit Gaiman-esque, and we know that Thanos has a thing for Morpheus' sister (as shown at Rick Jone's wedding).

[Mr.Musgrave]

Is Thanos a jobber?


Thanos has always been a jobber. But that's what happens when you're nothing but a dime-store Darkseid. ;)

[Bedlam66]

She Tempted him with her "assets" then "Sucked" him dry and beat him over the head while he was worn out.

[Scavenger]

Thanos has always been a jobber. But that's what happens when you're nothing but a dime-store Darkseid. ;)


Oh please...Thanos has actually won...see Infinity Gauntlet...and wiped out half the universe. And yeah, it was one of those "you get the belt for a week because you've been a loyal employee all these years and are willing to lose to Squirl Girl or Viscera when we tell you to" kinda of wins. But he's at lease Jobber to the Stars...as opposed to Darkseid who gets pussed by the Forever People.

[Alpha to Omega]

Just think of it as out of continuity like every other time Slott messes with cosmic characters like turning them into date-rapists, by having them be job to make She-Hulk look better or turning them into idiots with no regard for previous characterization.

[JuggernautRM]

I have one theory about Squirrel Girl Vs Thanos.....She went straight for the nuts.

[Elegance Liberty]

Two words: Crazy Cake (http://ultimatesuffering.ytmnd.com/).