How Strong/powerful do you feel Superman should be??

[The World]

I think I would like him, not to be necessarily the strongest per see, but the best. One thing that I miss about Superman from the Silver Age is not so much how strong he was, but how crazy he was with the use of his powers. He would spin real fast to deviate lasers by creating interferences, move his hands against the Daily Planet globe super fast to make it a giant magnet, burn things with his heat vision to blind his opponent.....he has a creativity about the use of his powers he pretty lost around Byrne's Man of Steel, where his fighting style was pretty much "keep punching until it breaks".
I'm actually fine with Superman not being the strongest or the fastest(I mean, he's just a physiological anomaly, there's no real argument one way or the other). Space is infinite, and there should be thousands of creatures that should be able to go toe to toe with the dude. But when it comes down to fighting, he should be a tough cookie, even against people theorically more powerful than him. Because, unlike most superheroes, he was born with his powers. Maybe not all of them, but he was born with powers from the start, which gives him and edge over other people, because they are a complete part of himself. So, yeah, he can be as "weak" as they want, as long as they make him a tough, determinate, and most importantly, inventive fighter, I'm fine with that.

I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of Superman, but I have enjoyed my share of Superman-related stuff. Everything from some landmark Superman stories (All-Star Superman, Superman: The Nail, What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and The American Way, etc.) to Superman: The Animated Series (It's my favourite animated series) to Superman Returns the movie.

My personal preference when it comes to Superman is:

He's not the strongest (I think someone other than Superman being stronger is ok with me), he's not the fastest (it should be NO contest between Flash and him) or the most powerful (Green Lantern, in my opinion)...but he should be the best and most impressive of all heroes. Meaning, that no one should ever think they'll just breeze through a fight with Superman. He should be someone that people would be nervous about crossing or even contemplating. He should be the most intelligent fighter.

I like that he's so good with his powers, that people are just in awe when he goes into action. He should be the one guy who uses all his powers to the optimum level, in such a way that impresses everyone. Just as an example, I thought of a great Superman sequence:

A missle hits a tower and the top half of it is crumbling. Superman uses his super speed to start calculating. He knows that he can't use his strength to grab it, as it will crumble. So he starts looking for alternative methods of holding the object together while keeping it from falling on civilians.

He quickly dives into a nearby body of water, causing a splash so large that it displaces 120 metric ton of water. He uses the splash to quickly exit the water and starts to spin around in a circle so fast, with a spin that causes the water to move up through the air and he guides his spin towards the falling tower. He envelopes the object with water and quickly flies away from the spin and uses his freeze-breath to envelope the body in a sheet of ice, as thick as 1 meter.

He quickly grabs the coated object and guides it to a safe place. All of this happens so fast that it looks as though the tower was hit and instantly turned to ice and was grabbed by Superman.

There's probably a lot of lousy physics in there, but I thought it would be cool to see something like that.

You know I'm fine with this sort of interpretation. Not the strongest in any given area, but his multitude of powers and creativeness make him elite. Though I also like the idea of him getting stronger as he ages as Mr.Holmes said.

[13th Superman]

You know I'm fine with this sort of interpretation. Not the strongest in any given area, but his multitude of powers and creativeness make him elite. Though I also like the idea of him getting stronger as he ages as Mr.Holmes said.

Totally agree with all of you.

[Superlad93]

You know I'm fine with this sort of interpretation. Not the strongest in any given area, but his multitude of powers and creativeness make him elite. Though I also like the idea of him getting stronger as he ages as Mr.Holmes said.

I agree with this as well.

[MythicBrawn]

I have no problem with him being the strongest, just don't have it be at ridiculous levels. By this, I mean moving planets and other such silver age nonsense.

[computer man]

Not so powerful that he can break the laws of physics such as moving faster than light or moving back time. I think that time travel should be impossible, even for Superman.

Another limitation I would put on his powers is him requiring a pressurized space suit when he is in the vacuum of space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcj4TAvKxq8

[Last Son]

His power level in the first arc of Action was about right. He should never really get more powerful or have more abilities than that to maximize his level of interest as a character. He should be vulnerable.

Then let's power down everyone else (Hulk, Thor, Silver Surfer, GL, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel) so that they can be interesting too. Wouldn't that be swell?

[Anthony D]

Granted, I grew up with the pre-Crisis Supes, but I don't mind Supes as really powerful (don't think the Flash should "leave him in the dust"; at least keeping pace with Flash...). Guess to me, he's *supposed* to be powerful (not sure Supes' power levels are any more ludicrous than some of the stuff the Hulk, etc. have done)... it's his personality/what he does despite having such power as also what makes him interesting. Depowering to the point where we see him requiring a space suit to breathe/survive in space (like in "Superman: The Animated Series", much as I liked the show) always looked silly to me.

[djss1297]

I like him to be the strongest most all-powerful out of everybody. I know though, it makes him hard to write.

[abhilegend]

As strong as the story needs him to be. What I find amusing is that people calling him too powerful doesn't understand that he's actually less powerful than the most of other heroes. Just recently hal jordan oneshot killed Krona who was controlling power of every lantern corps, flash retconned DCU, Thor is going toe to toe with PHOENIX and blew a hole in galactus' head, hulk destroyed a planet and melted three people who were a peer to him previously by punching someone, silver surfer killed two galactus level beings, sentry killed a beyonder level being etc. Its somehow became a taboo for superman to be a planet mover when people like terrax who thing has beaten destroy a planet. This is the most hypocritical, double standard topic I've come across on internet where superman should be portrayed as a weak feeb against other characters for the sake of their importance.

[Rugal 3:16]

CLASS 100 Strength.. no matter how weak people want to be him he should not succumb down to the class 80 Namor/Iron Man/Thing/Byrne Superman/Gray Hulk level

His peers should still be Hulk, Thor and Juggernaut (Marvel's Big Powerhouse who has very little equal in the DCU)

Kinda funny when people complain he's the strongest but always rank him lower than Hulk, Thor and Juggernaut but never complain about those said contemporaries..

[Flash Gordon]

His powers should always be growing. When he's older, he gets Silver Age -level powers. In the present day, he should be strong like the Fleisher Superman.

I like this, I like this a lot.

Superman should be, well SUPER. He doesn't need to let guys like the Flash and GL look good. He's Superman, he can push a planet back into orbit.

[Grendel01]

CLASS 100 Strength.. no matter how weak people want to be him he should not succumb down to the class 80 Namor/Iron Man/Thing/Byrne Superman/Gray Hulk level

His peers should still be Hulk, Thor and Juggernaut (Marvel's Big Powerhouse who has very little equal in the DCU)

Kinda funny when people complain he's the strongest but always rank him lower than Hulk, Thor and Juggernaut but never complain about those said contemporaries..

I actually think, that until the last reboot, he was well above Hulk and the others at Marvel. But even if that is not the case, he not just has top powerlevel, but also a myriad more powers than the typical Marvel characters. Only the Martian Manhunter has more superpowers but usally sucks at using them.
As for him being on top at DC as well, that doesn't really work, when Captain Marvel and Captain Atom, who were the topguns of their respective universe are part of the same comicbook universe. Superman hasn't interacted with new Captain Atom and Captain Marvel is about to be reborn, so the powerdynamic might be thrown in doubt very soon. There will always be friction about it. And lets not forget that Powergirl is also about to make her debut.

[George Taylor]

His powers should be growing as he gets older but his current power level should be New Earth powerlevels. Guys like Captain Marvel (now Shazam), Captain Atom, Apollo or GL should be a challenge for him. Villains like Darkseid should top him but still able to defeat him.

[RLAAMJR.]

he should be stronger than any other JLA member, including Supergirl.

[Superlad93]

Yes there is a big hypocritical argument about Superman's powers. "It's ok for Cap. Marvel, Thor, Hulk, and Cap. Atom to be all power full, but Superman's not allowed to be strong"

I think I'm sorta odd because I've never understood that argument and the "he should be sliver age" argument, BUT I want him to be the strongest guy around BUT I also want him to work for his feats and stuff.......

I think people like me are why Superman's power levels are always going up and down lol

But I think "power growth" would fix this problem and it would give you a nice sense of "wow he couldn't do that before".

I think the Action comics and Superman dynamic is working pretty well in that regard (some what) you get a more regal and strong Superman in the SUPERMAN book. Then you get a more down to earth get you hands dirty beat em up Superman in ACTION.

When I see the gap slowly close between the two books I feel a sense of accomplishment for Superman (that "wow he couldn't do that before" feeling) and then I don't mind when he gets all powerful because I got my time with the other guy and now his bigger powers mean more to me.

Also with in and in between these two times in his life you still have that smart and resourceful Superman that I like......well I need to see more of that in the Superman book because that's about all Action is. Just a big resourceful Superman jumping around the place lol.


But as for the peers argument in the DCU: I just like to think that there are things that everybody in the JLA are just very good.

The popular argument:Flash. I like to think that Superman can do just about anything the flash can do out side of enter the SF. BUT Flash does them faster and he has had more practice with them. So if they're in a situation where they need someone fast to faze out bombs planted in people who live in a city then Superman will let Flash do it because he knows that this is his expertise and he'll get it done.

He lets Batman do his detective thing even though Superman is an investigative reporter and he has super senses and a super mind....even with all that he say's "yea we should probably get Batman's opinion on this one" because Batman has set his whole life into solving crimes and thinking like a criminal he has made it his niche so Batman will have a different angle to look at things than Superman.

Tactics: Wonder Woman, now we all know that she is not affected by Superman being stronger or faster (Superman is better in ever conceivable physical way) yet she is still important in the form of tactics, fighting skill, knowledge of ancient culture and so on. After that she just provides extra power for the team.

GL: is very simple.....he's just more versatile. Yea Superman can catch that bus but GL can catch hundreds of people falling out of a building and allow them to land comfortably. Superman could probably get to them all but would kill each and every one of them at the speed he's going. This isn't best example and as a Superman fan I could probably find a way for him to do it but GL could do it better and with much much less hassle.

So yea Superman could very well be the strongest and most powerful whatever but these other guys are here for a reason and are not diminished by him because power isn't the main focus of stories (or should I say good stories lol)

That's how I feel.