Do most casual fans think Captain America has powers?

[XPac]

I think the line between peak human and meta-human is so razor thin there's almost no way to tell the difference.

I've always assumed that Steve was the absolute limit of what a human could be... so if anyone can run even a LITTLE faster or bench press a LITTLE more by defintion they're probably meta human. I think Steve effectively is that line.

[mikekerrIII]

I thought he was just a peak human though?

Not unless Peak is defined as being humanly impossible

[mikekerrIII]

A peak human means some things we don't usually think about. Could the strongest guy in the world lift a car? Yes conceivably. Could the fastest human ever run a 3.82 40 yard dash. Sure why not.

Could the same person do the both since the muscle and physical structure requirements are so different? The Chatertistic that make a person cab;lle of lifting great wights for example make real agility and flexibility impossible. How may sprinter have you seem that can bench even twice their body weight?

[Wellman]

Back in the day, Cap being peak human meant he was as a tad bit stronger then your average human superhero with olympic class abilities.


Somewhere down the road, that was elevated into superhuman so he is one of the weakest super strong people, unless the writer "really" wants him to win a fight. Movie Cap is straight up superhuman though.

[DiceRoll]

Ever since the Avengers came out I've been hearing a lot of casual fans saying things like "why were Black Widow and Hawkeye on the team? They don't even have powers!" I haven't yet heard anyone ask the same about Cap. I think a lot of them assume that he has some sort of powers because he is called a super soldier and his feats in the movie were higher than any BW or Hawkeye had (like punching the weight bag of it's chain)

Funny, I've been hearing the opposite.

[Chiasm]

He's got far more powers than Iron Man since he's just a genius, philanthropist, and playboy with a fancy iron suit.

Speaking of which, Cap's shield could be considered a superpower since it absorbs energy and allows him to do things like block Thor's hammer without getting squashed.

[Alan Smithee]

"Peak human" is really just sci-fi baloney that's kept around because it sounds good and is woven into the Cap mythos. As for his abilities, I'd rather have him on my side than Batman.

[XPac]

"Peak human" is really just sci-fi baloney that's kept around because it sounds good and is woven into the Cap mythos. As for his abilities, I'd rather have him on my side than Batman.

I think the notion of peak human basically is synonimous with Cap at this point... which is kind of why I wouldn't want that to change. I dont' know if marvel invented the term, but it's basically Caps term now. There are countless low end meta humans out there... but Steve is THE peak human character. It's his thing. I don't know why anyone would want to change that.

[Frank]

In the Avengers movie and in the Cap movie, they mainly kept him as a human in great physical shape and with tremendous skills and a super-shield. But if we can go back to the Incredible Hulk movie when Emil Blonsky first inject himself with super-soldier serum, the way he fights the Hulk with just his gun...just look at the way he runs, he's clearly super-human, not just a human in peak conditions. I thought they were testing the waters for the Cap movie when they did that with Blonsky, showing us what Cap might be able to do. It was an amazing scene.

[Guest_1001]

In the Avengers movie and in the Cap movie, they mainly kept him as a human in great physical shape and with tremendous skills and a super-shield. But if we can go back to the Incredible Hulk movie when Emil Blonsky first inject himself with super-soldier serum, the way he fights the Hulk with just his gun...just look at the way he runs, he's clearly super-human, not just a human in peak conditions. I thought they were testing the waters for the Cap movie when they did that with Blonsky, showing us what Cap might be able to do. It was an amazing scene.

I actually thought The Incredible Hulk handled the idea of a super-soldier a lot better than the Captain America or Avengers movies did. I got more of an impression that there was something special about Blonsky than I ever did while watching Cap. He looked impressive while I felt that Cap just looked ... goofy. Chris Evans gave a good performance though.

[Umbra]

But they were different SSS right? Caps is clearly different. I think they wanted to stick close to "Peak Human" rather then make him flat out super human. And Blonsky kept having to inject himself, maybe it was flawed or something.

however to non comic book fan..Cap is super. I think he is pretty close to what his 616 character can do...

If he was like that, then it would make it hard to show a blatant Super human...but like Stone said with Black Widow and DD...Cap is superhuman (aka peak human).

[XPac]

I actually thought The Incredible Hulk handled the idea of a super-soldier a lot better than the Captain America or Avengers movies did. I got more of an impression that there was something special about Blonsky than I ever did while watching Cap. He looked impressive while I felt that Cap just looked ... goofy. Chris Evans gave a good performance though.

Truthfully, Captain America is always going to look a bit goofy. The solo movie version is about as ungoofy as he's going to get visually.

That said, I think Blonsky did come off more impressive than Rogers. But that's actually the norm in a lot of ways... most people who have been given the SSS after Steve were actually more powerful then he was. 50's Cap for example I believe had 1 ton strength or something in that neighborhood. But it also drove them nuts, so there was a trade off. I think it was the vita rays or whatever that made the difference.

[Bone2pick]

however to non comic book fan..Cap is super. I think he is pretty close to what his 616 character can do...

Yeah, they (non comic book fan) may struggle to define his superpowers, but they typically get a sense he's super. Unlike Nolan's Batman for comparison. And when you add everything up, and actually think about him surviving in an ice-block for decades without detriment...You kinda get a clearer picture.

[XPac]

Yeah, they (non comic book fan) may struggle to define his superpowers, but they typically get a sense he's super. Unlike Nolan's Batman for comparison. And when you add everything up, and actually think about him surviving in an ice-block for decades without detriment...You kinda get a clearer picture.

I think even non-comic book fans understand though that movie and tv versions of "normal" are different from what real world everyday normal is.

A movie is a movie... the physics and such work differently. Cars are lighter, bullets are slower, and everyone has a vertical leap which would make Air Jordan in it's prime cry. That's often true even in non-super hero movies (though it's exaggerated more there).

[Bone2pick]

I think even non-comic book fans understand though that movie and tv versions of "normal" are different from what real world everyday normal is.

A movie is a movie... the physics and such work differently. Cars are lighter, bullets are slower, and everyone has a vertical leap which would make Air Jordan in it's prime cry. That's often true even in non-super hero movies (though it's exaggerated more there).

Very true. It's such a blurred line (and maybe it should be), for instance, is Hawkeye's ability to perfectly track a quickly moving target without keeping a visual a superpower? It sure feels like it is. It sure looks like it is.