Worst Superhero ever

[The Extinguisher]

Aquaman, Daredevil or that dog who hangs around the Wonder Twins?

Which one.

[averagejoe]

Shouldn't this be a poll?

Aquaman. No question. Daredevil could, at least, keep up with spiderman more-or-less acrobatically. The dog was, at least, more useful than a fish in that he was terrestrial.

[seventhsamurai]

Either the Wonder Twins, or this guy

http://www.superdickery.com/stupor/1.html

[Druid]

Super Man.

[Ambrogino]

The dog's the only one that comes close to some of the worst. Arm Fall-off Boy, Fortress Lad, Friendly Fire, Six-Pack, Bueno Excelentes, G'nort, the Justice League of Antarctica, the list goes on...

Aquaman got a really unfair presentation in Super Friends and Daredevil got a sucky sucky movie. Both of them are much better written well.

[averagejoe]

Aquaman got a really unfair presentation in Super Friends and Daredevil got a sucky sucky movie. Both of them are much better written well.

Aquaman sucks in ANY context. He has the power to breathe underwater. And talk with fish. I mean, come on, that's even less useful than the power to shrink.

[Wonderboy]

Aquaman sucks in ANY context. He has the power to breathe underwater. And talk with fish. I mean, come on, that's even less useful than the power to shrink.

I know. Super Strength, magical powers granted by the Lady of the Lake and Nigh-Invulnerability are terrible, terrible powers.

[Sage in the Playground]

Apache Chief. A stereotype, AND a stupid origin story.

[Steward]

The worst superhero is Robin, sidekick to Batman. He didn't have any powers, and wasn't witty, intelligent, or reasonable enough to distract us from that. At least Batman said and did cool things all the time. All Robin did was get captured, say stupid things, and look like a big, shouting target for all of the supervillains.

But Robin's a sidekick, so I guess he doesn't count. In that case, I'd have to give the trophy for Worst Superhero Ever to the Hulk. He's stupid, clumsy, and destructive, all traits that are okay except when you have all three of them. He causes more property damage than his villains can. Don't get me wrong, he's an awesome character and I love him to bits, but he sucks at superheroism.

[Clover]

The worst superhero is Robin, sidekick to Batman. He didn't have any powers, and wasn't witty, intelligent, or reasonable enough to distract us from that. At least Batman said and did cool things all the time. All Robin did was get captured, say stupid things, and look like a big, shouting target for all of the supervillains.

And yet he's better known than Speedy... Sidekick to the Green Arrow... He's Robin... but with bow an arrows...


But Robin's a sidekick, so I guess he doesn't count. In that case, I'd have to give the trophy for Worst Superhero Ever to the Hulk. He's stupid, clumsy, and destructive, all traits that are okay except when you have all three of them. He causes more property damage than his villains can. Don't get me wrong, he's an awesome character and I love him to bits, but he sucks at superheroism.

Hulk is cool... and what about Grey Hulk...no-ones mentioned the Fly yet either...

[Steward]

Hulk is cool...

Oh, I agree. I just think that he's a terrible crime-fighter, which is what the first post was talking about.


And yet he's better known than Speedy... Sidekick to the Green Arrow... He's Robin... but with bow an arrows...

Green Arrow's sidekick was called Speedy? I thought that was just something they made for Superdickery.com.

Wikipedia confirms it too. Comic books are weird.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hulk isn't actually a superhero... He's more of a neutral force than anything

[Starblade]

Either the Wonder Twins, or this guy

http://www.superdickery.com/stupor/1.html



Thanks to this websight... for everyone that says aquaman sucks .. i present to you Merman.

[The Extinguisher]

I still think it's Daredevil.

He's blind, but guess what, he can actually see! Oh my.
I present to you parapalegic man. He we crippled in an accident, but he has the power to walk.

[krossbow]

Superman. He has a vaugely defined amount of super abilities which is fine; however, the problem comes in that if he ever meets something that his vaugely defined super powerers can't solve, he MAKES UP A POWER.


I cannot even begin to explain how horrible his time travel ability (revolving simply around flying around the earth really fast, yet still slower than the speed of light) is.


Not to mention, the world being totally and completely FUBARed in the intergalactic sense coincided with his appearance on earth.


"Here we have earth; it has existed for countless millenia without being invaded or attacked by uber beigns. But oh, whats this? Superman has landed! Now, for the next 500 years or so, they will be attacked almost at random by every god-being in the universe.
________
Honda Mr50 History (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_MR50)

[Totally Guy]

I suppose comedy heroes don't count but, screw it.

Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuMpYTyRjw), Youtube

[Wonderboy]

Superman. He has a vaugely defined amount of super abilities which is fine; however, the problem comes in that if he ever meets something that his vaugely defined super powerers can't solve, he MAKES UP A POWER.


I cannot even begin to explain how horrible his time travel ability (revolving simply around flying around the earth really fast, yet still slower than the speed of light) is.

It just turned 2007, not 1967. Superman doesn't just make up powers on a whim. He doesn't use his Super-beard to slice chains, his Super-speed combined with Super-vision to look back in time, nor does he make Super-popemobile-go-karts for Lois anymore.

[Skydiving_Ninja]

Aquaman hands down. He has a mullet, underwater breathing, and speaks fist. At least daredevil was awesome in the comic books.

[Steward]

Superman. He has a vaugely defined amount of super abilities which is fine; however, the problem comes in that if he ever meets something that his vaugely defined super powerers can't solve, he MAKES UP A POWER.


I cannot even begin to explain how horrible his time travel ability (revolving simply around flying around the earth really fast, yet still slower than the speed of light) is.




If you hate Superman, then you'll definitely hate The Flash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flash).

Now, ostensibly, the Flash only has one superpower [super-speed]. That was fine for a while, but then the writers went to high school and realized that super-speed + ordinary human being = road pizza. So they gave him some kind of invulnerable aura thing, which was fine too. Then came the All-New Superfriends Hour, in which the Flash could basically bend reality to his whims merely by chanting, "If I vibrate my molecules at just the right frequency... " then later on, he got the Speed Force, which did basically the same thing except somehow cheesier.


Hulk isn't actually a superhero... He's more of a neutral force than anything

He isn't? That's it. All my love for the Hulk is gone.

[Jester42]

Wors supper hero ever. The Tick. Don't get me wrong. He is funny. But, as a super hero he is dumb as he is indestructable. No amount of of good intentinos can make up for stupidity.

[StudlyDuck]

Jester brings up a point. Is it worst in terms of entertainment value or superheroing skill?

For entertainment, I'd have to say Superman. The guy is practically omnipotent. Doesn't make for much of an interesting read when he can solve just about any problem with some variation of brute force. What was essentially a younger, more insane version of him altered reality by punching it. There are so many things wrong with that.

In terms of skill, my vote goes to Deadpool. He's got me laughing at every other panel, but let's be honest. He may be the only superhero dumber than the Hulk. At least when the Hulk screws up, there's usually a reason of some sort.

[Haggis_McCrablice]

I still wonder why Flash doesn't blow out every window in the city and rip the hide off every person he passes with massive sonic booms. Unless they're a function of velocity + mass--admittedly I'm no physics expert, but you only hear about the phenomenon in relation to jets. I can't say I've heard of a man-sized object going faster than sound.

But I'll go with Aquaman. Especially after his line in the Smallville ep "Justice" about being able to swim faster naked. The sound you hear is my modicum of respect for him dying a grisly death.

[Bearofbadnews]

I think it's interesting to hear the different conceptualizations of what makes a character the "worst" superhero. It's (I suppose obviously) an inversion of the classic argument over who is the "best" superhero.

On the one hand, you can judge wholly on the powers, skills, and resources possessed by the characters. By this measure one could easily introduce any number of characters that rival the three candidates. Doctor Mid-Nite is a favorite of mine, so I'll mention him. His strengths are 1. Being a doctor, 2. Possessing extraordinary nightvision. And he has an owl sidekick.

Another method would be to judge based on the character's comparative quality as written, acted, drawn, etc. in relation to other depicted superheroes. This is arguably the majority of the reasoning for those that claim Batman to be the "best" superhero. (Myself included.)

Yet another way to find the "worst" superhero involves comparing all superheroes to a set of subjective standards that embody a "good superhero". Based on such standards, a wide variety of conclusions might be reached based on individual preference.

Based on these three methods, I would select (from the 3 options) the dog(though I confess to only knowing of Gleek as far as Twin sidekicks, so I might be wrong), the dog, and the dog. If I knew more about this dog, I might change my mind.

[Yuki Akuma]

I suppose comedy heroes don't count but, screw it.

Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuMpYTyRjw), Youtube

Ah, British humour. Gotta love it.


For entertainment, I'd have to say Superman. The guy is practically omnipotent. Doesn't make for much of an interesting read when he can solve just about any problem with some variation of brute force. What was essentially a younger, more insane version of him altered reality by punching it. There are so many things wrong with that.

I know it doesn't make it any better, but remember that Superboy Prime has the powers of golden age Superman. Back then he had no weaknesses, and he was about a thousand times stronger. If anything, Superboy Prime is actually a reference to just how bad Superman was originally written...

(In fact, I think it's very good writing that Superboy Prime's powers didn't get retconned.)

[Ambrogino]

I know. Super Strength, magical powers granted by the Lady of the Lake and Nigh-Invulnerability are terrible, terrible powers.

Not to mention the full resources of a post-human technologically advanced nation that covers 7/10ths of the world. Boy, sure would suck to have that.

[Wonderboy]

From now on, this is my response to the people who say Superman is the worst superhero:


You are wrong.

Superman only sucks when he gets stuck with crappy writers. Superman doesn't fly up to something and punch it. I have no clue where Marvel Zombies get these ideas, but Superman has good plots, just like every other superhero.

Superman defines the superhero, he was the first, and is definately the best. He's not my favorite, but Superman is the best superhero there is.

[Steward]

Not to mention the full resources of a post-human technologically advanced nation that covers 7/10ths of the world. Boy, sure would suck to have that.

Why didn't he use any of this when he was on Super Friends? 95% of the people who hate Aquaman do it because all he did was swim around and throw waterball at people like Darkseid and Sinestro. My issue with him is not that he's weak, but that he doesn't use any of his cool superpowers or even remember that he has them.

Oh, and Aquaman is a jerk. I remember seeing him on Justice League trying to fight a guy trying to melt the polar ice caps and the doofus turned down the Justice League's help. He gave some line about it being his problem, even though technically villains who try to destroy the entire world fall under Superman's jurisdiction. No wonder people hate his guts. He's almost as thuggish as Namor.


Superman only sucks when he gets stuck with crappy writers.

Well, yeah, that's true for pretty much every superhero. Even Aquaman can be cool when his writers come with interesting adventures and quit making him act like Prince Namor.


I would select (from the 3 options) the dog(though I confess to only knowing of Gleek as far as Twin sidekicks, so I might be wrong), the dog, and the dog. If I knew more about this dog, I might change my mind.

Which dog? You mean Krypto? Krypto's not so bad. He could stand to get better writing for his show, though, but he's passable as a superhero.

[BTW: Gleek's not a dog. He's a [space] monkey. Wonder Dog was the dog, and he hung out with a group of non-Superpowered human teenagers who looked, sounded, and acted as if they were rejected by the Mystery Inc. gang from Scooby Doo. I agree with you that Gleek sucked, but he was arguably working for the bad guys, judging by how often his bumbling nearly got the Wonder Twins killed.]

[JonathanC]

Aquaman, Daredevil or that dog who hangs around the Wonder Twins?

Which one.

Screw you man, Daredevil is AWESOME. :smalltongue:

[The Extinguisher]

I stand by my statements. Being able to see when you are blind is not a superpower.

At least have the balls to admit you have no superpowers. Daredevil is pretty much Marvel's Batman, he kicks arse, and can kill you 7 times before you hit the ground, but has no powers.

[JonathanC]

I stand by my statements. Being able to see when you are blind is not a superpower.

At least have the balls to admit you have no superpowers. Daredevil is pretty much Marvel's Batman, he kicks arse, and can kill you 7 times before you hit the ground, but has no powers.

Radar Sense is a power. He can see in the dark, and within the range of the sense (several blocks) he's about as impossible to surprise attack as Spider-Man is. Plus, that stick bouncing thing wouldn't be possible for a normal human...his radar sense allows him to make non-linear attacks.

He also has hearing and smell far beyond normal human sense, so he's a better tracker than Batman is.

[GoC]

In terms of least power I'd go with some from The Legion of Superheroes:
Triplicate Girl (a thug with a knife could take her down)
Shrinking Violet (like the Atom but keeps constant density)
Matter-Eater Lad (the name says it all)
Dawnstar (can fly... yes that's pretty much it)

A tough guy with a Brown Belt or a paraplegic with a gun could take them all at once.

[Wonderboy]

In terms of least power I'd go with some from The Legion of Superheroes:
Triplicate Girl (a thug with a knife could take her down)
Shrinking Violet (like the Atom but keeps constant density)
Matter-Eater Lad (the name says it all)
Dawnstar (can fly... yes that's pretty much it)

A tough guy with a Brown Belt or a paraplegic with a gun could take them all at once.

Now don't forget the Legion of Substitute heroes! They were the lads and lasses that weren't good enough to make it into the Legion.

You know you suck when you get owned by Matter-Eater Lad.

[kamikasei]

The worst superhero is Robin, sidekick to Batman. He didn't have any powers, and wasn't witty, intelligent, or reasonable enough to distract us from that. At least Batman said and did cool things all the time. All Robin did was get captured, say stupid things, and look like a big, shouting target for all of the supervillains.

Which Robin are you talking about, and from when? Most periods when Batman has said or done anything cool at all have, when they showed a Robin, shown a fairly solid one. Grayson-Robin as leader of Marv Wolfman's Teen Titans of the early 80's was an excellent character, as is the current Drake-Robin; and Nightwing, of course, is made of awesome.


But Robin's a sidekick, so I guess he doesn't count.Bear in mind that two Robins have led five different superteams, now (three incarnations of the Titans, Young Justice, and the Outsiders). They're not always sidekicks, and not all the time.

In defense of Speedy, his revamped identity, Arsenal, has been a pretty solid and interesting character too. In general, many new characters like Robin, Speedy, Wonder Girl etc. sucked mightily when first introduced and have grown considerably in both concept and execution since.

edit: Oh, and of course, it's ridiculous to nominate a character like Robin or Speedy when there are so much worse characters out there, hanging from the branches of the diseased shrub that is the Legion like so many hideous, putrescent fruit.

[Jared_Arcane]

A previous post mentioned Dawnstar as only having the power to fly. Not so! She also had a tracking ability that could follow someone through the vast reaches of space.
If you want a truly lame superhero, how about the original Red Tornado, Ma Hunkel. A fat , old woman wearing a towel around her neck and a mask. Scary!

(A long time Legion of Super Heroes fan, missing only their first appearance - though my comic guy let me hold a copy when he got one for his own collection.)

[TheThan]

Are we talking about useless or otherwise silly powers?

How about flatman (http://www.marvel.com/universe/Flatman)

Still can’t figure out what good a 2 dimensional body does in a 3 dimensional world. Disregarding even how that’s even possible. (Now if he was confined to the pages of a comic book…)

Or heck, anyone on the Great Lakes Avengers is pretty lousy in my book.

On another note, Alpha Flight seems to get their butts kicked repeatedly. Heck the Canadian government (their sponsors) pulled the plug because they just weren’t good enough.

[Ambrogino]

Why didn't he use any of this when he was on Super Friends?

Because Super Friends was an awful, awful cartoon, written by people who were writing for saturday cartoon managing executives, not comics fans, and comics have moved on in the last thirty years. Check out the Dini animated stuff for DC cartoons that whilst they may not be identical to their comic versions, treat them with respect and are written by fans for fans.

and Wonderboy - very well said.

[Wonderboy]

Are we talking about useless or otherwise silly powers?

How about flatman (http://www.marvel.com/universe/Flatman)

Still can’t figure out what good a 2 dimensional body does in a 3 dimensional world. Disregarding even how that’s even possible. (Now if he was confined to the pages of a comic book…)

Or heck, anyone on the Great Lakes Avengers is pretty lousy in my book.

On another note, Alpha Flight seems to get their butts kicked repeatedly. Heck the Canadian government (their sponsors) pulled the plug because they just weren’t good enough.

He can also stretch, though! Which probably makes Mr. Immortal the worst on their team.

Doorman used to be, but then he got the whole Cosmic Agent of Death thing going for him.

[Yuki Akuma]

Mr. Immortal is awesome. He commited suicide in one issue of an arc that promised a member of the GLA would die each issue.

He's probably the only person on Earth who knows the best way to commit suicide.

[The Dirge]

Silver surfer sucks so much. His power is surfing on air. Stupidest idea ever.

[Ambrogino]

Silver surfer sucks so much. His power is surfing on air. Stupidest idea ever.

Erm, it really isn't surfing on air since he surfs in space, which is a vacuum. And the power cosmic covers a whole bunch of other stuff.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Are we talking about useless or otherwise silly powers?

How about flatman (http://www.marvel.com/universe/Flatman)

...

I think it's great that writers are introducing superhero characters with minority preferences - and I noticed the bio TheThan linked to mentioned Flatman (a 2 dimensional character) being gay... That made me ponder Flatman being actively sexual in any way at all...

The logistics of this boggle my mind.

Maybe the writers plan to inflict great angst on him as he finds his 2D body useless in the bedroom.

[Ambrogino]

I think it's great that writers are introducing superhero characters with minority preferences - and I noticed the bio TheThan linked to mentioned Flatman (a 2 dimensional character) being gay... That made me ponder Flatman being actively sexual in any way at all...


I'm not so sure he's actually gay - when the GLA were in Deadpool at least it was more of a camp joke that he was a fashion major whilst everyone else went "nudge nudge wink wink" and he went "What?". There are some serious, well written gay characters in comics (personally I think Renee Montoya coming out was handled really well in Gotham Central) but I wouldn't rank Flatman up there.

[StudlyDuck]

On another note, Alpha Flight seems to get their butts kicked repeatedly. Heck the Canadian government (their sponsors) pulled the plug because they just weren’t good enough.
Except for the Exiles version of Sasquatch.

[Yuki Akuma]

I'm not so sure he's actually gay - when the GLA were in Deadpool at least it was more of a camp joke that he was a fashion major whilst everyone else went "nudge nudge wink wink" and he went "What?". There are some serious, well written gay characters in comics (personally I think Renee Montoya coming out was handled really well in Gotham Central) but I wouldn't rank Flatman up there.

He came out in GLA: Misassembled. Then Mr. Immortal one-upped him by admitting that he was Homo Supreme and therefore an Omega-level mutant.

[JonathanC]

Silver surfer sucks so much. His power is surfing on air. Stupidest idea ever.

I love this thread. It's like an opportunity for everyone to demonstrate how little they know about comic book superheroes.

So...I'm guessing you heard the NAME "Silver Surfer", then made up a lame powerset in your mind for him?

[The Extinguisher]

Silver Surfer is awesome. Fact.

What about that one girl who is only super strong during the night. How is she going to fight those epic battles that take forever to fight?

[Yuki Akuma]

Silver Surfer is awesome. Fact.

What about that one girl who is only super strong during the night. How is she going to fight those epic battles that take forever to fight?

Obviously she forms a tag-team partnership with Sunspot, who gains superstrength when exposed to sunlight.

[Joran]

My friends and I like to make fun of Cypher/Doug Ramsey.

Magically, most of the X-Men powers are useful in combat... Except for him. His mutant power is to decipher any language; it's an exceedingly useful ability, but he seemed to get the short-end on the combat stick.

[Green Bean]

Because Super Friends was an awful, awful cartoon, written by people who were writing for saturday cartoon managing executives, not comics fans, and comics have moved on in the last thirty years. Check out the Dini animated stuff for DC cartoons that whilst they may not be identical to their comic versions, treat them with respect and are written by fans for fans.

and Wonderboy - very well said.

I agree. Super Friends was horrible to watch. I've seen one episode of it, and that was enough. IIRC, there were some sort of fire monsters attacking, and Aquaman's brilliant plot to stop that was to flood the entire city! Brilliant! :smallyuk:

[zeratul]

Aquaman, Daredevil or that dog who hangs around the Wonder Twins?

Which one.

DAREDEVIL IS AWSOME aquaman is underrated too. most people jst dont understand the full extent of their powers.

[Flabbicus]

Because the friendship of sea critters is so useful. And don't forget the water-balls, or whatever the heck they are.


I personally think Cyclops is extremely lame. In all of the different portrayals of the X-men he is extremely annoying, cocky, and/or emo. The same effect could have been achieved with a guy with laser cannons. You know, who didn't somehow Kill everyone he looks at without his glasses or visor thing. Plus his lasers stunk, they didn't leave as much as a scratch on people but could blast through rock and metal. How does that make sense?

[Yuki Akuma]

Because the friendship of sea critters is so useful. And don't forget the water-balls, or whatever the heck they are.

Super strength and magic are good superpowers.


I personally think Cyclops is extremely lame. In all of the different portrayals of the X-men he is extremely annoying, cocky, and/or emo. The same effect could have been achieved with a guy with laser cannons. You know, who didn't somehow Kill everyone he looks at without his glasses or visor thing. Plus his lasers stunk, they didn't leave as much as a scratch on people but could blast through rock and metal. How does that make sense?

His 'lasers' are entirely concussive force. They don't produce heat at all. And they're not really that good against fleshy meatbags, and are much better against brittle objects like walls.

Plus, everyone in the Marvel universe has some form of resiliance to injury...

[Wonderboy]

I personally think Cyclops is extremely lame. In all of the different portrayals of the X-men he is extremely annoying, cocky, and/or emo. The same effect could have been achieved with a guy with laser cannons. You know, who didn't somehow Kill everyone he looks at without his glasses or visor thing. Plus his lasers stunk, they didn't leave as much as a scratch on people but could blast through rock and metal. How does that make sense?

He can adjust his eye-beam power level if he wants to attack a living being.

Unfortunately, he can't adjust his angtsy jackballs level, though.

[TheThan]

I always figured Cyclops could regulate the power of his energy beam by how he focuses his eyes. Basically the more he focuses on an object (say a bolder) the more concentrated (and therefore the more powerful) the beam becomes.


But if it worked like that, then he’d be able to regulate the intensity of the beam in another way. He’d be able to defuse it (and there for making it wider, but less powerful) by simply not focusing on anything. But sadly I don’t think that’s the case. Then again he’d also be able to turn it on and off via concentration. It’d take a lot of mental discipline but he’s got a slew of telepaths to help him with that.

[Yuki Akuma]

Scott can't turn off his eye-beams because he suffered brain damage due to a plane accident. He should be able to turn them off. I don't think telepaths can help with brain damage.

Although surely someone should be able to heal him...

[zeratul]

Because the friendship of sea critters is so useful. And don't forget the water-balls, or whatever the heck they are.


I personally think Cyclops is extremely lame. In all of the different portrayals of the X-men he is extremely annoying, cocky, and/or emo. The same effect could have been achieved with a guy with laser cannons. You know, who didn't somehow Kill everyone he looks at without his glasses or visor thing. Plus his lasers stunk, they didn't leave as much as a scratch on people but could blast through rock and metal. How does that make sense?

Thats because he can change the affect of his lasers. He can make them more or less powerfull. Also cyclops is lame but he's not a bad character. He is the miko of X-Men

[kamikasei]

Ok; in the first place, Aquaman has ****ing had it with you, man (http://mcsweeneys.net/2006/10/16weldon.html). (Strong language at link, obviously enough.)

Secondly, you want a really feeble superhero in the Aquaman/sidekick vein? Aqualad. Now, I happen to like Tempest - Aqualad's modern identity. But dear god in heaven did his teen persona suck. Okay, the guy could command sea creatures like Aquaman, fair enough. But he had a fear of fish. And while he had some level of super-strength and the like, he was limited to a whole hour out of water at a time.

Nowaday's he's some kind of bigshot sorceror, with magical eyebeams and elemental water powers, in Aquaman's base stealin' all his women. Ocean kid made good, it's nice to see. But of all the old-time sidekicks, it's pretty hard to find a worse. Sure, Robin wore the short shorts, but he kicked people in the face all day long (and has since hooked up with about half the desirable women in the DCU). Speedy had an awful name and terrible dress sense, but he could not only shoot the gun out of your hand but the bullet right out of your gun (and see above, re: women). But poor Aqualad... he was a fish out of water.

[Noneoyabizzness]

ok cyclops still stands the worst super hero. he sucked. not powerwise, he was jsut a whiny biz... of course wedon fixed cyke that he now confronts that he could turn off his power if he turned it off for gbood, but was too whiny to get rid of what made him special. now he has no power but may finally turn into a 21 year old and act like a man for a change

aquaman has a bunch of cool powers, he just never had a good writer. that is why he sucks ash. even namor has had a few decent story arcs.

daredevil sucks powerwise. he is a blind man with the power to see essentially. what makes him rock is he is a hand to hand combatant on par with most of the marvel universe in spite of no power. essentially a batman rip off, but not a lame one.

cypher was two decades too early for his time. give a universal translator the genetic code, watch cypher become sylar.


real lame heroes
green arrow-hedonist or not, he is the most deniable character ever to be in the jla, and that includes the detroit branch.
jessica jones-even as a fan of bendis I don't like this character
everyone on alphaflight aside for puck
spawn!
most of the people who have ever been in the outsiders aside for black lightning, metamorpho and nightwing.
moon knight
she hulk
anything from the omega men aside for lobo

[Beleriphon]

green arrow-hedonist or not, he is the most deniable character ever to be in the jla, and that includes the detroit branch.


Green Arrow has some really good runs. Plus he's actually a pretty decent character from a functional perspective. Besides, you can't go wrong with neo-Commie, hippy superheros.

[Wonderboy]

green arrow-hedonist or not, he is the most deniable character ever to be in the jla, and that includes the detroit branch.

Green Arrow has the baddest ass this side of Batman and Sam Jackson.

[zeratul]

everyone on alphaflight aside for puck
ALPHA FLIGHT ROCKS! snowbird gaurdian, everyone. They are all realy cool accept for the fish girl, and the dude who creates gasses.

[Wonderboy]

ALPHA FLIGHT ROCKS! snowbird gaurdian, everyone. They are all realy cool accept for the fish girl, and the dude who creates gasses.

Bendis doesn't seem to think so...

[Flabbicus]

He is the miko of X-Men

No. I have not seen any similarities between the two in any of the different X-men mediums that I have seen.

I also don't like Thor. Something about gods running around with mortals bugs me.

[nothingclever]

Scott can't turn off his eye-beams because he suffered brain damage due to a plane accident. He should be able to turn them off. I don't think telepaths can help with brain damage.

Although surely someone should be able to heal him...
Emma Frost/White Queen could've done it.

"Frost is also very adept at performing 'psychic surgery': the utilization of pin-pointed psionic energy to exert absolute control over individual brain functions such that the physical form can be manipulated (i.e., injuries healed, disabilities repaired, activation of sexual response, stimulation or retardation of growth and aging, etc). This is an unusual feat for even the most powerful of telepaths, but one that Frost is keen to utilize whenever the occasion suits her."

Oh and she loved Scott Summers yet she never helped him with that. And their relationship was partly telepathic and her evil form or whatever clearly pointed out to him he couldn't control his powers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Queen_%28comics%29

[Woot Spitum]

So hard...

There's Captain America's sidekick, Bucky...all of the X-Men(angst overload)...it can't be Aquaman, he had a generic youthful ward sidekick who was worse (back in the days when all superheroes had one)...Mr. Furious from the Mystery Men...Metamorpho...wait, I got it, Elongated Man, DC comics' blatant rip-off of Mr. Fantastic. Yeah, definately Elongated Man.

[Dhavaer]

I second Matter Eater Lad. Possibly Woman Man, but I'm not sure whether or not he has any powers.

[Ambrogino]

Scott can't turn off his eye-beams because he suffered brain damage due to a plane accident. He should be able to turn them off. I don't think telepaths can help with brain damage.

Although surely someone should be able to heal him...

I believe that's been retconned to bioengineering by Mr Sinister while unconscious from the plane crash, rather than merely brain damage. So you'd need Sinister or the High Evolutionary or someone to cure it.

As for Cypher - his power does have some combat use, as he can read body language perfectly, and knows what his opponent is going to do - he's just not got any physical abilities to do anything with it. Look at Cassandra Cain Batgirl (before DC dropped her into an altrernate badly written dimension) or the Midnighter for what he could potentially do with that power if he trained.

Besides, why should the next step of Humanity's evolution exist nearly entirely of mutations that allow you to fight?

[Wonderboy]

Besides, why should the next step of Humanity's evolution exist nearly entirely of mutations that allow you to fight?

Because, a lot of X-fanboys don't have the attention span to pay attention them long enough, apparently.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I got it, Elongated Man, DC comics' blatant rip-off of Mr. Fantastic. Yeah, definately Elongated Man.

Except that Mr. Fantastic was a rip-off of Plastic Man which DC own the rights to (but didn't create). Stretching is one of the few powers that if you look at how many characters have it you can't call any character an obvious rip-off. Mr. Fantastic is actually very differant to other stretching characters because of his intelligence, his superpower is pretty much his secondary ability.

[Ambrogino]

Mr. Fantastic is actually very differant to other stretching characters because of his intelligence, his superpower is pretty much his secondary ability.

And Elongated man's a Detective first, stretcher second (when he's written well) and Plastic Man's insane first, stretcher second.

[The Geomancer]

The X-men are chosen because their mutations alow them to fight, but many comics aknowledge the fact that there are many mutants whose powers are non combat related. A lot of them go to the Xavier Institute. Like that kid who changes channels by blinking (although thats a very cool power to have, its definitly not a superpower).

As to the Flash, he is one of my favorite superheroes. A previous post mentioned that his powers got upgraded to make is speed possible, but made it sound like a bad thing. It isnt. The vibrating molecules thing he uses to make things explode is poor explanation of a very real scientific property. Every piece of matter has a vibrating point and when you hit it, it is destroyed (breaking glass by singing the right note ect.) all the Flash has to do is repeatedly hit something with the right timing to destroy pretty much everything. He doesn't do this often because the destruction he causes goes everywhere and can hurt innocents. The Flash has an incredibly versatile and cool power.
I do have a few critisisms of The Flash: 1, His name sounds like something out of a crappy tabloid that does an article on a sex pervert. 2, The Flash is very easy to do wrong and very hard to do right. I cannot tell you how many terrible comics/cartoons I have seen with The Flash in them. 3, The Flash should never star in a live action movie because a real correctly proportioned person would look ridiculous in that suit.


And as for Robin, he only really shines when he is seperate from Batman. One of the Robins goes on to become NightWing. NightWing is one of my favorite SuperHeroes.

[kamikasei]

And Elongated man's a Detective first, stretcher second (when he's written well) and Plastic Man's insane first, stretcher second.

In the words of the Justice League Unlimited Elongated Man: "And I'm a detective! That's like getting Plastic Man and Batman all in one!"

It's hard to dislike Elongated Man after reading Identity Crisis. Besides which, if his power's good enough for Reed Richards and Plastic Man, it shouldn't mark him as a loser.


And as for Robin, he only really shines when he is seperate from Batman. One of the Robins goes on to become NightWing. NightWing is one of my favorite SuperHeroes.It seems to me that the current Robin, Tim Drake, is effectively "separate from Batman" most of the time even when within Gotham. The Bat-family seems to have evolved into a network of more independent agents (Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Huntress, Nightwing to an extent) reporting to Oracle as much as to Bats himself. Plus, he's got his own series, which none of the previous Robins had. Overall the character is given his head a lot more and it works. You get the brooding loner Batman as much as you want, you get the various allies given much more development, and you can still turn on the interactions when necessary.

[ElfLad]

Oh, and Aquaman is a jerk. I remember seeing him on Justice League trying to fight a guy trying to melt the polar ice caps and the doofus turned down the Justice League's help. He gave some line about it being his problem, even though technically villains who try to destroy the entire world fall under Superman's jurisdiction. No wonder people hate his guts. He's almost as thuggish as Namor.



Zoe- This is something the captain has to handle for himself
Mal - No, it isn't!

[SteveMB]

Because Super Friends was an awful, awful cartoon, written by people who were writing for saturday cartoon managing executives
Indeed. There's more entertainment value in any one of the Jabootu snark reviews (http://www.jabootu.com/jabootutv.htm) (scroll down to "Challenge of the Superfriends") than in the whole set of episodes.

[Steward]

Which Robin are you talking about, and from when? Most periods when Batman has said or done anything cool at all have, when they showed a Robin, shown a fairly solid one.

I only get comic books occasionally, so my experience with Robin has been from Superfriends [admittedly a very bad show], Batman: The Animated Series [a fantastic show] and the Batman movies. Batman was cool in much of the latter two but Robin rubbed me wrong. He was clumsy, he spoke too loudly, made bad puns, and got entrapped by the villain so often that it was like he didn't even know how to fight. Not only that, in all of the episodes he was in, Batman's abilities were sharply reduced to make Robin seem helpful, which is extremely noticeable.


previous post mentioned that his powers got upgraded to make is speed possible, but made it sound like a bad thing. It isnt. The vibrating molecules thing he uses to make things explode is poor explanation of a very real scientific property.

It's not a bad thing per se, but he uses it to do so much. It's like giving him a power ring. Practically every other line of dialogue he had in the show went along the lines of "If I vibrate my molecules at just the right frequency, I can reverse the polarity of his gyroscopic kajiggrometer!" or "If I spin around in place, I should be able to create a vacuum that will suck out all of the magic!!!" I've seen him use that vibration thing to turn acid into meteorites, turn stone into flesh, and knock a disintegrator beam away from his body using his forearms. It's good in small doses but seriously, enough is enough!


And as for Robin, he only really shines when he is seperate from Batman.

You're probably right about that, but I hate him so much that I refuse to buy any comic with him in it. But that's not a real problem with the character himself, so I guess I have to admit that maybe he's not the worst superhero ever.


Okay, the guy could command sea creatures like Aquaman, fair enough.

Not on Superfriends he could! That idiot couldn't do anything. He was almost as bad as Green Lantern's sidekick, Kai-Ro [who had no superpowers, no martial arts abilities, no gadgets, no technical expertise, no weapons, and was a complete coward and spastic idiot on top of that]. And neither could Aquaman at times. I remember him getting his hand bit off by piranha after a villain stole his powers . [I]Hilarious.

EDIT: Oh, but the Aqualad on Teen Titans was pretty cool. He seemed to be at least as powerful as Aquaman was in Justice League but wasn't too over the top with it. He was also amiable, which was a welcome break from the jerky version we get on JL.

[zeratul]

No. I have not seen any similarities between the two in any of the different X-men mediums that I have seen.

I also don't like Thor. Something about gods running around with mortals bugs me.

I meant in that they are both annoying "law comes fist" wet blankets.Also oh my god. You dont like thor? Im gonna go and cry now.

[JonathanC]

I meant in that they are both annoying "law comes fist" wet blankets.Also oh my god. You dont like thor? Im gonna go and cry now.

Thor is misunderstood by modern readers, I think. The regular Thor is an olde-english speaking viking god who runs around disguised as a doctor and hangs out with mortal superheroes, clean shaven and friendly. The more modern Thor conquered earth in an alternate future or something.

Ultimate Thor is a bit more approachable, inasmuch as it's possible (for a while, at least) to believe that he's just a crazy guy with some powers, and even if you assume he's a god, his beliefs and concerns are very humanistic.

[Druid]

I take back what I said about Super Man. This (http://superdickery.com/****/3.html) makes him totally awesome.

[Parlik]

Well if you want to extend it to villains, there is always the arch enemies of X-Factor from Peter David's orginal run on X-Factor (and now he is back on X-Factor *happy dance*), then they were created to be utterly bad.

Also with worst superhero, do you mean least usefull? Or two dimensional? From the original three mention I will assume least usefull.. If so I will go with matter eating lad as well, or whatever he was called.

Someone mentioned Cypher, I assume that you are refering to the Ultimate Universe version, as the prime universe Doug Ramsey actually had quite a powerfull symbiosis with an alien member of the New Mutants.

[Green Bean]

Someone mentioned Cypher, I assume that you are refering to the Ultimate Universe version, as the prime universe Doug Ramsey actually had quite a powerfull symbiosis with an alien member of the New Mutants.

The thing is, Cypher was useless without being attached Warlock, but Warlock was pretty strong on his own. It's like saying that if you sit on Superman's shoulders while he fights crime, you have superpowers :smalltongue:

[StudlyDuck]

I'm not sure, so don't quote me on this, but I think Cypher's powers were extended to computer coding. Either that or he was just a nerd. That would have made him far more useful today than the time period when he was in the comics.

Also, the AoA version of him was able to extend a translational field that allowed anybody in a small country to translate any language as easily as he does. Presumably the original version would have been able to do the same if he had survived to learn how.

[Parlik]

Well Cypher did take Warlock's father/sire down, which was a pretty mean feat in itself, also the Douglock combo was more powerfull than each of them on their own

[Lord of the Helms]

Scott can't turn off his eye-beams because he suffered brain damage due to a plane accident. He should be able to turn them off. I don't think telepaths can help with brain damage.

Although surely someone should be able to heal him...

A supremely powerful telepath AND telekinetic skilled to the point of precision work on a cellular level could help, but even then it'd be hard. The reincarnated Cable, at the prime of his powers (strong enough to keep an island afloat while fighting the Silver Surfer, skilled enough to suck a virus through a girl's pores) burnt out the bulk of his powers by repairing Deadpool's brain.

Then again, Deadpool was as up there as you'd get as far as psyche and brain damage goes :smalltongue:

[ravenkith]

Or, you know, they could just hook him up with some 'angel blood', or one of the healer mutants that were floating around the x-mansion for a while there.


Why Didn't they? Because it would utterly alter the look & feel of the character. For crying out loud, Scott Summers is an archetype: the tortured leader.

As for bad super heroes:

Ineffectual:
Mr. Immortal
Doorman
Flatman
Cypher
Wonder Twins
The Watchmen (they failed, dammit)
The New Warriors (Oops...KABOOM!)
etc. etc.

Bad at being a 'hero' (good guy):
Deadpool (He's a mercenary...goes with the highest bidder. Sometimes good...mostly bad).
Lobo (Yes, he's been a hero before, but he keeps fallin off the wagon)
Hulk (Uh...hulk smash?)
Wolverine (he's let more people die on his watch than I care to remember, and he carves people into ribbons - not very heroic)
Guy Gardner (keeps getting and losing powers, still an a$$hat though)

Just some thoughts.

And after reading that Aquaman wiki, it just convinces me that I don't want to read any of his stuff.

He may have better powers now, but his entire history is messed up.

Oh, and the king of the worst (at least up until 52): Booster Gold: both ineffectual and bad at being a hero...friggin corporate shill.

I mean, he became a hero to get rich. How wrong-headed is that?

[Tokeloshe]

Spider man.

Now lets face facts here, you are supposedly a bright super hero right?

And, you happen to be on the same team as a Norse God.

And you are a uber-Christian.

You know, that religion that precludes the existance of said Norse frigging God.

Plus they lost me on that whole is he, or isn't he a clone bit.

Plus he took his mask off in public.

[Setra]

In terms of Actual Super Powers?

[Insert people who have no super powers here]

Seriously though, a Radar sense is technically a super power, it's not just the "ability to see". Also, on aquaman. When you have the power to control fish, and you're in the ocean, surrounded by fish, suddenly you kick ass.

In terms of actually being a Hero?

Would Superboy-Prime count? I honestly know only what I have read about him, wasn't he like a hero at one point? Then kinda goes on a tantrum and kills a bunch of people?

[Green Bean]

Would Superboy-Prime count? I honestly know only what I have read about him, wasn't he like a hero at one point? Then kinda goes on a tantrum and kills a bunch of people?

Congrats! You've just summed up Infinite Crisis in less than a paragraph. :smallbiggrin:

[krossbow]

Spider man.

Now lets face facts here, you are supposedly a bright super hero right?

And, you happen to be on the same team as a Norse God.

And you are a uber-Christian.

You know, that religion that precludes the existance of said Norse frigging God.

Plus they lost me on that whole is he, or isn't he a clone bit.

Plus he took his mask off in public.



Well, yes, but don't marvel superheroes fight demons from hell in various comics?

There's mephisto in there as well...

[Steward]

Also, on aquaman. When you have the power to control fish, and you're in the ocean, surrounded by fish, suddenly you kick ass.

Unfortunately, many incarnations of Aquaman have decided that it would be fun to hang around with the land-dwelling superheroes such as Superman and Batman and trick us into thinking that they are fearsome and effective even with the disadvantage of being out of their elements.

[Green Bean]

Well, yes, but don't marvel superheroes fight demons from hell in various comics?

There's mephisto in there as well...

That's what I've always found ridiculous.

"Yeah, I'm an atheist. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm teaming up with the Norse god of thunder and travelling into hell to fight the devil. See ya!"

[prufock]

ALPHA FLIGHT ROCKS! snowbird gaurdian, everyone. They are all realy cool accept for the fish girl

You mean Marrina Smallwood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrina)?

[nothingclever]

Spider man.

Now lets face facts here, you are supposedly a bright super hero right?

And, you happen to be on the same team as a Norse God.

And you are a uber-Christian.

You know, that religion that precludes the existance of said Norse frigging God.

Plus they lost me on that whole is he, or isn't he a clone bit.

Plus he took his mask off in public.
Well Peter could believe the Norse Gods are just super beings and the Christian god is the one true creator of everything.

[Jerthanis]

I'm surprised Hank Pym hasn't been mentioned yet. We've got people raising serious arguments about Superman and Spiderman being the worst when the giant target isn't even mentioned?

He's a manic-depressive alcoholic who beats his wife, has gone by a half dozen superhero names, because each one sucks more than the last. His only superpower is to become larger or smaller and gain the proportional strength for his size (which means, nowhere near the levels of even the weaker "super strong" characters) with no ensuing invulnerability. The only advantage is that his metabolism slows so poison/radiation don't affect him AS FAST. So he becomes a giant target, is incapable of doing anything useful, then gets KOed by anything that does damage. The only non-superhuman power he has is being NOT AS GOOD at being an inventor as Tony Stark, Reed Richards, or other real super-scientists.

[Dhavaer]

Wonder Woman.
She keeps getting tied up. (http://www.superdickery.com/bondage/36.html)

[Setra]

Unfortunately, many incarnations of Aquaman have decided that it would be fun to hang around with the land-dwelling superheroes such as Superman and Batman and trick us into thinking that they are fearsome and effective even with the disadvantage of being out of their elements.

Point very well taken, I'm just saying that in his element he is useful. Otherwise he is.. erm, use impaired.

[faerwain]

And for the winner: Dr. Colosuss.

Getting jailed in a town where Chief Wiggum is the law - that's a whole new definition of helpless.

[Selrahc]

Dr. Collosus is a supervillain though, not exactly applicable

[The Geomancer]

In response to Stewards reply about Flash, I would like to point out that I did say he could easily be messed up. A well written Flash is an amazingly awesome Flash.
As for the whole "Norse God" thing: A lot of people think that Thor is just a mutant who has gone soft in the head. Thats probably what Spider Man thinks. The real problem is Spider Man's conscious when he lets a man he thinks is crazy fight crime...

[Beleriphon]

As for the whole "Norse God" thing: A lot of people think that Thor is just a mutant who has gone soft in the head. Thats probably what Spider Man thinks. The real problem is Spider Man's conscious when he lets a man he thinks is crazy fight crime...


The only problem is that Ultimate Thor has been definatively proven as a living breathing deity of the Norse world.

At any rate he's still all kinds of wacky neo-commie hippy fun.

[The Extinguisher]

Then again, Spiderman can cling to walls, so he's not in any position to question how the world works. If he can be a Chrisitan and hang around a Norse God, then more power to him.

[AdversusVeritas]

Okay, if we are talking about worst powers, I might have to go with Matter Eater Lad. If, on the other hand, we are talking about just plain bad characters (I'm so getting flamed for this one) I vote for Wolverine.

I'm sorry, but the character just gets on my nerves. I don't see how people can possibly both hate Cyclops for being whiney and like Wolverine. Come on, you don't get much more woe-is-me emo than Wolverine. Maybe if I were to truly grasp the sorrow of a poorly contrived cowboy/ninja/mutant/antihero/soldier/samurai/secret agent I would be more sympathetic.

[ravenkith]

Oh come on, you've got to feel pity for someone who's multiclassed that much!

[krossbow]

Not when they have regeneration that requires either a wish spell or DM fiat to kill him :smalltongue:

[Sewer_Bandito]

Definately superman. He's so overpowered it's not even funny.

[Steward]

He's a manic-depressive alcoholic who beats his wife,

Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, they let this guy be a superhero? They turned away Squirrel Girl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_Girl) and let a wife-beater run around in a superhero costume and disgrace the name of 'hero'? What the heck is up with these Marvel writers.


The real problem is Spider Man's conscious when he lets a man he thinks is crazy fight crime...

You have to be at least semi-crazy to wear skintight spandex and monologue to yourself anyway, so Spider Man would only be a hypocrite if he objected.


Point very well taken, I'm just saying that in his element he is useful. Otherwise he is.. erm, use impaired.

Ah, then I agree with you then. Personally, I don't see why the writers can't leave him in the water most of the time. It's not like there's a dearth of adventures that can be written in Atlantis or something.


A well written Flash is an amazingly awesome Flash.

Oh, of course! All well-written characters can be awesome, and Flash's powers are versatile enough to tell really cool stories when the writers exercise some creative self-restraint. As with Superman and Batman, however, writers who are lazy have a lot of ways to mess up the Flash that are harder to do with... say... Spider Man.

[Jerthanis]

Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, they let this guy be a superhero? They turned away Squirrel Girl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_Girl) and let a wife-beater run around in a superhero costume and disgrace the name of 'hero'? What the heck is up with these Marvel writers.


If it makes you feel any better, Hank Pym also built Ultron, one of the most dangerous villains in the Marvel setting (a robot made of Adamantium who is dedicated to eradicating all life and replacing it with robots. Oh, and by the way, Ultron's AI is based on Hank Pym's own brainwaves...)

But Hank's real sorry about it all... honest.

[Beleriphon]

As with Superman and Batman, however, writers who are lazy have a lot of ways to mess up the Flash that are harder to do with... say... Spider Man.


One word: Clones.

[Steward]

One word: Clones.

What?


If it makes you feel any better, Hank Pym also built Ultron, one of the most dangerous villains in the Marvel setting (a robot made of Adamantium who is dedicated to eradicating all life and replacing it with robots

How does that make me feel any better!? That's like saying, "If it makes you feel any better, Hank Pym also likes to drown puppies and burn down orphanages on his spare time."

[Invisible Queen]

No list of the worst superheroes ever is complete without a mention of Dogwelder (http://dogwelder.com/), with the amazing power to weld dogs to people's faces with a welder.

[Green Bean]

No list of the worst superheroes ever is complete without a mention of Dogwelder (http://dogwelder.com/), with the amazing power to weld dogs to people's faces with a welder.

That's...some power. :smalleek:

[Grazzt]

Captain Marvel.

No, not SHAZAM. Not any of the Vell family. Not Monica.

This guy:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/oddball/index.cgi?date=2003-03-03

His power? By saying "Split", all of his limbs fall off and he can direct them into beating people up.

[IronMouse]

My vote for worst super hero ever must go to Infectious Lass of the Legion of Substitute Heroes.
Ambush Bug: And what is it you do young lady?
Infections Lass: I make people sick.
Ambush Bug: Of course you do.

Runner ups:
Airwave, (the original) . He had a walkman and used roller skates to zip along telephone wires.
Bolshoi of the People’s Heroes. He didn’t seem to do much except spin around and strike dramatic poses.

[StudlyDuck]

How does that make me feel any better!? That's like saying, "If it makes you feel any better, Hank Pym also likes to drown puppies and burn down orphanages on his spare time."
Not quite. Ultron is one of the most powerful and advanced machines ever to appear in comics. So really, it's more like saying he drowned Lassie as a puppy and burned down an orphanage full of kids who would have grown up to be the best and brightest of their generation.

[twerk_face]

I'm surprised Hank Pym hasn't been mentioned yet. We've got people raising serious arguments about Superman and Spiderman being the worst when the giant target isn't even mentioned?

He's a manic-depressive alcoholic who beats his wife, has gone by a half dozen superhero names, because each one sucks more than the last. His only superpower is to become larger or smaller and gain the proportional strength for his size (which means, nowhere near the levels of even the weaker "super strong" characters) with no ensuing invulnerability. The only advantage is that his metabolism slows so poison/radiation don't affect him AS FAST. So he becomes a giant target, is incapable of doing anything useful, then gets KOed by anything that does damage. The only non-superhuman power he has is being NOT AS GOOD at being an inventor as Tony Stark, Reed Richards, or other real super-scientists.

This is what makes him so interesting as a character.

But worst hero? Howard the Duck, hands down.

[Beleriphon]

What?

Lets try Clone Saga then. Arguably one of the worst things to ever happen to Spider-Man comics. Just awful.

[Tokeloshe]

How about...

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/sted.htm

A living teddy bear and his Alien sidekick has to get a mention somewhere on this thread...

[Yuki Akuma]

How about...

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/sted.htm

A living teddy bear and his Alien sidekick has to get a mention somewhere on this thread...

You take that back! SuperTed is awesome! He taught me how to cross the road!

... Yeah. Seriously, they made a SuperTed educational video on road safety. It sucked.

[Sebastian Bux]

Without a doubt (in my mind at least) the worst super hero is Superman. And let me tell you why!

1 - Indestructable (yes, I know about Kryptonite, i'll get to that in a second)
2 - Has ZERO fighting skills
3 - Bull$#!^ ability to "reverse time" by flying around the earth real fast ... ooooooh!
4 - Vunerable to Kryptonite, which by the way, is apparently EVERYWHERE. Any criminal can get a hold of this crap.

Look, I love Chris Reeve and think that he was the best actor to ever play the role, but Superman is just a terrible superhero. He was created in a time when super characters didn't have to have lives they just needed to be able to kick some ass. Then, Stan Lee goes and shows the world that it's possible to have superheroes with real life problems and humanity (Fantastic Four #1) and suddenly Supershlub is playing catch up.

The guy loses his powers against practically EVERY villian (at least of human origin) that he comes up against, because he's indestructible. And when he does, he becomes the biggest ***** ... cat on the planet. I mean, he's in the same universe as Batman... come dude, take some karate lessions. You lose you powers more times then Wonder Woman loses her INVISIBLE jet. Oh, don't think I've forgotten about you Wonder Woman with you lame Amazon powers. Bullet repelling bracelets ... PLEASE!

But Superman .... ugh. Nothing angers me more then when he does the turn back time BS. That's the lamest most BS power ever. If you ever watch the directors cut of SupermanII, he does it in that movie too. It's soooo lame. Let's just reverse time and pretend nothing just happened. Ugh, what a mess.

I also love the Kill Bill Part 2 analogy that Kane from Kung Fo (whatever his name is, I don't feel like looking it up) .... DAVID CARADINE! I went looking anyway and then remembered. That was a great speech about how Superman views humans.

Anyway, Superman sucks. Most of DC does (in my opinion). Marvel has characters who are superheroes. I just wish they didn't have so many heroes from other dimensions or outerspace.... The Silver Surfer .... WHATEVER!!!

[zeratul]

Without a doubt (in my mind at least) the worst super hero is Superman. And let me tell you why!

1 - Indestructable (yes, I know about Kryptonite, i'll get to that in a second)
2 - Has ZERO fighting skills
3 - Bull$#!^ ability to "reverse time" by flying around the earth real fast ... ooooooh!
4 - Vunerable to Kryptonite, which by the way, is apparently EVERYWHERE. Any criminal can get a hold of this crap.

Look, I love Chris Reeve and think that he was the best actor to ever play the role, but Superman is just a terrible superhero. He was created in a time when super characters didn't have to have lives they just needed to be able to kick some ass. Then, Stan Lee goes and shows the world that it's possible to have superheroes with real life problems and humanity (Fantastic Four #1) and suddenly Supershlub is playing catch up.

The guy loses his powers against practically EVERY villian (at least of human origin) that he comes up against, because he's indestructible. And when he does, he becomes the biggest ***** ... cat on the planet. I mean, he's in the same universe as Batman... come dude, take some karate lessions. You lose you powers more times then Wonder Woman loses her INVISIBLE jet. Oh, don't think I've forgotten about you Wonder Woman with you lame Amazon powers. Bullet repelling bracelets ... PLEASE!

But Superman .... ugh. Nothing angers me more then when he does the turn back time BS. That's the lamest most BS power ever. If you ever watch the directors cut of SupermanII, he does it in that movie too. It's soooo lame. Let's just reverse time and pretend nothing just happened. Ugh, what a mess.

I also love the Kill Bill Part 2 analogy that Kane from Kung Fo (whatever his name is, I don't feel like looking it up) .... DAVID CARADINE! I went looking anyway and then remembered. That was a great speech about how Superman views humans.

Anyway, Superman sucks. Most of DC does (in my opinion). Marvel has characters who are superheroes. I just wish they didn't have so many heroes from other dimensions or outerspace.... The Silver Surfer .... WHATEVER!!!

superman isn't that bad, hes not my favorite but hes cool

[Invisible Queen]

I can come up with some reasons Superman doesn't suck.

1. He sets the standard for superheroes in his world, with his unmatched strength and heroism.
2. He doesn't do any time travelling bull except in those crappy movies.
3. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, you say? Superman proves differently.
4. He's so far managed to avoid any sticky situations that would ensue if he ever got laid. 300 million mindless indestructible little guys flying around searching for ovas to impregnate? Yeah that would suck. Gotta give him credit for keeping it in his pants. :)

[Tokeloshe]

Superman could be argued to be pretty dire:

1: Is it heroic if, most of the time, he has no real expectation of getting hurt or losing anything by it?

2: I am sure I read a comic where he zipped around the world a few times. Eh. 0 (Bad writing, every hero gets it.)

3: The guy has been beaten, several times, by Jimmy Olsen. Not Batman. Not some high powered super-villain. Jimmy Olsen.

4: The guy is supposedly an alien life-form so if you think about it, isn't him sleeping with Lois basically beastiality?

5: He also got beat by a skunk once.

6: And a ladder. Okay, it was probably a really evil ladder, but still.

7: Has died, and come back to life.

8: Has a thing for illiteration (Lana Lang, Lois Lane etc)

9: Sans powers he really just isn't very good in a fight.

10: Got a teenage angst soap-opera.

But he avoids being the worst via one simple thing:

Is sometimes, actually quite funny.

[Invisible Queen]

About your #4, they covered that with Swamp Thing. His girlfriend was dragged into court, but Batman (!) explained that if sleeping with a sentient nonhuman person was a crime they'd have to consider Superman, and the case was dismissed.

[GoC]

Superman could be argued to be pretty dire:

1: Is it heroic if, most of the time, he has no real expectation of getting hurt or losing anything by it?

2: I am sure I read a comic where he zipped around the world a few times. Eh. 0 (Bad writing, every hero gets it.)

3: The guy has been beaten, several times, by Jimmy Olsen. Not Batman. Not some high powered super-villain. Jimmy Olsen.

4: The guy is supposedly an alien life-form so if you think about it, isn't him sleeping with Lois basically beastiality?

5: He also got beat by a skunk once.

6: And a ladder. Okay, it was probably a really evil ladder, but still.

7: Has died, and come back to life.

8: Has a thing for illiteration (Lana Lang, Lois Lane etc)

9: Sans powers he really just isn't very good in a fight.

10: Got a teenage angst soap-opera.

But he avoids being the worst via one simple thing:

Is sometimes, actually quite funny.

All with crap writers.

[Invisible Queen]

The main problem with Superman, I think Neil Gaiman said, is that which is interesting about him. What's interesting isn't that he can smash mountains with his bare hands, but how that makes him feel. And no writers seem to have the guts to explore that.

[Steward]

isn't him sleeping with Lois basically beastiality?

Bestiality is sleeping with animals [essentially non-sapient beings].


7: Has died, and come back to life.

Who hasn't these days? :D


And no writers seem to have the guts to explore that.

That's just too hard! I mean, come on, many most] writers have the imagination and creative daring of a particularly dimwitted doorknob. You can't expect, with the sheer number of people writing for Superman, that the majority of them will have the guts to explore a concept like that.

But some of them have. See Red Son (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Son) [one of the only comic books I've ever read].

[Bluelantern]

7: Has died, and come back to life.


Seriously, did ever readed comics?
anyway, watch this to have a longer answer http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/218160

[Sebastian Bux]

I can come up with some reasons Superman doesn't suck.

1. He sets the standard for superheroes in his world, with his unmatched strength and heroism.
2. He doesn't do any time travelling bull except in those crappy movies.
3. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, you say? Superman proves differently.
4. He's so far managed to avoid any sticky situations that would ensue if he ever got laid. 300 million mindless indestructible little guys flying around searching for ovas to impregnate? Yeah that would suck. Gotta give him credit for keeping it in his pants. :)


4 - Someone hasn't seen a certain movie
3 - Suprman III - Red Kryptonite
2 - I'm sure there's a point in the comics somewhere where he does, but I'll concede you that one since I don't know exactly when.
1 - Superman is a hero because he can be. The one time he gave up his powers to be human he found that he was ill equiped to handle being a hero as a human. Superman relies on his powers .. without them he is nothing ... including a hero.

Spiderman (in Spiderman II) runs into a burning building to save a young girl even though he knows he can't count on his powers. Superman cries like a little girl trapped in a burning building when he's without powers. The true Superman is weak.

[The Extinguisher]

My one problem is that superman has killed more people then all his villians combined. Have you seen some of the older comics. Every second cover he's killing Batman or Lois or everyone on Earth.

[krossbow]

Bah; I think it's been said in comics that the odds of a kryptonian and a earthling being compatable in the reproductive process is near impossible.





Besides.


Superman is a ****.

[Raistlin1040]

Anyone from Superfriends. I mean my friends and I make fun of it. Every single day.

Me (Trying to call a meeting): GUYS!
(Not working)
My friend (Sticks hand up in air as a fist): Alright pay attention!
Me: Dude you totally were superfriends unite right there
Everyone: Hahahah!

[Setra]

Anyone from Superfriends. I mean my friends and I make fun of it. Every single day.

Me (Trying to call a meeting): GUYS!
(Not working)
My friend (Sticks hand up in air as a fist): Alright pay attention!
Me: Dude you totally were superfriends unite right there
Everyone: Hahahah!

Wasn't Batman in Superfriends?

[Beleriphon]

1 - Superman is a hero because he can be. The one time he gave up his powers to be human he found that he was ill equiped to handle being a hero as a human. Superman relies on his powers .. without them he is nothing ... including a hero.


You're basing your whole argument on a single movie that is out of current DC continuity, and was out of DC continuity at the time. Superman is actually powerful without his powers, and is terrific unarmed combatant. He's learned a Kryptonian form of martial arts from the fine folks in the shrunken city of Kandor where he has no powers. Superman is also, and very importantly, Clark Kent, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Because, ya know, things like that clearly don't count for much.

As for Red Kryponite that would be like complaining that Batman killed a guy because the Joker hopped him up on PCP. Its an outside source that specifically causes him to not control himself in any way. Superman could rule the world so little effort it isn't even funny, but he doesn't because he does have self control. One of his greatest strengths really.

I think you're selling Superman short because he's difficult to physically challenge. This is half the fun of the character, because when Lex Luthor is Present of the United States all of Superman's strength does him no good.

[Nevrmore]

Aquaman, Daredevil or that dog who hangs around the Wonder Twins?

Which one.
I'm sick of Aquaman getting so much flak. In a recent issue of his comic he gave a man a fatal brain hemorrhage with the handwave that since everything evolved from fish, with enough concentration, he can have influence over them.


By the way, this one is for the Wonder Twins:

"I could get beaten by a sponge! It wouldn't even have to be an evil sponge!"

[Invisible Queen]

Well you'd sort of expect a superhero to have superhuman abilities. "Superman is a wuss without his powers" is like saying Bruce Lee would have been weaker without his martial arts skill.

[terrag25]

One word:
Aqualad

[Setra]

Well you'd sort of expect a superhero to have superhuman abilities. "Superman is a wuss without his powers" is like saying Bruce Lee would have been weaker without his martial arts skill.

Except Bruce Lee trained for years to get his skill.

Then he died.


I fail to see how that proves any point at all.
Well my point is Bruce Lee wasn't born skilled, he had to train to get it.

Superman wasn't technically born omnipotent, but he didn't have to work to become so.

I added the dying part just to be funny.

[Nevrmore]

Except Bruce Lee trained for years to get his skill.

Then he died.
I fail to see how that proves any point at all.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I have to say: I don't like most super-powered heroes.

They just get so silly - as writers pile more concepts into their stories, the original hero concept gets weaker and weaker. Look how laughable Superman has become, with his "control the flow of time by flying around fast" and "wiggle subtly enough to walk through solid matter" and a host of other bulls**t powers.

Give me costumed heroes like the Watchmen. Give me inherently arcane manifestations of collective psyche like Dream and Death and Dementia. The X Men and their like just annoy me.

[Invisible Queen]

Setra: A valid point, but I don't think it has anything to do with what we were talking about. Unless Superman's powers somehow suck because he didn't earn them with hard work.

Altair: Superman's amount of ridiculous powers have decreased a lot over time. Early in the days he had super-ventrilquism and super-stitching and everything else the writers could think of, and an X-ray vision that could do everything from boiling water to operate electronic devices on other worlds, without causing cancer.

He has, however, learned new ways to use his powers as our knowledge of science has progressed. He can fly fast enough that noticeable time dilation occurs - time slows down as your speed relative to space increase, you know, that's a proven fact. And the adjusting the vibrational frequency of his body to pass through solid matter is another application of superspeed. It's hardly bull****.

[Logic]

He can fly fast enough that noticeable time dilation occurs - time slows down as your speed relative to space increase, you know, that's a proven fact.
Actually, it is not a proven fact, it is a theory with no evidence to discount it yet. There is a lot of EVIDENCE to support it, but it is not a proven fact.
Same with atomic theory. No evidence to discount it yet, but plenty to make us sure it works just as advertised.

[Setra]

Setra: A valid point, but I don't think it has anything to do with what we were talking about. Unless Superman's powers somehow suck because he didn't earn them with hard work.

Not really, I just felt like pointing that out.

I stick with my previous choice for Worst Superhero.

[Invisible Queen]

Okay, in the sense that there aren't really ANY proven facts at all, you can only rely on time dilation as much as gravity or something.

Fun stuff: The time dilation between the poles and equator of Earth comes to roughly 1 second per two weeks. In a lifetime you could get to live several DAYS longer if you stay on the equator. :D

[Jerthanis]

Wow, so I can't believe people are honestly saying Superman is the worst superhero. I mean, I can understand "not the best" because he's certainly not the most interesting, but when you boil down superheroes to the most basic levels, what they are stylistically are is responsibility and choice. Every superhero is the way they are because of what Superman is. When one thing is so pervasively genre defining as that, calling him the worst is calling everything he inspired (practically the entire genre of superhero comics) fundamentally flawed.

When you think about Superman's motivations, perhaps it will become clear why he is a great superhero. I'm sure as a child, every kid worth their salt talks with their buddies about "What you'd do if you had superman's powers." and the answers fall anywhere between the selfish and the downright monstrous. However, despite the fact that "I'd use my powers to help endangered people, and fight crime, never using it selfishly!" is the single least likely response out of a child... why would Clark Kent, who had much the same childhood as the rest of us... decide to do just that with his powers upon their discovery?

Well, the reasons are twofold. Kal-el is the last remaining Kryptonian, the last scion of a doomed race. His actions ARE the legacy of the planet Krypton, and it is his choice what he portrays as the morality and choice of his entire race. If he chose to rob banks or rule over the petty humans, that means the race of Kryptonians are domineering, evil people who deserve what they got. He can't do that to his people, he has the responsibility to them to uphold the family name, to not bring shame to what he is.

Secondly, he can hear and see everything that goes wrong in his absence. He also has the power to stop most of them. Maybe even all of them. When you see the Circle K across the street from where you work get robbed, you might call the police, give them everything you saw, help catch "the bad guys" as best as you can, or you might fall asleep thinking of the next time the people you let get away do something, and perhaps the next time it wouldn't be bloodless. He does what he does not so much to be a hero, but because it's the least he can do. He does it because he has to, because it is his nature, and because nobody can hear shouts for help and be unaffected by the choice of whether to do something or to stand down.

Also, if we're using non-canon movies to judge who the worst comic book superheroes are, the Fantastic Four are automatically the worst, effortlessly beating out any superman depiction in any movie I've ever seen. Heck, if we count animated TV serieses, that old one with the terrible theme song automatically makes the FF the worst superteam in the history of comics. However, FF is classic Lee/Kirby, and broke ground as the original dysfunctional family type of superhero team, and their adventures in the 60s laid groundwork for over 40 years of Marvel Continuity. Not all of it is good (*Cough*Galactus*Cough*), but FF deserves to be looked at as an important and influential comic, while still being a blast to read, and Superman is the same way. Have you ever heard the rule that movies are always worse than the books they're based on? Well, the same applies to comic books and comic book movies.

[wowy319]

The Falcon. his superpower is to talk to a bird. ONE bird in the entire world. that, and his costume sucks. Seriously, he's about as useful as a rectangular wheel.
Iron chef morimoto vs. the falcon: who wins?
winner: iron chef moriomoto, who prepared a wonderful dish of redwing a l'orange shortly after the fight.

[krossbow]

matter eater lad.


why, god, WHY!
________
Honda Phantom (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_Phantom)

[Setra]

matter eater lad.


why, god, WHY!

I can eat matter too! Especially matter like chocolate... Mmm

[Green Bean]

matter eater lad.


why, god, WHY!

Hey, he's useful. Like if the Legion is in jail, he can eat the bars! Assuming, of course, that Superboy isn't with him....or Lightning Boy, or Shrinking Violet or Colossal Boy, or Phantom Girl, or Cosmic Boy, or...well pretty much the rest of the Legion.

[TheThan]

Ok lets look at the different type of superheroes, or what makes them become super heroes. Please note that some heroes utilize elements from several arch types (Spiderman, for instance uses the aspects of the accidental hero, the morally obligated hero and the vengeful hero).


The accidental hero
Science gone awry is an often-used concept in comic books. These characters embrace it. They are the characters that have gained super powers from an accident. They are driven to find a cure for their affliction but in doing so they become heroes to many. Often times these characters embrace their powers and decide to lead a life of heroism despite not being normal. Though there are characters who are the victims of magic/mysticism, mostly you see the science-related heroes.
Characters such as the Incredible Hulk, and the fantastic four.


The conscripted hero
These characters are forced into the roll of superhero though past deeds, deals with other beings or just simple luck.
The Green Lantern, Nick Fury and Spawn are good examples of this type of hero.


The morally obligated
These characters are driven by a strong moral code; they simply can’t stand by and let bad things happen to good people. Since they have the power to fight crime and evil they do so. Many times a deeper personal responsibility or code drives them.
Superman and Spiderman are all good examples of this style of character


The self serving
These characters become super heroes because it is in their best interest to help others. They are often hated and ridiculed by the public majority and constantly try to change the way people look upon them. They become heroes because it will not only better their image but also because it will help others like them to escape the prejudice that surrounds them. Other times they become heroes because something they care about is directly affected by the actions of villains, and they must stand up and protect the things they love.
The X-men and Aquaman are good examples of this type of hero.


The vengeful hero
These people are characters that have suffered some terrible loss or personal (physical and emotional) injury at the hands of some villain. They now seek vengeance and to right the wrongs they see in the world. Sometimes they become anti-heroes.
Batman and the Punisher are two excellent examples of this type of hero.


.

[selfcritical]

I still think it's Daredevil.

He's blind, but guess what, he can actually see! Oh my.
I present to you parapalegic man. He we crippled in an accident, but he has the power to walk.


He has VERY enhanced senses, is one of the best hand-to-hand combatants alive, and is UTTERLY without fear(hence, daredevil; man without fear). From the age of 8 to 17 he trained with one of the best martial artists in the marvel continuity, and he's ripped apart the most powerful criminal syndicate.
Daredevil's power is that he's a goddamn ninja on crack. Imagine batman sans the money, except MUCH more proactive.

[Logos7]

I think it's a bit biased to put all the xmen in the self serving catagory, im sure lots of them help because they feel the moral obligation too, with scads of all the other catagories thrown in

As for Superman being Immoral , even if he isn't vulnerable , he has to put the time in it to save the shadows, so he is giving something up, and no time travel doesn't change this, if you can't figure out why well im not going to tell you

I rearlly think Pym for the win, Dumb Power, Second Rate Inventor , Full of himmself , Dubious Morals ,

Logos

[TheThan]

[quote=Logos7;1968592]I think it's a bit biased to put all the xmen in the self serving catagory, im sure lots of them help because they feel the moral obligation too, with scads of all the other catagories thrown in [/qoute]

Like I said, some heroes are a mix (in fact I think most heroes are). Since the x-men encompass a lot of different characters with they’re own histories and back ground, I put them all together under the self-serving group.
Because that’s what the team was originally designed to be, a group of mutants who saw that others of their kind (magneto etc) were hurting innocents. Mutants hurting humans would further push the anti-mutant sentiment to new levels. So the X-men were formed to prevent that from happening and to show that not all mutants are bad.

Professor X himself is a mix of the Self serving (having the well being of all mutants, including himself and the children under his care, at mind), and the morally obligated hero. As he simply can’t stand by and let magneto and the others destroy humanity at their leisure.

[Steward]

The Falcon. his superpower is to talk to a bird. ONE bird in the entire world. that, and his costume sucks. Seriously, he's about as useful as a rectangular wheel.
Iron chef morimoto vs. the falcon: who wins?
winner: iron chef moriomoto, who prepared a wonderful dish of redwing a l'orange shortly after the fight.

What do you mean, by one bird? You mean like one bird species? Having control over all falcons seems pretty nice. It's not amazingly powerful but I can see him being able to do some light heroics [such as having a flock rescue a child from a burning building or flying into the face of a criminal so that he can have an opportunity to sneak-attack him in the rib-cage].

[Ganjuu-kun]

Superman. He's too "super". He only has one weakness, and a "super" ego to go with it.

[The Extinguisher]

Plus every idiot and his mother can get thier hands on some kryptonite.

For being the remains of a planet that exploded quite a ways away from Earth, it's not that hard to come by.

[Yuki Akuma]

What do you mean, by one bird? You mean like one bird species? Having control over all falcons seems pretty nice. It's not amazingly powerful but I can see him being able to do some light heroics [such as having a flock rescue a child from a burning building or flying into the face of a criminal so that he can have an opportunity to sneak-attack him in the rib-cage].

No. One bird.

One specific bird.

[Wippit Guud]

Up to 6 pages... and you're all wrong...

"By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet."

[Setra]

Up to 6 pages... and you're all wrong...

"By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet."
I liked Captain Planet.

So sue me. I have OJs Lawyer.

[Wippit Guud]

A superhero that can only come to be by 5 people wielding rings, and gets hurt by pollution. Cue the 3 year old with the supersoaker full of oil!

[Setra]

A superhero that can only come to be by 5 people wielding rings, and gets hurt by pollution. Cue the 3 year old with the supersoaker full of oil!
On the other hand he can create a Tornado.

[Wippit Guud]

Well, we could get even worse...

http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/images/captaincaveman.jpg

[Setra]

Well, we could get even worse...

http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/images/captaincaveman.jpg

Or http://www.superdickery.com/images/stupor/mattereater.jpg

[StudlyDuck]

Wow, so I can't believe people are honestly saying Superman is the worst superhero. I mean, I can understand "not the best" because he's certainly not the most interesting, but when you boil down superheroes to the most basic levels, what they are stylistically are is responsibility and choice. Every superhero is the way they are because of what Superman is. When one thing is so pervasively genre defining as that, calling him the worst is calling everything he inspired (practically the entire genre of superhero comics) fundamentally flawed.

When you think about Superman's motivations, perhaps it will become clear why he is a great superhero. I'm sure as a child, every kid worth their salt talks with their buddies about "What you'd do if you had superman's powers." and the answers fall anywhere between the selfish and the downright monstrous. However, despite the fact that "I'd use my powers to help endangered people, and fight crime, never using it selfishly!" is the single least likely response out of a child... why would Clark Kent, who had much the same childhood as the rest of us... decide to do just that with his powers upon their discovery?

Well, the reasons are twofold. Kal-el is the last remaining Kryptonian, the last scion of a doomed race. His actions ARE the legacy of the planet Krypton, and it is his choice what he portrays as the morality and choice of his entire race. If he chose to rob banks or rule over the petty humans, that means the race of Kryptonians are domineering, evil people who deserve what they got. He can't do that to his people, he has the responsibility to them to uphold the family name, to not bring shame to what he is.

Secondly, he can hear and see everything that goes wrong in his absence. He also has the power to stop most of them. Maybe even all of them. When you see the Circle K across the street from where you work get robbed, you might call the police, give them everything you saw, help catch "the bad guys" as best as you can, or you might fall asleep thinking of the next time the people you let get away do something, and perhaps the next time it wouldn't be bloodless. He does what he does not so much to be a hero, but because it's the least he can do. He does it because he has to, because it is his nature, and because nobody can hear shouts for help and be unaffected by the choice of whether to do something or to stand down.

As one of the anti-Superman crowd, I'm willing to concede to you the point that, yes, he is the basis for the superhero genre. In that sense, I like to think of him more as a prototype than "the original superhero." And like any prototype, you expect flaws that can be hammered out later. Superman as a concept is all well and good. He sets a good moral example and, as you said, few people could realistically expect to be held to that. However, you say that he does good because it is in his nature, and the minimum someone with that kind of power could do to live by a moral code of any sort. While this is not a fundamentally flawed idea, it has certainly been improved on over time and leaves relatively little room for character development.

Superman's moral example, while inspiring, is simply unreasonable for a normal person. You've surely noticed all the people who back up their claims that Superman is the worst by saying something to the effect of, "Oh, sure. He's nearly omnipotent. Of course he can be heroic." To many readers, his powers and moral example are in conflict with each other. While at once, he is presented as the ultimate paragon of good (Ignoring Superdickery for the moment), he simultaneously is presented as having an unattainable ability to do good. Therein lies the advantage of physically weaker heroes. Batman, for example, despite the fact that he's some kind of crazy genius who can do and knows anything and everything, he's still physically human and thus, a theoretically attainable goal. Granted, for most of us it's probably never gonna happen, but it's a lot more conceivable than following in the footsteps of a guy who can level a mountain with one finger.

I personally feel that his "iconic" status hinders him more than it helps. He is defined by his unstoppable powers and strict adherence to an idealistic moral code. His character will forever be centered around these concepts because these are what people think of when they hear the word "Superman." As such, it limits his character growth. Superman always wins. And he always does it in a way that does not compromise his idealism. Because anything else would defy the essence of Superman.

So while I stand by my vote for Superman as the worst superhero, I do it because he is outdated and vast improvement has been made. Not because he is inherently bad. He laid the foundation for the genre, but that's merely a template from which far superior superheroes have since emerged. He as a character has long since exhausted his possiblities.

[Kython]

I'm split between the boy form the wonder twins (can't remember his name) and aquaman.

Aquaman: can swim, breathe underwater, and talk to fish... pointless if the villian is above sea level...

B.F.W.T.: can turn into something water related (ie. sheet of ice, a bucket of water, a puddle...). at least the chick could turn into a hawk and gouge out the villains eyes... what'll he do, make him slip and humiliate himself? or maybe he'll sink his seabound monstrosity by turning into an iceburg!

I may not be able to decide on the lamest superhero, and the debate will go on for centuries as to who's the best, but the most broken superhero has to be Superman (or Captain Marvel, easily a superman knockoff but was ultimatly cancelled). c'mon, he has EVERY superpower, and the most obscure of weaknesses... personally I count 6 things that weaken and/or kill him:

1.Kryptonite (how the hell do we have so much...was it stuck to the ship or something?)
2.Red sunlight (and how often is that a factor)
3.Doomsday (he beat superman to DEATH! but he somehow got resurected by the power of Detective Comics)
4.various alien diseases (they'll come up with any excuse for why he get's his ass handed to him in superman vs predator, a comic I actually have... pred should've won... superman only won "by default")
5. (something should be here butI can't remember it right now... I'll edit later)
6.Yautja blades (...well they cut his skin... and if it cuts, it could evicerate!)

anyways, Superman: broken hero, period. the rest is debateable...

[Wippit Guud]

"During their fight with the JLA, Zan became an ice golem, a water monster, and a demonic-looking whirlpool; "

Yeah, that'd suck.

"Form of Elder Steam Para-Elemental!"

[Jerthanis]

I personally feel that his "iconic" status hinders him more than it helps. He is defined by his unstoppable powers and strict adherence to an idealistic moral code. His character will forever be centered around these concepts because these are what people think of when they hear the word "Superman." As such, it limits his character growth. Superman always wins. And he always does it in a way that does not compromise his idealism. Because anything else would defy the essence of Superman.


You make a series of good points, and I agree with most of them, but I think it's unfair to say that Superman is the worst superhero ever because of that. I disagree that Superman is any more limited than any other character because of his morals, and I would say that Superman wins far LESS often than Batman does, despite Batman being only human. The nature of a superhero as being a worthwhile or possible aspiration is, IMHO, irrespective of their quality of being a good superhero or not. Superman doesn't always win, and he is forced to deal with his failures when he has them.

What I think is the problem, is that people are so frequently scared off by the fact that it is HARD to think of a challenge for a hero like Superman, and they had bad experiences with, perhaps, the animated series, or the movies or somesuch, and shut themselves off from superman input, so miss out on some of the truly great Superman depictions, such as Red Son and grow into a cycle of not thinking Superman is interesting, not reading Superman comics, and never having reason to doubt that Superman is boring/uninteresting.

I guess the same can be said about a lot of serieses, I think, because personally, I think Daredevil is pretty awesome, and I wouldn't doubt that if I ever read an Aquaman comic, I'd be pretty impressed with him. I guess it all comes down to whether you have positive experiences with a hero, or negative, and I suppose that either are possible with any character.

[Tokeloshe]

Superman isn't the worst - he has a point to him. But as someone who never actually liked the guy:

In order to qualify as heroic, one needs to have a certain expectation of risk to oneself. Superman, though he has weaknesses and has faced situations where he has suffered due to them, is of such a power level that he would not expect it to be a risk.

That said, how about the original Hulk? Was he even, technically speaking, a superhero?

[Green Bean]

In order to qualify as heroic, one needs to have a certain expectation of risk to oneself. Superman, though he has weaknesses and has faced situations where he has suffered due to them, is of such a power level that he would not expect it to be a risk.

Remember, Superman doesn't get thrown against muggers stealing old ladies' purses. He usually fights people at least as powerful as him (i.e. Darkseid, Doomsday, Brainiac), so I wouldn't say that he isn't at risk.

[Invisible Queen]

I don't think you have to act heroic in X situations to be considered a superhero. Performing superhuman acts of good (to use D&D alignment terminology) is enough. Yeah it's easier for a superhuman to be a superhero than for a normal human to be a hero. Probably because more people tend to notice superhumans. Their presence inspires and symbolizes heroism (Superman most of all) so they fill most of the criteria. Though a superhero shouldn't be assumed to be a hero.

[krossbow]

how many comic book covers have superman killing batman/lois/jimmy/random street guy?

[SteveMB]

The main problem with Superman, I think Neil Gaiman said, is that which is interesting about him. What's interesting isn't that he can smash mountains with his bare hands, but how that makes him feel. And no writers seem to have the guts to explore that.
I was hooked on Astro City from the first issue, in which Samaritan (a character with obvious similarities to Superman) dreams about flying -- not flying as fast as possible to get to an emergency and deal with it the way he is constantly having to do, but just kicking back and flying around for a while.

[Steward]

No. One bird.

One specific bird.

...

Wow.

[Yuki Akuma]

...

Wow.

Well, he can also looks through the eyes of any avian in range and can fly with his synthetic wings.

But still.

[Setra]

Aquaman: can swim, breathe underwater, and talk to fish... pointless if the villian is above sea level...
Yes but you could also say a large number of powers are pointless if the villain is below sea level.

[Nightwing]

Spoiler is definitely the worst superhero. Her father, the Clue Master, is a third-rate takeoff on a second-rate villain, the Riddler. Which makes her, like, nineteenth rate. She doesn't even have any powers or training. She onces got beaten up by three thugs. Batgirl had to save her.

[Steward]

Well, he can also looks through the eyes of any avian in range and can fly with his synthetic wings.

But still.

I know that everyone should strive for self-respect and make the best that they can with their talents, but it's almost as if this guy should just hang up his costume and try to pretend like he doesn't have any superpowers at all. I mean, seriously, the only way he would be powerful is if there were no other heroes [and I mean no other heroes, and no police officers, firefighters, volunteers, or Eagle Scouts, or even Robin] in the area.

[Nightwing]

Here is another thing that will convinces you spoiler is the worst. 3 words:



SHE DATES ROBIN!

[Yuki Akuma]

Here is another thing that will convinces you spoiler is the worst. 3 words:



SHE DATES ROBIN!

And she also is Robin.

Yup.

[Nightwing]

She was only robin for like 5 minutes. Batman fired her. Back mask kiled her in war games, wich was all her falt in the first place. I call it poetic justice.

[Steward]

SHE DATES ROBIN!


And she also is Robin.

That's just nasty.

[The "dating Robin" part, not the "is Robin" part. Dating Robin [or even being nice to him] should be a capital offense.

[Nightwing]

[/COLOR][/U]



That's just nasty.

[The "dating Robin" part, not the "is Robin" part. Dating Robin [or even being nice to him] should be a capital offense.

There should be an anti robin fan club. I saver the sweet moment were joker violently beat Jason with a crowbar.

[kamikasei]

[The "dating Robin" part, not the "is Robin" part. Dating Robin [or even being nice to him] should be a capital offense.

He's a good-looking, smart guy who could beat the crap out of just about anyone you're likely to come across. He works hard to make the world a better place by facing the worst it has to offer and he maintains a sense of humour despite it all (unlike a certain grim avenger of the night I could name).

[Nightwing]

He's a good-looking, smart guy who could beat the crap out of just about anyone you're likely to come across. He works hard to make the world a better place by facing the worst it has to offer and he maintains a sense of humour despite it all (unlike a certain grim avenger of the night I could name).


**** Grayson was a loser as robin (a tradition that has been cared on nicely by the other 2 robins). Then he became Nightwing and was the coolest super hero ever!!! He realized being robin was use less and stooped. so take it from the first robin. ROBINS ARE DUMB

[Steward]

He's a good-looking,

"Good-looking" is arguable and might not even matter since practically every comic-book character who isn't intended for story reasons to be plain or unbelievably ugly can qualify as 'good-looking


smart guy

Smart is definitely a 'no', since Robin has yet to figure out that the reason he gets defeated so much is because he TALKS VERY LOUDLY!!! while sneaking into enemy bases and dresses like a drunken neon clown.




who could beat the crap out of just about anyone you're likely to come across.

I guess he could probably beat the crap out of any non-superhuman he comes across, provided they have bad aim like most supervillains.


He works hard to make the world a better place by facing the worst it has to offer

He's definitely a hard worker, since he goes out night after night to fight crime in his underwear and only one incarnation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightwing) has decided on a costume slightly less humiliating than Batman regulation.




and he maintains a sense of humour despite it all (unlike a certain grim avenger of the night I could name).

His sense of humor is very annoying and he talks so much! Batman is a bit better about this since he doesn't talk nearly as much and often has better dialogue than Robin does.

[kamikasei]

Steward: obviously we're talking about two different Robins. Specifically, I'm talking about the one who's actually dated Spoiler.

[Nightwing]

Steward: obviously we're talking about two different Robins. Specifically, I'm talking about the one who's actually dated Spoiler.

no we are bolth talking about tim drake.:smallamused:

[kamikasei]

no we are bolth talking about tim drake.:smallamused:

...Do you have a privileged line to what Steward thinks? Might he be better positioned to say what he's talking about?

I assumed from the reference to 'underwear' we were talking Grayson or Todd, but perhaps Steward can correct me. (Also, I'm not sure where this 'talks too much' thing is coming from.)

Anyway, my point is basically that either of the 'major' Robins can be pretty fairly claimed to be all-round cooler, tougher, more skilled, and prettier people than (in all likelihood) any of us here talking about them. So talk of it being a crime to be nice to the guy seems excessive.

Seriously, you wanna hate on a superhero, there are far better candidates.

(PS - obviously you're a Nightwing fan; you honestly feel the Robin who lead the Wolfman Teen Titans team in the 80's was one of the worst superheroes ever?)

[Beleriphon]

[/color][/u]



That's just nasty.

[The "dating Robin" part, not the "is Robin" part. Dating Robin [or even being nice to him] should be a capital offense.

I personally like Tim Drake as Robin. He's a fun character and would make an excellent Batman when Bruce finally gives up, or drops dead. He's currently one of the few characters that figured out who Batman is through available clues only. Heck, he basically shows up at Wayne Manor and calls Bruce on it right there.

[Nightwing]

...Do you have a privileged line to what Steward thinks? Might he be better positioned to say what he's talking about?

I assumed from the reference to 'underwear' we were talking Grayson or Todd, but perhaps Steward can correct me. (Also, I'm not sure where this 'talks too much' thing is coming from.)

Anyway, my point is basically that either of the 'major' Robins can be pretty fairly claimed to be all-round cooler, tougher, more skilled, and prettier people than (in all likelihood) any of us here talking about them. So talk of it being a crime to be nice to the guy seems excessive.

Seriously, you wanna hate on a superhero, there are far better candidates.

(PS - obviously you're a Nightwing fan; you honestly feel the Robin who lead the Wolfman Teen Titans team in the 80's was one of the worst superheroes ever?)

i will admit Tim is a cool character. i will also admit most of my rage is directed at Jason Todd, but being robin in general is stupid.

[krossbow]

He's a fun character and would make an excellent Batman when Bruce finally gives up, or drops dead.



Bah; batman will never drop dead. He'll die in an old folks home somewhere with his teeth in an orderlies arm as he's beaten to death with a bedpan.

He's just too mean to die of natural causes.


Not to mention superman has a bad track record of almost killing him.
________
MERCEDES-BENZ R129 HISTORY (http://www.mercedes-wiki.com/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_R129)

[ravenkith]

Seriously, how bad do you have to suck to get fired as robin?

[kamikasei]

Seriously, how bad do you have to suck to get fired as robin?

About as bad as... ...Stephanie Brown, who was fired for disobeying a direct order from Batman while in the field.


Looks at formatting... funny how that worked out.

[Beleriphon]

About as bad as... ...Stephanie Brown, who was fired for disobeying a direct order from Batman while in the field.


Looks at formatting... funny how that worked out.

Yeah, I have that comic. She was a terrible Robin, or rather she was good at the ass kicking, terrible at the crime fighting.

[Nightwing]

Yeah, I have that comic. She was a terrible Robin, or rather she was good at the ass kicking, terrible at the crime fighting.

spoiler is so pethetick! how do you get beat up by three thugs?
:smallconfused:

[Yuki Akuma]

spoiler is so pethetick! how do you get beat up by three thugs?
:smallconfused:

By, uh, being a little girl with no actual combat training?

[Invisible Queen]

Ya know, none of the people mentioned so far sucks even half as much as Dogwelder. >_>

[Jerthanis]

Ya know, none of the people mentioned so far sucks even half as much as Dogwelder. >_>

D...Dogwelder? *Looks up on wikipedia*

Th-That's probably the craziest hero ever. He welds DOGS to PEOPLE. As a superpower. In fact though, Dog Welder is actually cooler than half the rest of the team. Sixpack's superpower is that he's drunk, Bueno Exelente is just a fat pervert...

...Wow... I'm a better man for knowing that is probably the worst superhero team ever.

[Jack Squat]

Either the Wonder Twins, or this guy

http://www.superdickery.com/stupor/1.html

I don't know... this guy's pretty bad as well (http://www.superdickery.com/stupor/9.html)

[Wooter]

The modern Supergirl. Sure, she's super powerful, but she isn't actually heroic.

[Spartan_Samuel]

Captain Obvious. Period, lol.

[krossbow]

I don't know... this guy's pretty bad as well (http://www.superdickery.com/stupor/9.html)


Is it jut me or does he look like peter griffin to anyone else?

[Dib]

Can I cast my vote for BurntFaceMan? Cos he just sucks so bad... thats why its hilarious!

[GoC]

All of section 8 is crap.

seventhsamurai:If the wikipedia page is correct the Wonder Twins are actualy two of the most powerful superheroes in the DCU!
Jayna could become the Typhon from ancient greek legend or insert_name_of_most_powerful_non-sentient_creature_in_existance and then kick the collective asses of the entire JL!
Zan is almost indestructable (as mist for example) and can absorb water (i.e. from the air) to grow as large as he wants! Imagine a 10 meter ice giant that can repair almost any damage!:smallbiggrin:

In terms of power they definitely don't suck, but apart from that they're probably the the most pathetic superheroes in existance.


Others: Robin is generaly only worth anything when independent (either leading the Teen Titans or as Nightwing).

[Invisible Queen]

D...Dogwelder? *Looks up on wikipedia*

Th-That's probably the craziest hero ever. He welds DOGS to PEOPLE. As a superpower.
Yeah, and he uses a welder to do it. *nodnod*

[Yuki Akuma]

Yeah, and he uses a welder to do it. *nodnod*

Well, obviously. His superpower is that he can use a welder to weld flesh-and-blood dogs onto flesh-and-blood people with no metal to stick them together with.

[Steward]

Steward: obviously we're talking about two different Robins. Specifically, I'm talking about the one who's actually dated Spoiler.

I sure hope so. I'm talking about Richard Grayson, assistant detective to Robin and easily one of the clumsiest most annoying sidekicks Batman has ever been saddled with. I don't like Tim Drake either, but he at least was able to pick a costume that didn't make him look goofy.


I assumed from the reference to 'underwear' we were talking Grayson or Todd, but perhaps Steward can correct me. (Also, I'm not sure where this 'talks too much' thing is coming from.)

It's Rich Grayson, definitely. Most of my dislike of Robin in general comes from the comics but this particular trait is something that he's had in almost every movie or TV show, no matter how well done. All of his dialogue is read in this high, loud voice that seems to get even louder when the scene is supposed to be spooky or mysterious. Although Robin is hardly the first or the worst to do this in movies, he is the only superhero that I can think of so far.


Anyway, my point is basically that either of the 'major' Robins can be pretty fairly claimed to be all-round cooler, tougher, more skilled, and prettier people than (in all likelihood) any of us here talking about them.

Well, yeah, but if that's the case then there really can be no criticism of superheroes or supervillains, since chances are none of us have heat vision or 16-pack abs or the ability to talk to fish either. All incarnations of Robin are very powerful, but they get on my nerves in that oh-so-special way that only a small child in fetish gear can.


So talk of it being a crime to be nice to the guy seems excessive.

Fine. I'll concede you in that point. Maybe you [not, 'you', but I mean a character in a comic book] can be nice to Robin... if he has saved your life or attempted to within the last 18 months. Otherwise, it's straight off to the clink with you.


Seriously, you wanna hate on a superhero, there are far better candidates.

Oh, of course. But it's much too easy to kick Dogwelder around.


(PS - obviously you're a Nightwing fan; you honestly feel the Robin who lead the Wolfman Teen Titans team in the 80's was one of the worst superheroes ever?)

I don't know what you're talking about. I don't like Nightwing; I merely stated that his costume was much less humiliating than Robin's costume, especially during the Golden Age when Rich Grayson practically had a klieg light mounted onto his utility belt to make sure that the bad guys could aim better.


His superpower is that he can use a welder to weld flesh-and-blood dogs onto flesh-and-blood people with no metal to stick them together with.

Amazing. So, basically, he's about as 'super' as Captain Spoonbender and the incomparable Chickenbiter.

[kamikasei]

Steward: The only part of what you quote there where I was directly addressing you was the first item, from its own post, prefixed with 'Steward:' just like here. In the rest of what you quote I was addressing the forum poster Nightwing, who had posted after you. That's why some of what you quoted might not have seemed relevant to you - it was addressing him (especially the "obviously you're a Nightwing fan" part). Hope that clears things up!

Responding to the actual meat of your comments: well, I like Robin (Grayson and Drake and even Brown, to an extent), and I like Nightwing (who had a pretty ridiculous costume when he debuted, too), and I like 'em because of how the characters are shown at their best, which is more often lately (Drake in the current Teen Titans, or Grayson in Dark Victory). I can't bring myself to hold what people wore or how they talked back in the Golden Age against them, because then I would have to singlehandedly destroy DC for contributing too much to Global Stupidity Levels. I guess it's just a matter of taste, beyond that.

Oh, and let's be fair. D. Grayson managed to hook up with Starfire, apparently one of the most attractive ladies in the whole DCU, while barelegged and wearing those absurd green Speedos. You've got to respect the guy for that.

[Beleriphon]

Oh, and let's be fair. D. Grayson managed to hook up with Starfire, apparently one of the most attractive ladies in the whole DCU, while barelegged and wearing those absurd green Speedos. You've got to respect the guy for that.

Although with keeping everything in the family one Nightwing is currently hooked up with one Oracle. You gotta give props to a guy that consistently gets the best looking, and smartest, women in the world.

[Nightwing]

actually Grayson proposed to Barbra and she said yes! but they seem to have forgotten about it in 1 year later and 52.

[Haggis_McCrablice]

Hey, he's useful. Like if the Legion is in jail, he can eat the bars![/SIZE]
Yes...but...would you want to use the toilet after the guy? Because...well...if it's going in, it's got to come out, doesn't it? Maybe this is the guy's real power: he screws up the bad guy's plumbing with a huge log and forces him to pay an astronomical plumber's bill. And if he eats the right matter, I bet his farts are pretty toxic.... :smallredface:

[talsine]

you guys all know that all of the gods in marvel, like Thor, Odin, Hercules, etc, are all shapeshifting aliens, yes? Thats how marvel works around religion, their are no gods, just ALIENS!!! Yes, it is crazy.

Anyway, worst super hero ever? Thats tough, there are so many, i mean, Guy Gardner, man, he sux, and so does most of the extended Green Lantern Corps. Not Alan Scott, but he's a magical Green Lantern and is called the Sentinal or some such now, hmm...

X-23, she's pretty crappy too, "i'm a female wolverine clone with feet claws!!!" So lame. So very lame. Alsmost as lame as "why didn't they kill me for leading the Marauders into the Morlock tunnels" Gambit. That still makes me want to punch a baby.

Or anyone from the milestone universe. No, wait, wait, i got it. The Ferret! Man, Malibu was a waste of news print.

[Ranger_dude]

I have to say that Flash is the worst superhero.
All he does is run really fast, thats about it and in Justice League he was an arrogant guy that acted like a teenager

[talsine]

Don't judge him by the Justice Leage cartoon, The Flash is one of, if not the most, powerful character in DC. He's just rarely written so as to take full advantage of the fact that nothing should ever be able to hit him.

[StudlyDuck]

Actually, that's one of the things that always bugged me about the Flash. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't it been directly stated that he can move faster than the speed of light? If so, how should anyone (Without roughly equal speed) be able to fight him? Most of his villains don't have any real speed or reflex based powers that I've noticed, so he shouldn't even register to their senses.

He's pretty interesting personality-wise, but his powers make my brain hurt.

[talsine]

Actually, that's one of the things that always bugged me about the Flash. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't it been directly stated that he can move faster than the speed of light? If so, how should anyone (Without roughly equal speed) be able to fight him? Most of his villains don't have any real speed or reflex based powers that I've noticed, so he shouldn't even register to their senses.

He's pretty interesting personality-wise, but his powers make my brain hurt.


That is why i mentioned he has a tendency to be written pourly, its not the charcters fault that they don't use his abilities to full effect.

Also, none of the speed force characters can run faster than the speed of light, as they approach the speed of light they also start to get close to the spped force wall and at the speed of light, they are either absorbed by the speed force, or they ricochet off of it and get bounced off somewhere in time. Yes, it is as stupid as it sounds

[necron lord]

Actually, that's one of the things that always bugged me about the Flash. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't it been directly stated that he can move faster than the speed of light? If so, how should anyone (Without roughly equal speed) be able to fight him? Most of his villains don't have any real speed or reflex based powers that I've noticed, so he shouldn't even register to their senses.

He's pretty interesting personality-wise, but his powers make my brain hurt.

As said before he can't go the speed of light. Also, his body also creates surface for the wind to bounce off of and their by people knowing the flash just ran by because of the huge guest of wind. For people attacking him, they can use A) Psychic powers to determines where he will end up. Or B) A big area attack in the vicinity of where he is. Lastly C) the villain sticks his/her foot out as the Flash runs by and he trips. So his villains don't need speed or reflex powers, just wide range attacks or the ability to predict the future.

[StudlyDuck]

I meant that by the time anyone is capable of noticing him, he should have already won the fight. Sure, there are signs that he's been there, but a being with mundane human senses shouldn't be able to notice them until the Flash has kicked the snot out of them.

[Antony Bream]

In my humble opinion. The worst super hero would hands down be Captain Planet. How out in left field can you get?

[Beleriphon]

In my humble opinion. The worst super hero would hands down be Captain Planet. How out in left field can you get?

I agree, you know you're a bad superhero when you can be taken out by a guy with an areosol spray can.

[GoC]

As said before he can't go the speed of light. Also, his body also creates surface for the wind to bounce off of and their by people knowing the flash just ran by because of the huge guest of wind. For people attacking him, they can use A) Psychic powers to determines where he will end up. Or B) A big area attack in the vicinity of where he is. Lastly C) the villain sticks his/her foot out as the Flash runs by and he trips. So his villains don't need speed or reflex powers, just wide range attacks or the ability to predict the future.

A) And the fact that he will have punched you a million times before you can use your powers means nothing?

B) "Ahh! My arch-enemy just launched a massive fireball at me! I have just enough time to run around the city 100 times before it would hit where I was a second ago!"

C) You wouldn't realize he'd run by you until he's 100 miles away. But assuming he really does trip over a foot that from his perspective isn't moving, he would just get up again a nanosecond later! The "realise what he's going to do and attack him as he does it" strategy only works for people who couldn't even break the sound barrier.

D) Using common sense only a super speed person or someone invulnerable to attack can defeat a SpeedForce guy. Of course, common sense wasn't designed for comic books.:smalltongue:

[Steward]

D) Using common sense only a super speed person or someone invulnerable to attack can defeat a SpeedForce guy. Of course, common sense wasn't designed for comic books



The Flash's archenemies are a talking gorilla and an eskimo with a snowball-gun.

These villains are usually a tough challenge for him.

[kamikasei]

The Flash's archenemies are a talking gorilla and an eskimo with a snowball-gun.

A talking superintelligent telepath gorilla, to be fair.

I know little to nothing about Flash, but come on. Grodd's awesome.

[Nevrmore]

I have to say that Flash is the worst superhero.
All he does is run really fast, thats about it and in Justice League he was an arrogant guy that acted like a teenager
All incarnations of the Flash can move, think, and react at superhuman speeds. All possess an aura that prevents air friction from affecting their bodies and clothes while moving.

Occasionally, the top speeds of the Flashes are light speed, although Barry Allen and Wally West have been shown to have sped faster than light (as mentioned previously.

Speedsters may at times use the ability to speed-read at incredible rates and in doing so, process vast amounts of information. Whatever knowledge they acquire in this manner is usually temporary (the current Flash seems to be the exception, though in earlier years, Max Mercury believed that Bart's speed learning would not stick).

Flashes and other super-speedsters also have the ability to speak to one another at a highly accelerated rate. This is often done to have private conversations in front of non-fast people (as when Flash speaks to Superman about his ability to serve both the Titans and the JLA in The Titans #2). Speed-talking is also sometimes used for comedic effect where Flash becomes so excited that he begins talking faster and faster until his words become a jumble of noise (Wally West once became so surprised that he generated a small sonic boom with his voice).

Abridged version of the main article on Wikipedia. I cut out the parts about the special abilities of individual Flashes.

[UglyPanda]

The flash is a dip. If your jogging speed is Mach-4, how can a guy named Captain Boomerang be a serious challenge? He really needs to train more. He's not a bad superhero, just nowhere near his potential. Blame the writers.

Hank Pym, pre-GiantMan, was useless. Before he figured out how to grow, he was almost killed in a bathtub.

Microbe of the former New Warriors had a fairly useless power. He managed to save their butts a few times out of blind luck, however.

Spoiler was ridiculous and managed to more people killed in a week than she managed to save within the past year.

Old-school Aquaman remains the worst superhero ever in my opinion. All of his powers were based on an assumption that Atlanteans coexist perfectly with nature. If mermaids ever existed, I'd be surprised if they didn't think we could speak to cows and ride LandSharks by attaching ourselves to their undersides.

[Nightwing]

The Flash's archenemies are a talking gorilla and an eskimo with a snowball-gun.

These villains are usually a tough challenge for him.

Thats not right!!! he also fights a guy in PJs with a paper hat and a towel raped arowend his neck.

[Nightwing]

A talking superintelligent telepath gorilla, to be fair.

I know little to nothing about Flash, but come on. Grodd's awesome.

That is right!!!! Grodd is awesome!!!!!!!!:biggrin:

[elliott20]

does anybody notice that Kite Man's real name is Charles Brown?

Do you think the creators of Kite Man was in fact taking jabs at Charlie Brown's continuous unsuccessful attempts to fly a kite?

[StudlyDuck]

Microbe of the former New Warriors had a fairly useless power. He managed to save their butts a few times out of blind luck, however.


Yeah, but Microbe was created purely for comedic effect.

[Wardog]

Ok, how about this for a lame superhero:

Captain Euro.

http://www.captaineuro.com

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Euro



Captain Euro has taken a difficult vow: "To use, wherever possible, intellect, culture and logic - not violence - to take control of difficult criminal situations." Captain Euro is a diplomatic hero - the symbol of European unity and values.


But not only is he really lame, there appears to be a rather dubious pro-EU propoganda aspect to him:



[quote]
The European Union is now composed of 25 countries. The EURO has become a successful global currency.
Over 500 million Europeans are now more and more willing to identify with a strong and united EUROPE. Captain Euro plays a crucial role in the building of a European identity. His message is about protecting and nurturing European diversity and culture while creating a strong and powerful brand that unites us at European level.



Captain EURO® is an internationally registered brand created by Twelve Stars Communications. He's fun. He's friendly and he appeals to all Europeans because he's totally multicultural and non-political. In other words, he is a true European - through and through. Captain EURO symbolises Europe's new popular culture. Europeans will identify with Captain EURO and related characters are applied to almost anything from T-shirts and stationery, to comic books and video games.

Everyone will want to identify with the Captain EURO brand. It brings emotion to the concept of a united Europe, adding value to products and services.

Captain EURO is the super-hero of Europe. He's the protector of Europe who holds out for justice, who promotes peace and carries the message of goodwill around the world.

As Captain EURO and his partner, EUROPA, embark on one mission after another, breath-taking adventures unravel before them. The two take off at a second's notice, bringing together millions of Europeans and protecting wildlife and the environment as they go. Wherever they are, everyone recognises their distinctive European branding.

Captain EURO makes everyone proud to be European.

[UglyPanda]

Maybe we should stick to comic books, before people start saying Bible-man and Olympic mascots.

[Mewtarthio]

Yep. Propaganda (or "Public Relations" if you prefer) doesn't qualify.

[elliott20]

speaking of propaganda comics, I once saw a comic book called "Citizen Justice" at an anime convention. (They even hired a guy to dress like the hero from the book.) What's Citizen Justice's schtick? He's an American crime fighter who fights to preserve freedom and justice in the land of the free. His nemesis? Muslim Terrorists.

[Green Bean]

does anybody notice that Kite Man's real name is Charles Brown?

Do you think the creators of Kite Man was in fact taking jabs at Charlie Brown's continuous unsuccessful attempts to fly a kite?

Heh, I never noticed that before. It doesn't look like a coincidence to me. :smallcool:

[Yuki Akuma]

Heh, I never noticed that before. It doesn't look like a coincidence to me. :smallcool:

He's even nicknamed "Chuck".

[Steward]

Thats not right!!! he also fights a guy in PJs with a paper hat and a towel raped arowend his neck.

Sorry, I was only trying to bring up his most powerful recurring foes.

[Darkhaven]

you guys all know that all of the gods in marvel, like Thor, Odin, Hercules, etc, are all shapeshifting aliens, yes? Thats how marvel works around religion, their are no gods, just ALIENS!!! Yes, it is crazy.

Yeah, that does suck. Not to worry though, one day they shall all convert and start wearing the red/blue scheme with gold trim and truly live up to their godliness :) Ok, sorry. Superman sucks balls, flat out. I'm talking hobo-in-front-of-the-Dollar-Store kinda of ball suckitude. It's cool that he set the standard for the 'superhero', but the guy is so dated I think I saw a damn hieroglyph of him on the Discovery Channel. Not to mention, for a guy with a "thing" against magic, he seems to conjure up a winning solution easier than a mage with a Deck of Many Things. His vulnerabilities are a joke at best, and page filler at worst. Good thing Molecule Man doesn't exist in DC, Supes would be a footnote in herodom. But then again, his previous proximity to kryptonite would allow him to shake off the more harmful effects, then he will blah blah blah blah blah...

Or better yet, listen to him rattle on to how much magic irks him and he has as much defense against it as a normal person, then watch him get punched in the mouth by Wonder Woman and shake it off two panels later. You know what that means guys, a street thug with extensive kung fu training can take her punches and roll her completely. What? No amount of super strength can help you if you're effectively a normal person, and Wonder Woman can pimp slap a normal person into a coma. Hey, I didn't make the rules, I'm just reading them. Then again, I'm sure it'll boil down to someone stating that 'just because she's a magical being it doesn't mean her blows are magically charged up'. Well to that, I mention the latest incarnation of JLA/Avengers, where the uru hammer of Thor smacked Big Blue in the mouth while fully charged up. That's right, magic metal + magic lightning + swung by a god (for all intents and purposes here) = Superman getting up two panels later, no explanation given. No, Thor wasn't holding back, and a normal person ain't walking away from that one. Oh well...

Speaking of which, the way he's played up with the godlike aspect these days sickens me, he's still a damn mortal. Last I checked, my lord and savior didn't sport an 'S' on his robes, fly through the sun, then punch through a friggin' planet. Screw fighting Darkseid Supes, why don't ya hand Satan his ass and cut out the middle man for all the heroes? You'll come up with something, don't sweat it!

Yeah, the Batman/Superman comics are quite decent, but all in all, he's horrible. I'd like him better if DC straight out went 'hey, he's the great-grandson of a demigod' rather than the whole "here's a miracle alien that tastes the light of a yellow sun and rocks the multiverse from the hick planet he landed on". Only Cyclops is more of a choad than the man. Of course, this is all just point of view and personal preference. Nobody rocks more than Spiderman and Luke Cage, everyone knows that. They're too cool for one company to contain :smallsmile: Also, hi! Nice to meet you guys and girls...

[kpenguin]

*whistles* Very nice anti-Superman rant. You forgot to include his god-awful self-righteousness.

[Yuki Akuma]

Wonder Woman's super strength may be powered by magic, but a punch from her isn't magical at all. Wonder Woman's fist is about as magical as a bullet train.

[Beleriphon]

Wonder Woman's super strength may be powered by magic, but a punch from her isn't magical at all. Wonder Woman's fist is about as magical as a bullet train.

Technically she isn't even powered by magic anymore than Batman. Wonder Woman may be born of divine mandate, but she's flesh and blood as much as any other DC character. Superman's weaknesses to magic are more specific then being attacked by something that may be magical at some level, the attack as actually has to be magic. Thus being attacked Etrigan's fist is like being attacked a super-strength powered fist, a blast of Etrigan's hell fire breath is different since the fire breath is a magically conjured blast.

[UglyPanda]

Even though he says he is "weak against magic", he still has the endurance of a herd of elephants, so anything that is really a "weakness" for Superman is just an inconvenience. In other words, Superman is practically deific, which is the reason for the creation of Doomsday. I am saddened that Doomsday has been inverse-ninja'd. I neither condone nor condemn a debate about the merits of Superman as a hero.


you guys all know that all of the gods in marvel, like Thor, Odin, Hercules, etc, are all shapeshifting aliens, yes? Thats how marvel works around religion, their are no gods, just ALIENS!!! Yes, it is crazy.

That's stargate, not Marvel. I would like to say that Thor's appearance in Marvel 1602 made me very happy.

[The Extinguisher]

Better then Ultimate Deadpool

[Dariendel]

Superman.

You just can't relate to him.

[Jerthanis]

Superman.

You just can't relate to him.

Au contraire, you can't relate to him. I can relate to a boy who feels like an outsider no matter where he goes, always wishing to live up to the ideals of a father he never knew and feeling the immense responsibility of upholding the ideals of an entire race and representing them to those who may not understand him, and may not understand his struggle.

Superman has more powers than a swiss army knife has tools, but at his core he is just the archetype of the inhuman mirror in which we see the greatest aspects of what it means to be human.

[Telonius]

I've found a list of top ten worst, here (http://www.popcultureaddict.com/comicbooks/lamestsuperheroes.htm). "The Red Bee" has to be among the worst of them. I think Seanbaby had a list of worst superheroes, a couple years back, but that site is definitely not safe for work (if it's still up - havent checked it in forever).

[Baalzebub]

Spiderman :smallannoyed:

[kpenguin]

I kind of dislike Angel. Why? His power is essentially flight. Wooo! A superhero that can fly. How original.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I kind of dislike Angel. Why? His power is essentially flight. Wooo! A superhero that can fly. How original.

But... but... but... He actually has an excuse!

And still makes no sense.

How does a person suddenly evolve the ability to grow bird wings? Mammals and reptiles split off before birds evolved from reptiles. How can wings designed for a bird be instantly portable onto a human to give the same effect? If he has hollow bones why isn't he dead yet?

[Baalzebub]

But... but... but... He actually has an excuse!

And still makes no sense.

How does a person suddenly evolve the ability to grow bird wings? Mammals and reptiles split off before birds evolved from reptiles. How can wings designed for a bird be instantly portable onto a human to give the same effect? If he has hollow bones why isn't he dead yet?

Better to ask why the mutants exist.

[kpenguin]

The biological problems don't concern me. It's superhero comics, so it doesn't really matter. The thing I don't like about Angel is that his sole power is flight. And not supersonic, ultra-manueverable flight, but winged flight. A huge amount of superheroes can fly and probably better than Angel.

[talsine]

That's stargate, not Marvel. I would like to say that Thor's appearance in Marvel 1602 made me very happy.

yes, thats Stargate. And Marvel. They aren't gods, they are an race of alien shapeshifters that feed upon the thoughts of others. Give me time and i'll dig up the relavent issue numbers an all that. Not gods, there are no truely divine beings in the Marvel Universe. Even its "demons" are mostly just evil souls who used too much black magic and/or messed up a ritual

[Beleriphon]

yes, thats Stargate. And Marvel. They aren't gods, they are an race of alien shapeshifters that feed upon the thoughts of others. Give me time and i'll dig up the relavent issue numbers an all that. Not gods, there are no truely divine beings in the Marvel Universe. Even its "demons" are mostly just evil souls who used too much black magic and/or messed up a ritual

Or more importantly an ultra powerful alien being that humans worshipped as a deity. It leaves deities as deities, but doesn't actually make them divine in nature.