When i started posting in 2000, the rule of thumb was, ‘Spider-man straddled the line between street level and the higher powered characters’.
Has that line shifted?
Because for years now, characters i used to consider street level have gotten more and more powerful.
Black Panther used to be a jungle gymnast, basically, now he can do some truly outrageous stuff. Iron Fist’s chi powers have him doing things i never even considered possible.
Those are just two examples, but what got me to ask was this:
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Is Batman really a guy who takes on muggers still? Packing that kind of tech?
Does the street level definition ‘fights crime on the streets’ still apply and to heck with the fact that most of these characters dont, any more, and can easily fight high level metas?
-If characters like BP, IF, and Bats arent street level any more, who actually is?
-If they are street level, then where’s the line now? Is it still Spidey?
Just wanna hear your take(s) on it, if you have one.
Street level nonsense jumped the shark in the mid 80s. When you consider the damage they do to beings that can tank explosions and multistory falls without breaking a sweat all WITHOUT any tech.
MMA experts tagging FTL speedsters. Peak human fighters bodying metahuman tanks. Peak human characters tanking hits from metahumans that can lift trucks. I can go on but you get my point.
Nowadays 'street level' heroes are people like Jarvis and Aunt May.
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As far as Iron Fist, he was nuking city blocks and surviving direct nuclear radiation as early as the 80's. The problem is, everyone went the "Voltron school of drama", so he wouldn't just end a fight at the start even though he totaly could.
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The only scan there that is relevant is Masterson vs. Spider-Man, and he's a guy who forgot he could summon lightning, and who screams out from flying into a building only to realize he was invulnerable.
I guess the Mantis scan counts too, but she struck Thor from behind with mystical/alien Kung-Fu or whatever that can affect non-biological beings with nerve attacks.
The rest are just trolling. Especially the first two.
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Spider-Man was never street level. He's always had legit super strength..etc. Neither does A-listers like Cap/Bats because jobber aura. You have to be a B-lister or below and not have any super power or enhancement whatsoever to be considered street.
'Street level' was always a misnomer though. It's not like Black Panther was ever focused on just fighting street crime. Same with Cap, who was considered the mark for top-tier street level, for a while at least.
If street level just means 'no real super powers' then yeah, the definition is outdated, because the line has blurred between Bat gadgets and Iron Man armor (to say nothing of Bats' superhuman stats). At what point do gadgets = having powers? And this definition never really applied to Iron Fist or others anyways.
If street level means 'notably less powerful than high meta/heralds', then I think the term still basically applies. Black Panther has gotten more powerful, but so has Iron Man. Individuals might shift up and down but the rough comic book power divides still seem to exist.
I think you could probably make a case that DC heroes have all gotten more powerful at a faster rate than Marvel. Maybe all these tier concepts are less useful if the two big companies are less aligned.
Interesting question, yeah most so called streets from years ago are clearly low meta now like Bane. A street nowadays would be someone like the Cat who just has martial arts as a skill, and normally not any advance tech or armor. Someone who can still be killed by a single gun shot, that doesn't have enhanced stats or even a slight healing factor. Spiderman is definitely above all streets and a lot of low metas.
What I love about the Wolverine/Thor scan is that Thor actually got sneak attacked by Wolverine jumping from the only tree in like a 1 mile radius without any leaves to hide in.
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None of the scans you mentioned are relevant. Masterson was a noob with Thor's powers, Mantis sucker attacked Thor, Thor was holding back vs DD and Wolverine. The only scan that IS relevant is vs Mongoose. But that guy is a legit speedster so it's not a bad showing for Thor.
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..even the outer hells are indifferent matters for they bow only to potent and archaic Nodens.
Part of the "street level" problem is that it's not a KMC exclusive term. The comics world, both creators and consumers, shares a common but vague understanding of what constitutes street level. Most of the low meta, and even some above that, are considered street level by the general populace. It's only on battleboards that we separate them into "powers vs no powers."
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Aug 8th, 2018 06:41 PM
