when we think of the 100 ton class, we think of superman, silver surfer, hulk, thor, gladiator, etc
but the fact of the matter is all of these guys base strength is somewhere in the hundred thousand ton range
why do I say that these guys' base strength is around hundred thousand tons? Well, Superman has been shown to lift navy carriers with ease, and those usually weight around 50 thousand tons, so based on that Superman has a base level strength of at least 50,000 tons (I would safely say at least 100,000 tons but let's be conservative with our estimates)
now, it would be silly to say that Hulk, thor, surfer etc are at around 100 ton base strength because that would mean superman is 500times more powerful and would treat them like flies in a fight, which is certainly not the case
so, by logical conclusion, those guys are also around that range of 50,000 tons or so
thus its silly to call them 100 ton class people when they could lift hundreds of times more easily...in essence, the 100 ton class system sells these heroes way short of their actual power
so why am I getting so worked up about it? because it is very silly if you think about it. It's like saying Spiderman is a 100 pound class character when in fact he's in the 10 ton range.
yep i agree it is quite pointless and stupid at labelling them as class 100 or over, marvel needs to come up with a different strength class measurement perhaps like A1 for the highest in strength or something.
i don't know why the use the class 100, maybe because it was actually meant to stay as that but writers normally do other things that they believe the character can do.
Yes. It's suprising how many people haven't caught on yet - it's a phrase that doesn't box in what levels a character can reach; "In excess of 100 tons." How far in excess? AS FAR AS THE WRITER WANTS.
I think a railroad engine weighs about 200 tons! That's like a paper plate to so many characters.
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I think its better to have a general rating like class 100 which groups all of the powerhouses together instead of being bogged down by dozens upon dozens of other ratings for all the characters because of their differing strength levels. I thinks its better to have them all as class 100 and then let comic book appearances show how they compare with each other.
By having a defining class for each different character its limiting to writers who ultimately ignore them. Just look at how every person with super strength has more or less performed feats beyond their class. Thing can certainly lift more than 85 tons. Thats why Marvel switched to this more open ended level 1 to 7 system with each level encompassing a wide range of values.
Galactic Storm, according to your reasoning, we could just call spiderman, venom, etc 100 pound fighters and let their feats show what they're capable off (see what I'm getting at)
its one thing if those 100ton people lifted like 150 or 200 tons or something close to 100, but lifting 50,000 tons essentially renders the 100ton insignia completely meaningless
Thats not my logic at all. I was clearly referring to the 100 class as thats what this topic was about. So bad example. For all those being able to lift at least 100 tons its a good idea to group them together for the aforementioned reasons.
i just think 1-7 can be incredibly vague... finding out a character is stronger or weaker than we thought they were won't make us hate them or love them any less imo...
No but its confusing and having exact ratings which writers dont stick to is pointless and it invalidates handbooks as well. The present system whilst not perfect is better than the old class system i.m.o
The class 10, class 50 , class 100. All that old stuff. Now its just level 1 to 7 with each level encompassing a wide range of values. New systems an improvement i.m.o. Still not perfect but then what would be perfect? No writers are going to stick to any limits imposed.
i too think it is inded stupid. ive been screaming about this for years. for example. the heaviest tank in the US arsenal weighs about 68-70 tons. throw a hum v on top of that and you have in excess of 100 tons right there. that is canon fodder for many powerhouses.
sure marvel falls back on themselves by literally saying incalucable for some like juggs, hulk, thanos, galactus, etc. but its too vague. even the one thru seven when i posted the officail ones that marvel uses a few months back. thats not too cool eother cuz you have guys that are in the same number but clearly different levels. eg. beast and emma frost both are in class5 but emma is 70 tons in diamond form, and beast is 40 tons but both are the same number.....tooo vague and stupid is all im saying
I read once that the Marvel strength classes were mostly for a role-playing game. Anyway, I never liked it. I didn't think it worked beyond 100 tons
I found a website a year ago (it's gone now) with something called the J Scale of Fictional Strength. It started with 1 manpower: the strength to press 100 lbs. That's 0 magnitude. If you can press 200 lbs, you're 0 magnitude 2; 300 lbs is 0 magnitude 3, and so on.
1st magnitude strength means 10 manpower (1000 lbs), 2nd magnitude means 100 manpower (5 tons), 3rd magnitude was 1000 manpower (50 tons), 4th was 10,000 manpower (500 tons) and so on. Kinda like warp factors for strength but with powers of ten.
At 10 tons (200 manpower), Spiderman would be 2nd magnitude 2. If we talk 30,000-ton range (600,000 mp), you have 5th magnitude 6. Superman likely operates in the 6th or 7th magnitude range.
Yeah, it's not as straightforward if you just wanna know how much someone can lift/press. It just seemed a cool way to rank superstrength.
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Last edited by Mindship on Sep 23rd, 2005 at 01:43 AM
im glad you get my point but beast has gotten a serious upgrade in the last 4 years(second mutation) he is about 40 tons now, and emma is at 70 tons....check marvel.com, and look at thier stats