Anyone else getting tired of the whole "I'm the xth smartest guy in the world" stuff that's going on lately? Seems like every issue featuring Pym, Cho, Banner etc. has some mention of the fact that they are one of the smartest guys in the world right before they do something ridiculous. Are they making a lot things just to easy for them to the point where it's all just getting silly? - What is left to challenge these people?
Some recent examples I can think of:
1) Bannertech - this nerd is just running around owning everybody and everything in 2 seconds, hacking into everything, instantly turning off Doom's armor (why didn't Reed just do this years ago instead of fighting Doom all the time?) Why didn't Banner do this sort of stuff years ago? - the time was that regular Banner was no more hindrance to Doom than a fly. A Banner this smart could have beaten half his opponents over the years easier as Banner than he did as the Hulk.
2) Hank "Im Scientist Supreme" Pym - I can understand a writer might want to give the character his dues and give him some respect back, but is this the way to do it? Seriously, building the Infinite Mansion? Making machines that depower and trap Loki? This guy used to be an expert biochemist who messed around in his lab and came up with growth serums and a few robots.
3) Amadeus Cho - they take this guy a bit too far. So now he can beat Mr. X by throwing a few arrows around a room in such a way that they all hit X and take him out? X is probably the sort of guy who could grab arrows out of the air at flight speed, let alone just tossed around. Captain America would be hard pressed to beat X that easily. Maybe they should have Cho beat Cap next: "Nice try Cap, but I can instantly calculate the path of your shield throw and toss this pebble to deflect it just enough to send it on to a trajectory that is too complex for you to understand and knocks you out from behind!"
4) Valeria in FF - how long are they going to have this annoying kid around doing stuff in 2 seconds that would have been challenges even for the genius characters once upon a time. She is a really annoying and unoriginal character and a dead-end addition to the series.
There were other examples I had, but I can't think of them right now.
well now that Stark is back and his new R.T chest thingy his pumping his brain full of riduculous amounts of energy he's actually now smarter than he has ever been....according to the latest issue that is.
You have a point, but it's also comics. Hyperbole exists everywhere, and the general trend is to one-up the last big feat, so there will always be slow empowerments in comics, excepting specific attempts to depower characters or universes.
I actually like the idea of Valerie being a super-intelligent genius, mostly because I think it adds on that you have a superhero family who also happens to have two kids, one with God-like powers and the other with ridiculously high I.Q.
What bugs me though is how lately F.F. comics seem to focus more on Reed doing every thing on his own with "SCIENCE!" then having the team actually working together any more.
Well this is forcing creativity in a much more positive way than has been experienced before in comics.
Death was always the major issue before. Making the plot stakes as big as life or death for a character was as about as dramatic as you can get. The only way of topping it was to bring them back to life. A dramatic cul de sac, in my opinion.
With increasing a character's level of intelligence the writer is forced to come up with new ways of displaying it's effects. In Iron-man we get a rebirthing, where Stark's IQ dropped before becoming stronger than ever before. With someone like Hank Pym, Dan Slott has had to become really creative. He can't just have the character create another robot, any MU scientist can do that. Instead we get the "Scientist Supreme" who is involved in interdimensional travel as a sort of Doctor Who of the MU.
This is a good thing. Where's the limit? As always, with the writer's imagination.
Yeah, Banner just walks up to Doom and activates his "Gamma Dome" and the result was basically "all inferior non-Bannertech electronics disabled!" instantly within the field, and Banner saying Doom can't beat him with his tech because he's better or something. Written by Pak. Quite sad really.
Gender: Male Location: Balls deep in your cerebral cortex
I get the sentiment in the argument, however, it's only logical that geniuses continue to create and innovate. 100 years ago, people would have thought it was ridiculous for someone to be able to create a device in which held thousands of songs in digital form.
These, IMO are 4 of the most re-invigorated characters around, its hopeless debating with someones tastes are so different. I suppose this lends credence to anti realist perspective on taste !
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May 2nd, 2010 03:24 PM
