I've been promising an epic respect thread for a while now. And now I shall deliver. Enjoy!
Spider-Man Respect Thread
…we all know him, many of us love him…but he needs a respect thread so that people can stop whining that any street-level jobber could put him down. I have lots of scans so I’ve broken it into sections. Firelord, Speed Feats, Strength Feats, Hulk, Daredevil, Cosmic Spidey, and Other.
Part I. Firelord
Spider-Man’s greatest triumph. Yeah, it’s partly PIS, but it’s a lot better fight than people think. And it’s also actually quasi-believable. Firelord is less durable than, say, Hulk…and he’s a lesser herald. Yeah, he should win, but give Spidey the credit he deserves. Firelord even admits at one point in the fight that “A single Nova blast could destroy the city and Spider-Man with it. But there is no honor in that. I must defeat him in single combat.” Would the Nova blast beat Parker? Of course. But did FL get owned in “single combat?” Hell yes.
This was during Parker’s “black costume” phase. But it’s NOT the symbiote. He had ditched the symbiote by this point and is just wearing a similar black costume. I’ve left nothing out (except pages where there’s no fighting at all)…so here it is in its entirety.
Background: Firelord is chilling in New York after a space battle, a bunch of people get frightened and try to hose him down. He gets pissed and starts burning things…that’s when Spider-Man gets involved.
Lots are stronger. A few are faster. But he might be the most agile character in all of comic-dom, and his reflexes are second to none. He’s the ultimate in dodging. And while there’s plenty of instances where he gets hit (usually while in mid-air and unable to maneuver or when someone is in danger and he has to divert his energy away from the fight) those instances are far fewer than the number of occasions where he dodges a ridiculous number of bullets/blasts/punches/etc. Here’s just a few examples…
Parker’s not known for his strength, and he’s built more around speed, but to assume that his “max potential” is 10 tons (or even 15) just isn’t true. Many of these scans are when Spidey is particularly impassioned or angry…but it goes to show that, properly motivated, Spider-Man is capable of more than his “limit.”
This is all from the same issue (ASM #382). It’s an extended fight sequence with Doc Samson and Spider-Man fighting an enraged Hulk. It shows us a couple things. For one, a thunderclap would own Spidey, and only Doc Samson saves him from dying because of this. But other than that, even the Hulk can’t lay a finger on him. And Spidey even gets a few decent licks in. I skipped a few pages because I only wanted to show the battle, so that will explain the occasional odd lapses in story continuity.
2. This I find particularly funny. While on his way to stop a mystically powered Tri-Sentinel, he completely ruins Graviton in about two panels. Effortlessly swatting him aside like a gnat, I find it pricelessly funny. http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=32919bd.gif
And that, my friends, is how you do a Respek thread. I hope you enjoyed it, and I also hope there's more respect for Spider-Man around here (he gets enough, but he can always use more....hehe).
-DM
P.S. Obviously, anyone can feel free to add to this if they'd like to. And hopefully some discussion starts from it as well.
Gender: Male Location: SF Bay, What is it Beezies?
Spiderman is without a doubt top 10 when it comes to "cool" comic book characters.
If my scanner was working i'd post some scans of the recent Spidey comics I have. Like where he was dodging bullets from hundreds of Hydra members shooting at him. I can't forget to mention that he was towing a guy with one hand and making the bullets miss him too.
Yep and its impressive spidey beat him because Molurn is stronger than the Hulk or Thor and never tires, and can find anyone anywhere once he has seen them before...............