Pushing each other through buildings (in which case they were either running or flying) and changing directions mid flight (still flying) is still not combat speed. Show me an instance where they launched multiple punches, kicks at super speed.
How bout when Namek and Faora started grappling with Superman, why no superspeed then? Why did they all resort to normal speed?
Point is, the only times they showed super speed is while they're running or flying. Every time they need to grapple or throw a punch they go back to normal speed.
Just rewatched the fight. She was fighting with Superman at normal speeds, at least when it came to grappling and throwing punches. The only time they use superspeed is when they run or charge.
When she fought the soldiers, she still used superspeed only when running. There's a part there where she zips to a soldier, punches, zips to another, punches, and then zips to the last, punches. The mobile speed is incredible, but the punches are still about as fast as a boxer's.
The only decent feat of combat speed she displayed was when she caught Superman in a chokehold as he charged at her in superspeed... but that's about as impressive as Kurse knocking away Mjolnir while his back is turned.
Nope. I loved the action in MOS and wouldn't change anything in it (other than properly dispersing it throughout the movie). THat still doesn't change the fact that they only showed mobile speed and not combat speed. All I'm doing is describing what was shown in the movies.
Besides, it's perfectly possible to show super combat speed without becoming invisible. Look at The Matrix. Agent Smith was able to demonstrate this by dodging multiple gun fire without having to move his feat, or launching super speed punch combinations.
Faora was flashstepping. It was legit super speed.
How do we know Superman and Faora didn't fight at super speed? Do they have to add bullet time or motion blur every time one of them moves? Are we going to assume that Neo and Smith weren't fighting at super speed just because there was no specific indication?
A superspeed runner can by definition fight at superspeed. This is because both require moving limbs at super speed.
To pre-amp the common "Sprinter can't fight as fast as a boxer" fallacy:
A sprinter is relatively not that much faster than a normal athlete. Lets assume peak human sprinter can run the 100m dash in 8 seconds flat. A decent junior state-level athlete can do it in 11 seconds flat. So even though Usain Bolt is head and shoulders above the rest, he is actually only 30-40% faster than a "decent athlete". That is why he does not possess sufficient "superspeed" to be faster than a good human boxer.
If we start increasing the running speed advantage to 100, 1000, or 10,000% increase, it becomes clear that the runner will be able to fight faster than anyone at baseline levels. At these levels, the boxer who may have otherwise had a small advantage in "arm speed" and any other factors would evaporate - and even appear as a statue to the speedster. Do a simple thought experiment - if I gave you flash-like running speed, would you have superior "fighting speed" over a human? Merely jogging around the target while landing punches would suffice.
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Also, even going by "mobile speed", that too by definition increases their "combat speed". It does not matter what is accelerating his arm/fist/punch, whether by muscle, or by flight (moving his whole body - which includes his arm/fist). Relative to each other, the Kryptonians appear to punch at "normal" speeds, but add in the force/velocity from their flight movement, and it is actually far faster when observed by a stationary observer.
An analogy would be to imagine you are riding a motorbike at 60mph (mobile speed). While on the bike, you punch a road sign ("combat speed"). Are you really punching the sign at "normal" speed? Of course its your normal punching speed + 60mph, which would explain why your arm was severed.
In this example, there are many flaws including you not necessarily having fast reflexes, and that your "punching rate" is still at human levels. These are the important distinctions between flight speed and combat speed (although flight speed does imply some reflexes as the user is able to avoid flying into objects). However, these factors do not apply as much since it has been established that they DO have combat super speed, by extension of having significant running super speed.
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"Mobile speed" actually gives them increased omni-directional maneuverability that you might not otherwise have from having super "combat speed" alone.
Basically EVERY super speed character that I have seen in movies or cartoons will have fights that are not in super speed.
Why?
A. Plot Induced Stupidity - E.g If Flash consistently used even 50% of his powers, there would probably be no story.
B. Don't want to have the entire fight sequence to be in CGI (to speed up beyond human/actor level) - OR - to slow down the background, i.e have the whole fight in slow-motion.
For example, why didn't Faora use her "flash stepping" speed continuously? Was she holding back against Kal on purpose? Was she tired/could not maintain the speed? I'd say its a combination of the two points above.
In my opinion, if a character has demonstrated an ability in the movie, and there is no reasonable explanation as to why it isn't used more/again/later, it will not prevent those feats from being used to a greater extent/frequency than in happened in the movie, in a debate.
Of course this can also lead to some pretty messed up hypothetical feats, as well.