OneDumbG0
Find Your Own Fire
Originally posted by Badabing
I would say Thanos' shield is general knowledge the same way Superman's freeze breath, x ray vision and heat vision.
Opinion noted. Still disagreed with. Superman's signature powers are widely on display all over Earth when he saves the day. Jimmy Olsen takes pictures of him. Lois Lane writes about him. TV stations broadcast documentaries about various aspects of his signature powers also, i.e. his heat vision. But his ability to go intangible is something I doubt is common knowledge. And whether he's used it more times than Thanos has used his shields, he hasn't done so in the public eye or on camera. It's common knowledge he is super-fast, but that he can use his speed to turn effectively intangible? Don't think so. On the basis of just his super-speed, he could guess, but he shouldn't outright know. This is the logic I think should be applied to Thanos' shields.
It seems here, that posters are equating KMC's common knowledge to common knowledge from a character's foes/allies. That doesn't make sense. Why? Because common knowledge ought to be analogous to a random encounter in the same universe of two strangers who are encountering each other for the first time. Example:
Absorbing Man and Juggernaut have never fought. But they sure as heck fight the same foes a lot and they sure are both infamous. But does Juggernaut know that Absorbing Man can repiece himself back together? Does Absorbing Man know about Cytorrak backing Juggernaut? It's quite arguable they don't know, even though their respective foes and allies, who overlap a great deal, do know about these facts. Now think about that. These two characters inhabit the same universe, share encounters with the same gallery of characters. They've just never met before, the same as would most cross-company characters are assumed to have never met in hypothetical fights. And it's arguable that, in the comics, they still don't have knowledge of their particulars.
So does it make sense that, just because Absorbing Man repieces himself back together in half of his fights, that someone like Martian Manhunter would know this... when Juggernaut most likely doesn't? It doesn't wash. That knowledge is completely artificial and is a manufactured factor that wouldn't normally be present. And that manufacturing only occurs with cross-company battles. We wouldn't be equivocating about this in a Marvel vs Marvel fight or a DC vs DC fight. We'd just argue whether they do know, not whether a rule artificially imbues them with knowledge they wouldn't even have had it not been for some rule.
To illustrate further, almost every major hero knows Sentry is a bit nuts from participating in battles with him. Obviously, that is kept secret from most of the world. So ask yourself, "Would Stardust know this off-the-bat if she were to fight him?" No. What the heck do they know of each other? Now does it make sense that Wonder Woman would know this simply because a forum rule gave her knowledge based on frequency or prevalence in battles? It shouldn't.
I think the rule is being twisted. And it's exceptionally easy for thread starters to just note that a character has decent knowledge of the other character in advance to preempt such discussions. My two cents.