Originally posted by Allankles
Matter manipulation is pretty much like magic. One day Sentry can matter manip MM the next he can't, for one obscure reason or another. And I doubt he matter manips Thor, I'm almost certain it doesn't happen, regardless of whether he wins or not.I think regular Supes already has control over his own molecules, so matter manipulating him isn't as simple as an A B C equation. For instance he can vibrate his molecules to varied frequencies, matching his body's frequency to those of parallel universes.
Again given the inconsistency of matter manipulation it's difficult to say how he'd affect sundipped Supes in OWAW who seemed to have evolved into a more powerful being from what was shown.
We'll just have to wait for more showings from Sentry.
Originally posted by Allankles
I know the Sentry is powerful, no doubt about that, but if matter manipulation is his trump card then he needs more than one showing with it, because matter manipulation is not consistent for a variety of reasons.One of those reasons is manipulating the matter of an opponent with control over his own molecules, we're talking psionic control over molecules, no amount of molecular manipulation should break that psionic control unless you're talking magic or reality manipulation which can bypass any physical forces.
Transmutation is seldom used because the power is broken - I agree that this is true of a lot of powers and characters who never do what they can because it would kill the plot and that some powers are once in a lifetime things. But in sentry's case, I'm convinced he uses that power all the time, it's not just that one showing. He just makes it look like he has the powers of SM because he is mentally limited. Recently, he began outgrowing such limitations and is becoming more powerfull. Tearing ares in half was just exactly that, matter manipulation/reality warping.
I don't think matter control is so all over the place either. Sure it has consitancy issues, but I don't think they are that much greater than other superpowers.
People who have psionic or any other kind control over matter, be it just their own bodies or matter in general, may try to resist outside atempts of manipulation. But since no character below omnipotence has absolute control over anything and psionic control over one's own mass does not, at all, entail absolute power over it, they will still be manipulated by powers greater than their own, regardless of whether their powers are psionic or not. Therefore, power levels and degrees of control among manipulators determine the outcome of an attack and matter control is not entirely unpredictable (even if it does vary somewhat). Sentry unequivocally did it to MM and the story makes it clear that he has more raw power and less fine control than him. In this particular case, raw power took the best over fine control. Such an outcome may vary from one fight to another, but it's obvious they're both high end manipulators and SM is not.
SM's vibration thing is just a smart aplication of superspeed, not actual matter manipulation. I just think it's unrealistic to expect he can resist what MM couldn't.