VS Forum Character Breakdown

Originally posted by Nihilist
-Fights against other characters is the only way to determine a accurste average of a character.

That's a part of the equation though. Not the whole.

Look man, we had people arguing that the Hulk was stronger then skyfathers because the former had more verifiable strength feats. Iron Man has knocked out the Surfer before. Classic Nova gave a very good showing versus Thor but was nearly beaten to death by the Sandman. We could go on and on and that's not even getting into so called high or low showings. But we can for the most part effectively navigate through that mess by utilizing all methods mentioned. Not just one.

Originally posted by JakeTheBank
How would you personally rank the following attributes of a character in order to determine their overall formidability in terms of how they stand in the Versus Forum when debating against other characters? Which is the most important and least important?

-Non-combat feats
-Fights against other characters
-Narrative statements
-Character statements
-Writer intent/portrayal

Is there any "right" formula which can be applied across the board to all characters, or is it a case by case basis depending on the nature of the character(s) being discussed?

If there are any other aspects I glossed over or that you think should be taken into account, feel free to add them.

time period in which the character was written should be considered if we are trying to compare characters of different eras.....

certainly overall history needs to be examined closely--a longitudinal view usually gives the best indication of what a character will be able to do. i'd say character history would be the #1 deciding factor in determination of power level. the history ASSUMES all of these things--fights and non-battle feats should be taken together. not sure one i more important than the other. narrative/character statements don't have much place here imo. writer intent CAN supercede all the above though, at least for a short time or for a particular version of a character. wbh comes to mind. it was clear by his portrayal he was meant to be the strongest hulk ever, though an argument could be made that by feats this wasn't true.