Pillow Biter
Senior Member
Originally posted by JBL
Superman does not hulk-out. He's been on earth absorbing sunlight far far long than thte others and has had far far longer mastering his powers. Girls win.
"Hulk out" was more of a casual turn of phrase, as under no writer that I know of--though God knows, Loeb and Casey have had their crazy days--does Superman's power dynamic really approximate the Hulk's.
That being said, there is a middle ground here. Various writers have ascribed different mechanisms to Superman's dynamism. There is no real consensus on the exact mechanics, or even it's full existence, in my opinion. But under many writers, Superman clearly has a level of dynamism that exceeds that of other heroes.
I don't know how you want to deal with that on this board, given the rules here. Many times, when Superman's unique dynamism is not used--such as in the aforementioned stalemates with Captain Marvel--I believe that the writer in question is one who doesn't really ascribe to the belief that Superman is very special in this way. In that respect, I think some posters are right. They go wrong when they extend that belief to all portrayals.
So we have something that happens under many writers, and doesn't under others. And the mechanism of Superman's dynamism, whatever the specifics may be, has been crafted purposely, in my opinion, such that a writer doesn't have to use it. Even under the pen of writers who do believe in a dynamic Superman, the specific situations that will "trigger'' him remain relatively undefined. So if Superman doesn't "Hulk" out in a situation where, based on past evidence, we feel he might, it's hard to know for sure if the conditions just weren't right, or if the writer in question doesn't believe that Superman has a uniquely dynamic nature.
When Superman fought Wonder Woman under Rucka, he was going all out. He thought he was fighting Doomsday. He got more than the average hero boost for doing such--Diana mentioned she forgot how strong he was. But IMO this was a very basic level of dynamism: Superman holds back a bit more than others, so when he cuts loose he jumps in strength a bit more. But that was it. Nothing mentally regulated or psionic or absorbing more sunlight. Just simply a man who is more restrained than most dropping those restraints. As a result, while he clearly appeared stronger than Diana, the gap wasn't much more than normal. And not huge in absolute terms.
On the other hand, you have some writers saying explicitly that he can be as strong as he wants to be. It's magically mental, somehow. Others stack Superman's holding back--which they say he does to an extreme--with mentally regulated powers and 'mental blocks'. And you get things like the massive power boost he showed in OWAW. Or Loeb having an angry future Superman breaking Wonder Woman's bracers, and Loeb saying that if Superman gets pissed enough, he can break anything.
Averaging this out to find a board consensus on ONE Superman is tough. But at least admitting that there is a middle ground between him being just like any other hero, and being like the Hulk, should be easy. I don't know why everyone has to go to extremes, one way or the other, here.