Originally posted by Bentley
The way you said it sounds like Superman jobbed to make Maxima look good in her introduction and then he started to act on average levels and she was outclassed throughly.
Well, the story made it pretty clear that the "Eradicator-Force" was acting independantly to amp/alter effects, though.
Maxima casually immersed her and Superman within an illusion where they're both a married couple of warlords, for example. No problem enacting it, and Superman isn't actively resisting it or anything (She's only affecting what he sees, not his state of mind.) And then, suddenly, the illusion shifts to cover Superman in Kryptonian garb. Superman didn't do that, nor did Maxima.
That's pretty much the point of Maxima's introduction, tbh. She was just a plot device to hammer home to the reader that Superman is absolutely NOT himself, and that artifact he brought home from Krypton is gradually overwriting his mind/personality, as Maxima discovered (And rejected Superman as a mate because of it.)
And after Maxima lashed out at him because of the invading A.I. (Which clearly creeped her out), it was pretty obvious that the A.I. exerted ever greater control over it's host. The act of lashing out, Superman being affected by the lashing out, the sudden no-selling combined with personality changed and further illusions forced on Maxima all happened one after another. Within a few pages of each other. That's not usually how jobbing gets done. 😉
(But yeah, I also probably did a bad example of explaining it.)
Originally posted by cdtmI would like to see any kind of evidence, besides 'his costume changed'.
If your only threshold of "evidence" is an outright statement, then no.But that's true of just about any encounter. Who can prove Spidey doesn't just hit hard enough to KO Firelord, and usually pulls his punch's?
Superman was never koed. Later he treated her like an unruly child. And that "Eradicator force" Superman lost horribly to Lobo which was directly stated to be because Eradicator controlling him made a shitty fighter. Even later Superman treated Lobo like a child under the same writer.
Get that CBR shit out of here.
Originally posted by cdtmSuperman has been knocked around before and, once he braced for it, has tanked the attacks. Perhaps you should read some more Superman comics. I assume your position is that an Eradicator-like force was enhancing his durability in those examples, too, no? I will give you the answer before you read them - he wasn't. That's a standard Superman trope.
Context is the evidence. She knocked him down, seemingly out, and the A.I. took over. Suddenly, only panels later, no sell.If that's not good enough for you, don't know what else to say, except agree to disagree.
I will take you now to Superman's own words:
http://s738.photobucket.com/user/PhilosophiaKMC/media/MaximaAssault1.jpg.html
"Unleash all your power on me, I am prepared for it".
Eradicator was a presence in Superman's mind - he had no imaginary ability to enhance Superman's durability. If you have actual evidence otherwise, I welcome you to do so.
