Gender: Male Location: Planning to take over the WORLD!
yeah, thor was going down because of herc's superior skill, but thor always has the lightning. masterson thor has also put herc down with lightning at least twice.
newer showings are typically more valid zop, but in this case, since it's only happened the one time, it may just have been a one-time deal decided on by that writer. that's why i for one would need to see it happen again before calling it valid. it does make some sense though. wish someone would have thought of that sooner and made it stick.
Gender: Male Location: Planning to take over the WORLD!
i actually have no issue with saying superman is above herc and thoir. by feats though, he is also well above marvel, and he is the one being discussed. i agree herc/thor and cm are all at ww level, as has been mostly born out in appearances. that said, my initial point stands--this would be enormously close using just strength. all powers in cm wins.
On that note - I'm willing to bet [at least, until they try to push Shazam/Black Adam for the movie and depending on which way, maybe], that Superman will be consistently portrayed as physically superior to Shazam, and only magic shortening the gap. I think the emphasis on magic [see New 52] for the Shazam family will only get more pronounced, and they will stray away a bit from the 'physical powerhouses' that they were portrayed before [i.e. WWIII].
I mean, just a few examples:
Pre-Flashpoint Superman has beaten Flashpoint Captain Marvel [along with the rest of the Justice League] conclusively.
Ultraman [basically evil Superman] has beaten Black Adam rather fiercely.
DCEU Online trailer shows Superman brutalizing Black Adam, again, conclusively.
New52 Superman seemed to be the favorite against Captain Marvel once he got serious, and the general portrayal in-Universe is that he is the strongest, by far.
etc.
I think the pendulum started swinging the more ground Wonder Woman started to gain - I don't think she will ever, from now on, be portrayed as inferior to Shazam/Black Adam in strength. Some of it may be due to her status as 'most prominent female symbol in DC', some of it maybe be because her origin was literally defined as 'as strong/stronger than Hercules' [which Captain Marvel is by definition the equal of] which, as Kurt Busiek alluded in a forum, should put her higher than him, but the main point is, the hierarchy in strength, I think is moving more towards:
Superman
~definite gap~
Wonder Woman >= Captain Marvel~Black Adam [also ~Thor/Hercules, if you want to include Marvel]
But, back to the thread, even if they're rough peers in strength, Captain Marvel is still much faster, and much more durable, than Hercules.
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Gender: Male Location: Planning to take over the WORLD!
@phil:
i agree 100% with the bulk of your post, especially the first part of what i quoted.
as for the thread--it was initially no powers except strength (and i assumed durability for cm) so speed wasn't an issue. with it in play it is def cm's fight. i agree cm has the durability advantage, but i'd still take herc in fight a without speed because i think he's more skilled. be close though.