Expert: Justin Case - 7/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: 1)Could the following utterly kill Superman (no kryptonite)? If not, what kind of damage could be done?

A) Calamarain
B) Paxans
C) Armus
D) Douwd
E) Organian
F) Metron
G) Galactus
H) Hulk
I) Flash
J) Cytherians
K) Prophets
L) Kelvans
M) Krenim
N) Kes
o) Nagilum
P) Edo god
Q) Silver Surfer
R) The Thing
S) Celestials
T) Eternals
U) Great Link
V) Allasamorph

2)Would the Kelvan paralyzer and 'dicer' work on Superman?

3)Tug-of-War: Superman vs. Borg Cube (the Cube is allowed to go into warp; Superman cannot fly in the opposite direction)

4)Same match as above, except Superman can fly in the opposite direction.

5)If a Borg Cube exploded with Superman on it, what effect would that have on him?

6)Who's can lift more weight: Aquaman, or Hulk?

7)Who can lift more weight: Hulk, or Magneto?

ANSWER: Hi John -

Without the use of Kryptonite (or magic), no one on the list should be able to kill Superman.

My guess is the that Armus, the Douwd, Organian, Metron, the Cytherians, the Prophets, Kes, Nagilum, the Edo God and the Celestials cold probably cause him massive system trauma and some injuries that would take time to heal, but the others probably couldn't do much significant damage to the Man-of-Steel.

Silver Surfer might be able to make Supes exceedingly uncomfortable and the Great Link might be able to mess with his insides, but I doubt they could kill him.

2)  I don't see why not.  Superman is still a biological being and the device seemed to work on biological cells pretty easily.

3)  The Tug-of-War question is hard to say because Superman's powers have been portrayed so inconsistently in the comics.  Most recently he has been shown to be able to withstand the gravity of a sun, a feat I doubt the Cube could accomplish.  So, with that I'd assume Superman would win.

4)  I think he'd win.

5)  He'd get thrown clear of the blast and maybe suffer a mild concussion.

6)  Another expert on the site told me that Aquaman is about as physically strong as Spider-Man, which sounds pretty reasonable.  That being the case the Hulk should be stronger than him.

7)  That's a good question.  In theory Magneto can tap into the magnetic properties of the Earth itself and lift an unimaginable amount of weight.  Since the Hulk gets stronger as he gets more angry (in theory) there is no limit to the amount of weight he could lift either.  

So, if the pair were on Earth the easy answer is that either could lift (in theory) as much weight as they wanted, until Hulk began to sink into the ground or until the weight Magneto was lifting became so great that it began to cause environmental damage to the Earth.

Most of the time the writers of comics keep the upper limits of the characters somewhat amorphous so as keep story telling opportunities open.

That being the case Magneto shouldn't have as much trouble with the X-Men as he does if he is indeed that powerful so who knows?

Thanks!

D.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I read on Wikipedia that Aquaman is capable of picking up buildings. That's why I thought he might be able to pick up more weight than the Hulk.

Wikipedia article excerpt about Aquaman: He also possesses superhuman strength high enough to hold up a building, pick up a tank, throw a car with enough force to knock Ultraman out of flight, and trade blows with an OMAC unit.

Better swimmer?
A)Superman
B)Aquaman

If Hulk was on a Borg Cube when it blew up, would he die?

What do you mean by "magic?" Most Star Trek races would consider the Douwd's, Nagilum's, Kes', and the Prophet's abilities to be "magical." It's hard to explain their abilities by referring only to science.

The Douwd, Kes, and Nagilum can manipulate space and/or matter, while the Prophets can manipulate time (as can the Krenim). I don't know a heck of a lot about Superman (I don't even know what Pre- and Post-Crisis Superman mean), but if Superman is truly a physical being, then he should be affected by matter and time to some degree, and I think those beings which could greatly affect those could kill him.

Maybe I'm just biased, but if nobody in Star Trek besides the Q can outright kill Superman, then Star Trek races have basically no chance against the Phantom Stranger, Spectre, Galactus, etc.

ANSWER: Hi John -

Wow, I've never seen that level of strength from Aquaman (one of my top ten most favorite comic characters ever).

Years ago another expert and I conferred and he cited several instances where Aquaman's strength was equivalent to Spider-Man's but, again, in the decades he's been around his powers have been portrayed pretty inconsistently.

Depends on what you mean by better swimmer.  Aquaman's physiology is perfectly adapted to life underwater, but I gotta believe Superman could beat him in a race.  However, in the Smallville episode where Aquaman debuts, he can maneuver underwater better than a young Clark Kent so it depends on what source you want to use.

Hmmmmm, I think he might.  It's never been made clear what exactly the Borg use for propulsion on their cubes, and nothing immediately leaps out as being an engine.  If their system of propulsion involves the use of anti-matter (like Starfleet) or a point singularity (Like the Romulans) then an explosion involving energies from either of those things should be sufficient to kill the Hulk.  At the very least I think he'd suffer massive injury.

Yeah, the vulnerability to magic is something that has been inserted into the Superman mythos more recently than his vulnerability to kryptonite.  My guess is they put it in there to upgrade the credibility of foes like Mr. Mxyptlyk and others like him.  

Of course Mr. M's abilities have been explained as science native to his home dimension as well so its another of those 'gray' areas the writers leave vague on purpose so as not to restrict their storytelling abilities.  

The Pre and Post Crisis 'fiasco' is a big mess where DC essentially attempted to reboot their continuity in what ended up being a long, convoluted process.  The gist of its affect on Superman is that his power levels where chopped back from the godlike abilities he had Pre-Crisis so that he at least has some vulnerabilities.

I'm not too familiar with the modern incarnation of the Phantom Stranger.  Believe it or not my cousin was one of the first artists to draw the Phantom Stranger in DC comics many, many years ago and at that time the Stranger was just a mysterious, little understood guy.

The Spectre originally premiered as a type of ghost with very ill defined powers but has been changed over the years to a near godlike individual.

Galactus is something of a mystery to me.  Any being potentially as powerful as him, who can easily manipulate the Power Cosmic shouldn't get his rear kicked by the Fantastic Four all the time, even if Reed Richards is this super genius!

Thanks!
D


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Didn't Superman get killed simply by getting beaten to death? If that's the case then shouldn't a Douwd be able to kill him?

Who character do you like more?
A) Superman
B) Riker

A) Batman
B) Worf

A) Spiderman
B) Dax

A) Aquaman
B) Picard

A) Celestials
B) Gorn

A) Mr. Mxy
B) Trelane

Answer
Hi John -

Opinions vary, some say he only entered a death like state to allow himself to heal and wasn't truly dead, so it depends on who you ask.

A - Superman - I love Riker but Supes has been around something like 60 years!

A - Batman - again who can argue with his longevity.

B - Dax - Though she doesn't know it Terry Ferrell is my soul mate!

A - Aquaman - one of my favorites since I was about six years old!

B - The Gorn!  I love that green lizard guy.

B - Trelane - He's a lot more fun than Mr. M.

Thanks!

D. -