Mr. Fine

hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger:

brevoortformspring:

Well, that sure sounds like Spider-Man, doesn’t it?

This is mainly a function of what i think of as “powers drift”, and the handbook is as much to blame as anything else. Back in the day, Spidey was depicted as being strong, but not crazy strong—a trio of normal guys like the Enforcers were able to give him a good fight. However, when it came time to quantify Spidey’s powers for the Handbook, the researchers worked out the maximum amount of weight that Spidey had ever lifted—that huge Doc Ock machine off his back in the Master Planner story. And that’s what they put down as his maximum strength rating. Fine so far as it goes, but that story makes it clear that what was involved was a singular and superhuman effort of will, that heroic moment when an athlete pushes past his limits. But, because the Handbook said that Spidey could lift ten tons, that became his default “normal” strength.

Actually it wasn’t the Handbook which ‘was to blame’ forthat.

First of all Spider-Man was strong enough that he could casually crush a steel pipe without even meaning to in his first appearance!

If you can do something like THAT  without even trying then the original asker’s assumption that Spider-Man could indeed exert strength enough to cause grievous injury like that is far from a misconception that’s cropped up over time.

Furthermore it was in Stan and Steve’s first ASM Annual that they gave an indication of just how strong Spider-Man might be.

That’s a pretty bold statement to make. And that was 1964, a mere 2 years after Spider-Man’s creation. Granted there were characters more powerful than Spider-Man in the Marvel universe proper (e.g. Sub-Mariner, Hercules, etc) but the point was that only people of THAT extreme level of strength outmatched Spider-Man. And as the statement heavily implied, Spidey wasn’t fully grown yet. He’s hardly someone who’s strong but a group of muscle guys can hassle him.

He was also depicted as fighting foes like the Lizard competently in Amazing Spider-Man #6 which predated the Enforcers’ appearance in ASM #10, and they were obviously not as strong as the Lizard.

More than this it is important to remember several things about the Enforcers comparison.

1)      Spidey encountered the Enforcers VERY early on in his career when he wasn’t nearly as experienced yet. It is not a fair comparison to look to a character’s early appearances as being the summation of them at all. Whilst this can arguably apply to later eras, at such an early stage in a character’s creation they are still a work in progress

2)      Spider-Man was encountering them for the first time and inevitably when encountering new challenges even seasoned combatants will initially struggle since they don’t know what is coming

3)      The Enforcers aren’t mere gangsters. They attacked Spider-Man all at once using pretty good co-ordinated team work and their fighting styles were all different. Whilst Montana tries to ensnare Spidey, Fancy Dan is employing martial arts and dodging him and Ox is exerting sheer brute force. Inevitably Spidey (again, especially when he’s fighting them for the first time) is going to struggle

4)      Spider-Man had given Aunt May a blood transfusion earlier in that issue and it had weakened him. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko basically covered their butts

If the argument is that Spider-Man lifting 10 tons is something he can only do under extreme circumstances (which I don’t buy, partially again because he was so exhausted and because he wasn’t fully mature yet) and because of that regular gangsters and other noob characters can job him all the time then it’s not a very valid one. He was more competent and powerful than that and he realistically should’ve only grown since then.

At the same time this doesn’t mean those types of people can’t be a threat to him. Again, if they catch him off guard or when he’s weak/distracted or if they are employing solid strategy of their own then it’s hardly going to be a cakewalk.

As for why Spider-Man doesn’t do as the asker said, well apart from not being the violent sort, Spider-Man holds back his strength most of the time. When he fights regular gangsters and even a lot of super powered enemies he pulls his punches and/or is subconsciously holding himself in check.

We can see some evidence of this in the Master Planner Trilogy when Spider-Man anxious to save Aunt May presses the criminal underworld hard and doesn’t hold back nearly as much as he normally does.

J.M. DeMatteis also did a flashback story to Spider-Man’s very early career which touched on this facet of Spider-Man’s strength very nicely.

And as much as I hate to admit it, even Slott eloquently demonstrated this in ASM #700 when he had Doc Ock NOT hold back against the Scorpion and deliver a very violent blow to him.

My point is Spidey is very, very, very strong but he holds back and circumstances conspire against him sometimes in battles.

But the fact is that for many writers at Marvel having a Spider-Man who’s got scared down powers is better for them because frankly it’s easier for people to job him. Translation: it’s makes it easier for lazy writers to give him conflict in battle. He isn’t like Pre-Crisis Superman levels of overpowered where it really was ridiculous and no one could  challenge him. Plenty of people can challenge Spider-Man, but Marvel wants to make him come off as a noob, or ‘young and inexperienced’, or make other people (like villains) look good at his expense which is all easier if you ignore what caonically he can do with his powers.

The prime example of this is how despite his strength, endurance, enhanced reflexes, speed and spider sense in OMIT a fat man throwing a brick can still hit Spider-Man. 

It’s lazy storytelling contrivance which allows writers to more easily generate conflict rather than put actual effort into giving Spider-Man superhuman challenges. JMS, DeFalco and many other writers didn’t do that, portraying Spider-Man as the sum of his experiences and incredibly powerful and competent. But noticeably not perfect or invincible. But God forbid we have balanced writing wit effort

P.S. Spider-Man has demonstrated instances where his strength exceeds 10 tons, like in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #95.

It isn’t just a handbook statistic people misinterpret folks. He really is that powerful and 10 tons is far from his limit.