Why do people think Superman is overpowered

I don't get it.They always say he's overpowered when he's not.He gets his butt kicked alot and also,he is the first super hero!So,it makes sense.In fact,if you are a Superman hater,give me a reason besides"He is overpowered"That's just some excuse.So can someone explain?

Simple they just don't know the character and just assume that's he is OP. Also true he get his butt kicked a lot but he also kicks a lot of but.

Overpowered has just become another empty comicbook phrase.

It is not that he is overpowered, it is that very few of his villains match him power by power.

Examples:

Lex Luthor VS Superman

Bizzaro VS Superman

One has the brains to match Superman but lacks powers, the has the powers but lacks the brain. (What if Lex becomes the new Bizzaro? Like a hulk relationship?)

Then you have villains that don't match him in power but have powers that bring him down or hurt him so their feats pale in comparison...

On Top of that, I have a feeling that there are people who see characters that should not be able to beat Superman, but are powerful, and because those people see them do feats and assume Superman might surpass those, think Superman must be godly...

Because he can more or less do everything. He can fly, he can run fast, he is strong, he has X-Ray sight he can shoot laser out of his eyes he can breath frost. No, I have never read a story with Superman and know that a lot of his fans love his morals. However that he has so many powers is rubbing me the wrong way. I have consider reading For All Seasons.

People who dont read his comics see him that way, mostly because of misconceptions attached to other stuff

Its like aquaman, only in reverse

In a recent issue didn't he bench press the weight of the Earth for 5 days straight. That's pretty powerful if you ask me.

In a recent issue didn't he bench press the weight of the Earth for 5 days straight. That's pretty powerful if you ask me.

So does Thor having so many powers rub you the wrong way?

@hewhosees said:

A lot of Thors Power is in Mjonir. That is how he flying (Even though it should be with the help of his wagon and two goats), that is where he use the lightnings and so on. He is also more mortal compared to Superman that can only be killed by kryptonite. The difference is also that Thor is a god and is based on the concept of this. Marvel has just accepted that the Greek and Nordic Gods does exist. Superman is just an alien.

So, Thor having so many powers rubs you the wrong way?

Thor is basically just very strong so no and hard to kill. And he isn't on the same level at Superman and really isn't important in a discussion about whatever Superman is overpowered or not.

The 1938 Superman was not overpowered and there was no kryptonite in 1938. The powers were explained in terms of insects. Ants can lift several times their own weight. Grasshoppers can hop pretty far. Kryptonians on Krypton were shown hopping like grasshoppers.

You only have to look at one of the superman vs batman threads, or probably superman vs anyone threads to see why (when cherrypicking feats) he could be considered overpowered.

A lot of the time they confuse overpowered with really popular fan favorite, writer favorite, character. Or they forget this is all fictional. Superman does get beaten up a lot, he is basically Hulk Hogan and John Cena, in which he will get beaten a lot but usually because he is holding back and or he will come back and win when it matters most. So not the character, but the writers. Something that applies to every character to some degree.

Because he is. He can fly faster than light, he can carry planets, nothing can hurt him, he can see through matter, he can fire laser beams out of his eyes, he can blow strong wind and freeze air, etc. Man, is there something he can not do? That´s too much, in my opinion.

@zardu said:

Blow fire out of his nose.

Fart sulfur mustard.

@tupiaz: These ablilities will also develop some day :-)

Because people don't read the damn comic books and only get superficial knowledge from TV shows and movies.

He isn't all that powerful

There could plenty of reasons why people assume Superman is overpowered. It could be either that he's superior to almost every other hero on Earth, the fact that he is in fact such a drastic change from the more popular heroes that people can supposedly "relate" to . But he's not that over-powered when you see the opponents he goes up against. I think it's just most people hating on the character which will never end.

I'm just gonna leave this here:

Back when I was a Superman hater (yes, I am ashamed) it was more of an excuse than anything else.

It's because he's practically god.

His weaknesses are hard to exploit. There are some but few who match him in terms of power.

There's nothing he can't do. I know his power set. Eventually he can do it all.

Honestly, to fight the bad reputation he got in the Silver Age, he was given more weaknesses than most characters: magic, kryptonite, loved ones, red sunlight, etc. Plus, the character has been given many many many psychological weaknesses. He has personal doubts, abandonment issues, etc. It's incredible for anyone to say that he's overpowered, because for every power he has, he has a weakness.

Silver Surfer, Gladiator, Thor, Beta-Ray Bill, Hyperion, The Hulk, Deadpool, Wolverine, Captain Marvel (Marvel), The GOOD Phoenix incarnations of Jean Grey, Dr. Strange, Franklin Richards, etc, etc, etc.

Remove Wade and Logan there and replace them with Sentry and Hercules.

Logan and Wade are mostly Street Levelers

Note how VERY few of those characters mentioned above have any "inherent" "weakness" whereas Superman is susceptible to the same kind of high impact physical blows the above can take and high level magicks WHILE ALSO having two more weaknesses that most of the above DON'T have (IE, red sunlight and kryptonite).

If your going to falt someone for practically being a god, then, pray tell, why aren't you faulting ANY OF THOSE mentioned above characters or even some other ones in DC?

Yeah, street levelers with INSANE regen that really makes you scratch your head and wonder why fans of them are always complaining that they don't "fear for Superman's life" when those two I fear even less for considering what they can come back from considering the kinds of threats they're usually faced with.

I never saw him as overpowered, frankly I always felt many other powerhouses like Wonder Woman or Shazam could kick his ass if they wanted too.. I love superman but if id have to give one reason it would be that writers will always make him as strong as he needs to be to win via sundipping etc, wich is sort off cheap.

I'm not faulting anyone. This forum is asking why people believe he's over powered. I think this is why. Superman can move planets.

Let's get it straight, I don't hate Superman. He's a respectable hero who paved the way for all the amazing comics we have today. I know exactly why some people think Supes is all powerful.But that's what people need to understand. DC is a world of gods. I think it's his feats that get people. I agree he's not all powerful he's just really close. So don't eat my arguments alive or whatever I'm on your side. I was just pointing out he's hard to kill. It's not easy to find any type of kryptonite or powerful magic. I know there are those who can match and surpass him in turns of power. I don't think the number exceeds 100 unless it's pre 52 and you count all living kryptonians.

Funny when you think about it, in the comics they always use him as a punching bag and try to make everyone equal to or greater than him, yet in every form of media they try to make him seem "invincible"... Injustice is a good example.

I refer you to that list of OTHER characters that don't seem to take NEARLY as much flak as him and can do (or HAVE done) similar or greater feats while NOT possessing as many 'weaknesses' or 'susceptibilities' as he does.

Also, MARVEL is JUST as much a world of gods. The difference though is that a lot of those characters don't have nearly as much pop culture exposure or publicity.

Again I don't think he's all powerful. Everyone heard right? I DON'T think he's over powered. I'm simply listing reasons why others think he is. I know that characters such as Thor,Shazam,the Hulk,Odin, Thano's (I do believe I could be wrong) are capable of such feats as moving or destroying planets. If I really wanted to I could name more but no offense I don't care enough to.

Ah. My mistake then.

@smashbrawler: Damn

Don't really know. There are tons of villains who can shrug off Superman's attacks and smack him around with ease. H'el, Black Adam, Helspont etc. Yet they arn't considered overpowered. I guess it depends on what you consider overpowered. Is having multiple powers overpowering or is benching the weight of the world for 5 days straight overpowering?

Black Adam? In what Universe?

They do because their lack of understanding. For every strength he has, there is a weakness to exploit it with as well. And I don't get characters like Darkseid or Mongul. They seem to matchhis strength and go on and how how they want him dead, well just go kill him? You lord over Apocalypse gloating but you never actually win, you just stand their waiting for him to die of old age, or to come to you

@smashbrawler said:

I'm just gonna leave this here:

Where are these scans from? They're a nice reminder of how Superman really isn't overpowered.

@lvenger: Action Comics Annual #10.

@citizenbane: Thanks Bane! I thought they were recent.

Hey! Your avatar! It's that one time villain from that sci-fi series that fans constantly wank to be "hard-science" base that somehow still has space magic and LOTS of use of pllebetonium without which it can't possibly work yet they still claim it to be "hard" that had a massive back-lash from its third game and that people are actually PINING for EA to close them down like they did with Westwood and Origin systems.

Do you often go on tangential rants that have nothing to do with the topic at hand or am I just special?

That wasn't a rant. That was merely observational.

I liked your other avatar better by the way.

Anyways, onto the subject, what are real life ways of breaking the news to people that Supes HASN'T been over-powered for longer than I've been alive?

Well, when you listen to fans argue about whether Superman or some other person would win in a fight (Hulk, Batman, Goku), they sure make it SOUND like Superman is overpowered.

Yeah, but that's true for EVERY character who would win in a fight, and only then, when PIS/CIS is off and bloodlusting is on.

@hewhosees: Yeah. But you see it especially when fans are arguing about Superman, Batman, Hulk, and/or Goku. When they're recounting all these uber powerful feats that seem over-the-top. It can make all of them seem overpowered.

Superman is overpowered, that's why writers come up with a weakness that everyone knows and has access to more easily than water so that he doesn't stomp everyone in his way.