In my spider man encyclopedia it states that he can bench press 30,000 pounds. That is insane. That means he could punch through iron-man's armor and immediately kill him. He could even send Superman flying with a punch that powerful. And yet, in the comics he has punched "glass cannons" like Storm and barely left a mark.

Sounds right on. In a random encounter Peter is usually about the 10-20 ton range. That means 20,000-40,000 pounds.

He has however displayed much greater feats on occasion when under extreme duress or motivations. Some of them are in excess of 100 tons.

Massive restraint

@peppeyhare:

THIS. With great power comes great responsibility. Ring any bells? @highlyevolved

@highlyevolved said:

In my spider man encyclopedia it states that he can bench press 30,000 pounds. That is insane. That means he could punch through iron-man's armor and immediately kill him. He could even send Superman flying with a punch that powerful. And yet, in the comics he has punched "glass cannons" like Storm and barely left a mark.

What?

Doomsday is beyond a 100 tonner and Superman has taken shots from him while still holding his ground, I don't see how Spider-man would be able to send him flying.

Iron man maybe, super man no way

Peter’s normal strength range is 10 tons but he does exercise every bit the mental restraint of Superman and Batman. Spider-Man’s fighting style is guided by and often performs best on instinct the less he thinks while fighting most foes the better this allows his mind the opportunity to craft his jokes. Instinct isn’t enough however he still has to focus on the battle to concoct strategies against his opponents often. Don’t make Spider-Man angry if you threaten his loved ones may Deadpool have mercy on you. While anger can make Peter cut back on the restraint doubling his power love is what truly gives him strength. As it was pointed out in The Dark Knight Rises a hero who is entirely ready to toss his life away is not truly strong they are prepared to do whatever is necessary but without something to live for they will have neither the primal urge of self preservation or concern for the people back home to make them put in the extra effort to win and live when they would otherwise be perfectly satisfied with death and victory. Each hero has different things that drive them in their careers.

Superman

1. Good Parenting

2. Faith

3. Love

4. Hope

Batman

1. Anger pure and simple (He freely admits that his utopian world would be watching his father endlessly beat the life out of his parents killer preventing it from happening.)

Spider-Man

1. Good Parenting

2. Faith

3. Love

4. Hope

5. Guilt

The three most iconic Spider-Man stories are Amazing Fantasy #15, The Death of Gwen Stacy and If This Be My Destiny. The Origin story gives us the source of his guilt an extremely potent motivator it makes it impossible for him to quit but can sometimes lead him astray. The Death of Gwen Stacy demonstrated that no matter how angry in his right mind he would never kill his foes it was also the first really good example of him not holding back. People try to breath some Ditko Randian kook interpretation into If This Be My Destiny the Doc Ock Rubble arc and it’s probably true that was what Steve intended with the art. (The entire story of the 3 issue arc was written around this scene) If however you bother to read Stan’s dialogue you learn about the true source of Spider-Man’s strength and will Love. This is demonstrated in many different mediums even the Raimi movies which are notoriously inconsistent with strength levels.

Even satisfied having defeated Doc Ock and possibly saved the world Peter’s love and concern for his Aunt was enough for him to dig himself out from under the massive weight. The more friends Peter has in his life and the stronger love he has in the life the greater the feat he can perform. His greatest feat of strength was holding up the entire foundation of the Daily Bugle building this he was able to manage looking at Mary Jane as she mentally cheered him on. His love for her was strong enough for him to keep a skyscraper steady when he wasn’t in the best shape. This is yet another reason why OMD was terrible by cutting back on Peter’s love he is weakened he can’t go as far to help others after that storyline Peter’s strength level has diminished to the point that sometimes he has trouble lifting cars.

I’ve actually half forgiven Danslott for Superior #9 because however awful and forced the outcome he did demonstrate where Peter’s true strength as a hero comes from and in so doing he has added another pile of evidence against the notion that Spider-Man is a hero for his own gratification. Spider-Man is the greatest hero of all because none love like him for all the ubersadistic torture he’s experienced in life even the few enemies who really make life hell (Green Goblin, Jackal etcetera) he refuses to hate for long durations. Brock/Venom is the only enemy Spider-Man has ever truly feared. The reason? Venom I knew his secret identity, started his career by frightening his wife, (he also broke his ex’s nose soon after) He knows his every trick and has greater strength. Peter fears Venom not for his own sake but because unlike some other enemies that know where to hit him where it hurts but because he worries that he might not have the power to stop him each time he decides to hurt the people he loves.

So what is Peter’s strength limit? We don’t know it’s at least the weight of a good chunk of the Daily Bugle building but until certain things are… repaired we will have to wait to see his greatest feats. Imagine what he could do if I don’t know the life of wait for it… his child was on the line.

This is true. It's BS that any non superhuman durability characters are able to stay conscious after taking glancing blows from him. Hell I've taken a normal punch once and my face was a mess. Storm just gets punched in the face and doesn't at least have a bruise to show for it? WTF.

Its been stated that he holds back a lot even when fighting other super humans. When he didn't hold back he was able to knock scorpions jaw clean off. he has also shown lots of other strength feats when he doesn't hold back. Also what issue is it when he punches Storm

@thebrownpowerranger: Does that make him stronger then Scorpion now?

With great power comes great responsibility is the best way to sum up this thread.

He holds back basically every punch.

Jmarshmallow

@segamarvel: I'm not sure, scorpion hasn't shown any feats like that but its been stated that scorpion is stronger that parker. I think that Parker is stronger because peter has more impressive strength feats than scorpion.

@thebrownpowerranger: I think Peter's stronger then Scorpion's natural strength. Current scorpion needed armor just to keep up with spidey's growth. That's why when Peter punched him on his unarmored jaw it came off. The fact that Scorpions natural durability wasn't enough proves Peter is in a different class than he is now.

Spiderman cannot send Superman flying with a punch. Superman can lift 6.6 quintillion tons, whereas Spiderman can lift 30,000 pounds (15 tons), huge difference there. If Spiderman punched Superman, Spiderman would break his hand

@tjsh96: There's a difference between sending someone flying with a punch and hurting them with it. If Superman was taken by surprise he COULD be moved. He's not an immovable object. BUT if he was fully prepared then not even the Juggernaut could push him.