Who Is The Greatest Superhero...EVER?

[Silver Age Fan]

Okay, it'll all be down to personal opinion, I know, but who do YOU consider to be the greatest superhero ever?

For me, it has to be Superman, the character who spawned an entire genre, an entire industry. He's an inspirational character and one who has stood the test of time for over 70 years - he's also very, very cool.

What about the rest of you?

[MacNimon]

That's a hard one. It depends on how you look at it, doesn't it? Whether you look at it in terms of having the most/strongest powers, or whether you think a well-written, rounded character is more important.

I'd go for the latter option, meaning that my choice would be Spider-Man. He's not as powerful as Superman, but thanks to the Marvel UK line of comics he was an ever-present during my childhood/adolescent years, and he (or rather Peter Parker) was an ordinary teenager you could identify with; his problems and worries about money, girls and family were so common that the character could easily have been you or me. Even that scene where he makes his own costume in Amazing Fantasy #15...I wouldn't have had a clue where to start!

[llllllll]

Much as I love the Superman movies and I know he was the first, spawned a whole industry, etc, etc...... but I wouldn't rate him as best. The problem is that he's almost too powerful, it's very hard to put him in a position where he's genuinely in danger and that affects the drama and tension. I know we've got Kryptonite, but that's just a little bit too much like a macguffin for my liking.

As you probably know I'm not an avid comic book reader, though my collection is growing slowly, but the charcaters I like best tend to be the ones without superpowers at all. Judge Dredd is probably my favourite and I'm enjoying The Punisher Max series, then again I wouldn't really describe either of these as heroes, let alone superheroes.
Of the more traditional 'hero' characters, I guess Batman would probably be my favourite, though Spiderman is a close second (mainly thanks to the movies), both are helped by having some really great badguys.

[Silver Age Fan]

Thanks for your views, very interesting as usual.

My second favourite hero is Batman, followed by Spider-Man. If DC and Marvel collaborated and did a Superman, Spider-Man and Batman team-up - where they faced Lex Luthor, The Green Goblin and The Joker - I'd be a happy man!

llllllll mentioned about Superman being too powerful. During the Silver Age of Comic Books (considered to be between 1955 and 1970), there were many complaints about Superman being too powerful. He was virtually invulnerable, kryptonite aside. I remember issues where he'd fly through the sun or even push a planet out of it's orbit.

This was 'rectified' when the Superman universe was rebooted in 1986 by writer/artist John Byrne. He was still impressive, but he wasn't as strong and was less powerful. It made him more identifiable, in my opinion.

I haven't read a Superman comic since they rebooted the DC universe a couple of months ago, but it looks like, initially, he is doing more leaping over skyscrapers than flying so perhaps he has come full circle (originally, Superman couldn't fly and wasn't as strong as he'd later become).