Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Quien Es Mas Macho?

Wherein I once again waste everyone's time by nitpicking 32 year old answers from a column giving quickie answers to quickie questions sent in mainly by kids.

From Bob Rozakis' Answer Man column in Flash #273 (1979):

Hmmm. This one will require some thought.

Remember, this is 1979, so we're pre-Mongul, pre-Doomsday, pre-Anti-Monitor.

Much also hinges on how you're defining "strongest." The Composite Superman has all of the combined powers of the Legion Of Super-Heroes, so that's pretty powerful. And because, at least in the initial version, he had the combined strength and invulnerability of Supergirl, Mon-El and Ultra Boy, he was theoretically 3 times as strong as Superman.

As to the Parasite, it was a DC Science fact (at that time) that he couldn't ever absorb 100% of Superman's powers, because his cells couldn't handle it and he would inconveniently explode. So that would seem to leave him substantially behind the Composite Superman, who could be as powerful as 3 Supermen plus a whole heap of other powers. Plus, Parasite's power boosts were temporary.

Other candidates? Assuming you're excluding magic makers like Mxyzptlk, we could try Amazo--there have been a lot of inconsistencies in which powers he has over the years, but at the very least he has the combined powers of Wonder Woman, J'onn J'onzz, Aquaman, Flash and Green Lantern. So, depending on how you read it, he's near the Composite's level (plus, sometime he throws Superman's powers on there...).

You who else Rozakis ignored?

Darkseid.

That's not a huge surprise, though, as until the JSA/JLA/New Gods story in 1980, the New Gods post-Kirby had very little interaction with the rest of the DC Universe--Darkseid was mainly the "house villain" for the first attempted New Gods revival, not the universal threat he would later become. So at that point, he probably wasn't firmly established in everyone's mind as being that dang strong and powerful.

So, let's put it to you, peanut gallery--who was the "strongest villain" in DC circa 1979??
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11 comments:

  1. Martin GrayJanuary 11, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    I'm good with Compo - you put the case for him well, and he's miles ahead of Amazo, with about five times the amount of heroes' powers. And bear in mind that back then Wondy wasn't as powerful as Supes.

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  2. SiskoidJanuary 11, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    Well, it IS Darkseid, no doubt about it. While Composite has a lot of brute force and varied powers, he still had to periodically recharge, and Superman even destroyed the "battery" so it became impossible for him to make repeat appearances. Each Composite Superman has been a different guy.

    Darkseid is not only a super-tough New God who destroys and creates with heat-seeking Omega Beams, but he rules a ton of other powerful New Gods and continued to be a threat month after month, year upon year. My first contact with Darkseid was in the Superfriends cartoon evolution Super-Powers (when they added Firestorm to the cast). Darkseid is the only villain I ever remember from the show. I was a baaaad mo-fo.

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  3. Martin GrayJanuary 11, 2011 at 8:24 AM

    Oh, and I've just noticed the questioner's name, Andrew Smith. Is that Captain Comics? I wonder if he liked the answer given.

    While you're looking through old columns, keep an eye out for my queries - one on Rich Buckler, one on the subtitle of Ghosts!

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  4. Sea-of-GreenJanuary 11, 2011 at 9:36 AM

    Titano the Super-Ape! :-D

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  5. delenoreJanuary 11, 2011 at 11:35 AM

    Excluding the bad-assery that is Darkseid, I'd have to go with either the Time Trapper or the Infinite Man. Both were pretty god-like in their power levels, although most 'big' Legion baddies were (hell, they had to deal with the might of Mon-El, Superboy and the rest of those meddling kids).

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  6. Lazarus LupinJanuary 11, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    Asmodus who battled the Spectre, and the Spectre had to hit him with the whole FREEKIN' EARTH!

    Lazarus Lupin
    http://strangespanner.blogspot.com/
    art and review

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  7. notinthefaceJanuary 11, 2011 at 2:56 PM

    Like Legion, the Justice League had some godlike villains as well, including Aquarius and the Demons Three and Korge. Plus, they had Starbreaker, who was essentially their version of Galactus made to look like Dracula. Not only that, but they had Dr. Destiny, a guy who could MAKE DREAMS INTO REALITY.

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  8. EyzJanuary 11, 2011 at 4:05 PM

    Mmmh... I guess I'll also go with the Composite.
    Since Darkseid wasn't really part of the DC verse at that point and all..

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  9. snellJanuary 11, 2011 at 8:45 PM

    Hokey smokes that's a lot of comments!!

    Gelenore, lazarus, notintheface: I think the godlike beings are a bit out of bounds. The question asked for "strongest," not "most powerful", and that's clearly how Rozakis took it, as his choices of Composite & Parasite showed.

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  10. SiskoidJanuary 12, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    @Eyz He must have been because Jimmy Olsen was part of the Fourth World stuff!

    But if he's a "god", well, maybe he's more than a villain.

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  11. notinthefaceJanuary 12, 2011 at 4:26 PM

    What about Bizarro or Black Adam? Those guys beat ol' Para-pants hands down in the strength department. AND they were featured prominently back then.

    I'm totally on board with Composite Supes, though.

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