On Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:04:42 -0700 (PDT), Duggy <
Paul....@jcu.edu.au>
wrote:
>There are certain super-hero types or archetypes or characters copied
>over and over... so who is the best of each (and who are the
>contenders for that.)
>I don't care who was the first, has the most history, is most popular
>or most well known, but rather who do you like most, would you rather
>see written properly if all other of this type stopped being publish,
>who is the most interesting, has the best story etc.
>
>Think any comic company... but books, TV and film is OK, too.
>
>I'm going to give a few obvious types, but add more if you want...
>
> - Superman type (Flight, Strength, Invulnerability, etc): Superman,
>Captain Marvel, many clear copies.
Thunderbunny! Okay, maybe not.
> - Ultimate human type (Peak of human physical fitness .
>mutations, experiments, powers): Batman, The Phantom, etc.
This should actually be 'Normal Human'. Over most of his career, Batman
has just been an extremely well trained, conditioned, and dedicated human.
If written properly, he should never be able to defeat an 'ultimate human
type' through sheer physical ability, rather through skill, training, and
planning.
> - Power-suit (Guys in high tech armour): Iron Man, Hardware.
Perhaps differentiate between 'high tech user' and 'gadgeteer'. Jim
Rhodes-Iron Man is in the first category and Tony Stark-Iron Man is in the
second.
> - Demi-god (Super-human strength): Captain America, original
>Superman.
Captain America, by definition, does not have superhuman strength.
Throughout his entire career, going back to the Timely original, he is
described as being at the peak of human (fill in the blank).
Another example of 'Peak Human', which perhaps better indicates the
difference, is Cassandra Cain-Batgirl. One of the DC stories described her
as, each of her abilities, by itself, falls within, though at the high end
of, human capability, but when viewed collectively, her abilities are
superhuman. The same could be said of Captain America, but not most Batman
clones including Bats himself
In your 'Demi-god' category would be Luke Cage, among others. At the upper
end, you have the Hulk
And then, there's the actual gods, whose abilities may include, but aren't
limited to super-strength
> - Gadget guy: Blue Beetle, Tony Stark, Batman...
Shrinker: Atom
Grower: Colossal Kid (ok, technically he's a giant who can shring, but
still)
Both: Hank Pym, Rita Farr
And you need to include a 'Magic-user' category (Dr. Strange, Zatanna, and
so forth)
--
I have a theory, it could be bunnies