10 Mistakes Non-Comic Book Fans Make About Comic Books

9. Thinking Certain Characters Are More/Less Powerful Than They Really Are

Ask any non-comic book fan, for example, about who they think would win in an all-out brawl between Marvel's Spider-Man and DC's Superman and they'd probably give you a 50/50 split in terms of their answers. They tend to know that both characters are fast, strong and extremely durable with super-senses to boot, and that Spider-Man can web-sling and that Superman can fly, but they are generally blissfully unaware of the difference in scale between their powers. Again, using Spidey and Supes as examples, Spider-Man can generally lift anything between 5 and 15 tonnes in the comic books, depending on his depiction that day, while Superman has been shown as being capable of bench-pressing entire planets non-stop for days on end. Spider-Man is quick enough to dodge bullets, while Superman is fast enough to react in nanoseconds and move quicker than the speed of light. Spider-Man would be hurt if a bullet hit him, while Superman can comfortably survive being at ground zero of a nuclear explosion. Essentially, Superman would destroy Spider-Man in an all-out brawl - in fact, Spider-Man couldn't hurt Superman if the man of steel stood still and let the webbed wonder wail on him for a day straight. And that is a perfect analogy for views of characters across the board. People know Batman is a great martial artist, but he's not as good as it gets. Karate Kid, for example (the DC character, not Daniel San) would easily beat the caped crusader in a martial arts battle. How many non-comic book fans would think that Batman would beat this relatively little-known character? Of course, comic books often depict weaker characters as being capable of challenging stronger characters for the sake of the plot, but when you utilise consistently depicted feats of power, there is a clear difference between the likes of Spider-Man and Superman.