The Glade 4.0

Someone please help me get past the absurdity of the massive power differences among members of certain superhero teams! Why are Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk and the God of Freakin-Thunder on the same team as some random guy who happens to be good at archery and a woman who took a few krav maga classes? What possible contribution can Batman make in a fight against foes powerful enough to keep Superman, the Flash, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter all fully occupied at the same time?

*Edit: Good grammar using is more harder than I thinked it were!

I can't really speak for the Avengers, but Batman is just that good.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Every team needs red shirt fodder.

Or it could be similar to the whole "Look thinner by hanging out with people larger than you" sort of rule. Hulk and Thor and the like look even more awesome when compared to some of the others. Heh.

Besides, I figured this is the one board that would sympathize with Hawkeye. He finally gets into a Kunark group that doesn't feel like he's unnecessary or useless.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

You mean like...


Superhero teams never run into this problem. Hawkeye is the best marksman the world has ever seen with any ranged weapon (bows just happen to be his favorite), and Black Widow's martial arts skills are played up that she can actually hold her own against a superpowered type, though her real talents lie in infiltration and subversion.


As for Batman, just about everyone here will tell you he is the most powerful member of the Justice League, because Brain > Brawn.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

It's pretty simple. Not every superhero's contribution to a team need be measured by what they can bench press, as it were.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

When the world is in trouble, it calls the Justice League.

When the Justice League is in trouble, it calls Batman.

I think a couple of times, heavy hitters such as Superman and Thor have actually admitted to holding back a bit to not overshadow their friends...

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"Life isn't divided into genres. It's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."
— Alan Moore

Superman did not say man, person, or human. He said "being" ...

And Superman is the most powerful being in the DC Universe. Superman will at some point WILL Krypton back into being with all the people on it who died during its explosion. Superman will at some point recreate Lois Lane as a divine being on par with him. And when it's all said and done ... J'onn J'onnz who has become the planet Mars and Superman, all golden after spending 15,000 years in the center of a living sun ... both of them will say ...

"The plan will only work if we get him[Bruce Wayne]."

Ultimately, the one thing Batman possesses that no other member of the JLA actually possesses is the ability recognize the utilitarian act of evil and use it.

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Passed / Past? Any other poster and I'd have let that go as a grammatical error - after looking into it I still lean towards "get past the absurdity" as the correct usage.

As to the question at hand if you're not just tolling for grammar natzis the quote from the theme song to Mystery Science Theater comes to mind -

If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
And other science facts,
Just repeat to yourself "It's just a show,
I should really just relax

How does Hawkeye stack up to Bullseye? They're both in the Marvel universe.

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And while we're at it, could a lightsaber cut Superman?

Hm, maybe a lightsaber with a kryptonite crystal....

Mind. Blown.

Batman probably already has one of those.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Super-Normals are cool, and usually more intresting than their ultra-super counterparts. If you just had a bunch of folks that can't ever be hurt/loose, then people loose intrest in their stories. The fact that people like Clint and Bruce go up against people like Darkside and Loki, is compelling because they are fragile and they have more to loose.

They keep the ultra supers grounded, and bring other non-combat skill sets to the table as well.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

I recall seeing somewhere that Batman does keep a piece of kryptonite on him... just in case...

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Batman found a way to take out Sups before he had the kryptonite. And he had contingency plans to take out the other members of the Justice League as well. (He's the GD Batman, after all.) They were more than a little pissed when they found out.

The "underpowered" characters also there to expand the range of stories they can do. It would get boring if every story was a cosmic interplanetary war. ("Is it the Kree-Shi'ar again??")

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When he's underwater does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead?