The Problem With Marvel And DC Comic Characters In Battle Boarding

Preface:

I get that the most common counter to this issue is, “Just use their game or movie versions instead.” And while that’s a fair point, a lot of people don’t actually do that. they still reference the comics, which makes this an issue regardless.

Now, onto the rant.

Point 1: Too Many Writers, Too Many Inconsistencies

What if I told you that not all Marvel or DC writers actually read the comics of the characters they write about? Sounds crazy, but it’s not surprising. Writers usually have a general idea of what’s going on in the larger universe. like whether Iron Man has a new suit, but they often miss key details or background information because they simply don’t keep up with every single issue.

And it’s painfully obvious at times. You’ll see Spider-Man in his own series dealing with some world-shattering event, only for him to show up in an X-Men or Avengers comic acting completely normal, as if nothing happened. There’s no real attempt at maintaining internal continuity across different books because the writers just aren’t really reading each other’s material.

Unlike something like Dragon Ball, where inconsistencies mostly stem from writer fatigue, or Star Wars, where different forms of media contradict each other (e.g., novels claiming blaster bolts are lightspeed while the movies clearly don’t show that), Marvel and DC’s inconsistencies exist because of how their comics are structured. The sheer number of writers working on different books means contradictions are bound to happen.

And then there’s the issue of different interpretations. Some writers just don’t care about certain characters, especially if they’re writing a story focused on someone else. That’s why you get things like Iron Man defeating a Herald of Galactus in his own book but losing to Punisher of all people in a Punisher comic.

Now, personally, I don’t think this is an issue when it comes to storytelling. If you’re into Marvel or DC comics, you just accept that this happens, it’s part of the experience.

But if something is this internally inconsistent, why would anyone seriously use it for battle boarding? The whole point of versus debating is to determine a character’s most logical level of power, but how can you do that when internally the source material contradicting itself is due to bias and a lack of information?

Point 2: A Long History Makes It a Battle of Attrition

Because these characters have been around for decades, versus debates involving them almost always turn into a contest of who can dig up the most feats and anti-feats rather than an actual discussion about their abilities.

One person will say, “Well, in this 2000s comic, Spider-Man held up an entire building, so he must be able to lift over 100 tons.” Then the other person will counter with, “Yeah, but in this comic from 2014, he struggled to lift some rubble, so he can only lift 25 tons.”

And then they’ll keep going back and forth, pulling examples from the characters’ 80 year long history, cherry picking whatever best fits their headcanon.

It becomes less about analyzing a character and more about selectively picking feats to push an argument, which makes debating Marvel and DC characters a mess.

Conclusion:

At the end of the day, Marvel and DC comics just aren’t built for consistency. That’s not a flaw in their storytelling, it’s just the nature of how these universes function. But because of that, trying to use them for versus debating is an exercise in frustration. There’s no real standard for these characters, just a never ending loop of contradictions that people can cherry pick from to suit whatever argument they want to make.