How strong is Spider-Man?

Question

Unlike other superheroes, he is generally depicted as skinny and unimposing physically. Due to the constantly changing strength classifications of super heroes I've lost track of where he fits in.

I remember back in an 80s comic he's shown crushing a steel handrail on a bus by just squeezing it and was depicted as roughly equal to the Thing in raw strength. Where does he fit in now?

Edit: We already know he's much stronger than non-superheros so this is not a duplicate about how Doc Oc can survive his punch. As that answer points out that he pulls his punch. That doesn't answer the question posed here.

Possible duplicate of How did Doctor Octopus survive even one punch from Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2? — NKCampbell, Feb 17 '16 at 22:27
That question has only one of the answer that only partially address this question, and that is only one half of one sentence burried in the text. It basically says that Spiderman has to hold back against non-superhero opponents. No reference or mention at all about how he stacks up against other superheros. — Morgan, Feb 17 '16 at 23:13
In the 80's animated series, when Spidey is first infected with the Venom symbiont, he mentions that before it he'd have trouble lifting a small car. — Joe L., Feb 18 '16 at 00:38
@Richard - I use metric. And I expect to see you in chat tomorrow, dammit. — Wad Cheber, Feb 18 '16 at 08:19
@wadcheber - I'm tempted to give chat a miss. The presence of multiple CMs makes me think that they're just itching to find an excuse to ban me again. The email I got from Jon Ericsson basically said as much. — Valorum, Feb 18 '16 at 09:15
@Richard - well, there are a lot of people who would love it if you stopped in to say hello. And there was talk of a movie night in your honor. — Wad Cheber, Feb 18 '16 at 22:40

Valorum · Answer 1 · 2016-02-17T21:45:57.587

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According to the official Marvel power-grid for Spiderman, he is classed as "super-human" (placing him in a category with those able to lift between 800lbs and 25 tons).

Although his raw strength is portrayed pretty inconsistently in the comics (including feats of lifting up to 40+ tons), he's usually expected to be able to lift somewhere between 10-20 tons with relative ease.

edited Feb 17 '16 at 21:45

answered Feb 17 '16 at 21:40

Valorum

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I'm guessing that panel isn't recent – AncientSwordRage Feb 17 '16 at 22:18
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@AncientSwordRage - Nope. It's from the 80's as far as I can recall. There's another panel where he lifts an entire building at one point. I generally ascribe these to over-eager writers and insufficient canon control – Valorum Feb 17 '16 at 22:33
Between 800 pounds and 25 tons?! That's like saying a house cat is roughly as tough as an African lion. – Morgan Feb 17 '16 at 23:25
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@Richard great research as usual but this doesn't tell us how he stacks up strengthwise against other superheroes/villains. From the looks of it he may be one of the weaker ones, barely ahead of 'normal' people. – Morgan Feb 18 '16 at 00:03
How is he only a four in INT? In the link it says he has "Genius-Level Intellect", an IQ over 250, and is considered one of the most intelligent people on the entire planet. The page for the handbook doesn't give details on how things are weighted, and this says that five is Genius, which correlates to his page's description of his brain power. – DCOPTimDowd Feb 16 '17 at 19:05
Was this a typo from the table maker, or are other criteria taken into account when calculating the overall score? He's also coincidentally the very first example on the page about geniuses. – DCOPTimDowd Feb 16 '17 at 19:06
@SonOfSam - It doesn't look like a typo. He's described as an "accomplished scientist" but he's no genius (level 5). The most recent retcon is that he instinctively knew how to make his web and web-shooters as a result of his spider genetics. – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 19:12
@Valorum Then why does it say "Genius-Level"? Does that not imply genius-dom? The guy discovered Parker Particles for Christ's sake. How many non-geniuses do you know discovered their own particles? Is the description of someone's intellect who actually is considered a genius labeled as Super-Genius? Super genius as Omniscient? Omniscient as 404? It seems strange to me that they'd use the wording of the next level up to describe something. Also doesn't explain why he's on the page of geniuses I linked. Seems like a typo to me, but I wanted a concurrence. – DCOPTimDowd Feb 16 '17 at 20:41
@SonOfSam - One of the key features of a wiki is that it's fan-written. Apparently whoever wrote that page considers him a genius, but that doesn't make him one, at least according to the official handbook. – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 20:51
Do you have access to the official handbook? This is gonna bug me until I know the truth. – DCOPTimDowd Feb 16 '17 at 21:02
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@SonOfSam - I have all of the official handbooks including the 2004, 2005, 2005 (Spider-man and the Fantastic Four) and 2006 (Spider-man Back in Black) handbooks. His power chart is totally consistent throughout, although the 2005 does mention that his lifting capacity has risen to 15 tons, from 10 tons. https://i.stack.imgur.com/yYpME.jpg – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 21:15
Interesting. Was "Genius-Level" not used in the official books then? – DCOPTimDowd Feb 16 '17 at 21:28
@SonOfSam - Yes, but to describe people who're actually geniuses such as Doctor Octopus – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 21:31
@Valorum That's what I meant. If it was used for Peter. Dang. Thanks for the clarification. He really did discover Parker Particles though, right? – DCOPTimDowd Feb 16 '17 at 21:36
@SonOfSam - Yes, in Amazing Spider-Man 692. It's not really clear what he did to discover them, but we learn in the next issue that he's got access to alien tech. Presumably this is what he used to develop his "Parker Particles". – Valorum Feb 16 '17 at 21:51
@Valorum Good. I got something going for me today at least. – DCOPTimDowd Feb 16 '17 at 21:54

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 20 '16 at 05:53

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In the original Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game, Spider-Man had Incredible (40) strength, which was described as the ability to press 10 tons.

answered Feb 20 '16 at 05:53

Dan

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iammyself · Answer 3 · 2016-02-18T13:21:27.363

In the movie with T. Maguire, Spidey stops a subway train with his net and his arm while standing on front (stupid to think the net wouldn't crush the wall) and not trying to cut of the power.

So he is standing there and is trying to stop an accelerating train. Some math?

http://www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/CIVE/CIVE1140/examples/examples_solutions_answers_section2_01.pdf

Or someone did it before

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2284273/Spiderman-really-COULD-stopped-train-web-say-physics-students-have.html

So it would need 300.000kN of Force. Or something at 300 metric tons.

Ok inconsistent, as someone said above he is ranged around - 10-20t normally.

Without knowing how tensile his web is, those figures are largely guesswork. — Valorum, Feb 18 '16 at 13:22

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 26 '17 at 03:18

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Spider-Man can lift about 3600 tons, as you can see in this scene in Spider-Man: Homecoming where he holds together a boat. The boat that he held up is actually called "Spirit of America Staten Island Ferry" and it weighs 3600 tons. Tom Holland, the actor who plays him, weighs about 140 pounds. So using these figures, Spider-Man can lift at least a bit more than 48,000 times his own weight.

edited Jul 26 '17 at 03:18

Obsidia

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answered Jul 26 '17 at 02:40

Alon

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Well, he didn't actually lift the ferry, he simply stopped it from being pulled apart. That too with the aid of his webbing being placed on the structural strong points of the ferry, and only for a small amount of time before spoiler showed up. – Möoz Jul 26 '17 at 02:54
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Also, telling people to "go google it" is the anti pattern of this site. – Möoz Jul 26 '17 at 02:55
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Also, what does 3600 tons times his size mean? Like, he can lift 3,600 times his size, or 3,600 tons times his body weight? – Möoz Jul 26 '17 at 02:56
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This answer is based on an incorrect premise, he doesn't actually lift the boat, so it's not a good example of how much he can lift. – Obsidia Jul 26 '17 at 03:21

How strong is Spider-Man?

4 Answers4