Official Weight and Height in Comics

The place to talk about your favorite novels, comic books and web comics.
Post Reply
Superfanboy
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2022 9:37 pm

Official Weight and Height in Comics

Post by Superfanboy »

Characters in comic books are usually obviously taller and heavier than their official stats. Even the little ones like X-Man have such thick lats and forearms that there is no way they'd be at the subBruceLee weight they give him. Superman under Wayne Boring, Curt Swan or McGuinness is more like 6'6" and 300lbs, or 400lbs with super density. And that would be hard to hide under a baggy suit, but that's an old story. I don't know if comic book writers know anything about human biology, but I've known a lot of body builders and normal superheroes are often bigger than them.

Especially those freaky lats and forearms, I've never seen a pro arm wrestler with forearms like Captain America. It's Popeye levels of ridiculous. All that muscle has weight. If you compare them to environmental objects it's clear that Mr. 6' is actually closer to 7'.

And those hands! Superman has mitts like Shaq. Captain America is actually listed at 240, so he's less outlandish, but many characters who are supposed to be lean distance runners actually look like real bodybuilders, and would weigh 20-30lbs more than their listed weight. The 200-210 weight given for many is a solid real world body weight, but that's not what the characters look like on panel, given their recorded height.

This isn't a big deal but I long ago noticed that the authors and artists often give different impressions of the character. I think the desire is to not make even the small guys look weak is part of it, as it sets the bar higher for actually large characters. Or maybe DC Universe is inhabited by Hobbits and everything is to scale except Supers :D. In addition a lot of artists grew up reading comics and use bodybuilders and athletes as models, then further idealize them. Giving a real life 220lb man more ideal proportions results in some ludicrous scaling, adding 10-20% to the final volume of muscle.

Here is an article on athletes and super bodies.

https://comicsalliance.com/olympians-su ... look-like/
User avatar
Davies
Posts: 5082
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:37 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: Official Weight and Height in Comics

Post by Davies »

If I were going to go down this road, I would start with the assumption that the weight listed for Hyperion in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, 1090 lbs, is accurate for Superman ... and then note that with his ability to defy gravity, he can cancel as much or as little of that weight as he likes, meaning that his reported weight can be completely accurate.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Superfanboy
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2022 9:37 pm

Re: Official Weight and Height in Comics

Post by Superfanboy »

The Hyperion thing makes sense except that Superman gets depowered and knocked out and doesn't destroy anything, unless he falls. People can carry unconscious Clark.
I think, if anything, most supers should weigh more than they look like, excepting some made of plastic or whatever. Cable is 380lbs,which is more believable.
Post Reply