The Nature of Evil... and a Llama

I'm going to level with you. There isn't actually going to be a llama anywhere in this post.

This is something I've been pondering for a few years, and I'll try to stay on topic. It started close to when I really got into philosophy for my bachelor's degree. Namely, what is evil? What is sin?

From what I understand, most religious people would probably say that evil is equivalent with immoral actions. Sin would therefore be the willful committance of those immoral actions. And immoral actions are those things that God has forbidden. But... I want to find the more basic truth than that.

I think that the best definition of evil comes from philosophy and the dictionary. Evil is suffering. I like this quote from Raymond Smullyan's book The Tao is Silent: All arguments of the moralists - all the alleged reasons why people shouldn't commit evil acts - simply pale into insignificance in light of the one basic truth that evil is suffering (100).

Evil acts are kind of unavoidable for sentient beings. We can be self-absorbed, or get distracted, or simply experience a moment of thoughtlessness that can create immense suffering. Is it really good enough to say that evil is suffering? Sin would then be purposefully creating suffering. That could work...

But then I think of natural disasters. They create suffering, but they can't truly be said to purposefully be creating that suffering. Is a hurricane evil? Is an earthquake?

I honestly believe that evil is a thing that can truly be created only by beings who are aware of themselves as humans generally profess to be (you can't expect me to believe that every homo sapiens sapiens is self-aware). The state of things, be it hurricanes, or volcanoes, or simply wolves eating deer... I can't call that evil. I can't really call it good either. They simply are. Evil only gets thrown into the mix when you're conscious of things beyond immediate material needs.

What if... what if evil is simply the awareness of suffering, and good is the alleviation of suffering? Sins would be the willful actions of creating of suffering, pain, and destruction, and virtue would be willful acts of replacing that with succor, hope, and growth. I'm liking this one, although I'm not sure if everything lines up exactly right. You don't want to define things so broadly that good kind acts are labelled evil (such as a surgeon cutting away diseased tissue. Cutting a person is bad, but sometimes you must harm a little to heal a lot) and you don't want to define so narrowly that things most people instinctively know as evil and intrinsically harmful go unnoticed or unpunished (as the case may be).

 I've just kind of gone in circles with this one. I hear that happens a lot when you go after the big nebulous ideas like evil, or 'the good'. Evil is suffering, and Sin is creating suffering, whether for yourself or for others. So listen to Bill and Ted and be excellent to one another. Right? Right. Good. Go get'em, tiger.

And here's a little last bit of food for thought in a video I saw last week. Enjoy.

Post by Life Centre International.

I should really think about a more fun subject for next week. This was too serious. Or not serious enough.

Oh, all right. Here's a llama for your time.

Superman Versus Thor

     My first real blog post. Exciting. I thought about a quick post giving my thoughts about some of the recent announcements about Marvel's big three heroes, but that's not super interesting to me. Oh no! Thor's a girl now! Except that Thor is still going to be Thor but someone (we don't know who yet) will be using Mjolnir to be Thor and they will be calling her Thor. That'll be more confusing than when there were three or four Spider-Women running around. I think this'll make classic Thor all the more interesting since he'll still have his inborn powers, and his ax Jarnborn while he's unworthy of Mjolnir. This won't the the first time that Thor has been a woman though despite some claims to the contrary.
     That's a lot of names, I'm sorry. The other big news from Marvel is that Steve Rogers has been de-supersoldierfied and is now a weak old man who is being succeeded by his longtime friend and partner Sam Wilson (the Falcon, seriously, they've been working together since like... the 70s.) This won't be the first time that there's been a black Captain America either (see Isaiah Bradley and his family). Really, all this news says to me is that there is going to be some great story potential for the next few years for some great characters before everything goes back to status quo.


Now, to the meat of this meandering post I call a blog.
I'll admit, I've been thinking about this one for... probably a few years. Who would win in a fight? I mean, Thor is basically Marvel's Superman, right? (And yes, I'm ignoring Hyperion, Gladiator, Blue Marvel, The Sentry, and probably a few others). Everyone who knows me knows that I tend to favor Marvel over DC in just about every regard, so I'm going to try to ignore my bias and do this as best I can.


For Sources, I referred to the Screw Attack's Death Battle! Video series
Thor Origin and Stats
Superman Origin and Stats
The Marvel and DC Wiki pages
and their respective Comic Vine pages
Thor  --  Superman

Comparing Strength
     The various wiki sources agree that Supes and Thor are both Class 100+ in strength which means that they can both lift well over 100 tons of weight. The problem with comparing the two comes from their feats... I had trouble finding specific instances for both. Thor's comic vine page says this: On occasions Thor has shown the ability to destroy moons using his bare hands and can also destroy planets with his powerful strikes. He displayed this ability when he hit Beta Ray Bill so hard that he destroyed the planet that they were on. Thor has also been shown to be powerful enough to hit an enemy with such a force that a black hole hole was created and his opponent was sent right through it. Which, to me, means that Thor can hit at least as hard as a Death Star's main laser.
    Superman's greatest feat, on the other hand, seems to be universally accepted to be when he moved the planet Earth which, according to Death Battle! puts Supes' strength level at at least 6.6 quintillion tons.
Destroying a planet seems like it would be easier than moving a planet, so I have to give Superman the edge here.

Comparing Durability/Invulnerability
    Thor has survived planet destroying bombs, the surface of the sun, and the point blank detonation of a nuclear bomb. Thor can survive unprotected in the void of space.
     Superman has survived "He has been shown surviving the blast of nuclear warheads,entering the Earth's sun and emerging unharmed, and surviving the impact of an exploding sun" (wiki source). Superman can survive unprotected in the void of space.
Honestly, the "surviving the impact of an exploding sun" sounds impressive, but I'm calling this one a draw.

Comparing Stamina and Senses
     Looking at the Comic Vine and Wiki entries, these two sections read almost identically. They can both fight for days and see things moving faster than light. Thor can apparently be aware of things happening at the edge of the solar system, so I suppose that there's that.

Comparing Speed
     Thor has flown faster than light on several occasions, and he can run faster than the finest human athlete (although the limits of his running speed doesn't seem to be known since he usually either walks or flies). There are several instances of him swinging Mjolnir several times the speed of light, and with his hammer he can teleport across vast distances.
     Superman has also flown faster than the speed of light. We've seen Supes' running speed several times in comics and cartoons that shows that, while he isn't as fast as the Flash, he is still capable of running at several Mach.
Here's another draw in capabilities.

Comparing Less Physical Traits
     Thor can naturally control the weather, and this ability can be refined and focused through the used of his hammer. He can call powerful lightning and storms. Thor can control the Earth thanks to his elder god heritage which lets him create powerful earthquakes and rifts.
Thor is a master tactician and combatant, having had thousands of years to perfect just about every stratagem and fighting style (this includes both ancient styles and many modern ones). Thor has an indomitable will that allows him to overcome compulsions and influences from most sources (Magical or otherwise). He possesses a gifted intellect that, through his Donald Blake alter ego, allowed him to create an android that had an IQ of 375 and was durable enough to withstand several blows from Mjolnir.
Thor, though observation and long association with Loki, has developed some limited magical ability and has cast an illusion.
     Superman has several visual abilities, the most combat oriented of which is his heat vision. His heat vision can potentially rival the heat and intensity of the sun, but drains his power reserves faster than any of his other abilities. He has ridiculous lung capacity that allows him to produce hurricane force winds or freeze a target.
Superman is an advanced combatant having been trained in boxing and several Kryptonian martial arts. He possesses a genius level intellect with great analytic powers.
I think Thor has the edge here in both capability and experience.

Comparing Weaknesses
     Thor has no overwhelming weaknesses. He can be damaged by high level magic. The wiki also notes the Warriors' Madness: also known as the Sin Unpardonable. Warrior's Madness is the most forbidden malady in Asgard by law of Odin. Any who fall under it must pay the penalty, only the most bitter sacrifice can atone for it.Despite this allowing Thor to increase his strength and stamina tenfold, this threatens Thor's sanity. Symptoms include massive headaches, mentally erratic, savage, animalistic, uncontrollable behavior, and unreasoning. In some cases the Warrior's Madness could be seen as a potential boon in times of desperation.
     Superman has several weaknesses, but the only one that really matters here is his weakness to magic. Magic can often disrupt the bioenergy field from which he derives his powers. "Superman's vulnerability to magic varies depending upon the special effects of the magic. No magic seems to be able to directly destroy him unless it comes from a semi-divine or divine source. He can be injured and worn down by magical entities."
Superman's weakness here is definitely a huge liability given his opponent. Edge to Thor.

Mjolnir
     Given that it is basically an extension of his body I feel like I need to include at least a little bit about Mjolnir.
You can read about it here or here.
     Mjolnir enhances many of Thor's innate abilities and gives him access to several more. The most pertinent ability here though, is the Godblast.  "Thor is capable of channeling different amounts of his godly energies in combination with the mystical properties of Mjolnir can be channeled through his hammer for a single massive blast known as the God Blast. His godly energy is so vast and powerful, that even when reinforced with the Belt of Strength, which should double Mjolnir's fortification and durability, when Thor channeled his godly energies into Mjolinr to destroy the Brain Dome of the mighty Celestial Exitar, the hammer shattered from the amount of power Thor channeled. The God Blast is so immensely powerful and destructive that it has proven capable of destroying beings as large and as powerful as the Midgard Serpent and even causing such a great degree of damage to a being such as Galactus that he was forced to flee for his life. Thor can send the God Blast to the core of Ego the Living Planet and Alter Ego and render both comatose. He has also used the God Blast to defeat Surtur, Ymir, Juggernaut, and Zelia" (Wiki)

Conclusions
     If this were a purely physical fight I have no doubt that Superman would eventually overpower Thor as Superman is at least somewhat stronger than Thor As long as he has access to the Sun, Superman can basically go on forever while Thor would eventually need to eat or sleep (albeit that might take days or weeks until he needs to do so).
    But this is not a purely physical fight. Since both fighters can easily withstand contact with the Sun, their individual ranged attacks (heat vision and lightning, respectively) might hurt, but wouldn't really damage. Hurricane force winds or freezing breath would not really hurt or affect Thor, and Thor's storms would likely not really hurt of affect Superman.
    The big thing in this fight is Thor and Mjolnir and their divine or semi-divine and magical natures. Superman and Thor are so closely matched in speed that I think it is reasonably safe to assume that if they really want to hit each other, they're going to be able to do so, especially Thor with all of his combat experience. This is important because Mjolnir is going to really really hurt Superman. Superman does not have any more resistance to magic than a normal human, and I'll refer you to this to show what happens to a 'god' using a mostly human body when it's hit by the full force of Thor's hammer. Lightning directly channeled through the hammer is likely to be more magical than any of Thor's other lightning and would probably hurt Supes that much more. If push comes to shove, Thor can also hit Superman with a God Blast and that itself would probably end the fight.
   Ultimately, even if Thor is making use of his magical belt (which doubles his strength and stamina) and affected by the Warrior's Madness, Superman is still probably the physical superior because he's Superman and how could he not be. But Thor has access to offensive divine and magical abilities and weapons that could hurt and kill Superman.

Sorry for the long read. I hope it was worth it. I'm going to try and post something worthwhile every Thursday or Friday. My topics are going to range from nerdy things like science fiction, fantasy, and comic books, to more serious things like philosophy, religion (rarely), and politics. If there's something you'd like me to talk about leave me your suggestion in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

I've Finally Gone and Done It.

Well folks, I've finally stopped talking about it and started my blog. The topics will generally be pretty nerdy, like that one random post I made on Facebook awhile back about relative technological levels between Star Wars and Star Trek, but I will occasionally say something about politics or religion or really whatever floats my boat. So if you want to hear (read?) my thoughts on something then feel free to mention it in the comments. I'll try to get something interesting and/or thought provoking out in a few days.

Thanks to everyone for all the support I've received.

~Spence