Who is Marvel's prep time hero?

How about Xavier and his Xavier Protocols? He even prep-timed himself for chrissakes.
 
BrianWilly said:
I've never liked or understood the argument that the more "advanced" magic and science are, the more that they resemble each other. In my opinion, the more advanced magic is or the more advanced science is, the more distinct they should be from each other.

You see magic doesn't just fall into one catorgary (again suspension of belief is required as magic does not exist in my world). In the real world most things that are considered magic are science. Let's look at Haitian zombification, A working real world "magic". We are looking at the applications of Psychology, Ethnobotany and Pharmacology. The powder Wade
Davis procured (A bit on Wade here http://www.nationalgeographic.com/council/eir/bio_davis.html) showed it was Science and not magic. If you read the Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazier, he looks at ritualistic magic and religion, you come away from the book realising all ritualistic magic if it was real works on the principle of you do A and get B. This is in a way Scientific as actions result in reactions. Some hilarious examples of ritualistic magic commonly practiced are if you entwine a pubic hair with one of the person you are attracted to and burn it, you will end up making love to them. This is a kind of Sympathetic magic. Sympathetic magic is based on the metaphysical belief that like affects like. In one sense you are right Magic is not Science. Anthropologists consider magical thinking a precursor to scientific thinking. It is indicative of a concern with control over nature through understanding cause and effect. Nevertheless, the methods of magic, however empirical, are not scientific. Most of us, from time to time, undoubtedly slip into this primitive mode of thinking, but a bit of reflection should wake us up to the fact that oysters are not an aphrodisiac, having a bit of good luck is not likely to influence our chances of winning the lottery that day, and stabbing a photo of an enemy is not going to hurt her. It may be true that holding the knickers or rubbing the amulet given to you by your true love will remind you of her, but trust me Brian that has more to do with Biology and Psycholoy than magic.

Paraphrased in part from elsewhere.


- Whirly
 
MajinShenron said:
Dr. Strange by a long shot.

Possibly. But above all, all fingers point to The Punisher.
 
redlion2 said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Tony Stark. This guy seems to have files on everybody and it seems each time he has an encounter with someone, his armor is recording data.
valid point
 
Xavier is probably as thorough as it gets. He has the most sophisticated computers and equipment on the planet scanning virtually everything and compiling it into databases. He has a whole room devoted to just watching and mentally downloading all the info.
 
Whirlysplat said:
You see magic doesn't just fall into one catorgary (again suspension of belief is required as magic does not exist in my world). In the real world most things that are considered magic are science. Let's look at Haitian zombification, A working real world "magic". We are looking at the applications of Psychology, Ethnobotany and Pharmacology. The powder Wade
Davis procured (A bit on Wade here http://www.nationalgeographic.com/council/eir/bio_davis.html) showed it was Science and not magic. If you read the Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazier, he looks at ritualistic magic and religion, you come away from the book realising all ritualistic magic if it was real works on the principle of you do A and get B. This is in a way Scientific as actions result in reactions. Some hilarious examples of ritualistic magic commonly practiced are if you entwine a pubic hair with one of the person you are attracted to and burn it, you will end up making love to them. This is a kind of Sympathetic magic. Sympathetic magic is based on the metaphysical belief that like affects like. In one sense you are right Magic is not Science. Anthropologists consider magical thinking a precursor to scientific thinking. It is indicative of a concern with control over nature through understanding cause and effect. Nevertheless, the methods of magic, however empirical, are not scientific. Most of us, from time to time, undoubtedly slip into this primitive mode of thinking, but a bit of reflection should wake us up to the fact that oysters are not an aphrodisiac, having a bit of good luck is not likely to influence our chances of winning the lottery that day, and stabbing a photo of an enemy is not going to hurt her. It may be true that holding the knickers or rubbing the amulet given to you by your true love will remind you of her, but trust me Brian that has more to do with Biology and Psycholoy than magic.

Paraphrased in part from elsewhere.


- Whirly
Right. Like I said, magic might seem scientific at first glance -- perform a certain ritual and you'll get a certain result, a very ABC logical approach -- but the more you actually know about it, the more that you see it's not like science at all.

I might make an exception for the Surfer using some magic with the idea that at some point, when you get to the absolute highest, most advanced, most esoteric, the utter pinnacle zenith of magical and scientific knowledge...then it does start to come back together since, at that point, you're reaching the fundamental, unalterable, natural laws that bind the whole of the universe together. "The Truth," as it were. In the DCU, that "Truth" is different depending on your perception...but in the Marvel universe at least, "The Truth" is the same from the eyes of both magic and science. I can see something like the Power Cosmic and the Phoenix Force being so close to that "Truth" as to be beyond classification by either science or magic.
 
Whirlysplat said:
The television would be considered magic to someone who lived two hundred years ago. How do you know how energy is created, used in magic? (for the sake of this discussion we will suspend disbelief on magic). How do you know it is not a manifestation of some existing physical law? Quantum probability is in many ways very much like magic. Magic is by definition highly unlikely and difficult to explain. Many things thought to have highly unlikely and still difficult to explain have come to be accepted as ordinary reality. In physics laboratories such magical actions have been shown to be commonplace. Perhaps the simplest example would be the electron which is known to routinely jump from one orbital to another with no passage of time and without transversing the intervening space. Or particles existing in numerous places all at the same time. Scientists are used to learning new languages which act very differently to old ones. Some come to terms with it, others don't. Eistein's response to the uncertainty principle was "God does not play dice", sadly he could never work out where a particle was with certainty, he really tried hard. Read"In search of Schrondinger's cat"! The uncerainty principle is magic it means you can't say for certain where a particle is at any given moment, if you could control observation as Hugh Everett's many worlds interpretation of Quantum theory goes you could make anything happen!

- Whirly




We'll start off with the television. If you asked someone two hundred years ago how electricity worked, they'd look at you funny, since electricity itself was a brand new thing.

Magic, and Leaguer and I have had this arguement just recently, comes down to one simple rule each and every time. It has to create something from nothing, which violates a simple law of the universe, as we haven't been able to develop a situation where something goes away forever. This is WHERE Quantum mechanics comes in. The rules of a television don't violate things. Electricity powers the television, and the television reflects the energy in it's own way. Anybody who has basic understanding of energy would see this.

Quantum probability has very little to do with it, as it basically just states that one band separates into two at a junction, rather than a merging of a reverse function. Basically different dimensions for different reasons. And so wouldn't have any REAL holding on this. And while I can see where you're going with this, because you could easily say, using the now famous physicist in front of gun example, it would STILL have to fall inside the laws of physics.

However, for quantum prediction, where you stated before, you'd have to be able to account for the millions of interactions happening at the quantum level. You can't just pick an atom in gas, and say for certainty where it's going to be. Quantum uncertainty's idea of having something that your missing points to the idea of, "If I were to drop a steel ball inside of a beaker full of gas, and maintain it's total security from the outside, there's no way of perfectly calculating how that effects it based on the millions of reactions it would first have to go through on the atomic level. And predicting it on a much lower level would only multiply the idea. So it's not magic, it's just an inability to calculate vast things. You can try all you like to predict it, but there's no way to calculate everything in there, since one thing would react to another several hundred times before it settled down.

And once again to that multiple world's theory, it still had to hold inside of our laws of physics. Anything will happen within reason. It's just there's an infinite amount of moments from when the doctor sets the gun down to when it goes off.

And any physicist worth it's salt would've read that book by now.
 
BrianWilly said:
I've never liked or understood the argument that the more "advanced" magic and science are, the more that they resemble each other. In my opinion, the more advanced magic is or the more advanced science is, the more distinct they should be from each other.

Just because physics seems impossible to understand and feels like "magic" for someone without the requisite training doesn't mean it is impossible to understand. Someone who goes to the right science classes and spends the time learning the material will eventually see that, no, physics isn't actually magic at all. Yes, someone who doesn't spend that time may perceive physics as he perceives magic...but outside of the most metaphysical and esoteric interpretations, perception isn't reality. The reality is that physics and all other sciences, no matter how advanced, don't work like magic.

And the same goes for the other way around. Throwing fireballs and flying and turning things into other things...basically, manipulating energy through unseen means, which sounds pretty logical and scientific, if not altogether understandable. So anyone should be able to do those things through scientific means, right? But for people who actually practice this magic, like Dr. Strange or Zatanna or whoever, they know that that it's not like science at all, that it is far more abstract and far more faith-based and far more -- frankly -- irrational than anything that could be explained through empiricism and science. And that the more advanced, higher magic that you practice, the more abstract and faith-based that it becomes.

For the most part, I totally agree. But you could look at it from another way. Someone who manipulates energy, fire, whatever, must have an originating source to manipulate from, where people who utilize magic do not, and simply violate the law of conservation. So while magic may resemble science, it simply isn't science. That's why people say that they resemble each other. Magic may start the chain reaction that leads to the inevitable end of what science could come up with in a situation with different statutes, but magic doesn't need it, and can create it's own situation.

More simply put at least.
 
Could someone tell us some moments of Black Panther's prep time shenanigans?


BTW, surely now i'm on 300 posts i should be able to get an avatar? What's up?
 
There is an ambient magical energy in the MU that has been refered to as one of the three sources of a sorcerors powers. In the Defenders during the Cloud storyline they said that the source of magic in the MU was the stars. They radiate magic in the same way they radiate EM. Sorcerors are not creating something from nothing they are manipulating an energy that operates according to another set of rules. We just don't know what those rules are.
 
The Punisher hands down. Reason be for his age in the MAX series and his ties to Vietnam. Though, for his return in the MU, it varies that his age is different to that of the MAX series. Prep-Time along with being a master craftsman is what enables him to do what he does. This allows Frank to never rest until every last one of the criminal scum who terroize the innocent are out down permanently.
 
MyPokerShirt said:
Jesus must be soooo last millenium in the marvel universe. I mean, cmon, feedom ring's more powerful than jesus. scarlet witch could make him her *****.

My money's on punisher. closest thing to batman. i think doc strange could do more with the prep time and other characters that could/should use it include daredevil and cap because of their powerless nature.

please respect the son of the big boss. you know is father is the verb and the all mighty he can wipout all existence with a glip of is eye :)
 
hey we forget aunt may" do you know how much time it take for baking a cake
 
She Hulk. Not that I particularly like how she's like more powerful than everybody else put together these days, but she owns. She beat the Champion with Preptime, por ejemplo
 
I agree Xavier's one of it not Marvel's top mind (not necessarily scientific), and could cheat if he wanted and access reeds mind. He has the potential to be the best prep timer, but I think his personality prevents it. If he wanted and had the inkling to kill or defeat another hero, he could read there mind, discover there weaknesses or fears, set up a trap and while he assaults their mind, he could possibly damage their body (maybe lead them into the danger room with traps for that specific hero). But it just doesn't seem Xavier-like, and I think the only reason he had plans on how to kill (defeat) the X-Men was because of what part of Magneto he had influencing him. That's not to say he doesn't have backup plans in case one goes rogue or another hero attacks. Though I do admit, the guys probably collected his fair share of important info on more than just mutants.

My chime on Magic is it's nothing like Science past doing something through knowledge.

Magic - Wave your hands, chant a specific chant, and poof a book pops out of nowhere. The energy coming from cosmic or whatever energies.

Science - Build a machine from pre-existing metal, make up stamps or whatever and coat with ink, cut down trees and form into paper, and so on.

Bad analogy, but you get the point. Magic in MU = Calling on unknown powers, cosmic or whatever, to make something from nothing. Science is using pre-existing materials to make things within reason. Magic uses knowledge of the mystic arts (purely brain, no brawn) to conjure up incredible spells and power. Science is using brains to plan, and physical to build a device. A blast may look the same, but the methods, and over all mechanics of how that blast works are vastly different. I also doubt a Doctor Strange blast, and Iron Man Beam are identical, and their about the best in their particular field of magic and mechanics.
 

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