Superman/Flash Races

[Super Monkey]

Well, Superman shouldn't be the best in everything. I think that Flash should be faster, not a lot faster, just faster. That said, Superman could still fly faster than Flash could run.

[MatterEaterLad]

Well, the flying might convince me...

Sorry, I love the Flash, even so much that I like the "Speed Force" and him climbing the "stairsteps of time" or whatever such rot THAT was (OK, I guess its called the "Cosmic Treadmill", but whatever)...

Even the fact that the Flash could vibrate his molecules and pass between matter (conceivably, through the liquid and solid Earth's core) led me to believe he had different and superior speed, in some ways the opposite of Supe's "incredibly dense" molecular structure that helped lend him invulnerability...

So I give the Flash the edge in terrestrial speed, though who knows on planets with different gravity...

Still, who needs a winner?

[JulianPerez]

Well, Superman shouldn't be the best in everything. I think that Flash should be faster, not a lot faster, just faster. That said, Superman could still fly faster than Flash could run.

Perhaps. Maybe the statement I made of "Superman ought to be best at everything" is an overreaction, but it is an overreaction as a result of a very real and unfortunate trend, which is the marginalization of Superman in the DC Universe that he was instrumental in creating.

Superman, in the current contradictory DC non-continuity, is no longer a founding member of the Justice League. While this has led to an enlarged role for the very cool and underused background player Martian Manhunter, who was criminally absent from the League for hundreds of issues at a time, it is achieved at the expense of Superman's history and role within the JLA. You'll find lots of moments achieved at the expense of Superman.

Will the Batfanboys ever shut up about the Dark Knight Returns? The grotesque caricature of Superman in that overrated, so-so miniseries served no purpose other than to prop Batman up as harcore and uncompromising by pairing him next to Superman the Sell-Out.

While ordinarily it would not be hard to object to a Flash victory in such a race provided it was explained and examined with plausibility in mind, in this context, it becomes aggrivating: yet another character made by the writers to look good at Superman's expense.

[Captain Kal]

Pre Crisis, legendary DC editor Julius Schwartz has stated his position that for short sprints -- under say a million miles -- the Flash (Barry Allen) is faster.  For longer races, Superman's inexhaustible stamina would make him the victor.

This was reflected in their second race where they raced to the edge of our galaxy and back.  The two were pretty even until the trip back when Barry was so incredibly exhausted by the constant running over 20,000 light-years.

So, one way of looking at it is the Flash is a better sprinter but Superman is a better long-distance speedster.  Take a marathoner and he'd do poorly in a sprint.  But take a sprinter and he'd do poorly in a marathon.  The proportion of fast-twitch to slow-twitch muscle fibres defines the speed capabilities of real runners so something similar may apply to our star super-speedsters.

Also, as mentioned on another thread, speed involves other elements besides highest velocity and stamina in maintaining it.  It also involves acceleration and reaction time.  Given the Pre Crisis and even Post Crisis portrayals, the Flash of any stripe takes it for acceleration and reaction time.  But, with the exception of stamina, all the aspects of super-speed seem to have both Superman and the Flash different like those between two ordinary men.  We're not talking about the difference between an SST and a snail but that of two cheetahs competing with each other.  Most days, for short distances and accelerations, any Flash takes it over Superman but not more than twice his capabilities, at best.  On a bad day for the Flash, Superman easily takes it.  They're in the same league -- pun unintended! -- for super-speed.