I was discussing this with my friends the other day. I don't know much about superheroes, but one thing I brought up is how do you deal with conditional super powers?

For example, the Incredible Hulk has conditional super powers. People often consider him the most powerful superhero, but if someone was to suddenly attack Bruce Banner he wouldn't have time to build up his rage and it could be fatal.

Superman does not particularly have conditional super powers, they're always present. If he was suddenly attacked he could withstand it.

But arguably if the Hulk and Superman got into a fight the Hulk would become stronger than Superman (which I believe happened once in some DC/Marvel crossover, although I've never read it).

It's really difficult in that case to say who's better, Superman or the Incredible hulk. That said, I don't read comic books, so I'm probably way off.

I don't really think it matters. I never read the comics but according to the movies, Bruce tried killing himself several times, injecting diseases, and even shooting himself in the mouth "I put a gun in my mouth and when I pulled the trigger the hulk spit out the bullet". Anytime the Hulk senses Bruce's life is in danger he instantly takes over knowing that he could die aswell.

Actually, the last time someone tried to kill Bruce Banner they ended up putting a sniper bullet in his head.  Never saw it coming, blew his brains out.

Then the Hulk took over his body and became a mindless destroying machine that was stronger then the regular hulk.

That was one of the many cases in which Banner's body "dies" or suffers tremendous shock and the Hulk takes over completely or more mindlessly than ever. 

Banner went through everything, suicide from the Empire State, headshots, lou gherig's disease, even complete organ failure due to extreme old age and has never died and probably will never die because of the Hulk. Which makes him essentially immortal (but not the strongest superhero in terms of sheer powers).

@ Gilgamesh and Kasz (This reply applies to you both I suppose)

Maybe the Incredible Hulk was a bad example (not having read it, maybe I should have gone to more familiar territory). Iron Man and Batman fall under the same category too though, their powers are conditional. If someone was to kill Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne while they were their usual selves, then it would be game over for them.

Arguably Batman could beat Superman with his kryptonite ring, but most of the time Bruce Wayne doesn't wear it. If Superman killed Bruce Wayne while he wasn't prepared, he would win. If Bruce Wayne was prepared, Batman would win.

It's difficult to judge who's stronger in cases like this.

Me, I go with a straight "usuaul powerset" approach.

In otherwords, if it's Batman vs Superman.... they both get teleported to a random city and are forced to fight each other thinking each other is the enemy, with there standard equipment.   So bad news for Batman.

For the title of "Strongest" you just put them up against an assortment of characters with different powersets.

Superman for example can't be the strongest because any Magic user or Transmuter that's quick enough would destroy Superman.  The aforementioned Silver Surfer for example could transform objects into krytonite, suck the solar energy right out of his body or radiate red sun blasts.

I mean, Pre Crisis I sneeze away galaxies superman?   One nickel's worth of Gold Kryptonite and he's rendered powerless.... FOREVER.

Dr. Manhatten could do pretty much all that.  Or just blink him (or pretty much any) hero from existence.

The Hulk, while SUPER strong, would have a lot of issues that could fly out of  his ranged.

Granted people like Mr. Fantastic are a bit gimped who if given enough time could invent a gun that kills about everyone... but needing that time is a weakness of his "real" super power.  It's why he needs the rest of his "family" as fodder to get beat around until he kit bashes something together.  (yet another reason Reed Richards is a dick!)

I was catching up on Avengers last night and discovered that, yes, Reed has held the Infinity Gauntlet. He attempted to wish it out of existence but it refused.

If we're allowing modifiers, Reed with the Infinity Gauntlet beats everyone. He's clever enough where it wouldn't drive him mad and he's smart enough to wield it efficiently. I don't see a situation where someone gets the drop on Richards if he's holding the Gauntlet.

Without modifiers, I still think Manhattan wins.

Wolverine from a few years ago. Superman was killed once and only returned because someone intervened.

Wolverine was killed and regenerated on his own. He was down to nothing but a brain and a skeleton, and he regenerated from that. He had NO BODY LEFT. And he regenerated.

IIRC, he is the only being in the Watchmen universe with any special powers. He is not omni potent, even in the series he has been shown to have a weakness. There are plenty of beings in the other comic multiverses that have shown greater ability than he has. He just has no comparsion in the limited Watchmen universe to actually guage his abilities.

Reality warpers can alter time/space, basically reality in anyway way, shape, or form they wish. There are plenty of beings that can alter/change things at will.

If it's the issue i'm thinking of, he had help from the M'Kraan crystal.