Stan Lee Tore The Strongest Avenger Apart Over One Impossible Moment

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The Avengers have done some truly impossible things to save the Marvel Universe, but one particular feat of strength was so impossible that even Stan Lee was moved to call it out. The moment in question comes from Marvel Team-Up #28, and Gerry Conway, Jim Mooney, Vince Colletta, and Bill Mantlo's 'The City Stealers!'

In the issue, Spider-Man and the superstrong Avenger Hercules are both in Manhattan when an impossible earthquake rips through the borough, endangering the populace. The heroes spring into action but are soon captured by the City Stealers — two seemingly robotic beings who are using advanced machinery to take ownership of Manhattan Island. Spidey and Hercules take down the villains, but only once they've already begun towing away Manhattan, leaving it to the Lion of Olympus to set things right.

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Wrapping the City Stealers' chains around his torso, Hercules physically tows Manhattan back into place. It's an awesome moment that showcases the often overlooked Avenger's mythic strength, but one which Lee later observed poses a host of issues. In The Official Marvel No-Prize Book — a collection of comic errors presented with Stan Lee's commentary — the moment is reproduced, with Lee noting it proves «that not only can Manhattan Island float, not only can it slip through a Narrows which is smaller than the island is wide, and not only can he tow it back into place, but that he's stupid enough to put it back with the Battery pointing towards the Bronx!» Lee jokingly claims to have been away on business when the comic was printed.

While the Avengers have done plenty of physically impossible things over their comic history — and Hercules in