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The real exploits of the "super" heroes are overshadowed by voluminous output of the "comic" book industry. There are literally thousands of characters whose exploits posit destruction and death on epic proportions just about every week. It is easy to loose sight of the fact that, out of the thousands of characters out there, some of the comics are based on a handful of real people. We must first understand that although the "comic" book characters and exploits are based on real people, they are highly fictionalized, often to a point where the true character is unrecognizable so far as its comic book persona or continuity are concerned.
If you are talking about the Giant Humanoid that travels the Universe draining planets of their energy to sustain his life, then you are correct, he doesn't fit in. The humanoid, sentient characteristic was a creation of the comic book writers for dramatic purposes.
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1. At least some of the followers of the "light fictionalization" approach to superheroic Wold Newton speculation don't respect the idea that different scholars work from different principles (as demonstrated in Coogan's Woldnewtonry). They consider their principles to be superior and self-evidently correct. An example of this self-importance is the immediate dismissal of any speculation utilizing the "distortion" method, which "disagrees with every chronicler ... [and] must be rejected by scholars who care about their sources."
The implication of this and similar baiting statements is that those Wold Newton game-players, such as Dennis Power, who approach the texts and resulting speculations utilizing the disapproved distortion method, do not care about their sources, and thus do not merit any further attention. This is certainly an odd position to take, especially for those who strongly believe that two very different characters with two different histories are actually one merged character, despite the fact that the theory regarding these conflated characters disagrees with every chronicler of said characters.
In addition, other faulty and inconsistent techniques which are utilized to disparage speculative articles resulting from the "distortion" or "germ" methods include:
Circular logic: Some people would prefer to place some limits and rules on the inclusion of superheroes in the Wold Newton Universe. Everyone knows that all superheroes should be in the WNU, so therefore all superheroes will eventually be incorporated into the WNU. Those who prefer some limitations are closed-minded.
False cause: The Wold Newton meteor event created extraordinary heroes; therefore, all superheroes must fit into the WNU.
False dilemma: If one includes Elongated Man, then one MUST include the Silver Age Flash.
Straw Man: Some people prefer to place some limits and rules on the inclusion of superheroes and their universe in the Wold Newton Universe. Since all superheroes and their associated universe fit into the WNU "surprisingly well" (no support is given for this statement), those who prefer to place limits and rules are prejudiced and biased against superheroes and comic books in general.
Inconsistent logic:
The speculation that Wonder Woman and Namor once met, must be immediately dismissed since they never did meet in the original stories. However, the speculations that Mr. Terrific inspired Mr. Fantastic, and that Kent Allard needed rescuing from the Xinca Indians by Superman, are of course quite valid, despite the fact that these characters never met in the original stories.
The theory that Elongated Man is the son of Plastic Man and began his career in his late teens must be altered because the chronology is "utterly impossible," in that a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old cannot be accepted as a "man." (Of course, this type of rigid, black-and-white definition of "man" leads to the conclusion that Philip José Farmer's novel of sixteen-year-old Clark "Doc" Savage, Escape From Loki, in which Savage routinely passes for a full-grown adult, must be immediately dismissed as "utterly impossible." Please dispose of your copy forthwith.) However, the speculation that Bruce Wayne, at age thirteen, was accepted as a man by and had an affair with the married Mary Grayson, and thus is actually Dick Grayson's father, is of course completely true. Riiiiiight. (As an aside, why must all superheroes be involved in or the result of "sordid" or illicit affairs? Why can't Dick Grayson just be the son of a happily married couple? The purveyor of an altered theory regarding Plastic Man-Elongated Man believes that Eel O'Brian seduced a married Mrs. Dibny, resulting in the birth of Ralph (Elongated Man) Dibny. Well, of course the comics didn't portray Eel O'Brian as a married man, as the original theory states; what youngster wants to read a comic book about a superhero who comes home to his wife and kid every night? Methinks that all these theoretical sordid affairs and hidden illegitimate children say more about the purveyor of the theories than the validity of the theories themselves.)
2. Of course we understand that Mr. Farmer, in his seminal Wold Newton work, Tarzan Alive, followed in the Holmesian tradition of treating his subject as a real person who actually lived. And the premise works very well in Tarzan Alive, so well, in fact, that the book is sometimes shelved in the non-fiction section. However, those who have carefully reviewed the remainder of Mr. Farmer's Wold Newton works, including his follow-up "biography," Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, understand that he moved rapidly away from this confining literary pretense. Even Tarzan Alive departs from reality with its contention that Tarzan is immortal, and the inclusion of the Professor Challenger stories. Arguments that his other works, such as The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, "After King Kong Fell," "The Freshman," and "The Problem of the Sore Bridge - Among Others," take place in "this world," are utterly unconvincing.
Those who extend the premise to speculate that superhero comic books explicitly take place in "this world" or the "real world" are equally unconvincing. It is more ironic, and even baffling, that the main proponents of the "superheroes in the real world" position routinely dismiss others' Wold Newtonian conjecture, most of which is not based on an obsessive "real world" premise. The dismissal is made on the basis that it would be physically impossible for the others' Wold Newtonian conjecture to take place in the "real world." The final irony is that the those allegedly adhering to a real-world premise frequently violate many rules of real-world physics, despite their frequent admonishments that others should not do so, and their summary dismissal of others' speculations for failure to do so.
The "real world" question is treated more expansively here, including the decision to premise the Wold Newton Universe as described on this site as parallel universe which mirrors and emulates the real world as much as reasonably possible, without being compulsively strict about it (which, after all, takes all the fun and life out of the Wold Newton speculative game).
