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Marvel Universe Is Almost Like *Real Life* Society

Posted by Hemos on from the scary-as-heck dept.

TheMatt writes "Scientists at the University of the Balearic Isles have analyzed the Marvel Universe and found that it is almost like real society. The team studied the statistical properties of each character, the books they were in, and who else appeared in them (through resources like the MCP). While there were some similarities to real society, a close look revealed the artificiality. For example, the MU isn't very clustered, only 1.5x that of a random network; real life is about 10x more clustered. Of course, the realities of comics (the business) are why this occurs. Also, they found the most networked of all Marvel heroes was Steve Rogers, Captain America himself."

4 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. here's what I got out of it by 512k · · Score: 3, Informative

    they looked at 11k comic books, and noted which characters apeared in each book. They then came to the conclusion, that comic books do not folow the same rules as real life. Their research also showed, that there was a corelation between the size of the group, and the chance of a specific character showing up.

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    ------ Work is so much easier when you don't
  2. Kevin Bacon not that connected by Erore · · Score: 5, Informative

    The book, "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" has a couple of pages about networking. It mentions that a study was done to determine the connectedness of random people. It determined that random people can be connected within 6 links. Thus, 6 degress of separation.

    The Kevin Bacon stuff is just a game based upon the same principle. I don't remember his score exactly, but in Hollywood circles Kevin is like 665th on the list of connectors. He can be connected to other people in Hollywood within 4.x people. The most connected person is Rod Steiger, who can be connected in 2.1x.

  3. Re:Umm... by cyberkreiger · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, they don't really rank above or below each other, but Trekkies are indeed slightly below comic book fans on the chart.

    But, your argument breaks down if we are talking about geeks who read superhero comics. Are we?

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    Stumbling in the dark
    I hear slavering of jaws
    Eaten by a grue.
  4. Re:hmm by xbrownx · · Score: 1, Informative

    Professor X is independently wealthy, I think his family was old-money.