Question On the Jocks/Nerds dynamic applied to superheroes

Today's rerun of "Ozzie and Millie" had an interesting take on the jock-ish nature of superheroes:

www.gocomics.com/ozy-and-millie/2016/06/27

And sure, who are the FSA but Whateley's version of jocks? Ayla has commented on how the devisors and gadgeteers tend to become villains...

It's interesting, because before the Seventies, jocks were portrayed in a much more favorable light in popular culture. Look at the Hardy Boys, for instance. Peter Parker's struggles with Flash Thompson were kind of a trendsetter.

Well, the problem with the old Jocks vs. Nerds rivalry in comics is threefold:

First, on a metatexual level, comics have become the dominion of Nerds, so the 'heroes' picking on nerds thing doesn't go over very well.

Second, in the Marvel Universe, who are the biggest nerds around? Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Strange. Two guys you do NOT want to shove into a locker. And the second-runner for the biggest tech nerd in the Marvel U is Tony Stark, the iron-plated Mack Daddy of them all. A bit of Supervillain Wisdom passed down from wicked Father to evil Son: "Always be nice to the Nerds; you never know when you're going to need a death ray in a hurry."

And third, on my personal experience with those things (YMMV), the Jocks didn't pick on the Nerds that much. If anything, they tended to protect the nerds from the Thugs. But then my school was more divided along lines of where you lived, than personality types.

My school didn't have this problem either. Before we started high school (years 7 to 12 in Sydney), my school had all their applicants do a test and then they sorted out the "home room" classes by maths class, i.e. "7-1" was the best math students, "7-2" the next best, and so on down to 7-5", then for shits and giggles, 7-6 was the Choir class.

So the nerds didn't end up associating with the "Jocks' much at all, because the way our school worked was the whole year did the same subjects at the same time, and all in our home classes, so the teachers rotated every period, not the students, we just stayed in the same room.

Whateley's jocks are the Alphas, the "nerds" are by in large the underdogs, same as in real life, that dynamic changes based on the environment, in a school that prides itself on academic success rather than athletic success, and wont hesitate to bench a player if their grades are poor, (like my high school for instance) then its more of a friendly split, on the basis of interests being naturally different. Not a whole lot of stigmas or prejudice can thrive in an ethnically diverse suburb of Cleveland where about a quarter of the parents are doctors (because half of the buildings down town are either University Hospital's (UH) or Cleveland Clinic, some of them are both), well maybe slightly less than a quarter but the point is, it depends on the environment. A better way to look at it, is that its the dynamic between the introverts (traditionally the Nerds) and the extroverts (Jocks), in Whateley there are enough obviously in the "nerd" category that they can become more extroverted, so the line blurs. The fact that the devisors, gadgeteers, and even the low power wizards (that is the ones for whom preparation is necessary) can and will overcome their power disadvantage, and often times they aren't just in the "Brain" category, but Wildcards seemingly almost as common if not more than the "brick" wildcards, and when they aren't its often that their powers put them in the Brain category more than once whether its due to high level or multiple "brain" traits. And when they are just a lower level gadgeteer they can still mess up anyone's day given time.

A fanfic I read — I want to say it was "The Shocker: Legit!", discussed how Spider-man has arguably become the bully. He actively taunts the villains he's pounding, even when they're really not much of a match for him, and takes glee in leaving them in humiliating positions. One could argue for it just being his method of combat and/or a way of discouraging further criminal behavior, but that's like saying that Batman breaking the limbs of his opponents makes for a better object lesson for the shoplifter he catches.

My own personal point of view is that he probably is transferring much of his anger from being a victim onto the criminals he fights, but that, in a life or death situation, as he arguably is in even with weak opponents such all it takes is one errant super-strength hit and he could be smushed, any tactics are valid.