Hey, Spiderman! check out your competition

The buzzing, the biting, the way they can decimate your roses and berry bushes. Many of us consider bugs a nuisance, but plenty of insects deserve our respect for their incredible abilities. Flying — perhaps the most enviable of superpowers — is just the beginning. It’s no surprise that comic-book mainstays are often inspired by these talented, supernatural creatures. 

So what better time to salute them than the opening of Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Here’s how Marvel’s web-slinging character stacks up against the real heroes of the Bug-verse.

Do not mess with the trap-jaw ant (of the genus Odontomachus). Not only does it have one of the strongest mandibles in the animal kingdom (capable of exerting force more than 300 times its body weight), it can snap its jaws shut at speeds up to 140 mph, a feat that makes the tropical powerhouse among the fastest creatures on earth. If it claps its jaws shut against the ground, it can catapult up, up, and away to escape enemies. But is it as charming as Ant-Man portrayer Paul Rudd? Clearly, it can’t compete on that front.

Plenty of bugs rely on camouflage to hide from predators. But the Sphynx moth caterpillar (Hemeroplanes triptolemus, Sphingidae) can change its mild-mannered appearance into that of a vicious snake — complete with scaly pattern, glinting eyes, and hungry mouth. To pull off the transformation, this Amazon rainforest native expands and exposes the underside of its first few body segments, without having to slip into a nearby phone booth. The Sphynx moth caterpillar can even mimic a snake’s strike, frightening its two prime nemeses, birds and lizards.

All dragonflies are serious aerialists, with four wings that operate independently, allowing them to hover, make sharp turns, and even fly backwards. But the big daddy of the bunch, the blue emperor (Anax imperator), grows up to three inches long, with a four-inch wingspan. Plus, its electric blue body and bright green helmet head could make other superheroes consider a costume change. If your jaw isn’t on the floor yet, may we add that the fearsome emperor eats other bugs and can also catch and consume an entire tadpole mid-flight. 

What’s a superhero without a cool origin story? Taurus scarabs (of the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, aka dung beetles) were all the rage back in ancient Egypt. These insects roll the poop of other animals into balls several times their size and then, um, eat them, which was seen as a sign of the power of creation. The diet makes the dung beetle remarkably strong — able to pull 1,141 times its own body weight. That’s like a human pulling six double-decker buses full of people. And there’s one more super quality to marvel at: Critters that eat waste — called detritivores — clean up the planet and convert nutrients into soluble forms for plants. Thank you, scarabs!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius), and it’s truly extraordinary. The legs on this insect can pack a g-force some 400 times that of Earth’s gravity, allowing it to soar 100 times the length of its body. The froghopper’s jump, scaled to human proportions, would be like launching yourself from stillness to over 140 mph in the blink of an eye. Superman, can you top that?

The Marvel superhero was inspired by these arachnids (technically not insects), and we can see why. The typical spider spins silk that’s five times stronger than steel. A strand of this fiber as thick as a pencil could stop a Boeing 747 in mid-flight! Impressive, but the Spider-Man of Hollywood fame has a power beyond what these arachnids possess: generating nearly $9 billion in worldwide box office for the first 10 films combined. Respect!