Summary[]
In Popeye's world, spinach is a leafy vegetable that grants supernatural power upon digestion. The effects vary depending on the individual, their spinach consumption history, and the amount consumed. It enhances strength, speed, durability, and healing while also granting various extraordinary abilities. In some cases, spinach is powerful enough to manipulate reality and time itself.
How Does it Work[]
Quick answer. It only works for Popeye because of his "Source Being." If a person lacks a "Source Being," spinach from his world has no effect. This is the only in-universe explanation for how spinach and Popeye's powers work, so it should be considered the definitive standard.
That being said, I've also come up with my own logical explanation for how it works. Note: this does dip into head-canon a bit here and there.
A major misconception people have is that anyone who eats spinach will become just as strong as Popeye when he eats it, which isn't true. At best, eating spinach may provide a boost in strength, speed, durability, and energy recovery, but not on the same level as Popeye. And any additional effects it offers won't occur either.
Even after eating 200 double-strength spinach Wimpy still didn't think he was strong enough to fight Popeye (and that's a Popeye who hasn't eaten spinach yet)
The extent of your boost and the chance of unlocking hax from spinach, such as clairvoyance or duplication, depends on how much you've consumed and how long you've been eating it.
Popeye, even without spinach, could still defeat someone double his size who just ate spinach because Popeye has been eating it daily for 40 years.
A person also needs to be in good shape, as Popeye has fought someone who had eaten just as much spinach as he had. However, because he was in better physical condition, he came out on top.
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A good indicator that someone has eaten a lot of spinach is that they are still strong even without it. Popeye, for example, has consumed so much spinach that he remains ridiculously strong in his base state and can still perform many of his spinach-enhanced feats like transmutation.
Swee’Pea despite being a baby, is still strong enough to take some punishment, even without spinach.
Spinach Tiers[]
Spinach consumption can be divided into four tiers: Occasional, Abnormal, Master, and Rejection.
Occasional refers to people who haven't eaten much spinach in their lives, which is where the average person falls. Characters like Wimpy belong in this tier. Cross-verse characters or those in vs. debates also fall into this category, as spinach from other worlds doesn't compare to Popeye's spinach. However, spinach from Popeye's Universe should work for anyone in a cross-verse context.
Abnormal is for those who consume more spinach than the average person. They likely eat more spinach in a month than most would in a year. Characters like Olive, Poopdeck Pappy, and Swee'Pea fall into this tier, as they've shown extraordinary feats after eating spinach, though not at Popeye's level. Characters in this tier will also experience a passive spinach buff.
Master is Popeye's level. He eats spinach constantly—at lunch, dinner, and as a snack. To reach this tier, a person would need to have consumed spinach regularly for about 40 years and be in good shape.
Cutting corners to reach the Master tier quickly, like just overeating spinach, won’t work.
Swee'Pea ate 120 cans of spinach, yet it only took Popeye to eat one can of spinach to match his strength.
Rejection Spinach has been shown to reject certain individuals after they eat it, most notably with characters like Bluto and Brutus. After consuming it, they lose full control of their bodies. Shown here, here, here, and here. This is likely due to their strong dislike of spinach. If a character hates spinach, vegetables, or is allergic, their body may react negatively. It's also possible that the spinach's power is simply too much for some—at its peak, spinach can grant control over reality, and such immense power might be overwhelming for certain people or beings.
An alien eats spinach, and its power is so overwhelming that it nullifies the alien's shapeshifting abilities.
Powers and Stats[]
Tier: Varies from 9-B, 9-A | 5-B, Low 4-C | 3-A, possibly to 1-C at its peak.
Key: Occasional consumption | Abnormal consumption | Master consumption
Name: Spinach
Origin: Thimble Theatre
Age: First cultivated in Persia (Iran) over 2000 years ago
Classification: Vegetable
Wielders: Popeye or anyone who eats it
- Enhanced Strength
- Enhanced Speed
- Enhanced Durability
- Restored Stamina
- Super Breath (Seen here)
- Transmutation (Seen here)
All previous abilities in addition to:
- Super Strength
- Super Speed
- Super Durability
- Flight (Shown here, and here)
- Disassembly (Shown here)
- Clothing Generation (Shown here)
- Size Manipulation (Shown here)
- See Popeye
Attack Potency: Varies Wall or Small Building (Capable of snapping a tree in half and destroying a train with a single punch, pushing up against an industrial hydraulic press, lifting a trolley car, A gopher lifted and threw a bull.) | Planet or Small Star (Capable of dealing great damage to the sun, and punch people into space.) | Universe (Pappy after eating spinach could damage the universe, Popeye is capable of performing complex multiverse feats, and he does so in his base form. However, these feats are likely a result of passive spinach effects, meaning those feats may be the peak of spinach power.)
Speed: Unknown | Unknown | See Popeye
Durability: Unknown | Unknown | See Popeye
Stamina: Effectively Limitless (With spinach, any energy he loses is instantly restored.)
Range: Standard Melee Range
Weaknesses: Spinach has no strict time limit but is limited to about three major feats, depending on what a person does with it.
