Glossary:Deceleration Trauma

Deceleration Trauma

In Newtonian physics you decelerate from terminal velocity to a dead stop in less than a second, and it is the sudden deceleration of that stop that kills. It makes no difference what specifically causes that sudden deceleration.

However in the Marvel Universe the law is sometimes ignored with individuals with powers breaking this by catching people.

Referenced

• When the Green Goblin dropped Gwen Stacy off the George Washington Bridge, Spider-Man caught her using his webs. Unfortunately, even though he prevented Gwen from hitting the water, she suffered from whiplash, and died.
• Several subsequent adventures have contained echoes of Gwen's death when other women have fallen great heights during Spider-Man's battles. On most occasions he has saved them by jumping after them and working with their momentum, rather than trying to stop them with his webbing. Some of these examples include Amazing Spider-Man #275, Web of Spider-Man #125, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #12, Superior Spider-Man #2 and Superior Spider-Man #31; with Peter saving Sha Shan, Joyce Delaney, Mary Jane Watson twice, and Anna Maria Marconi.
• Makkari was taking deceleration trauma into account one time he was trying his hardest not to kill terrorists while disarming them, though as he was moving at half the speed of light, he still broke their arms.