What's more important: Intent or Feats?

Imagine if I created a character for a movie and said that he is the fastest fighter ever existed and that he has perfectly mastered all fightning techniques but in the actual movie he fights like this:

What is more important, how he visually fights in the movie or what I intended him to be?

Intention obviously matters more and only battle junkies are obsessed with feats.

What you actually see. I can say I can fly, but until you actually see it, it doesnt mean anything.

Intent.

@rdskns4eva: But if the author tells us how strong the character is, then we don’t need feats.

I prefer going by the rules of the site.

If you can’t back up something with feats, then your argument is not gonna hold up against someone with better feats. That simple

Feats stomp hard

Definitely depends. I do think people on CV have become so used to disregarding author statements because every comic character has hundreds of writers that they throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to author statements regarding characters with sole authors. If Kishimoto from Naruto said something I would take that much more on board than if some random Spider-Man writer said something about him.

Feats.

Intent, especially when feats are too vague (so quite often).

Feats is best.

Circumstantial

You should obviously go with feats if the two contradict eachother. If the intent was so important, it would be proved in showings.

I did put an example tho.

Intent must be backed up with a onscreen showing, else context is lost.

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MCU Spider-Man for example.. Aunt May says he can dodge bullets, but that’s not battle applicable until later in the movie when we see him dodge bullets.
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Thats intent meeting feats, and that’s what really matters.

Feats. intent and statements are worthless and only used by wankers

This

we do. At least in some cases. If the author states or implies the character can do something ridiculous like planetbust when they barely have feats above city level, author statement can't be taken seriously

Feats, intent can work to "extend" the feats themselves, but when they are too far apart from each other like this then the statement doesn't hold weight.

IE if we take the example on the OP, if they were a bit more impressive I would be willing to suspend my disbelief, they don't have literally coreograph the most impressive hand to hand fight ever, but they have to give us something more to work with.

Stupid question. There's varying levels of "mastered every martial artist in the world," Clearly by intent Bane is supposed to be insanely skilled and on a world class level, great I agree, but so is the average fodder in most skill based verses.

Feats > Intent

Intent, of course. Feats are a form of intent. We don't use "PIS/WIS" because they lack intent.

I find a lot just don't know how to properly apply intent on the battle boards.

Feats are just one way to demonstrate intent. Sometimes, feats can be blurred because of artistic choices or tonal choices.

Take Oliver's prison fight in Arrow S7. Ollie is a master martial artist, a master of multiple styles. The writers aren't expecting some nerds to be like "Lol look at him getting tagged here, what a skill-less brute." The visuals clearly indicate he's supposed to be good, despite the feat itself not being one of his best.

I'd say intent is better because it more accurately depicts how the characters are supposed to be viewed by the audience.

I remember when Watchmen first came out and there was a big debate on how powerful Dr Manhattan was. He stated that he could walk on the sun, but it couldnt be used as a feat because he didnt actually do it in the movie.

Intent is nice, but again, if you dont see it, how do we know?