A woman in a geothermal suit that has super strength far superior to Spider-Man, and a Plodex clone out for blood. It's an example where a comparison of a normal taking a blow from a super powered individual
Once again I'm at a loss as to where you think geothermal = strength?
So, I'm actually going to dig out the handbook scan...
Right, poor scan I know, but I'm on the move..
"fair hand-to-hand combatant"
"Vindicator's battle-suit allows her to siphon tectonic energy and release it in the form of magma blasts, geyser bursts and other such phenomena."
Power; "Strength = 2 out of 7". (If I recall correctly MMLJ's strength was 3?)
I honestly can't see anything there to suggest any super strength at all, and the stats show she's weaker than MMLJ.
I stick with my reasoning.