The Great ‘Which Universe Would I Rather Inhabit’ Tournament Round 2 Match 4
DC vs Marvel
Universe of Superman, Batman and Green Lantern vs Universe of Spider-Man, Iron Man and Thor
Well, talk about your heavyweights. Trying to condense an age-old (well…since the Golden age-old) debate into a short blog post isn’t easy. Although I know where this is going, and my friends know where this is going, and the second the post is made I’m expecting a retaliation of biblical proportions from one particular person (yeah, YOU! YOU THERE! I’M TALKING TO YOU!).
Or is it that clear cut? Just because I favour one comic publisher to read, does it mean I’ll prefer living in that universe?
We’re about to find out…
Let’s address one issue straight away – each of these universes is fraught with danger, from alien invasions, to mutants gone wild, to supervillains who’ll destroy the world (and regularly try) if it’ll further there goals. There are superheroes who will come to the rescue in both universes, and there are multiverses with universes that will bring heroes together into one big gathering, that will occasionally get so complicated the entire universe has to be reset.
So, whichever universe I lived in would have the same dangers, and pretty much the same physical laws (and they both have magic so I can’t use that to distinguish).
Therefore, I suppose, being universes with comic book superheroes and all, I’ll have to judge it on which ones I’d rather fight along/save me when I'm squealing with fright in a corner. Apologies to the die-hard fans of either franchise who want to inflict d20 damage on me for shortening this down to such a small post but I've done a very small tournament, featuring who I feel are the 5 best superheroes from each universe – yep, that’s very subjective indeed, and I'm breaking up teams to do this, which is a problem as you could argue that the Fantastic Four should remain together – but then what about the Justice League? Much better known for being individuals.So I went with individuals, because it’s my blog.
The contestants:
DC
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Marvel
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Batman
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Spider-man
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Superman
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Iron Man
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Green Lantern
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Wolverine
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The Flash
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Thor
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Wonder Woman
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The Hulk
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Yeah, I picked the Justice League for DC, didn’t I? Well, the point behind the Justice League IS that they’re the best of the best, teaming up to fight evil, crime and Dubstep. Oh, they don’t fight Dubstep? Well, they should. And there’s no Black Canary, because even though it’s my wife’s choice of cosplay(I think she’s aware of this fact, but I couldn’t guarantee), she’s not really going to beat Wonder Woman, is she?
The Marvel group is much more subjective, and there’s no Captain America, which might be a shock, but I think of these 5 first (minus the Fantastic Four) when Marvel come into my head.
So, onto the matches – with a little summary of why the winner was victorious. Winners in bold.
On we go…
Match 1
Batman
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Spider-man
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Superman
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Iron Man
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Green Lantern
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Wolverine
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The Flash
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Thor
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Wonder Woman
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The Hulk
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Result: DC 3 Marvel 2
The first match sees DC edging into the lead – Batman’s wits outfox Spider-man, Superman’s strength defeats everything Iron Man can throw at him, and Green Lantern can just about hold Wolverine and his Adamantium claws in a will-powered cell. Thor uses his strength as a god to wield Mjolnir and stop The Flash in his tracks, and The Hulk’s strength pounds Wonder Woman the same as he did Loki in The Avengers before she can lasso him.
Standings: DC 3 Marvel 2
Match 2
Batman
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The Hulk
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Superman
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Spider-man
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Green Lantern
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Iron Man
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The Flash
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Wolverine
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Wonder Woman
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Thor
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Result: DC 2 Marvel 3
Marvel fights back straight away, with The Hulk proving too strong for Batman, Wolverine’s Adamantium claws taking out The Flash before he can resonate his way out, and the goddessvs god battle heading Thor’s way for the simple fact he has an awesome hammer and she has some rope. Green Lantern still manages to use his will power to get inside Iron Man’s suit and stuff up the electrics with green stuff, and Superman’s strength is no match for Spider-man.
Standings: DC 5 Marvel 5
Match 3
Batman
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Thor
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Superman
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The Hulk
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Green Lantern
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Spider-Man
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The Flash
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Iron Man
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Wonder Woman
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Wolverine
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Result: DC 3 Marvel 2
DC again nudge in front, with the ‘Battle of the Big Strong People’ being won by Superman (although it’s a close thing, and his hair gets all messed up), Green Lantern’s ring spinning a stronger web than Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman’s unbreakable lasso keeping Wolverine’s claws locked in place, Adamantium or not. Iron Man takes down The Flash, and Thor’s strength is too much even for Batman’s intellect to find a way past.
Standings: DC 8 Marvel 7
Match 4
Batman
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Wolverine
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Superman
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Thor
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Green Lantern
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The Hulk
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The Flash
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Spider-man
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Wonder Woman
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Iron Man
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Result: DC 3 Marvel 2
Another DC victory takes them closer to the prize, Batman luring Wolverine into a trap after playing off his emotions and making him so angry that he drops his guard, Superman taking down Thor after lifting him into space (thus knocking Thor unconscious due to lack of oxygen) and flicking Mjolniroff towards the sun (it’s weightless in space, after all), and Wonder Woman lassos Iron Man’s hands together leaving him unable to operate fully. The Hulk wins the ‘Battle of the Green’ after grabbing a cocky Hal Jordan and knocking him out, and Spider-man takes a first win again The Flash (who is yet to get one) after the author of this blog can’t decide which of them should win, and forces them to place chess in his mind, which Peter Parker wins as he’s always seemed more intelligent than Barry Allen. This leaves Marvel needing to win at least 4 in the next round to take the title.
Standings: DC 11 Marvel 9
Match 5
Batman
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Iron Man
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Superman
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Wolverine
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Green Lantern
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Thor
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The Flash
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The Hulk
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Wonder Woman
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Spider-man
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Result: DC 3 Marvel 2
The title is all DC’s, as Batman beats Iron Man by using his computer skills to hack into the Iron Man suit, Superman beats Wolverine (and thus emerging victorious in all 5 bouts to win this tournament’s Most Valuable Player award – as if you’d expect anything less, because he’s Superman) by flinging Wolverine into the sun until he’s learnt to play nicely with other people, and Wonder Woman proves that he she has a stickier web than Spider-man by lassoing the hell out of that boy, forcing Spider-man to admit the truth that he’d happily be caught in her web anyday. Thor takes down Green Lantern after Hal Jordan gets cocky once more knowing DC have to mess up big time not to win here today, and The Hulk smashes The Flash to hand poor Barry Allen the wooden spoon, but it's all in vain.
Standings: DC 14 Marvel 11
Well, that was all a very fun way to decide, wasn't it?
Advance, DC!
Winner: DC
Red Dwarf
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Heroes
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Buffy
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Heroes
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Buffy
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Buffy
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Battlestar
Galactica
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Star Wars
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Star Wars
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Elder
Scrolls
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Aliens
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Elder
Scrolls
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Elder
Scrolls
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Terminator
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Narnia
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Ultima
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Star Trek
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Ultima
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Star Trek
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Star Trek
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Middle
Earth
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Firefly
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Marvel
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DC
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Marvel
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DC
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DC
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Doctor Who
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I'd argue there are some philosophical differences between the universes that make them interesting as a contrast (I'm deliberately not choosing sides, I should point out here). For example, Marvel's heroes tend to be less well respected than DC's; observe Spider-man having to deal with the poor publicity generated by his own paper, and the X-Men's on-going fight for minority rights. DC tends to define its heroes much more by what they represent - to me, Superman is less of a character and more of the embodiment of 'Truth, Justice and the American Dream'.
ReplyDeleteI'd also argue that Marvel are more interested in teams than solo books. DC has about a dozen Bat-books which star Batman in someway; the closest example Marvel has are the X-books, which each have a different cast of characters (apart from Wolverine, who is in everything Marvel publish). Thor and Iron Man are best known for being part of the Avengers (their solo books have only taken off in the last few years); whereas the DC heroes are solo heroes first, Justice League members second.
You should probably have a think about the villains as well; I'd argue they define the universe just as much as the heroes. Would you rather live near the Joker, Sinestro and Lex Luthor, or Magneto, Doctor Doom and Loki?
I'm not going to comment on your fight results, because a character's powers have always been the least interesting part of them to me. I'm fairly certain that if Batman ever actually fought Wolverine, the internet would explode.
There is an interesting article here that compares the cinematic universes that's worth a read (Warning! Spoilers for Man of Steel):
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=46374
Also, isn't your lovely wife's cosplay choice Robin?
Well, she'd tell you that it's Robin, but I like to think that secretly she wants to be Black Canary, because why wouldn't she.
ReplyDeleteYep, the villains play a major role in defining the heroes, although I think I covered the general principle that they make the world a place fraught with danger in both universes (and multiverses) at the beginning, and I can't be bothered to make another tournament for them!
I think the mutant's civil rights movement is one of the stand out traits of the Marvel universe, although I did enjoy DC's New Krypton storyline (and subsequent stories) which covered a similar area (although some of the reviews suggest I might have been the only one...). It's not enough to swing the tide in favour of one or the other, but I hadn't thought about Marvel folk being less trusting etc. of their heroes than DC before, but I think you're right. There's elements of it certainly in DC, but not to the same extent that I can see in Marvel.
The fights were calculated with 100% lack of fact and between 50% and 75% logical thought process, which is pretty darn accurate in many respects - although it may not be considered wholly scientific. It did its purpose anyway, to give me a fun and easy way to separate the two heavyweight comic book universes - although I think we both know that the results probably weren't in any doubt from the start...