The Ultimate Battle

[The Ginger Man]

Normally, I wouldn't link to this, but today I am mad with beer. This is happening on IGN.

http://comics.ign.com/articles/695/695219p1.html

March 16, 2006 - It's March and that can only mean one thing at IGN Comics -- A massive 64-character battle for supremacy. Yes, it's time again for March Madness the IGN way and this year looks to be a much more interesting battle than in contests past. Starting today, you vote to determine who would win each battle. The winners move on, the losers are wiped from continuity. In the end, only one will remain to be crowned the Ultimate Comics Champion. Madness? We call it gladness.

How it Works
Things start Thursday, March 16. All 32 battles can be voted on throughout the weekend. Once the round is up, the winners will move on to the next round to continue their fight towards the championship.

This is not a popularity contest. This is a battle and you're deciding who you think would win each of these hard-fought contests. To give you an assist, we've included links to vital info about each warrior along with a "tale of the tape" matchup rundown for every battle.

Now normally I wouldn't care about this, b/c these things always get decided by 15-yr olds who've never read a comic published before 1995, so it tends to be a little....uneducated. But this list has some serious match-ups that I think warrent some real discussion. For instance, Batman vs Boy Blue from Fable (complete with magic cloak and vorpal sword). Or Green Lantern vs The Great Machine from Ex Machina.

Now Green Lantern already has 89% of the vote over Great Machine. But IGN makes a great point. The Great Machine can control anything slightly mechanical. And GL's ring is controlled by sheer will. So I'm thinking GM would royally kick GL's ass. But that's just me.

Everyone take a look at this and lets see how this might really go down.

[so sorry]

holy fucking geekness Batman!

[The Ginger Man]

My favorite in the competition is Superman vs Red Hood with the match-up described like this:

"It was nice that Jason Todd made it into the tournament. Uh.... next!"

[Keepcoolbutcare]

as usual, the selection committee has made some dubious pics...WE3 only a 13 seed?!?!? Lex had better watch out for Tinker!

My bracket busters...The Goon over Spawn, and Alexander Luthor makes it to the Final Four, one of the lowest seeds in history to go that far.

Hysterical oh red pubed one, thanks for the link.

[The Ginger Man]

[Deleted by the Ginger]

[The Ginger Man]

For those who don't want to link and read it all, I'll set it up here.

GOTHAM BRACKET

Batman vs Boy Blue (Fable)

Kang the Conqueror vs Black Panther

Snake Eyes vs Daredevil

Lex Luthor vs WE3

Colossus vs Jamie Madrox

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) vs The Great Machine (Ex Machina)

She-Hulk vs Ultimate Hawkeye

Captain America vs Deadshot

MANHATTAN BRACKET

Spider-Man vs Ash (Evil Dead)

Nightwing (Dick Grayson) vs Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes)

Conan vs Luke Cage

Thing vs Zatanna

Bizarro vs Invincible

Spawn vs The Goon

Power Girl vs Deathstroke

Wolverine vs Catman

[MasterWhedon]

My Final Four is Green Lantern vs. Spawn, Scarlett Witch vs. Alexander Luthor.

Scarlett Witch wins because she can REWRITE FUCKING REALITY (though odds are she'll lose in Round 2 of the official thing 'cause she'll be up against Superman).


The sad thing is that I'm infinitely better at doing this bracket than I ever will be at an NCAA one.

[The Ginger Man]

METROPOLIS BRACKET

Superman vs Red Hood (Jason Todd)

Sentry vs Scarlet Witch

The Flash vs Bullseye

Captain Marvel vs Princess Powerful (Runaways)

Juggernaut vs Frankenstein (Seven Soldiers)

Wonder Woman vs Spider-Woman

Emma Frost vs Maxwell Lord

Hulk vs Fin Fang Foom

GENOSHA BRACKET

Magneto vs Zombie Horde (The Walking Dead)

Morlun vs Alexander Luthor

Ares vs Joker

Ultimate Thor vs Dr. Light

Iron Man vs Ghost Rider

Earth-2 Superman vs X-23

Supergirl vs Black Adam

Superboy Prime vs Gravity

[The Ginger Man]

The way I see it going on IGN. Final Four: Batman, Wolverine, Superman, Earth-2 Superman.

The way I would see it happening. I'm hesitant to say Alexander Luthor, b/c I think Superboy Prime is going to be far more dangerous than we think...and will probably kill Alex Luthor in about 2 seconds. But that has yet to be seen, so who knows.

[MasterWhedon]

I'm kinda skipping over the whole Infinite Crisis thing until the trade, so I don't really know what makes Alexander Luthor or Superboy Prime so powerful, but I've heard rumblings about reality-altering, so I let them go pretty far.

What surprised me is that I had Manhattan come down to Spider-Man vs. Spawn. I don't even fucking LIKE Spawn and yet I had him beat EVERYONE.

[The Ginger Man]

IGN's Ultimate Battle is down to it's "Sweet Sixteen." Figured I'd post who's left for anyone that's interested. Here's the link to the actual bracket.

http://media.comics.ign.com/articles/695/695219/img_3485435.html

Batman vs. Lex Luthor

Green Lantern vs. Capt. America

Spider Man vs. Thing

Spawn vs. Wolverine

Superman vs. The Flash

Juggernaut vs. The Hulk

Magneto vs. Ultimate Thor

Earth-2 Superman vs. Superboy Prime

Just the fact that Juggernaut and The Thing are still in the contest I think proves it to be rather...let's say, slanted towards popularity over power. Who knows. I'm just glad Venom or Carnage weren't in this....sigh....

Interesting to note, the last round had Wolverine beating Deathstroke 78 votes to 22. Which is too bad, cause I think that's a fight that would have been closer. But the one that blows my mind is Magneto beating Alexander Luthor 74 votes to 26. You know...since Magneto controls magnetism and Alexander Luthor controls both matter and anti-matter...and is currently recreating the entire DC universe just by waving his hands....but what would I know? It's Magneto....and the X-Men totally ROCKZ!!!!!! sigh.....

Anyway, with all the Supermen on one side of this thing, I now see exactly where it's going. Final battle, Wolverine vs. Superman. Again, you know what's coming.....sigh......

[athenabodicea]

Bump...

I don't know if anyone else has been voting here, but most of the people I have chosen have made it through so far..... Whoo hoo!!!!

Except I can't believe Green Lantern has made it this far.... And I'm a little disappointed that none of the female characters have made it this far...

[MasterWhedon]

I'm so pissed off at this thing. I've been following it and voting in each round, and it's seriously nothing more than a popularity contest.

Scarlett Witch should've EASILY beaten Superman as she could blink him out of existence.

Kang the Conqueror should've EASILY beaten Black Panther AND Batman by going back in time to their childhoods and smothering them with a pillow.

And Magneto vs. Thor? Come on...

[The Ginger Man]

Haha! Glad to see you share my pain, Whedon. The top 8 are here!

Batman vs. Green Lantern

Spider Man vs. Wolverine

Superman vs. The Hulk

Magneto vs. Earth-2 Superman

I'm no longer certain on the final battle. Will it be Wolverine vs Superman, or Wolverine vs Magneto? Guess it doesn't matter, since Wolverine will probably win it anyway.

Which leads me to a question. Could someone enlighten me as to why Wolverine is so freakin' cool? I love Hugh Jackman's portrayal in the Xmen films...but the comic/cartoon character has always come across to me as nothing more than a pissed-off trucker with hand knives and a bad case of malt liquor induced amnesia. Is there something I'm missing about this character?

[The Ginger Man]

And to add injury to insult. Magneto is currently beating Earth-2 Superman 62.3% to 37.6%. This is fucking Magneto, for chrissakes! If he's not self-destructing his own schemes, he's getting his ass handed to him by a bald guy in a wheelchair! That, or Wolverine gives him a 3-pronged sucker punch that forces him to retreat just long enough for a new creative team to brought onto the book.

And he's fighting Superman! Bullet-reflecting, Flash-racing, Crisis-surviving, never-died, Earth-2 Superman! And Magneto is winning?!?!?!?!

I call shenanigans.

[MasterWhedon]

And to add injury to insult. Magneto is currently beating Earth-2 Superman 62.3% to 37.6%. This is fucking Magneto, for chrissakes! If he's not self-destructing his own schemes, he's getting his ass handed to him by a bald guy in a wheelchair! That, or Wolverine gives him a 3-pronged sucker punch that forces him to retreat just long enough for a new creative team to brought onto the book.

And he's fighting Superman! Bullet-reflecting, Flash-racing, Crisis-surviving, never-died, Earth-2 Superman! And Magneto is winning?!?!?!?!

I call shenanigans.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I second the shenanigans!!

With the folks we have left, I say it SHOULD end up with Green Lantern vs. Superman. If GL can keep Superman away from that ring--he of a stronger will, after all--GL's got it in the bag.

EDIT: However, I do see it being Wolvering vs. Superman, with Superman narrowly winning.

[athenabodicea]

Ok..
Green Lantern is nothing without his precious (hahahaha my precious) little ring....

AND HELLO.....

Yellow makes him weak...
Worst superhero ever IMO.....

besides Aquaman

[The Ginger Man]

Ok..
Green Lantern is nothing without his precious (hahahaha my precious)little ring....

AND HELLO.....

Yellow makes him weak...
Worst superhero ever IMO.....

besides Aquaman

Actually, he doesn't have the weakness to yellow anymore. That got fixed during the Hal Jordan rebirth thing. But where does GL stand next to guys like Iron Man (who's nothing w/o his armor) or Green Arrow and Hawkeye (nothing without their arrows)?

This brings up an interesting question. Is a hero more of a hero if their powers come "naturally" rather than from an accessory?

[MasterWhedon]

See, but as long as he has his ring, he's an intergalatic Power Ranger with enough power to destroy anything (that isn't yellow)!!

I can see him having a problem with Wolverine, if he's wearing his yellow suit, but the picture they have of him is in street clothes, so...

And the Superman shiled might pose a problem, but GL could always form his ring into a little, I don't know, GREEN KRYPTONITE!!!

And Magneto's not even wearing yellow, so that'd just be silly...

EDIT: I feel like a fool now, Ginger...

[MasterWhedon]

This brings up an interesting question. Is a hero more of a hero if their powers come "naturally" rather than from an accessory?

We did some of that in the X-Men/Jedi debate. My answer is no, they ones who have natural power just have it easier.

[athenabodicea]

Phoenix eats the sun....
X-Men win biatches....
Hahahahahaha....

That never gets old for me...sorry

IMO natural powers are better to have...

[thomasgaffney]

Phoenix eats the sun....
X-Men win biatches....
Hahahahahaha....

That never gets old for me...sorry

IMO natural powers are better to have...

Seconded!!! HAHAHAHAHA!

[athenabodicea]

Wait....
What happens if Green Lanterns opponent is able to get ahold of the lantern & break it???

[MasterWhedon]

Wait....
What happens if Green Lanterns opponent is able to get ahold of the lantern & break it???

His ring would go PPFFFFFT! and puff out some green smoke.

But seriously, is Wolverine gonna be smart enough to hunt down the lantern and take it out? No, he's gonna go right for Hal.

Batman might try some shit, but GL could just rip his head off with a thought.

And Superman might put up a fight, but GL would take it into outer space and away from the yellow sun, effectively weakening him.

[The Ginger Man]

Wait....
What happens if Green Lanterns opponent is able to get ahold of the lantern & break it???

I don't think they have the portable lanterns anymore. There's only the main power battery, and whenever that has been broken...well, that's about the time the title gets cancelled for a while.

But on the "natural or not" power debate, being not-natural would make me thing the hero was more of a badass. Cause Superman...why should he worry? He's Superman, always has been, always will be. But Green Lantern? He may wash his hands, forget to dry them, run off into battle, and his ring could fly off...then he's fucked. But he keeps on washing his hands and fighting supervillains. Cause he's got grit!

And don't feel like a fool, Whedon. You are among friends. Just repeat after me. We are geeks. Geeks is what we are.

[The Ginger Man]

Batman might try some shit, but GL could just rip his head off with a thought.

I thought it was unanimously decided Batman could kick anyone's ass in the DCU?

[The Ginger Man]

So the last two rounds have gone down. The Final Four was Batman vs Wolverine and Superman vs Magneto. Supes kicked Mags ass. But Batman only barely pulled off a victory with 51-49 (which is wrong, IMO. Bats should have won by a bigger margin).

So now, final fight, the classic Superman vs. Batman. Which we all know goes to Batman (thanks Frank Miller!).

[MasterWhedon]

Let me just say it: FUCK. THIS. SHIT.

Batman wins.

[The Ginger Man]

Let me just say it: FUCK. THIS. SHIT.

Batman wins.

I second this motion and move that it carries to the floor!

[Keepcoolbutcare]

yeah, but Supes has a movie comin' out this year.

[The Ginger Man]

yeah, but Supes has a movie comin' out this year.

Yeah. But. So.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

yeah, but Supes has a movie comin' out this year.

Yeah. But. So.

Hey, you implied the fix was in.

If that's the case, the cape with the movie comin' out soonest wins.

I mean, that sorta explains how Wolvie nearly knocked off the Bats.