Category Archives: Duels

The Flash vs. Yoda

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For this battle I’m matching up the 2014 TV show’s Earth-1 Scarlet Speedster and Yoda in Revenge of the Sith, since that’s where he really reached his best.

Weapons: Barry Allen has a lot of stuff up his sleeve. He can run really fast, for starters. But the Speedforce also gives him phasing, fast thinking, lightening bolts and in the right circumstances time travel. Yoda is stuck with the Force and a lightsaber. He has Force-speed, but he won’t outrun the Flash.

Defenses/weakness: Yoda’s lightsaber and the Force are his only defenses, and Barry has only his speed and the suit. The Flash’s main weakness is compassion. He’s willing to sacrifice himself to save others at any chance he gets. Yoda wouldn’t hurt anyone else unless there is no other way, so that weakness is negligible. Yoda refuses to wear armor or a suit and so is exposed to stray fire and explosions, but that doesn’t appear to hinder him. He doesn’t have any other weaknesses.

Skill: By season 3, Barry has enough refined control of his speed to take on any evil speedster that shows up. Yoda’s lightsaber techniques and Force powers are unmatched by anyone other than the Emperor. The tiebreaker is that Yoda has 900 years of experience to back him up.

Mindset/intentions: Yoda has no pleasure in killing the Flash, but he will do what he must, as he did when he was fighting Emperor. Whatever reason Barry has for taking on Yoda, he will do whatever it takes to defeat him, though like Yoda, he wouldn’t kill his enemy if he didn’t have to.

Use of surroundings: The Flash is better at this. Yoda has a defensive fighting style that focuses more on spins and swings and jumps.

Because both of these are “good guys,” neither would try to exploit the others weaknesses by harming anyone else, so the fight would be straightforward. Yoda’s fast lightsaber spinning would be a challenge to get through, but eventually the Flash will find a gap and disarm Yoda. It’s possible that Yoda would go offensive and throw Barry around with the Force. That is how most people defeat Barry, so it’s a good place to start. Or he would create a Force shield that prevents Barry from running at him, and deflect his lightening bolts. Either way, the Flash would probably run around in circles and create time remnants of himself. He would take on Yoda from every angle at once, forcing him to retreat. Yoda could defend himself but won’t be able to kill the Flash.

Theoretically, if the Flash doesn’t make any mistakes, Yoda couldn’t stop him with brute force (pun intended). But mind tricks work on almost anyone, and humans are very susceptible. Yoda is never seen using mind tricks, but if Obi-Wan could pull it off, so can Yoda. Given an opportunity, he could send Barry running home to rethink his life, convince him that he’s fighting the wrong person, or just make him lie down and give up. The fight would be long and hard, but the Speed-force is no match for the Force.

Millennium Flacon vs Slave 1

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The Millennium Falcon is the easily the most iconic ship in the Star Wars universe, but it’s not unrivaled. The Slave 1 has been used by two of the most notorious bounty hunters in the galaxy and has withstood everything anyone threw at it — outliving both its owners. In this post I will not only compare these two ships’ capabilities in battle, but also which is the better all around hunk of junk for a smuggler, bounty hunter, or any other shape or form of criminal.

In terms of sheer firepower Boba’s flagship can vaporize the Falcon instantly. The Falcon was originally a Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300fp light freighter, with an armament that consists of a powerful Corellian-built quad laser cannon on top, a concealed anti-personnel repeating blaster cannon near the ramp, and two illegal above-military-grade Arakyd ST2 concussion missile launchers. The Slave 1 is a highly modified Kuat Systems Engineering Firespray-class patrol and attack craft, armed with three twin rotating laser cannons, concussion missile launchers, way too expensive proton torpedo tubes, an ion cannon, a tractor beam projector, and seismic charges that can blow an asteroid to pieces. Both have strong enough shield generators to withstand heavy fire, but the Falcon is still no match.

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The layouts of the two ships are entirely different and suited for very different tasks. The Flacon is optimized for storage space, ideal for a smuggler transporting illegal cargo. Lando Calrissian installed hidden compartments under the deck, and a previous owner added a cargo jettison feature for tight situations when it’s better to ditch the cargo than answer questions — both features made its black market value skyrocket. The Slave 1 has two separate sets of artificial gravity generators that reorient for flight and landing, meaning walls, floors, and ceilings are relative. Instead of a large cargo hold, it has 5 detention cells, a Force-cage to hold Jedi or other Force-users, and stealth mode. It has very little storage and no cargo hold, and even the crew quarters are cramped.

Speed and power are two more factor to consider, and the ship that made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs easily outruns the Mandalorians’ ship. The Falcon’s Class 0.5 hyperdrive is fully twice as fast as that of Imperial warships, while its sublights are heavily modified Girodyne SRB42s that can power it up to 1,050 km/h in-atmosphere. The Slave 1’s three F-31 drive engines can only reach 1,000 km/h in-atmosphere and has a Class 0.7 hyperdrive, making it significantly slower than the Flacon in hyperspace.

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A previous owner of the Falcon installed a main computer made of three salvaged droid brains: an R3 astromech, a V-5 transport droid, and a corporate espionage slicer droid. While they work together in emergencies, the ship is known to have arguments with itself. The exact computer the Slave 1 possesses is unknown, but it probably isn’t schizophrenic.

Overall, one ship isn’t better than the other. The Slave 1 is loaded solid with a wide range of weapons, deadly and nonlethal, and is optimized on the inside secure prisoner detention. It is an unstoppable vessel that can bring capitol ships to their knees and annihilate entire bases in a matter of minutes. The Millennium Falcon is sturdy, hard freighter full of surprises that can destroy fleets of TIEs with a few shots, but its real prowess is its unmatched speed and agility.

So if you prefer runs with little few incidents for impatient crime lords and colossal worms, the Falcon is is the perfect choice, but if you are willing to sacrifice cargo space and comfort for the adrenaline of clashing with squadrons and bringing warships down with a few shots, the Slave 1 should be your flagship.

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Storm vs Thor

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Weapons: Storm has control over the weather and levitation. Thor, being the God of Thunder, has his hammer, Mjolnir, and it’s all he needs. It can create lightening like Storm’s, and hit things really hard. Both can fly, but Thor can fly faster. While Thor can’t create weather like Storm and a hurricane or tornado would probably throw him off, Mjolnir is more powerful.

Defenses/weakness: Storm can create wind and lightening to defend against various attacks, but that can’t stop Mjolnir. Thor has virtually indestructible Asgardian armor and an ultra-dense skeleton, although he probably won’t enjoy being struck by lightening. Nontheless, Thor wins easily due to his immortality.

Skill: Thor knows what he’s doing and is highly skilled with his hammer. Storm as very precise control over her weather manipulation and flight, but her skills are no match for Thor.

Mindset/intentions: Storm works for the X-Men and is doing what she thinks is the best for mutants. Being a warrior rather than a mastermind, Thor tends to focus on the fight at hand rather than the bigger picture. Storm may or may not want Thor alive, depending on what Cyclops told her to do, while Thor just wants to fight it out. Storm wins here.

Use of surroundings: Storm is known to hurl things around with gusts of wind and exploit her surroundings to her advantage. Thor does, too, but less than Storm. The difference is significant enough for Storm get the win–in this category, anyway.

These two aren’t very evenly matched. Thor is immortal (most of the time) and his hammer gives him a lot of power. Storm has the weather at her command, but is vulnerable. She could give Thor a run for his money, but she couldn’t kill him. If all else fails, Thor can tire her out. The fight would be a short one: They would fly around smacking thunderbolts at each other for a while, Storm would probably electrocute Thor, but he would throw his hammer and kill Storm. Thor would be knocked out and injured, but he would walk away victorious.

Batman vs. Vision

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The Caped Crusader vs. the Purple…um…android. Speaks for itself. (Literally and metaphorically).

Weapons: Batman has Batarangs and tons of high-tech weapons in his belt, not to mention his cape/wings. For this fight, he does not have his Batmobile as that would be too much of an advantage. Vision has superhuman strength thanks to his density manipulation and can project a beam of energy from the Mind Stone someone stuck in his forehead. These are very different types of weapons for fighting very different types of bad guys, but both are very effective.

Defenses/weakness: The Dark Night has a nearly impenetrable suit, and can use his cape/wings as a shield. Vision is made of vibranium and can manipulate his density to be nearly indestructible. He can also phase through just about anything. Vision is better here by far, but he has one weakness. More on that later.

Skill: Batman is trained in and masters 127 forms of combat, which he uses to take down lunatic super-villains regularly. Vision is also very skilled with his powers, which is due partly to his programming, but the Dark Night has an edge here.

Mindset/intentions: Batman is fueled by a passive rage at crime in general for the murder of his parents. Once he sets his mind on something, he will get it done. Vision can be somewhat disoriented at times due to only having existed since Age of Ultron, and while he knows what he’s doing, he isn’t entirely sure of the purpose of is existence, not to mention his intentions. Batman easily wins this category.

Use of surroundings: Batman is good at this, but Vision tends to rely on himself and his powers in battles.

Both can fly, but that’s where the similarities end. Vision is powerful and strong, but untested. Batman, media’s most famous detective who has all of DC Comics (Detective Comics) named after him, has been in the game since his childhood. Again, power is up against experience, but this time the newbie is so powerful that even the legendary Bruce Wayne would have trouble staying alive even in his armor, not to mention winning. He will have trouble when his nemesis tries to blow him away with the energy beam. His Batarangs will be useless because of Visions fazing. His armor would protect him from being crushed under Vision’s density, but it wouldn’t stop him from being hurled around by a vibranium android with no intention to let him live. He can use his training and hit home, but Vision wouldn’t even budge. The Caped Crusader has finally met his match.

But Batman has a chance. When Vision reaches a certain density, he is unable to move. Until he lowers his density, Batman can just pluck the Infinity Stone right out of his forehead and take Vision’s power with it. I have absolutely no idea how he would be able to force Vision to take on such a density, but he’s the Dark Night; he’d figure something out. Maybe.

But probably not. Vision would beat the crap out of Batman, and there is not much he can do to use Vision’s weakness against him. As much as I hate to say it, Vision wins. RIP Bruce.

Sidekick Battle: War Machine vs. Winter Soldier

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Weapons: Lieutenant James Rhodes uses his somewhat-legally acquired Iron Man suit. It has various lasers, missiles, projectiles and guns, the most prominent of which is the machine gun/repeating cannon on his shoulder. Bucky Barnes also carries a remarkable amount of guns on various body-parts, as well as grenades, knives and the sniper rifle. And that brings us to the arm. Yeah, that arm. The one that withstood a repulsor blast a point blank range, held it’s ground against Cap’s shield and has beaten the crap out of a lot of unfortunate people over the years. It’s a cybernetic prosthetic with increased strength and reaction speed, near indestructibility and an electric shock feature. As cool as that sounds, War Machine has more firepower, and is better in this category.

Defenses/weakness: The Iron Patriot has a suit that’s *almost* as good as Tony Stark’s. It protects him from virtually anything anyone can throw at him, and saved his life in a thousand-foot free-fall. His weakness is his suit’s heart. Bucky can use his arm as a shield, but it really doesn’t compare. His weakness is his Winter Soldier activation code. War Machine wins again.

Skill: Iron Man’s renegade sidekick is not kidding around with the suit. He has effortless control over it that translates to deadly accuracy on the battlefield. His weakness is that he isn’t good at hand-to-hand combat. Bucky has the cold precision of a Nazi super-soldier. Combined with Russian sniper accuracy and martial arts skill that rival Bruce Lee, he is a force to be reckoned with. The Winter Soldier wins here.

Mindset/intentions: War Machine is a dedicated patriot, and does everything for his country. The Winter Soldier has been a spy, assassin, sniper, commando, and has done every other unsavory job the Nazis had to offer. Even now that he is free of the mind-control, that mindset stuck, and there is nothing Rhodes can do about it. Rhodes has no intention of taking Barnes alive, as he was a Nazi spy. After seeing Bucky fight, I doubt he intends to spare Rhodes. This is a tie, because it’s basically the same mindset with different motives.

Use of Surroundings: War Machine usually stays focused on his armor, and gives little thought to his surroundings. The Winter Soldier on the other hand not only uses the location as a tool, but manipulates it to fit his style.

If we give back Bucky his left arm and Rhodes the use of his legs, or have this battle before the events of Civil War, this is not an easy win for either. War Machine has more firepower, but lacks the close quarters skills. Bucky could evade and block his fire for a while, and would probably make some sort of leap-of-faith onto War Machine’s back, where he wouldn’t be able shoot him. He would probably go for the guns, so he is forced to land and face him hand to hand. This would not slow War Machine down, but Barnes might be able to throw him on the ground long enough to rip off the mask part of the suit, giving him a target to shoot for. War Machine would fly away, then fly straight at Bucky. Bucky wouldn’t miss–he never misses–and he would kill War Machine.

But whether Bucky survives or not is a completely different problem. His main guns may be damaged, but Rhodes still has plenty firepower, not to mention force of impact. Unless Cap shows up to save the day, this fight may be a double-death, and the last we see of the Winter Soldier.

Wolverine vs. Black Panther

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Weapons: Wolverine has his claws and that’s it. Black Panther also only has his claws. Because of their different types of claws, they have very different fighting styles, but neither has a clear advantage.

Defenses: Wolverine has an adamantium skeleton and nearly unlimited regeneration–in the comics, he regenerated from a drop of blood. Black Panther has a nearly indestructible vibranium suit. Adamantium claws probably couldn’t do much damage to vibranium, and Black Panther’s claws couldn’t do too much damage to Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton.

Skill: Both are very skilled fighters, trained in countless forms of combat. As of yet, Black Panther only has one movie, so he hasn’t had a real chance to prove himself yet. We don’t know the full extent of his skill, but he can definitely rival Wolverine.

Mindset: Wolverine knows no limits when it comes to fighting. Black Panther will stop at nothing to avenge his father. Both are passionate about what they believe. Both “use the dark side”–they use their anger to make them stronger.

Use of surroundings: In the finale of X2: X-Men United Wolverine proves that he can use almost any environment to his advantage. Black Panther has the right stuff, and in future movies there is no doubt he will demonstrate similar ingenuity.

These are two excellently matched heroes, but there is a winner. While neither’s weapons can harm the other, Wolverine is immortal. Black Panther can be killed. Wolverine can keep fighting forever, but eventually Black Panther will die. To top it off, Wolverine has been around for a while, and Black Panther is relatively new and inexperienced. The fight would be long and bloody (as all of Wolverine’s fights are), but eventually Wolverine would come out on top, with brute force if nothing else.