Tag Archives: Marvel

2017: In Review

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In case you missed any, these are 8 of my most successful posts this year.

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The Disneyfication of Star Wars. It’s irreversible, but it might not be bad news.

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Marvel vs DC. This one was bound to happen. Justice League further justified the conclusion.

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Why Thrawn is still the best Star Wars villain. Because he is.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race

8 Reasons Why Rock Should Still Be Popular. Because it’s so much better than modern pop.

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How Cats are Turning Us Into Zombies. Read it and it will make more sense.

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Regarding Bigfoot. The worlds greatest hide-and-seek champion, according to a comment I got.

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8 Reasons Why Jedi Are EVIL. An unusual opinion, but logical if you think about it.

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The Last Jedi: Perfect or Terrible? Better than The Empire Strikes Back or worse than Attack of the Clones?

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.

Marvel vs DC

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Since the twenty-first century began, movies started getting more fuss than comics. Marvel adapted to the change quicker than DC, and thus got more attention and popularity. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is far more popular than either the DC Extended Universe or the Arrowverse. This is mostly due to Marvel taking the risk of making The Avengers in 2012. It was a big risk–there were a lot of kinda-popular movies to watch first–but it payed off. DC was left in the dust, and it still hasn’t made Justice League, which is the DC equivalent of The Avengers. While it’s true that it was necessary to kill Superman and introduce Wonder Woman, doing the same only a few years earlier would have been more effective. Nonetheless, DC is still immensely popular among fans, and the fight is on:

Which is better–Marvel or DC?

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The Movies:

The MCU kicked off with ten blockbuster movies and will continue. Outside of the MCU Marvel made eight X-men films, five Spider-Man films, and Hulk 2003. All of them were successes, though a few do have some issues. Meanwhile, DC made only Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, all of which got pretty bad reviews. DC also made the immensely popular Dark Night trilogy and a countless older Superman and Batman movies outside of the DCEU. Marvel has a huge lead in terms of having a common universe for various heroes, but that doesn’t mean that DC can’t be better than Marvel. However in this case it just isn’t. DC’s movie ratings are just plain bad, especially B v S and Suicide Squad. RIP Superman.

Note: Justice League might change this.

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The TV Shows:

DC’s Arrowverse with Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow is great, but it’s not in the DCEU. Marvel’s Agents of Shield, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and so much more are good but really? Arrow and his pals are better. This is just my personal opinion, but then, this whole post is just my opinion.

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The Heroes:

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…Superman!!! You’ve probably heard that a lot. And it’s because DC’s heroes are so iconic–more so then Marvel. Marvel’s heroes in the MCU wear colorful costumes (except the X-Men in their boring black jumpsuits…) and are somewhat idealistic. That’s not to say that Marvel characters don’t have a darker side to them, but take any of them and compare it to Batman, and you’ll see what I mean. Marvel tends to keep dark characters like Daredevil and Punisher in the background, never bringing them into the shared universe, thus keeping the MCU suitable for kids–most of the time (I’m looking at you, Deadpool). Meanwhile DC is not afraid to keep the darkness up front, letting it define movies like The Dark Night, and thus making the movies interesting for older viewers, while keeping them PG-13 (I’m not saying that Marvel is for toddlers; only that it is more so than DC). Nonetheless, Marvel has so many good heroes (Bucky, Black Panther, Spidey…) and they are much more popular than DC’s that I’ll make this one a tie.

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The Universe:

Marvel assembled it’s heroes in a shared universe in 2012, and has introduced so many new heroes to the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy. DC has just started putting together the DCEU, and has two completely different universes that overlap. Marvel is easily better in this category.

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The Legacy:

DC’s movies are scraps of what they could have been. On the other hand, Marvel has tons of long-lost teams of superheroes in the comics that they are yet to bring into the MCU. Marvel will always have an edge with the movies, and DC is yet to shine on the silver screen, but the two are head to head with fans.

So who’s better? The billionare playboy, the idealistic super-soldier, the god of thunder and the big green rage monster, or the last son of Krypton, the Caped Crusader, the Amazonian demigod, the Scarlet Speedster and the King of the Seven Seas? That’s for you to decide.

The Disneyfication of Star Wars

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Disney owns Marvel. Marvel has made over thirty films, with fourteen in the shared universe, and it won’t stop. It works out. Disney gets an insane amount of income, and the fans get a diverse, unpredictable, never-ending universe.

Now Disney owns Star Wars. Until now, Star Wars was a finite series beginning with the return of the Sith and ending with the return of balance. But their never really is balance without darkness. Disney brought about it’s own darkness, and not only in the plot. Predictably, it’s started Marvelifying/Disnifying Star Wars by turning it into an ongoing universe with an untold number of sequels, prequels and anthology films.

Is that a bad thing? Probably not. In the following years, Disney will make a Han Solo solo movie, a Boba Fett spin-off and a Yoda anthology film–and those are only the ones we know about. The crew of The Force Awakens knew it would happen for thirty years prior to its release, so we can only speculate what else there is in stock. People may doubt Disney, but when there’s a new Star Wars movie, they watch it, and Disney will not stop making more.

Both The Force Awakens and Rogue One were hits, but they can’t keep it up for every movie they make. There will be bad movies. But as a whole, Disney can’t harm Star Wars. They know what fans want, and they give it to them (although we’re still waiting for a Mandalorian movie…). Fans have more power over Star Wars than Disney does. Disney is on a short leash, expected to be perfect, and it’s only getting shorter. In the meantime, Star Wars is expanding. So in a way, Star Wars owns Disney.