Who Would Win?

A standard challenge for the geek communities is to pit two characters from different franchises against each other and then debate who would win in such a battle. The Magazine 'Wizard' did this fairly regularly and there is a series of youtube videos called 'Death Battle' that do this. There is also a card game based off this concept, called 'Superfight'. These debates can get really intense and detailed, as we geeks have way too much knowledge of our characters at times. I have seen some people get way too passionate about, overwhelmed with certain biases that make it hard to have real debates with them.

Sometimes these can get really crazy.

At Denver Comic Con a few years ago Larry Hama was there. He is famous in the comic book world for basically creating G.I.JOE as we know it today, having written most of the original run of the Marvel Comic Book. He also wrote Wolverine for a time.  On his table he had a sign going over commonly asked questions, one was 'Who would win between Snake-Eyes and Wolverine'. His answer was 'The one with the metal claws and skeleton and healing factor'. It was fairly obvious he had been presented with the question many times and I would bet anything there were those who would defend Snake-Eyes being the victor in such a battle.

At another Denver Comic Con, my oldest son actually asked Weird Al Yankovic to settle a dispute between him and his friend over who would win, Captain America or Lara Croft. Al asked a few simple clarification questions and went with Cap. And somehow that settled it. We now know that Weird Al is the final say in all such disputes.

I have many times had to defend the idea that the Millennium Falcon could take out the majority of the various versions of the Enterprise. And having done my research, I know way more the working of those vehicles than one would think possible.

While these debates can be fun and all, one aspect that too often is ignored is the story. While the power levels and abilities are something to look at, as a writer it is much more important to make sure there is a story for such battles. Give me the two characters who are to fight and then tell me who is to win, and I will write a story that will make that happen.

Marvel comics has the series 'The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'. In it Squirrel Girl is able to beat the biggest, baddest Marvel super villains. Dr. Doom, Thanos, and even Galactus have fallen to her. Yet the whole concept of her character is really silly. She is a human with squirrel like abilities as well as being able to talk to squirrels. She was created as a joke, but somehow has become a character with an odd cult following. I remember her first appearance, which was nothing special, just silly. It is a comic that should be in the dollar bins, but due to her being in it has become sought after. The writers have to figure out how she can beat villains who are undeniably more powerful than her and should be able to destroy her in a heartbeat. All the logic and reasoning used in the basic challenges are thrown out in order to make the story work for what it needs to be.

And that is what it all comes down to. The early mentioned Snake-Eyes vs Wolverine fight has already been shown in the comics to not be clean cut. Wolverine has lost several times to the Punisher, who has less fighting skills than Snake-Eyes. If the story requires Punisher to win, then he will find a way to win. The burden falls on the writer to figure out how to make that happen in a believable way.

If need be, I might be able to work out some really outrageous plot where Han Solo makes a mistake and somehow Captain Kirk is able to make the Enterprise function in a way we've never seen before that would allow it to win the fight. I think I am a good enough writer to put together a story for that.