Ivan

Deadpool and The Joker murder the Bat Family. Bat Mite shows up and turns Deadpool into an overrated one-joke character that people tire of after they hit puberty, and The Joker into an extremely inconsistent and typically ineffectual parody of mental illness. He then rewrites history so that it has always been that way, and also the Bat Family is alive again except for Ace. Oh that Bat Mite.

When the discussion is framed in terms of the character's "cool looks" and how disappointing it is that he doesn't have a dozen badass superpowers, yes, the people having that discussion very much missed the themes and motifs of the narrative in question. The Maxx vs Doc Samson would be an incredibly interesting match- Leonard is one of the best in the business at dealing with abnormal psychology, but does Dave even exist apart from The Maxx anymore? Has years of dealing with Banner's multiple personalities prepared Samson for dealing with someone who has possibly been preternaturally altered by contact with the manifest subconscious of The Outback? I like The Maxx, although I think it doesn't necessarily achieve its ambitious goals and it delves a little too much into the "grease" of iconography (mentioned above.) However, CBUB has this really infuriating habit of stripping characters down to a list of superpowers, rather than enjoying what makes them special and unique. This is why you'll see a dozen matches with Captain Atom from that extremely subpar Countdown storyarc, while Astro City characters don't even appear in the database. I know, I've been preaching the same stuff for a decade, I should learn to just leave you kids to your fun and go discuss comics with grownups on a real comic book site.

Apparently, even the comics were quite confusing to y'all. The comic is about psychology, repression, fatalism, and hopelessness. Apparently all you dudes saw was a big purple man with claws. Frustrating. I should've guessed from the initial post, which praised 90's Image characters as "cool-looking." I'm not trying to be condescending, but imagine you're a chef and you hear someone talk about how Jalapeno Poppers are the best tasting food on the planet. It's frustrating because yeah, bar food can be pretty great when you're drunk, so it's not like the person is 100% wrong, just that they lack creativity, sensitivity, and a reasonable basis for comparison. You're within your rights to think The Maxx looks "badass" but if you don't even get the point of the stories- that's kind of like sucking the grease off the Jalapeno Poppers and leaving the rest.

All fights are debatable. That's the point of this website. Heh. I think the idea that there is a right and a wrong answer based on some kind of (fictionalized) empirical evidence is ridiculous, because, e.g. Gamora has many different versions, some of which are quite a bit above Danny's level (Godslayer + Time Gem = goodbye Iron Fist.)

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Revenge is not heroic. That's such a distorted worldview, one that requires an abject lack of humility to embrace. Yes its cathartic, but kind of the whole point of the Punisher is that his idea of justice doesn't work. Like, at all. He is indiscriminate- he doesn't stop and ask if the "bad guys" have families, he doesn't care. He gets off on murdering the f*ck out of dudes, and his mantra doesn't include considerations about about sparing others from pain. The idea that straight cold murdering someone is ever justified as "what must be done" is morally reprehensible. The Punisher works as an object lesson, but to embrace him as a hero is just f*cked up.

I think Shapeshifting has the most alluring real-world applications.

The Punisher is a hero? I'll admit, in his original incarnation, he was a brilliant contemporary addition, evocative of Marvel trying to cash in on Death Wish and its ilk as much as Iron Fist and Power Man were cash-ins, but with an excellent design and even a level of pathos that most Spidey villains didn't have. But when someone tried to make him a hero, that shit got sloppy. At the end of the day there's no way to root for that. Not just his raison d'etre but his entire modus operandi, the methods in which he often dispatches people as brutally as possible and really enjoys it...cathartic but not heroic, even soldiers (good soldiers) don't act like that. You have to be kind of a total asshole to call the Punisher a "hero" with a straight face. Rick Remender's Punisher followed Matt Fraction's approach where Castle was rocking around the MU again still with his same mission but using the most extreme methods available to him to do so, eg instead of an AK47 he might have a Satan's Claw, and suffering the consequences for that craziness. Aaron's run was closer to Dixon or Grant or Ennis in that they keep the Punisher one dimensional and make him the villain in his own comic, an unstoppable killing machine and... that's about it. It's just... how is this an acceptable model of "hero" in anyone's sense of the word? A person who says the Punisher is a hero deserves to MEET someone who acts like The Punisher in real life. It might keep them from creating threads like "I read a comic called Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe and it sucked because of all the scenes where Punisher Killed the Marvel Universe" (Yes, this was an actual CBUB thread.) Bottom line: If you think the Punisher is a hero, you don't know what a hero is. Go back to pokeschool.

Superheroes are often parsed as an extension of adolescent power fantasies. As the first generation raised after the advent of birth control, a large section of the population grew up as the most wanted children in history, each and every one of whom was raised to believe he or she is wonderful, special, and unique. As you are confronted with the harsh reality that no, you're not special, you retreat into worlds of fiction, seeking validation, yearning for a justification for your vanity and anti-social behavior. The popularity of selfish, jackass characters like Iron Man and Wolverine is a testament to this generation's vain, feckless search for identity. Also, yeah, they have cool powers. Seriously though, dude, the are entire textbooks written on this subject. One popular choice is Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America by Bradford W. Wright. It should be pretty easy to find.

Ted Kord destroys the Control Metal with one shot, and still has time to crack wise about your mother. Wait, did you mean Jaime Reyes, that wannabe Blue Beetle? Where is the "All Mangled and Killed" button?

If you can find that guy, feel free to ask him for permission. Please don't invite him to the new FPL, though.

In that case you are definitely not someone I have any strong feelings about. The only reason I closed that thread is that I am not a fan of "Ivan" being used in any context. It's just a screen name, and there have been times in the past when "Ivan" was treated as everyone's favorite boogeyman- blamed for everything from script errors to inclement weather. Ivan is just a dude from the FPL.

What version of Brainiac would lose to Deathstroke? None that I'm aware of.

That is what happens when someone leaves for a legitimate reason- they just go. Announcing you are leaving is waving a "pay attention to me" flag. If the reason is legit, you just peace out, and let us know about it when (if) you come back. I don't really know who DamagingRob is- he claims we've "butted heads" in the past but honestly I don't recall ever seeing that user name- are you using an alt? I'm being nice and keeping my opinions to myself. Please not use "Ivan" or "BlueDream" in any CBUB related anything, ever. Just to address it here, there is also a standing moratorium on using the name "serge." Any other name, contact that individual to request permission.

Looks like someone forgot the rules of CBUB CBUB rule #6: DBZ always loses. Always. (Not to be confused with CBUB rule #31: TeamFourStar stuff is actually pretty funny.)

Fixed.

That's like River's whole deal. She's a "creature of extraordinary grace." There's this whole recurring thing about River being a dancer. Simon mentions it several times in the series, and in the intro to Serenity. "She always did love to dance." In the DVD commentary, Joss says that Summer Glau's fight choreography was specifically designed to take advantage of the actress' dance training. Yes, River is a dancer.

Pseudonym apparently never saw Serenity.

I'm not behind anything. Alison is one of the five best dancers in fiction. I don't know if Fred Astaire would be allowed or not, but- as that link proves- he appeared in Action #1, which is kind of the holy grail of comics.

If anything Qfmtlt is a 5th Dimensional Imp

5. Dancer (FF Tactics) 4. Esmeralda (Hunchback of Notre Dame) 3. Dazzler (Marvel Comics) 2. River Tam (Firefly) 1. Fred Astaire ("Fred Astaire Was The Best Dancer of All Time" -Michael Jackson.)

I believe Psylocke's Telepathy/Telekinesis works as kind of an either/or thing, doesn't it? I mean, isn't that part of her deal is that she usually can do one or the other, but not both at the same time? I may be wrong, but if that is the case, Mantis can provide enough of a Telepathic distraction to get in close, and then it's over. Also in a group situation Psylocke would likely recognize Mystique and Deathstrike as "enemies" immediately, and move against them first, giving Mantis an opening. Elektra would target Bullseye, X-23 and Deathstrike would go straight for each other, Widow would tactically retreat, drawing Shuri away from the group to pick her off, and Mystique would likely run away.

Layla Miller. It's perfect- using her abilities on a galactic scale means she will resurrect all the residents of the planets she's consuming, and they'll all become soulless, self-serving sociopaths. It's an Objectivist utopia.

Put Moondragon on the list and she'll crush Mantis AND Psylocke! Yay Moondragon! I do think Mantis could handle Psylocke. Even without powers, Shuri doesn't belong on the list. That's like bringing Bucky to a Cap/Iron Fist/Daredevil fight.

Luna, Alice, Six, and Tigress all have skills and powers that make any normal human pretty much worthless, and you want to put them against a smurf and a talking iguana. Your "unfair" argument is invalid.

Hey agustinaldo, I fixed your post for you. Also, the answer is Abby from Hobo with a Shotgun. Or Sif.