DOPPELGANGER, SHRIEK & CARNAGE versus SPIDER-MAN, CLOAK & DAGGER

Darklight: Maximum Carnage, Part 2 (Marvel)
Where: Web of Spider-Man #101 When: June 1993 Why: Terry Kavanagh How: Alex Saviuk

The Story So Far...
Incarceration in the Ravencroft Institute's maximum security facility proved a temporary stay when serial killer Cletus Kasady was reunited with his alien symbiote.

Carnage's escape from Ravencroft was a total bloodbath, but not everyone who crossed his path that day was part of the massacre. He found a kindred spirit in the villainess Shriek, forging a homicidal relationship that soon became a family with the adoption of the six-armed, razor-fanged Doppelganger!

News of the escape prompts Spider-Man to take to the New York City skyline, but a chance encounter with Shriek & Doppelganger leaves the web-slinger worse for wear at the bottom of a building! Rescued by Cloak & Dagger, the web-slinger has much needed back-up as the villains close-in for Round 2!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Carnage 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Spider-Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Spider-Man 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Carnage 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Cloak 7 (Intangible)
Fighting: Doppelganger 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Shriek 5 (Lasers)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

The sides may be even at three-on-three, but the differences separating today's two forces makes this a match-up with many sides to consider!

Our Tape rates Spider-Man the strongest player thanks to his versatile skill set of strength, speed, agility, and intellect. However, he's already done this dance with Doppelganger & Shriek, and come off second-best in Spider-Man Unlimited #1! That means Spidey's coming in with a loss and some busted ribs!

Cloak & Dagger are guardian angels in Spidey's time of need. Old friends to the wallcrawler, they're Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen: Teen runaways who were experimented on by Maggia scientists and gained incredible powers!

Cloak became a conduit for the Darkforce, creating an endless black void within the folds of his cloak. Those caught in its abyss will be drained of life and driven to terror or madness. This dark hunger can also be sated by the equal opposite Lightforce wielded by Dagger! The former dancer can channel her light into daggers for projectiles, purifying, or illumination.

We saw Cloak test his power against Thanos during a moment of hope in Infinity Gauntlet #4. We'll also learn of his history with Shriek through the course of this battle, which drove her insane. Spider-Man, Cloak & Dagger should be able to match the sonic shockwaves and savagery of Shriek & Doppelganger, but the late arriving third part of their trio could cause some problems!

Cletus Kasady is a homicidal maniac who happened to share a cell with Eddie Brock and received the seed of his alien symbiote's offspring. The resulting bond was Carnage: a deadly red counterpart to Venom with a penchant for forming sharp constructs with his suit, such as axes and spear-like tendrils!

Carnage shares a similar super-human strength to Venom, with a more agile frame. This, combined with his taste for serial killing, has made him a deadly enough villain to force Venom and Spider-Man to put their own issues aside. A necessity that will eventually bring Carnage down in Spider-Man Ulimited #2.

Carnage has the same vulnerability to intense sound and heat as Venom, which could make Dagger a difference maker in this battle. Shriek's sonic powers are a risk to Carnage as well, but without an unforeseen incident, her attack range can provide an invaluable defense. Let's jump in and see what happened.

The Tape: Spider-Man, Cloak & Dagger Ranking: Spider-Man (#2)

What Went Down...
Stars fill the Holy Ghost Church as the pain of two fractured ribs being reset ripples through Spider-Man's body. Cloak and Dagger tend to the webhead's injuries, but it's only a temporary measure. It'll have to do. Suddenly a blaring signal replaces the pain as Spider-Man's senses detect incoming danger!

Spidey springs to his feet, narrowly avoiding a stream of razor-barbed webbing as his Doppelganger smashes through the church window!

The web-slinger gives his allies a quick crash course in his evil duplicate's M.O. before the church is struck with a massive wave of sound! Beams topple around all four occupants as the roof partially collapses and Shriek arrives!

Doppelganger purrs as his surrogate mother strokes his head and plots the demise of the heroes -- but they aren't buried beneath the rubble as she thinks! Cloak was able to teleport them away at the last second thanks to another tip-off from friendly neighbourhood spider-senses!

Doppelganger grapples with Spidey, while Cloak reacquaints himself with the familiar one-time downtown drug dealer Shriek. She thanks him for introducing her to madness by unleashing her sonic powers against his great ebon void!

Dagger does her best to shackles the wild Doppelganger as he slams Spider-Man hard into the ground with his extra limbs, but Cloak's cries draw her attention! The eerie expanse of his cape magnifies Shriek's masterfully fired sonic blasts like an agony-inducing echo chamber!

Spidey takes care of himself, webbing up Doppelganger's slashing talons before socking him in the mouth with a stiff left jab! Meanwhile, Dagger draws Shriek's attention with a spray of light shots. Only one is on target, but Shriek's sound blasting hands absorb the blow. She re-directs her blast at Dagger!

The battle between light and sound stands at an effective stalemate. Cloak uses the opportunity to attack Doppelganger from behind, snaring him in the living folds of fabric that are his impressive namesake as Spidey hits an uppercut!

The momentary advantage pales as the church doors fly open and a nameless gangster's limp body announces the arrival of Carnage!

Jagged streams of alien symbiote extend from his hands in an effort to pull his sick "family" out of harm's way. Dagger persists in her attempts to fire light shards at Shriek, provoking a savage response from Doppelganger, who protectively fires razor-webbing at her. Cloak steps in to effortlessly absorb it.

Spider-Man attempts to pacify the situation by webbing Shriek's hands and her mouth, but it's for naught. Sonic waves blast the web away, while Carnage goes on the offensive once again, sending ever growing tendrils from his fingers to chase the scrambling wall-crawler!

Carnage sends his pointed fingers over Spider-Man and into the church wall,  trapping him against the church wall like a helpless bug in a cage!

Meanwhile, Shriek attacks the ground beneath Dagger's feet, and Doppelganger spews more razor-webbing at Cloak! The situation looks dire for the heroes, but Spider-Man leans into the situation -- plunging directly at Carnage with his fist extended! A devastating missile dive that stuns the symbiote!

Dagger intervenes to cut through Doppelganger's webbing, while Cloak again descends upon Shriek and engulfs her in his cape!

The trap is temporary. Shriek scrambles clear of the fabric-bound abyss, citing her past trip through insanity as a means to walk through it. Cloak never the less puts his impressive folds between the villains and Dagger again, while his soulmate burns away razor-webbing coiled around her ankle. The defense leaves Cloak vulnerable to another devastating blast of sonic energy!

Things soon turn sour for Spider-Man, too. He wails away with unrelenting left and right punches to the downed Carnage's face, but the living costume that covers his body soon comes to the fore. A huge, jagged prong launches from Carnage's torso -- smashing through Spider-Man's injured ribs!

With pain rippling through his body, Spider-Man desperately uses a flying kick to the face to try to put some distance between he and Carnage.

Distance is no barrier for Shriek, whose efforts to finish Cloak are only stopped by Dagger standing in her way. Light shields absorb the powerful stream of targeted sonic energy, but Shriek's madness only fuels her growing power! She aims to repay Cloak for driving her insane. As Dagger begins to weaken, Cloak is too weak to come to her aide. Inevitably, a killing blow is struck!

Dagger screams as unfiltered sonic blasts rip through her body! Spider-Man attempts to shield Cloak as the heroine explodes in a dazzling column of light!

The explosion of light is enough to knock Shriek and the heroes mutually off their feet, but Carnage still stands!

Unsympathetic, he slaps his would-be bride for daring to finish-off his nemesis Spider-Man. Forgiveness comes as soon as anger. The pair collect Doppelganger and make their exit through the roof to spread more murder across New York.

In the rubble of the church, Spider-Man slowly comes to. Cloak is already up, searching for Dagger when Spider-Man illuminates the devastating truth: Dagger is dead.

The Hammer...
There's good news, and there's bad news...

The good news is: Dagger isn't really dead! She was merely rattled so severely her body dissipated into pure particles of light. She'll pull herself together just in time to make a triumphant return towards the end of Maximum Carnage. Yay!

The bad news is: It doesn't much matter for the heroes in Part 2!

Shriek, Carnage, and Doppelganger gave the good guys a whooping that will keep 'em hurting throughout most of the 14-part crossover. A hurtin' that actually began with Part 1, in Spider-Man Unlimited #1, where Doppelganger kicked Spidey clean off a rooftop, and into a gang-infested alley!

For Cloak: the real pain is psychological. His anguish over Dagger's apparent death made Part 2 one of the most resonant for me over the intervening years. A lot of characters will come and go throughout this saga, but I would speculate none of them is as convincingly affected by events as Cloak (and Dagger).

At some point I hope to double-back to the start of the issue to highlight Cloak & Dagger's big entrance, as well. It's a pretty straight forward fight with the gang descending on injured Spidey, but it participates in a nice pair of bookends that make Web of Spider-Man #101 a memorable Cloak & Dagger read.

Artist Alex Saviuk deserves credit for getting the emotional core across with his pencils. Cloak howling his partner's name is a lasting image from the time. Right up there with the first time Wolverine popped his bone claws in Wolverine #75. There are quite a few iconic images in this issue. Some of them are included above, and you might remember a couple from the popular 16-bit video game.

Because Maximum Carnage was a crossover with the various Spider-Man titles of the time, there were several artists involved. Guys like Mark Bagley, Ron Lim, and the inimitable Sal Buscema contributed some very memorable scenes. Because of their varying legacies I think Saviuk is actually a little underrated.

I'm tempted to say an early issue like this is more essential than reading the entirety of  the Maximum Carnage saga. I'm aware that some of that might be downplaying the spectacle of it all, and come from the luxury of having lived with the story without examining its finer details in quite a while.

I have to admit to absorbing a little bit of the culture cringe that built up around Venom and Carnage, too. Their function can become base and uninspired, but I was certainly all-in when Maximum Carnage hit shelves back in 1993!

This was actually one of the first crossover events I made any real effort to acquire in its entirety as it was released. This was a time when comic purchases were made on a whim, grabbed from whatever assortment a nearby newsagent was carrying while out and about. Trips to the comic store proper were more infrequent, and with no real purpose, making assembling significant numbers of issues from a single run something of a feat of divining.

The lure of a Spider-Man event on stands was an easy sell. It was already a front runner for a casual pickup. The eventual accumulation of unusual allies proved an effective novelty worth pursuing.

Black Cat and Venom had history as friends & foes of Spidey, but it wasn't often you'd see the likes of Captain America, Morbius, Deathlok, and Iron Fist working together. It had a similar appeal to Acts of Vengeance a few years earlier, with a more pointed story like the similarly grim mini-crossover of Spirits of Venom.

I guess it was a renewed period for oddball crossovers at Marvel. That same year they would further challenge the notion of rigid divides with the cult series Secret Defenders. Slapdash team-ups can be a lot of fun, but go to that well too many times and it all starts to feel a little bit meaningless. Maximum Carnage walked a fine line of natural storytelling and weird mash-ups.

If you want to dive in and experience the entire story for yourself you can pick up the collected Amazing Spider-Man Epic: Maximum Carnage! By shopping using the Amazon link provided [embedded right] you'll help the site achieve symbiosis with Amazon's support program at no extra cost to you!

You can also track through more featured fights from the story by following relevant links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive! There you'll find a complete index of all past and present battles ordered by publisher, series, and issue.

You can also follow Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook to get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day. Be sure to like and share your favourite face-offs!

Winners: Shriek, Carnage & Doppelganger
#176 (+286) Shriek
#105 (+99) Doppelganger
#380 (+269) Carnage (Cletus Kasady)
#2 (--) Spider-Man
#902 (-285) Dagger
#930 (-24) Cloak

HELLFIRE CLUB versus X-MEN

Salvation (Marvel)
Where: Uncanny X-Men #209 When: September 1985 Why: Chris Claremont How: John Romita Jr & P Craig Russel

The Story So Far...
Tensions between the Hellfire Club and X-Men reach breaking point when the X-Man of the future, Rachel Summers, infiltrates the Inner Circle to avenge a fallen comrade by assassinating their Black Queen!

The attempt on Selene's life ends with a killing blow, but it's Wolverine executing lethal force against the renegade Summers. True to her mantle as Phoenix, however, the young mutant refuses to die, sending the Hellfire Club on a hunt for the wounded girl in Central Park!

The X-Men engage the Inner Circle in a battle for their teammate, but they aren't the only interested parties! As the heroes struggle to stay above ground, another threat descends from the sky: the Sentinel of the future - Nimrod!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Colossus 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Selene 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Nightcrawler 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Sebastian Shaw 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Nightcrawler 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Storm 5 (Lasers)
Total: Wolverine 26 (Metahuman)

The Hellfire Club are: "Black King" Sebastian Shaw, "Black Queen" Selene, "Black Bishop" Harry Leland, "Black Rook" Friedrich von Roehm, and Tessa.

Representing the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, these are some of the most powerful representatives of the venerated and clandestine organization.

The only member to have appeared previously in our record is the rotund Harry Leland. His mutant ability to inflict dramatic gravitational fields famously sent Wolverine plunging through a building and into the sewers in X-Men #132.

Sebastian Shaw can absorb kinetic energy directed at his body and convert it into a source of increased super-human strength and durability. Direct attacks literally make him stronger, making him a difficult opponent to contend with!

Selene combines vast mutant gifts with the knowledge of ancient magic. By draining the lifeforce of others she can extend her life and enhance her strength & powers. She's a powerful telepath able to influence others, generate psionic bolts, pyrokinetic fire, and telekinesis. She can also manipulate inanimate objects to make them do her bidding!

Selene also holds sway over Friedrich von Roehm, whose bloodline is tainted with that of the werewolf! Unlike usual lycanthropes, he relies on the mental powers of Selene to trigger his transformation. This grants him increased strength, speed, agility, and claws, but also reduces him to a feral state.

The X-Men are: Storm, Shadowcat, Rogue, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Phoenix, with Callisto and Caliban.

Recent events have left the team in pretty bad shape! When we join the fight there are only two X-Men still active on the battlefield. Team leader Storm is one of them, but even she's lost the use of her mutant weather powers from a prior incident. Shadowcat is by her side - one of the few ready for action.

Wolverine is still recovering from his battle with The Reavers, as well as a very recent attempt to kill Rachel Summers, who was on a murderous warpath with her Phoenix power. She's clinging to life somewhere nearby, but Wolverine is still back at base in the Morlock tunnels, having missed last issue's skirmish.

Rogue took the brunt of the lead-in battle and accidentally absorbed the powers of Colossus while trying to save him from being plunged deep into the Earth! The last time Rogue enhanced her strength with Colossus' power she was able to take down Nimrod! That's a pertinent example of her might after permanently acquiring the powers of Ms Marvel.

With flight, Rogue can be evasive while striking at the strongest members of the Hellfire Club. Wolverine and Nightcrawler may've been jumped by the Inner Circle in X-Men #132, but Wolvie got his revenge against their masked guards in X-Men #133! They can handle the likes of Von Roehm and lingering minions.

If Phoenix gets in the game she can neutralize Selene, but recent history might just turn her against the X-Men! Tip the scales and the X-Men are in serious trouble! We saw a similar line-up upset by Deathstroke and Parademons during a DC crossover in Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans #1! Let's see...

The Tape: X-Men Ranking: Wolverine (#4)

What Went Down...
The cold mechanical visage of Nimrod hovers silently over Central Park like a spectre of death. The assembled combatants can only watch in awe as they anticipate the inevitable fight for their lives that awaits!

Somewhere across the battlefield, Rachel Summers stirs, clinging desperately to consciousness in a bid to aide her friends. Storm and Shadowcat are the lone X-Men still standing, surrounded by hostile members of the Hellfire Club.

Despite their predicament, Storm smiles wryly as the ground begins to tremble beneath her feet. Her mutant weather powers have been lost, but she doesn't need them to know the vengeful storm front rising from the depths!

Rogue's return stuns the Black Bishop responsible for her quest to the depths and sends the Hellfire Club scrambling! Storm takes the opportunity to order Shadowcat to phase down to the lower depths where Colossus is still trapped under the heavy weight of Harry Leland's gravitational powers.

Storm doesn't notice the masked Hellfire Club snipers gathering in the surrounding bushes -- but Callisto does! The morlock dives to knock Storm clear of the shot. Nightcrawler and Wolverine teleport in at just the right time to reacquaint themselves with their old enemies. The guardsmen run!

With a shower of turf clearing: Sebsatian Shaw charges at Rogue, undeterred by the doubled-strength she gained by absorbing Colossus' power! She narrowly avoids his punch, leaving a nearby oak to snap under its impact!

Rogue knows she can't use force to stop Shaw, but she can redirect his power toward another threat. She launches him across the battlefield on a collision course with Nimrod! The Sentinel of the future is prepared!

Nimrod is able to "reverse [the] target's gravimetric polarity" before he makes impact -- repelling the Black King from the very surface of the planet!

Delighted at her rival's plight; The Black Queen attempts to curtail Nimrod's advances with her ability to manipulate inanimate matter.

Shocked to find she has no effect on the robot's body, Selene resorts to wrenching boulders from the earth to destroy it. Once again futuristic processors analyze the threat and neutralize it - reducing the great rocks to slag with a beam fired from Nimrod's chest!

X-Men and Hellfire Club pause to contemplate the eerie robot alike. Callisto tests the sniper's high-tech weaponry on the robot, but it leaves little more than a scratch! Enough to encourage Storm to propose a team-up with her enemies.

Friedrich von Roehm violently rejects the proposal -- launching himself at Storm with the savage fury of a beast!

The Black Rook takes the X-Men's leader to ground, but is swiftly swatted away by the back of Wolverine's fist!

Von Roehm locks his eyes on Wolverine with grit teeth and readies to answer the challenge. Once again he launches himself, ready to test claw against claw -- until a massive beam of energy consumes him in mid-air!

What lands is a mere pile of disintegrated ash! Nimrod takes Rook!

Storm reiterates her proposal for an alliance with the Hellfire Club - appealing to the remaining membership's survival instincts, while Rogue engages Nimrod in the sky above. For a moment the heavens whip her with sudden wind and rain!

The last time Rogue absorbed the mutant power of Colossus she was able to defeat Nimrod. Before she can attempt another miraculous victory -- the borrowed organic steel of her skin begins to fade! It's all she can do to keep ahead of Nimrod's energy blasts! A deadly game of keep-away with one inevitable outcome!

The Sentinel of the future tracks Rogue's movements and calculates a course based on velocity and maneuverability. There's nothing she can do as the air before her is filled with a "shockweb". She fries in a dazzling explosion of light that leaves her plummeting back to earth, unconscious and smoldering.

The dramatic demonstration is enough to persuade Selene, Harry Leland, and Tessa to accept Storm's offer.

The Hammer...

Until an alliance is reached between the X-Men and Hellfire Club, there are technically three factions acting upon today's battle -- all equally hostile to each other! That makes lodging the result a little trickier than usual, but a clean conclusion can be reached...

The majority of casualties in today's battle were suffered by the Hellfire Club, but they aren't alone in defeat. The X-Men were either ineffectual, or as in the case with Rogue, trounced by the futuristic weaponry of Nimrod! Victory therefore belongs to the time travelling killer robot.

You could reasonably argue that Uncanny X-Men #209 contains a single continuous battle beyond what's described above. There is, however, a very distinct break in the action that allows the dynamic to be completely redrafted.

Round 2 begins anew when the surviving forces unite to engage Nimrod. Or Round 3, as it were, given this all began in the issue prior. At some point in the future we'll take a closer look at what went down.

Forgive me if I now give in to the temptation to shout: "It's Nimrod!!"

If you're a fan of the nineties X-Men cartoon you'll probably understand where I'm coming from. There were a lot of quotable lines to come out of that wonderful show. The over-the-top identification of Nimrod comes from the first half of their unique Days of Future Past two-parter. It's a little Mugatu in its blunt declaration of the obvious, but it works in context.

Nostalgia has weighed heavily on the X-Men for a long time now. The commercial highs of the nineties seem very visible at the moment, but the franchise arguably struggles most with the source material that inspired the cartoon. That seems true of the future-set Powers of X, which showed its hand with new character designs that promised the return of something like Nimrod.

In the past I've regarded nostalgic regression as a bad thing for the X-Men, but after a decade of mediocrity and brand assassination, this seems like a reset that's overdue. It's a reinvestment in what's good about the X-Men, rather than the ill timed rehashing of past reboots, like Whedon's slide-inducing Astonishing.

There's something oh-so deliciously eighties about Nimrod. He's a marshmallow of a Sentinel, what with his big, white, ill defined humanoid body, and hot pink highlights. A character that could be a source for ridicule - if he wasn't so successfully defined as a credible threat in appearances like today's battle, and the earlier confrontation of Uncanny #194.

Nimrod was arguably played out by the time he merged with Master Mold to make Bastion in the late nineties (or whatever that was about), but now that we've now caught up to the dreaded events of Days of Future Past and it's Sentinel ravaged future of 2013 means there's fresh perspective. Treating that once looming threat at present-day is an exciting prospect. Timeline be damned.

Chris Claremont's collaborations with John Romita Jr arguably rival his earlier works with Byrne. There's obviously a tremendous debt of reference owed, but out of that comes a refinement, and loose change in style that I really enjoy.

I love the livewire approach evident in the plotting of this run of mid-eighties issues. Nimrod lingers as a developing sub-plot that occasionally comes to the fore, while a strong lineup of X-Men deals with threats like the Hellfire Club, and their own internal conflicts. It doesn't make for a strong, singular tome like Days of Future Past, but it exploits the serial nature of comic books thrillingly.

The face-off between Wolverine and Rachel Summers in the issues leading to today's fight is really something to behold! Gritty, urgent images from JRjr radiate off the page. It's still a little herky-jerky in the initiation of certain events, but the fact that so many other ideas are firing and layered into the flow of events only enhances the reality of a character like Nimrod.

It's a pretty great time for the occasionally inconsistent X-Men lineup, too!

Rogue will arguably reach another gear as the Jim Lee pinup of the nineties, but better stands out as an MVP during this period of mid-eighties punkish, brooding growth. The brash icon she'll become is earned in these issues where she's still developing into the fullest potential of her powers, and her role as a hero.

Her ability to absorb the powers of teammates like Nightcrawler and Colossus is a winning visual-concept with an all-time cool-factor!

The fact steel-skin Rogue is reprised so quickly after #194 shows they knew what they had. The gimmick becomes a dramatic tool in this issue, triggered inadvertently as Rogue tries to save Colossus from his sinking fate. It comes a bonus sugar rush. The kind of idea you love to see, but a writer can't go to every time -- no matter how much they want to! Restraint keeps it special.

I actually pulled this issue out in the hopes of talking more about Colossus, but it looks like that will just have to wait until next time!

If you want to get more from the X-Men and characters featured today, you should follow links throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive for a full index of featured fights ordered by publisher, series, and issue number!

At the time of this writing it's been difficult to find a collected edition containing Uncanny X-Men #209. The black & white Essential X-Men Vol.6 is tough to find, but if you do any shopping via the Amazon affiliate link provided, you'll help support the site at no extra cost to you!

You can also get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook! Be sure to like and share your favourite fights!

Winner: Nimrod
#348 (+257) Nimrod [+1 kill]
#49 (--) Storm
#349 (-39) Harry Leland
#885 (new) Callisto
#886 (new) Selene
#887 (new) Sebastian Shaw
#888 (new) Friedrich von Roehm
#889 (new) Tessa (Sage)
#4 (--) Wolverine [+1 assist]
#890 (-5) Nightcrawler [+1 assist]

HUO LI versus SHANG-CHI

Once Upon a Time in Wan Chai (Marvel)
Where: Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu One-Shot (B&W) #1 When: November 2009 Why: Mike Benson How: Tomm Coker & CP Smith

The Story So Far...
Shang-Chi is no stranger to the watchful gaze of unseen enemies. Over the course of two days in Hong Kong, he has felt the lingering presence of a cold stare at his back.

As ally to MI-6, Shang-Chi has amassed many nemeses while striking against the global criminal organizations employed by his father - the villainous Dr. Fu Manchu!

This mysterious watcher has come to test Shang-Chi's renowned mastery of kung fu, but his reasons for the challenge run much deeper than mere martial supremacy. Once again the past has come back to prey upon the master of kung fu, but this time the blood ties belong to the man called Huo Li!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Shang-Chi 2 (Average)
Intelligence: Shang-Chi 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Shang-Chi 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Shang-Chi 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Shang-Chi 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Shang-Chi 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)
Total: Shang-Chi 24 (Champion)

We've got ourselves a kung fu grudge match as we finally explore an overdue corner of the martial Marvel Universe! We've seen colourful combatants like Iron Fist and Daredevil, but this time it's not about super-powers -- just fighting!

Huo Li made his first appearance in today's story, but through the course of the battle it becomes apparent he has deep familial ties to a mercenary who once worked for Fu Manchu. This is self-evident in the unique three-bladed sword he inherited from his father, Death-Dealer, whose immolation he aims to avenge!

Huo Li has dedicated his life to training as a martial artist and swordsman, making him an incredibly confident and competent assassin. He'll also demonstrate some measure of honor, arming his opponent for a degree of fair combat. Is that enough to overcome a Master of Kung Fu?

We recorded Shang-Chi as part of the zombie horde seen in Marvel Zombies #1, but this is his first featured fight on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths.

As the star of the Master of Kung Fu series: Shang-Chi was introduced as the son of Sax Rohmer's literary creation Fu Manchu, and an American woman chosen for beneficial genetic characteristics.

From birth, Shang-Chi was trained intensively in various techniques and disciplines of martial arts, honing him into a living weapon! When he learned his father was not the hero he claimed to be, Shang-Chi swore to use these skills to destroy his father's evil empire.

He's said to be one of the Marvel Universe's greatest fighters, but could this be the blood feud that brings him unstuck? It's time to put the claim to the test!

The Tape: Shang-Chi Ranking: Draw (Not Ranked)

What Went Down...
His senses already on alert: Shang-Chi is drawn to something lurking in the shadows of a nearby alley. He crosses into its darkness and finds a man whose presence he has felt for the two days he's been walking Hong Kong's streets.

The unfamiliar figure, shirtless with clenched fists, says he has heard of Shang-Chi's prowess as a great "living weapon". He intends to test him. They fight!

First blood goes to the mystery man as he connects with a kick to the face!

The blow sends Shang-Chi flying backwards, but he twists his body and rolls with it to regain an upright stance. He warns his new opponent of the mistake he's made. Now he'll find out just how good The Master of Kung Fu really is!

The mystery man moves forward with a confident right fist, but this time Shang-Chi blocks the blow with an open left palm. In one fluid motion he thrusts his right fist into the attacker's abdomen and strikes with a left-hand claw!

Escalating attacks push the attacker to unleash something truly explosive. His body bends back, distancing his face from the claw strike's path while his left foot rises rapidly to catch Shang-Chi with another launching kick!

Shang-Chi lands hard on nearby steps well aware that his opponent is truly an excellent fighter who has overcome pride of self.

The Master of Kung Fu restores his vertical base but rather than leaping into another attack - he vaults straight over his opponent to make for a fire escape ladder. His opponent makes chase, scrambling behind towards the rooftops.

The two warriors meet on equal footing topside. As they gaze at one another in a stance of readiness, the fighter reveals himself as Huo Li: the man who will end Shang-Chi's life in the name of vengeance! With that, he tosses Shang-Chi a sword and reveals the three blades of his father's weapon. It reveals everything there is to know. He is the son of an old foe: The Death-Dealer!

As Shang-Chi contemplates his old adversary, his newest one drives him back with the triple blade. It pushes him toward a skylight and sends him plummeting into the light soaked dive of the karaoke bar below!

Huo Li drops down behind him, but Shang-Chi scrambles clear of the plunging blades. He bumps into nearby patrons and springs back with a thrusting kick!

Remembering Death-Dealer's demise, The Master of Kung Fu gives his opponent a chance to end it. To walk away without dishonor. The vengeful swordsman declines. This fight is the culmination of his life's training. He will not back down.

Shang-Chi avoids a swing of the three pronged blade and presses toward the attacking arm shoulder first. His next move disarms Huo Li with a backwards thrust of his elbow. The base of his foot meets Huo Li's face next. Then stomps with a hard heel to an exposed calf muscle. Huo Li can do nothing.

With his sword pointed directly at his opponent, Shang-Chi makes a choice. He could not spare Death-Dealer's life, but he can spare the son's. He drops the sword and imparts clarity: "I understand your need for revenge. Just know this is a road that ends in death. And it will not be mine."

Shang-Chi walks away in victory, accepting that they will one day meet again.

The Hammer...
When anybody asks me to explain Shang-Chi, I usually just tell them he's Marvel's answer to Bruce Lee. It feels like an over-simplification, but in the case of today's story - it's never been more apt. Just look at that rendering!

Tomm Coker and CP Smith make no bones about depicting Shang-Chi as Bruce Lee. The aviator sunglasses are a big tip off. It doesn't hurt that Mike Benson's script also starts the fight by paraphrasing Enter the Dragon. When an opponent expands - he contracts, and vice versa. Be like water, young warriors.

A cover story featuring Deadpool probably helped sell a few extra copies of the Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu black & white one-shot in 2009. If you ask me, there was plenty of bang for buck in this story. It speaks to me more than the tongue-in-cheek lead. It's very simple, but it also looks really great!

I was a fan of CP Smith's unique, stylized digital artwork back in the New Invaders days. I don't know what the exact division of chores are here: Smith receives a "with" credit, implying finishing, or inking, over Coker's base. Whatever their process, the art team got something pretty special down onto the page, if you ask me.

The style is moody and vibrant, etched in hard blacks on white & grey, with digital processing for texture. It sometimes looks like paper cutouts, but the staging of action is never too rigid. I presume there's a lot of heavy photo referencing, but that enhances a filmic quality of the whole piece. This isn't fumetti - so-called "photo comics". It's a unique aesthetic that's of the page.

The sense of cinema doesn't end with the pictures. This is a story lettered in Chinese, with English subtitles placed in black gutters. Usually foreign comics are localized with English dialogue placed straight where the original was [see; Dragon Ball]. Other languages in Marvel Comics are often represented with brackets to indicate reading a translation. For any kung fu movie fan, the unique choice should evoke a fond, familiar film-watching experience.

My Mandarin isn't so hot, so I can't say how authentic the dialogue is, but it scratches a long held itch fellow gamers might be able to relate to: The moment the international cast of Street Fighter and Tekken began speaking, there was a strong desire to hear them use their native tongue. It just seemed like a cool, natural thing to do. I've always liked the idea on the page, as well. Although it's probably a lot more interesting when characters don't speak the same language.

I wonder how Shang-Chi purists feel about this episode. The short makes for a satisfying, quick kung fu read, but doesn't seem entirely in step with the red-suited modern Shang-Chi of the last decade or so, nor the kung fu classic of the seventies and early eighties. I could see some diehards taking issue with the specific reference to movies and Bruce Lee. Not that Once Upon a Time in Wan Chai isn't a story deeply rooted in classic comics!

The vengeful Huo Li debuted in this short story and directly references Li Ching-Lin: A mercenary called Death-Dealer who lasted four issues while working for Fu Manchu in 1982. His gruesome fate is pretty much as depicted in vague flashbacks, tying the story directly to Master of Kung Fu #118.

I wouldn't have particularly expected a short like this, in an experimental and already obscure black & white special, to have drawn so specifically on past reference. I like that it does! It goes down easy if you don't know the reference, but if you trace the line back to its source, you get a little bit more out of the kick ass action. That's what good comics should be about!

To the best of my knowledge Huo Li hasn't appeared again since the B&W special. I know Shang-Chi found his way into orbit of the Avengers in the years since, but there probably hasn't been a whole lot of opportunity for follow-up. With any luck that might change now that Marvel Studios has announced Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings - a 2021 movie.

I'll certainly look forward to returning to Shang-Chi in a more classic context at some point in the future, as well as The Mandarin, who will apparently make his true big screen debut, presumably standing in for the notoriously complicated film rights of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu.

I wasn't able to find this story in collected format at the time of this writing, so you may have to seek out the Master of Kung Fu One-Shot Special if you want to explore today's featured fight further. It was one of at least a couple of experimental seventies style black & white specials released around 2009.

If you want to find more from Shang-Chi, or other relevant characters, be sure to follow links found throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive for a complete index of all featured fights! Check out Cover to Cover: Martial Arts Mayhem for a special selection of themed fights featuring furious fists and deadly hands of kung fu!

You can also follow Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook for daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day! Be sure to like & share your favourite battles!

Winner: Shang-Chi
#328 (new) Shang-Chi
#884 (new) Huo Li