THE CONTEST: BLACK CANARY versus DAREDEVIL
It was only a matter of time! The Grandmaster has watched the Secret Wars on Infinite Earths for many years and now comes with a challenge: I must select 12 heroes & villains from the DC Universe to do battle against his Champions of the Marvel Universe! Grandmaster's team competed in the first Contest of Champions and set an allowance of 5000pts based on Fight Club Ranking. Battles will be decided by you in fantasy fight polls on Twitter, Facebook and Patreon!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Daredevil 3 (Athlete)Intelligence: Daredevil 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Daredevil 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Daredevil 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Daredevil 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Daredevil 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Black Canary 3 (Explosives)
Total: Daredevil 26 (Metahuman)
The Grandmaster is coming at me hard in this first battle, but I think I've got the perfect ace up my sleeve to take care of his high-ranking champion!
The fundamental threat of Daredevil is his mastery of martial arts. In Daredevil #87 we saw his skill perfectly demonstrated when he went blow for blow with Iron Fist during a case of mistaken identity. He's arguably a superior fighter to Black Canary, although her extensive training in hand-to-hand combat with experts like Richard Dragon, Wildcat, and Wonder Woman should keep her plenty competitive.
Daredevil is blind and relies on his keen senses to maintain awareness of his surroundings with enhanced accuracy thanks to a radar-like perception. In Daredevil #7 it helped him see through the fog of Mysterio's illusions, and in Daredevil #75 he could even detect demonic possession within The Jester! It's a factor in every one of his victories -- but my fight is gonna make it work against him!
The fundamental threat of Daredevil is his mastery of martial arts. In Daredevil #87 we saw his skill perfectly demonstrated when he went blow for blow with Iron Fist during a case of mistaken identity. He's arguably a superior fighter to Black Canary, although her extensive training in hand-to-hand combat with experts like Richard Dragon, Wildcat, and Wonder Woman should keep her plenty competitive.
Daredevil is blind and relies on his keen senses to maintain awareness of his surroundings with enhanced accuracy thanks to a radar-like perception. In Daredevil #7 it helped him see through the fog of Mysterio's illusions, and in Daredevil #75 he could even detect demonic possession within The Jester! It's a factor in every one of his victories -- but my fight is gonna make it work against him!
Black Canary has a super-power of her own and it's her deafening sonic canary cry!
In Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 her scream was strong enough to rattle Captain Marvel Jr and Mary Marvel to the core. In Justice League of America #15 it literally blew Shadow Thief away -- causing his shadow form to completely dissipate. The canary cry also blasted Giganta and her giant-sized eardrums into submission after Canary showed some deft acrobatics and fighting against Cheshire.
I'm spending a lot of points on this first fight, but I wager the sonic assault of #38 Black Canary is going to be the perfect weapon for taking #12 Daredevil out!
The Verdict (Updated February 6th)...
In the first contest against The Grandmaster I put all my chips on Black Canary and her ability to sonically disrupt Daredevil's senses. It was a plan to disorient and disarm, and I was feeling pretty good about my chances. Indeed, the vocal majority seemed to agree it was a sound strategy!
Jason Pakota gave Daredevil props, but saw the canary cry as the game changer, "Guy with super sensitive hearing ability vs. woman with hyper sonic scream? Matt gets in a few solid combos, but then Canary levels him with the scream and leaves DD in a crumpled heap with blood pouring from his ears."
Xzenova looked closely at the martial arts prowess of the two characters, drawing the conclusion that Daredevil might be more skilled, but the canary cry clinched it: "Dinah isn't as skilled as Matt, but her scream will def. hinder his abilities and potentially even cripple him".
The Sentry & The Void - Nazar agreed the odds were in Black Canary's favour, "Probably BC because of her voice". Echoed by Wayward, who saw Daredevil uniquely vulnerable to the Black Canary's scream: "Most other fighting focused heroes DD has the advantage on otherwise."
So that's it, right? Chalk it up as a win? Not quite... A late rush in voting on Twitter kept the poll results close, but in the end Daredevil secured a narrow 52.2% win after snatching the lead from Black Canary early on. The story wasn't much better on Facebook, with low voting turning out a 60% majority for Daredevil in a closely contested poll.
The Sentry & The Void - Nazar agreed the odds were in Black Canary's favour, "Probably BC because of her voice". Echoed by Wayward, who saw Daredevil uniquely vulnerable to the Black Canary's scream: "Most other fighting focused heroes DD has the advantage on otherwise."
So that's it, right? Chalk it up as a win? Not quite... A late rush in voting on Twitter kept the poll results close, but in the end Daredevil secured a narrow 52.2% win after snatching the lead from Black Canary early on. The story wasn't much better on Facebook, with low voting turning out a 60% majority for Daredevil in a closely contested poll.
Sadly, nobody made a case for exactly how Daredevil would pull it off. It could boil down to his renown as a hand-to-hand fighter, seen as slightly superior to Black Canary, who's certainly no slouch when it comes to busting a move learned from her extensive training with DC masters.
Another option is that some may've felt Black Canary's sonic cry would be more of a hindrance than a boon! It's clearly a call that invites debate, but when Daredevil clashed with sound-based villain Klaw, he was able to take advantage of his noisiness, using it to vividly keep track of him in the alleys of Hell's Kitchen. Perhaps the aggregate 53.6% thought that's how it would go!
It was a close call, but Round 1 goes to The Grandmaster! I'm not dejected yet, though.
We'll be back for Round 2 later this month! Keep your eyes on The Contest for the next battle via the link provided, Twitter, Facebook, and Patreon. You can also tell me how you think today's fight should've gone by posting in the comments, or on social media. I'd love to hear from you!
Winner: Daredevil
The Grandmaster - 1
Secret Wars on Infinite Earths - 0
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