CAPTAIN MARVEL versus WONDER WOMANHellfire's Web (DC)
Where: War of the Gods #1 When: September 1991
Why: George Pérez How: George Pérez & Cynthia Martin
The Story So Far...
The gods must be mad! Turmoil grips the returned deities of New Olympus as they travel to Themyscira to recruit a champion most favoured to fight a coming war on their behalf: Princess Diana -- Wonder Woman!
From beyond their purview the sorceress Circe has enacted a spell to incite a holy war amongst the many pantheons overseeing the Earth! Preying upon their arrogance, she spurs them to seek dominion in their own image, demanding conflict of the mythologies that would inevitably reach contradiction!
Summoning the hellfire of Hecate, Circe unleashes chaos upon the Earth as its heroes scrambled to thwart the various deities wreaking its destruction. While in New Olympus, the Roman gods bring a champion of their own to face Wonder Woman and their Grecian counterparts!
Where: War of the Gods #1 When: September 1991
Why: George Pérez How: George Pérez & Cynthia Martin
The Story So Far...
The gods must be mad! Turmoil grips the returned deities of New Olympus as they travel to Themyscira to recruit a champion most favoured to fight a coming war on their behalf: Princess Diana -- Wonder Woman!
From beyond their purview the sorceress Circe has enacted a spell to incite a holy war amongst the many pantheons overseeing the Earth! Preying upon their arrogance, she spurs them to seek dominion in their own image, demanding conflict of the mythologies that would inevitably reach contradiction!
Summoning the hellfire of Hecate, Circe unleashes chaos upon the Earth as its heroes scrambled to thwart the various deities wreaking its destruction. While in New Olympus, the Roman gods bring a champion of their own to face Wonder Woman and their Grecian counterparts!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Captain Marvel 6 (Invincible)Intelligence: Captain Marvel 5 (Professor)
Speed: Captain Marvel 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Captain Marvel 6 (Generator)
Agility: Wonder Woman 2 (Average)
Fighting: Wonder Woman 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Captain Marvel 3 (Explosives)
Total: Captain Marvel 30 (Super)
What's the deal with Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman? Although they don't really have a lot to do with each other, they compare relatively well, with similar high level super-human abilities, and ties to the gods & legends of ancient times.
They teamed up on the big screen in Shazam: Fury of the Gods and have both been on the same Justice League roster, but back in 1991's War of the Gods they came to blows -- and it isn't the only time!
Wonder Woman and the heroes of Earth-One fought a befuddled Marvel Family during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, where Captain Marvel Jr got the drop on Wonder Woman, attacking to free Mary Marvel from the Lasso of Truth.
Mary picked up her own win in Final Crisis #3 when the powers of SHAZAM were usurped by the evil New Gods, and she managed to turn Wonder Woman's close quarters advantage against her, using under-handed chemical warfare!
Years later it was Captain Marvel who found himself outnumbered by Wonder Woman and the corrupted Justice League. He managed to steal the Lasso of Truth for his own use, surviving Wonder Woman and the League's attacks through Hell, to restore them to their senses with his magic lightning!
Marvel's Storm defeated the Amazon icon with repeated lightning strikes during the Marvel versus DC crossover, and Captain Marvel's lightning ambush is a compelling tactic for defeating Wonder Woman!
The lightning ambush worked well against Superman, but their famous Kingdom Come struggle also hints at how Wonder Woman could turn the tables on the mighty Marvel: his magic word!
Marvel's Storm defeated the Amazon icon with repeated lightning strikes during the Marvel versus DC crossover, and Captain Marvel's lightning ambush is a compelling tactic for defeating Wonder Woman!
The lightning ambush worked well against Superman, but their famous Kingdom Come struggle also hints at how Wonder Woman could turn the tables on the mighty Marvel: his magic word!
Forcing his transformation back to young Billy Batson was how Black Adam stole victory in Hawkman #23, and the Lasso of Truth might just compel The Captain to speak his word if asked. Failing that, the Lasso also showed it could undo brainwashing when Wonder Woman used it on a Grodd-controlled Tasmanian Devil in JLA: Classified #3. Food for thought! Let's see how it went.
History: Draw (1-1-0)
The Tape: Captain Marvel Ranking: Wonder Woman (#10)
The Tape: Captain Marvel Ranking: Wonder Woman (#10)
What Went Down...
Confronted with the arrival of Wonder Woman at the side of the Greek gods, their Roman counterparts produce their own human champion -- a non-descript, small boy, who at their behest speaks a greeting in his own words: "... Shazam."
The raging tempest over New Olympus begins to swirl and funnel at the simple utterance, delivering a spectacular focused bolt of lightning to the boy, who is replaced with the mighty figure of Captain Marvel, surrounded by brilliant energy!
The magic lightning is enough to stir Zeus from his slumber. He confronts Jupiter and the Roman pantheon in full armor with promise of war, and Wonder Woman desperately attempts to intervene -- only to be attacked by The Captain!
A powerful left knocks Wonder Woman off her feet, sending pain radiating through her body as the roar of Zeus and Jupiter's colliding lightning thunders overhead.
The many gods wage war across New Olympus, their turmoil echoed across the Earth as nature is thrown into chaos, and Circe's efforts to unleash the Armageddon of Hecate's fire go completely unchallenged!
Instead of taking his place fighting to save the world, the entranced Captain Marvel continues to pursue Wonder Woman with callous indifference.
Seeing that a youthful spark has left his eyes, Wonder Woman does her best to keep one step ahead of the mighty marvel's devastating blows.
The Captain buries his fist into New Olympus with a powerful and speedy strike, but the Amazon knows she must fight back if the day is to be saved.
Wonder Woman seizes her opportunity to spring nimbly into a backflip that throws her feet into Captain Marvel -- launching him across the battlefield!
A Doric column snaps like a stick of chalk as Captain Marvel smashes through it!
He remains undeterred, quickly recovering and stalking his opponent.
Under the watchful gaze of Zeus Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman launch themselves -- only for their collision to be interrupted by another lightning strike!
Zeus accuses Jupiter, but it was none other than Halciber Filius, Son of Vulcan, whose bolt tore through the wall of reality surrounding Olympus so as to free Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman from further exploitation.
The pair tumble through the dark void of Chaos itself, drifting between time and space where further lightning and conflict finds them still!
Blown in separate directions by a wayward blast of energy -- the heroes find the glowing scepter of Mercury locked in combat with his Greek counterpart, Hermes!
As one of the pantheon that empowers Shazam's champion, Mercury orders Captain Marvel to destroy Hermes. An instruction Marvel can barely process as the bewitching influence of the gods begins to fade: "Destroy...Me?... Destroy?"
Wonder Woman senses the change in demeanor and tosses her lasso of truth around the befuddled hero to continue his restoration.
The well-meaning Amazon appears to trigger some unknown chain of events that rips through the fabric of the Chaos realm and grips the trembling Captain Marvel in a convulsing stasis of energy.
Around the Captain swirls a maelstrom of visions showing anguished faces. For a moment, Wonder Woman believes she recognises one of them, but the verge of realization is elusive as Hermes commends her efforts.
Mercury responds with his glowing caduceus unleashing a massive field of energy that Hermes is unable to contain!
Mercury and Hermes remain locked in battle as they disappear into the void, while Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are thrown in separate directions through holes in the dark puffs of Chaos!
The Hammer...
The more time passes and we're removed from the classic Captain Marvel -- or at least some recognizable version of it -- the more I come to appreciate the thesis of Underworld Unleashed #3: The idea that Captain Marvel is an incorruptible hero, defined by an unwavering good nature and pure heart.
I don't know that Mark Waid intended it to be a defining and enduring landmark for the character, but it's a pleasing and functional iteration on the general sense of "innocence" that's led to less satisfying characterizations, particularly the New 52 revamp that Waid has now been enlisted to walk back, at least a little.
I don't know that Mark Waid intended it to be a defining and enduring landmark for the character, but it's a pleasing and functional iteration on the general sense of "innocence" that's led to less satisfying characterizations, particularly the New 52 revamp that Waid has now been enlisted to walk back, at least a little.
Sure, it's a simplistic, allegedly anachronistic idea, but it's also inherent to the aspirational nature of comic book heroes.Writers, artists, and fans might not live up to these altruistic ideals every waking hour of their lives -- but we can dream that such a thing were possible through the pages of a comic book. Super-Heroes, stalwart and true.
The Power of Shazam! #11 flirted with the possibility of Captain Marvel being corrupted by The Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, but also directly acknowledged the contemporaneous work of Underworld Unleashed #3, and ultimately held true to it.
Today, we featured a fight from several years before both issues, with a similar dilemma to Power of Shazam! #11, and arguably a similar conclusion.
Fans have always delighted at the dream match of Captain Marvel versus Superman, and the fight with Wonder Woman continues in that tradition, as well as the similar circumstances of an Anti-Monitor enhanced Psycho-Pirate twisting the fundamental emotional spectrums of entire worlds, including The Marvel Family's "Earth-S", in Crisis on Infinite Earths #6.
I suppose I'm more forgiving of a momentary lapse caused by some intuitive or grand subversion of cosmic forces, rather than a prolonged twisting or redefinition of the man himself. A short subversion to get us a marquee title bout. Like I said: fans might not always live up to purely altruistic ideals.
Objectively you might call it a "corruption" of Captain Marvel, but I really enjoy the way the entire War of the Gods story intuitively derives interesting conflicts from mythical influences already existent in the DC Universe.
War of the Gods is ultimately a rare DC Comics event drawn from Wonder Woman, but in an interview with Fantazia magazine, George Perez explained that he was also inspired by Captain Marvel, and a long-held curiosity about why disparate figures such as Roman god Mercury, Greek demigod Hercules, and Judaic leader Solomon would "get together to create a superhero".
The sextet of gods & legends who grant Captain Marvel his powers of wisdom, strength, stamina, power, courage, and speed, make for a natural submission into the empyrean conflict, and his manipulation to fight on their behalf. A gentler direction of his actions than the more malignant corruption of Mary Marvel that occurred during Final Crisis, when the evil New Gods replaced her pantheon.
Today, we featured a fight from several years before both issues, with a similar dilemma to Power of Shazam! #11, and arguably a similar conclusion.
Fans have always delighted at the dream match of Captain Marvel versus Superman, and the fight with Wonder Woman continues in that tradition, as well as the similar circumstances of an Anti-Monitor enhanced Psycho-Pirate twisting the fundamental emotional spectrums of entire worlds, including The Marvel Family's "Earth-S", in Crisis on Infinite Earths #6.
I suppose I'm more forgiving of a momentary lapse caused by some intuitive or grand subversion of cosmic forces, rather than a prolonged twisting or redefinition of the man himself. A short subversion to get us a marquee title bout. Like I said: fans might not always live up to purely altruistic ideals.
Objectively you might call it a "corruption" of Captain Marvel, but I really enjoy the way the entire War of the Gods story intuitively derives interesting conflicts from mythical influences already existent in the DC Universe.
War of the Gods is ultimately a rare DC Comics event drawn from Wonder Woman, but in an interview with Fantazia magazine, George Perez explained that he was also inspired by Captain Marvel, and a long-held curiosity about why disparate figures such as Roman god Mercury, Greek demigod Hercules, and Judaic leader Solomon would "get together to create a superhero".
The sextet of gods & legends who grant Captain Marvel his powers of wisdom, strength, stamina, power, courage, and speed, make for a natural submission into the empyrean conflict, and his manipulation to fight on their behalf. A gentler direction of his actions than the more malignant corruption of Mary Marvel that occurred during Final Crisis, when the evil New Gods replaced her pantheon.
To that end, Perez massages the concept slightly, anchoring Captain Marvel to the Roman gods in this story, allowing Zeus counterpart Jupiter license to produce Billy Batson alongside his mirrored pantheon of deities, which includes a Hercules as counterpart to the Greek gods' Herakles.
All this ancient mythology can read a little bit dry, but the slog is worth it for the bold & colourful superhero highlights that are sprinkled throughout. A meeting of ancient and modern mythology, sewn together with a respect for the canon of both pantheons, informing intuitive, logical connections.
I rather like that Perez went out of his way to utilize Son of Vulcan: an acquisition from Charlton Comics that had dwelled in relative obscurity since coming under the DC banner. In War of the Gods, he was invited to be the Roman gods' champion, but refused, returning from banishment to the River Styx to strike back during today's featured fight.
It might seem like a lot to unpack, but with any luck that's something we'll be able to do together, revisiting some of the lighter moments and interesting curious little conflicts occurring throughout the series, some time in the future.
All this ancient mythology can read a little bit dry, but the slog is worth it for the bold & colourful superhero highlights that are sprinkled throughout. A meeting of ancient and modern mythology, sewn together with a respect for the canon of both pantheons, informing intuitive, logical connections.
I rather like that Perez went out of his way to utilize Son of Vulcan: an acquisition from Charlton Comics that had dwelled in relative obscurity since coming under the DC banner. In War of the Gods, he was invited to be the Roman gods' champion, but refused, returning from banishment to the River Styx to strike back during today's featured fight.
It might seem like a lot to unpack, but with any luck that's something we'll be able to do together, revisiting some of the lighter moments and interesting curious little conflicts occurring throughout the series, some time in the future.
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Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#10 (--) Wonder Woman
#40 (--) Captain Marvel
#642 (new) Son of Vulcan [+1 assist]
#10 (--) Wonder Woman
#40 (--) Captain Marvel
#642 (new) Son of Vulcan [+1 assist]
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