APOCALYPSE versus HIGH EVOLUTIONARY

Unnatural Selection (Marvel)
Where: X-Factor Annual #3 When: 1988
Why: Louise Simonson How: Terry Shoemaker

The Story So Far...
Since the 1920s, Dr. Herbert Wyndham has held a fascination for genetics and evolution. Experimentation on his own makeup transformed him into the brilliant High Evolutionary, whose agenda to advance humanity has led to many amazing discoveries -- and atrocities!

In subterranean caverns weaving deep beneath the Earth, The High Evolutionary's Purifiers are deployed to extinguish the devolved and primitive bloodline of the Moloids, but from among their mindless ranks rises a mutation capable of organizing their endless armies.

A psychic scream from the mutant Moloid is felt by "sensitives" across the Earth -- including Caliban: loyal hound to an ancient being who would regard the Moloid's struggle as fitness to survive. Now the High Evolutionary's tampering must answer to the Darwinistic challenge of Apocalypse!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Apocalypse 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: High Evolutionary 6 (Genius)
Speed: Apocalypse 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Draw 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Apocalypse 6 (Rubber)
Fighting: Apocalypse 4 (Trained)
Energy: Draw 5 (Lasers)
Total: Apocalypse 36 (Cosmic)

You think just because a couple of guys aced AP Bio they can't start somethin'?

The differences of their abilities are almost secondary to the contrast of their beliefs. They both observe life on Earth with a goal towards advancement, and at times their methodology is not all that different, but for the ancient mutant called Apocalypse, there is great difference between natural and unnatural selection!

The High Evolutionary was once a mortal Englishman, Dr. Herbert Wydnham on scholarship to Oxford University, whose study of genetics led him to evolve into a being of vast knowledge, perspective, and power.

Wyndham has experienced life as a neanderthal and demi-god, commanding his Evolutionary Accelerator from bases on Wundagore Mountain, and a distant Counter-Earth, where he resided with animals evolved into a breed of New Men -- part of his efforts to study and contrive the advanced progress of humanity.

His distinct suit of armor houses the best of his technologies, granting the High Evolutionary varying degrees of super-human strength, durability, and an arsenal of weaponry and scientific applications. He'll need them!

Apocalypse is privy to his own array of scientific wonderments, as well as genetic mutations that have allowed him to become strong over centuries of survival -- in total control of his molecular structure and energy projection!

Apocalypse conquered Earth itself in an alternate timeline, and has thought nothing of fighting gods into submission. Will his challenge of the High Evolutionary go any other way? Let's find out!

The Tape: Apocalypse Ranking: Apocalypse (#138)

What Went Down...

From his vantage point in outer space, The High Evolutionary peers deep beneath the Earth's crust, watching as his Purifiers encounter unexpected resistance from the subterranean moloids. It is not the only unexpected presence to trouble him.

Suddenly from behind beckons the booming voice of an intruder!

There stands the looming figure of Apocalypse and a philosophical quandary concerning the fate of the moloids.

The ancient mutant does not strictly object to the violent treatment of the savage underground race, but En Sabah Nur has seen centuries of survival and evolution, and he aims to bestow upon the brilliant and immortal Evoltuionary the wisdom of patience.

The High Evolutionary narrowly steps clear of a massive energy blast that rips through his powerful computers!

Challenging Apocalypse's arrogance, he accuses the ancient mutant of showing his own impatience in his attack.

The Evolutionary returns fire with massive blasts from his hands that rip through the moon-like facade of his own space station!

The pair are sucked into the void of space, but neither man would be so unevolved to concern himself with the triviality of oxygen.

While the High Evolutionary drifts unaffected, Apocalypse shifts his molecules to become a living bio-mechanical space suit!

High Evolutionary speaks of his own path, experiencing life as both animal and demi-god. He blasts more energy at Apocalypse, who exerts control over his form sufficient to jet himself clear of the danger with ankle-mounted boosters.

Apocalypse rejects the "unnatural selection" of High Evolutionary's efforts to sterilize those he deems unfit. He would see time weed out the weak, and advance the strong, allowing them to exceed and escape the presumed dead ends High Evolutionary arrogantly predicts.

Apocalypse extends his reach toward the High Evolutionary, stretching and contorting his arm to become a gigantic mechanical vice!

He grips the Evolutionary by the torso and draws him closer, inviting the scientist's scorn: "I recognize you, Apocalypse. Your claims... to encourage the growth of the strong... is at variance with your deeds. I consider you a villain of the first order."

The ancient mutant laughs uproariously, claiming everything he does tests human and mutantkind: "-- a trial by fire in which humanity grows strong as a species... or dies."

High Evolutionary wrestles with Apocalypse's body and ideas, grabbing at the mutant's arms, while Apocalypse grasps at his magenta face plate. The scientist works to break the stalemate by rapidly increasing his size!

Looming over Apocalypse, the High Evolutionary describes himself as a benevolent parent making choices for an immature humanity. A claim Apocalypse scoffs at, seeing the Evolutionary as merely attempting to remake them in his own image.

"Your own evolution was forced... and see what you've become. Disembodied... For all your power, with only that armor to give you the semblance of substance. You are a creature of the living dead... Who can no longer reproduce himself... The ultimate genetic dead end!"

Apocalypse dodges a massive energy blast from High Evolutionary's super-sized gauntlet, swinging his own enlarged clamp-hand like a battering ram into the giant target of The Evolutionary's mid-section!

For a moment the High Evolutionary is flung through space, but when he completely disappears Apocalypse knows his gambit. He can see through his invisibility and ensnare him in extending tendrils.

With the High Evolutionary in his grasp, Apocalypse uses his vast resources to teleport the both of them to the subterranean tunnels of the moloids.

There, he intends them to bare personal witness to the battle between The Purifiers, moloids, and their recruited allies -- the mutants of X-Factor!

Watching from a shadowy outcrop over the inner chamber, the High Evolutionary continues to regard the telepathic moloid rallying his people as little more than an animal acting without conscious, creative thought. A notion that will soon be challenged, even if the physical battle between he and Apocalypse is at an end.

The Hammer...

What a fantastic struggle! Not just the clash of super-powers, but the collision of philosophies! The debate is more compelling than the trading of blows, and not just because it renders something approaching a result.

At times Apocalypse wasn't always everything I hoped he would be -- especially in those early days. Sometimes he's a little too willing to roll around in the mud, a little too corny in his villainy to fulfill those big ideas of Darwinist malevolence.

I like an Apocalypse who is lofty in his ideals, coldly grandiose in his speech, and upright and strong in his bearing. Still very much the villain in the potential of his schemes, but somewhat aloof in his actions. He isn't quite that as he swings oversized novelty limbs in space, but the character study is compelling.

In X-Factor Annual #3 it feels as if Louise Simonson is taking the slightly awkward premise of The Evolutionary War -- Marvel's 1988 crossover through various series' Annuals, including The Punisher and Silver Surfer -- and spinning it into an excellent opportunity to examine her recurring antagonist.

I enjoy the way Apocalypse almost assumes the conceit of a hero here, coming to the aid of a lowly moloid whose life the reader might be willing to disregard, even if they feel compassion towards his plight.

Apocalypse is seen to note that he doesn't outright object to the hostile treatment endured by the primitive moloids, but he will defend the emerging potential of a fledgling mutant whose powers present a greater will to survive, and oppose the sterilization of the species.

It's an interesting premise, and a good demonstration of the differences between Apocalypse and High Evolutionary, who might otherwise appear similar in their grand objectives, if inconsistent from appearance to appearance.

The distinctions can get a little slippery, especially over time, but in essence, the High Evolutionary is a practicing supremacist, attempting to reach a pre-determined outcome for humanity through bio-engineering, while Apocalypse is in theory more of an equal opportunity offender, uniquely interested in mutation, and intent on provoking accelerated natural selection through periodic stress tests.

This might seem contradictory when we look at Apocalypse's meddling with the genetics of characters like Warren Worthington, the Angel remade as his Horseman of Death, but we must also remember that these characters are not strictly adherent to the ideas we associate them with. They are also presented to be living characters, with selfish motivations such as the creation of servants, and may be seen to change their mind or approach, from time to time.

Although High Evolutionary remains committed in his convictions and desire to share company with those similar to himself, it's nice that he acknowledges, in his private thoughts, that the mutant moloid, now going by Val-Or, earned a reprieve for he and his people, who once served The Evolutionary himself, and helped build his citadel on Wundagore Mountain. That's gratitude for ya!

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Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#129 (+9) Apocalypse
#496 (new) High Evolutionary

DUCHESS versus BLUE BEETLE

Battle Lines (DC)
Where: Suicide Squad #13 When: May 1988
Why: John Ostrander How: Luke McDonnell

The Story So Far...
A covert operation in the Soviet Union makes enemies of The Suicide Squad when they're discovered attempting to liberate a famous author imprisoned as a dissident.

The arrest of Thomas Tresser, aka; Nemesis, becomes a world headline when the Soviet government attempts to bait the Squad into a return mission by publicly accusing him of an unprovoked attempted kidnap.

Its bait field-leader Rick Flag is all too happy to take -- igniting internal conflict with Task Force X head Amanda Waller! Faced with the prospect of exposure and a further international incident, she has no choice but to advise the President to commission the Justice League International to stop the rogue invaders!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Lashina 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Blue Beetle 5 (Professor)
Speed: Lashina 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Lashina 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Blue Beetle 2 (Average)
Fighting: Lashina 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Blue Beetle 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Lashina 27 (Metahuman)

The inevitable faceoff between Justice League International and the Suicide Squad goes off not with a bang, but rather a series of precision key matchups.

Duchess gets the fight started when she recognizes JLI's Mister Miracle. She does this because she is in fact Lashina: former field leader of Darkseid's loyal Female Furies. She was betrayed by one of her teammates while on mission to capture Mister Miracle, leaving her stranded on Earth, and in the care of Task Force X.

As Duchess she doesn't have access to her trademark steel whips, instead relying on high-powered customized weaponry like the cannon used against Major Force in a later battle. She also possesses natural attributes of super-strength and durability as a New God raised on Apokolips under Granny Goodness.

These attributes put her in a class above Blue Beetle, but you can never entirely count the resourceful hero!

Ted Kord is the second Blue Beetle, carrying on the legacy of Dan Garrett by using a natural acumen for science and inventing. With the resources of his father's company, Kord Industries, he created The Bug airship, and an arsenal of non-lethal weaponry, including his trademark compressed air gun, and bug drones.

On the surface it looks like Blue Beetle is fighting way above of his weight class, but like Batman or Green Arrow, he's a non-powered hero capable of causing an upset. JLI are some of his sillier days, but will he do it? Let's find out...

The Tape: Duchess Ranking: Duchess (#194)

What Went Down...
Duchess points a finger of confused, accusing recognition at Mister Miracle when Blue Beetle approaches to pacify the situation with a stern warning: "You take on one member of the JLI and you take on them all."

The erstwhile Lashina is all too happy to accept the challenge, but finds Blue Beetle more capable than he first appears. While unsuccessfully petitioning Mister Miracle for help -- he handles the situation with with an improvised arm drag.

Booster Gold finds great amusement in his friends' 'great touch with the ladies' and earns the ire of the slighted New God in the process.

In a fury she rips a door from a nearby prison cell and launches it at the chuckling hero. His futuristic power suit takes care of it though, protecting him from the steel bars while reducing them to tiny pieces of broken and bent steel.

The attack proves to be the inciting blow.

Batman coldly orders his team to pick a foe and watch out for shrapnel. They all peel off with a fight partner, but Blue Beetle's opponent has already chosen him. 

Duchess charges furiously, but the Beetle nimbly vaults over her and insists he doesn't like hitting women. "... And I'm not sure hitting you would do any good!"

He resorts to his gun, holding it to Duchess' head as the melee erupts all around them.

The super-humanly strong Duchess manages to keep Beetle off his feet with a single extended arm, but the pistol packing hero regains his footing and squares off with his target.

He unleashes the full force of his patented non-lethal arsenal -- a high-powered burst of compressed air finds it mark with Duchess' imposing torso, but fails to have any effect on the powerful New God!

A quick switch in tactics unleashes Beetle's secondary dazzle light at point blank range!

The blistering white flash succeeds in temporarily blinding Duchess.

With his opponent staggered and fuming mad -- Blue Beetle closes in to strike with a "patented" karate chop to the neck.

Robbed of her sight -- the New God doesn't even realise her mortal opponent has struck!

Blue Beetle clutches his wrist with sounds of agony suggesting the blow did far more to hurt him than its intended victim!

Duchess quickly turns the tables, grabbing Beetle by the leg to lift him off his feet. He bumps his head on the ceiling before crashing down onto his keister -- still in the grip of a very angry Duchess!

It's only the diplomatic intervention of Martian Manhunter that saves the Beetle from being squashed! He lets out a relieved sigh at the news a truce has been brokered between team leaders, ending the conflict - for now.

The Hammer...

For all intents and purposes it looked as if Duchess was about to take control and finish the fight, but we'll never know for certain. Blue Beetle survives an inconclusive result, with a little help from his friend Booster Gold early on.

The conflict is part of a hotly anticipated confrontation between the Justice League and Suicide Squad: Two teams that were positioned as pillars of the post-Crisis DCU coming out of the reconstruction phase of Legends.

The internationally minded League and their black-ops counterparts were steeped in global political intrigue, but behind their differing approaches to diplomacy with Russia, and other world actors, lies a good old fashioned conflict over morality, superhero ethics, and a general disdain for each others methods.

By nature of The League's operations, Batman was drawn a little closer to the light, but his role as a tactician keeps him to a privileged periphery, exposing him to as few people as possible, while he gathers intelligence, and maintains the mystique of an urban myth bubbling up from Gotham City's shadowy underbelly.

It was from the shadows that the inter-team conflict was set-up when Batman went undercover in Bell Reve Prison to investigate the rumored existence of the villain-based squad. His infiltration ultimately laid bare Amanda Waller and Task Force X personnel, giving us a taste of things to come when The Squad was sent to stop him, and he duked it out with Rick Flag and others.

Batman was already eager to get closer to the situation involving his former ally Thomas Tresser when President Reagan approached the UN sanctioned league, but once it's clear the rogue "American villains" they're working to intercept are the Suicide Squad he's even more motivated to throw them to the dogs.

Face-to-face in a Soviet gulag, the two teams break off into pairs, giving us a rematch between Batman and Rick Flag, and the first fight to breakout from the ensuing skirmish - which is also our featured fight for today.

I would be remiss to overlook our featured players, but what you see is mostly what you get. If you know anything about the JLI era, it's probably Blue Beetle's role as cackling comedy relief. It's evident in his obvious mismatch against the raging Duchess, but I do appreciate that he and his arsenal are still shown to be fairly credible in a fight. There's levity, but this isn't wholesale mockery.

Even so, fans of contemporary DC Entertainment, or the upcoming Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League video game, might not find what they're looking for in this iconic battle between the brands. For one thing: this is a mostly bloodless affair, lacking the apparent contempt DC has developed for its own iconic properties. I can't help but think positioning the heroes as figures for contempt while the players control villains is horribly tone deaf on multiple levels, but I digress...

The original match-up contains the battle within a pleasingly straight-forward single issue, while Justice League International #13 offers an enhancement tie-in that sets up the specifics of the collision with optional relevance. That said, there's also a lot of intrigue accumulated from the details of previous issues of Suicide Squad and JLI, informing a nuanced conflict steeped in concepts and character motivations.

Four of the combatants don't even actually engage in violence! Martian Manhunter and Vixen revisit their recent history together and resolve their opposition with a meaningful embrace, while Captain Atom and Nightshade keep their romantic ties on the down low by faking a mock struggle somewhere off to the side. Tickling is quickly nixed by the squirming Nightshade, but that's all the analysis we have.

You might expect a fight-monger like myself to deride this kind of thing, but I'd take a good story with intuitive use of characters over a lazy fight any day of the week. I actually quite like these characters and don't want to see them murdered in the name of fleeting thrills, or some psychopath's idea of "realism".

This remains a fantastic period of DC Comics with surprisingly enduring relevance and better balance of the things that make superhero comics enjoyable than a lot of more recent examples, or adaptations that are built on this foundation.

I will almost certainly be returning for more individual match-ups, but if you'd like to get ahead of the reading you can find JLI #13 and Suicide Squad #13 both collected in Justice League International Book One: Born Again or Suicide Squad Vol. 2: The Nightshade Odyssey. Use Amazon purchase links provided below and you'll not only get yourself a good deal -- you'll help support the site at no cost!

You can find more related materials to these characters and stories by following links throughout this post, or by infiltrating the Secret Archive for a complete index of every featured fight in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 650 battles and ranked in excess of 1,000 characters! If you'd like to help me continue creating more entries consider becoming a patron on Patreon. As a thank you you'll unlock extra updates, content, and options to sponsor your favourite topics in future articles.

Get more daily links to superhero smackdown inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing on Twitter and Facebook. Don't forget to like, fave, and share posts, and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday!

Winner: Inconclusive
#162 (+32) Lashina
#480 (new) Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)
#650 (+237) Booster Gold [+1 assist]

ETERNALS versus SILVER SURFER & SUPER-SKRULL

Adam (Marvel)
Where: Silver Surfer Annual #1 When: 1988
Why: Steve Englehart How: Joe Staton

The Story So Far...
Parting ways with Nova, the Silver Surfer returns to Earth on a mission of mercy -- only to inadvertently happen upon the re-manifestation of the Super-Skrull in outer space!

Intent on keeping his presence hidden, the Super-Skrull engages The Surfer in battle, but their conflict is soon ended by the intervention of another unexpected party.

The Eternals have agreed to capture the Silver Surfer and map his unique genetic code so that The High Evolutionary might use its information to advance the human race to its next phase of existence. Neither Surfer nor Skrull is a willing participant, making fighting allies of the pair held captive in the Greek mountains!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Super-Skrull 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Thena 5 (Professor)
Speed: Makkari 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Karkas 6 (Generator)
Agility: Super-Skrull 6 (Rubber)
Fighting: Ikaris 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Silver Surfer 7 (Cosmic Power)
Total: Silver Surfer 37 (Cosmic)

The Eternals are: Ikaris, Makkari, Thena, and Sersi, with Karkas.

At the dawn of humanity esoteric space gods known as Celestials visited upon the Earth an evolutionary nudge that spawned two genome variants: homo-immortalis and homo-descendus -- better known as Eternals, and their grotesque subterranean shadows, The Deviants.

The Eternals chose to sequester themselves, eventually settling in the mountains of Greece in a secluded, highly advanced city called Olympia. From there they served as secret guardians to Earth, in a pact with their counterpart Greek gods, using innate cosmic powers to suppress the Deviants and shepherd humanity.

Although Eternals draw from a mutual source of ability, each specializes in using their natural gifts in unique ways: Ikaris is strong and projects powerful energy, often from his eyes. Makkari has mastered moving at phenomenal speed. Thena is a study of ancient knowledge and fighting techniques, wielding energy & weapons. Sersi is an expert of transmutation and psionic projection.

Silver Surfer received similar gifts when Galactus bestowed upon him the power cosmic. The erstwhile Norrin Radd is no stranger to battling other god-like beings, as we saw when he clashed with Norse powered Beta Ray Bill in Godhunter #2, and Thor himself in the alternate reality of What If...? #70.

Although the Silver Surfer has defeated Ronan The Accuser on multiple occasions, such as Silver Surfer #13, he was overwhelmed when attempting to siphon the augmenting energies of the Kree Empire and Ego during Maximum Security #3.

This might suggest the Eternals' ability to pool their respective power into a single Uni-Mind might cause The Surfer some trouble. Fortunately for him, he has the one-man army of sometimes enemy turned ally Super-Skrull by his side!

Super-Skrull succumbed to Thor's lightning in Thor #465, but displayed a portion of his multi-faceted might while over-powering Ms Marvel in Marvel Team-Up #62.

With the combined powers of the Fantastic Four, Kl'rt commands super-strength, rubber malleability, scorching flame, invisibility, and force-fields to devastating effect. If he stays on the same page as Silver Surfer they should be able to match the Eternals and their Deviant powerhouse Karkas. Let's see if they did...

The Tape: The Eternals Ranking: Silver Surfer (#31)

What Went Down...

Held captive in separate translucent cells: Silver Surfer compels Super-Skrull to renew efforts to escape, while he does the same. Their simultaneous assault on the "Sunset" and "Sunrise" Pyramids will cause their linked fates to be freed.

Super-Skrull wields the outward pressure of invisible projected forcefields, red hot flames, and monstrous strength, while Silver Surfer radiates with awesome power cosmic. All at once their prisons are shattered as The Surfer makes the difference!

The Eternals are awestruck by their gleaming guest's power, but not all are as reluctant as Karkas to engage him.

Ikaris vows to complete their sworn task of mapping The Surfer's genome, raising a hand to demonstrate his own cosmic power with a blast of energy.

Silver Surfer blocks the attack with an extended hand, while summoning Super-Skrull to his side.

The Skrull is surprised to find his erstwhile adversary seeking to help him despite an earlier attack. Their alliance of convenience is of obvious appeal as the Eternals mobilize for a coordinated strike.

Thena surrounds the Silver Surfer in a smoldering projection from her eyes, while the fast-moving Makkari staggers Super-Skrull with a flying kick to the face!

Super-Skrull keeps his footing and immediately returns fire with an uppercut that channels the augmented strength of The Thing into knocking Makkari into the air!

The Surfer launches a counter-attack of his own -- forcing Thena to leap nimbly clear of a burst of cosmic energy that crashes into the ground.

Karkas charges in to intervene, heeding Ikaris' order to be on guard with eyes on a strong offense. He wraps his hulking arms around the Silver Surfer, overwhelming the space-faring hero with the powerful grapple.

Makkari demonstrates his incredible speed -- literally running rings around the Super-Skrull while effortlessly avoiding jets of flame. Sersi takes advantage of the distraction, introducing the Skrull to the agony of her own energy projection!

The Surfer erupts with cosmic power as well, freeing himself from the oppressive grip of Karkas -- only to turn into the direct path of Ikaris' eye beams!

Meanwhile, Kl'rt channels more of The Thing's strength -- transforming his legs into powerful rocky piledrivers. He slams his foot to the ground, sending a devastating localized shockwave that topples Sersi and Makkari!

Seeing the rest of the Eternals focused on his teammate, Super-Skrull surrounds himself in fire and takes flight in an effort to seize his opportunity for escape.

The Surfer can only shout at the treachery, held unerringly by mighty Karkas in the point blank gaze of Ikaris' devastating eye blasts!

An opportunity presents itself as Ikaris responds to the Skrulls' escape,  commanding Thena and Makkari to use their speed to take chase. The Surfer takes advantage of the distraction, summoning his board to carry him out of Karkas' arms and crashing straight through Ikaris!

In the skies above Olympus, Super-Skrull channels the fire of the Human Torch with urgency, but he knows he cannot match the speed of his pursuers. Makkari and Thena rapidly close in -- when suddenly a silver streak divides them!

The cosmic rider stands stridently on his board with the gathered Eternals at his face, and the Super-Skrull at his back.

The Surfer confounds Kl'rt once more with another unexpected effort to help. He compels the Super-Skrull to complete his escape, reminding him that the entire Skrull race was robbed of their natural shape-shifting abilities while he was lost in a swirl of deconstructed atoms in Earth's Van Allen radiation belt.

With the responsibility of his species' "prime-heritage", Super-Skrull accepts Silver Surfer's gift of hope and gesture towards justice, uncertain that he or his Empire will ever be able to repay the act. The Surfer accepts this, hoping that the restoration of Skrull power will at least end their renewed war with the Kree.

Uncertain of Earth's future, and the true nature of the Eternals' seemingly impossible history, Silver Surfer and his would-be captors reach a mutual respect and understanding. Ikaris bids him godspeed, accepting that The Surfer will not assist the High Evolutionary in tampering with the advancement of nature.

The Hammer...

This strikes me as a fairly honest way to induct the Eternals into our combative corner of the web. Their Marvel Studios debut has brought newfound attention, but like a lot of folks, I've mostly experienced them as obscure guest characters in preferred series, or occasionally glanced back issues that never quite made it into the collection.

Ikaris had the bearing of an adventuring front-man for a Marvel super-group, but his basic design was also dangerously underwhelming. Kind of like one of those knock-off He-Man toylines, or a cartoon from anywhere in the sixties to the eighties that just wasn't as legit as the hits. The set-up of the dichotomous Deviants as their all encompassing, monstrous villains didn't help.

The high-concept premise is actually the kind of straight forward that works, but The Eternals lacked the immediate visual appeal, or otherworldliness, of other Jack Kirby creations. Accessibility almost worked against them, in an ironic sort of way.

The New Gods are famously a similarly difficult rite of passage for uninitiated readers, but once that threshold of Kirby appreciation is crossed, the barrier to entry unfolds into a far more indulgent and vivid experience than The Eternals. Its higher degree of difficulty is in some small way part of the reward.

The Eternals may be simpler than the New Gods, but in that regard they also overlap with the niche of a super-powered secret society living in seclusion already occupied by The Inhumans. The latter is couched in its own difficulties of grandiose royal family, but benefits from deeper ties with a popular mainstream gateway series like Fantastic Four.

It's easy to see how Eternals could be overlooked by the publisher, and passed up by readers, but that's not to say they're without their charms.

With just a little bit of effort comes the reward of something interesting, and if you took a chance on an issue like Silver Surfer Annual #1, you got a gentle, action-packed introduction to a classic quartet who've watched the world for a million years, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Greek gods like Hercules.

The scope of their history and lifespan, and weight of purpose on their potential, is something that sets the Eternals apart from the grounded genetic discourse of the X-Men. Rather than dwell analogously on the contemporary concerns of racial politics or personal identity, The Eternals flirt with grand existential concepts of the meaning of life itself, and the fantasy of classical ascended super-humans.

This cosmic philosophizing meshes well with Silver Surfer, who's always at his best contemplating the vastness of space with a soulful, almost zen sense of perspective on life.

He plays an interesting role in the conflict with the Eternals, assuming a position of extreme advocacy for the individual, which almost defies his more familiar sense of altruism. Here he not only fights to deny humanity its potential for ascension through the mapping of his chrome-tinged cosmically altered genome, but also does everything he can to secure Super-Skrull's freedom for the sake of restoring the Skrull species to their natural state of deceptive shape-shifting.

It's all a little bit Star Trek Prime Directive, essentially boiling down to superior beings allowing nature to take its course, rather than endorsing the eugenic experiments of the High Evolutionary, who sets the entire plot into motion as part of the banner event for 1988 Annuals, The Evolutionary War.

The second volume of What If? begins with a pretty wild story that explores a reality where the High Evolutionary "won", and The Eternals ultimately merge with Inhumans, and evolved mutants, to take on the cosmic entities that define the universe, after killing Galactus. Humanity uniformly develops big heads, and Daredevil becomes one of the last men on Earth, forging a friendship with Vision.

It might not be as strange as it sounds, but it's a typical dark fate for a What If? story. Something we might look at some time in the future. I'd also like to return to more of the Eternals, having enjoyed today's featured battle, and more of the Evolutionary War, which has an interesting appearance by an adversary who share centuries with the Eternals - Apocalypse.

If you'd like to see that sooner than later you can become a backer on Patreon to sponsor your choice of future feature. As a thank you for supporting the project you'll unlock additional updates, polls, and options for customized articles.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 600 battles and ranked more than 1000 characters! You can discover them all by following links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a free and complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number!

You can find today's featured fight by checking out collected editions of Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 2 or The Evolutionary War. Use the Amazon purchase links for any of your shopping and you'll not only discover a great deal -- you'll also help Amazon support the site at no extra cost to you!

Get free daily links to smackdown inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing on Twitter and Facebook. Don't forget to like, fave, and share posts, and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday!

Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#31 (--) Silver Surfer
#145 (+4) Super-Skrull
#445 (+152) Sersi
#475 (new) Ikaris
#476 (new) Karkas
#477 (new) Makkari
#478 (new) Thena

RAZORFIST versus WOLVERINE

Save the Tiger Chapter 4: The Ordeal (Marvel)
Where: Marvel Comics Presents #4 When: Early October 1988 Why: Chris Claremont How: John Buscema

The Story So Far...
Madripoor: A crime-ridden island principality just south of Singapore. They say its a city for the very rich and the very poor, where everything's for sale for the right price.

Lowtown is where you'll find the worst of the worst, but the lawless streets aren't without their charms. That's also where you'll find Wolverine, mixing it up with the local riff-raff in the Princess Bar. The perfect place to get away from the troubles of the X-Men -- and find all new troubles!

The dying words of a man named Dave Chapel brought Wolverine to the bar and its co-owner "O'Donnell". Chapel was tortured and left for dead in the desert, mixed up with a local crime-lord called Roche. Wolverine's come to "save the tiger" and that means he's a direct enemy of Roche, who'll do anything to learn the whereabouts of his competition -- including torturing the out-of-towner!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Wolverine 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Wolverine 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Draw 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)
Total: Wolverine 26 (Metahuman)

Logan's in a real bad place, strung up with chains and tortured by the local crime-lord's personal "Inquisitor". His healing factor has held out long enough for  a shot at escape, but that means going through Roche's personal enforcer!

Douglas Scott is one of three men to have answered to variations of the moniker Razor Fist. Like his predecessors: he eventually had both his hands surgically replaced with short swords to match the deadly fists of Shang-Chi.

An assassin of some renown; Douglas has sold his services to various criminal enterprises, including a brief membership with The Hood's Syndicate that sent him into conflict with The Punisher. He's also battled the likes of Hawkeye, Elektra, and Captain America, but when you're talking about a man with knives for hands, there's really only one hero we want to see him go up against -- Wolverine!

Crossing claws with swordsmen has produced mixed results for the X-Man over the years. His mutant healing factor will almost certainly allow him to recover from any impalements or lacerations, but it doesn't guarantee he'll win a fight.

In Wolverine (Vol.3) #20 we saw The Gorgon cut him down with a lethal precision impalement, while the vampire hunter Blade merely slowed him down with a light skewering in Blade #5. He also took a sword through the torso from old nemesis Silver Samurai in Wolverine #37, but endured long enough to claim victory.

To beat Silver Samurai he cut the swordsman's right hand off -- an effective way to neutralize the threat of Razor Fist. He also opted for evisceration against the cybernetic claws of Lady Deathstrike and The Reavers in Uncanny X-Men #205.

It's said Wolverine's adamantium blades can cut through just about anything, but not all metals are sliced so easily. When he raked his claws against the cyborg limb of Donald Pierce in X-Men #132, the arm was damaged but remained in tact.

Could Razor Fist's sword-like appendages be tempered enough to take on the best there is at what he does? We're gonna find out!

The Tape: Wolverine Ranking: Wolverine (#5)

What Went Down...

Keen for freedom from Mr. Roche's prison -- Wolverine puts aside thoughts of being rescued by the X-Men to gather his resolve to help himself.

He unsheathes his razor-sharp adamantium claws to cut loose from the chains that dangle from the ceiling. A twist and flick of his wrist is all it takes, but he drops with a heavy "THWUD" and slips into unconsciousness on the stone floor.

When his mutant healing factor helps him revive there's no way of knowing how long he was out cold. It hardly matters. The building remains unguarded and he takes his opportunity to slip out and escape through the outside garden.

Suspicions that it's all too good to be true prove founded when Razorfist breaks the silence of the night from behind a bush: "I've been expecting you, stranger."

Still bearing the wounds of torture, Wolverine steels himself and stomps toward his opponent with short links of chain still dangling from his wrists.

Razorfist swings wildly with the blade that would be his left hand, slashing at Logan's bare chest with the promise of a warrior's death. He aims to spare the prisoner further torture at the hands of his employer's Inquisitor!

A second downward strike with his right-hand blade cuts through Wolverine's gut and presses the mutant onto the back foot.

Weariness from a day of torture overwhelms Wolverine. His mind is lost in a sea of utter fatigue as he struggles just to think -- let alone fight!

Razorfist delivers a straight shot with his right blade that sends Wolverine's head violently snapping back. The blow takes its terrible toll.

Wolverine's body is heavy with exhaustion and can no longer obey. He's finished and he knows it -- even before Razorfist plunges his blade into his throat!

A primal scream of pain enters the air and Wolverine collapses into the roaring stream behind him. The river carries his body to a nearby waterfall.

Razorfist puts a blade to his forehead and salutes his fallen foe, lamenting the circumstances of their meeting. He would've liked a fairer fight against a worthy adversary. Instead, his report to Mr. Roche will tell of a prisoner slain in escape.

The Hammer...

You can safely assume the conclusion wasn't as fatal as Razor Fist thinks. In a few issues Wolverine will be back on his feet, and ready for a rematch without the burden of having been tortured for a day prior.

Your mileage may vary, but I like a Wolverine that doesn't shake off that kind of abuse in an instant. The Inquisitor clearly did some very unpleasant things, leaving him with wounds to the body & arms, and a bloody nose. Nasty stuff.

I'm also very fond of Razor Fist. We're talking about this battle because a version of the villain has made his live-action debut in Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, but I've had this issue sitting on my desk for what must be years now.

Who doesn't want to see Wolverine and Razor Fist go at it?

Sure, it might be argued that the outcome of a fair fight is a foregone conclusion. Razor Fist isn't really in Wolverine's league, even though he could be in the right story. It's just such an appealingly simple, almost dumb concept. A battle of the bladed fists. It hits different than his fights with Sabretooth or Lady Deathstrike.

Of course there's really no denying that the Razor Fist concept teeters on the absolute brink of absurdity. Most fans tend to skew a tad scatological when pondering the practicalities of replacing your hands with razor sharp blades. In the script for Marvel Comics Presents #4: Chris Claremont settles for working an obligatory joke about how he can dress and feed himself into Wolverine's internal monologue.

Other stories have shown Razor Fist surrounded by dedicated servants, or concubines. I rather liked John Romita Jr's revised mid-nineties design that outfitted him with cyber-prosthetic hands. It was a compromise that didn't take away from the graphic conceit of honking great knives where his hands are, but borrowed somewhat from the overhanded concept of Wolverine's claws.

The classic design reminds me of something you might've seen from the eighties G.I. Joe toy line, but it mustn't be forgotten that Razor Fist comes from the world of Shang-Chi and The Master of Kung Fu series.

He may look a little silly, but he's part of the tradition of Enter the Dragon and the villainous Han, albeit a little lower in station. He's a martial artist with a Bond villain gimmick that probably shouldn't be taken as lightly as he is.

Now that we've opened the door to Razor Fist I hope to come back to further explore some of his later exploits in the Marvel Universe. Even in obscurity he found himself into some pretty interesting situations.

I also hope we'll get a chance to return to the atmospheric realm of Madripoor, which could be a significant location for the newly announced Wolverine video game for PlayStation 5! A lot of interesting things to unpack there!

In the mean time: if you'd like to take a tour of Madripoor on your own time you can find the entire 10-part Save The Tiger story collected in Marvel Comics Presents: Wolverine Vol. 1 and Epic Collection Wolverine: Madripoor Nights. Use the Amazon purchase links provided below and you'll not only get yourself a choice cut delivered to your door -- you'll also help support the site!

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Winner: Razorfist
#411 (+461) Razor Fist (Douglas Scott)
#5 (--) Wolverine