NEW WARRIORS & THOR versus JUGGERNAUT

The New Warriors (Marvel)
Where: Thor #412 When: Mid-December 1989
Why: Tom DeFalco How: Ron Frenz & Joe Sinnott

The Story So Far...
As Loki convinces the ranks of the world's deadliest super-villains to exchange resources & opponents in a series of coordinated "Acts of Vengeance" -- he saved the most unstoppable surprise challenger for his half-brother Thor!

When Juggernaut is plucked from maximum security confinement in England's Crossmoor Prison and teleported back to New York City -- he's more than happy to lay waste to an unprepared God of Thunder who soon succumbs to his might!

Now the only thing standing in the way of Juggernaut and Loki's supreme victory over Thor is an all-new ragtag group of youths called The New Warriors!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Juggernaut 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Night Thrasher 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Nova 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Juggernaut 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Speedball 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Night Thrasher 4 (Trained)
Energy: Nova 5 (Lasers)
Total: Nova 33 (Super)

The New Warriors are: Night Thrasher, Marvel Boy, Nova, Namorita, Firestar, and Speedball, with Thor.

Thor met his match against an unstoppable force in the previous issue, but lucky for him -- there's a new generation of New Warriors hittin' the streets to make it safe for regular folk like you & me - and freshly clobbered gods of thunder!

The next wave of justice is led by Night Thrasher, aka; Dwayne Taylor: heir to the Taylor Foundation, whose fortune allows him to design & build advanced armor and weaponry. He's a skilled fighter and tactician, hellbent on fighting crime, who can do things with a skateboard you wouldn't believe!

Night Thrasher built a team out of promising young heroes, starting with Avengers hopeful Marvel Boy, whose powerful mutant telekinesis was triggered by his time travelling future-self: Major Victory. He was deemed too inexperienced for the A team, but in an alternate future, he's one of the great Guardians of the Galaxy!

If that sounds pretty cosmic - check out Nova! Richard Rider received the powers of Nova Prime when an alien selected him to inherit the helmet of planet Xandar's intergalactic lawmen. His future exploits will pit him against an Infinity Gauntlet wielding Thanos, the deadly Annihilation Wave, and The Thunderbolts!

One of those T-Bolts was the former Speedball, whose accidental exposure to extra-dimensional forces irradiated him with energy that surrounded his body with a kinetic field. The slightest move can send him into a hyper-ballistic ricochet that turns his ultra-durable body into a living projectile!

Not to be outdone: Namorita soars the skies as easily as the seas, possessing super-human strength, durability, and ankle wing-assisted flight in the same vein as her famous elder cousin - Namor, the Sub-Mariner! The daughter of Namora is at her strongest underwater, but still packs a punch as a team powerhouse!

Her elemental opposite, but a trusted teammate, is  Angelica Jones, aka; Firestar -- a pyrokinetic mutant whose mastery of microwaves can generate intense heat, directed flames, and allows her the means of levitated flight.

An impressive line-up making their combat debut, but they face the magical might of Juggernaut! A force so powerful it has stood up to Colossus, Nimrod, Captain Britain, Hulk, The Avengers, and even DC's Superman and Wonder Woman!

Fortunately for the youngsters, he's also been a proving-ground stalled by seemingly weaker challengers, such as Spider-Man, Siryn & Deadpool, and the Teen Titans! Could the New Warriors join that list? Let's find out!

The Tape: New Warriors Ranking: Juggernaut (#57)

What Went Down...

Juggernaut teeters on the edge of being insulted as he finds himself confronted by a motley crew of young heroes leaping to the aide of a barely conscious Thor!

The New Warriors stand their ground, but Speedball is a little too eager to throw himself into the action. He launches himself like a hyper-kinetic ballistic bouncing ball, but even though he attacks rapidly from different directions -- Juggernaut finds him with the back of his hand!

Firestar shows compassion for Speedball as he's launched out of the borough, but Night Thrasher is all business -- condemning his brash teammate while ordering Namorita and Nova to protect Thor from the oncoming Juggernaut.

The flying powerhouses are already one step ahead of their fearless leader, sourcing a nearby iron girder to wrap Juggernaut up in the metal bar!

Carrying each end, they smash into the unstoppable villain, bending the bar around him -- but even with his arms pinned by his sides Juggernaut will not be waylaid!

A simple flex rips both arms free -- reducing the girder to tiny pieces of scrap metal as it shatters and launches concussive shrapnel at Nova and the Atlantean!

Marvel Boy contemplates calling in the Avengers or Fantastic Four, but Night Thrasher is hellbent on proving himself and the team. He tells MB and Firestar to get Thor clear and jumps on his hi-tech skateboard to leap into the fray!

Thrasher ducks under Juggernaut's arm as he zips past at blistering speed, but the amused villain cuts off a comeback and encourages the youngster to go live his best teenaged life -- launching him from his skateboard with a ground pound!

The directed tremor pops rider and board both into the air, but the highly trained Night Thrasher simply redirects his body weight to flip back to his nimble plank -- and drive it base-first into Juggernaut's face!

It's a high impact -- but the magical might of the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak means it barely even registers with the stalking villain.

Night Thrasher keeps up the offensive, skating around the rubble-filled battlefield to keep out of arm's reach, while pelting the Juggernaut with acid bombs and concussion grenades in search of a weakness!

Completely unfazed, Juggernaut simply continues his march toward his target -- flippantly turning his back on the young nuisance.

Enraged -- Night Thrasher rides his board straight for the enemy and leaps onto his shoulders! His obsession with stopping crime is as unstoppable as his foe!

The armored young hero keeps a mounted position over Juggernaut's helmet and unloads with a furious flurry of punches!

For all the good it does, he's playing for keeps: "I won't rest until I've found a way to make you pay! TO MAKE YOU ALL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!"

Thrasher's complete focus robs him of the perspective to recognize just how in danger he is! Fortunately, Firestar spots the trouble from the skies over a nearby trainyard, and makes a beeline for her imperiled teammate!

Juggernaut snags Night Thrasher by the ankle and swings him around overhead, but Firestar is there to take custody and fly him to safety before it ends poorly.

The distraction of Firestar flying away gives Namorita and Nova a chance at a second attack!

Two train cars cast a shadow over Juggernaut, but he can't react fast enough to avoid the full brunt of their force as Namorita and Nova hurl them at him!

The trains collapse on impact -- engulfing Juggernaut in dust!

Firestar helps talk Night Thrasher down as they glide overhead, while Speedball makes his return to the rest of the team relatively unscathed. It looks like a clean win, but the New Warriors are counting their victories prematurely.

Juggernaut explodes from beneath the train cars -- filling the air with fragments of wood and metal as he throws them asunder!

It's an impressive display of raw strength, but it also provides Marvel Boy with an entire arsenal of airborne weapons!

The telekinetic mutant directs the wreckage fragments to the lumbering Juggernaut -- surrounding him in jagged pieces of wood, metal, and concrete.

The debris field proves an irritant at best, but otherwise does little to slow the unstoppable. Fortunately, its true purpose was as distraction for the airborne Firestar to get into position!

The Juggernaut is bombarded with microwaves from the sky as Firestar unleashes her mutant powers against his attire!

The intense heat generated by the waves renders Juggernaut's costume glowing white hot -- but still he marches undeterred!

Night Thrasher orders Firestar to direct her microwaves at the villain's heart, but she cannot bring herself to resort to an act of murder. It appears the New Warriors have failed, but then comes the flash of lightning and boom of thunder!

The Mighty Thor has recovered from their first round and draws Juggernaut's attention with Mjolnir raised to summon fire from the heavens!

Juggernaut remains confident as ever: "C'mon, pal. You may as well accept the inevitable! Nothing can stop the Juggernaut from squeezing the life out of you!"

Thor is no more concerned than he, dropping humbly to one knee as he calls upon the fury of the storm from the skies overhead. They respond to the gods' call, sending devastating lighting crashing to the earth where Juggernaut stands!

For a moment the New Warriors are blinded by the light, but when it dissipates they find the Juggernaut still standing -- smoldering and annoyed!

He begins the march toward his opponent, but Thor is no longer willing to indulge his enemy.

Where lightning alone failed -- the very god-force that flows through Thor's veins unites with the power of his enchanted hammer to unleash an unbridled energy the likes of which has challenged Galactus and The Celestials!

The destructive blast does not obliterate the Juggernaut -- but it does push him back -- defying the magic of the Crimson Gem that renders him unstoppable!

As he plants his foot to try to regain forward momentum -- the concrete foundation beneath him gives way -- and Juggernaut falls into a massive sinkhole!

Nova and Namorita leap into action, flying armfuls of steel girders into the gaping void. Then Firestar reduces them to a slurry of molten slag that quickly fills every nook and cranny until it rapidly cools under a frigid wind summoned by Thor -- and encases Juggernaut in a metal prison!

Knowing full well that Juggernaut will break free soon enough; Thor uses his hammer to warp the fabric of time & space itself -- banishing the massive metal shard to an unknown asteroid in distant outer space.

The Hammer...

When Juggernaut explodes out of his temporary metal prison moments later -- he's already been deposited alone in the starry void of space by Thor. Mission failed, as far as Loki's concerned.

Juggernaut was unwittingly recruited into the Acts of Vengeance by the trickster god, who plucked him out of British maximum security after a run-in with Captain Britain and Excalibur, in the hopes his unstoppable power would destroy Thor -- Loki's half-brother.

As per the setup for today's featured fight; Juggernaut made a pretty good go of catching Thor unprepared, and from the floating asteroid he's been deposited on, he vows to inevitably find a way back to Earth to get even with the thunder god!

Long time readers will know Acts of Vengeance has always been one of my favourite banner events from Marvel Comics - and this particular issue has always beamed brightly as a personal favourite. An issue I grabbed off the racks back in those heady days of a monolithic wall of new releases at the local newsagent!

It's a small wonder I've never made the time to pull out my second copy -- a back issue purchased at a reasonable price a few years ago, to replace a well worn, and possibly lost, original copy. It's a bona fide favourite, but I suppose those are the ones I sometimes keep away for myself, or for special occasions.

Over on X (aka; Twitter), the fine purveyor of NewWarriors.com was kind enough to go out of their way to recommend our humble Fight Club to the comic book masses still hanging tough on the micro-blogging social media service. That was enough of an excuse for me to finally dig this issue out and go hog wild!

In case you somehow haven't been checking out the dedicated dotcom [I'm sure you will now!]: Thor #412 serves as the first full appearance of the New Warriors - in action after their debut cameo at the end of Thor #411.

It's a pretty darn strong debut for a new group, comprised of a small handful of Marvel's youthful odds & ends, and their newly created leader - Night Thrasher!

Thor #412 certainly ingratiated the team with me as a young reader, who might've only vaguely recognized one or two of the characters from chance encounters with some other stray appearances, or promotional artwork in something like Marvel Age.

I suppose Firestar had some shine coming from the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends animated series, and Speedball was a still-recent conceited effort to create a new young hero with his own title -- having brought Steve Ditko back into the Marvel fold some twenty years after he helped create icons like Spider-Man and Doctor Strange -- but the rest were pretty obscure to a young reader in early 1990. Hangovers from the seventies and issues of Defenders or Sub-Mariner.

Of course, Night Thrasher is a brand new creation, so it's little wonder he gets the most time to shine in the fight, even as the rest of the team have their moments. He's in danger of appearing unhinged or reckless, but they maintain the fine line of creating interest without rendering the hero a lost cause.

I'm sure the cover had a great deal to do with drawing me in. Obviously Thor was an established major attraction, but the colourful group of characters ripping through a bold turquoise background surely popped off the stands when I was browsing the wall to make my choice for a single comic purchase as a small boy.

Joe Sinnott is credited with finished art over Ron Frenz story & pictures, and while I can't accurately break down the division of labour, I can say that images from this comic left an impression on me for years to come.

Mark Bagley will arguably take ownership of the characters as soon as the New Warriors series launches a few months later, but the first impression made here is indelible. The storytelling - keeping a dazed Thor at the centre of concern - is economical yet urgent. The action is bombastic, but always easy to follow. The renderings of characters clean & attractive, especially in the big heroic spreads that open the issue. It all comes together to make a very strong impression.

It's kind of the same playbook used years later to introduce The Thunderbolts in Incredible Hulk #449, before the group spun-off into their own first issue a few months later. You've got a similar rub of appearing in a marquee series, albeit without the title character also being the overwhelming challenge they face. I think the New Warriors did it much more convincingly, though.

Of course, as much as the New Warriors are the big breakout heroes of the story -- this appearance of Juggernaut was also massively informative to my impression of the character moving forward.

Ever since Spider-Man fought the unbeatable foe, and won, in Amazing Spider-Man #230, Juggernaut has kinda been ripe for taking an L to put other characters over. I wonder if writer Tom DeFalco and his artists were conscious of that when putting the issue together, because right from that opening splash page: a slightly bewildered Juggernaut, gazing blankly out from under his reflective red-brown helmet, looks big, strong, and not to be trifled with!

He's rarely been as convincingly unstoppable as he is in this issue, even if it's under opposition from heroes who are largely in one, two, or even three weight classes below him. The palpable danger he presents only goes further to enhance the young heroes who are making their debut, and doing everything they can just to stop him getting hands on a severely dazed Thor.

So, who actually won? This one gets a little tricky...

Juggernaut will always come back eventually, but lets assume we all understand that a fight can end with simple defeat, rather than permanent incapacitation.

Spider-Man secured his famous win by submerging Juggernaut in construction concrete -- not dissimilar from what happened in today's fight. The only difference is, we know Juggernaut broke free from the hardened steel within moments of being sealed, ready to fight on. It then becomes a question of whether or not teleporting him to a distant space body constitutes an act of victory, or avoidance.

Because Juggernaut never really showed significant signs of defeat, and was very much ready to continue brawling when he emerged from his steel cocoon -- I'm inclined to call this one a draw. Thor and the New Warriors did their best to get the better of Juggernaut, but he was barely even stalled. Tough break!

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Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#19 (--) Thor
#125 (+2) Nova
#503 (new) Firestar
#504 (new) Namorita
#505 (new) Night Thrasher
#462 (--) Speedball [+1 assist]
#518 (+84) Marvel Boy (Vance Astro)
#57 (--) Juggernaut

NOVA versus THANOS

Cosmic Battle on the Edge of The Universe! (Marvel)
Where: Infinity Gauntlet #4 When: October 1991
Why: Jim Starlin How: Ron Lim & George Perez

The Story So Far...
When the Silver Surfer crash lands to Earth through the roof of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum -- he brings ominous warning of the greatest threat the universe has ever known! Thanos lives and has taken possession of the Infinity Gems of Soul, Mind, Power, Time, Reality, and Space to form the omnipotent Infinity Gauntlet!

The Mad Titan's mission is to eradicate half of all sentient life in existence! A feat he achieves in an instant with but a mere thought! His quest to court the mistress Death does not end there, though. His dominion is now all that exists in the known universe -- a reality, his to dominate and reshape!

Ripples of Thanos' power echo throughout the universe, causing mayhem and destruction on Earth, where the mightiest heroes assemble in conference to discuss the unknown threat. The unexpected arrival of Adam Warlock provides limited answers as he takes command, selecting a special task force to confront Thanos in a desperate ploy to save the universe from The Infinity Gauntlet!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thanos 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Thanos 5 (Professor)
Speed: Nova 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Thanos 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Nova 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Thanos 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Thanos 6 (Cosmic Power)
Total: Thanos 34 (Super)

Thor's life hangs in the balance after the eighth wave of attack ended with the untimely demise of Spider-man -- and Thor's transmutation into glass!

Coming to fragile Thor's aid is the human rocket: Nova! You may've spotted him flying around the battlefield in a few previous waves of attack, but it's only now the cosmic cruise missile is targeting the all-powerful Thanos!

Richard Rider was a New York high school kid when first given his powers by a dying Centurion of the Nova Corps. Based on the planet Xandar, the Nova Corps are an intergalactic military force empowered to police the universe with the powers of the Nova Force.

The Nova Force grants Richard Rider enhanced strength, endurance, durability, speed, the ability to fly like a human rocket, and channel various forces as energy blasts. At the time of Infinity Gauntlet; Nova uses these powers as a member of the teen superhero group: The New Warriors.

This is the first time we're seeing Nova before his evolution into a mature, battle-hardened intergalactic hero. Annihilation will recast him in the fires of war a decade later. As the last surviving Nova Centurion, he'll lead a United Front against the dreaded Annihilation Wave [see; Annihilation #1].

When the more powerful Nova returned to Earth, he effortlessly decimated old adversary Diamondhead [Nova #2], and fought The Thunderbolts to a relative standstill [Nova #3]! Evidence of the great hero he's destined to become, but inadmissible evidence at the time of The Infinity Gauntlet!

Nova was a compelling heavy-hitter for the New Warriors, but we lack sufficient case to think he can go toe-to-toe with Thanos. Under ordinary circumstances it might be a fair fight, but the way Thanos has wielded the godly powers of the Infinity Gauntlet makes it very difficult to rate Nova as anything more than a fast moving irritation.

He's plucky and powerful, but the odds are increasingly against the heroes. Fast, hard-hitting attacks may've served Hulk and Vision well in earlier strikes, but Thanos' patience is wearing thing. Turning Wolverine to rubber and Thor to glass shows he's losing interest in fighting fair. Bad news for Nova!

The Tape: Thanos Ranking: Thanos (#14)

What Went Down...
Thanos clenches his partly raised fist - gazing with a hint of disdain at the man claiming to be a Norse god. By decree of Odin: the mortal Eric Masterson indeed possesses all the strengths and rights of the one true Thor! He is worthy to raise the mighty hammer Mjolnir against the Mad Titan. If only it would do any good!

Were he able to summon the wind and thunder under his command, he would surely break, for Thor stands frozen on the battlefield, turned to glass! Death is surely imminent, if not for the intervention of a human rocket: Nova!

The young hero streaks across the battlefield to strike at Thanos with the momentum of a ballistic missile! His fist finds its target - daring to turn the Mad Titan's face with extreme prejudice!

The power to distort reality glimmers in Thanos' eyes as he takes the brash hero's words to twist them against him! Nova proclaimed no one would be "busting up Thor while Nova's around!" So Thanos decides to make him square.

Thanos wears a wry smile as he watches Nova transformed into a swarm of coloured blocks. Harmless children's toys, easily crushed beneath his heel as the clatter innocuously against the ground! Death, chillingly obscured.

With far greater spite, Thanos raises his Infinity Gauntlet again - not to summon its limitless power, but to swing his massive fist through the glass statue that is Thor! A spiteful final blow to eliminate one of his greatest threats!

Thor shatters into a million pieces, and with him dies the greatest hope the heroes have had for besting Thanos. Their numbers are fast dwindling, but there are still a few heroes ready to face overwhelming odds. The next will do so alone - a cosmic power to rival even a thunder god!

The Hammer...
It was over almost as quickly as it began! Nova's attack ultimately amounted to a single page. How could any hero hope to stand a chance when Thanos wields the power to guarantee death with no chance of recourse?

Thor's defeat was registered in the previous tag team contest of the ninth wave, but we record his death here, alongside Nova. He fought valiantly in the first and fourth waves, delivering some of the most potent blows. Had Doctor Doom not interfered for selfish reasons when Thanos was adjusting to his power, who knows what might've been achieved by the thunderer's hammer?

The hero better known as Thunderstrike is ultimately one of the quirks of time captured in The Infinity Gauntlet, and one of the few definite improvements live-action cinema will make in Avengers: Infinity War. Masterson may've served as an adequate stand-in, but there's just no substituting for the genuine article!

It would be terrific to see Nova make an appearance on the big screen, but I don't think anyone is counting on it just yet.

The cinematic battle with Thanos might've been a fun way to get a jumpstart, but Marvel usually like to play it to formula, so those kinds of abrupt surprises just don't happen. Further, Slash Film reports Marvel movie pubah Kevin Feige described Nova as one of the characters with "immediate potential".

There was always a curious appeal to the rocketing buckethead of earlier eras, but the mainstream potential of Nova was never more apparent than in the updates made in Annihilation. Before the world was introduced to the Guardians of the Galaxy, it was easy to presume Nova would be one of Marvel's first space faring heroes. Instead, the groundwork was laid with a slightly less than impressive version of the Nova Corps.

Back on the comic book page: we're drawing close to the end of infinity! There are just a few more heroes remaining on the gauntlet, with one of the more powerful heroes stepping up for tomorrow's penultimate attack!

You can find all our Infinity Gauntlet updates by diving into the Secret Archive where featured fights are indexed via publisher, series, and issue number. You'll find Infinity Gauntlet in the Marvel section, with battles linked sequentially.

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Thanos is marching toward the top of the Comic Book Fight Club rankings! Will he dominate long enough to conquer the Top 10? Or will the next hero bring an end to his lethal warpath? Stay tuned!

Winner: Thanos
#11 (+3) Thanos [+2 kills]
#101 (-24) Nova (Richard Rider)

Infinity Gauntlet #4
Thanos runs the gauntlet of heroes in a special series spotlighting the classic cosmic showdown!
Versus Wave 1, Hulk & Drax, Wave 3, Thor & Dr. Doom, Wolverine, Wave 6, Cloak, Firelord & Drax, Iron Man, Spider-man & Thor, Nova, Quasar, Captain America

NOVA & DRAX versus ANNIHILATION WAVE

Blood And Thunder (Marvel)
Where: Annihilation #1 When: October 2006
Why: Keith Giffen How: Andrea Divito

The Story So Far...
They came from beyond the edge of the universe: The Annihilation Wave! An invasion force so devastating it eradicated the Nova Corps within its first week of attack!

Lord Annihilus advances his plague of insectoid denizens against the universe, retaliating against expansion into the anti-matter domain of The Negative Zone. By their own savage logic, their assault across galaxies is taking back what's theirs!

Within months: the Skrull Empire is decimated -- sending a bold message to the rest of a besieged universe! Old enemies are irrelevant! In the ruins of old civilizations, new alliances are forged, appointing Nova Prime as Commander-in-Chief of a surviving United Front!

Tartus Minor fell as they came to grips with the nature of their enemy, but on the Kree-System Periphery of Daedalus 5, the Annihilation Wave has been held! It is a fleeting relief against an enemy of overwhelming number, whose forces are unrelenting! With Command Center soon to be lost, Nova enters the fray!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Drax 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Nova 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Nova 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Drax 6 (Generator)
Agility: Nova 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Drax 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Nova 5 (Lasers)
Total: Nova 33 (Super)

The universe is under threat from an incursion of Arthrosian insectoid aliens known collectively as the Annihilation Wave! They are a living plague that threatens all existence, invading from the Negative Zone under the command of its most notorious denizen: Annihilus!

Fortunately, some of the universe's most powerful beings have come together to form a single United Front led by Richard Rider: the last surviving Nova! The United Front includes such luminaries as: Star-Lord, Ronan The Accuser, Firelord, Gamora, and Drax The Destroyer.

Drax serves as a powerful soldier in the fight against the Annihilation Wave, but has also been a trusted voice to Nova, who credits him with 'destroying Richard Rider, the boy, to make room for Nova, the man'. His blunt mentorship helps Nova direct his forces in the face of devastating losses, and overwhelming odds.

This incarnation of Drax hadn't been around a long time at this point. He differs when compared to the prior form we saw battling Thor [in Warlock and The Infinity Watch #21] in reduced mass, and increased tactical intelligence. He's a more ferocious combatant, relying on mobility and twin daggers, rather than brute strength. This reduction in pure power has its drawbacks, as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy #25, when he struggled with a rampaging Thanos.

Thanos serves as an ally to Annihilus during the Annihilation event, as well as having outstanding personal grievances with Drax. From past entries we know this comes to a head in Annihilation #4 -- another showcase for the destructive hand-to-hand potential of Drax!

Our Nova file also comes exclusively from the time after Annihilation. When he returns to Earth with the full power of the Nova Force and Xandarian Worldmind, he effortlessly defeats former nemesis Diamondhead [Nova #2], and fights the Thunderbolts to a standstill [Nova #3]!

There's a lot of evidence here to argue Drax and Nova should make a serious dent in the nameless hordes of the Annihilation Wave. The catch is the simple overwhelming numbers of the Wave.

The Tape: Drax & Nova Ranking: Drax (#127)

What Went Down...

With perimeter force-fields breached, the Annihilation Wave advances on United Front HQ. Commander-in-Chief Richard Rider orders second-in-command Peter Quill to get their people clear. The former Starlord complies, while Rider dons his Nova Corps helmet and prepares to lead from the front.

In the field; a Kree soldier collects Earth girl Cammi Benally while her charge continues to fight. Drax sprays Arthrosian innards as he fights them one at a time with nothing but a sturdy pair of daggers!

As the Wave pushes forward, the ground gives way beneath Drax's feet. He falls to the lower levels, where Kree soldiers do their best to fire before they're inevitably consumed. Drax joins them in their hopeless fight.

Drax never stops fighting as the insect horde begins to overwhelm him. All that can be seen is a blood-soaked blade -- still stabbing and slashing at alien hide!

A reprieve comes in streaking golden light. Nova descends into the pit at speed -- a living missile targeting the amassing threat! The collision crushes one of the insects and scatters the rest! Drax is knocked clear with the rest of them.

The last Nova briefly joins Drax in fighting the aliens hand-to-hand while they assess the dire situation. He soon clutches The Destroyer by the wrist and takes them both airborne as they consider a response to their defensive breach.

Human Richard Rider struggles with the consequences of his next decision. Drax is coldly pragmatic with his assessment of the situation. The Annihilation Wave is catching up to the wounded. Nova can lose hundreds - or risk thousands.

Nova tosses Drax to the safety of a Kree fortress, then returns to the battlefield to carry out his solemn duty. Hovering above the war zone, he makes contact with Barrage Command. His order: full-scope heavy ordnance barrage.

The assault from above rains death and destruction upon Daedalus 5!

The zone is cleared at the cost of The United Front's own forces. A necessary toll to defend thousands more. The creed of the Kree warriors would likely have it no other way, but the burden of victory will weigh heavily on Richard Rider.

The Hammer...
His order cost The United Front untold casualties, but Nova's tactical decision ensured they won the battle -- and remain in the war. A result more bitter than sweet.

Nova's intervention also meant Drax safely shared in the win from behind their second perimeter. Things looked a little hairy, but Drax did plenty of damage against the seemingly endless hordes of the Annihilation Wave. The cold, warrior's rationale of his council also proved valuable to reaching the difficult decision to end it.

Something that really strikes me about the 2006 cosmic reboot is just how effectively it evokes the feeling of a super-hero space war. A lot of comics profess to be set in war time, but the sense of scale, chaos, and grim reality is particularly effective in Annihilation!

It worked to the event's favour that Marvel's cosmic line had gradually fallen out of grace in the new millennium. It meant even the most popular heroes (or villains) involved had been easy to lose sight of. Whether you were reading the tie-in mini-series, or not, Annihilation #1 provided a jarring jump-start to the chaos.

Those tie-ins were an attractive lure to lapsed, or longing fans. Even casual readers coming of age in the mid-2000s could recognize Silver Surfer, Super-Skrull, Ronan The Accuser, and Nova. Each gave a little extra mystique and star-power to the seemingly risky proposition of an all-out cosmic relaunch.

Cue the obligatory reference to a 2005 Drax mini-series that served as a precursor to Annihilation, while also revamping Drax as the streamlined fighter we saw today. Oft referenced material we'll take a look at one of these days!

The elevation of Nova from staple of the teen New Warriors, to battle-hardened space commander, made him an obvious break-out of Annihilation itself. The on-going series that followed was a no brainer, capitalizing on a fresh new look and feel that made Nova one of the most exciting heroes of the year.

Aspects of the revamp leaned heavily into what DC tried in the nineties with Kyle Rayner, but what it unraveled was far less beloved. It's tough to imagine anyone demanding a H.E.A.T. style rebirth for the spandex and bucket-head days. The new-look Nova paid homage to what came before, but embellished it in ways that made the character a bona fide star character.

It was a lot less obvious that Nova's grizzled right-hand man, the dusted off Starlord, would surpass him as Marvel's premiere cosmic hero! Of course, in Annihilation, it's a very different Peter Quill than the space-bum slacker of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, comics, and animated series!

Speaking of movies: it looks as if Annihilation might be a small influence on next month's Avengers: Infinity War film! Still no signs of Richard Rider in the cinematic Nova Corps, but it looks like Thanos might be bringing something resembling the Annihilation Wave to Earth! Exactly what Nova fought to avoid!

It wouldn't be too surprising if Annihilation has something to do with the closely guarded Avengers 4, but who knows? The influence of The Infinity Gauntlet is still on the ambiguous side, despite presumptions it would factor heavily into the long awaited arrival of Thanos.

Want to get ahead of the game by reading today's featured fight for yourself? You can check it out in collected edition via the Amazon link provided right! Not only will you get a cosmic deal, but also help support the site at no extra cost!

You can ride the wave to more featured fights like this one by checking out the Secret Archive Index! Every past battle is indexed by publisher, series, and issue number.

For even more recommendations, follow and subscribe via Twitter and Facebook for daily fight links inspired by the topics of the day! A like, share, or retweet is a great way to help support the Secret Wars on Infinite Earths! Or just tell a friend!

Winners: Nova & Drax
#76 (+51) Drax [+2 confirmed kills]
#77 (+51) Nova (Richard Rider) [+2 confirmed kills]

FANTASY FIGHTS: DC/MARVEL ROUND 9!
By popular demand, the Infinite Wars are about to go where they've never been before! After two years of comprehensive canonical fight fact coverage, we're delving into the fictional world of fantasy fights, because you demanded it!

In the spirit of the immensly popular '96 DC/Marvel crossover event, we're pitting fifteen of each company's most relevant characters to 2007 against one and other! Stay tuned as we take a look at the imagine struggles of the superhero stars that have propelled the Infinite Wars across two full years of fisticuffs!

GREEN LANTERN versus NOVA
Strength: Nova 5 (Super Strength)
Intelligence: Nova 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Nova 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Green Lantern 6 (Generator)
Agility: Nova 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Green Lantern 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Green Lantern 7 (Solar Power)


The Hook...
There's a popular belief that Marvel has built their empire on making characters relatable -- characters with "headaches" who grapple with day-to-day life as much as they struggle against the tribulations of their alter-egos.
The Mickey Mouse to this notion is Spider-man, who for the first few decades was well characterized as a gawky, nerdy teenager who couldn't get girls, had a sick aunt, and was constantly cash strapped.

This common misconception often sees Kyle Rayner; the most recent headlining inductee into the Green Lantern Corps; compared to his web-slinging contemporary. Of course, asthetics aside, there's a character Rayner shares a great deal more in common with. He's a member of a cosmic guard, and in the recent cosmic crossover, Annihilation, he became the sole inheritant of the legacy of this Corps of intergalactic lawmen.

The Nova Corps are Marvel's none-too-subtle answer to their green counterparts, created in the mid-seventies by comics legend, Marv Wolfman. Like Rayner, Richard Ryder's status as Nova has bounced back and forth between being the last of the Centurion, to relinquishing his powers all together. Of course, for the most part, Ryder did much of this before Rayner.

Rayner has had his brushes with omnipotence, absorbing the powers of his predecessor, Hal Jordan, in an instance that saw him become Ion for the first time. This makes for yet another vague parallel, with Nova until recently being the sole possessor of the Nova Worldmind, and the sum of the Corps power.

Both characters are well known for their periods as green around the gills youngsters, but each has been baptized by fire. Today, both are well intergrated into their universes, representing the next generation of superhero leaders.

The Math: Nova Ranking: Nova (#66)

The Battle...
So, I suppose this represents our first foray into the space battle.
We've danced in and around prosey scripted versions of these battles, but as I'm a bit behind, and not feeling terribly visual at the crack of dawn, we might talk about this one from outside the box.

Rayner's had a tumultuous 2007 that we've been unfortunately unable to reflect. The character has seen fluctuations from returning to the Ion identity, to absorbing the Parallax in Sinestro Corp Wars, to traversing the DC mega-verse as a new breed of 'Challenger.' For the sake of this exercise we'll assume he's streamlined to be somewhere around the standard for a Green Lantern, albeit with a costume that straddles the line between retro-chic and plain hideousness.

On the flip side, we're going to give Nova the benefit of his 06/07 transition as the sole possessor of the Nova power. So, I guess it's from this conceit that we're inevitably going to derive our final result.

While the 'yellow imperfection' has been removed and personified as Parallax, there's a fun sort of synergy to the Nova powers being typically represented as yellow. This almost represents the new association of the Sinestro Corps, even though I doubt Nova will inspire fear in the young Green Lantern.

Rayner's been here before, having suffered defeat at the hands of the Silver Surfer, but I'm not sure how much that experience is going to benefit him.
The way I see it, Rayner's going to approach this with the head-on police strategy that's been established in the GL books. While the subject of lethal force has krept up again through the Fantasy Fights [Wonder Woman/Ms. Marvel], I don't think that final resort would apply here, despite the reaffirmed Lantern Corps law enforcement powers.

I would imagine the two would engage each other with a moderate offensive strategy. A lot of the typical Green Lantern constructs are inevitably going to come into play, presumably calling upon regular features in the Rayner arsenal, like suits of armor, and imaginative offensive weaponry.

I think this would keep the pair on even pegging for a while, and the unknown quantity of the Lantern ring is probably going to reduce the Worldmind to speculative insights, at best. Though Nova would be off balance to start, I think that larger pool of independent energies is going to give him the ability to blast through the GL energies, and secure a hard earned victory, perhaps even calling upon more traditional bruising that was absorbed through the Annihilation Wave.

The Hammer...
Wow! Is it just me, or has the Christmas season really taken a toll on quality around here? I think inspiration is going to be an issue bandied about in the upcoming Friday feature, but while we're here, we may as well talk a bit about Kyle Rayner.

It's hard not to feel like there's almost a beat of bad comedy about this result. I would certainly argue that it's a conclusion I believe in, but the Green Lantern is supposed to represent a power unlike any other, so to go down against the Silver Surfer and Nova, would seem like a bit of a bitter pill. Especially for those die hard Rayner fans who already have the feeling they're being slapped in the face time and again.

Between the heavy nostalgia gripping the industry, and contemporary efforts to keep a sense of forward momentum, a character like Kyle Rayner can sort of fall by the wayside. As a product of the nineties he's neither here, nor there, with powerhouses like Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison willingly revelling in the flavours of anywhere from the fifites, to the seventies.

Even the eighties revival of properties like Suicide Squad and Checkmate seems to have left the mid-nineties Lantern somewhere in limbo, and ironically, that's probably been his greatest strength in Season 07.

Countdown has continued the tradition of 52; presenting characters of mixed representation in starring roles. The uninitiated listening a little too carefully to Countdown-criticism might not know that the Green Lantern, whilst starring in Sinestro Corp Wars, has also had a feature role joining Donna Troy and Jason Todd in a mega-verse spanning quest to find Ray Palmer.

This has incorporated not only feature spots alongside Karate Kid and Mary Marvel, but also spin-off one-shots featuring well known universes from DC's now defunct Elseworld books.

While it continues to be a point of chagrin that the Infinite Wars simply cannot support analysis of regular output from the big two, one does tend to assume there's at least a bit more going on than the harshest critics would have you believe. Among other things, the opportunity to show Kyle Rayner in an individual sense is no doubt to great benefit, along with the chance to elevate him beyond the youthful inexperience that has all too often been the defining quality of this newest Lantern.

By this point I'm not sure how much we're actually saying, but then, at 7am in the lead-up to Christmas, I don't know how much you're reading into this, anyway. As such a polarizing character, no doubt someone is stirred to opinion, and as always, feel encouraged to lodge your opinions in the comments section!

The Infinite Wars does it's best to cater to the many fans seeking obscurities and informations, and though our features are often built around one-sided discussions, the ears of the internet are always listening. Yes, even to crazed Green Lantern fans!

And hey, if you're the shy type, why not lodge your opinion through the abstract anonymity of our current poll! This battle brings Marvel back up to a dramatic one-point deficit, but will it be enough to secure victory in our Fantasy Fights?
By this point I'd be lying if I didn't say I had some idea, but in truth, the result is still anyone's! Alas, for now:
WINNER: Nova
5 versus 4

THUNDERBOLTS versus NOVA
Home Truths (Marvel comics)
Where: Nova #3 When: August 2007
Why: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning How: Sean Chen

The story so far...
Now the last of the legendary intergalactic corps of Xandarian Nova Centurions; an exhausted Richard Rider embarks on a journey to return to Earth, acting on the advice of the artificial intelligence, the Worldmind.

Seasoned by his adventures in space, Rider returns a more mature hero than he once was as member of the New Warriors. Having led thousands to their deaths in the war against the Annihilation Wave, Nova finds the self-interested squabbles that have transpired in his absence easily dwarfed by the intergalactic threats to reality he has faced.

Confronted upon his return by Director of SHIELD, Iron Man; Nova is asked to join the Registration Initiative to turn his newly acquired cosmic powers and leadership to the training of a new generation of heroes. Given time to ponder the offer, Nova may find himself ultimately swayed by the intervention of his former teammate Speedball, and his new colleagues, the Thunderbolts!

Previous Form:
Thunderbolts [#6]: This incarnation holds a narrow victory over Jack Flag.
Nova (#73): A single victory over the villain Diamondhead.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Moonstone 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Radioactive Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Nova 7 (Light Speed)
Stamina: Moonstone 6 (Generator)
Agility: Penance 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting Ability: Nova 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Radioactive Man 6 (Mass Destruction)


- The Thunderbolts are: Moonstone, Penance, Radioactive Man, and Venom.

Assembled under the leadership of an exonerated Norman Osborn; this version of the Thunderbolts are part of a US government division operating seperate, but in conjunction with, SHIELD's superhero registration agenda.

The team is exclusively comprised of reformed super-villains, with the exception of Penance, who, as Speedball, was a member of the New Warriors; the team responsible for the Stamford tragedy that killed hundreds of school children.

Moonstone and Songbird are the only two remaining members from Baron Zemo's original assemblage of diguised Masters of Evil. Their status as senior members, coupled with a divergence of acceptance for Osborn's direction, has led to friction between the two. Despite their familiarities, the frictions have been shown to interfere in their field competence, particularly in dealing with unfamiliar factors like Venom and the brooding, but massively powerful, Penance.

Lurking in the shadows is a contingency for the Thunderbolts in the form of the mass murdering assassin, Bullseye. Though effectively the team's trump card, Bullseye is kept from public eye, allowing for the delicately balanced charade of heroism to be maintained.

- As a teen; Long Island native, Richard Rider, was selected by the dying alien, Rhomann Dey, to assume the mantle of the Nova-Prime.
Swept into a world of intergalactic war and peace keeping, Rider eventually leaves behind his superheroing deeds to join other members of the Nova Corps on the reconstructed home world of Dey - Xandar.

Homesick, Rider relinquished his powers in exchange for the right to return home, but an encounter with the armored hero Night Thrasher would reveal that his powers merely lay dormant within him. Together the two would be prominent members of the teen superteam, the New Warriors.

Rider would revisit his role as a space cop in the battle against the Annihilation Wave. It is here that the Nova Corps of Xandar are once again exterminated, thus leaving Nova to inheret the entirety of their power matrix, the Worldmind.
With infinitely increased powers, Nova becomes the leader of the intergalactic resistence against Annihilus and his armies, and matures into a universal force for justice capable of generating energy blasts, tapping into a reality spanning encyclopaedia of knowledge, and travelling through time and space at fantastic speeds.

The Math: Nova (Average) Thunderbolts (Total) The Pick: Nova

What went down...
Having utilized his massive powers in the defense and arrest of his waiting arch-nemesis, Diamondhead [Nova #2]; Rider finds himself in the unfamiliar scenario of being attacked by the Thunderbolts under the jurisdiction of the Superhuman Registration Act.

Venom is the first to attack, triggering a distanced analysis by the Worldmind. Despite having learnt much from the AI system, it is Nova who this time informs his on-board advisory of the nature of the beast. The Nova Corpsman makes a late leap into the air, avoiding Venom's diving attack to leave him to eat pavement.

Nova chastises the team for attacking in a populated urban street; foibles that don't tend to bother the likes of Moonstone and Radioactive Man, who each launch an energy based attack on Nova. Combining their abilities, they incapacitate his control over self-gravity, resulting in a harsh descent.

Moonstone summons Penance, apparently unaware of his history with Nova as the light-hearted New Warrior, Speedball. She also notes Nova's status as a cosmically powered hero who is not to be underestimated.

Nova emerges from the hole his body made in the street, now having donned his helmet. He summons an energy blast to incapacitate the salivating Venom, while using more specific means for Moonstone, a "phased pulse" doing the trick.

Penance simmers with kinetic energy, but remains flat footed, while Radioactive Man picks up the slack. The radiation of the electromagnetic blast proves inconsequential thanks to the defensive capabilities of the Nova Centurion armor, but the blast is sufficient enough to send the hero hurtling through a stationary truck, into a building.

In a pile of rubble and reeling from the attack, Nova is unable to defend himself as Venom leaps in for a second lick. The burly symbiote pins Nova on his stomach, wrapping his taloned fingers around the floored hero's neck.

Radioactive Man summons Penance from his pause, hoping to utilize his awesome power to put an end to Nova's resistence.
Though reluctant, Robbie Baldwin turns his guilt inward to summon a massive burst of his other-dimensional kinetic energies, reminiscent of his first outing with the Thunderbolts [Thunderbolts #111].

The massively destructive power of Penance's kinetic energy quite literally brings an entire building down atop his former ally. Robbie's current leader, Moonstone, descends on the wreckage with the Radioactive Man with an order to summon their mobile imprisonment "T-Wagon".

To the shock of all, Nova saves them the trouble of finding a body, emerging from the wreckage with a blast of firey, rocketeering energy. The frustrated hero turns the tables on the Thunderbolts by reading them their rights on the basis of the Nova Corps "Pan-Worlds Jurisdiction Treaty."

The clash of law enforcement powers is interrupted by a third party: SHIELD!
Descending with a support team of field agents, the director himself, Iron Man, makes his presence known. Chastising Moonstone for her team's tactics in a densly populated public area, Iron Man does his best to pull rank and calm the situation, as the Thunderbolts leader tries to use Stark's own Registrated Act as justification against him.

Having previously offered Nova a senior position with his Initiative; Tony Stark accompanies him to a more private meeting place to discuss Nova's decision. Though tempted by the support network, the cosmic hero bows to his own responsibilities, and returns to the stars to rekindle the flame of the Nova Corps.

The hammer...
Well, as we close November with a crawl, I give you a draw!
Though both sides got their licks in, I think we can all agree IM pacified the situation before it could really reach any kind of definitive sway.

Adi Granov's covers have a way of demanding the attention of a reader with their futuristic render, typically dwarfing pencils any less than superb. This was entirely true of the fairly mediocre sequentials of Nova, but their plain presentation masks an exercise in super-mundanity that is, at the very least, worthy of acknowledging applause.

Baring the bittersweet branding of Civil War: Initiative after only one issue; the new series, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning in unknown portions, spins out of the cosmic sleeper crossover, Annihilation.
The book connects with Annihilation's sequel, Conquest, as of issue four, and yet somehow it manages to earn that marketting without the negative conotations washing over your brain as you read this. This is truly a marvellous feat, but once you get past the obvious, it's even more amazing!

In a post-Civil War world where most pro-registrants are predictably concerned with anything but unregistered heroes; the Thunderbolts represent the most proactive element remaining, essentially dedicated to nothing but tracking that element. While Warren Ellis has meandered his way through a combination of light politics and thick character interactions, he's largely failed to deliver on the action in this monster-filled revamp of the Thunderbolts. My point?

It's titles like Nova that have picked up the slack on the street level, illustrating the expected prevelance of the Thunderbolts team. So not only are Abnett and Lanning graciously bowing to editorial mash-ups in their own job, but they're also picking up the slack of other jobs. All that: plus they manage to interweave tonnes of reference to days of Nova past by revisiting vague references with the same fluid flow that facilitated all this other content.

This isn't a great book. To be honest, having bagged all of the first four issues in one-hit, I haven't even the desire to read on, but that simply doesn't change the fact that the craft here is some of the finest Marvel superhero writing to be published in 2007 -- or maybe even years prior!
This book really does it all, without any of the advantageous pretentions or disillusions of being closed off to the rest of the Marvel world. These issues cram in as much character, story, and reality as any issue of Daredevil, but does so without ever feeling like a lazy conceptual hiding behind "style."

So, why aren't I reading on? I guess in a world of hiking prices and shrinking budgets, the reader becomes increasingly selective. As strong a read as this is, it does ultimately lead into a crossover I'm not sure I'm willing to indulge in, and shifts away from the settings that make the first three issues so enjoyable.

And before we wrap up, just to go back to Thunderbolts, I couldn't help but think to the recent issue featuring sessions with Doc Samson, while reading promotional interviews for Jeph Loeb's upcoming work on the "Red Hulk".

Apparently Samson is set to join the investigation surrounding the identity of this new Hulk, with Loeb adopting a deliberate conceit of an FBI profiler, that is interesting, but described in a way that leaves one ever so slightly disappointed.
Of the new Samson, Loeb says, "Leonard Samson, eager to prove himself beyond being just a psychiatrist with green hair, takes the lead."
Pursuing the Hulk in the field is hardly new for Doc Samson, but one can't help but feel that the character's portrayal in the pages of Ellis' Thunderbolts remains a glaringly unexplored facet of the Marvel Universe. It might not quite be necessary to go Dr. Katz with it, but with many heroes tied up in government funded operations, it would've been nice to see Samson employing his psychiatric expertise in more conventional manners.

Oh well, punch on, Doc!
In the meantime, I should probably admit that this one was a standby issue. We've been running a little slow lately, but hopefully December plans will serve up some satisfactory seasons readings for your Infinite Wars needs. Stay tuned for the Punch-Up for more of those Earth-spanning shennanigans!

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 5

Fans of solid superhero writing may just find this book a great way to explore a character they may otherwise be unfamiliar with. As described in the bulk of the review, these early issues of Nova manage to touch upon much of the Initiative, while also providing entry points for the cosmic reneissance occuring with the various Annihilation events. A great stocking-stuffer if you're doing some last minute Christmas shopping on Amazon!