CAPTAIN AMERICA versus BATROC

(Marvel)
Where: All-New Captain America #1 When: January 2015 Why: Rick Remender How: Stuart Immonen

The Story So Far...
Drained of the super-soldier serum that keeps him young and powerful: Steve Rogers is forced to retire from active duty, passing the mantle & shield of Captain America to his trusted comrade-in-arms - Sam Wilson!

Adapting his winged suit for a new identity; the former Falcon flies again in red, white, and blue -- dedicated to upholding truth, justice, and the American ideal against the forces of evil!

His newest mission takes the all-new Captain America underground in search of a deeply hidden Hydra fortress. The criminal cabal hopes to exploit a young boy as the ultimate doomsday weapon. Standing in his way is one of Cap's oldest foes -- the mercenary master of savate: Batroc The Leaper!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Captain America 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Captain America 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Batroc 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Draw 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Batroc 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Batroc 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)
Total: Batroc the Leaper 23 (Champion)

When Captain America throws his mighty shield in today's battle -- it won't be Steve Rogers his opponents yield to! The villain known as Iron Nail forced Rogers into retirement when he drained the super-soldier serum from his body.

Replacing the rapidly aged hero in the field is one of his closest friends and most trusted allies: Sam Wilson -- also known as the high-flying Falcon!

Wilson first met Cap when the Red Skull hatched a plan to use the cosmic cube to remold him as a pawn in their conflict. Racketeer Sam "Snap" Wilson became possessed with keen senses, an uncanny mental link with birds, and the perfect well intending character to trick Rogers into adopting the sleeper agent.

Together they broke the Red Skull's programming and thwarted his scheme, allowing Wilson to become Captain America's regular crime-fighting partner for years to come. As Falcon, he was eventually gifted a winged harness designed by Black Panther. The new suit granted him the ability to fly -- adding to his already impressive physical skill and training!

We've seen Falcon and Captain America go to war as two of the original Secret Avengers in Civil War #3, and fight against Baron Zemo in Thunderbolts #105. When Cap was assassinated in Captain America (Vol.5) #25: Falcon was there to provide air support to Winter Soldier as they brought down Crossbones.

As Captain America: Sam Wilson also gains possession of Cap's iconic vibranium alloy shield. It offers additional defensive capabilities that he may find handy when he comes up against the educated feet of Batroc the Leaper!

Steve Rogers relied on his shield blocking the blows of Batroc's deadly savate strikes ever since the sixties! We saw him do it in Captain America #251, when Batroc teamed with Mister Hyde to successfully take the super-soldier down.

A mercenary for hire -- but not a madman; Batroc ultimately teamed with his arch-rival, Cap, to turn the tables on Hyde in Captain America #252. He wasn't so lucky when he ran afoul Deadpool in Monte Carlo, though. Deadpool #20 ended with the fighting Frenchman suffering two broken legs.

Batroc is fighting fit in today's battle, and his expertise in the French kickboxing style arguably make him a more specialized martial artist than the new Captain America. Cap's ability to evade and go airborne should give him plenty of ways to win, but as you can see below, the record so far has been kind to Batroc!

The Tape: Batroc the Leaper Ranking: Batroc the Leaper (#125)

What Went Down...
Undercover as a Hydra agent: Nomad leads Captain America into the inner sanctum holding the deadly boy they've come to save. There, they find Batroc The Leaper standing guard expectantly, finishing off a serve of croquembouche.

Nomad heads for the child, while the new Captain America rushes in to confront an old enemy. Batroc meets him snide derision and a leaping kick!

The Leaper shoots high with his kicks, aiming for the head, while his words attack the mind of the American.

He sarcastically quizzes the replacement Captain about his super-powers, attacking modern US culture and politics while listing super-obesity, hyper-warmongering, and omega-illiteracy. Cap blocks with his shield and hits back!

Batroc rolls with the punch and continues the mind-games, finding himself positioned between the Captain and Nomad, who was clipped by an earlier Hydra shot. Batroc takes the opportunity to boast about his worldly disposition, effortlessly delivering toppling kicks to both of his targets!

Cap crashes upside down into a mess of high-tech machinery and cables.

Batroc keeps applying the pressure, moving on him fast with a kick directed squarely at his face. The Captain manages to catch it inches from impact, and use the block to fling Batroc across the lab and through a nearby window!

Cap jumps fearlessly through the shattered glass to follow Batroc on the underground plunge outside the facility. The Frenchman opens his body to slow his descent, while the winged hero does the opposite to close the gap!

The experienced aerialist tackles Batroc in mid-air, but the mercenary is unfazed and throws a hard punch! Cap returns the favour, smacking him in the face with the front side of his shield!

They fall to a jutting pipe that Cap barely catches with one hand, while Batroc lands the right way to wrap his legs around and hang upside down. Despite the precarious position -- still they continue fighting!

Batroc blocks a punch and swings upright to the top of the pipe. Captain America finds a hard straight right to the body and follows it with a devastating left to the face! The blow pushes Batroc to deliver a left that busts his brow!

The Captain drops to his arms and knees on a metal mesh platform while The Leaper mocks Steve Rogers in absentia for sending an "errand boy".

In his gloating, Batroc fails to notice Nomad hovering overhead. Nomad sends his horde crusher staff hurtling towards the unsuspecting mercenary -- who's knocked tumbling from the small platform!

The Leaper disappears into the smoldering red void cast by liquid magma burning beneath them. It happens so fast, even the winged Captain America is helpless to stop the fall. He can only chastise the callousness by which Nomad dispatched his enemy. Unnecessary lethal force is not their way.

The Hammer...
It looks like bad news for Batroc, but worry not! He survives to leap another day, returning later in the series. No thanks to Nomad! He came out of nowhere with extreme prejudice to save the all-new Captain America (and steal his heat)!

This incarnation of Nomad was known at the time as Ian Rogers, but also answers to Leopold Zola. He's a frightfully convoluted creation who was born in the pocket reality of Dimension Z: Arnim Zola's personal testing grounds for his twisted experiments.

It turns out Steve Rogers spent a lifetime lost in the pocket dimension, where he raised Arnim Zola's would-be son as his own. It all plays out a bit like a long-form, pulpy twist on the same kind of lived-in detour that was Planet Hulk.

That heavy deviation from the status quo speaks to some of the frustration that has plagued Captain America's recent publication history.

It seems ever since his apparent assassination in 2007, the character just hasn't been allowed to settle in to any kind of iconic, familiar routine.

He spent some of 2009 lost in time, while Bucky filled in as Captain America. He returned in 2010, but was appointed Director of SHIELD while his super-soldier serum was deactivated by Machinesmith. Cap's exile in Dimension Z happened in 2013, followed by another loss of his super-soldier serum in 2014, and Sam Wilson's reign as Captain America in 2015. Steve got better the following year - only to suffer the ultimate indignity of that unfortunate Hydra business in 2017.

All of this constant upheaval may've made short-term headlines, but it also killed the simple pleasure of picking an issue off the rack and enjoying the latest adventure of a beloved character. The repetitive monotony has become unappealing, and created successive jumping-off points that last multiple years.

While all of this disruption was going on with Cap, Marvel also made a habit of alternating between killing and resurrecting its other leading characters. This took on a slightly different twist in the mid-2010s, when the "All-New" brand signaled efforts to replace the classics with a generation of surrogates.

Marvel had some success in its heyday with brand shakeups like this, such as the popular costume changes of the 1980s. These included Cap's black outfit (later USAgent's), Wolverine's brown costume, Iron Man's silver centurion armor, and Spidey's black costume.

There were certainly plenty of successful understudies created over the years, too. Yet, with so much print dedicated to constant instability, the All-New replacement characters were all too often ill timed, and indelicately shunted into position. It seemed cynical and didn't give these characters their best chance to succeed, but they certainly weren't all bad.

We've talked about the strong art direction that made All-New Ghost Rider one of the must-read series under the "Marvel Now" banner. Now we're getting to another of the more intriguing propositions.

There was a certain naturally occurring arc to the return of Bucky Barnes in 2005, and his acceptance of the Captain America mantle, but removed from that context, it was always slightly dubious that a storied Russian assassin, The Winter Soldier, would inherit the legacy of a paragon of justice and liberty.

Since his debut in 1969: Sam Wilson has been an almost continuous presence in the life of Captain America. He's fought by his side untold times, participating as a trusted friend and ally. He's been an agent of SHIELD and eventually a charter member of the Avengers. In a great many ways, he's the most obvious choice to be chosen to succeed Steve Rogers as Captain America!

I particularly like the costume design. Sam Wilson has been his own man for a long time and it was fantastic to see that he retained his wings. There's really no reason not to. The way he combines using the shield with flight is pretty fantastic, and exactly the kind of combination of elements that makes this work.

I'm quite fond of these characters launching into their own series with an established villain. It worked for All-New Ghost Rider, and Batroc The Leaper lends some nice heft to the first issue of All-New Captain America, bolstering the mostly nameless ranks of Hydra goons.

I'm a little surprised Cap didn't get the win to start him off on a high note. He isn't new at this game, and I don't really rate Nomad enough to want to see him get the rub. That said, there is something to be said for not overdoing the success of a character in a new spotlight. It eases them into the new role, and gives them somewhere to grow. We've seen how Marvel legends like Spider-Man started out with awkward losses [see; Amazing Spider-Man #7, #13].

I think the win over Batroc would've helped sell Falcon to someone checking out the new series. I also would've liked to see him have a more compelling retort for Batroc's amusing commentaries on the state of American culture. Maybe it's because I'm a filthy foreigner, but I thought Batroc was a far more compelling verbal combatant, besting Cap's rather wet 'What makes you so elite?'

The issue ends with the arrival of Baron Zemo and a cadre of established villains, so if you thought Falcon (and Nomad) had trouble before, wait until they have to face down Taskmaster, Crossbones, Madame Viper, Baron Blood, and more! Something to think about as we wrap up today's battle!

If you'd like to see this fight in its entirety, and the rest of the arc, you can check out All-New Captain America Vol.1: Hydra Ascendant. Using the Amazon link provided will not only get you a safe deal delivered to your home, but also help support the site in the process at no extra charge!

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has documented well over 600 battles with more than 950 characters! If you'd like to find more you can follow links throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights!

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Winner: Nomad (w/ Captain America)
#339 (new) Nomad (Ian Rogers/Leopold Zola)
#135 (-10) Batroc The Leaper
#960 (-1) Captain America (Sam Wilson) [+1 assist]

AVENGERS versus LUKE CAGE

(Marvel)
Where: New Avengers #2 When: September 2010
Why: Brian Michael Bendis How: Stuart Immonen

The Story So Far...
For years the Avengers were torn apart by philosophical differences that erupted in Civil War. A secret invasion by Skrulls exposed holes in the new regime, allowing Norman Osborn to replace SHIELD as the corrupt Director of HAMMER! His tyranny went unnoticed until finally a siege on Asgard exposed the true evil!

With Osborn ousted in disgrace, Captain America is a natural choice to assume responsibility for SHIELD and a holistic approach to the superhero community. Thus, a new heroic age begins for The Avengers!

Having bought The Avengers mansion for $1 at the behest of Tony Stark, all seems well for Luke Cage and his new, fully authorized Avengers team! At least, until Dr. Strange and Daimon Hellstrom crash the housewarming in search of The Eye of Agamotto that's spontaneously appeared in Cage's hands!

Magic is afoot as strange forces manipulate The Avengers in a grand design they have no way of knowing about. Now they'll have to fight each other if they're to keep the universe safe long enough for Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Voodoo to do something about it!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Dr. Strange 5 (Professor)
Speed: Iron Fist 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Spider-man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Iron Fist 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Agamotto 7 (Cosmic)


The Avengers are: Thing, Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Wolverine, Mockingbird, Spider-man & Hawkeye.

Under ordinary circumstances, this incarnation of The Avengers would look to Luke Cage as their fearless leader. Alas, circumstances have it that he's been possessed by an agent of the mystic entity Agamatto!

Agamotto is a founding entity of the paths of magic, spawned from the elder goddess Oshtur. He is perhaps best known for his creation of powerful mystic artefacts: The Eye of Agamatto and The Orb of Agamotto. Both are frequently called upon in the arsenal of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme - Dr. Stephen Strange!

At the time of this episode, Dr. Strange has relinquished his post as Sorcerer Supreme, surrendering the mantle to Brother Voodoo. Voodoo was in command of The Eye of Agamotto, but saw fit to transport it to Luke Cage and The Avengers when he was attacked by two possessed agents of Agamotto: Daimon Hellstrom and Dr. Strange himself!

Along with their possessed teammate, The Avengers will have to contend with Hellstrom & Strange! Cage has grown to approximately thirty-feet tall and is showing signs of his already impressive strength being augmented. We saw Cage get the better of his teammates when they were infected with alien symbiotes [New Avengers #36]. Bad news all around!

Fortunately, the group have just added two high-level powerhouses to their ranks: Thing and Ms. Marvel! Both have the durability to pick up the defensive slack for the rest of the team. They also have the power to fight back!

The rest of the team aren't especially well suited to facing off against the magic of Dr. Strange and Son of Satan, but they have been in situations like this before. The group fought off The Hood (augmented by Dormammu) in New Avengers #54, albeit with the help of Strange and Hellstrom.

It's the numbers of The Avengers against the chaos and uncertainty of Agamotto's magic! That's spells a recipe for uncertainty if there ever was one! Let's dispense with the incantations and find out how it all went down!

The Math: Spider-man Ranking: Spider-man (#2)

What Went Down...
Chaos erupts in Avengers Mansion as the heroes are confronted with the sudden appearance of The Eye of Agamotto and hostile Dr. Strange & Son of Satan! The team scrambles to reorient themselves, unsure of the exact nature or intent of the magical threat that has also transformed their leader into an angry giant!

Wolverine tells The Thing to grab The Eye of Agamotto and make a run for it, choosing the team's newest recruit for his phenomenal strength and rocky hide! He makes a grab for it, but is sent hurtling out of Avengers mansion with a blow from his gigantic magically charged friend!

Jessica Jones unloads care of her and Cage's daughter to the arms of Spider-man, who makes a run for the stairs to get the baby out of danger!

Meanwhile; Iron Fist launches a fly kick in Daimon Hellstrom's direction, Ms. Marvel hovers over a toppled Luke Cage, and Wolverine pounds on Dr. Strange's chest with a fist full of adamantium! All of their efforts are temporary measures in an effort to keep the possessed heroes from the mystic talisman!

Hellstrom clobbers Iron Fist, Luke Cage tugs at Ms. Marvel's hair, and Strange wrestles with Wolverine -- each in a mad dash for The Eye!

Retired heroine Jessica Jones reaches into her untapped super-human reservoir to launch herself at her possessed husband! The super-human uppercut knocks him backward and launches The Eye of Agamotto into the air!

Wolverine catches the magic artefact and hurls it out the window as far as he can! Ensuring the possessed mystics cannot take chase, he rushes them with a calculated thrust of his claws! The unbreakable metal slices into their chests!

Outside the mansion, The Eye lands in the middle of a picnic in a nearby park! The giant-size Cage, Thing and Ms. Marvel take chase - prompting a terrified citizen to throw it into the air!

Ms. Marvel's aerial abilities allow her to snatch the amulet just as Cage and Thing are making a grab for it. The development gives Thing a chance to even the score with a haymaker that sends Cage flying!

Jessica Jones arrives on the scene to leap on her husband once he's landed. She desperately tries to reach the man she loves, but his words don't match his actions - an uppercut that sends the former Jewel flying through the air!

When the possessing entity fails to convince Thing and Iron Fist that it is the voice of their friend Luke Cage, the creature issues an ultimatum: Give him The Eye of Agamotto and he will return Cage. Ms. Marvel counters with an ultimatum of her own: leave Cage or she'll smash The Eye into a million pieces!

The spirit lunges at Ms. Marvel with Cage's gigantic arms outstretched, incidentally launching Thing and Hawkeye into the air. Marvel effortlessly avoids the attack and returns fire with a super-charged hit of her own!

Even though the possessed Cage eats a hard shot, he's still able to wrap a giant hand around Ms. Marvel! She loses her grip on The Eye, but Iron Fist makes the running play with Thing taking chase in the distance!

Sick of the demonic possession - Iron Fist turns and thrusts his mystically charged weapon-hand into Cage's gigantic chest!

Cage goes down hard and Thing jumps on top of him to make sure he stays down with a massive right cross! Jessica Jones and Ms. Marvel hover in support.

The recovered and healed Dr. Strange & Daimon Hellstrom follow Wolverine urgently to the battlefield! They arrive as Doctor Voodoo teleports onto the scene and the possessing demon leaves Luke Cage's body, transferring to the victorious Iron Fist! A revoltin' development as the fight comes to an end!

The Hammer...
Delivering a knock-out blow to a giant possessed Luke Cage probably made Iron Fist an attractive host for Agamotto! He disappears into the other realm of the Vishanti with the hero's body, just as Doctor Voodoo enters the scene -- the story to be continued!

It's an added detail that doesn't impact our result: The Avengers victorious against their possessed comrades!

The victory is shared with Wolverine, Thing, Ms. Marvel and Jessica Jones, who all contributed to the win in a pro-active manner. Mockingbird stopped to film the possession on somebody's phone, which I'm sure has tactical value. Hawkeye was there, but doing his best Where's Wally throughout. I genuinely wonder if Stuart Immonen forgot all about him while drawing the issue. It's almost comical when he appears floating in mid-air in the latter third of the issue. Spidey was on baby duty and generally loafed about, as well.

The line-up reflects a blended group mostly made from the street-level Secret Avengers who formed after Civil War. Ms. Marvel is the biggest trade from the more traditional "Mighty" Avengers. Thing was the most surprising addition, despite a similarly brief stint in the late 80s launch of West Coast Avengers.

We talked about the idea of "JLA-ing" the Avengers in our last entry, concluding that the original 2005 New Avengers line-up didn't really go there.

By the time this second volume was launched in 2010, there was much more credence to the idea of a non-traditional, all-star line-up of disparate pre-established acts. Spider-man, Thing, Wolverine, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Dr. Strange (who eventually made his stay permanent) are a very JLA arrangement.

Much like the JLA; the successful Avengers began to expand beyond their core team formulas. The "Heroic Age" relaunch maintained a brand-traditional Mighty Avengers, while also installing a third "Secret Avengers" title in the oddball hodgepodge mould of The Defenders.

In the years that followed The Heroic Age, the lines between Avengers groups would blur further. Famous hold-outs like Daredevil would join the team. Even the X-Men, who had a few unique ties through heroes like Beast and Quicksilver, would finally be more aggressively blended through the Uncanny Avengers!

The net result is what opponents of Avengers Disassembled and the original New Avengers were afraid of all along: The demise of identity and a tradition.

Thanks to the success of Marvel's blockbuster film franchises, "Avengers" has become synonymous with the company. Almost interchangeable with Marvel itself. Yet, ironically enough, it's the movies that have to date best represented the traditional flavour of The Avengers: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Vision, Hulk and so on.

In comics: It's now a lot easier to name characters who haven't been part of the monstrous Avengers uber brand. It's a muddying of the waters that's affecting many of Marvel's mainstay brands, extending to the dilution of individual characters who now share their identity with multiple alternate characters [see; Hero of the Week: Dr. Doom].

The traffic hasn't been exclusively one-way, though. Earlier this year, Marvel relaunched Power Man & Iron Fist for a new age, restoring the Heroes For Hire to their iconic buddy team roots away from The Avengers! The result is one of the more exciting, upbeat offerings reinvigorating the classics while also revamping them!

Luke Cage is also part of a reinvention of the Marvel identity on screen! September 30th marks the official launch of a thirteen episode live-action Netflix series! Mike Colter stars as the man with bulletproof skin, who we've been celebrating all throughout September on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths!

This celebration helped Luke Cage break into the Comic Book Fight Club Top 10 [see; Cage #3] at the expense of perennial favourite The Thing! The ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing fell to #11 as a result of Cage reaching #9 -- an unplanned result that made today's pre-scheduled feature fight all the more interesting!

Fans of the rankings will be excited to know Thing's shared victory returns him to the Top 10 just two weeks after he fell out! The defeat isn't enough to disrupt Luke Cage's spot at #9, though. Instead, it's Daredevil who will be shunted down from #10 to #11! Keep scrolling to the bottom of this update to see where all the characters finished in the ranks!

If you'd like to get the full experience of today's feature fight, use the Amazon link provided to purchase the collected edition! Doing so helps keep the wars infinite!

You can find more spotlights on Luke Cage, The Avengers and the individual characters by following character links, or diving into the Secret Issue Index! There you can browse battles by series, issue and publisher!

Stay tuned to Hero of the Week for a final spotlight on Luke Cage! Then be here in October as things start to get a little spooky for Halloween!

Winners: Iron Fist, Wolverine, Thing, Ms. Marvel & Jessica Jones
#4 (+2) Wolverine
#10 (+1) Thing
#30 (+10) Iron Fist
#76 (+53) Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers)
#92 (+197) Jessica Jones
#2 (--) Spider-man [+1 Assist]
#120 (-2) Hawkeye [+1 Assist]
#407 (+79) Mockingbird [+1 Assist]
#9 (--) Luke Cage
#65 (-2) Dr. Strange
#101 (-12) Son of Satan (Daimon Hellstrom)
#807 (new) Agamotto

FANTASTIC FOUR versus DR. DOOM

Doom: Part 6 (Marvel comics)

Where: Ultimate Fantastic Four #12 When: December 2004 Why: Warren Ellis How: Stuart Immonen

The story so far...

Selected for a government funded think-tank, child prodigy Reed Richards is united with some of the most brilliant young minds in the United States. Forming a friendship with project director Storm's children, Susan and Johnny, the underpinnings of the Fantastic Four are born.

Experimenting with his theories of teleportation, the young Reed Richards prepares an attempt to teleport an apple, not knowing of the unsolicited intervention of his stubborn Latverian rival, Victor Van Damme, who is under the belief Richards' calculations require slight correction.

 The change results in an unexpected trip through the mysterious sub-dimension of the N-Zone, which leaves the quintet, including Richards' high-school buddy Ben Grimm, mutated in five individual ways. Spiteful, Van Damme uses his new found powers to pursue a hidden agenda of world domination, purveyed by a secret European organization, and begins by leading his tiny home nation to prosperity as the villainous Dr. Doom.

Previous Form:
Fantastic Four [#2]: Nearly unbeatable as a team, their only recorded loss coming from a future without Mr. Fantastic, against a transformed Death's Head II.
Dr. Doom (#118): The subject of Mondays in October, he suffered a quick fix defeat in the Monthly Punch-Up, facing up against Thor, norse god of thunder.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Human Torch 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Dr. Doom 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Invisible Woman 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar Power)

- The Fantastic Four possess much the same abilities in the Ultimate series as their standardized predecessors. Mr. Fantastic becomes an elasticated super-morph; Susan Storm gains the ability of pseudo-kinesis and invisibility; Johnny Storm becomes a man on fire as the Human Torch; and Ben Grimm's bulk is turned to stone, making him the man-mountain called the Thing.

- Their think-tank origins redefine the members of the Fantastic Four as all having particularly keen intellects, with the exception of Ben Grimm, who loses his career as a test pilot and completed college education.

- Dr. Doom undergoes the most dramatic transformation, his armored visage now organic in nature, and part of his body. Likewise, his physiology is initially altered to give him hooves instead of feet, spiney projectiles at his fists, and toxic organs, giving him the ability to breath noxious gas.

- As with the traditional Doom, Victor Van Damme eventually comes into possession of various magics through exploration into Atlantis, and also plunders advanced technologies, adding to his own considerable arsenal of invention.

The Math: Dr. Doom (Average) Fantastic Four (Total) The Pick: Fantastic Four

What went down...
Having crash landed in Latveria and already faced Van Damme's wrath, Reed Richards stands alone amidst the rubble of Latverian squabble.

Doom, arrogantly assuming Richards to be powerless, lordes his mutation as a gift from the cosmos that recognised his destiny for greatness. Richards heckles Van Damme's notions of a warrior's upbringing, referring to his monarch father's disdain. The quip finds a soft spot on the armored Doom, who charges at the young Richards with a berzerker snarl.

Mr. Fantastic reveals himself to his deranged rival, entangling him in the elasticated contortion of his rubber body.

Wrapped around Doom like a viper, Richards snags one of his goat-like legs and hurls him across the battlefield.

Doom screeches to a halt as his metallic body leaves a path of sparks along the stone of the Latverian cobble street. He lets loose a familiar growl of his rival's surname, bitterly denying demands for the faulty input that changed them each.

Continuing to flaunt his inflated ego, Doom verbally spits in Mr. Fantastic's face, declaring himself something magnificent, while Richards is but a rubber-bodied freak.

A focused burst of flame rains down upon the defiant Doom, heading his metallic body to smouldering. Richards orders his fellow, the Human Torch, to keep his super-heated assault to a minimum.

The Invisible Woman looks to get a little bit for herself aswell, encasing Doom's head in an invisible force field as reprieve for his previous death-breath indescretions.

Doom brings his taloned fingers to the field, clawing desperately enough to send a reverberation back to Invisible Woman herself. Struggling under the strain, she calls upon the aid of the strongman of the Fantastic Four -- the Thing!

A hapless victim in the transformation process, it is Thing who perhaps has the most malice to bare against Doom, trapped in an unfeeling body of stone and rock.

Coming to Susan's aid, Thing snatches Doom in the palm of his giant rocky hand, and brings him crashing down with force, smooshed into the ground.

"I only met you like twice. And I hate you already."

Just then an alarm triggered by electromagnetic activity sounds on Mr. Fantastic's wrist gauntlet.

Set-up to detect wireless control of robots, Richards quickly realises the threat is much less disposable.

Rising from his crater in the street, Doom again professes his power as a king, revealing his 'loyal' subjects, each equipped with a nano-tech tattoo of a dragon on their necks, that bites deep to take control of them.

Doom rises to an endless echo of approval. Like a herd of zombies, the Latverian people all gladly pledge their love for Victor Van Damme, willing to kill the Fantastic Four for defying him.

Surrounded by innocent pawns in Doom's game, the Fantastic Four struggle to combat the rampaging hordes without causing them harm. Richards, knowledgable in Van Damme's techniques, asks his team to buy time to negate the mind-controlling influences of Doctor Doom's technology.

The Thing barrels his way through the crowd, while Human Torch offers threats of flame. New to his powers, and perhaps underestimating of the crowd's mindless bloodlust, the Torch ignites some of the citizens by accident.

The Invisible Woman throws up a forcefield to protect the beseiged team, while Richards works on a solution to the problem. The strain eventually proves too great for the youngster and her new powers, the attacking mob pushing her to unconsciousness.

With Dr. Doom violently reciting the chain of Latverian royalty, the Fantastic Four find themselves overcome by the controlled mobs until -- shots fire from the sky and the sound of choppers washes over the small Latverian square.

The US military fires without the concern of the heroic FF, killing the controlled, much to Doom's distain. Troops emerge from the copters revealing orders to bring Van Damme into custody, but before the situation can escalate, Danish tanks roll into the square, ordering the US to pull out of their witch hunt.

Believing he has had the last laugh, Doom is shocked when he belt explodes, signifying the success of Richards' intentions to end his radio control over the human shield of Latverian peasants. Finding solace in the control of the data that could reverse the FF's mutations, Doom provokes a final assault.

Spotting one of Doom's own spikey projectiles in the sand, Richards snatches it up and whips his elastic arm to Doom. The metal of Doom's own make-up proves capable of slicing his face in a way that prevents it immediately healing.

Doom is left alone with his curse, defeated but free to fight another day.

The hammer... With a little help from the murderous US military, the Fantastic Four walk away with the win on points, if not decisive result!

As with any capialist business venture, you're always going to have much better odds of introducing new elements of change to a system if you've got some previous success. The contemporary comics industry couldn't be truer, with submissions at the major two comics companies all but shut off. In that respect, the Image concept closed one door while opening another.

Those not familiar with the second Ultimate Fantastic Four storyarc might recognise the team of Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen from their geek-chic revamp maxi-series that followed; Nextwave: Agents of HATE.

Even big name writers and artists have roadblocks like editorial and marketing to contend with, and given the departure of Nextwave, I'd like to hazard a guess that UFF comes out of Ellis and Immonen earning a little bit of credibility (and cash) at Marvel Comics, because it certainly reads like that.

When you talk about the contemporary sci-fi setting of UFF and put Warren Ellis' name next to it, the imagination can go wild. One starts to imagine all manner of tech-savvy science fiction, and far-out distortions of what's become expected in a Fantastic Four comic. Alas; this portion of Ellis' Ultimate work tends to read much more like a mean-spirited Adventures title, putting very little into the single issue in favour of a very light superhero read. Immonen's pencils, fantastic as they are, add to this quality that far better serves a stylistic, tongue-in-cheek superhero romp like Nextwave, than what you'd expect from FF.

Not that Ellis and Immonen didn't have some obstacles working against them.

The Ultimate revamp saw to distance itself admirably from the original Four, but at the cost of many of the things considered great about the Fantastic Four.

Included in the origin to the point of being responsible for their creation, the goat-legged transformed Dr. Doom bares only superficial resemblance to what many regard as the greatest villain in comics history. His visage aside, this Doom possesses much less of the redeeming qualities of the familiar character, making him a much simpler, overtly evil opponent.

Likewise, as Dr. Doom loses a degree of pathos, so too do the Fantastic Four.

Doom's intervention in the experiment that resulted in their creation strips Reed Richards of the responsibility that made him the target of Ben Grimm's aggressions many times through history. Depression over his condition remains in the Grimm character, but without the justified internal conflict of both he, and his dear friend Richards, who constantly fails to turn his super science to reversing the effects of the cosmic radiation.

Likely due to the chagrin of many fans, Doom has since taken on a much more familiar appearance, and Mark Millar's return to the title included a story dedicated to preventing the accident to save Ben Grimm mental anguish, delivered without concern for the stripped weight of the story's drama in this world.

Which brings us to a much needed positive. It certainly isn't all bad!

Though not quite as mature and considered as Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates, UFF found a solid run with Millar's solo return. A steady contrast to his creating collaboration with Brian "Convert for the gags*" Bendis, who wrote trademark meandering scripts based on Millar's conceptuals.

Millar not only redefined the UFF on terms more familiar to what made the original so legendary, but he also managed to expand on the mythos of the Ultimate Skrulls, and left an undying legacy of the Marvel Zombies. Granted, that last part might actually be a negative, given the nauseating over exposure of the Marvel Zombies brand since expanding out of the UFF storyarc. Look for a slew of irrelevant zombie variant covers on major Marvel titles through October. Oh, to turn against hallowe'en.

That's probably all the hating we have time for today, but join us next week as we continue a full month of DOOM in the name of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance Mondays initiative. We promise not to excede the agreed designation of this theme, which will last only for the duration of October.

The Fight: 5 The Issue: 4.5

[Adding to the absurdly named Victor Van Damme's backstory, Ellis includes direct lineage from Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian king known for his love of impaling. Tepes is widely regarded as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's famous literary account of the vampire, Count Dracula.]

NEXTWAVE versus FIN FANG FOOM
(Marvel Comics)
Where: Nextwave #2 When: April 2006
Why: Warren Ellis How: Stuart Immonen

The story so far...
It's like Shakespeare, but with lots more punching.
It's like Goethe, but with lots more crunching.
Like Titanic, but the boat's still floating.
No it's not! The mother-f***ing boat is exploding!

NEXTWAVE! NEXTWAVE!

Dirk Anger is one crazy mamajama. He leads H.A.T.E. sitting around in his pretty pink pajamas.
H.A.T.E. was formed by the Beyond Corporation. Purposely to bring about catastrophic devestation!

NEXTWAVE! Oh, NEXTWAVE!

Do you want a haircut? The Beyond Corporation's gonna help you out.
Do you need a toothbrush? The Beyond Corporation's got an extra one.
Do you have a step-son? The Beyond Corporation's gonna run him off.

Do you see a monster? Or a pirate? Electric Emu? A giant sky rat? A midget Hitler?! Or Pontius Pilate? Don't call your mum or your doctor, just pick up the phone and call... NEXTWAVE!

Whoa-oh-oh, NEXTWAVE!

Give us a Nextwave rollcall!
Monica! Is gonna microwave your ****!
Tabby! Is gonna steal all your stuff!
Aaron! Is going to organize your sock drawer.
Elsa! Is gonna speak with an accent!
The Captain! HIS NAME IS THE CAPTAIN!

NEXTWAVE! Whoa-whoa-oh-oh-oh, NEXTWAVE!
Wooooo-oo-oo-oo, NEXTWAVE!
Oooh, somebody please call up NEXTWAVE!
For God's sake, somebody call... Nextwave...*

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Fin Fang Foom 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Machine Man 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Photon 5 (Super Speed)
Stamina: Fin Fang Foom 6 (Generator)
Agility: Photon 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Photon 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Photon 6 (Mass Destruction)

Y'know, for such a third-stringer, Captain Marvel [aka; Photon, aka; Monica Rambeau] is a pretty high rating hero. Oh, and if you didn't know, she once ran the Avengers. Hah-cha-cha-cha-cha.

Still, microwave special beam cannons and SHIELD regulation callisthenics aren't really all that much next to a giant dragon. A giant alien dragon who wears purple trunks, as it were.
As you can see, there are some of those vulnerabilities in the Haseloff system. I never could have accounted for purple underpants. Truly a formidable power (as we shall see).

Stats that include impressive strength levels on the side of Elsa Bloodstone and the Captain, as well as the multitude of abilities possessed by the gadget, geared up Machine Man, while impressive, aren't enough.
Even the dodgy record Fin Fang Foom has against superhero types isn't enough to render him a likely loser in this situation. Not on paper, according to statistics, at least.

Arguably a Nextwave should have far more chance of dealing with the alien dragon than a lone Iron Man, but that probably speaks more to the unfortunate writing of history.
Fin Fang Foom is a poor Iron Man villain choice, and should be granted higher status, dealt with by the likes of the Fantastic Four, or other.

What went down...
The second issue of Nextwave resumes very much where the end of the first left off. As the Nextwave arrives on the scene, Fin Fang Foom, having just been awoken and freed from his mountain prison, is f**king sh*t up!

Former X-Forcer, Tabby "Boom Boom" Smith, swoops in wearing an anti-gravity harness, to give the Fin-man an eyefull of plasma blast fit for 'shake, shaking' the room.
This plan, however, backfires...

Fin Fang Foom is swift enough to catch the little Boomer in-hand, and announces the offensive strategy of intending to place her in his pants. Not a very pretty plan, but effective in concept, none the less.
At least until an airborne Captain hurtles toward the situation.

The f**king absurdly strong action hero grapples with a giant green finger, peeling back until finally... He snaps the finger clean off Fin Fang Foom's hand.
"AAAAOOOOOOOOOO," indeed.

FFF waves his agonized hand around a bit, sending The Captain [and Tabitha Smith] hurtling once more, this time into a nearby apartment building.
Fortunatley, The Captain's absurdly powerful body was able to protect his Nextwave compadre from mortal injury.

Meanwhile, while Machine Man parks the Shockwave Rider, Photon leaps into action. Using her fantastic Photon-y powers, she converts her body into a flying deadly, flying exawatt gamma-ray laser beam! Which results in... her bouncing off FFF's big green chest...

Apparently unable to even damage the creature's toenails with a shotgun, the team decides drastic situations call for drastic measures. Well, okay, they didn't really put it like that, but I'm trying not to drone on too much...

... So, the invincible Elsa Bloodstone leaps into action, shotgun in tow, and fires at Fin Fang Foom's fintastic right eye. Which really hurts, and makes him open his mouth and shout in agony. This oral opening allows the Aaron "the Machine Man" Stack to hurtle into the gullet of the beast.

Twisting his way down through Fin Fang Foom's digestive system, Machine Man pops a whole mess of wacky, dangerous and sharp looking gadgets, and hacks away at FFF's innards like a sissy footballer brutalising a shin in the name of a steal.

In the end, Machine Man's rampaging butchery paid off.
Lurching in agony, Fin Fang Foom wonders if perhaps he had eaten too many people, but this was more than a little Bangalore belly. This was the bitter, hard-to-digest result of man's intolerance for giant alien monsters.

When will you learn to accept, humanity? Shame.

The hammer...
Fin Fang Foom's heart was broken, as was mine, with Nextwave walking away with the victory via excessive force.
This begs the question - is Fin Fang Foom now dead?

Popular opinion is to simply dismiss Nextwave as a book that obeys it's own exclusive canon, irrelevent to the established history of the Marvel "616" universe. This reporter, however, sees it otherwise.

In fact, despite it's comedy stylings, I tend to believe this book would greatly benefit the Marvel universe if it were to be directly attached.
This book has the potential to succeed where other series, like the recent ill-fated Defenders mini, have failed. Despite it's humorous and untamed antics, it has an over the top quality that nullifies, I believe, any potential misuse of characters.

In fact, thus far, it's my opinion that it hasn't even tred dodgy ground.

As a creatively and artistically brilliant piece of madness, this book, in my estimation, has not yet betrayed any of the characters it's borrowed. This opinion is no doubt held intact by the editorial wisdom that birthed a character like Dirk Anger, rather than pushing the boundaries of the likes of Nick Fury beyond parody.

In the case of Fin Fang Foom, I'd like to think a little bit of alien psuedo-reptilian regeneration could explain away a prompt resurrection. With, perhaps, the rest of the book steering clear of potential snafus that would necessitate separation from the other childred.

Critically, I could only fawn over this title.
Thoroughly disappointed with mainstream ventures from Ellis in recent past [Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate Secret, JLA: Classified...], this book not only makes up for those lapses of judgment, but seemingly does it on Ellis' own specififc terms.

The collaborative design produced under Ellis' direction by Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, Dave McCaig and Joe Caramagna, makes this more than just a beautiful, and kinetic read. This is a book generating it's own exciting image, akin more to high-end popart than just another Marvel comic.

I have nothing but gleaming reviews for everything from cover to cover.
The application of under utilised characters is brilliant. I could not say the book is a trailblazer in that sense, but solicitations from the big two are clearly indicative of an overdue realisation that this is a fantastic way to produce interesting, and unique books.

The use of Fin Fang Foom as a recognisable face under the 'UWMD' classification is fantastic. This was surely an intelligent way of ensuring long reading fanboys had interest to invest in the style of the ook, before it deviated to it's own self-perpetuated characters and stories.
I only hope the book can keep one foot in the Marvel Universe, because there are many characters I'd love to see gain new life here.
Post-New Invaders, I think the likes of USAgent and Blazing Skull would fit in superbly here, but I digress...

Since these ramblings are rapidly going nowhere, I'll close with a negative.
While the writing is strong, and suitably wacky, Elsa Bloodstone's dialogue is a bit grinding. Coming from a true Brit like Ellis, I would have expected slightly less over the top British dialogue. It's like someone threw scripts from The Bill in a blender, and pulled out as many of the colloqualisms as possible.

Machine Man's anti "fleshy," robotic antics were fun, but also seemed a little less shiney. More specifically it felt very much like strings from Futurama were being plucked, taking some of Bender's finer moments, and regurgitating them with more psychotic menace.

NEVER THE LESS, a shining review here. This is the kind of effort I'd like to see Marvel producing more often. Superb! If there wasn't a fight in this issue, I probably still would've forced it onto the site.
A pleasure to 'review' such an oustanding book.

*Finally, if you enjoyed the opening lyrics, you can still find the Nextwave theme song via the Thunder Thighs MySpace page. This glorious madness is perpetuated by Nextwave editor, Nick Lowe, along with his brother Matt.

The Fight: 6 The Issue: 7

NEXT: The May main event. Captain America versus Batman. When it comes to fantasy fights, they don't come much bigger than this one folks. Stay tuned!