AVENGERS & X-MEN versus RONAN

Whatever The Cost! (Marvel)
Where: Maximum Security #3 When: January 2001
Why: Kurt Busiek How: Jerry Ordway

The Story So Far...
A sudden global surge in extraterrestrial conflict reveals a master plan by the Intergalactic Council of empires to declare Earth a prison planet!

Encounters with the Kree, Skrull, Shi'ar, and more have earned humans a meddlesome reputation. To further delay them from reaching beyond the stars, the untamable scum of the universe are now interned to keep Earth busy. Energy lattice surrounds the solar system in an effort to contain humanity and the prisoners from further interference.

With the Kree seemingly conquered by the Shi'ar Empire, Ronan The Accuser was appointed overseer of the new prison planet, but in truth he has conspired to launch a new Kree uprising. With the mutated Ruul army at his command, and an infestation of the Earth by Ego feeding him unlimited power, Ronan stands poised to lead the Supreme Intelligence to ultimate victory!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Ronan 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Goliath 6 (Genius)
Speed: Nova 7 (Light Speed)
Stamina: Thor 6 (Generator)
Agility: Spider-Man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Ronan 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Ronan The Accuser 34 (Super)

Earth's heroes are: Thor, Warbird, Sub-Mariner, Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Goliath, Hercules, Thing, Beta Ray Bill, Rogue, Colossus, Sunfire, with USAgent, Quasar, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Nova, Namorita, Speedball, Triathlon, and Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Bruce Banner, Silver Surfer.

Several other heroes can be seen teleporting into action with Quasar, but for the sake of clarity, we're only focusing on those identifiably involved in the battle. This includes support troops led by USAgent fighting on the ground.

Ronan The Accuser has been dramatically augmented by Ego, who has begun to infest the Earth. The flow of power Ego supplies adds to Ronan's already impressive Kree might, and results in a massive increase in his physical size.

Working on the Ego problem are Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, and Bruce Banner. They've built a machine to repel the infestation, and drain Ronan's power by funneling it into a captive host. Silver Surfer has volunteered for the potentially lethal absorption, but it means he's taken out of the battle.

Silver Surfer's absence from the fight will be felt. We saw him beat Ronan back in Silver Surfer #13, but there are still plenty of other heavy hitters on the field who have credentials beating some prominent cosmic opponents!

Thor can match his hammer against Ronan's Universal Weapon, having used it to best Super-Skrull in Thor #465. Warbird (Carol Danvers) gained her powers from the Kree and has a late win over Thanos [FCBD Civil War II #1]. She-Hulk performed the rare feat of defeating Champion of the Universe in She-Hulk #8. Sub-Mariner was one of the first heroes to valiantly face Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet #4, joining She-Hulk in a noteworthy grim stand. Even Colossus has memorable cosmic face-offs, including a win over Ord in Astonishing X-Men #5!

Thing has made a career of taking on the universe's deadliest fighters. His renown across galaxies was built on battles against Ronan himself, The Champion, and villains like Ego, The Living Planet [Fantastic Four #235], Gladiator [Fantastic Four #249], Paibok The Power Skrull [Fantastic Four #358], and even his own Magus created Doppelganger [Fantastic Four #367]!

The heroes can also count on the aide of Beta Ray Bill, who was interned on Earth as part of the intergalactic council's designation as a prison planet. Beta Ray Bill famously defeated Thor in Thor #337, proving worthy to wield Mjolnir before Odin granted him his own hammer: Stormbreaker. He once fought Silver Surfer to a standstill in Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #2, and fought valiantly by his side against the unstoppable Tyrant in Silver Surfer #82!

This all spells one phenomenal fighting force, but will it be enough to mitigate the incredible power boost received by Ronan The Accuser? They're literally fighting a man with the power of an entire planet -- and a Kree army!

The Tape: Earth's Allied Heroes Ranking: Spider-Man (#2)

What Went Down...
A sudden flash of light signals the arrival of Ronan The Accuser. He hovers menacingly in the air, a towering titan gazing down at the aggravating heroes who have begun to threaten his power source.

With a gesture of his Universal Weapon, he summons an army of Kree imperial soldiers, and warns Earth's heroic brains trust that they will be destroyed if they reactivate their machine. Then -- another flash of light: the cavalry!

Quasar teleports a troop of heroes over thirty-strong and when Ronan  threatens to kill them all -- USAgent steps forward to order the heroes against him. They swarm the giant-sized Accuser!

Thor, Wonder Man, and Warbird come in high with blows to the head and face, while Sub-Mariner contends with the giant's right arm, and Beta Ray Bill and Goliath lock up the left! Working the body is Hercules and Colossus, while She-Hulk and Thing come in hot from below as the giant threatens to lose footing!

Around Ronan's feet, Kree soldiers scurry as they contend with the heroes' support forces. USAgent bats at a small group, while Spider-Man, Wolverine, Nova, Triathlon, Namorita, Speedball, and Captain America do the same!

Overhead: Ronan delivers his first decisive blow as he targets Thor with his own hammer-like weapon and unleashes the planetary force of Ego!

With a wild backhanded chop, The Accuser dispatches with Beta Ray Bill, Hercules, and Sub-Mariner! He then turns his attentions to the ionic Wonder Man and brings his massive Universal Weapon slamming down upon him!

USAgent bats a Kree soldier with his photonic shield and contemplates the fragility of humanity's hopes against the invaders, while across the battlefield Mister Fantastic rallies the Thing and Human Torch to defend their ace.

Bruce Banner and Iron Man finish loading the Silver Surfer into their device and in an agonizing instant Ego's incredible power begins flooding into his body! His back arches, while on the horizon the infested landscape that is Ego begins to contort violently -- and Ronan The Accuser begins to shrink!

Ronan is caught completely off guard as his unfathomable power weakens ever so slightly and his mass begins to reduce. The sudden change signals the opportunity for the heroes to strike!

Rogue calls out his sudden weakening, with Thor, Warbird, Wonder Man, Sub-Mariner, Beta Ray Bill and Colossus rushing in to capitalize!

The Silver Surfer betrays his struggle as he begins to moan and his chrome skin burns ever brighter with blistering energy. Iron Man can see the strain is too great, but before any of the genius heroes can act -- Silver Surfer is torn free!

His smoldering and cracked body falls limply to the ground even as he attempts to volunteer for another try. The words catch in his throat as he passes out. There will be no reprieve for The Surfer.

From the air above, Quasar spots the brains trust of Banner, Richards, and Iron Man gathering over the exhausted cosmic rider. He scans the horizon, taking in the vista of his home planet Earth, then leaves Nova battling the Kree warriors.

It seems Silver Surfer's power cosmic could not contain the energies absorbed from Ego, but Quasar assures Reed Richards that his quantum power is more adaptive. Knowing the risks, he volunteers to be strapped into the machine and the draining process begins anew!

Sensing the sudden pull of his energy once more -- Ronan lashes out wildly by swatting Thor, Rogue, and Sunfire out of the air! The Kree Accuser can tell that the drain is more smooth than before, hastening his desire to find the cause.

Still gigantic; Ronan stomps across a smoking battlefield littered with the beaten bodies of Thor, Hercules, and more. He sets his sights on the machine attacking Ego's infestation of Earth, and prepares to battle Earth's last line of defense!

The Hammer...

Ronan does a very convincing job of cleaning house before setting his sights on the next challenge. The battle is won, but the war is certainly not over!

War is very much the tone here. I think the more superhero universes became proliferated with identifiable characters - the greater the desire to see a war-like scenario. Several series tried it. There are obvious echoes of Operation: Galactic Storm and Infinity Gauntlet in this one. I can't help but think of Annihilation as well, which took the hell of cosmic warfare even deeper into the trenches.

1984's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars may be the most recognized example of conflict between warring Marvel factions, but that was much more about isolating defined sides and smashing them together like (tie-in) toys. Speaking of which: Isn't it about damn time we featured the site's namesake? I digress...

In a continuum of those memorable Marvel events, Maximum Security makes a lot of sense. Through the prism of published releases in 2001, however, it reads almost anachronistic.

The event feels like the last gasp of a movement begun with the soft Heroes Return reset of 1998. There's a colourful, fluffy house style in the artwork, and a confluence of references to Marvel's favoured past, and the character designs of the misguided mid-90s and probing millennium. All would soon go away.

Indeed, the concluding issue of Maximum Security may be cover dated 2001, but it very much belongs to the final throes of 2000, when it actually hit racks.

The release of the first X-Men movie that same year is arguably what changed comics forever. It was a foundation stone for the next two decades of superhero domination in cinema, but it would also influence two of the defining releases of 2001: Ultimate X-Men, and Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely's New X-Men.

Both were incredibly intriguing in their own way, participating in a movement towards more sedate art direction, and denser character work. Everything was being deliberately rethought. Designs got blacker, and bombastic super-heroics were taking a slight step back as written concepts took greater focus.

I was vaguely aware of the Maximum Security crossover unfolding when it came out, but it didn't connect with me. It seems like every ardent comic book fan has a lull in their reading, and for me, it was very much 99-2000. They were generally exciting times, and other interests just started to eclipse a lifetime of reading comics.

In hindsight, Maximum Security was a little old fashioned, but I think if I'd taken the time to look closer, I would've enjoyed it. It was certainly an interesting piece of history to revisit when I picked up back issues many years later.

Three issues doesn't give the core mini-series a lot of room to expand upon a fast moving plot, but there are, of course, many tie-in issues that focus closer on relevant characters and spillover. There may be no better marker of time than Gambit #23: a series I frequently forget even existed.

Ronan The Accuser stands out as a main villain, which feels like a culmination of sorts. Growing up I'd always thought of Ronan as a big deal (and a classic Fantastic Four villain), but under scrutiny it becomes apparent his appearances were steady, but infrequent. He's really more of a Captain Marvel character, and for many years he hung his accuser's hat on the legendary Kree-Skrull War.

At the start of Maximum Security he poses as another banished alien forced to warden the Earth prison. A dirty tactic, but a nice set up for his coming out as a literal big bad. It's fun to see him swatting around some of the heaviest hitters in the Marvel Universe, even if the interactions are a tad impersonal.

I'll look forward to returning to the next phase of the battle in the future, when the other, more surprising featured character comes back to the fore: USAgent!

In the mean time, Blogger restrictions means this entry will only appear tagged for the fighters featured tackling Ronan. For most of the others, we have an assist stat that acknowledges their support role. You can check out the updated character rankings and results at the bottom of this post.

If you like Secret Wars on Infinite Earths and want to see many more entries like this one: you can become a supporter on Patreon! Joining at the lowest tier unlocks additional updates and polling options, and generally makes everything possible. Do it because you like the site and enjoy my grateful survival!

You can also pitch-in and get ahead of the game by checking out the complete collected edition of Maximum Security on Amazon! Any shopping done via the embedded Amazon link will support the site at no extra cost to you!

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 600 battles and ranked more than 950 characters! You can find them all indexed in the Secret Archive by publisher, series, and issue number. Or simply discover more wonders by following links throughout this and other feature articles.

You can also subscribe to Twitter and Facebook to get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day. It's another way to discover more superhero smackdown. Be sure to like & share to join the fight!

Winner: Ronan The Accuser
#398 (+286) Ronan The Accuser
#613 (+279) Ego The Living Planet [+1 assist]
#31 (-1) Sub-Mariner
#32 (--) Thor
#35 (--) Silver Surfer
#49 (-2) Warbird (Carol Danvers)
#70 (-12) Rogue
#74 (-3) Wonder Man
#80 (-6) Goliath (Hank Pym)
#145 (-1) She-Hulk
#400 (-56) Beta Ray Bill
#419 (-7) Hercules
#423 (-3) Colossus
#591 (-137) Sunfire
#2 (--) Spider-Man [+1 assist]
#3 (--) Iron Man [+1 assist]
#4 (--) Wolverine [+1 assist]
#6 (--) Hulk (Bruce Banner) [+1 assist]
#10 (--) Mister Fantastic [+1 assist]
#12 (--) Thing [+1 assist]
#115 (+1) Nova (Richard Rider) [+1 assist]
#130 (+2) USAgent [+1 assist]
#428 (--) Speedball [+1 assist]
#614 (+282) Quasar [+1 assist]
#922 (new) Namorita [+1 assist]
#923 (new) Triathlon [+1 assist]

SUNFIRE versus DARKSTAR

Chapter 2: First Contest: Frenzy in the Frozen North! (Marvel)
Where: Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #2 When: July 1982 Why: Mark Gruenwald, Bill Mantlo & Steven Grant How: John Romita Jr

The Story So Far...
Across the universe there exist immortal entities whose very being determines cosmic reality. The Grandmaster is one such being: an Elder of the Universe whose taste for games inspires a Contest of Champions!

Snatching the world's heroes from a temporarily frozen Earth; The Grandmaster drafts a team of twelve to represent him in a contest of life and death! His team must race to find segments of a golden artifact scattered to the four corners of the Earth. The Grandmaster's ultimate prize is the restoration of his immortal brother: The Collector!

Killed by the mad man-god Michael Korvac; The Collector's demise is beyond even the vast cosmic reach of a fellow Elder. Thus, The Grandmaster's challenge is issued to the ultimate opponent - Death herself!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 2 (Average)
Intelligence: Draw 2 (Average)
Speed: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Sunfire 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Darkstar 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Draw 4 (Trained)
Energy: Sunfire 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Sunfire 23 (Champion)

We're back in the Contest of Champions, which means two teams of three represent The Grandmaster and Death in a race to claim portions of a golden artifact. The contest is interesting -- but what we're really here to see are the inevitable battles that break out between competitors from opposing teams!

Sunfire represents Death, fighting alongside Invisible Girl and Iron Fist -- not that you'd necessarily know it. The hot tempered Japanese mutant has no time for teamwork. His narrow focus on victory fuels a fiercely individual burden.

That's a quality that could work in the favor of Darkstar, who fights for The Grandmaster's team beside Daredevil and Talisman. Her first major deployment to the United States was to recover and return Black Widow to the Soviet Union, but she wound up temporarily defecting to the ranks of The Champions of LA.

Collaboration continued to be a hallmark of Laynia Petrovna's career, even after she returned to the USSR. Her mutant mastery of the darkforce was applied as a member of The Soviet Super-Soldiers, and later The Winter Guard.

Darkstar's powers are related to the same other dimensional energies used by Cloak, but her unique mutant connection allows her to fly, teleport, and project solid constructs made of abysmal darkforce energy. These can also absorb light.

Sunfire's powers are very different, but he shares some similar experience. He first entered the world stage as a hostile threat, using his atomic flame to enact a doctrine of loathing for American power, and its influence over modern Japan.

Sunfire fought the X-Men in his first outing, but was soon recruited to join them as one of the famous international lineup from Giant-Size X-Men. A redeemed Shiro Yashida later became a high-profile member of Japan's premier superhero team, Big Hero Six, while maintaining some loose affiliation with the X-Men.

Sunfire's self-sustained flame and aggressive nature make him a serious threat to Darkstar, but if she can keep her distance and use darkforce constructs to defend from afar -- she might just be able to take care of him!

The Tape: Sunfire Ranking: Draw (Not Ranked)

What Went Down...
A bitter arctic chill whips through the competitors as they discover themselves in the snow of the North Pole. Pleasantries between The Grandmaster's team are soon cut short as Sunfire takes to the sky -- prompting Darkstar to follow!

The hot-blooded hero sees his opponent approaching and seizes the opportunity to eliminate the competition with two searing spears of fire!

Darkstar nimbly navigates a path between the jets of flame and summons the energy of the Darkforce to return fire. A massive black hand forms from her outstretched fist, reaching to engulf an unprepared Sunfire!

The fist closes around Sunfire, surrounding him in darkness. Its massive fingers pin his hands by his sides, while the dark energies absorb the light of his fire into the cold void of another dimension.

Contemplating his samurai spirit, Sunfire stirs the raging inferno that burns within him -- and unleashes a blazing atomic explosion from all his extremities!

The stunning explosion blasts Sunfire free of the darkforce's suffocating grip and cracks the icy plane below!

The strain of the awesome outburst puts Darkstar on the back foot, allowing Sunfire to arch his back and resume an offensive. He sends a volley of three fire streams at Darkstar -- but her powers are still able to defend against their heat!

The shattered ice below suddenly reveals the golden prize at the centre of their contest.

Sunfire spots it first and abandons the battle -- making a beeline for the exposed water below in an effort to assist Invisible Girl in claiming victory for their team. Darkstar remains airborne, extending a giant black pincer in a race with Sunfire as a new struggle begins!

The Hammer...
The rules and objectives of the Contest of Champions ultimately outweighs the conflict between Sunfire and Darkstar. They become involved in the final mad dash to secure their golden prize, abandoning the battle without conclusion.

It's somewhat interesting to note that both featured characters are mutants. In fact, all three of the Contest of Champions battles we've covered thus far have included at least one mutant: Wolverine and Storm, the others respectively.

The Contest of Champions was originally conceived to tie-in with the Summer Olympic Games, so the international flavor is fairly deliberate, but the choice of adding lesser known heroes, and newly created obscurities, is a creative one.

It would've been very easy to overrun The Contest with X-Men. I'm not sure there's a more worldly bunch of heroes in the Marvel Comics canon to this very day. Wolverine, Storm, and Sunfire were all part of Professor X's global mutant recruitment drive in 1975, seen in the series defining Giant-Size X-Men #1.

There are two heroes representing the Soviet Union in The Contest, but neither is the famous X-Man Colossus. Along with Darkstar is her brother Vanguard, who debuted fighting Iron Man with his sister and the Soviet Super-Soldiers, in 1978, and competes later in The Contest on the side of Death's team.

Over the years I've often thought it might be a more exciting comic with the likes of Colossus in place of Vanguard, but there's something to be said for the world building Contest achieves, and the more sporting tone of its brand variety.

Of course, Darkstar has loose ties to the X-Men, most notably serving with Angel and Iceman as one of The Champions. Long time fans might remember her as an unrequited romantic interest for Iceman before the team went their separate ways. The pair share a tender moment together during the gathering of prospective competitors at the start of Contest of Champions #1.

The Marvel Age was rooted deeply in the Cold War era, so the majority of Soviet characters have tended to be villains. I like the way Darkstar and her comrades embellish a heroic side to the other side of the iron curtain.

In Contest of Champions, I think we see Darkstar in her best design. Like her heroic bearing, she eschews the standard Soviet colour palette of red. Sure, there's a gold star, but the black and yellow athletic stripes down the side give her the look of a general, legitimate Marvel super-hero. I like it!

Sunfire has a pretty spiffy design himself, if a little more obvious. I suspect he's a character we'll return to, to explore more deeply in the future.

In the mean time: Darkstar is currently appearing in our unofficial sequel to Contest of Champions. You should check out The Contest: Green Lantern vs Darkstar for an intriguing match-up you can now view with more context. It's a closely contested result that deserves a closer look.

If you'd like to discover more battles like the one featured today, or explore more from the worlds of comics, dive in to the Secret Archive. There you'll find every featured fight indexed by publisher, series, and issue number.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has documented well over 600 battles and counting! If you like reading about superhero smackdown, you can help make it all possible by subscribing to Patreon. Patrons receive illuminating schedule updates, special request options, and voting polls.

Subscribe to Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook to receive daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day. Don't forget to like and share posts, and look for pinned Contest polls to vote and have your say!

Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#448 (new) Sunfire
#449 (new) Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna)