BATMAN versus RIDDLER

Who Riddled The Riddler? (DC)
Where: Batman #490 When: March 1993
Why: Doug Moench How: Jim Aparo

The Story So Far...
A note written in cut-out letters signals the return of The Riddler and his latest deadly puzzle: "What crowns just one but beats a dozen? Bim bam boom. Some percussion."

Commissioner Gordon summons a weak and weary Batman to crack the code, but the grim detective will be beaten to the solution by a man who has vowed to study his every move -- and break him!

With the midnight deadline fast approaching; Batman races to the belfry atop Gotham City Hall where The Riddler awaits -- but a brief encounter with another shadowy figure has changed The Riddler's game. Will Batman be ready?

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Batman 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Batman 5 (Professor)
Speed: Batman 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Batman 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Batman 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Batman 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Batman 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Batman 29 (Metahuman)

Batman rarely has much to fear from a physical confrontation with Riddler. The puzzle-fiend's obsession with brain teasers lives in the mind -- but we're opening the Edward Nygma file with a very unusual case: Who Riddled The Riddler?

The answer is important: Bane was one step ahead of solving The Riddler's latest clue, and used his advantage over The Dark Knight to forcibly dart Riddler with a forty-eight hour dose of the powerful super-steroid called Venom!

Suddenly the slight, and sometimes meek, Riddler is developing some serious muscle, and even without years of combat training - it's enough to tear the stitching of his jacket and level the playing field with an unsuspecting Batman!

Preparation is a key component of Batman's uncanny ability to overcome superior opponents, but even he can be surprised. We saw The Joker make a getaway when cosmic unlikelihood caused distraction in Crisis on Infinite Earths #2, and outright defeat came when Alpha Lantern Kraken conspired during Final Crisis #2.

Not all surprises have to be cosmic in nature, but these dramatic unlikelihoods are comparable to the sudden muscle developed by Riddler. Made all the worse by Batman's recent bout with unexplained extreme fatigue and lingering anxiety!

Challenging Batman on the battlefield of the mind is one way to secure a victory, and although we give the intelligence edge to a broadly studied Batman in The Tape -- Riddler also earns a 5 for his expertise with complex strategy and concept analysis. With superior physical strength he becomes a formidable threat!

We all know the Venom super-steroid will eventually help Bane break Batman's back sometime after he mangled Killer Croc, but will the sudden boost delivered to Riddler result in victory? Let's solve the riddle by finding out!

The Tape: Batman Ranking: Batman (#1)

What Went Down...

A hulking shadow retreats to the darkness of a Gotham City belfry as the bell tolls midnight and Riddler is shaken from his bewilderment.

His bomb has begun its countdown -- much shorter than the deadline imposed by the chemical agent now coursing through his veins. He knows he must flee the coming explosion, but The Batman arrives to strike as suddenly as the dart that pumped Riddler full of venom!

Batman swings into the bell tower with 9 seconds on the clock, driving his feet into Riddler's waiting ribs.

It's a blow that would ordinarily put Riddler down for the count, but as his muscles begin to bulge through a question-marked green jacket, The Riddler feels no pain!

A straight punch to the face catches Batman completely unprepared!

His shock that Riddler is still standing is quickly replaced by bewildered analysis of incredible newfound speed and strength.

The Batman knows something is amiss, but with the seconds ticking away he must focus his efforts on dodging another lunging punch from The Riddler, whose confidence has suddenly skyrocketed.

Sidestepping the attempted blow, Batman counter-strikes with a well placed chop to the back of Riddler's neck. It does nothing!

Observing Riddler's "manic" aggression and enhanced skills, Batman detects the obvious presence of a drug. He can only suspect the involvement of his most recent arch-adversary - Bane.

The Bat ducks another stiff right-hand, leaving Riddler's fist to slam into the cold, hard stone of the bell tower.

The puzzler compels Batman to succumb to his blows, citing the deadly explosion that will come in just 5 seconds! The Dark Knight responds silently with another chop to the side of the head.

Batman considers the possibility that he may also be suffering weakness, but will have no time to further test the theory.

With 4 seconds on the clock -- Riddler desperately charges head-long towards the Dark Knight Detective in a desperate bid to clear the way!

Riddler leaps the belfry railing for the safety of the night, while Batman scrambles to use the information he learned during the fight to stall the swinging bell -- and halt the connected timer that will trigger the bomb!

With 1 second to spare, he fires his grappling hook around the striking mechanism and pulls it back from the bell. With his strength quickly fading, he tosses a batarang that shatters the detonator and ends the desperate struggle - for now.

The Hammer...

It can be surprising, after all this time, that we're still finding major characters to add to the fight club rankings. At the time of this writing we recently logged Black Knight, Blue Beetle, and Omega Red -- colourful characters you might've expected to factor in ahead of some of our more obscure entries.

The Riddler is certainly among the upper echelon of Batman rogues and recognizable DC Comics villains, but I'm not so sure he elicits the same degree of expectation as some of those more combative characters.

History shows that there are many Riddler confrontations for us to consider, but when I think of Batman's perpetually puzzling sparring partner - I don't think of a contest of fists, but rather a challenge of minds. Not exactly our usual domain.

My favourite incarnation of The Riddler is really quite meek. The quivering wreck of The Long Halloween comes to mind: with green blazer, bowler hat, and a constantly buzzing brain that seeks stimulation from challenging The Batman, or solving mysteries, as in that story, and the popular early 2010s incarnation.

Despite the concept lending itself to this physically unimpressive interpretation, earlier versions of the tights-wearing comic book villain could often be drawn quite muscular. In subverting his modern modus operandi with a dose of the Venom super-steroid, today's featured issue brings back the bulk, and puts him back in the classic question-marked tights for a titanic rematch.

Of course, despite the subversion, Batman #490 broadly serves as something of a return to form for what I'd call the definitive Riddler. It begins by resetting the villain from an even stranger early nineties tangent, which involved occult human sacrifice, costume zombies, and worshipping the demon Barbathos.

Though somewhat memorable, each of these excursions into experimentation were understood as temporary story-driven deviations, always returning to a more intuitive, iconic version of the character. I say this as writer/director Matt Reeves ignites enthusiasm for a very different interpretation in The Batman.

This new big screen vision eschews comic book reference to draw inspiration from elsewhere, notably the real-world "Zodiac" serial killer, and David Fincher's film based on related events, as well as some of his other works.

At a glance, this take has unfortunate ties with clichéd mid-2000s fan-fiction that took the blunt cues of Christopher Nolan, and imagined a Saw-inspired Johnny Depp portrayal, because this brand of grimy sadism has somehow become the poor man's version of "realism", preferable to a more forthcoming work of fiction.

As you can probably tell - I don't have a great deal of enthusiasm for this.

I'm bored with misery-sodden superhero adaptations, and an over abundance of pop culture bleakly glorifying the murderers and scumbags. A reset, or at least abundant available alternatives, feel overdue by more than a decade, but that's opening the door to a gauntlet of problems suffered by cinema, and pop culture as a whole. I should keep my grumbling a bit more focused.

The raincoated serial killer with a Harrods bag on his head has backstory that reminds me of the Hush storyline, but its wielded in all too typical fashion to make the world smaller, and a little less interesting. Antithetical to the comic book approach that birthed the shared universes movies are constantly chasing.

With many thousands of significant characters swirling around comics -- and room for many more -- my desire for film adaptation is always to see an iconic aggregate of what's on the page, maintaining all that makes a character distinct from any other that might soon join them in cinematic canon. On-model consistency that, admittedly, has become less reliable in comics, as well.

The majority of my irritation lies in the details, presentation, and weakly wielded references that appear preoccupied with other things, and much less interested in what's being adapted. Great creators make balancing broader awareness look easy, marrying external reference and inspiration with innate understanding and care for what its applied to. Yes, Riddler could kill, but he isn't a copycat killer.

He also isn't finished when our featured fight concludes! Which means we'll be able to come back for a rematch to discuss more about a Riddler enhanced with physical strength, and the unique place in time the issue takes place, between Death of Superman and Knightfall.

If you'd like to find more from the comic origins of your favourite characters you can follow links throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

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

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

Winner: Inconclusive
#1 (--) Batman
#481 (new) The Riddler

DUCHESS versus BLUE BEETLE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Tape: Duchess Ranking: Duchess (#194)

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

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

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

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

The attack proves to be the inciting blow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The blistering white flash succeeds in temporarily blinding Duchess.

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

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

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

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

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

The Hammer...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MOON KNIGHT versus BLACK KNIGHT

Death & Texas! Chapter 9: Moon Knight vs Black Knight (Marvel)
Where: West Coast Avengers Annual #2 When: 1987 Why: Steve Englehart, Mark Gruenwald & Tom DeFalco How: Al Milgrom

The Story So Far...
A day of baseball under the Houston Astrodome becomes a game of life & death when the second contest between coasts ends with The Silver Surfer smashing through the ceiling -- and the sudden deaths of the East Coast Avengers!

A cosmic bolt sent by The Grandmaster appears responsible, but in the realm of the dead, the deceased Elder apologetically informs them it was only as a means of summoning them to thwart The Collector's mad scheme for immortality.

The Avengers could yet be returned to life, but first they must subdue their West Coast counterparts, who, under the guidance of The Collector, have joined them in the afterlife by taking a poison elixir. It's a seven-a-side contest between two teams of Avengers, but what are the true stakes of their clash?

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Moon Knight 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Black Knight 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Moon Knight 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Moon Knight 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Moon Knight 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Moon Knight 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Draw 2 (Projectile)
Total: Moon Knight 24 (Champion)

Why does this feel familiar? Under the gaze of The Grandmaster we have two teams of Avengers facing off! Perfectly matched with seven on each side, they split up into one-on-one contests between West Coast and East Coast rivals.

Here we observe a study in contrast! Moon Knight shines bright in Khonshu's lunar light for the West Coast, while Black Knight stands darkly under the curse of the Ebony Blade from the East. They're hard fighting heroes with superficial similarities, but the differences run much deeper than cosmetics!

Marc Spector was a freelance mercenary before he was left for dead in the Egyptian desert and became the "Fist of Khonshu". He's highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, wielding a small array of handheld and throwing weapons, some even designed by his fellow West Coast Avenger of the time: Hawkeye.

Dane Whitman was a physicist when he inherited his uncle's castle, and discovered his true identity as the villainous Black Knight. Taking up the Ebony Blade, Dane chose to use its cursed legacy to infiltrate the Masters of Evil and work to defeat them from within.

Black Knight quickly became something of a master swordsman, able to use his cursed blade with considerable skill and precision -- but a magic sword won't intimidate Moon Knight!

Moon Knight's comics debut was stalking The Werewolf, and his adventures have continued to feature supernatural enemies such as Demogoblin, who blurred the lines of his life as a mercenary and occultist in Marc Spector: Moon Knight #32.

MK also tidily handled the villain Taskmaster by using extreme shock & awe tactics in Moon Knight (Vol.5) #6. Taskmaster wields a variety of weapons & styles mimicking The Avengers, including Black Knight's sword style -- but it proved a non-factor in his unusual exchange with Moon Knight.

Today's fight could really go either way. Moon Knight is a faster, more agile and proficient fighter, outfitted with useful projectile weaponry. Black Knight is a savvy swordsman with strong defense and close-quarters preference. Each believes they're fighting to save the others' life. Let's see what that brings out in them...

The Tape: Moon Knight Ranking: Moon Knight (#351)

What Went Down...

Black Knight confronts his opponents with intense determination. He doesn't know why Moon Knight is there. He isn't privy to impending membership with the West Coast team. He only knows he must win their battle to defend everyone's lives.

Brandishing the Ebony Blade wielded by his ancestors; Black Knight demonstrates the risk of its bloodthirsty curse by effortlessly slicing through nearby rock.

Moon Knight jokes that his opponent's elaborate explanations will 'talk him to death' before the sword strikes. A taunt that prompts Black Knight to action!

Again the dark metal makes light work of rock as Black Knight's weapon chases its target across the battlefield. Moon Knight keeps a step ahead of the mighty swing, vaulting over an arching protrusion that rises out of the barren landscape.

Even in evasion the "Fist of Khonshu" recognises a kindred spirit with the swordsman, and the risk of his sword's accursed ties with "the nightside".

Though sympathetic, Moon Knight seeks a quick end, making a nimble landing while reaching for a pouch at his back filled with throwing spikes!

His aim with the Hawkeye-designed projectiles is true -- but Black Knight blocks their path with a deft swing of his sword.

Moon Knight keeps up the offensive -- looking to test Black Knight with the fast follow-up of an expertly thrown boomerang.

Once again Black Knight counters with his enchanted sword -- cutting the boomerang out of the air!

Concerned Khonshu has failed to enchant his own weapons - and fearing the "crazed" advantage of the Ebony Blade; Moon Knight digs deep into his bag of tricks and unleashes all of them in a single all-out offensive!

Winged darts are met with the black steel of the Ebony Blade, but a snaring bolo passes beneath the zigzagging sword and wraps tightly around Black Knight's knees. He falls!

Moon Knight seizes his opportunity -- brandishing an ornate axe as he launches himself at the grounded knight!

The cursed sword is once again there to defend the Black Knight, blocking the golden axe with room to spare. He boasts about the weapon's supremacy, but Moon Knight vows to persevere: "I won't quit trying--!"

Black Knight uses his opponent's determination against him, releasing the block and swinging his legs up so the falling axe cuts through the binding bolo cord.

Free to move -- Black Knight quickly returns to his feet and cuts the head from the Egyptian axe while knocking it out of his opponent's hands!

Moon Knight dashes backward, retreating deep into the enveloping folds of his white cape as he farewells his final weapon -- but refuses to yield!

Tempting the curse of the Ebony Blade -- Moon Knight lunges toward his opponent with sword drawn!

The black steel pierces through Moon Knight's cape as the hero's words suddenly choke in his throat. The deed appears done, but all is not as it seems...

Beneath the veil of his flowing cloak -- Moon Knight positioned his body askew to avoid impalement and trap the sword firmly under arm.

Locking the stunned swordsman at close quarters, Moon Knight swings a golden ankh from beneath his cape -- and delivers a knock out blow!

The Hammer...

The battle of the knights produced some dangerous gambits, but in the end it was Moon Knight whose daring won the day! His victory levels the scores for the West Coast Avengers at 3 all, but the final result doesn't really matter yet...

The only purpose served by this rumble between Avengers is to demand the attention of Death herself, so The Grandmaster can steal her power -- and use it to start a new game by completely rebooting the universe with his own rules!

It was a feat achieved by Grandmaster's willful submission at the end of The Contest of Champions, which earned the resurrection of his co-conspirator, The Collector, and ultimately allowed him to personally observe Death within her natural environment, gaining the privileged knowledge to ensnare and defeat her.

West Coast Avengers Annual #2 therefore becomes one long con: a prelude to the real sport of Avengers Annual #16, and a formal contest that will pit The Avengers against Grandmaster's "Legion of Unliving" for the fate of the universe.

That high-stakes battle sees Avengers face an all-star line-up of heroes & villains who were considered dead in 1987. An all together delicious scenario that pits Black Knight against his predecessor, and Moon Knight against Green Goblin -- who hadn't yet been deemed living in a retcon to his famous glider impalement!

Those will all be fantastic battles to spotlight sometime in the future, and once they are, you'll be able to find them in the Secret Archive. For now we must dwell further upon today's featured fighters and their apparent extremes.

Were these characters really ready to kill each other? As committed as they might be to their respective efforts to save the Avengers' lives -- I don't think so.

Although Black Knight speaks of his Ebony Blade's curse as though he were ready to take a life: he expresses stunned disbelief when the apparent killing blow is finally rendered -- without his deliberate involvement.

He also seems to have forgotten that they're both already dead. A fact Moon Knight is far more prescient of, having experienced his own dance between life & death in the desert, when he was claimed by the Egyptian lunar deity Khonshu.

Although this might inspire Moon Knight to cavalier efforts with his axe -- even he manages to conclude the battle without a lethal strike.

Moon Knight wields his weapons with respect and recognition for Black Knight's obvious fighting prowess, using them tactically to apply pressure without genuine murderous intent. These men remain heroes, after all, and their reluctance to kill -- even an opponent who is already dead -- seems self-evident.

Moon Knight is leveraging his relative obscurity as a recent submission to the West Coast Avengers, leaving Black Knight to interpret his measures as genuine hostility. He believes him a "madman": an interpretation that might ring true to modern readers, but is coming long before writers had fixated on characterizing Marc Spector as a man prone to mental instability.

Although this Moon Knight is a far cry from later interpretations, there is an interesting consistency between his tactics here, and the extreme measures used in later iterations. Risking laceration in the afterlife is a little less wanton than crashing a plane and taking arrows to the body, but such were the mid-2000s.

We really have the "Event" comics of that era, such as Civil War, to "thank" for the now ubiquitous circus of death that befouls most modern comics.

Today's feature reminds us that death has been a part of superhero comics for a very long time, but it also clarifies that the notion of heroes haphazardly killing each other with any impression of permanence is a much more recent cliché. One that seems long overdue retirement as a flimsy, self-defeating cry for attention.

Of course, this is not the forum that's going to completely deny the innate appeal of seeing which hero comes out on top from a good battle. A premise that the team of writers behind these twin '87 Annuals exploit to fast and furious appeal in their unofficial sequel(s) to the less star studded Contest of Champions.

I notice I've been on a bit of an Al Milgrom kick lately, and dare I say it -- today's fight is actually one of his weaker efforts in the West Coast book. His layouts are a little repetitive here, owing in part to the detailed minutiae driving the battle between Knights. It's good and clear, but I look forward to exploring some of the other Avengers in-fighting that produces more varied results.

To see more of that type of thing you can follow links throughout this post, or explore more than 650 featured fights, ranking over 1,000 characters, in the previously mentioned Secret Archive.

You can also check out the issue in its entirety in Avengers West Coast Epic Collection: Tales to Astonish or Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions. Use the Amazon purchase links provided to do any of your shopping and you'll not only score a good deal -- you'll help support the site!

If you'd like to help me create more entries consider contributing to the Patreon. As a thank you you'll unlock options for sponsored content and additional updates such as Secret Wars on Infinite Earths Series 1 Trading Cards!

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

Winner: Moon Knight
#122 (+229) Moon Knight
#968 (new) Black Knight

COLOSSUS & X-MEN versus OMEGA RED

Red Death (Marvel)
Where: X-Men Adventures #4 When: May 1994
Why: Ralph Macchio How: John Hebert

The Story So Far...
At a snow-covered base near the Black Sea, somewhere in the Caucasus region between Ukraine and Georgia, a sudden power surge disrupts a signal relay, which in turn causes critical failure of complex computer circuitry designed to contain a living weapon!

With this subtle act of electrical sabotage a sleeper is awoken: Omega Red is unleashed upon a former Soviet Union to be a tool of military hardliners committed to restoring their empire.

Omega Red's violent path of conquest takes him towards a small farming region once home to Russian expatriate and mutant Piotr Rasputin. Having sought the aid of the X-Men - but only found Jubilee - Colossus accepts a desperate flight to his homeland in the hopes of rescuing his beloved family!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Colossus 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Omega Red 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Wolverine 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Rogue 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Storm 5 (Lasers)
Total: Wolverine 26 (Metahuman)

The X-Men are: Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, and Jubilee, with Colossus.

Fans of the animated series will know Colossus wasn't a full-fledged member, but an acquaintance of the X-Men, who befriended him after a case of mistaken identity in Series 1 episode "The Unstoppable Juggernaut", which was also adapted as X-Men Adventures (Vol.1) #8.

Otherwise he's the hulking hunk of Russian organic-steel you know and love, and although he initially only has Jubilee to rely on, a note left at the mansion quickly gets the attentions of the other X-Men - particularly one who knows what they're up against!

Arkady Rossovich was a murdering scumbag even before he developed a mutant "death factor" that protected him from execution for his crimes.

The disgraced Spetsnaz GRU agent fled to Europe, but was soon reclaimed by the KGB, to be submitted to the Cold War era Soviet Super-Soldier program. Mutant healing abilities would allow Soviet scientists to implant cybernetic enhancements, as well as retractable, prehensile tendrils made of carbonadium: a Soviet alternative to the more costly and difficult adamantium metal.

Carbonadium is radioactive, but Omega Red could resist lethal poisoning with his mutant ability to absorb life force from other humans. He also possesses super-human strength, stamina, durability, and can emit "death factor" pheromone spores capable of weakening, or killing, anyone in his close proximity.

Colossus out muscles Omega Red, having stood toe-to-toe with the likes of the Juggernaut, Apocalypse, and Ord. He'll be a good compliment once Wolverine is on the scene, bringing past knowledge of Omega Red from his days with Team X, and razor-sharp adamantium claws that've cut plenty of cyborgs down to size!

Wolvie's healing factor is also useful when resisting Omega Red's life-draining, but it's unclear if he can inflict enough damage to negate a stale-mate similar to Wolverine (Vol.3) #50. We've also seen both Colossus and Wolverine taken out of the fight by having their energy absorbed in Uncanny X-Men #194.

Who did they willingly turn their essence over to? The power-absorbing Rogue, of course! She too could resist Omega Red's life-draining if she can get her hands on him and take his power. Making it all the easier for her and the rest of the team to put a serious hurt on! Will it happen that way? Let's find out!

The Tape: X-Men Ranking: Wolverine (#5)

What Went Down...

Having learned of the imprisonment of Colossus' parents from his sister Illyana -- the mighty metal mutant, and Jubilee, follow her to a Stalin era gulag reopened under the commission of Omega Red!

Jubilee channels X-Men leader Cyclops to consider a strategic option, but Colossus has no patience for looking at "angles" while his blood boils at the raw sight of injustice.

He quite literally "steels" himself, activating the natural-given skin that allows him to fearlessly charge towards the gulag -- welcoming the oppressors to fire at will!

The soldiers' bullets ricochet harmlessly off Colossus' metallic hide and even an artillery shell fired from a tank cannot stop the righteous Russian!

He runs all the way to the heavy machine, and tackles it head-on, turning the weapon against its masters by tossing the tank straight through the gulag gates!

Jubilee begrudgingly joins the charge, blasting plasma fireworks at any incoming soldiers as she storms the gate. "Okay -- looks like we'll save the subtlety for another day! Thanks for listening, Petey! You dork!"

Colossus does not respond, or join Jubilee in her dash. Instead, he is transfixed by the horrifying presence that has cast its shadow behind him -- Omega Red, with one of his coils of death wrapped around the young Illyana Rasputin.

The second coil snakes around Colossus' body, lifting him off his feet as his strength is slowly drained and he fights against the tendril's crushing squeeze.

It seems Colossus is alone to face his fate, but salvation arrives not a minute too soon. The X-Men are here -- and Wolverine has come to settle an old score!

Omega Red immediately drops Colossus and turns his attention to the voice from his past -- sending his wrist-tendrils looping around the charging Wolverine!

They tighten before the X-Man can reach his target and make good on threats.

Wolverine struggles to resist, but machismo gives way to a fading spirit as the coil begins its deadly draining of life energy. Omega Red taunts.

"Perhaps I shall have your corpse stuffed -- mounted in Red Square... A symbol of my triumph over... Eh? That shadow! What can it be?"

Wolverine is no more alone than Colossus! Rogue arrives overhead with a tank in hand to bring it slamming down on Omega Red's body!

The X-Men regroup under the scornful eye of field leader Storm. She worries for the recklessness of Rogue and Jubilee, while Wolverine clues Colossus and the team into his long history with the "Soviets' Super-man".

At that moment, Omega Red pushes the tank off his body!

Colossus and Wolverine race to meet him, but once again Omega Red's long reach holds the mighty Russian at bay and snatches Wolverine into the air!

The X-Man desperately tries to rake his claws across Omega Red's eyes, but his futile efforts aren't for nothing!

With his tendrils occupied, Omega Red is wide open to the flying figure of Rogue!

She drives her shoulder into his back like a battering ram, and he drops his weakened prey to instead wrap both deadly coils around her!

To the Soviet Super-Soldier's shock -- Rogue is completely unfazed by the life-draining attack! Her own mutant power to absorb life force appears to completely cancel out Omega Red's deadly ability!

Unaffected, Rogue is able to shrug the binding cables off with her super-human strength, but before she can resume the attack -- Darkstar arrives in the sky!

Omega Red orders his flying comrade to take care of Rogue, but Darkstar does not share his violent vision for Russia's future.

Having observed Storm's apparent command of the weather, she implores the X-Woman to summon the deepest cold if she's able and direct it at Red.

Rogue obliges Storm with a full nelson to hold Omega Red in place while the weather goddess directs the arctic winds to blast a bitter cold directly at him!

The villain can only shout broken dreams of glory as his body temperature begins to cool and he's returned to the icy frozen state that held him before saboteurs ended his suspended animation. The terror on the Caucasus is ended.

The Hammer...

The intervention of Darkstar not only handed Storm the means to end Omega Red's rampage, but also ensures his collaborators in the attempted coup will be brought to justice by modern Russia.

You may've noticed a colouring error [above] that makes it seem as if Storm is shouting to herself. The center panel is obviously intended to be a close-up of Darkstar, who I always wished could've had a more active role in the story, but is reserved for a final act twist.

Everyone has a bit more to do in the animated episode, which spreads the action over two separate battles, allowing Darkstar to get involved much sooner and witness everyone's abilities, to more intuitively suggest an outcome to Storm.

If you thought it was a little off that Rogue's powers would cancel out Omega Red's without any contact to her skin -- you won't be surprised to find that she actually does succumb to the life-draining coil in the animated version. Granted, this only raises further questions about how the tendrils actually work.

In this instance I'm not sure the source material is entirely helpful at clearing anything up. The exact details of Omega Red's abilities generally feel a little slippery in the mainline comics, as well.

The Cold War inspired villain had immediate appeal on the strength of a bombastic Jim Lee design, but a hodgepodge of oh-so nineties invulnerabilities and death-dealing powers have arguably made the character unwieldy in a narrative context, leading to inconsistent conclusions throughout the years.

Putting him back on ice was a clean way to wrap up a robust done-in-one story, but the way it comes about feels a little bit dubious. Maybe if Iceman were on the team it would be an easier sell, but even that speaks to the difficulty of leaving Omega Red in play.

There are a lot of interesting differences between the November 1993 broadcast episode and its X-Men Adventures comic book adaptation.

Despite the episode name appearing on the cover, the comic story is titled "Red Death", wielding that most taboo of words as far as Saturday morning cartoons of the era were concerned. An otherwise trivial difference -- especially for a series that dealt with death in its very first plotline! This one's for you, Morph!

More substantial is Omega Red's release from suspended animation: an act of sabotage in the comic, while in the animated series, anonymous hands confidently manipulate the controls. A deliberate escalation contextualized by scenes of tanks and storm troopers invading a city already under siege.

The comic version also flirts more specifically with the geo-politics of the story, establishing a slightly more deliberate locale than the ambiguous Russia of the cartoon. We still don't quite know which "sovereign nation" Colossus and the Rasputin family come from, but the comic-given geography of a "small city in the Caucasus" of the former USSR seems to imply it's probably Georgia, or Armenia.

Despite the narrative-driven change to Colossus' Siberian comic book upbringing; trifling with the specifics of Communist politics probably wasn't high on anyone's agenda. The Cold War had ended a few years prior, and Rocky IV was almost a full decade behind us. American comic books will always love a good Russian villain, but most people were probably hoping to just move on from the looming threat of mutually assured atomic destruction.

That might be the reason Omega Red is ultimately depicted as hostile to almost everybody -- including the Soviet Generals he's supposed to be serving!

This version of Arkady Rossovich is harder than hardline. He intends to install himself as the iron ruler of a new empire. An expressed delusion of grandeur that seems to be a catalyst for the reserved Darkstar to finally reveal her true allegiance, and act against her military superiors. Russians aren't all evil, buddy!

All in all, both the comic and cartoon do a good job of cramming a whole lot of stuff into a pretty succinct story. There are things I like about both versions. The Series 2 episode was always a memorable favourite, but I think the twenty-two page comic does a good job of amending some of its pacing issues.

Marvel's Ralph Macchio [not THAT one] always did a good job on the various Adventures titles, and the intensity of John Hebert's pencils really helped push back against the innate second-class status of a book adapting a cartoon. His work, with its straining tendons and broad muscle, feels right at home with the look of the show, and contemporary X-artists like Lee, Andy Kubert, and maybe even Leinil Yu, while also being very identifiable.

Macchio later took the series into original stories in Adventures of the X-Men, and bridged the animated shared universe with Marvel Adventures. Continuations well worth your time, especially while you're eagerly anticipating the upcoming revival of X-Men '97 on Disney Plus -- which recently added definitive Wolverine voice actor Cal Dodd!

Dive deeper into your favourite characters by following links throughout this post, and discover more from the multiverse by exploring the Secret Archive for a complete index in order of publisher, series, and issue. You can also catch up on the 2021 Rankings Recap and Top 20 Fights of Season 2021!

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Winners: Storm & Rogue (w/ X-Men & Darkstar)
#34 (+4) Storm
#46 (+26) Rogue
#446 (+5) Darkstar [+1 assist]
#5 (--) Wolverine [+1 assist]
#435 (--) Colosssus [+1 assist]
#369 (+23) Jubilee [+1 assist]
#361 (+9) Magik (Illyana Rasputin) [+1 assist]
#967 (new) Omega Red