So Many Masks

Several weeks ago we had a poll asking which type of mask you'd wear if you were a hero. You never really realize how many there are out there until you break them down...which we'll do right now.

Domino Mask

Worn by: Nightwing, Green Lantern, Robin, etc.

Probably the most famous type of mask, it also covers just about the least of the face. I still have a hard time believing this would fool anyone, but it apparently has for years.

The mask begs the question "What in the world is keeping it on your face?" First of all it has to be something that will stay on in the middle of a fight no matter how sweaty you get. But then it has to be removable without ripping the skin around your eyes off.

Yes, I know Green Lantern's mask is created by his ring and is therefore part of the costume, but Nightwing, Robin, Red Hood, and many others have had this little thing stuck to their faces for years without a problem or reasonable explanation.

Cowl

Worn by: Batman, Nighthawk, Red Robin, etc

The most popular choice in our poll, the cowl serves this purpose of keeping the hair covered at least. Now it's not necessarily as easy to figure out who you are under the mask as the domino mask would be.

Add to that a certain streamlined effect and you have a pretty cool look. The fact that it's attached to the flowing cape doesn't hurt either. All in all it can be a fairly intimidating appearance when it's done right.

There's a reason Batman's iconic look has stayed with pop culture for decades. It's an old faithful design that just works.

Full Face Mask

Worn by: Spider-Man, Union Jack, Deathstroke, etc

For a real mystery man look, it's hard to go wrong with this type of mask. Covered completely, heroes sporting this look have that mystery surrounding them that leads a lot of people to wonder what person is really under all that.

Truthfully though, it's hard to imagine Spider-Man without his full mask. And Deadpool just doesn't seem as funny any other way. Union Jack was able to use the look to his advantage to fool Baron Blood into thinking he was an old man when in actually he was young Joey Chapman.

There are a lot of advantages to going this route...though the cost of material goes up a little. That, and it's hard to figure out how you can breathe that well in a tough fight with cloth on your face.

Goggles

Worn by: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Plastic Man, Vigilante, etc.

Now this one is hard to pull off right. The first time I read a Plastic Man comic in the 70's I couldn't figure out what was going on with his eyes. Which way was he supposed to be looking? Eventually I figured it all out and the craze seemed to catch on.

Now heroes like Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle have added to the mix of using a functional mask. I mean, when it's raining outside which hero can still see in a torrential downpour? Try that Spider-Man!

Seriously though, I think this could be considered cheating just a little.

Sunglasses

Worn by: Nomad, Hitman, Blade, etc.

If you're not up for goggles, there's always a cheaper way out through sunglasses. While I consider Jack Munroe's Nomad to be one of the best heroes out there and best costume for a casual hero type, I've never been one to follow how he kept the sunglasses on. Also, how are they handy in a fight indoors?

It's really hard to see a hero pull this off and not look like someone off "Jersey Shore", but it's been done. Oddly enough, this is the one look that looks best in the movie versions of the characters. It's hard to pull off a mask on a real person, but sunglasses always look tough.

I almost threw Cyclops in with this group, but I'm not really sure it would be fair. I think he'd fall more under a mixture of the goggles and sunglasses crowd.

No Mask

Worn by: Superman, The Sentry, Punisher, etc.

Of course, there are those who skip masks altogether and just say "Here I am. Look at me!" It's usually done by someone with nothing to hide because their identity is public (like the Punisher) or they look differently when in their secret identity (like DC's Captain Marvel or The Sentry). And yes, Superman hides behind glasses (even dumber than a domino mask) and still folks can't figure out who he is.

Whatever the reason, this is the easy way out. Fight as hard as you want to and never worry about someone seeing your face because your mask got shredded. I can't say I'm a fan of this though. For me, I think it's always cooler to see a hero in some form of mask. The only exception I'll give is the Punisher. I think he'd look a little weird wearing one for some reason.

Helmet

Worn by: Ant-Man, Iron Man, Doctor Fate, Forbush Man, etc.

For real protection, it's hard to go wrong with a good old-fashioned piece of metal on your head! Whether you're using it to control an entire suit of armor like Iron Man or just to hide your identity like Red Hood, you can't say anything about the functionality of one. However, hiding the costume takes a lot of creative thinking when you can't just cram it all under your tuxedo and walk in.

I've always  thought artists probably love drawing helmeted characters more than anything else. No worries about emotion on the face or anything...just a blank slate.

The only character easier to draw would have to be the Question.

Hood

Worn by: Green Arrow, The Spectre, Moon Knight, etc

While hiding identity, I have to say this one would be hard to justify as safe. Think about it: your peripheral vision is absolutely shot. True, you're ready for a rainstorm, but if someone comes at you quietly from the side you are dead.

Also, how do you keep this on your head while you're running after (or away from) a bad guy? When I have my hood on and I go running to my car in the rain, it always flies back and lets me get soaked.

Functionally, I have to say this one is at the bottom of the barrel. Yes, the "mysterious stranger" look works when stepping out of the shadows...but it's not the best choice in a fight.

Over-the-Head Mask

Worn by: Captain America, Hawk and Dove, the Atom, etc.

I'm not sure of the official name for this look, so let's just say it's a cowl without the cape kind of thing. It's been popular for years with everyone from the Flash to Vindicator wearing one.

The thing that makes this one slightly less believable is the way the heroes usually have it during "casual times". Most of the time their whole head is through the mouth part with the mask laying behind their head until the pull it up over their head and on. That sucker would be so stretched out it would blow off in a light wind.

There is a variation of this mask where the hair is seen. Marvel's version of Captain Marvel and the original Captain Britain look are two heroes who go that way with it. Again, I'm not sure what it's officially called though. You know what I mean, right?

Weird Everything-But-The-Face Mask

Worn by: Puck, Justice, The Angel, Gambit, etc.

Ok, I had no idea what you actually called this one, but I've seen it from time to time. I guess this would be considered a "face frame" more than a mask.

I suppose this one would be more for those heroes who want to wear a mask, while still wanting people to know what they looked like underneath. This might even fit into the "no mask" category.

Maybe you're proud of your hair, or maybe you just like the way you look in the mirror, either way, if this is your choice it's not very functional for anything other than keeping your ears warm in the wind.


There are a lot of characters that fit into combinations of categories that I didn't cover. For example, Magneto would fit into the helmet/face-frame mixture. Doctor Doom would fit into the helmet/hood group. Deadshot would be an entirely new combination, with full-face mask/eyescope group. The combinations are endless.

As you can tell, it would be impossible to categorize them all. Hopefully I've covered the most often used ones though.

How To Fix Marvel - Epilogue...The Story They Should Tell

To finish out my look at how to fix Marvel (and Reg asked what I'd do with DC, which is a whole 'nother story), I wanted to present my basic storyline for 24 issues of a Marvel title that I think could really bring Marvel out a bit, and it would help fix a B-list character they've messed up since his first appearance: The Sentry.

Yes, I've mentioned this character a lot, but now Marvel has set the stage for a way to combine the best of the two hottest selling independent titles out there, with a sprinkling of DC's "Elseworlds" and Marvel's "What If?", but keeping it all based in Marvel's current reality.

Quick recap of where Marvel is now: The Sentry is dead. During the "Dark Avengers" storyline that led into "Seige", Norman Osborn gradually manipulated him to the point where he finally snapped and became this evil incarnate that finally had to be killed by Thor. The world is terrified of him returning (witnessed in the "Hawkeye" limited series where Bullseye told the guards Sentry wasn't dead and it scared them to death). Remember, Marvel had originally set him up as the most powerful hero in their universe, then Quesada realized he didn't know how to write a comic book with a Superman-type character, so he gave him the "dark side" to hide behind. So here we go...

In the first eight issues, we have the return of the Sentry (no one in comics stays dead forever). But this time, we allow him to return without the dark "Void" crap that Marvel has clung onto from the beginning (never ever ever to return to this character again). Now we just have Bob Reynolds, a hero very sorry for what he's done and desperately wanting to have the chance to make up for it. Unfortunately, the world has seen this evil side and is terrified of him, unwilling to trust him. He must now justify himself. Even the other heroes won't trust him and want him dead!

Imagine this, we combine the concepts of Boom! Studios "Irredeemable" and "Incorruptible" by having the superhero who turns evil and kills his friends (remember Aries?), but then has a change of heart and wants to do right while the world is afraid of him. All of this, while staying in Marvel's current reality! A mainstream comic that is about redemption rather than one constant death after another!

During the second, fourth, and seventh issues, we see very quick one-page inserts of various alien warriors being abducted by some powerful force calling their name and saying "You are needed." All of this will come into play later in the storyline.

At the end of the eighth issue, Sentry goes into outer space to seek refuge because the world is terrified of him. For the next eight issues, Sentry finds planets that hail him as a hero because of how he helps them. But then at the same time there are worlds that have heard of him as the Void and fear him. Eventually we have several very cosmic fights as Sentry faces Gladiator of the Shi'ar and even has a rematch with Terrax.

Throughout this 8-issue arch, Sentry begins to slowly atone for what the Void made him do. He doesn't blame himself completely for what happened, and instead is able to realize he needs to fix things rather than constantly apologize for them.

But then we reach the final 8-issue storyline. A hugely powerful galactic warrior comes and attacks Sentry. After a very hard-fought battle, Sentry would find out this was the latest herald of Galactus, sent to kill him while Galactus himself is bearing down on Earth to destroy it. I could picture this being Galactus, though he's been defeated by the Fantastic Four so many times it's not funny. My Galactus, however, would have undergone a change. Instead of one herald, he would have created a small army of heralds, like a dozen or more (remember the abductions I mentioned earlier?). Now we have 12 heralds all rivaling Silver Surfer in terms of raw power, each with a different skill set.

They would lay waste to the heroes of Earth after an epic battle. All looks hopeless and lost, as Sentry streaks to Earth while Galactus sets up his machine to finally eat the planet.

Sentry arrives and begins a series of fights against the heralds of Galactus. One he could easily defeat, but four or five at a time would truly make for some great storytelling. As each herald is defeated, Sentry absorbs their power through his molecular manipulation. Each time he becomes more powerful as he turns each herald into the alien they were before they were changed.

And yes, the Silver Surfer would count as one of those heralds. A pretty epic fight, I think.

Sentry, herald of Galactus by Khris Reaves

After several fights, we get the final showdown where Sentry punches Galactus in the face and sends him down (and remember, Galactus is one of my favorite Marvel characters but I'm willing to do this for the greater good). Galactus sees that there was at one time some great conflict in Sentry, so as a twist he tries to turn Sentry into his greatest herald ever. The final scene of issue 23 is Sentry as some cosmic herald of Galactus, threatening to destroy the Earth. We see the heroes looking on in horror as the hero they could never defeat is evil again and more powerful than ever!

Then we hit issue 24. Sentry has already shown an ability to manipulate molecules (as he did to defeat the Molecule Man in Dark Avengers), so we see him override the change made to him and attempt to pull the very life essence from Galactus. In the process, he finds that The Void had actually taken over Galactus and used him in an attempt to destroy Sentry and Earth. The Void escapes into one of the former heralds and disappears into space. Galactus leaves the planet (again), and Sentry is seen as the hero who saved the world, though the people are still leery of him.

So there you have it, 24 issues of potential that could allow Marvel to cash in on some of the "hot stories" of today while still being original and keeping it all in current continuity without some massive bloodshed or people ripped in half or scenes of Sentry running off in tears again like we saw in Secret Invasion. Instead, we have a Superman-type character actually facing challenges in the Marvel Universe without crazy stuff. Can you tell I'm a writer who has always wanted to try his hand at comic books?

And how about his weakness now? With no Void, we have no weakness, right? Wrong. He's always been known as the man with "power of a million exploding suns", so his weakness now is the fact that he has to constantly vent off his power or he will die. In other words, he has to fly off somewhere (like the other side of the moon) and explode this massive power surge on a regular basis, or he'll go nuclear/cosmic. Khristian came up with that twist, and I liked it.

Just think, when the people finally start trusting him again, someone discovers he's a walking thermonuclear bomb just waiting to detonate and everyone is scared of him again! There's another eight-issue arch in that one!

So there you go, my look at Marvel is over. Someday soon I may take on DC, but for next week I'm turning it over to my new co-blogger, Khristian. My son is a comic book fan and you've seen his graphic work before on here (and on this very post in two places!) and he's agreed to help me out with guest posts. Next week, is sure to be interesting if you're a movie buff! I'll be back in two weeks with more rants and raves.

So what do you think about the story? Comment away!

Looking Back at the "O*'s" - The 5 Best New Characters of the Decade

We got a lot of great new characters in the past 10 years. Here are 5 that deserve mentioning.

Winter Soldier

While Bucky Barnes has been around forever, it was his rebirth as Winter Soldier that turned this teen sidekick into a serious character of his own. Rather than destroy his earlier image, Marvel chose instead to go back and show us the "unseen" parts of his past. In other words, he might have looked like just a kid, but he was actually a serious secret weapon. Don't believe me? Just pick up the Avengers/Invaders story from last year.

When Captain America died, he stepped into the boots and kept the character alive. Unfortunately, this meant we lost Winter Soldier and it's apparently for good. Steve is back, but isn't Cap so I guess Bucky will continue to fling the shield for the foreseeable future.

The Sentry

What can I say? I love this character's potential. Unfortunately, it appears he will forever be crippled by Marvel from being all he could become. That final battle in World War Hulk where he got to cut loose gave us a glimpse of what he could become.

Yes, he's Marvel's answer to Superman...though they have yet to figure out what to do with him. For some strange reason they think giving him the mental crazies is a great way to make him unique. It's not. Stop it. Stop it now.

Currently working for Norman Osborn and the Dark Avengers, Sentry's future is uncertain. I just hope Marvel someday decides to let this character get a normal mind and just become a hero. 

Red Robin (twice) as Jason Todd and Tim Drake

One of the truly iconic moments of Kingdom Come was a single page where Red Robin shows up to stop the aliens inside the Statue of Liberty's head (read it if you're confused by that statement). I guess it could even be considered cheating to say Red Robin came from the "0*'s", but I'm going to anyway. This decade finally gave us that character...even though it was Dick Grayson who wore the suit.

While three different people became Red Robin this decade, the two who make the biggest impression were Jason Todd and Tim Drake. Hands down, Jason Todd was the better of the two, but DC in their "infinite" wisdom decided to erase his time in the suit after Countdown to Infinite Crisis was over. Still, the short time he wore the suit allowed us to see him take the character in this "Batman" direction of beating down criminals and taking no prisoners. He even killed the Joker during one of his trips to the multiverse after watching that incarnation of Batman die! And yet all of that was over in an instant.

Tim Drake is currently the Red Robin, and it's an interesting fit. He has yet to really do anything that makes the character stand out any differently from his stint as Robin, but there are possibilities.

Red Arrow

Speedy's had a rough life of being a sidekick, to becoming a drug addict, then eventually turning up as Arsenal, and finally going back to the bow with Red Arrow.

What makes this character so interesting is how he eventually replaced Green Arrow (his mentor) in the Justice League. It was a changing of the guard that really showed his worth in the eyes of the elder heroes he'd grown up around.

He's had his fair share of moments as well. Perhaps the best was when he and Vixen were trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building. She was powerless, and he was hurt, yet he still managed to get them both out of there alive.

While he'll soon be leaving the Justice League and returning to his "Arsenal" name, his time there was a great move for the character.

Hush

We'd never heard of him until he got his own 12-part storyline. While you might think Damian, Batman's son with Talia, should rank a place in this list, I think this new villain gets the spot.

After tormenting Batman with hints of who he might or might not be, he turns out to be a childhood friend with a lifelong hatred of Bruce Wayne. While that might not sound like the most original supervillain idea, there was a twist on this one in the aftermath of Batman R.I.P. -- he became Bruce Wayne.

Imagine Lex Luthor getting to become Superman, his arch-enemy. Now you see how cool this moment really is.


Next week we close down this look back over the past decade at the single character who has had the busiest and most eventful years. I'll give you a hint: it's a DC character.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight - Is Marvel Finally Coming Around?

I am a Moon Knight fan. Even when I first read his stories in the back section of the magazine format "Hulk" in the 70's, I knew this dude was cool. He was like Batman in so many ways, but somehow just a little edgier because he had 3 different secret identities.

When Marvel announced two years ago that they were bringing him back, I subscribed to the title as soon as possible. I was excited to see this hero coming back, though Marvel warned he would be "a little more violent". That was an understatement. The title was so graphically violent (including a scene where Moon Knight literally rips Bushmaster's face off with his teeth) that I canceled the subscription and dropped reading the title altogether. Call me a wimp if you want to, but I grew up in an age where heroes were heroes and didn't have to kill someone just to prove they were big and bad.

And now along comes Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1. I was a little leery about giving the title a try, but boy am I glad I did! Marvel has set this character up to be everything he was meant to be by giving him this code against killing. Now he just wants to take the bad guys down without seriously hurting any of them, and it's a breath of fresh air from the ultra-violent crap Marvel has been putting out lately.

Issue 1 starts out with Moon Knight stopping a bank robbery in broad daylight with such flair and panache it makes Batman look like an amateur. My favorite scene is him riding an overturned van down the street like a surfboard. And issue #2 even brings in the Sentry for Marvel's ultimate "This is our Superman and Batman" type of confrontation. I know this might be considered a second-rate comparison team, but I still love it! The characters are similar, yes, but different enough from their DC counterparts to give us some cool possibilities. While I really like the Sentry character, we're almost five years into him as a regular hero in the Marvel universe and Marvel still hasn't figured out what to do with him so I imagine he's not long for this world anyway. Still, it's good to see him in action again.

Now issue #3 is bringing Bushmaster back, so I'm holding off on subscribing again until I see if this whole "no killing" rule is written in stone or if Marvel is just toying with us before making the character so gruesome it's sickening. But I hope Marvel has decided to make this a trend and finally give us one title that we can read without seeing tons of blood and gore all over every fight scene.

DC consistenly out-performs Marvel with its core heroes. Batman does not kill (unless Grant Morrison writes him) and hasn't for decades, and he remains one of DC's most popular characters. It's not necessary to make him a killer to make him cool, and DC has proven that time and again. Why can't Marvel pick up on this and realize a hero who slaughters every group of thugs he faces isn't that cool?

So for now, I'm giving Marvel a big thumbs up for doing a great job with the first two issues of this title. Now let's see if they can actually use restraint and give us a hero to root for without him killing everything that moves. I don't care how much he gets compared to Batman by the press, let us enjoy him!

What about you? Do you feel comics are too violent today and need to dial it back just a little for the average reader?

Stupid Plot Twists

Last year I put together my list of favorite plot twist moments from comic book stories. Now I'd like to look on the flip side of things and talk about those plot twist moments that were just plain stupid. There are those that make you gasp in surprise and there are those that make you groan in pain. These are the groaners:

Rawhide Kid comes out of the closet

So you have this stable of western heroes and you want to find a way to drive sales for your floundering market share. A little movie called "Brokeback Mountain" comes out and suddenly you think: "Hey! Gay cowboys!" Rather than create a new title or series, you take one of the oldest western characters in your lineup and turn him into a flaming homosexual. Not subtly different, mind you, but as far into stereotypical as you possibly can get. Never mind that previous stories he's been in have had him clearly hetero, the fun word here is "retcon"! This formerly tough gunfighter is now a truly sensitive man who loves to throw out double entendre like candy as he flirts with whatever man comes within sight.

Unfortunately for Marvel, this little 2003 limited series was so unpopular with the fans that it has been quietly swept under the table. Rather than take a subtle approach to the change of the character, they did this huge instantaneous about-face that alienated the fans and killed the sales of the book. No further mention of this incarnation of the character or moment has been made since then.

Sentry is the Void...again

So you put out this miniseries that is cleverly disguised as a huge piece of Marvel Comics controversy with a "forgotten hero" called The Sentry. During this six-issue miniseries, the supervillain known as The Void keeps tormenting the hero. The big plot twist moment is revealed when the hero and villain are revealed as the same person! Brilliant! The miniseries doesn't sell much though, and the hero is shelved for a couple of years.

Enter the New Avengers storyline. They need a Superman character, so Marvel dusts off the Sentry and brings him in for a really cool moment as he rips Carnage apart in space! That, my friends, is awesome storytelling! During the second six-issue storyline of the series, we get a focus on The Sentry and come to find out--dah dah daaaaaaaaahhhh--The Sentry and the Void are the same person! Again!

Now flash-forward to a new miniseries called "The Sentry: Reborn" and we get yet another look at the Sentry's "history" in the Marvel universe as a key player during the Golden Age. During this huge battle with the Hulk and he fighting the Void, this major reveal is given as we find out--blah blah blaaah--The Sentry is the Void! Yeah, we get it.

Why Marvel keeps considering this a major reveal is beyond me. Yes, the first time was cool. The second time was good for those who missed the miniseries. The third time? Getting a little desperate, aren't we? Sentry is the Void...we get it.

Batman dies...twice!

What happens when you have a comic book writer who creates two stories so convoluted the reader has no clue what's going on? You get an iconic hero who dies twice in the same month--in two different ways!

Grant Morrison is writing the wildly-unpopular and incomprehensible piece of tripe called "Final Crisis". In this book, he decides to let Batman kill Darkseid with a gun (going against everything he's ever stood for in fifty years of comics) while simultaneously being blown apart by his Omega beams. Ok, Batman's dead.

At same time, in Batman's own title, he's running the "Batman R.I.P." storyline. In the final issue of the story, Batman jumps onto a helicopter carrying the villain of the plot (if you can call it that) and the helicopter gets blown up with Batman on it. The iconic moment in the story is Nightwing holding Bruce's cowl as an obvious foreshadowing of him taking Bruce's place soon thereafter. Um, so Batman's dead...again?

There are a few things about this that make it just plain stupid. First, Morrison wrote both stories, so there's no way he can blame someone else for this. Second, even though he wrote both stories, he made the revelation of Batman's death a key moment in both while negating the other. Batman's death in a helicopter crash has been the driving moment to his title during the race for a replacement (eventually going to Nightwing). At the same time, his death in Final (please let it be so!) Crisis drives DC's universe to mourn him.

The capper to all this? Morrison lets us see him in the past drawing on a cave somewhere. The subtle meaning behind all of it? He's not dead but is trapped in the past. How is he trapped in the past? The Omega beams have disintegrated every other person they've hit, but Batman's so bad he just uses them to time travel? Is he going to show up with Doctor Who in a future issue? Maybe he'll come back in an 8-issue miniseries called "Batman: Rebirth" written by Geoff Johns someday?

Ah, Grant Morrison...you've somehow found a way to make Spider-Man's "Brand New Day" not look so stupid. Marvel is forever in your debt.

More Comic Book Dream Fights

We saw them before, now let's look at some more. Here are the fight's we'll probably never see for one reason or another, and it's a shame.

This list is a little different in that a couple of these crossover fights have actually been done in the Marvel vs. DC miniseries they put out a few years ago. Unfortunately, they weren't given the proper respect they deserved simply because of the sheer volume of heroes and fights they were trying to plug in those books. That being said, let's see a rematch or two!

Zatanna vs. Scarlet Witch

On the one hand, you have a one of the most powerful magicians in the DC universe. On the other side, you have a reality-bending mutant who was single-handedly responsible for the whole "House of M" storyline. Scarlet Witch's powers have grown substantially from what they were when she was originally introduced as a mutant with hex (or "bad luck") powers. As such, who knows what she's capable of anymore?

I don't know how you'd call this one, other than just to say it would be close. Zatanna's weakness is that she has to speak her magic to make it happen. If the Scarlet Witch found a way to stop her from talking, Zatanna would be in trouble. On the other hand, Zatanna is a trained fighter, so if she could get in close enough she could still do some damage if need be even without the magic.

Huntress vs. Elektra

Two of the toughest ladies in comic books today would make for an excellent battle. I know Elektra's current whereabouts are unknown thanks to the Skrulls, but when she returns (and she will) this would be a great fight.

I know most folks would pit her against Catwoman--and they did fight in one of the Marvel vs. DC comics--I would prefer to see her go against Huntress.

Elektra definitely has the mad ninja skills going for her, but Huntress has trained with Batman, and that couldn't hurt. The longer the battle went on, the more likely Elektra would win, so it would be up to Huntress to finish this one quick or not at all.

The Punisher vs. Deathstroke

I know I used Deathstroke in a dream fight last time, but come on, this one is a no-brainer. The only question here would be how many rounds of ammo could be used up before one took out the other.

Deathstoke's enhanced abilities give him a slight edge here, but Punisher is a seasoned warrior and won't be taken by surprise. He's also a serious sniper, so there's no reason to think he wouldn't go long-range with this and attack Deathstroke before he even knew the fight was on.

Doctor Fate vs. Doctor Strange

Another trip to the mystical side of heroics, this match-up would be epic just in scale of what both men could do.

Both men are considered one of the most powerful mystics in their given universes, and yet both are little more than human.

I think this fight would just be a constant battle of oneupsmanship, with one throwing a spell on the other, him breaking out of that spell and throwing his own back, and so forth. I don't see anything that puts either man at a distinct disadvantage, and the only way I see this ending is with some form of outside interference.

Sentry vs. Gladiator

We may still see this one someday, but for now it's just speculation. Both are blatant Superman copies, and are powerhouses in the Marvel universe.

As far as weaknesses go, Gladiator is affected by certain types of radiation, which could possibly be used by Sentry to even the fight. Also, some of Gladiator's powers are weakened by a lack of self-confidence, so if he finds himself taking damage from a few of Sentry's punches he might start to weaken there as well. If Sentry cut loose on him (as he did on the Hulk in the World War Hulk finale), it might be enough to finish him.

On the other hand, if Gladiator told Sentry he was the Void, Sentry would fly away crying. Fight over.

And what would this list be without a team battle...

Secret Six vs. The Thunderbolts

The battle of the "villain hero team" from both publishers. Now this isn't necessarily the greatest run since both teams are in flux right now, but let's say it's the recent glory days for both teams. The Secret Six lineup would be Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, Ragdoll, Knockout, and Mad Hatter (from the Secret Six miniseries). The Thunderbolts would be Venom, Bullseye, Green Goblin, Moonstone, Songbird, and Swordsman. The possibilities would be great.

Knockout versus Venom promises a lot of action. Bullseye versus Deadshot alone would be a fight worthy of its own miniseries. Catman versus the Swordsman...Ragdoll versus Moonstone...Scandal versus Songbird...and then Mad Hatter takes on the ultimate trip to Wonderland: Green Goblin.

Unfortunately, Knockout is dead thanks to Birds of Prey #109, Mad Hatter hates the team thanks to Ragdoll's betrayal of him at the end of the Secret Six miniseries, and Venom is sort of in a weird place right now as Scorpion/Venom, so we'll never see this one. Still, you have to admit it would be a great confrontation if it was done correctly. Both sides have no compulsions against killing when necessary, so it could go either way.


I'm open to suggestions for future lists. What comic book issue keeps you up at night?