Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Comic Book Bracket 2017- PART 2 (Rounds 1 and 2)

Round of 64
EAST
·       Mountain Man v. Gambit – A little extra strength doesn’t go far against a man that can blow things up just by touching them.
·       Gambit v. Nova – Gambit is a big time opponent for the first round and even Nova knows better than to take him lightly.  Nova chooses one of Mario’s tree top levels to fight in, and stays well out of range of Gambits cards.  After a couple passes Gambit simply walks off the field, winking at a pretty girl in the stands saying, “It was not meant to be, Cherie.”  Nova advances.
·       Badger v. Tinkerer – Badger puts the Tinkerer in the Octagon and strikes quickly.  The Tinkerer had a plan until he got punch in the mouth.  Badger advances.
·       Cavalier v. Hawk – Cavalier is a man in a funny hat.  Hawk is the incarnation of chaos possessing boundless strength and speed.  Hawk advances.
·       Killer Croc v. Psycho Pirate – Psycho Pirate gets a bad match up in the first round.  Killer Croc takes him down into the sewers.  Psycho Pirate tries to mess with Killer Croc’s emotions.  But the only thing Killer Croc feels is hunger.  Killer Croc leaves the sewers alone.
·       Ajax v. Longshot – Meeting on the neutral field of the University of Dayton Arena.   Ajax grabs a loose ball and chucks it at Longshot as he charges across the court.  Longshot ducks to the side and looks up to see Ajax bearing down on him. Realizing that Ajax is a sucky villain Longshot decides to end things quickly before his luck can get involved.  Avoiding all of Ajax’s punches with ease, Longshot gets behind him and slams him through the floor.  Longshot catches the basketball that had ricocheted off the stands and was coming back at Ajax and advances.
·       Longshot vs. Jonah Hex – Jonah Hex chooses an abandoned western town as his location and he has spent a lot of time planting traps to catch Longshot unawares.  Unfortunately for him, Longshot runs through town narrowly avoiding each trap.  Jonah Hex sees him coming and takes his best shot.  But of course the bullet ricochets of a can, off a saloon door, through a bottle of whiskey and right back at Jonah Hex.  Longshot advances.
·       Ursa Major v. Poison Ivy – Ursa Major takes Poison Ivy as far north as he can, choosing to battle in an ice covered field in the Arctic Circle trying to get Poison Ivy away from her precious plants. It’s really too bad he didn’t have BBC back in Russia, otherwise he would have heard David Attenborough remind us that even here life finds away.  With Poison Ivy’s “encouragement” the grass starts to grow up through the snow and no matter where he runs Ursa can feel thousands of thin blades of grass reaching for him.  Eventually he trips and is swallowed by the field.  Poison Ivy advances.
·       Robin (Jason Todd) v. Hawkgirl – Robin takes Hawkgirl inside a large department store, where she can’t fly and he has plenty of places to hide.   Smashing most of the lights he quickly turns the store into a dark world full of flickering lights and disappears.  Enraged by her inability to find him Hawkgirl begins smashing everything in sight.  Suddenly Robin emerges from a row of sweaters and detaches Hawkgirl’s Nth Metal belt.  Without her belt Hawkgirl crashes to the ground where Robin quickly overwhelms her with his superior fighting skills.    Robin Advances.
·       Nightcrawler v. Donna Troy – Knowing that he is outclassed by Wonder Girl, Nightcrawler consults the other X-Men on how he can beat her.  Logan reminds him that no matter how he dresses and acts, Nightcrawler is still a monster of the night. Together with Logan and Scott he works out a plan.  Instead of choosing an open space where his teleportation can help him, Nightcrawler chooses a dark cavern with thousands of tunnels and no light.   Donna Troy is powerful, but she is a child of the morning sun, in the perfect darkness she never sees him coming.  Refusing to fight her straight up, Nightcrawler slides through the darkness, striking over and over again.  At Scott’s advice he doesn’t try to beat her physically, but instead focuses on breaking her mind.  After 12 hours constantly being on alert, being struck from all sides, and only hearing Nightcrawler’s quiet chuckle in the darkness, Donna breaks down.  She curls up into the fetal position on the floor and weeps quietly.  Hippolyta can’t take it anymore and breaks into the arena and carries Donna out of the field.  Nightcrawler advances.
MIDWEST
·       Sam Wilson v. The Ringer – Due to a clerical error Johnny Knoxville is brought to the arena instead of Anthony Davis.  Sam lets him borrow his wings and Knoxville quickly crashes into a wall.  Sam Wilson advances.
·       Jay Garrick v. Sam Wilson – If Captain America running around a lake made Falcon feel inadequate, imagine how Garrick makes him feel.  Garrick chooses a building with a roof and ends things quickly.
·       Weather Wizard v. Master Chief – The Weather Wizard chooses to fight on the beach hoping to overwhelm Master Chief quickly.  Having survived the Flood, the Covenant and the cold dark of space, a little rain doesn’t faze Master Chief. He pulls out his Battle Rifle and quickly destroys the Weather Wizards wand.  He leaps into the air and finishes the fight with the butt of his gun.  Master Chief advances.
·       Red Tornado v. Multiple Man – Red Tornado chooses a building with many rooms to fight in.  As soon as the battle begins Multiple Man begins to multiply creating hundreds of copies of himself.  Red Tornado is ready for this and uses his nanites to change into a human form that looks exactly like Madrox.   Unable to tell which one Red Tornado a huge brawl breaks out with all of the Madrox multiples fighting each other.  Eventually only 1 Madrox remains.  Looking over the carnage Red Tornado turns back into his robotic form and walks off the winner. Red Tornado advances.
·       Iron v. Pumyra – In the least attended match up of the tournament Iron’s superior size and strength quickly prove too much for Pumyra.  Iron advances.  
·       Blue Jay v. War Machine – Blue Jay shrinks immediately and tries to fly away from War Machine.  Rhodes takes his time, allows his targeting computers to lock on to Blue Jay and fires a single shot from the Widow Maker.  Even though the Hammertek weapon fails to explode, it still hits Blue Jay and knocks him out.  War Machine advances.
·       Darkwing Duck v. Silver Banshee – Darkwing Duck is the shadow that lurks in the night, but Silver Banshee is a superhuman with speed, strength, a sonic yell that can kill anyone and the ability to possess any mind she wishes.  Darkwing Duck chooses to fight on a dark street but Banshee quickly finds him.  Abandoning her current host, she possesses Darkwing Duck.  Too late she realized her mistake.  Silver Banshee possesses the mind, and Darkwing Duck has no brain. Without a host to possess, Banshee quickly fades to the underworld.  Darkwing Duck advances.
·       Logan v. Vigilante – Vigilante is a superb fighter and a brilliant marksman.  Logan finishes him quickly and gets back to his day drinking.
·       Red Robin v. Cluemaster – The Cluemaster carefully prepared a number of traps and games leading up to the fight that he was sure would foul up even the Batman’s best protégé.  What he didn’t know is that Red Robin had been following him for months and Batman fixed the draw to make sure Red Robin would face off against the Cluemaster.  Drake skips all of Cluemasters games and shows up in his lair where he quickly finishes the fight.
WEST
·       Lockjaw v. White Rabbit- Jaina isn’t a pushover, but this isn’t a good matchup for her.  Lockjaw chooses an open area with very little cover- with nowhere to hide, White Rabbit uses her bio-fission to try to buy her some time, but Lockjaw is everywhere, and with his strength and senses, there’s no fooling him- this one is over quickly.  Lockjaw advances.
·       Wildcat vs. Commodore Norrington- Home court advantage is key here, as on the open waters, the commodore might have the advantage.  Unfortunately, Wildcat takes Norrington to the Octagon, and in the squared circle, he’s at a serious disadvantage.  Norrington takes out his rapier and prepares to duel, but Wildcat’s a trained fighter- he easily disarms Norrington, and it isn’t long before Norrington’s crying uncle.  Wildcat moves on.
·       Daredevil vs. White Tiger- This is the first fight in the region that looks really close.  Daredevil is most at home in an Urban cityscape at midnight with a new moon.  In the darkness, Daredevil has a massive advantage over sighted opponents.  But Eva’s reflexes, strength, and speed are all more than a match even for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.  This battle turns into a knock-down, drag-out fight, with each combatant landing multiple shots, and performing impossible feats of aggressive acrobatics.  In the end, it’s Daredevil’s greater fighting experience coupled with his slight sense advantage that allows him to walk away, but not without a limp.
·       Sabretooth vs. Bison- This matchup is one that nature dictated its outcome from the beginning.  Even with the strength of a Bison, Billy doesn’t stand much of a chance against an Apex predator like Sabretooth.  With home field advantage, this fight goes down much like something gruesome you’d see on the Discovery Channel.  Sabretooth advances.
·       Raphael vs. the Blob- Rafael chooses the sewers hoping that the space limitations will affect the Blob, and give him the upper hand.  Raph uses his prodigious ninja dexterity to attack from the Blob’s ample blindside, but it causes barely a scratch.  Enraged Raph charges in blindly, where he’s surprised by the Blob’s mobility, and the Blob finishes him off with a vicious Body Slam.  The Blob is victorious.
·       Warpath vs. American Eagle- This is a battle of Native American superstars.  Their powers are also very similar which makes the first portion of this fight very interesting.  As the fighters feel each other out, 80% of all the attacks from both parties are easily blocked or evaded.  Then Warpath gets serious.  American Eagle realizes he can’t reach the upper limits of Warpath’s powers when Warpath accidentally starts hovering above the ground.  American Eagle sees the writing on the wall and surrenders- Warpath advances.
·       Peter Parquagh vs. Ares (Marvel)- The Spider chooses an urban landscape with lots of space for web-slinging, but even as he uses his dexterity to try to keep away from Ares deadly onslaught, Parquagh knows he’s at a disadvantage.  Ares is faster, stronger, and on a whole different level.  Peter uses up his bag of tricks in a hurry- the web to the eyes, web balls, web slingshot- but none of it even slows down the Olympian.  His Earth- 616 counterpart would likely have found a way, but this Universe’s spider just doesn’t have the bite.  When Ares finally catches up to the Spider in close combat, the match is over.  Ares wins.
·       Shadowcat vs. Hawkman- Shadowcat wisely decides to fight Hawkman within an enclosed Labyrinth taking away his superior flight advantage.  She can move freely through all the walls, but he cannot.  She knows he has a MAJOR strength advantage, but by picking her spots, she’s able to hit and run- making all his physical attacks pass right through her, and slipping away.  The fight goes on for days, until Hawkman has exhausted himself, and Shadowcat finally brings him down.  Shadowcat moves on.
South
·       Clayface vs. Tigress- Artemis as Tigress is strong, fast, and skilled.  But Clayface gets home field advantage.  In a giant mud/clay pit, Tigress’ speed and agility are sapped, and Clayface has access to almost infinite amounts of clay.  All of Tigress’ attacks are futile.  Clayface easily advances to the next round.
·       Bebop vs. Corsair- Bebop gets the home field advantage, and sets the stage for a street fight.  Bebop is stronger than Corsair, and without access to his ship, Corsair isn’t at his strongest.  Fortunately, Corsair has one key advantage over Bebop- brains.  Using the oldest trick in the book- a simple “what’s that over there?” Bebop turns to look, lowers his guard, and opens the door for Corsair to pull his hidden weapon, and end the fight before it even begins.  “Made you look,” mutters Corsair as he advances to the next round.
·       Squirrel Girl vs. Static Shock- Squirrel girl chooses a tire factory hoping to negate some of Static’s electric powers.  She quickly flips a whole bunch of tires around his waist, and the knocks him out- only to wake up and realize that it was only a dream she had while she was unconscious from getting roasted by Static.  Static advances.
·       Alfred Pennyworth vs. Nighthawk- Alfred is hosting this fight in the Batcave where he has easy access to all of Batman’s most lethal toys.  Nighthawk is stronger, faster, and a tactical genius.  He’s also overconfident.  Not seeing the old man as a threat, Nighthawk backs Alfred into a corner, right where Alfred wanted him so when Alfred activates the Bat-Laser, it’s night-night Nighthawk- the Butler moves on.
·       Deacon vs. Catwoman- Deacon goes after Catwoman believing her to be evil.  It’s strength vs speed and agility in this match.  Catwoman outmaneuvers Deacon, and using her whip she’s able to get behind him where his overdeveloped biceps won’t reach.  With her whip she’s able to hold on for the victory.
·       Black Cat vs. Catwoman- immediately after her victory over Deacon, Catwoman has to fight Black Cat.  Catwoman is already exhausted from her first fight, and now finds herself against an opponent even stronger and faster than the one she had in the last round.  Catwoman attacks, but it’s almost as though Black Cat can anticipate her every move.  When Black Cat hits her, it’s almost as though she’s being hit with a sledgehammer.  Black Cat respects Catwoman’s style, but Felicia is able to evade Selina’s attacks, and gets in enough ‘licks’ of her own so that the Black Cat is the lucky one.  Winner- Black Cat.
·       Zap-Panda vs. Marahute- Marahute is majestic, soaring through the sky, but with nothing more than the powers of a regular Golden Eagle, Zap Panda’s magic is too much for the bird.  Zap Panda chains up the bird to win the fight, but releases her back into the wild before any poachers can get to her.
·       Angel vs. Shocker- Angel relies heavily on getting the higher seed- he’s able to choose a wide open area with just a small amount of land.  Shocker doesn’t know where Angel’s attacks are coming from, and is close to the edge.  Still, if Pokémon has taught us anything, it’s that flying types are weak against electricity.  Shocker lands one lucky electric strike, and Angel falls from the sky.  Shocker moves on.
·       Dr. Manhattan vs. Thor- Two of the heaviest hitters in the tourney, in a FIRST ROUND matchup!  Thor goes after Dr. Manhattan, hitting him HARD with blows to the body and then a direct lightning strike.  Dr. Manhattan didn’t even want to be in this tournament, but Thor’s attacks have the unintended consequence of waking him up.  A now motivated Dr. Manhattan adjusts Thor’s molecular structure so he’s nothing more than an incredibly muscular houseplant.  Dr. Manhattan advances.

Round of 32
EAST
·       Nova vs. Badger- Nova’s power of flight and Nova blasts mean that Badger can’t even lay a single hand on Nova.  This one was over before it even began.  Nova advances.
·       Hawk vs. Killer Croc- Without his partner Dove to reign him in Hawk goes into a berserker rage- going straight at Croc turning what could have been a clean fight into the street brawl of all street brawls.  Croc’s rage is just as intense, and the fighting is just all animal instinct.  Sacrificing his tactical advantage for a blind rage proves to be Hawk’s downfall, as Croc emerges from the bloody scrum the last one standing.
·       Longshot vs. Poison Ivy- Longshot chooses a Las Vegas casino, and as soon as the fight begins, all the luck in the whole town is being diverted right to him.  Ivy turns the whole town into a jungle and has Longshot on the ropes almost immediately, but each time she almost has him, a vine breaks, or a gap opens.  Longshot palms a single casino chip right as Ivy closes her plants in around him.  With a final prayer he flings the chip off a roulette wheel, out a window, off a building, off a car, down a vine and miraculously directly into Ivy’s mouth.  She starts to turn blue, and the fight is called so she can get the Heimlich.  In another fluke, the victory goes to Longshot.
·       Nightcrawler vs. Robin- Nightcrawler’s still tired from outlasting Wonder Girl in the previous round, and is up against Batman’s protégé.  He chooses a level from Mario with lots of wide open spaces and multiple tiers just one BAMF away.  The various levels of attack throw off Robin at first, but then, he adapts.  Using martial arts learned from the best, there’s no longer any openings for Nightcrawler no matter where he teleports to.  Nightcrawler resorts to teleporting out of harm’s way, knowing that he’s done for in any type of close combat.  The constant fleeing, exposes this particular Robin’s weakness- patience.  Unlike his mentor, Jason loses his cool and goes for the knockout only to fall to his demise (it’s okay he had a 1up so he’ll come back as the Red Hood).  Nightcrawler advances.

MIDWEST
·       Flash vs. Master Chief- What a matchup!  Both heroes have saved entire galaxies/universes even.  Still, even though the Master Chief is used to impossible odds against ridiculous enemies- Garrick isn’t like anything he’s ever seen.  His targeting systems can’t keep up with the Flash’s speed, and Garrick made sure the venue had no cover for the chief’s shields to recover from the body blows he’s dealing.  Before Master Chief can come up with any sort of counter-maneuvers, he’s already respawned at the last checkpoint.  Garrick moves on.
·       Iron vs. Red Tornado- In a battle of the androids, Red Tornado resents competing against what is clearly an outdated model.  Lead is strong, but Red Tornado has him outclassed in every way.  Lead forfeits rather than take the beating that would be coming to him.
·       Darkwing Duck vs. War Machine- Darkwing takes War Machine to St. Canard, and barely is able to get out his catchphrase, “Let’s get Dangerous…” before War Machine knocks him out cold with some non-lethal weaponry he brought in specifically for this fight.  Rhodey Advances.
·       Wolverine vs. Red Robin- Tim Drake chooses to fight this battle in Gotham City, where he’ll need every advantage he can get.  As the smartest of all the Robins, Tim recognizes the need to mask his scent, and use his martial arts training to try to capture the element of surprise.  Unfortunately, Wolverine is the best at what he does and what he does isn’t very nice, and what is Gotham but an urban jungle.  All of Tim’s strategies don’t mean much when you’re up against a guy who’s basically immortal with steak knives on his knuckles.  Wolverine corners the kid, but shows mercy when Tim realizes this isn’t a fight he’s going to win.  Wolverine moves on.

WEST
·       Lockjaw v Wildcat – Feeling like he needs a workout before things really get going Lockjaw decides not to use his teleportation and meets Wildcat in the Octagon.   Wildcat doesn’t appreciate being disrespected like that, but he likes getting torn apart even less, and quickly taps out.
·       Daredevil v. Sabretooth – Back out in the mountains, Sabretooth abandons stealth and goes toe to toe with Daredevil.  Murdoch is already tired and worn down after round 1.  Sabretooth takes his best shot and then throws him off a cliff.  Sabretooth advances.  
·       The Blob v. Warpath – The immovable against the irresistible.  Warpath follows Sabertooth’s lead and heads up into the narrow mountain paths.  There he starts working the Blob over pretty good.   So far he’s mostly annoying the Blob but pretty soon his tactics become clear as he moves the Blob closer and closer to the edge of a cliff.  Now the Blob is stupid, but he’s not that stupid.  Finally figuring out Warpath’s plan he charges wildly.  Warpath dodges to the side and the Blob smashes into a cliff face behind him.  A true force of nature Blob’s crash starts an avalanche.  Warpath tries to get away but with the whole mountain crashing down around him he is quickly buried.  After the avalanche finally stops there is a moment of quiet, then a groan and the Blob gets up and slowly starts walking down the mountain in search of a cheese burger.
·       Ares v. Shadowcat – Once again Shadowcat is out-muscled, but it doesn’t matter if they can’t hit her.  Following her formula from last round, Shadowcat takes Ares into a maze.  Dodging and dodging he waits until Ares begins to slow, then she grabs his foot and pulls him down into the earth and drops him in Hades Inc. where Ares is stuck doing paper work for all eternity.  Rising back to the surface, Shadowcat advances.

SOUTH
·       Clayface v. Corsair – Clayface takes Corsair into a crowded city and quickly transforms into just another face in the crowd and disappears.  Clayface simply waits until Corsair lets his guard down knocks him out from behind.  Clayface advances.
·       Static Shock v. Alfred – Alfred once again keeps the fight in the Batcave.  Despite this fact the differences in their power is just too great; Static quickly corners Alfred, but is bothered by the fact that Alfred refuses to laugh at any of his jokes. That brief hesitation is enough for Alfred to grab the suit Batman designed to fight the Electrocutioner and turn the tables on Static.  Unable to hit Alfred, Static becomes upset and starts destroying the Batcave.  Seeing how much work cleaning the Batcave up would take, Alfred quickly resigns and gets to work rebuilding the Batboat.
·       Black Cat v. Zap Panda – Black Cat is a superb human.  But Zap-Panda is a magic panda bear with all of Zatana’s powers.  Zap-Panda reaches into her hat and pulls out a net.  Black Cat is quickly caught up and Zap-Panda advances.

·       Shocker v. Dr. Manhattan – Shocker comes at Dr. Manhattan with everything he has, but Dr. Manhattan can’t be bother to stop his research and simply transports him to Mars.  Dr. Manhattan advances. 


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