Comic Book Bracket 2017- PART 1 (Introduction)

The Proposition: 

Given our usual failings when it comes to picking a winning bracket for March Madness, we thought we would have better luck using our knowledge of comic book characters and general nerdom to project out a bracket.  It's time again for our favorite thought experiment- what if we represented each team in the NCAA tourney as a comic book character, and then picked who would move on based on a matchup between those characters.  

The rules: 

The higher seed gets to pick the battlefield, and we decide who would win based on how we think the fight would go. We each reserved the right to veto any match where we didn’t agree with the outcome, but neither of us ever used that power.  It’s important to remember that it doesn’t matter if George Mason would lose to North Carolina 9 times out of 10; all that matters is that on March 19^th, 2006 George Mason was better.  It is the same with our bracket.

The Teams: 

EAST

·       Villanova Wildcats- Nova- Sam Alexander- Nova is Nova- duh.

·       Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers- Mountain Man- The Mountain Man is a hillbilly given super strength by drinking irradiated creek water.

·       New Orleans Privateers- Gambit- Almost synonymous with the bayou is Remy Lebeau the thief with a heart of gold, don you t’ink chere?

·       Wisconsin Badgers- The Badger- There’s not a whole lot of selection when it comes to superheroes from Wisconsin or repping burrowing mammals, but this superhero does both.  Sure he’s got a bad case of DID, but he’s also an expert martial artist. 

·       Virginia Tech Hokies- The Tinkerer- The Tech aspect is emphasized here- the tinkerer is kind of a B-list villain, but he makes the tech can keeps the A-listers up and running, and with a little tinkerer tech, even your ordinary thug can go toe-to-toe with someone like Spiderman.

·       Virginia Cavaliers- Cavalier-  Mortimer Drake- On account of he’s a Cavalier…

·       UNC Wilmington Seahawks- Hawk- of Hawk and Dove

·       Florida Gators- Killer Croc- I know he’s not a Gator, but close enough. 

·       East Tennessee State Buccaneers- Psycho Pirate- Pirate, Buccaneer? Close enough, and with Pyscho Pirate’s emotion warping powers, he’s not someone I’d want to face.

·       Southern Methodist University Mustangs- Jonah Hex- Probably the most famous of the DC Comics’ western characters- he can often be found astride a mustang.

·       Providence Friars- Longshot- I’m playing off the other meaning of providence as in chance, fate, luck- and in that regards- Longshot is a perfect fit plus I just love him as a character, and really want him to be in our version of Secret Wars.

·       University of Southern California Trojans- Ajax- This Deadpool antagonist shares his name with the eponymous Greek hero of the Trojan War.

·       Baylor Bears- Ursa Major- Because of the Bear theme

·       New Mexico State Aggies- Poison Ivy- Aggies is short for Agricultural, and no one does agriculture like Pamela Isley.

·       South Carolina Gamecocks- Robin (Jason Todd)- Both Robin and a gamecock are birds trained for fighting- Especially Jason who was easily the most violent of the Robins

·       Marquette Golden Eagles- Hawkgirl- Sure she’s more of a golden Hawk, but still….

·       Duke Blue Devils- Nightcrawler- On account of how he looks like a blue devil.

·       Troy Tojans- Wonder Girl (Donna Troy)- Her name is Troy- it fits.

MIDWEST

·       Kansas Jayhawks- The Flash (Jay Garrick)- Returning from last year with an emphasis on the Jay- is the OG Flash helmet and all.

·       North Carolina Central Eagles- Falcon (Sam Wilson)- Due to the dearth of Eagle characters, we’re saying that the falcon is close enough.

·       UC Davis Aggies- The Ringer (Anthony Davis)- A minor supervillain who used various rings out of a self-engineered battle suit. He gets this slot because he is Davis.

·       Miami Hurricanes- Weather Wizard- Weather Wizard controls the weather, and as such, things like hurricanes. 

·       Michigan State Spartans- Master Chief (Halo)- The best of the best of the best, the Master Chief is the one Spartan who can save the galaxy (but not on legendary).  There are comics of the game too- so his selection isn’t cheating.

·       Iowa State Cyclones- Red Tornado- a perfect fit

·       Nevada Wolf Pack- Multiple Man- One of the few people who is a pack unto himself

·       Purdue Boilermakers- Iron (Metal Men)- The strongest of the robot group the Metal Men, Iron is a fit for the boilermakers which is basically a locomotive.

·       Vermont Catamounts-Pumyra- Pumyra from the Thundercats is based on a Puma- which is essentially what a Catamount is.

·       Creighton Blue Jays- Blue Jay (DC)- Basically DC’s Yellowjacket, he can shrink down and fly like a blue jay.

·       Rhode Island Rams- War Machine (James Rhodes)- The Rams mascot is literally Rhodey the Ram- no better person to rep the Rhodes than Rhodey himself.

·       Oregon Ducks- Darkwing Duck- He is the shadow that lurks in the night…

·       Iona Gaels- Silver Banshee (Siobhan McDougal)- She comes from an old Gaelic clan between Scotland and Ireland.

·       Michigan Wolverines- Wolverine- because duh…

·       Oklahoma State Cowboys- Vigilante- A standard Cowboy-type character.

·       Louisville Cardinals- Red Robin (Tim Drake)- Another red bird Red Robin is the mantle Drake takes up after passing the Robin mantle down to Damian. 

·       Jacksonville State Gamecocks- Cluemaster (Arthur Brown) A Batman villain with a penchant for playing games and leaving clues.  His selection is playing up the game angle here.

WEST

·       Gonzaga Bulldogs – Lockjaw.  The top dog of the Marvel universe is also the top dog of the WEST. Teleportation, super-canine strength (but only in his jaw? I’m a little unclear on that) and the ability to psionically “scent” across all dimensions?  Those abilities combine with home court advantage to give us our first heavy favorite.

·       South Dakota State Jack Rabbits – White Rabbit (Jaina Hudson).  The Batman villainess who can split herself into two personas and can never be caught.

·       Northwestern Wildcats – Wildcat. Wildcat has a punchers chance, and an 8 seed can’t ask for anything better than that.

·       Vanderbilt Commodores – Commodore Norrington (Pirates of the Carribean).  There aren’t many shipping or boat related hero’s or villains.  I considered The Super-Sailor (one in a long line of Captain America knock offs that went evil) as well as the Spider-Boat or BatBoat, but Norrington is no slouch, with multiple frigates at his control he’s not someone you’d like to face if you had a Galleon or a Trireme…

·       Notre Dame Fighting  Irish – Daredevil (Matt Murdoch)  With his red color scheme, “Irish” may not be the first thing you think when you see Daredevil but if you look closer you’ll see that there is really no better option for the “Fighting Irish.”  He pummels people into submission with bare fists and a pair of sticks and then he goes and sits in a Catholic Church and feels bad about it.

·       Princeton Tigers – White Tiger.  Ava is a good fit for Princeton.  Smart and strong, she’s also a clear underdog given the average power level of this field.  She’s a scrapper though, and if underestimated could provide a real shock.

·       West Virginia Mountaineers – Sabertooth.  Sabertooth fits West Virginia like a glove.  He lives in the mountains, he’s ugly, he’s strong, he has too much hair and he’s undeservedly cocky.    

·       Bucknell Bison – Bison. One of the few shoe-ins.  To make it even better, after a little more reading on Bison, he was originally Billy Kitson who was a basketball star who lost his scholarship when he broke his leg.

·       Maryland Terrapins – Raphael (TMNT).  Raph is the wildest of the Ninja Turtles.  And seems like a good fit for Maryland this year.  They still have Melo Trimble and have a good record, but they aren’t consistent.

·        Xavier Musketeer/Blue Blobs – The Blob –The Blob was one of the most underrated villains.  The man is a beast, but he always gets ganged up on and made to look foolish.

·       Florida State Seminoles – Warpath.  He’s technically Apache, but he dated Risque who was a Seminole, and he’s much cooler than her so he’s in.

·       FGCU Eagles – American Eagle.  There are too many Eagle characters in this year’s tourney.

·       St. Mary’s Gaels – Peter Parquagh.  Weaker than his Earth-616 counterpart, Peter was raiser by his Scottish Aunt and Uncle after the death of his parents.

·       VCU Rams – Aries (Marvel).  The classic example of a villain who looks better than he is.  But he has a pair of ram horns which apparently hurt if he pokes you with them.

·       Arizona Wildcats – Shadowcat.  It’s too bad a school like Arizona gets a character as cool as Shadowcat, but she deserves at least a two seed, and they share the cat aspect.

·       North Dakota Fighting Hawks- Hawk Man- The have a new nickname, and a strong hero to represent them.

SOUTH

·       North Carolina Tar Heels – Clayface.  I’m going back to the classic.  I bet Clayface has some Tar on his heel.  I think Clayface is an underrated villain and North Carolina is an underrated  #1 seed. 

·       Texas Southern Tigers – Tigress (Artemis Crock). A slam dunk proposition.  Many women have worn the mantle of Tigress in the DC universe, but my favorite Tigress is Artemis after Kaldur “kills” her and she’s undercover with the baddies.

·       Arkansas Razorbacks – Bebop.  A mutant warthog with a Mohawk?  Sounds like Arkansas to me.

·       Seton Hall Pirates – Corsair.  The smoothest man in the galaxy this side of Lando Calrissian, Corsair is a space pirate and leader of the Starjammers, doesn’t get much better than that.

·       Minnesota Golden Gophers – Squirrel Girl.  There is a serious dearth of rodent themed super heroes.  But Squirrel Girl is one of the best fits in this bracket.  Once nothing more than a joke, she has suddenly become popular and her power level has increased according to her popularity.  Now she’s defeating Dr. Doom and Thanos and everyone loves it, but deep down, we all know it’s just a fantasy and she’s just a girl with a tail.

·       Middle Tennessee State Lightning – Superhero Static Shock! While Black Vulvan and Black Lightning and Lightning and Soul Power and Thunderfall, and Shango the Thunderer and Volt are all technically lightning themed heroes, the fact of the matter is, there is only one lightning themed hero for our generation.  Superhero Static Shock! (also, why is every lighting/electricity themed hero (even Storm) black?  Are black people especially conductive? I have so much to learn.

·       Butler Bulldogs – Alfred Pennyworth.  Batman has unlimited wealth, an astounding intellect, years and years of training, Superman as a best friend and yet, his greatest advantage over the rest of humanity is the unwavering support of Alfred.  Without him, Batman would be nothing.

·       Winthrop Eagles – Nighthawk.  Continuing our inclusion of Hawks as Eagles, Nighthawk is your classic villain, a little super serum mixed with training in martial arts and out comes a villain.

·       Cincinatti Bear Cats – Black Cat.  I’ve heard people claim that a Bearcat is actually a Red Panda or a Biterong or a Wovlerine, but the truth is, they have no idea.  Cinci’s color scheme and the cat naming lead to a selection of Black Cat.

·       Wake Forest Demon Deacons – Deacon.  A mountain of a man who believes he is doing the work of God by killing sinners.  I need to read more Ghost Rider comics, he sounds awesome.

·       Kansas State Wildcats – Catwoman.  Cats and Eagles man.  Cats and Eagles. 

·       UCLA Bruins – Zap Panda.  I’m digging deep here.  From Earth-C-Minus.  Zap Panda is the magician Zatanna if she was a panda.  There’s no need to think deeper than that.

·       Kent State Golden Eagles – Marahute (The Golden Eagle from the Rescuers Down Under)

·       Dayton Fliers – Angel.  Once again, before Apocalypse showed up he was just a guy who flew around without a shirt.

·       Wichita State Shockers – Shocker.  Shocker may have started off as a standard criminal, but as one of the few villains to have a winning record against Spiderman, it’s pretty clear Shocker is one bad dude, and you’d be a fool to overlook him.

·       Kentucky Wildcats – Dr. Manhattan.  Dr. Manhattan is immeasurably powerful, but he’s a bit of a risk because you just never know if he’ll show up or not.

·       Northern Kentucky Norse – Thor.  A massive 2 Seed verse 15 seed.  The Norseman of Norsemen.