Daily Archives: May 4, 2016
Marvelous May – Scarlet Witch vs Ms. Marvel
Welcome back to Marvelous May! Today, one of the most well-known villains-turned-heroes in the Marvel Universe takes on the fan favourite taking the world on by storm: Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch, vs Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel!
Scarlet Witch
Along with her twin brother, Pietro, Wanda Maximoff was, for a LONG time, believed to be the offspring of Magneto, with whom the two were aligned as members of his Brotherhood of Mutants. Despite this, they left the Brotherhood after a while and became members of the Avengers, becoming heroes and founding members of the incarnation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes known as Captain America’s Kooky Quartet. But, because Marvel Studios needed to get the rights to allow Scarlet Witch into the Avengers movies-I mean, because someone decided it was time to tell the REAL story about Wanda and Pietro’s past, it was recently revealed that they weren’t Mutants, but rather were genetically altered by the High Evolutionary, and that Magneto was NOT their father. Blatant-ass retcons aside, the important thing is that Wanda has the ability to manipulate Chaos Magic. Because Chaos Magic is kind of hard to describe, and at one point was believed to not even exist, I’ll simplify: Scarlet Witch can manipulate probability itself through hexes. She can pretty much do everything from firing energy blasts, teleportation, telekinesis, projecting force fields, flying, and causing seemingly random occurrences, like light flammable objects, lock or open doors, alter or control matter, remove air from an object, and so on. Basically, her powers take the laws of physics and slap them around for their lunch money. However, she’s not capable of EVERYTHING. Her spells require different levels of concentration to pull off, she’s had bouts with mental illness in the past, and while she’s been trained in combat by Captain America, she doesn’t have any kind of enhanced strength or stamina beyond that of a normal human. That said, when she’s at the top of her game, few can hope to match the incredible and oftentimes unbelievable power of the Scarlet Witch.
Ms. Marvel
No matter who you are, where you come from, and what you believe in, everyone needs a hero. For many of this generation, their hero is the Pakistani-American from Jersey City named Kamala Khan. Always feeling a bit different from her family due to her geekier interests and love of superheroes, Kamala one day learned that she was, in fact, different from many: She had latent Inhuman heritage which was activated when she accidentally stumbled through a thick patch of Terrigan Mists. Like all Inhumans, she was granted her own unique abilities from the mists. In her case, she became a polymorph, able to elongate, compress, and alter her shape in a variety of ways. She can also alter her physical appearance to resemble any other person or object she chooses, and has an accelerated healing factor that can allow her to recover from many different kinds of wounds. However, she’s not without her weaknesses, as her body’s elasticity can be weakened by electromagnetic pulses, certain shocks, and by overuse of her healing factor. In addition, healing can also leave her fatigued and hungry. Deciding to become Jersey’s sworn protector, she took up a costume made of a biokinetic polymer created by her friend, Bruno, and took up the former alias of her hero and idol, Carol Danvers: Ms. Marvel. And, in seemingly no time at all, she eventually found herself a member of the All-New, All-Different Avengers, fulfilling her dream of becoming one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes… … …Oh yeah, and she’s also a fanfic writer, ‘cuz I didn’t have enough reason to love this person. XD
So, now that you know these two a little better, feel free to leave your vote below before May 10th, when one of these two will take on the winner of the next match-up. Until then, check the links below to learn even more about these heroines, and be sure to check back in for the next match-up, which I swear to God I didn’t even TRY to set this up: Spider-Gwen vs Mayday Parker! Ja né!
Marvelous May – Squirrel Girl vs Spider-Woman
Welcome back to Marvelous May, and today, one of the more unique heroines of the Marvel Universe takes on longtime Avenger and Carol Danvers’ BFF. It’s Doreen Green, AKA Squirrel Girl, vs Jessica Drew, AKA Spider-Woman!
Squirrel Girl
In all of the Marvel Universe, there is a heroine so dreaded, so feared, that even the greatest villains to ever to terrorize the universe dare not speak her name. That heroine is…The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl… … …Stop laughing, I’m serious. Doreen Green is a Mutant with a 3 foot long semi-prehensile tail, the ability to lift up to 25 tons, claws for climbing structures and griping onto objects, a rapid healing factor, and the ability to communicate with squirrels. And I know what every single person who has never read her comics is thinking right now: “How pathetic is this? She’s a human squirrel who can talk to other squirrels. This is the lamest superheroine ever!” Well, here’s the thing: Her first outing resulted in her rescuing Iron Man and defeating DOCTOR DOOM. YEAH, the guy who created Battleworld was defeated by this girl when she was just a teenager starting out. It wasn’t even a Doombot pretending to be him, either, it was the real thing. By swarming Doom’s aircraft with a massive legion of squirrels, all chewing up and tearing through the thing before attacking Doom directly, even the dreaded ruler of Latveria couldn’t handle the massive swarms coming at him. Since then, she’s actually joined a few different incarnations of the Avengers, as well as acted as a nanny for Luke Cage’s daughter, Danielle. Currently, she’s a member of the New Avengers, along with Wiccan and Hulkling, and her sidekick Tippy-Toe, who is, of course, a squirrel. Regardless of what team she’s on, though, the fact is that you should NEVER underestimate Squirrel Girl, as has been evidenced by her rather impressive record as having defeated opponents like Doctor Doom, Wolverine, Maelstrom, Deadpool, M.O.D.O.K., and most impressively, a clone of Thanos so perfectly replicated that even Uatu the Watcher was fooled…or so Thanos claims, anyway. I think he just was having trouble living it down. 😛
Spider-Woman
She is probably the most famous heroine in the Marvel Universe to use the Spider name and have not that much to do with Spider-Man. In fact, Jessica Merriam Drew was originally an agent of Hydra, the group that was once the rogue Nazi science division. For a while, she believed she was an actual spider mutated to be human. However, it was later revealed that she was given an untested spider serum and put in a genetic accelerator as a child to save her life from long-term Uranium poisoning, though the process wiped her memories of everything beforehand clean. On her first field mission for Hydra, Jessica disobeyed orders and defected. She later joined up with S.H.I.E.L.D. as one of their new agents, and has since become a member of multiple different factions and incarnations of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers. Along with superhuman strength, speed, durability, agility, reflexes, hearing, and flexibility, Spider-Woman has the ability to fire bio-electric ‘Venom Blasts’ to stun foes, can crawl across walls via electrostatic attraction, produce pheromones meant to intimidate, repulse, or even attract those that breathe them in, and is immune to just about all known venoms and toxins. Most recently, Jess has actually become a mother, and has chosen to continue operating as Spider-Woman, becoming both a full-time superheroine and a full-time single mother.
And let the voting commence! Be sure to get yours in before May 9th, when we find out which of these two will take on the winner of Quake vs Jane Foster. Also, feel free to learn more about these two via the links below, and check back in for the next match: Scarlet Witch vs Ms. Marvel. Ja né!
Marvelous May – Quake vs Jane Foster
Welcome back to Marvelous May as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes on a Goddess of Thunder. It’s Daisy Johnson, AKA Quake, vs Jane Foster, AKA The Mighty Thor!
Quake
Admittedly, I didn’t actually know much about Quake going into this, but that’s good, because that means I’m learning along with everyone else. Daisy Louise Johnson was originally thought to be a Mutant. However, that’s not the case at all. Instead, her powers come from her father, Calvin Zabo’s, mutated DNA, and the Inhuman genes passed down from her mother. Regardless, Daisy has the ability to manipulate seismic energy. She can send out vibration waves similar to those found in earthquakes. Thanks to her training under Nick Fury (for the record, the one who doesn’t look like Samuel Jackson), she’s able to use precise accuracy with her vibrations to literally cause targets to shake themselves apart. She even once imploded Wolverine’s heart. Naturally, being Wolverine, he got better, but the point stands that she’s not to be taken lightly. Her Inhuman metabolism also grants her enhanced speed, reflexes, endurance, and strength, supposedly surpassing that of even Captain America himself. And all of that is on top of her standard training as an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. She’s also served as a member of the Avengers for a time, as well as the Secret Warriors, and at one point even held the position of Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., being the one who recruited Nick Fury Jr. and Phil Coulson. And speaking of Coulson, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Daisy serves as a member of his team on the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., albeit with a slightly different back-story, and first appearing under the name Skye. Regardless of which version, though, Quake is not someone you want to find yourself on the bad side of.
Jane Foster
Doctor Jane Foster was originally conceived to be…well, Thor’s primary love interest. Let’s call a spade a spade here. However, recent events have made it clear that, at some point, the powers that be had a very different plan for her. Since the early days when she was an ally and assistant to Doctor Donald Blake, Thor Odinson’s other persona (long story), Jane has since become a doctor herself, gotten married to another man, and had a child…Then, when she found out Thor was back after being dead (again, lost story), she got divorced, lost custody of her child, and recently found out she had cancer. Yeah, her life has had some ups and downs, to say the least. However, one of the more radical changes to her life came when Thor lost the ability to wield his hammer, Mjölnir. At some point, she found herself on the moon, where the hammer was last left, and was somehow able to pick it up, transforming herself into a warrior with all of Thor’s abilities, and even altering her mannerisms…for some reason. Having witnessed Thor’s abilities over the years, Jane was quickly able to wield Mjölnir with the same level of skill as her predecessor. She’s strong enough to easily lift 100 tons, can create and control lighting and storms, is capable of speaking to and understanding all races, and can fly by hurling Mjölnir, grabbing hold of its strap, and willing it to go wherever she pleases. She’s also nigh-invulnerable, able to shrug off just about anything that comes her way, with very few exceptions. Eventually, she even earned Thor’s blessing in wielding the hammer, as well as the right to call herself Thor, though she does so in secret to everyone but a few select individuals. However, all of this comes with a very dire price: While transformed into Thor, she’s immune to all Earth-born illnesses and diseases, but she can only remain so for so long, after which, she reverts to her normal state, where her cancer seems to have been aggravated due to the transformation. In short, being Thor is killing her. But she has sworn to continue upholding her duties as the new Goddess of Thunder and defender of Midgard. As she herself put it, “The world needs a Thor”.
Be sure to vote before May 9th, when the winner of this battle takes on the winner of the next match-up, Squirrel Girl vs Spider Woman! Until then, be sure to check back in to vote on that match, and click the links below to learn more about the combatants here. Ja né!
Jyger's Rant 