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Marvelous May – And The Winner Is…!
Welp, Marvelous May has come and gone. And now, after all this, it’s time to announce the winner of this month-long fan-vote tournament. And so, our winner, and #1 Marvel Superheroine is…!
…GRANNY GOODNESS!!!
…Nah, I’m kidding, it’s Kamala. lol
And really, was there ever any doubt? This young woman has won the hearts of damned near every single person to read her book. She has earned her position as this generation’s favourite Marvel superheroine, a member of the Avengers, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and the winner of the 2016 Marvelous May fan-vote tournament of superheroines. So congratulations to Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel. 🙂
And a big hand for everyone else who competed, as well.
Aaaaannnd I’m pretty sure this’ll be the last time I ever do something like this. lol That said, I’m glad I did it, and I’m very thankful for everybody who voted. But, now that this is over, be sure to check back in for updates on my Nuzlocke run, as well as my thoughts on DC Universe Rebirth #1, AND one last send-off/rant for DC’s The New 52. Ja né!
How To Drop The Ball In Comics – #SayNoToHYDRACap
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Marvelous May – THE FINAL MATCH-UP
Welcome back to Marvelous May! Well, it’s that time, folks. We started with 16…
Quake, Mayday Parker, Ms. Marvel, Storm, Wasp, Squirrel Girl, Emma Frost, Gamora, Rogue, She-Hulk, Jean Grey, Jane Foster, Spider-Gwen, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, and Spider-Woman
…and we’re now down to the last two superheroines standing. It’s time to find out which two will take each other on for the crown of Marvelous May’s #1 Superheroine. First up is Jane Foster, AKA The Mighty Thor!
Real Name: Jane Foster
Alias: Thor
Height: 5’7″ (5’9″ as Thor)
Weight: 135 lbs (450 lbs as Thor)
Occupation: Adventurer, Asgardian Goddess of Thunder, Doctor
Current Affiliation: All-New, All-Different Avengers
Powers: Superhuman strength, superhuman speed, superhuman durability, superhuman stamina, self-sustenance, healing factor, electrokinesis, flight, energy projection, weather control
Created By: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby
Debut: Journey Into Mystery #84, 1962
Portrayed By: Natalie Portman (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Kari Wahlgren (Avengers EMH), Peg Dixon (The Marvel Super Heroes), Elizabeth Maxwell (Lego Marvel’s Avengers)
…And her opponent, one of the single-most fan favourite superheroines of this era, Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel!
Real Name: Kamala Khan
Alias: Ms. Marvel
Height: 5’4″ (variable)
Weight: 125 lbs (variable)
Occupation: Adventurer, High School Student
Current Affiliation: All-New, All-Different Avengers
Powers: Elongation, appearance alteration, size alteration, accelerated healing factor
Created By: Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona
Debut: Captain Marvel #14, 2013
Portrayed By: Ashley Burch (Lego Marvel’s Avengers), Priyanka Chopra (Marvel Avengers Academy)
And thus, let the voting begin! And for this, the finals of the tournament, you can now vote on the final match-up by replying to the links to it on Facebook and Twitter. You have until May 31st, when this year’s Marvelous May ends with the reveal of the Marvelous May #1 Superheroine of 2016. Ja né!
Marvelous May Semi-Finals – Ms. Marvel vs Gamora
Welcome back to Marvelous May! Well, here we are, the second of the semi-final match-ups: It’s Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel, vs Gamora!
And, with that, the final four of Marvelous May are made official. Two of these incredible superheroines will move on to the finals, and one will become the champion of the Marvelous May fan-vote tournament. So, feel free to vote on this match-up, and if you haven’t already, go vote on She-Hulk vs Jane Foster. Then, be sure to check back in on May 23rd to see who the Marvelous May finalists are. Ja né!
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Jennifer_Walters_(Earth-616)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Jane_Foster_(Earth-616)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Gamora_Zen_Whoberi_Ben_Titan_(Earth-7528)
Marvelous May Semi-Finals – She-Hulk vs Jane Foster
Welcome back to Marvelous May! We started with 16, and now we’re down to the final four of the semi-finals. First up, it’s Jennifer Walters, AKA She-Hulk, vs Jane Foster, AKA The Mighty Thor!
Not much I wanna talk about here, so go ahead and vote on this match-up. Also, remember that the next semi-final match will be announced on May 17th, so if you haven’t voted on Ms. Marvel vs Spider-Gwen or Gamora vs Rogue, be sure to go do so now, as two of those four superheroines will face off to determine who goes to the finals to face the winner of this match on May 23rd. And yeah, click the links below to learn about all these marvelous superheroines. Ja né!
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Jennifer_Walters_(Earth-616)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Jane_Foster_(Earth-616)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Gwendolyne_Stacy_(Earth-65)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Gamora_Zen_Whoberi_Ben_Titan_(Earth-7528)
Marvelous May – Gamora vs Rogue
Welcome back to Marvelous May! Today, we’ve got one of the most badass Guardians of the Galaxy up against why-the-hell-does-Fox-refuse-to-actually-let-this-girl-be-the-badass-we-know-she-can-be, with Gamora vs Rogue!
…No, seriously, how come Rogue is never allowed to be a badass in the X-Men movies? I mean, I guess you could say that it’s because, in this universe, there’s no Carol Danvers for her to get her more well-known power-set from. The super-strength, the ability to fly, and the seventh sense that lets her predict her opponents’ next moves. Fair enough, but there have been plenty of times in the comics where she’s been without Carol’s powers and remains the awesome X-Man she’s always been. It just feels like a bit of a waste of her character to have her be the one that always needs saving.
Anyway, feel free to begin voting. You have until May 17th, at which point, one of these two will take on the winner of Ms. Marvel vs Spider-Gwen. Until then, you know the drill: Click the links below to learn more about these two, and check in on May 15th for the first match-up of the semi-finals. Ja né!
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Gamora_Zen_Whoberi_Ben_Titan_(Earth-7528)
Marvelous May – Ms. Marvel vs Spider-Gwen
Welcome back to Marvelous May! Sorry this is a little late, but I got maybe just a little distracted by the reveal of the new Pokémon yesterday. Also, I kinda donated my hair. Basically, you put your hair into a ponytail once it’s long enough to make an 8 inch ponytail, cut it off, and then mail it to have it and a few other ponytails converted into a wig for people that have had chemotherapy. And I felt so good after doing that, honestly, I think I might just do it again, although it’s going to take a LONG time to get it back to that length again… … …Anyway, Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel, vs Gwen Stacy, AKA Spider-Woman!
This is actually a bout that I wish could’ve been saved for at least the semi-finals, if I can be 100% honest. And here’s why: We’re currently in the middle of a new age in Marvel. Regardless of why they chose to do so, whether it was out of a genuine desire to be more inclusive for the sake of new readers or out of wanting to make more money, the fact is that we’re seeing a lot more diversity in Marvel’s starring roles, and a lot of new heroes being pushed to the top. Admittedly, not all of these have been perfect attempts. I still think there have been some serious missteps with the new Thor books, for example, and while I appreciate Sam Wilson being pushed as a big deal and keeping the more traditional shield, the fact that we’ve got two Captains America is weird and I honestly don’t think anyone would REALLY be offended if Sam was referred to as Lieutenant America. But, for me, the two books that have really gotten this formula right are Ms. Marvel and Spider-Gwen. For me, these are the two who, when the old guard eventually hangs it up and calls it a day, will be the ones we look to as the heroes of our age.
I’ve gone on and on and on about what I like about Ms. Marvel in the past, so I’ll try to keep it brief here. Put bluntly, she is both a shining role model and heroine to all Muslim people in the real world, as well as someone that the average reader can identify with and love. She has trouble fitting in with both her family and her peers, she has a great sense of humour and wit, she likes a lot of geeky stuff, she writes fanfiction, she loves heroes, and she oftentimes makes mistakes that requires either quick thinking or the admission to her peers that she needs help to get out of. In a lot of ways, she’s the modern-day Peter Parker in that she’s immediately identifiable to the reader. Hopefully, though, when she eventually grows up, she actually acts like an adult, as opposed to the mainstream Peter Parker, who is a man-child, even after obtaining his own international business.
Speaking of being like Peter, though, Spider-Gwen works as a great alternate take on the mythology of Spider-Man. While this version of Gwen Stacy isn’t exactly like the one we knew way back when, she nonetheless is a great and likable character who finds herself in similar dilemmas to the mainstream Peter. She’s being pulled in a lot of different directions and is seen by some as an outlaw, and has to try to find out for herself what the right thing to do in each scenario presented is. And I love how her Peter is the Uncle Ben of her story: The one whose death ultimately taught her that with great power comes great responsibility. It was something that was done with Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man (which I don’t know why they dropped the Ultimate part of his name, even with the loss of his old universe, just to further keep his book distinct from Peter’s), but it’s done in a new way that honestly makes me wonder if things would’ve been any different in the mainstream universe if Peter WASN’T the one to get the spider bite.
But here’s the really big reason why this match means something to me personally: Currently, due to money constraints, G. Willow Wilson’s Ms. Marvel and Jason Latour’s Radioactive Spider-Gwen are the only two Marvel books I’m buying. Well, okay, I’m not actually buying either one right now, but that’s because I switched over to buying the trades when they come out. My point is, these are the only two properties by Marvel that are earning my money, not counting the movies (speaking of, Captain America Civil War was AMAZING, and I FAR prefer it to the event comic Civil War). So, should voting for this match end in a tie, I have no idea who to break the tie for. But hey, that’s all part of the excitement, am I right?
Anyway, time to begin voting! Make sure you get your votes in before May 17th, when we’ll learn who the winner of this match-up takes on in the semi-finals. Also, feel free to click the links below to learn more about these two heroines, and check back in tomorrow for the final match-up of the second round. Ja né!
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)
http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Gwendolyne_Stacy_(Earth-65)
https://ladygeekgirl.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/spider-gwen-is-back-and-its-everything-i-wanted/
Marvelous May – Rogue vs Jean Grey
Welcome back to Marvelous May! Today, we’ve got two X-Men facing off, with Anna Marie, AKA Rogue, vs Jean Grey, AKA Marvel Girl/Phoenix!
Rogue
…I would just like to say for the record that this is my favourite member of the X-Men, and for many years held the title of my favourite superheroine. What can I say? I have a known weakness for tough, southern belles. 😉 Anyway, Rogue’s back-story is a little complicated (although I think her competition for today has her beat in that regard), but long story short, after finding out she was a Mutant with the power to literally drain the life from anyone she touches, Anna Marie decided from then on to wear body-concealing clothes to prevent anyone from touching her skin. Of course, it seemed as though this also caused her to drain their psyche, and in the case of Mutants and other people with superpowers, gain their abilities for a fixed amount of time. As such, her foster mother, Mystique, who drafted her into the Brotherhood of Mutants, gave her a job: Grab Carol Danvers and DO NOT LET GO. Having turned the girl to evil by playing off her loneliness and bitterness, Rogue did just that, holding on for so long that she permanently gained Carol’s strength, speed, flight, and seventh sense (Carol eventually got better, though). However, there was an unexpected side-effect: She began to see Carol’s memories as though they were her own, and went to Professor Xavier for help out of fear of losing herself in these memories. Either out of a genuine desire to repay them for their charity, or because of Carol’s influence on her mind, Rogue was eventually reformed and became one of the X-Men. Over the years, she’s even managed to gain control of her Mutant power (and lose it again from time to time), and lost Carol’s abilities, causing her to basically start over from scratch. Regardless, she is a powerful and adaptable member of both the X-Men and of the Avengers Unity Division, AKA the Uncanny Avengers.
Jean Grey
Oh God, I’ve been dreading this moment. I now have to talk about Jean Grey’s back-story, and considering how many different deaths, revivals, and retcons that character has been through, it’s kind of a mess. Here’s the important part, though: She’s one of the original X-Men, having joined when the team consisted only of Cyclops, Angel, Beast, and Iceman. So, for those that have only seen the movies, yes, there IS history to the X-Men that didn’t involve Wolverine. lol She’s also the first major psychic of the team, excluding Professor Xavier, originally only possessing telekinesis, but eventually was revealed to possess greater raw psychic power than even Professor X himself. She can read people’s thoughts and emotions, put up telepathic defenses and cloaks, can detect and locate other Mutants, is capable of astral projection, can levitate herself or other people/objects, and can even brainwash and mind control people if she so chose. It was also made apparent that she was the avatar of the Phoenix Force, one of the most powerful Cosmic entities in the Marvel Universe, and grants her both the power to destroy at sheer INSANITY levels, as well as resurrect the dead, whether that’s others or herself (the latter of which has happened frequently, lol). Despite this, she apparently died for good back in 2004…until her time displaced younger self was brought to the present and has opted to remain there until she’s cleaned up some of the messes her older self and her friends made over the years, despite the fact that the longer she stays in the present, the harder it’ll make things for when she eventually has to go back to the past.
Well, that’s all for now. Be sure to vote on who you think should win this match before May 12th, when the winner takes on either Storm or Gamora. Until then, check out the links below to learn more about these two, and come back to see the first match-up of the second round. Ja né!
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!
Jyger's Rant 