Avengers League: Sean Whitmore v. Hannah & Atom_basher

[Jessica Drew]

Welcome to the next match of the Avengers League! If you haven't been following the league, it is a large scale series of battles where posters draft teams and pit their teams against that of other posters, and you vote to decide who wins. When voting, please consider the strategies the players have written, rather than just the team's roster.

Each match is taking place on an empty battlefield, 100 yards away, and each character (with few exceptions) depicted is in his/her most frequent incarnation (therefore, no Iron Spidey or Extremis Iron Man), and the characters have to act in character (meaning that the heroes cannot kill if they aren't normally wont to do so).

If you have any questions about the strategies, please feel free to post these questions here, and the players will answer. The match will last twenty-four hours. After that time period, the player with the largest number of votes wins.

!!! - For your vote to count, you must have a post count of no lower than fifty.

Sean Whitmore's team: Thor, Adam Warlock, Wiccan, Tommy Shepherd, Moonstone, Rick Jones, Kurt Busiek

Hannah/Atom_basher's team: Moondragon, Giglamesh, Loki, Thunderstrike, Ringmaster, Vance Astro, Captain Mar-Vell, Shocker, Egghead

[Jessica Drew]

Sean Whitmore's strategy:

Opening Moves (2 Parts)

1. Spinning Mjolnir fast enough to open a dimensional portal, Thor teleports his team (except for Tommy and Busiek) into the midst of their opponents, within whatever magical shield or telekinetic force bubble might have been erected.
---To prevent MOONDRAGON from stopping them or anticipating their tactic in the few seconds it takes Thor to pull it off, Adam Warlock “screams” his thoughts at her. Even the most powerful telepaths can’t resist being drawn into the mind of someone who’s thinking that “loudly”. And Warlock’s mind is an easy place to get lost in and an almost impossible thing to control.
---If LOKI teleports anyone over to my side, Tommy either avoids them or explodes them, depending on who it is.

2. Immediately upon emerging from the portal, the heroes train their powers (lightning, soul blasts, laser beams, and mystic bolts) on LOKI. If he has a force field up, this should stun him into dropping it. If he doesn’t, it’ll still knock him on his trickster ass. MOONDRAGON will undoubtedly lash out with telepathy to root them to the spot…
…when Tommy, still on the other side, crosses the field in an eye blink and cracks her in the back of her casaba melon head at faster than 100mph.
--If VANCE ASTRO has a shield up too, some of the above blast is aimed at him.

-Moondragon is out

Post-Moondragon Battle Begins
(Simultaneous actions)

Rick Jones immediately crushes EGGHEAD'S fat stupid nose with a roundhouse kick. He picks up whatever weapon he had and fires it at RINGMASTER (if it's a gas gun he hits RINGMASTER in the face; if it's a laser gun he shoots the hat and knocks RINGMASTER out with a fist to the face). If one punch apiece isn’t enough, Rick has more than enough training to murderize an unarmed EGGHEAD and hatless RINGMASTER.

Tommy quickly downs SHOCKER with a volley of punches followed by a shock blast. A couple hundred socks to the jaw ought to do it, padded costume or not. This takes seconds, allowing Tommy to speed over to VANCE ASTRO next, avoiding TK blasts and attacking his shields with explosions.

Moonstone dukes it out with CAPTAIN MARVEL, unable to lay a hand on him due to his cosmic awareness. But in reality she is only setting him up for Warlock to attack from behind. Warlock exists outside the realms of chaos and order, invisible to MARVEL'S senses. He strikes from behind and doesn't let up. Between his superior strength, his karma staff, the element of surprise, and the fact that he does not at all fight honorably, Warlock defeats the CAPTAIN handily.

Wiccan pelts THUNDERSTRIKE with some useless lightning bolts, which are absorbed right into his mace. This gives him time to complete his mantra, wishing the mace right out of THUNDERSTRIKE’S hand and depositing it on the farthest side of the field…500 feet under the earth (in keeping with the no ring-out rule). Wiccan unleashes more lightning, joined in moments by Moonstone and her power blasts.

Thor turns his wrath against GILGAMESH, hammering him with Mjolnir. He absorbs any cosmic blasts with the hammer and whips them back at the Forgotten One.

LOKI should be just about recovering from being attacked moments ago.

-Egghead, Ringmaster, Shocker, and Captain Marvel are out.

The Battle Continues

Warlock engages the recovered LOKI. In the comics, they would likely get into a battle if wits with some clever wordplay, which Warlock would undoubtedly win. Here, Warlock challenges the god to a battle of the souls, with the loser surrendering to the victor without further violence. LOKI, gambler that he is, agrees, and the two go at it on a spiritual plane (which Warlock is quite capable of doing without benefit of the gem).

Rick Jones joins the attack against VANCE ASTRO with the weapons he took from Egghead. This startles the future hero just long enough for Tommy to stamp on the ground at super speed, setting off a mini tremor that knocks VANCE off of his feet. Before VANCE hits the ground, Tommy batters his falling body into unconsciousness.

If THUNDERSTRIKE turns back to Masterson after 60 seconds (which I think he always did in the comics), this fight is over. Just in case he doesn’t, Wiccan and Moonstone blitz him with hit and run tactics, staying in the air out of his reach. Without the mace, THUNDERSTRIKE is susceptible to electricity, meaning Wiccan’s attacks hurt the worst. Moonstone runs interference, blasting THUNDERSTRIKE away every time he is within reach of Wiccan. Between the two of them, they are able to whittle him down, even if he should somehow be able to regain the mace (does it return to his hand?). Tommy and Rick join the battle as soon as they are free.

Thor ravages GILGAMESH, making up for their equality in strength and skill (and I’m being generous) with the powers of Mjolnir. He deafens the Eternal with thunder, fries him with lightning, blinds him with rain, and keeps him at bay with gale force winds, all localized and focused on his person. GILGAMESH cannot get close enough to lay a hand on Thor, and his cosmic beams are all absorbed by Mjolnir and returned with interest. It is slow going, but Thor inevitably proves the victor (because he’s THOR and not friggin’ GILGAMESH). If needed, he then helps put the finishing touches on THUNDERSTRIKE.

-Vance Astro, Thunderstrike, and Gilgamesh are out

Wrapping Up

Warlock soundly defeats LOKI on the spiritual plane (as he once did Mephisto). He could have done so much more quickly, but he had reason for lengthening the battle. He also had reason for clouding his opponent’s soul from realizing just exactly how long they’ve been fighting.

Back in their own bodies, LOKI immediately reneges on their bargain and prepares a physical attack. Warlock tells him that he expected such treachery, which is why he allowed their soul battle to go on as long as it did. LOKI realizes what he means when Thor, Wiccan, Moonstone, Tommy, and Rick appear behind Warlock, ready to fight as one. Realizing the better part of valor, LOKI reverts to type and disappears, vowing revenge.
(Or, if that’s not acceptable, my entire team attacks Loki and kick his ass to Valhalla, which is something Thor alone has done many times)

[Jessica Drew]

Hannah & Atom_basher's strategy:

*Phase 1 happening simultaneously and immediately

*Loki Teleports himself Moondragon, Shocker Ringmaster and Egghead Behind the opposing team and then casts a Magical sheild around himself and Moondragon.Once behind the magical barrier Loki magically removes the moonstone Dr. Sofen powerless and defenseless. Moonstone is easy pickings (if she happened to be flying when Loki removed her powers, she will drop from the sky and take serious injury or worse.

*Incase Loki doesnt teleport Moondragon away from a possible speedblitz fast enough Moondragon (at the speed of thought), shuts down the pain receptors to her brain, until Loki gets her away from a possible pummeling, once teleported and in the protection bubble, Moondragon seeks out the mind of young Tommy, and shuts his mind off.

*Gilgamesh and Thunderstrike pursue Thor and cuts him off from whatever Thor planned on doing. Gilgamesh and Thor are damn near evenly matched in every aspect, down to fighting experience, with one exception, Thor has Mjolnir, which could turn the tides in this battle, Gilgamesh was prepared for that, by quickly taking Captain America's shield from Vance Astro (which Vance had in a majority of his appearances). Gilgamesh and Thunderstrike double team the thundergod, Thor vs Gil would be an even fight, Thor Vs Gilgamesh AND thunderstrike is an all out slaughter.

*Captain Marvel stays alert with his cosmic awareness, and intercepts Warlock, if he speedblitzes. cosmic awareness has always been portrayed as borderline precognition, somthing that makes spidersense look like a joke in comparison. so he knows where Warlock will be even before warlock does, this paired with his enchanced reflexess, (from living on a planet with a harsher gravity than earths) and extremely fast flying should be more than enough to get Warlock. If warlock isnt speedblitzing Captian Mar Vell takes the fight to Warlock, and overpowers him with far enhanced strength and comparable fightng skills and powerful photonic blasts.

*Vance Astro waits for The moonstone to be ripped from Moonstone, and blasts her with Psychokinetic blasts that blow her psynapses and instantly take her out of the fight.

*Once Behind the opposing team Shocker lets loose a blast of Sonic blasts at Wiccan and Rick Jones, since Wiccans spells are NEVER instant and require continuous chanting to acheive he shouldnt have enough time to finish before being taken out by Shocker, at the same time Egghead shoots Kurt Busiek with his gun, which should take out the normal human.

Phase 2

*With Tommy, Wiccan, Busiek and moonstone down, Loki Casts a magical spell on the Warlock and turns him into stone.

*The rest of the team Dog Pile on Thor and finish him off.

[unkiedev]

I gave this one to Atom Basher & Hannah. Sean Has Rick jones kicking WAY more ass then he ever could. Rick Jones vs. Vance Astro? c'mon.

The most interesting factor of this fight is that BOTH teams teleport into each other for attacking at the same time. Much teleporting chaos going on.

[kentonator]

i agree its confusing with the teleportation im going to have to give this one some more thought.

[unkiedev]

i agree its confusing with the teleportation im going to have to give this one some more thought.
I don't blame you. I think I gave it to Atom/Hannah becase Sean came off as strategically cocky: He assumes Warlock is going to beat Loki in some weird space battle-o-the-minds, plus he has Tommy taking on everybody. Hannah/Atom just seem to have a smarter, more clever and simple plan all around.

...and YES, I understand the humor behind ME telling another Avenger's Leager their strategy is cocky.:-)

[Dark Soul # 7]

I don't blame you. I think I gave it to Atom/Hannah becase Sean came off as strategically cocky: He assumes Warlock is going to beat Loki in some weird space battle-o-the-minds, plus he has Tommy taking on everybody. Hannah/Atom just seem to have a smarter, more clever and simple plan all around.I agree with this. In all this teleportation chaos Hannah's/Atom_basher's seemed to work even if the other team was teleported while that same did not apply for Sean, IMO.

[Sean Whitmore]

I gave this one to Atom Basher & Hannah. Sean Has Rick jones kicking WAY more ass then he ever could. Rick Jones vs. Vance Astro? c'mon.


He only kicked Egghead and Ringmaster's asses. I could kick Egghead and Ringmaster's asses. With Vance all he did was shoot a laser gun at him.


SEAN

[Sean Whitmore]

Crap almighty, I didn't count on Moondragon getting teleported. Doesn't make my strategy completely unworkable, but it sticks a big damn monkey wrench in it. Kudos, AB/H.


SEAN

[unkiedev]

Crap almighty, I didn't count on Moondragon getting teleported. Doesn't make my strategy completely unworkable, but it sticks a big damn monkey wrench in it. Kudos, AB/H.
What the heck is this? Are you in Avenger's League or in Romper Room, Sean? Don't congradulate an opponent for quick thinking, COMPLAIN and point out why that wouldn't work (Even if it would.);)
Rally, Sean, Rally!

[Dark Soul # 7]

What the heck is this? Are you in Avenger's League or in Romper Room, Sean? Don't congradulate an opponent for quick thinking, COMPLAIN and point out why that wouldn't work (Even if it would.);)
Rally, Sean, Rally!Yeah!
You can act all sporty and fair later! Now's the time to be throw out irrational complaints around if you have to!

[Sean Whitmore]

What the heck is this? Are you in Avenger's League or in Romper Room, Sean? Don't congradulate an opponent for quick thinking, COMPLAIN and point out why that wouldn't work (Even if it would.);)
Rally, Sean, Rally!


Y'know what, you're right!

Loki sucks! He can't teleport for crap!


SEAN

[da noble savage]

lol ok i'm going with hannah & atom for this one.

[unkiedev]

Y'know what, you're right!

Loki sucks! He can't teleport for crap!
THAT'S RIGHT! Try this one: "I've never read a Thor Comic book, so I need PROOF that Loki can Teleport, otherwise I don't believe it." There are, however, three big flaws with an attack like that:
A) He'll just find the proof, then you look like a moron.
B) He'll then ask YOU to prove tried and true powers of your characters,
C) The winner is based on amount of votes, not on actual strategy. Even if he couldn't prove it, but has 12 buddies vote for him, you still lose.

[Sean Whitmore]

THAT'S RIGHT! Try this one: "I've never read a Thor Comic book, so I need PROOF that Loki can Teleport, otherwise I don't believe it." There are, however, three big flaws with an attack like that:
A) He'll just find the proof, then you look like a moron.
B) He'll then ask YOU to prove tried and true powers of your characters,
C) The winner is based on amount of votes, not on actual strategy. Even if he couldn't prove it, but has 12 buddies vote for him, you still lose.


Couldn't I just skip all that and accept defeat with grace and aplomb?

I'll wait until I actually get a vote before I attempt strategy assassination. :D


SEAN

[venuscameback]

Couldn't I just skip all that and accept defeat with grace and aplomb?

I'll wait until I actually get a vote before I attempt strategy assassination. :D


SEAN

:p so your primary debating tactic is "play for the sympathy vote"?

(I haven't read the strats yet)

[Sean Whitmore]

:p so your primary debating tactic is "play for the sympathy vote"?


I gave up on tactics 5 votes ago. At this point I'm just shooting for not being that guy who refuses to accept reality. :)

I still don't think it's impossible that my strat would win out, but everybody else seems to, and that's what matters. :p


SEAN

[unkiedev]

I gave up on tactics 5 votes ago. At this point I'm just shooting for not being that guy who refuses to accept reality. :)
The only reality is DOOMs reality...which is why DOOM finds his universe turned upside-down EVERY time he loses, which for the most part is EVERY TIME!

[GrandMaster Funk]

I was really tempted to vote for Sean because he actually used Rick Jones but I just couldn't go against Hannah and Atom_basher's strategey.

[Sean Whitmore]

I was really tempted to vote for Sean because he actually used Rick Jones but I just couldn't go against Hannah and Atom_basher's strategey.


If I had utilized Busiek, would that have swung your vote my way? :)


SEAN

[unkiedev]

Early on in my drafts I had Stan Lee and Kurt Busiek. MY reasoning was: Stan Lee can make up ANY ridiculous strategy and people will HAVE to believe him, he's Stan Lee. My ability with Kurt was that HE knows every single nook and cranny. HE could tell me what powers people had/didn't and give me story ideas I might have missed.

[GrandMaster Funk]

If I had utilized Busiek, would that have swung your vote my way? :)


SEAN

Probably, see if you had Rick Jones holding Egghead and then KB kneeing him than I would have voted for you. I'm easily swinged to other sides.

[Sean Whitmore]

Congratulations, AB/H. That was one mighty curbstomp. My ears are still ringing. :)


SEAN