JLAvengers League: Joe Acro vs. ragnarok_2012/Mike Smash!

[Sean Whitmore]

Welcome to the semi-finals of the 2007 JLAvengers League! The League is a large-scale series of battles—a tournament—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 takes place in a different locale from the Marvel or DC Universe. The teams begin 100 yards away from each other. Each character is depicted as they were in the JLA/Avengers mini series (with few exceptions), 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.

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

ragnarok_2012/Mike Smash!: Sinestro, Hulk, Felix Faust, Black Alice, Namor, Mary Marvel, Terrax

Joe Acro: Hal Jordan, Dr. Strange, Red Tornado, Predator, Sabra
Jericho, Taskmaster

[Sean Whitmore]

Joe Acro's strategy:

Setup the Fury:

• Green Lantern starts by providing everyone, save Predator, with a forcefield, in order to help block the powerful attacks that will likely be used.
• Dr. Strange has the Eye of Agamotto detach from himself and go to Jericho, positioning itself between his two eyes. At the same time, he begins working on a spell.
• If there are no forcefields or shields in the way, Taskmaster will quickly take aim and fire an arrow straight at Black Alice, a lethal shot.

Unleash the Fury:

• Using the Eye of Agamotto's unavoidable, compelling stare, Jericho will establish contact with Felix Faust and possess him.
• Dr. Strange casts the Images of Ikonn on Sinestro, a spell he used in Fantastic Four #243 to confront Galactus with the ghosts of all those he had slain. Although Sinestro has not killed anywhere near as many as Galactus, it should still have a profound affect, a maddening, horrifying affect. At the very least, this will distract Sinestro long enough for Strange to hit him with other damaging spells.
• Sabra rushes after Mary Marvel. In the process, if Black Alice was not taken down in the previous shot, she fires a couple of paralyzing energy quills her direction as one should be enough to incapacitate her. She likely engages in combat quite quickly.
• Green Lantern tosses Taskmaster and Predator across the field in a giant paper airplane while covering Terrax's eyes with a sleep mask construct, acting as a blindfold.
• If the Images of Ikonn spell is considered a high-yield spell, and therefore requiring more time than normal, Green Lantern will distract Sinestro for as long as necessary.
• Taskmaster, just before and while traveling, gets Hulk's attention via the use of explosive and sonic arrows.

Fighting with Fury:

• If Black Alice still isn't down (for some reason), Jericho, with his knowledge from his martial arts training, will hit her with a knockout blow, using the element of surprise.
• Red Tornado cuts loose on the blinded Terrax in a battle of the elements. Green Lantern and the now-controlled Faust join him in handling the cosmic threat. GL's assignment is to get the staff out of his hand. Tornado's is to keep him off-balance. Both GL and Tornado will make sure to contain the rock-throwing. Jericho-Faust's job is to actually hurt him, if only mildly, through the use of spells.
• Predator engages Namor. If he must leap to do so, he will.
• Taskmaster rushes toward Hulk. Copying the fighting styles of Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, and other fighers who have successfully avoided Hulk's blows without being injured, Taskmaster ducks and dodges around the behemoth. When the opportunity strikes, he pinches nerve clusters in key locations to, at the very least, slow the Hulk down. When he gets the opportunity, he will pop an arrow of knockout gas as Hulk has proven susceptible to gas attacks in the past.
• Sabra will use her speed and agility to avoid any speed-blitzing Mary might do. Sabra is durable enough to take a blow from the Hulk, so she should be able to take a few blows from Mary Marvel if necessary. Also, her healing factor will help her recover quickly. She will use her quills whenever Mary gets in close enough. After being hit with enough of them, even Mary Marvel should become immobilized.

After the Fury:

• If Taskmaster can defeat the Hulk without help, as planned, he will join Predator against Namor.
• If Strange successfully defeats his foe, he will join the fray against Terrax. The same can be said for Sabra.
• Taskmaster has been instructed, if Terrax and Namor are too much to handle, to mortally wound Predator and cause his nuke to activate. At the very least, it should knock out Namor and damage Terrax. The Lantern-created forcefields should take most of the force of the blast. This is only a last resort.
• When all enemies are down, my team claims the artifact and victory.

[Sean Whitmore]

IMMEDIATELY:

At once, Black Alice will steal the mystical powers and vestments of Dr. Strange and the Juggernaut (whose powers comes from the magical gem of Cyttorak). This will leave Dr. Strange powerless and unarmed (and will save our team’s sorcerer, Felix Faust, from the possibility of a mystical battle with the Sorceror Supreme, one we’re not certain Faust could win). This should only take a couple seconds.

Felix Faust will focus his mystical energies on bombarding the mind and soul of Green Lantern Hal Jordan with his deepest fears and failures (the death of his father, the destruction of Coast City, etc.). Those secrets are locked in Jordan’s mind and Faust’s magic will find it and will be unrelenting in drawing those fears out. Given that Jordan has a powerful mind and will, this could be a fight. If successful, this should not only make it difficult to focus his will through his power ring, but the fear will leave his power ring useless against yellow. He will keep his eyes closed while casting this spell.

Sinestro and Terrax will take to the sky and charge into battle against our opponents.

Terrax will immediately use his Power Cosmic-level earth manipulation powers to make the very ground beneath our opponents feet EXPLODE, sending many of our opponents flying and pelting them with large chunks of earth and rock if they are unshielded or if their shield doesn’t have a floor. Imagine a giant tornado-without any defined center-trapping Joe’s team inside it.

This should blast up a thick cloud of dust around our opponents’ team, making it impossible for Jericho to make eye contact with anyone. If Red Tornado is using his powers, this should only keep the dust cloud going as the loosened earth from the explosion will certainly get caught in his powers. Unless
Red Tornado powers out of the storm somehow, his attacks are pretty much useless.

Sinestro will command his yellow power ring to lock on to the energy signature of Hal Jordan’s power ring. Sinestro will form a yellow, barbed wire noose around the throat of Hal. Keep in mind that Hal is fighting a battle of wills with Felix Faust AND Sinestro at this point.

Sinestro will use the barbed wire noose to pull him out of Terrax’s storm and relatively far away from the rest of the action. If Jordan’s ring has been rendered harmless against yellow, this should be fairly effortless. If he isn’t yet subject to Faust’s fear spell and Jordan has a force field up, Sinestro’s beam will simply drill into the forcefield until it can grab Jordan in the noose. But the double attack of Faust on his mind and Sinestro physically, should make this attack successful.

The Incredible Hulk, Mary Marvel and Namor, the Sub-Mariner will stand guard over Faust and Alice while they are vulnerable, throwing themselves in the way of any energy beams or attacks that comes their way or against foes who come too close to our team. Mary seems a lot more chipper about this task than either Hulk or Prince Namor.

ROUND ONE:

Now wielding the power of both the unstoppable Juggernaut and the Sorceror Supreme, Black Alice will form an opaque force field around herself and Faust. She will use her magic seek out Jericho and form an unbreakable opaque force bubble around his head, blinding him and making it impossible for him to use his powers on anyone.

Felix Faust will continue his fear-based magical assault on Hal Jordan. No, we don’t consider this a major effect so much as an ongoing battle of wills that Hal will eventually lose like the value of a 90’s Liefeld comic.

Assuming that Jericho has now been dealt with, Terrax will bombard our opponent’s team from the air with cosmic blasts from his axe, more explosions from the ground to keep the earth storm/dust cloud up. Giant, earthen hands will pull Joe’s teammates into the ground. With Jericho finished, Terrax will prioritize Red Tornado, using his cosmic axe to warp and meld his inner circuitry together and blasting him apart with his axe. Terrax has withstood the most powerful forces in the universe and should be able to fight against any massive wind attack This is, of course, assuming that the storm hasn’t already incapacitated him-Red Tornado is not especially durable after all.

Sinestro will pull Lantern Jordan into the air by the throat with a barbed wire noose and dogfight him in a good old fashioned power-ring duel. He will be ruthless, pounding Jordan with vicious yellow constructs and energy blasts. Sinestro will form fierce, Cthulu-like creatures, rain shards of monomolecular glass upon Hal, and use the surrounding territory of Avengers Mansion to his advantage.

Sinestro will try to keep Jordan from being able to maintain any shield constructs around his team and from being able to help them in any way. Although Sinestro will do everything in his power to destroy Hal, our primary purpose is to keep Jordan from being able to help his teammates. We think Sinestro and Faust in tandem can defeat Hal.

The Hulk, Mary Marvel and Namor will charge into battle against the remaining team.

Mary will prioritize the now-blinded Jericho and knock him out as painlessly as possible. If he is already unconscious, she will seek out the Predator (with her enchanced senses if he’s invisible) and knock him out quickly with speed of Mercury and the Strength of Hercules. Mary will make sure that the Predator is unable to trigger his pocket nuke.

Namor will also prioritize now-blinded Jericho, but if he is unconscious, he will attack Sabra and will be able to overpower her easily and probably say something really arrogant and pithy.

The Hulk will also prioritize Jericho, but if he is unconscious, he will attack the Taskmaster, smashing the ground around him, not letting him get any footing, using the sonic thunderclap to knock him off balance and trying to get a good shot in. Taskmaster is incredibly skilled at fighting and dodging (he steals from the best), but it’s only a matter of time before the Hulk gets his hands on him and puts him down.

If any of them manage to defeat their foe, they will join an attack on another character, as most needed.


ROUND TWO:

Black Alice will teleport out of her force field and into the opposition’s midst and begin blasting them with hex bolts, fire, ice, magical energy and ensnaring them in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, as the opportunity arises.

Terrax will turn his full attention to Red Tornado and will use his cosmic axe to warp, meld and rend his internal circuitry to shreds. This coupled with his speed, endurance and cosmic blasts should be enough to destroy the android.

If Sinestro has defeated Green Lantern, he will attack Red Tornado with EMP blasts and white-hot (well, yellow-hot) energy beams to tear his android body apart. If the Tornado has already been defeated, he will destroy the equipment of the Predator (just in case Mary was unable to handle the pocket nuke).

Hulk, Namor and Mary will continue to battle the remaining foes until they all fall.

[ragnarok_2012]

Question:

Would Taskmaster be willing to commit suicide?

I mean, he's a mercenary.

I'm a little skeptical of Taskmaster defeating the Hulk in one-on-one combat. Okay, I have no idea how he could possibly defeat the Hulk with nerve cluster attacks.

[Joe Acro]

A few things, just looking at Black Alice's initial action:

Black Alice shouldn't be able to steal Strange's vestments and artifacts, just his mystical abilities. And given that the gem of Cytorrak isn't on Strange's person, I find it doubtful that she'd be able to have Juggernaut's power even if she could steal Strange's items.

Also, given that Taskmaster has trick arrows, I find it likely that his initial arrow shot will hit its mark. Would Strange's powers return to him upon her death?

I'll work on other details a little later. I just wanted to cover that opening.

[Joe Acro]

Question:

Would Taskmaster be willing to commit suicide?

I mean, he's a mercenary.

I'm a little skeptical of Taskmaster defeating the Hulk in one-on-one combat. Okay, I have no idea how he could possibly defeat the Hulk with nerve cluster attacks.

Taskmaster wouldn't be committing suicide, as he'd have a Green Lantern forcefield and his own shield protecting him. He'd be hurting, sure, but likely wouldn't be dead.

And the nerve cluster tactic is used to slow down the Hulk in order to hit him with gas, something that has been shown to stop the Hulk.

[Mike Smash!]

A few things, just looking at Black Alice's initial action:

Black Alice shouldn't be able to steal Strange's vestments and artifacts, just his mystical abilities. And given that the gem of Cytorrak isn't on Strange's person, I find it doubtful that she'd be able to have Juggernaut's power even if she could steal Strange's items.

She can steal his magical equipment and has done this in the past. She stole the power of Wonder Woman and got her lasso. She stole the power of Alan Scott and got his power ring. So, she'd get Strange's spellcasting as well as his levitation cloak, the Eye of Agamatto and other magical items.

As for the gem of Cyttorak, she's not stealing it from Strange. She's stealing it from Juggernaut. We can steal the magical powers and equipment of any characters currently on the battlefield with us or on the roster for the universe we're currently in.

Also, given that Taskmaster has trick arrows, I find it likely that his initial arrow shot will hit its mark. Would Strange's powers return to him upon her death?

I think they'd return to him upon death, but with a superfast Mary Marvel ready and waiting for a physical attack to jump in front of, that arrow would break on her chest, not in BLack Alice. We have three heroes ready and waiting to dive in the way of attacks, who that arrow would not kill.

[Mike Smash!]

Taskmaster wouldn't be committing suicide, as he'd have a Green Lantern forcefield and his own shield protecting him. He'd be hurting, sure, but likely wouldn't be dead.

That's if Hal can maintain that forcefield while under a Faust fear attack and while fighting Sinestro.

[Joe Acro]

She can steal his magical equipment and has done this in the past. She stole the power of Wonder Woman and got her lasso. She stole the power of Alan Scott and got his power ring. So, she'd get Strange's spellcasting as well as his levitation cloak, the Eye of Agamatto and other magical items.

Her costume changes to match that of whom she's channeling and, therefore, she'd get a lasso. That only makes sense. I have no experience with Black Alice, so pardon my ignorance, but did the lasso actually have the ability of WW's lasso? And Alan Scott's power ring is tied to his very being, so I can easily see her stealing it's power.

As for the gem of Cyttorak, she's not stealing it from Strange. She's stealing it from Juggernaut. We can steal the magical powers and equipment of any characters currently on the battlefield with us or on the roster for the universe we're currently in.

But Black Alice's power works by eyesight (as near as I understand it). If she can't see Juggernaut or the gem, it seems to me that she shouldn't be able to use his power.

I think they'd return to him upon death, but with a superfast Mary Marvel ready and waiting for a physical attack to jump in front of, that arrow would break on her chest, not in BLack Alice. We have three heroes ready and waiting to dive in the way of attacks, who that arrow would not kill.

And Taskmaster, like Hawkeye, that work around obstacles, perhaps even super-fast ones.

That's if Hal can maintain that forcefield while under a Faust fear attack and while fighting Sinestro.

Well, true. But the nuke strategy is contingent on Taskmaster not dying (as otherwise, he won't do it).

[Mike Smash!]

Her costume changes to match that of whom she's channeling and, therefore, she'd get a lasso. That only makes sense. I have no experience with Black Alice, so pardon my ignorance, but did the lasso actually have the ability of WW's lasso? And Alan Scott's power ring is tied to his very being, so I can easily see her stealing it's power.

Yes, she tried to strangle a villain with the lasso. And nearly did. She channelled the magical golden lasso of Wonder Woman. And a working Alan Scott power ring.

So Mary would get Strange's gear.

But Black Alice's power works by eyesight (as near as I understand it). If she can't see Juggernaut or the gem, it seems to me that she shouldn't be able to use his power.

Not based on the rules we accepted for this game. Sean and Dipset agreed to us being able to take power from characters not on the battlefield, provided that we were fighting in their home universe and that they were on the draft roster.

And Taskmaster, like Hawkeye, that work around obstacles, perhaps even super-fast ones.

Not ones that are waiting for him to do it. Namor, Mary and Hulk are ready to jump in the way of that arrow. Mary and Namor at least are much faster than that arrow and the Hulk is remarkably good at hitting things moving at superspeed.

And that's if Taskmaster can get a clear shot while the ground is exploding under and around him.

[ragnarok_2012]

Taskmaster wouldn't be committing suicide, as he'd have a Green Lantern forcefield and his own shield protecting him. He'd be hurting, sure, but likely wouldn't be dead.

Truth be told, I'm a little unclear on how powerful we're assuming this bomb is.

It's arguable whether or not Hal could maintain this force field in the first place (while under attack and multitasking), much less make it powerful enough to protect Taskmaster from a bomb that at the very least is much more powerful than a hand grenade.

And the nerve cluster tactic is used to slow down the Hulk in order to hit him with gas, something that has been shown to stop the Hulk.

That sounds kinda like a Firelord vs. Spider-man style argument. I've read a lot of Hulk, though by no means all of it.

I know that a normal human scientist in the 90's was able to throw the Hulk using Judo, and I concede that Taskmaster could avoid attacks effectively for a time (though wouldn't this force field impede his mobility somewhat?).

I know that the Hulk has a healing factor powerful enough to allow him to survive being stabbed through the heart by Wolverine, so I'm a little skeptical about the gas having much effect beyond...y'know....making him angrier.

[ragnarok_2012]

Yeah, Joe, Mike went above & beyond the call of duty before this game even started to precisely define what our version of Black Alice can and cannot do.

Heck, we could have had her at a much more powerful level if we had wanted.

[Mike Smash!]

I know that the Hulk has a healing factor powerful enough to allow him to survive being stabbed through the heart by Wolverine, so I'm a little skeptical about the gas having much effect beyond...y'know....making him angrier.

Gas has been very effective against the Hulk in the past, but he's so familiar with it that even the less intelligent Hulks always immediately holds their breath (which he can do for almost an hour) and not be fazed.

It would take a shot to the gut from Ben Grimm to make him inhale. We've seen even the weaker Gray Hulk withstand shots to the gut from She-Hulk, Andromeda and others while still holding his breath with an airless force bubble around his head.

But this Hulk is stronger than the Gray Hulk and smarter than the Savage Hulk.

[ragnarok_2012]

Gas has been very effective against the Hulk in the past, but he's so familiar with it that even the less intelligent Hulks always immediately holds their breath (which he can do for almost an hour) and not be fazed.

It would take a shot to the gut from Ben Grimm to make him inhale. We've seen even the weaker Gray Hulk withstand shots to the gut from She-Hulk, Andromeda and others while still holding his breath with an airless force bubble around his head.

But this Hulk is stronger than the Gray Hulk and smarter than the Savage Hulk.

Learn something new every day.

It sounds like the realm of argument moves from "Would gas effect the Hulk?" to "Would he or wouldn't he hold his breath?"

[Mike Smash!]

Learn something new every day.

It sounds like the realm of argument moves from "Would gas effect the Hulk?" to "Would he or wouldn't he hold his breath?"

Well, holding his breath a reflex by now, the Hulk has been gassed more often that Rush Limbaugh's chair.

Sort of like how it's assumed that if Hal Jordan has a yellow weakness that he'd get smart and start using his surroundings for attacks if confronted with yellow. (Though in this case, Hal is fairly overwhelmed, IMO).