| Posted: 28 September 2011 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | 3
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I think in a "normal" fight over a misunderstanding, sparring, or some rare minor brawl that breaks out over nerves Captain America is going to win because he has a drive for victory that is hard to match that separates him from other heroes, a lot of experience, and he consistently punches above his weight and wins. He has a knack for doing something you'd think would be beyond him.
But, in a story where one of them HAS to win over the other to satisfy the intent of the story then whoever the story is about will win.
If a falsely accused Spider-Man has to get away from a pursuing Captain America to clear his name then he will find a way to do that no matter what Captain America does. Captain America is a worthy and difficult obstacle and Spider-Man is there to finally find a way around it after having a hard time at first. Captain America's job is to make it as interesting and seemingly impossible as he can to make Spider-Man's victory sweeter.
If Captain America has been hypnotized to believe that Spider-Man is the Red Skull and that he is about to destroy the world and to stop the real Red Skull Spider-Man has to get past the enraged Captain America then he will find a way to do that. He has to.
If Captain America is under the mental control of some external force and Spider-Man needs to subdue him set him free then Spider-Man will find a way.
If Spider-Man needs to knock Captain America out and put him into the escape pod and then take the burning starship out into space where the explosion won't hurt anybody (and very probably risk dying) then Captain America will wake up in an escape pod with a sore jaw and look up hoping to see Spider-man parachuting down with an improvised web-mask full of air over his face.
Likewise if Spider-Man is mutating and becoming more spider like and sinister and dangerous then no matter how much smarter or tougher the afflicted Spider-Man gets Captain America WILL find a way to subdue him and help him. He has to.
Who wins should depend on who is going to be shown doing the right and heroic thing that the story hinges on, and who is normally a great hero but is temporarily misguided, confused, mind controlled, affected by a strange serum, or whatever.
But even when Spider-Man beats Captain America, he should be portrayed as breathing harder than he ever had to before and doing it narrowly by the skin of his teeth and then only because he got lucky. Spider-Man cannot routinely handle Captain America. It's all about building tension.
And i such a story, Spider-Man should be shown to deeply respect Captain America and hate the very idea of fighting against him not only because it is going to be very very difficult, exhausting, and the outcome seemingly uncertain, but because it is distasteful and a little bit shameful for them to be fighting at all.
And When Captain America beats Spider-Man it probably wouldn't hurt to have him say something approaching admiration like " That was too close! He soaked up several my strongest haymakers before he finally dropped and even with his inexperience I was barely able to lay a hand on him. I'd really hate to have him for an enemy! What a scrapper he is!"
Super Hero comics should be about getting the story done and making the heroes look good even if one of them is going to lose.
Unless the intent is comedy relief (Spider-Man somehow leaps wrong and steps in a mop and pal and falls down the stairs into broken garbage bags with a banana peel sitting on his head ) then every fight between heroes should be a clash of titans where you feel like anything can happen and that "anything" is what puts the character who is the main focus of the story in the best light and where the other is still made to look mighty and competent and worthy of bring in the fight in the first place.
Also being too worried about the literal use of powers is often a mistake in a comic book super hero battle. How many times has Quicksilver somehow been tagged while moving at super speed by someone who does not move at super-speed, or was suddenly caused to run into a quickly deploying trap (like an opened door) by someone without super-speed ? Common sense tells you that a man with greatly enhanced speed and reflexes can't be touched by anything that doesn't change at nearly the same speed than moves but it is a fairly common thing to have speedsters brought down by some sort of special timing or knowing where the speedster will be, etc.
You have to make a few allowances just to have the fight be good. You can't be a smart ass and have Hawkman win every fight by shooting tranquilizer darts and flash-bangs from a a scoped rifle thing from a great height beyond range of retaliation just because that would seem to be a very effective strategy against unarmored foes that he can see. You can't worry too much about how Hawkeye makes fifteen or so trick arrows last for a three issue story that takes place over two days and never gives him a chance to reload his quiver. You also can't worry too much about how the rooftop swinging thing really works or it will fall apart.
In superhero comics a fairly normal man can probably intimidate and drive off an angry gorilla if you have the help of words like karate or precognition or come up with an interesting means of doing it that fits the spirit of the story. It's not just about strength and speed and how much of a beating someone can take in a literal sense. Spiderman is probably not going to choke Captain America out with a web garrote or rapidly grab him by the neck and lift him up and wind mill him till the vertebrae snaps. Captain America is not going use his shield to slash Spider-Man's femoral artery open and watch him bleed out or slice off his fingers. That's not a good comic book brawl. It's mostly going to come down down to knuckles, leaping, blocks, dodges, throwing each other into other things, and grapples until someone is stunned or has enough and quits.
Edited by Emery Calame on 28 September 2011 at 11:36pm
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