Aquaman vs. Marvel Comics

DC VERSUS MARVEL #2, DC Comics/Marvel Comics, March 1996
DC vs. Marvel, or if you prefer, Marvel vs. DC was the mini-series that was finally supposed to put the bed the question of which company was better, or rather, which characters could beat which characters. It did neither, making the case that perhaps both companies sucked hard eggs for putting us through this meaningless exercise in marketing.

Basically, while writer Peter David tried to give us some "trippy" scenes, such as Marvel's Mole Man exploring DC's Batcave, or the Kingpin buying the Daily Planet, the book is really about various heroes and villains duking it out. There are meaningless fights like Captain America defeating Bane, or the Spectre and the Living Tribunal vomiting at each other (I kid you not, and yet, have no desire to show you that panel), but the plot really revolves around 11 key battles set up by a couple of gods.

More Marvel characters win, the DC Universe is wiped out. DC wins, Marvel is destroyed. The big two (Marvel and DC, not the cookie cutter gods) allowed fans to vote on the 5 biggest fights, but the results aren't revealed here. I'll do a feature on that load of bullshit sometime, because it really is just too extreme. In short, it's the People's Choice version of a superhero battle, so whoever's more popular wins it, and common sense be damned. It's the same kind of feeling you get when you see The daVinci Code on the bestseller list.

At least the other 6 fights are written by a writer. Three of them go down here. Thor defeats Captain Marvel by Shazaming him with a thunderbolt, Flash easily kicks Quicksilver's mutant ass (there's just no comparison between their power levels), and then Aquaman and Namor the Submariner go toe to webbed toe. Who wins? Well, this wouldn't be "Aquaman ROCKS week" if that sissy Namor won, would it?

In case you don't know, Namor is the very first underwater hero and has been around since Marvel Comics #1 (1939), beating Aquaman to it by 2 years. He doesn't talk to the fish, but he can fly and is much, much stronger than Aquaman physically. He's also spent half his time as a villain, so he's supposed to be a badass. The fight starts off well enough... for Aquaman!
But Namor takes it out of the water, where he has more of an advantage (i.e. flight). How's my boy blue gonna do there?
BAM! If I have a problem with this scene, it's that Aquaman throws the Marvel Zombies a bone by admitting to cheating. Clearly, he didn't. He used his head and all his powers. Namor's not noble, he's a chump. If you don't agree with this result, well, you can always go back to reading those Submariner comics you love so much. Or watch the Little Mermaid. Whatever it is you sickos do in your spare time.

Rating just for Aquaman's performance?
Rating for the overall comic?

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's like the ending of free willy gone bad... LOVE IT
SallyP said…
*Snicker* I have these buried away somewhere, but I had forgotten all about this scene.
FoldedSoup said…
Arthur's dialog seems waaaay off to me. Closer to Spider-Man than to a regal king with an arrogance bent (the way I think it should be).

Still, glad he won that round. Namor's a dick.
Siskoid said…
Soup: I agree, though it's strange that Peter David would screw up Aquaman's dialogue, isn't it?

I have a feeling Arthur was this sassy throughout the pirate era.
rob! said…
i have to admit, even tho it kills me, i dont think aquaman could beat namor.

namor is second only to the hulk in terms of pure power. telepathic commands or not, namor could fling arthur into the sun before he knew what hit him.
Stephen said…
i totally buy this. aquaman is simply the best fighter in the water period and that fact that he could get a thousand whales to crush you if he wanted to is badass. if they had a world war aquaman i really think the dcu would be in trouble
rob! said…
stephen-

i like the way you think!
mwb said…
Bah, just pro-Aquaman propaganda!

Namor would so win - even though he has silly wings on his ankles...
viagra online said…
what a perfect duel, namor vs aquaman the two kings of the sea, this fishman are strong, fast and intelligent in the water.
Generic Cialis said…
What a great combat, Just think... Superman vs Thor, Batman vs Ironman and Aquamna vs Namor... Definitely this combat has not precedents.
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LiamKav said…
I love that these spam entries are actually bothering to say something relevent to the original post. Your blog obviously attracts a higher quality of spam.

(Oh, and I love Namor. But then I've read very little of Aquaman. I do love PAD though, mainly because you know when he does a run on a comic it's going to be a proper run, not just 6 issues before he gets bored. I've read all his Hulk, most of his Young Justice and all his currect X-Factor. He has annoying tics, but overall I think he manages to balance looking-back with looking-forward really well.)