#future parts are either bout 1 or 2 episode(s)

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Cable vs. Booster Gold

So, for some reason, people were confused about this matchup? Like… C’mon. It was either this, or Cable vs. Trunks.

Cable′s Preview.

So, the convoluted story begins with Mister Sinister wanting to ship and breed the X-Men, specifically Scott Summers and Jean Grey.

And because of a lot of convolutedness, he had to use a clone of Jean to get the ultimate mutant that he wanted.

Enter Nathan Summers.

And because this is comic books, he had a rare disease, and had to be take to the future for a cure… Where there wasn’t one, because that world had been taken over by Apocalypse, another villain.

But through his training, a lot of experience, Nate was far more recognizable by one name: Cable.

The hosts go over his abilities that he has both in part of his heritage and the Techno-Organic Virus that he has. From all sorts of visions, to lasers, to being able to repair his metal arm at a whim.

And Cable’s also an Omega-Level Mutant, which means he’s super powerful.

And he’s been using these powers to keep himself together this whole time. Boomstick asks how he does it in his sleep, and… Yeah, I kinda want to ask that too.

And we go over his weapons and abilities.

I’m gonna level with you: Due to my new job at a grocery store, I can’t do the full Wiz and Boomstick segments due to time constraints. I’d love to quit, but at the time, there’s a pandemic, and I wouldn’t be able to find better work otherwise. Just know that this kinda just goes on to make a joke about how Nathan is basically Mutant Jesus. Really sorry that I can’t show more, and yeah… This is kinda how it’s gonna be from now on. Really sorry.

Anyways, after going over how Nate saw other timeline versions of himself, he decided to get rid of his Virus… By rewriting his DNA!

And the hosts go over his feats.

Like how he moved the earth, or ionized the entire atmosphere, or telepathically read everyone’s mind at once.

Booster Gold′s Preview.

There’s a lot to know about Booster Gold.

He’s an icon, a brand, and a Superhero.

However, if there’s anything that you should know about the guy…

It’s that he’s full of it.

In a nutshell, Michael Jon Carter was a football player in the 25th century, but he had to start doing dirty plays to make money to pay for a treatment that his mom needed, and was eventually kicked out.

As the hosts noted, he got a job at a museum that featured 20th century Superheroes, and became inspired to go back in time… And profit.

But instead of giving the name Goldstar, he accidentally gave the name Booster Gold.

And since he’s a huge dick, he got quite the reputation as being an asshole among the Superhero community

Even Superman wasn’t a fan. And that guy’s like one of the most positive people ever.

It wasn’t all bad. He had an actual friend in Ted Kord, the original Blue Beetle.

Onto the arsenal, Booster’s Power Suit basically makes him like Iron Man, but with time travel. He’s got enhanced strength, speed, and durability just as long as he’s got power running through the thing.

His shield won’t let anything pass, even bacteria, and it can even block from telepathic attacks.

Again: Sorry that I can’t make these longer. I think I might have to go back to the older ways of doing this of only featuring the background, powers/arsenal, and end line while also trying to get screenshots of the important info and maybe some Wiz/Boomstick segments. Trust me, I’d love to quit the grocery job and do something like video edit, but I don’t have the time, nor do I have the ability to go out and do interviews.

Anyways, Booster can not only hang out with other timeline versions of himself, but he’s also got an impressive field of feats to pull off too.

And after a while, Booster became an actual hero, and learned humility so that meant that he couldn’t really publicize it.

Still though, he’s the main character in the greatest story never told, and he’ll be protecting the timestream while doing what he does best:

Showboating.

The Battle Itself.

Luis and Zack lead on animation, Cable will be voiced by Dave J. Dixon and Booster Gold will be voiced by Ricco Fajardo. , Days of Booster Past by Brandon Yates, and audio led by Chris Kokkinos.

So, the battle starts off with Booster showboating in front of a crowd, when Cable shows up. Because Booster is Booster, he assumes that Cable’s there to steal his spotlight.

Cable responds… Like most people would if they saw Booster, and when Booster challenges him, Cable shows off that gritty 90s attitude.

Cable takes an early lead, hitting Booster with all sorts of attacks until Booster turns on his shield and starts his counter.

We get a bit of a back and forth, and I know that I don’t have a lot of screenshots, but please bare with me.

This little “ZA WARULDO” segment doesn’t really phase Cable too much, and he surmounts a counter attack.

(Let’s do the time warp again!)

We get a little attack cycle through and it just shows that Booster is tanking everything that Cable is throwing at him without much effort.

So Cable counters by using his time-travel prep time to take Booster Back to the Past where he has a trap set for him.

Booster’s shield doesn’t break, so, yeah.

And Booster calls in backup.

This goes on for a bit until Cable tries to use his telepathy to force Booster to turn off his shields.

Finishing blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Booster gave the shield to Cable.

Verdict + Explanation.

So, at first, Boomstick is exasperated that some tool like Booster was able to take down a badass like Cable.

Once again, it’s similar to Sasuke vs. Hiei, where one of the fighters has one advantage, but the other has perfect counters to everything that the other could trow at them. In this case, Cable had the better training and experience, but Booster had everything else.

For starters, while Cable could move planets, Booster’s shields were the big thing keeping him in the game. And they were the big thing letting him stay ahead of it too, credit where it’s due, it was only reallyone thing keeping Cable from winning, and if it weren’t for that, he would have won.

So yeah, Cable could move planets, but Booster’s shields could block planets being destroyed sub-atomically. And since apparently everyone in the DC universe can tap into the Speed Force, Booster was holding speed as well. Telepathy wasn’t going to do much since Booster’s shields could stop that, and Cable had no real ways to bypass it.

Since Booster’s weapons were also using the same power as his shields, that meant that he had some big power on his side.

And we also get a neat little Aesop at the end, where the goofiness and siliness of one character, and the seriousness and grit of the other only really matters in the context of their respective universes, but in a DEATH BATTLE, that means comparing them directly, which means a total goofball that you’ve never heard of, like Booster Gold, can defeat a serious and gritty guy like Cable.

Overall impression.

If anything, it took me spending a few hours at work to really ruminate about this fight and what it means. The animation and music are really great, and the lesson at the end is very meaningful.

Despite that, I gotta say that I’m getting really tired of DC characters that aren’t the Flash or Flash-Adjacent being able to tap into the Speed Force like Booster or Green Lantern. It kinda ruins what makes the Flash special. That’s more of a criticism of DC than it is this episode, so I’ll stop.

Overall, there wasn’t really much to write home about. Like I said, it was either this, or Cable vs. Trunks, and there’s a lot to unpack in regards to power scaling for that bout.

7.5/10

Next Time…

Y’know, when I saw Obi-Wan in the season preview, I had a short list of characters that he could fight, and this guy was probably number 1.

So, I guess we’re going to find out if a knight is better than a ninja, huh?

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Knight vs. Ninja.

[whatever-the-fucky-i-writes]

Caught Somewhere in Time - Part 3

Word Count: 1,896

Pairing: None (Maybe a very slight OFC x OMC)

Main Characters: Sam, Dean, OFC - Andi, OMC - Max

Warnings: Mentions of injury, Mentions of death, Swearing 

Part 1   Part 2   Part 4   Part 5   Part 6   Part 7   Part 8   Part 9 (Final)

Series Masterlist

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Supernatural, only my OFC and OMC. Also, the plot line is basically a mash-up of a couple different episodes so I don’t own those either.

Previously:  In the moonlight streaming through the window, I read the time of midnight. I silently get up, somehow managing to make it all the way downstairs to my bag. I pull out my iPod and my earbuds and miraculously make it back upstairs and down onto my temporary bed without waking either Winchester. I insert the earbuds into my ears and scroll through my playlists. I select one with more calming melodies. I relax and focus on my breathing. Slowly feeling like I’m being dragged under into unconsciousness, I begin to feel myself drift into sleep. Sleep finally welcomes me into its warm embrace as “Stairway to Heaven” plays quietly in the background of my mind.

         Around twelve hundred hours the next day, after getting no particularly useful information from the police or the two victims families, we’re once again sitting around the table, this time eating lunch. I’m dining on some exquisite chinese food from the “modest” place down the street. I finish it rather quickly, throwing the empty container and chopsticks into our makeshift trash can, the plastic bag from last night’s gas station dinner.

         “I’m going to get started on some research,” I announce, taking my Raging Bull .44 Magnum out of its holster and placing it on the table. Sam nods, setting down his salad, saying,

         “That’s probably a good idea. Want the case files?”

         “No. ‘Cause it’s totally possible to know what we’re dealing with without even knowing how the victims died,” I reply sarcastically, “Yes. Of course I want them.”

         “Here you go,” he says, retrieving a few manilla folders with pictures and news clippings taped onto them from their place on the floor a little ways from the table where they were unceremoniously dropped when dinner arrived. I set them next to me and pull out my laptop. I turn on my WiFi hotspot, plug in my headphones, crank my music, and get down to business. I rummage through the folders until I find the ME’s reports. Both victims were mummified, that much was obvious, although the how had escaped the ME. The police reports were of no further help. Aside from their COD, the vics had no connection to each other. After today’s many interviews, that much was certain. To further my growing level of frustration with this case, none of the signs were pointing to a ghost or any of the usual suspects. I opened up a new tab on my browser and started rummaging through the surprisingly extensive archive of information on monsters that can suck the life out of a person. It couldn’t be a Shtriga, those fed on children and all our vics were well past adolescence. I found a few sources that spoke of a time god, but all the old gods had long ago lost their powers along with their worshipers and there wasn’t a whole lot to suggest that this god could do this to people. Mainly, it seemed he just had people sacrificed to him and, if you summoned him correctly, he would tell your future so I skim over him. I’d heard of witches being able to give and take years of a person’s lives.

         Maybe that’s what we’re dealing with here, I think. I run a search for other deaths across the country with similar MO’s. Sure enough, the map lights up like a christmas tree. Dozens of deaths across the country in different towns in different states. The victims are always mummified inexplicably and they always pop up in sets of three. There was another string of these deaths in Chicago in the 1980’s... and the 50’s going back and back and back. I’m looking over an old version of the Chicago Defender from the 1910’s when I spot him. In the picture, the man is wearing a suit, trenchcoat, and a fedora. He appears to be in his 30’s. He looks very familiar. It hits me like a bulldozer. I’d seen this man before. I look at the article from the 80’s. Just as I thought, in the background is the man from the picture, looking exactly the same.

         “Hey guys,” I say, spinning my laptop around so they can compare the picture on my screen to the clipping picture, “I think I might’ve found our culprit. You ran into a warlock that could give and take years before, right? Well, what if that’s what this man’s doing?”

         “Could be our guy,” Sam says, “Says here that the person who found the body was a young girl, Lisa Carstairs, on her way home. Maybe she knows who he is.”

         “Yeah,” Dean chimes in, “How ‘bout you track her down and Andi and I will start asking around that area to see if anyone remembers him?”

         “Sounds like a plan to me,” I say, getting up, “Let’s go.” I put my Raging Bull back into its holster and walk out to Baby, sliding into the shotgun seat. Dean hops in, turns on the ignition, and she purrs to life.

         About two hours later, we get a call from Sam letting us know that he tracked the lady down. Turns out, the guy's name was Ed Snider and he used to live down the street from her. After thanking him and hanging up, Dean and I pull up to yet another bar.

         “I hope this goes better than the last twenty bars we’ve gone to,” I say to Dean.

         “Me too,” Dean agrees as he pushes the door open and walks inside. We walk up to the bar and signal the bartender over; she nods to let us know she’s coming. She walks over after about a minute after finishing serving the person she was with.

         “What’ll ya take?” she asks, pulling out a glass.

         “Actually, we won’t be taking anything,” Dean says politely, pulling out his FBI badge. I do the same. “I’m Agent Bonham and this is Agent Jett. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”

         “What d’ya wanna know?” she says sounding slightly skeptical.

         “We’re wondering if you know this man,” I say, holding up the photo of the warlock, “He may go by the name of Ed Snider. Have you seen him around at all?”

         “Why should I tell you?” she retorts.

        “Because we can have you arrested for impeding a federal investigation,” Dean states matter-of-factly.

        “Well… When ya put it like that,” she says, “Ed’s a regular here. Usually comes in around seven for a drink or two. Plays a round or two of pool or darts. Takes a few shots and leaves. Is he in trouble?”

        “I’m sorry, ma’am. But it’s part of an ongoing investigation and we’re not at liberty to discuss. My apologies,” I say sincerely. It’s always heartwarming to see people get concerned about their friends. “That’ll be all for now. Thank you for your cooperation.”

        “Sure thing,” she says, walking over to another customer.

        “So,” I say to Dean as we walk out of the bar, “I’ll call Sam and we can rendezvous back at the house.”

        “Let’s do this thing!” Dean says excitedly.

        After calling Sam, who sounded very relieved that we had finally found a way to track the guy down, we met back up at the house.

        The boys let me have the room upstairs to change in so I grab my duffel and walk up to the room. I make short work of getting my fed suit off.

        God, how I hate that thing, I think to myself. My hunting clothes are much more my pace. I pull on one of my Metallica tank tops. Over this goes a black men’s long sleeve Henley that I found at Goodwill (best purchase of my life, ever!). Next on is one of my looser pairs of blue jeans, and my black combat boots. Next up are my holsters. First, I put on my two thigh holsters. Each holds one gun to the outside of my leg with one band of leather going around my thigh and two straps that hook into the belt loops of my pants, one in front and one in back. A chance meeting with a gamer who’d seen me wearing my full hunting get-up had told me that they looked like the ones in the video game Rise of the Tomb Raider. Secondly, I put on the one that goes around the lower part of my abdomen with pockets for two guns in the back. Next comes my shoulder holster, which holds two guns on the outsides of my abdomen. Finally, I put on my custom one. It holds one around the center of my back by attaching to the shoulder holster. It’s a bitch to get on, but the gun is easy enough to retrieve. After putting all the holsters on, now it’s time to load up. I put the Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum in the one on the center of my back. The Taurus Raging Bull Model 500 .5 Magnum and 6” Desert Eagle .50 AE Mark XIX Pistol go in the thigh holsters. The two guns that go in the holster on my lower back are the 7” Mateba Model 6 Unica .44 Magnum and the Smith & Wesson Model 629 .44 Magnum Stealth Hunter. Finally, my Taurus Raging Bull Model 444 .44 Magnum and 8” Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum go in my shoulder holster. Over all this, I throw on my leather trench coat. It keeps me from looking like a walking armory if we have to be out in the open at all. I had also sown some pockets onto the inside so it carried my extra amo.

        I make my way back downstairs and find the boys ready to go.

        “So how are we going to do this?” I ask, raising an eyebrow, “We going to try and jump him outside the bar before he goes in? After he leaves? What’s our plan?”

        “Me and Sammy here were thinking that we’d wait for him to show up at the bar. We’ll wait at the exits and let the others know when he leaves. From there we’ll trail him until we can figure whether or not he’s actually our guy,” Dean says, “We don’t want to take any chances that this is all just some wacked up coincidence and accidentally kill an innocent person. How’s that sound?”

        “Sounds like plan,” I say enthusiastically, “Let’s gank this he-witch and go home!”

        He’d shown up right on time. Nineteen hundred hours sharp. Shortly after that, we split up. Dean stayed with the Impala in the front, Sam took the side exit, and I took the service exit in the back. I’d been standing there for what felt like hours, but my watch told me it had only been one. Time always seemed to slow down when I had to wait for a monster to show itself. Finally, he appeared from within the bar. He came out my exit and began down the street.

        I text Dean and Sam,

He came out through the back. I’ll start tailing him. You guys tail me. See you soon. 

        I follow at a safe distance. Far enough back that he won’t notice me and I’ll have time to hide quickly if he decides to turn around, but close enough that if he makes a move, I’m within killing range. I’ve been following him for about half a mile when he stops, looking behind. I quickly dart behind a building.

        Shit! I think, I hope he’s not on to me. That’d make things awkward. I peer around the corner.

        “Son of a bitch!” I say under my breath. He’s gone. I walk up to where he was and look around. He’s nowhere to be seen. Just as I’m about to give up hope, I hear a sickening scream. It’s coming from within the alley, I run towards the sound. I can hear Sam and Dean running not too far behind me. I turn the corner of the alley. That’s when I see the poor homeless man lying there.

To Be Continued...

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Nightwing vs. Daredevil.

The ninety ninth battle. It’s been what?- Almost eight years, and we’ve come this far. This episode is just… full of a lot of firsts. Like it being the very first Live-Action Battle. Two acrobats, fighting it out in the arena. One will live, and the other……… will be resurrected because let’s face it, this is comic books.

Nightwing′s Preview.

Nightwing: The first Robin, and the first one to leave the nest… Er, cave, as it were. We know how this goes, we see some background and a quick overview of his stats.

We get a rundown of some of the things he’s done, and some of the feats he has. We also get the backstory as to him falling out with Batman, and his graduation to become Nightwing.

Especially since we also get to see how Bruce failed a second time to keep a Robin by his side…

(Red Hood vs. Winter Soldier confirmed?)

Nightwing’s arsenal also gets a page, much like many other previous characters.

By the looks of it, only the variants in the Wing-Dings will give Nightwing an edge at all.

And Nightwing’s feats put him ahead of the game. These are quite impressive for just a regular human with intense acrobatic and martial arts training.

(I’m starting to get the feeling that being able to sneak around Superman is becoming less and less of an impressive feat. But sneaking around Batman is an impressive feat. Give that guy a taste of what he give Commissioner Gordon for a change!)

Overall, Nightwing seems very primed for this battle. It honestly feels like a great way to introduce the character, and unlike his mentor, Nightwing actually possesses a sense of humor and (to me, personally) a lot more likable.

The end line is from when he introduced himself to Starfire after she got flung into the future. Remember that episode?- Man, I miss that show.

Daredevil′s Preview.

Daredevil has an edge or two right off the bat. As a kid who trained to be like his father, he was a pretty good acrobat and fighter. Plus, he’s got a good Netflix show. And thanks to that, I’m sure we all know his backstory. Boxing dad, chemicals in the eyes, superpowers, rigged match gone awry, and dead parents. Because what’s a superhero without dead parents?

(What do comic book creators have against parents?)

But anyways, on to the more kick-ass stuff.

Matt’s overall stats gives him an edge in height and weight. But that’s not going to mean much unless he has some abilities and skills to back him up.

So by the looks of it, they’re both equal in terms of being at peak human physique, and are fairly even in martial arts skills. Daredevil’s radar sense seems to also let him have a perfect detection of his surroundings, and we even get a comparison on how it works.

Overall, his arsenal is what would really set him apart.

Considering that this isn’t as versatile as Nightwing’s arsenal, it says a lot about how much Daredevil relies on his powers and skills to win fights.

And his feats are quite something to be impressed about.

(So they’ve both broken concrete. Good to know).

End line is something from his series. At least, I think so… It’s been a while since I last watched it.

The Battle Itself.

There is no animator for this Live-Action battle. Nightwing will be portrayed by Danny Shepard while Daredevil will be portrayed by Tyler Tackett. This is also a co-lab with ismahawk, who made a five-part Nightwing fan series. So, look out for references to that. Devil of the Night is composed by Brandon Yates.

So, for this being the first live-action battle, there’s a lot of firsts. And the battle opens with Nightwing trying to sneak up on Daredevil, but it not working because… it’s Daredevil.

The primary reason for the fight starting is because they’re both after a briefcase that is important to a case they’re both working.

(Honda: If you hit the trunk, it’ll open).

We get a staredown, and then the action starts.

So, both of them seem to be fairly evenly matched at the start. And the acrobatic work is pretty good too.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me, because I am not exactly an aficionado in live-action fights like this. I’ve been spoiled by the high-budget movies, and high-budget CGI, so I might not be the greatest expert here. Since these sort of live-action comic shows are typically more story-driven than action-driven, it feels a bit… slow.

an aspect about the fight that I don’t really like is that the battle has pauses for brief moments.  While I get that it’s so that the actors can catch their breath, it feels out of place here. Had this been a gun fight, where the combatants would be taking cover behind different objects, there would be a better justification. But here… it feels really out of place.

(At least we get some flips. Every Death Battle needs at least two good flips to feel real (Dammit Torrian, you’ve spoiled us viewers with your choreography and flips)).

And Nightwing’s tech gives him something to figure out about DD. He’s got some sort of anomaly in his brain, and he [Nightwing] is about to formulate a hypothesis. Because he has been trained by Batman.

The little wrestling portion seems to have dislocated Daredevil’s shoulder, but true to Daredevil fashion, he just fixes it himself. What a boss.

Anyways, Nightwing seems to be eager to test his hypothesis by rendering the arena completely dark. And neither fighter is hindered a bit. Daredevil’s super senses and Nightwing’s nightvision tech essentially make the darkness moot.

And just as Nightwing is about to attack, Daredevil deflects the weapons, just like how it was mentioned that he could do back in his rundown.

(The wing-dings landed in a car’s door)

The battle rages on until it Daredevil pins Nightwing down and is ready for a finishing blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Nightwing uses the sonic wing-dings from before and overloads Daredevil’s senses before taking him down.

By the way, that last shot there is a reference to the Nightwing series by ismahawk (I told you to look out for references)

(Jeez, Dick. You just killed a blind guy).

Verdict + Explanation.

So, overall, most of the fight was dead even. Nightwing took strength thanks to several of his feats like keeping the jaw of a shark closing in on him, and Daredevil took speed thanks to his bullet deflection narrowly outpacing Nightwing dodging gunfire.

And in terms of arsenal and equipment, they were also pretty even. Neither suit would be hindered by electricity, and both were very durable.

But much like Spider-Man vs. Batman, only one of them had something that would stop the other in their tracks. Much like how Spider-Man’s spider-sense renders Batman’s stealth useless, Nightwing’s sonic wing-dings would cause a sensory overload on Daredevil’s end.

And the way that Nightwing could deduce it also plays a minor factor. As he is a smart cookie, and his mask sensor would let him know something was up.

Some notecards also indicate that Nightwing could also take advantage of other aspects of Daredevil’s powers, and turn them against him. Effectively reducing Daredevil to just sonar, smell, and other senses outside of his ultra-sensitive touch.

In the end, both fighters were very even, making really feel as if it could go either way, but Nightwing’s detective skills and varied arsenal ended this bout.

Overall impression.

Overall, it feels like a big factor was a variant of the “He’s Batman” argument, but after going back and listening to the explanation a few more times, it became a lot more clear that between the two of them, fifty-five times out of a hundred, Nightwing would come out on top.- At least, that’s how it came off to me.

The pauses in the fight didn’t really feel appropriate, but for a first live-action battle, it was really great. Overall, I’d say that it earns a good 8.6/10. It doesn’t have the same feel as other battles, and I feel that it would take some getting used to. So really, 8.6/10, with some room to grow.

Next Time…

To be honest, I wasn’t sold on battle 100. I was honestly expecting something like Samus vs. Master Chief, Galactus vs. Unicron, Darkseid vs. Thanos, Ruby vs. Maka, or even Wario vs. Rouge. Heck! I was also expecting something like Jaune vs. Tucker, or Danny Phantom vs. Jake Long! But this… This was unexpected. It took a comment on the site to really sell me on it, and even then, I’m still a bit hesitant.

So yeah. Mario vs. Sonic. It’s happening again. While I’m more looking forward to seeing Wiz and Boomstick, it took this comment to really make me see this as not being a waste of time:

So, while I can understand why they tried to hype it up, it took some convincing.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

A new rematch.