Man, this was ridiculously close! Every 'Comic Vine Battle of the Week' has had a pretty clear winner so far, but this week, one of the combatants barely edged out a victory. In fact, he only took the lead by 1% and that single percentage point was often shifting back and forth between them during the week. After five days of debate, more than 550 Viners cast their votes and in the end, the people have declared a winner. Taking 47% of the votes, Moon Knight defeats Red Hood!
Jason definitely gave him trouble before going down for the count, though. The DC character earned 46% of the votes and 7% thought it was too close to call -- and based on the verdict, I can't blame them for thinking such. That said, my vote went to Moon Knight. The two are fairly comparable in a lot of factors (physicals, skill), but ultimately, Moon Knight's pain tolerance should keep him in the game longer than his opponent. Additionally, while they're in a similar level of skill, I do think Marc Spector has better feats under this belt even though Jason receiving training from Batman and many more in The New 52 (including the All Caste and Lady Shiva). But at the end of the day, training doesn't mean everything if you don't have the showings to actually prove you're more talented than your foe. And in this case, I think Marc's showings against a plethora of characters can support giving him a slight edge in that regard.
Viner Argument of the Week for Moon Knight is by CitizenBane
"Moon Knight wins. Jason's skill resume is a bit lacking in comparison to people like Nightwing; he lost to Batman rather rapidly once Bruce took him seriously in the original pre-Flashpoint Under the Hood arc (appeared to have the upper hand in the new 52, but that was one panel and no details were provided so virtually anything could have happened before that), and lost to a blind, disoriented (and gassed, if I remember correctly) Nightwing.
Moon Knight's skill feats are better, and I'm ignoring that nonsense with Taskmaster here; even disregarding the fights while he had powers, he's done well against Deadpool, Swordsman, and as a high showing, against the useless Mac Gargan Venom. Neither of them have ever struck me as especially great marksmen along the lines of a Deadshot or Bullseye, but Spector has accuracy feats with his crescent darts that should match up well with the Hood's.
What really sells it for me is Spector's more impressive damage soak. He's been on the receiving end of several gruesome beatings and continued to fight while bleeding profusely from a half dozen different places. He'll outlast Todd, if nothing else."
Unfortunately, no one from the comic industry was able to chime in this week. However, my fellow Comic Vine staffers were more than happy to share their thoughts.
Mat 'Inferiorego' Elfring:
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME, GREGG?! My two favorite b-list heroes fighting it out?
For me, this all depends on what version of Moon Knight we're dealing with. Is the the original MK that pretended to be a cabby to keep his ear to the streets? Is it the mid-2000s MK that was incredibly insane? Or was it the most recent incarnation of MK that thought he was hanging out with the Avengers, but it was all in his head? After looking at the rules, you picked the pre-Bendis run of MK? The one where Marc Spector tries to talk to his god all the time? The one that had some insanely brutal fights? The one that... wait... didn't he die?
What we have here is two character with incredibly confusing histories. Red Hood has a good amount of training under his belt, as well as a few fights, but I'm going to give the slight edge to Moon Knight simply because the new 52 version of Red Hood is a bit more sane and a tad more tame. How do you stop a crazy person in battle, unless you're a psychiatrist?"
Corey 'Undeadpool' Schroeder:
"Red Hood VS Moon Knight is about as close to "too close to call" as I'm willing to get, and even though I MAY have voted that way (then again, I may not have), upon closer examination: I think Red Hood takes this one by MICROMETERS. Marc Spector, somewhat ironically, has the scion of Batman beat in the gadgets department. Todd has often eschewed the more fancy trappings of his mentor, preferring pistols and hand-to-hand blades (the occasional mini-gun not withstanding), but what Todd lacks in versatility, he makes up for in training and sheer, hellish determination.
Moon Knight, in the time period we're talking about, is at his most ruthless, but he's also wracked with guilt and a sense of remorse over going too far and haunted by visions from his god, meanwhile Jason has never been more determined and focused. And we're talking about someone who trained under both Batman AND the Talia al Ghul. Spector can throw out all the moon-shaped shurikens he likes, you think Jason doesn't have a million and one ways to counter those after years of working with the Bat?
It will be a pitched and vicious battle, don't get me wrong, but every time Spector hesitates, Todd will be there exploiting the moment. This definitely degenerates into an UGLY slugfest between the two, and in that situation I ultimately see Red Hood taking this with a non-lethal victory."
Last but most definitely not least, here's a tease for next week's battle! Check the homepage on Monday to see who they are!
Previous 'Comic Vine Battle of the Week' results
- Daredevil vs. Nightwing (Winner: Daredevil)
- Ultimate Captain America vs. Deathstroke (Winner: Deathstroke)
- Arkillo vs. Hulk (Winner: Hulk)
- Snake Eyes vs. X-23 (Winner: X-23)
Want to suggest a battle? Feel free to comment below or send it to Gregg via Twitter.