Wonder Woman has the honor of being our latest Character of the Month. That means we're going to give the DC heroine a ton of love in all kinds of articles throughout November, but it also means we're going to push her abilities as a combatant in the Battle of the Week segment! Her very first challenger: Marvel's Beta Ray Bill.
The community has been voting and talking about this fight since Monday. Did they side with Diana because of her excellent hand-to-hand abilities, superb reflexes, and equipment (e.g. lasso, durable bracelets)? Or did they vote for Beta Ray Bill because of the raw might he possesses and the damage he can unleash with Strormbreaker? So, who wins when these two slug it out in a city? The poll is now closed and, according to the voters, Wonder Woman wins!
It looks like you all really like powerhouse battles. This was an incredibly active Battle of the Week, generating 14 pages of discussion and receiving more than 1,500 votes. The poll was very close for most of the week, with Wonder Woman and Beta Ray Bill occasionally earning a few percentages points over the other. However, as the end of the poll came closer and closer, Diana began to keep a nice grip on the lead and the Marvel cosmic character just couldn't catch up. In the end, 49% of the voters sided with Wonder Woman, 45% supported Beta Ray Bill, and 6% think this one is just too close to call. Both sides put up one hell of a fight! Now, let's see what the community had to say about this brawl between two titans.
Scarbearer
"I think Wonder Woman takes this by a slim margin. Bill's got all the tools to take Diana, down, but I think Diana has the right tools and multiple ways to counter Bill's best blows. I think her durability feats stack up to survive a few hits of Bill's lightning, but I think even so she's got the speed feats to avoid most of them.
In terms of raw fighting skill, Diana is also one of the few powerhouses that I think you can make an easy argument for being a more skilled fighter than Bill. She is far less likely to make the mistake that Bill needs to capitalize on to win.
It certainly wouldn't be a clean sweep, but I think Diana would take 6 fights out of 10 if they were to really tear into each other."
GHoST2130
"I say Beta Ray Bill beats pre-new 52 Wonder Woman. Stormbreaker gives him a huge advantage, as a weapon it is nigh-unbreakable and capable of destroying almost anything. Stormbreaker also gives Beta Ray Bill energy projection and weather control abilities that at least rival Thor's, capable of instantaneously creating incredibly powerful storms, create and project immense bolts of lightning, and create and control hurricane force winds, in addition to the ability to travel at speeds fast enough to keep up with the Silver Surfer's. In terms of strength, I think he is and equal to Wonder Woman, but he is, at the very least, comparable and therefore enough to hurt Wonder Woman, you do not need to be equal in strength or stronger in order to harm someone in a fight especially one where weapons are involved. Beta Ray Bill's Durability borders on obscene, he has taken planet destruction blasts and survived the core of a sun without ill effect. Now the big question is the issue of speed and I think it needs to be looked at in a different way. Yes, Wonder Woman is faster than Beta Ray Bill, however, Beta Ray Bill has enhanced senses and reflexes the question is not if Beta Ray Bill can physically keep up, the question is can Beta Ray Bill follow Wonder Woman's movements well enough to counter attack and/or guard sufficiently to avoid significant damage, and I believe he can, especially considering his durability and his energy projection abilities. I mean, I do not think it is incredibly one sided, it is still a close fight, however, I do not think Wonder Woman's speed advantage is enough to remove the significant advantage of Stormbreaker's abilities."
Owie
"I'm trying to envision how this fight actually goes down. They start from a distance away (100'). WW is going to close for sure since she has no major ranged attacks; BRB might close but might also attack from a distance. However Diana can close that gap pretty quick, her running speeds are extremely enhanced and well documented, and in character. Let's say she closes and he attacks from a distance. He's not going to go all out in a generally populated area on his first attack. And I'm pretty sure she's going to dodge or deflect those attacks through speed and agility. They're not bullets, but being able to deflect machine gun bullets with your arms means having ridiculously good reaction time, and that applies to dodging as well as deflecting. So one way or the other I'm pretty sure she'd going to end up close to BRB and without major harm.
Close up, she has way faster tactical moving speed and reflexes. They can both fly at enormous speeds but I am highly doubtful that he has the aerial mobility/agility she does if they take to the air. I'm assuming no sword as it's not standard equipment regardless of whether it existed or not pre-52. She's not going to have much luck damaging him with pure punches or kicks with his durability, but her speed is going to allow her to land a bunch of hits. Also, she is a martial artist and wrestler as well as a brawler and she's going to use those skills to attempt to immobilize on him in the same way she has in her numerous fights against Superman, Supergirl, and Power Girl. Meanwhile Bill is going to melee right back. I think Bill is more skilled than Thor, honestly, he is a tactical fighter, but he's just not at her level. He's going to probably do more damage on any given strike than she would, but he's going to have a harder time hitting her. But in the end I don't see either one taking a win from this phase of the fight. Both of their many battles against other heavy hitters give me no reason to think they can easily defeat the other, or be easily defeated, from brute force.
At some point, all discussion of planet busting aside, the two of them are going to decide that melee isn't going to hack it. Diana is eventually going to go for her lasso, maybe sooner than later. Bill is going to add lots of energy blasts and at the very least massive winds to his melee fighting, maybe sooner than later.
At some point, one of those two tactics is going to beat the other. At this point I still can't decide who goes down first. I am leaning toward too close to call."
TheTrueRedKid
"Yes!!! This is what I’m talking about.
This is a tough battle. As stated earlier, fights between immensely super-powered beings are going to come down to a few factors, because there powers allow them to cover so many bases. @highaccuser @themagicstik and @zhurong had great arguments that helped put the tide on Wonder Woman’s side.
Okay, Wonder Woman and Beta Ray Bill can punch and kick each other all day. All planet-busting and star core-surviving displays aside, the point is both are essentially invulnerable to all forms of possible damage. So the question is: How will the battle end? Or, more precisely, how CAN the battle end? What kind of move is going to put the brakes on either one of them?
For the badass Beta Ray Bill, he has the coup-de-grace ability to teleport a combatant from the battlefield, and make his escape, or make it so that it would take too long for the opponent to get back to the fight. This is a pretty crazy ability. I could see this putting an end to things, except for the fact that, by definition, it also a last ditch effort. If you’re trying to stop your opponent, why would you just transport them to some undisclosed location, just so they could come back at some point and you’d have to fight them again? The only way this would come into play would be to save your own life, at the cost of half-assedly dealing with your opponent. Basically, if you know you’re about to lose, you’ll whip this one out.
Wonder Woman, for all her Themyscirian might, has kind of the same issue as BRB. They’re both basically invulnerable, so what do you do to stop your opponent, when just beating them up is really not one of your options? This is where WW will pull ahead. She has the lasso. It may sound like a small detail, but it’s not. No one is known to have broken out of that lasso. With her weapon, she will be able to wrap Bill up, and keep him contained until she decides what she wants to do with him. And since technical knockout, i.e. indefinite immobilization counts as a win in this fight, that’s all she has to do. She has all the right parameters to put the lasso into play, as well. Speed, strength, durability, and acumen in order to get the move off – she has them all.
Due to the fact that WW has an ability to end the battle without having to use a last-ditch effort to avoid defeat, I give this fight to Diana of Themyscira 9/10."
That's it for the latest Battle of the Week. You're welcome to continue the Wonder Woman vs. Beta Ray Bill debate below (click here to see all of the match's rules like location and more), but you're also free to make suggestions for Wonder Woman's NEXT opponent! Who do you think is worthy of being her second challenger? Share your ideas for opponents below or via Twitter. Don't forget to check the homepage Monday to see who Diana will fight next!
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