Comic Vine Battle of the Week RESULTS: Colossus vs. X-O Manowar

This week, two powerhouses faced off in a battle that would likely consist of a lot of punches and paffs. In one corner, we have Colossus, the super-strong and super-durable X-Man. In the other, we have Aric of Dacia, a man from the past who's now wearing an incredibly sophisticated and powerful armor. They're sporting completely different advantages and the community had all week to think about who would win if these two decided to duke it out. The poll was absurdly close for most of the week, but now all of the votes are in and one of them took a small lead. Ladies and gentlemen, Colossus wins this one.

The mutant earned 50% of the votes and Aric's support wasn't too far behind. The Visigoth received 45% of the votes and 5% thought this battle was simply too close to call. While Aric is wearing the most powerful weapon in his universe, it's important to keep in mind how he fights, too. The guy's brash and loves getting up close and personal. If he were to keep in the air and focus completely on projectiles, he could eventually BFR or even incapacitate the X-Man (e.g. trap him under a great amount of rubble). However, that's not something he tends to do and even remarked in issue #9 that "the ground is a Visigoth's domain." Attempting to go all Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots with Piotr would be a big error and even after enduring a hit or two from Colossus, Aric may still opt for close combat just because he'd be so enraged and would want to beat his enemy as viciously as possible. It's not a guarantee he'd be that stubborn, but it's definitely a possibility.

Simply put: X-O's never faced someone as strong and as durable as Colossus before. If those Vine mechs could temporarily hold Aric in place, then you bet Colossus' massive strength could definitely hinder Aric in close combat and his durability would hold up, too. Colossus obviously won't kill Aric, but he has the strength and durability required to temporarily knockout the Valiant character. And in the event Aric does take to the sky, Colossus is hardly helpless. The man has numerous displays of throwing things -- be it Wolverine or rubble -- with solid accuracy. The advantage is obviously with X-O in that scenario, but Piotr won't just stand around and get blasted apart without doing something about it.

Ultimately, It'll no doubt be a good fight and both characters will get tossed around quite a bit, but Colossus' sheer strength and toughness should allow him to take it when the fight reaches close range... and given Aric's mentality, that's absolutely not far-fetched.

As always, there were some solid posts made throughout the week. If you took the time to vote or jump into the debate, give yourself a nice pat on the back and then treat yourself to a snack of your choice. You've earned it. It wasn't easy picking just two posts to highlight, but it had to be done. So, read on to see key arguments made by the community.

Viner Argument of the Week for Colossus is by kidman560

"1. Durability- Colossus has gone toe to toe with Gladiator and traded punch for punch with him for a long time until Gladiator understandably won. However i dont see X-O having any attack that even comes close to a single Gladiator strike let alone multiple. Colossus has also tanked blasts from the Omega Sentinel so Manowar's energy attacks wont do much here either. And now ive gotten word that he survived a Celestial Attack... and people think Manowar's energy attacks will even bother him?

2. Strength- Colossus again just Crushes X-0 here. as ive said before Colossus has fought and hurt Gladiator before. Colossus has also sent Juggernaut flying with a single punch (which not many people can do) so there really is no debate about who is stronger

3. Speed- Colossus appears slow but he has taken on members with high speeds... Riptide, Iron Man, Guardian (from Alpha Flight) and Omega Sentinel. These are all beings of fairly high speeds. I may not be an expert on Manowar but i highly doubt his speed is greater than Guardian or Iron man. SO while Colossus may be slower in over all speed it does not affect the battle in a significant way.

4. Intelligence- it is my understanding that Aric is "hot-headed" that is a word that no one would use to describe Colossus. From what i can tell X-0 is more than likely going to charge straight at Colossus. This is exactly what Colossus needs to secure the win. 2 shots from Colossus and i dont think Aric is going to have it in him to get back up or fight

All in all what it comes down to is i havent seen anything that remotely gives me the idea that Aric can hurt Colossus.

Colossus wins"

Viner Argument of the Week for X-O Manowar is by TheAmazingImmortalMan

"Ok one of my favorite X-Men vs my favorite Valiant character. Piotr is incredibly durable and strong, his raw strength is not easy to match and with the setting in a generic city with items in the way such as cars and what not that will give Colossus a lot of options too play with as far as chucking small cars lamp posts and large pieces of building and concrete to make up for the immediate advantage that Aric has, which is ranged fighting. Aric has his blasts from his suit that will still give him an advantage in that regard, I do believe Piotr is durable enough to tank a few of those blasts.

Aric will also have the advantage in speed not only can he fly, but he can also move incredibly fast, and his reaction speed was insane when he fought the invading armies in Unity and the first Unity squad, where it was stated XO was faster than anything they have measured. He flies and tears through ships and hordes of enemies with ease, even without the armor Aric is a great h2h combatant and was trained by the Eternal Warrior. The only downfall is Aric shows the tendency to lose his temper, and he lets it get the best of him at times. The Armor has a healing ability and can tank a most of what Piotr can dish out.

IMO Aric would take the win eventually, Colossus while formidable is limited in forms of attack, and the XO Manowar Armor gives Aric a lot of artillery and versatility in this fight."

There's no teaser for next week's battle because we're still narrowing down the many options. This segment tries to avoid the cliche (Hawkeye vs. Green Arrow! Deadpool vs. Deathstroke!) and aims to make matches that'll make you really think about the various advantages each character has and how critical they'll be in the fight. So yeah, needless to say, we try to make sure the fights are balanced and that a good case can be made for either side before moving forward with 'em. We feel bad about not giving you a teaser, so here's a look at Colossus celebrating his victory.

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)
• Moon Knight vs. Red Hood (Winner: Moon Knight)
• Catman/Deadshot vs. Bullseye/Punisher (Winner: Bullseye/Punisher)
• Aquaman vs. Thing (Winner: Aquaman)
• Deadpool vs. TMNT (Winner: Too close to call)
• Movie Black Widow vs. TV Green Arrow (Winner: TV Green Arrow)
• Movie Batman vs. Movie Dredd (Winner: Movie Dredd)
• Predator vs. Boba Fett (Winner: Predator)
• Luke Cage/Iron Fist vs. Scarlet Spider/Venom (Winner: Scarlet Spider/Venom)
• Cardiac vs. Hobgoblin (Winner: Hobgoblin)
• Gambit vs. Nightcrawler (Winner: Nightcrawler)
• Sinestro vs. Wonder Woman (Winner: Wonder Woman)
• Zombie Apocalypse Scenario (Winner: Deathstroke)
• Superior Spider-Man/Hobgoblin vs. Wolverine/Omega Red (Winner:Wolverine/Omega Red)
• Marvel vs. DC Dodgeball Scenario (Winner: Marvel)
• Bloodshot vs. Daredevil (Winner: Bloodshot)
• Movie Faora vs. Movie Thor (Winner: Thor)
• Elektra vs. Shredder (Winner: Shredder)
• Marvel vs. DC Paintball Scenario (Winner: Marvel)
• Animated Versions: Batman/Katana vs. TMNT (Winner: TMNT)
• Luther Strode vs. Sabretooth (Winner: Luther Strode)
• Guardians of the Galaxy vs. X-Force (Winner: Guardians of the Galaxy)

Want to suggest a Battle of the Week? Feel free to comment below or send it to Gregg via Twitter. Keep in mind, it doesn't have to be Marvel or DC only, but it must be comic related!

Colossus is great and all, but even after reading everyone's well thought-out and convincing opinions, I still can't see how that outcome would ever be possible.

EDIT: To remove snarky part.

Yet Daredevil -- an immensely popular character -- lost to Bloodshot, despite Daredevil having vaaaaastly superior displays of skill, agility and reflexes. Will popularity always play some kind of role? Absolutely, there's no denying that. But to credit Colossus' victory to solely that is totally unjust to me. If you think Aric should win, that's perfectly fine and you have every right to. But to ignore the possibility he could lose? Well, that just seems a bit unreasonable to me, especially given the fact Colossus has superior strength feats, has the durability feats to hold up against numerous attacks, and Aric's brash nature means he's more than likely to engage Colossus in close proximity. X-O's faced a variety of opponents in his short run, yet none have been as physically strong or as durable as Piotr. To think the X-Man can accomplish a temporary knockout -- something we've seen happen to Aric -- is not far-fetched to me at all. But, uh... to each their own, I guess? I hope you don't view this as singling you out or anything like that, it's just I often see the popularity card get dropped and wanted to chime in.

@k4tzm4n: Well said

Hmm, this one is a shock.

I'd like to see Travis Clevenger from 'Bloodhound' against someone interesting. I can't think who though? Anyone?

Great reasoning sir

Add to that, this vote was close. Look at Ultimate Captain America vs Deathstroke. Or Miles vs Batman Beyond of all things. People base their votes off the TV Shows or simply knowing nothing of Ultimate Cap, thinking he was 616. The polls were way off. This one had two characters who were relatively not super popular, and great arguments to both sides. The polls were close, and Manawar was ahead in the early days in the polls at least.

So in the end this was a very good battle of non Marvel vs DC, which has been done to death on every comic site.

I disagree. For one I think Daredevil wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell against Bloodshot. For the second point, you found one of the only situations in which a less popular character has won over a popular one. I mean, for god's sake, Batman seems to win every couple of fuckin weeks. And I'm sorry, I have put a lot of thought into this in the past week, more than I'm going to admit that's for sure, and I don't see how a hard man made of metal could defeat a weapon that has slaughtered entire civilzations and can regrow any of it's wearer's vital bits in great haste. I mean, Colossus has died, so we know he's not indestructible. For him to win in a one-on-one against a Manowar class (or maybe even a Commando class) armor seems like it would require exactly that, indestructibility.

What's funny about this discussion to me is that I'm a huge fan of both Daredevil and Colossus, have been for several decades. Whereas I've only been a fan of the valiant characters for two decades, but it is what it is.

X O should have won this IMO.

Colossus rightfully did in mine.

@cadencev2: The Ultimate Cap vs Deathstroke fight should have been too close to call

@k4tzm4n said:

X-O's faced a variety of opponents in his short run, yet none have been as physically strong or as durable as Piotr.

Also, does that mean the volumes of the books that they are currently in is all we're taking into account? I was under the impression it took all of the characters respective histories into account since their creation? Because X-O has been around about 20 years, and has fought way stronger and more durable enemies than Piotr in that time.

EDIT: 22 years.

This honestly surprised me & I even voted for colossus.

Aric would not lose this

Yes, this was only using current X-O since it's a total reboot of the character.

Uh... well yeah, seeing as Valiant's return is a total reboot and every single picture I used is modern Aric, the thought of clarifying "hey, in case you can't tell, this is obviously the new version of the character" never even crossed my mind because I honestly thought it was obvious enough. If this somehow confused you, then I apologize, but I legitimately thought it was clear enough that it didn't even need to be stated. Valiant's return is a total reboot and not connected to the old universe.

Haha, no worries. It's not like I'll lose sleep over it, I was just legitimately confused. It's not that big a deal.

Well, now that that's cleared up, does your opinion remain the same or do you believe it's closer?

Edit to respond to your edit: It's tricky with DC characters since what is and isn't considered canon still remains unclear with some. With Batman, I tend to make it so he has his New 52 gear yet skill feats from pre-Flashpoint are still applicable since he's supposed to remain that skilled... even if the timeline makes no sense (Batman for 5 years and Damian is 10 years-old... whaaaaaaa?).

Sam and Dean Winchester vs. Stefan and Damon Salvatore. It's not really comic book characters, but it would still be a good one.

@k4tzm4n: It's definitely a closer fight with that caveat in place, but I'm still sticking with my man Aric in the end. And if it was V1 Aric and he had Ken Clarkson there to annoy Colossus to death there would be no contest.

Happy to hear it :D

Also, I edited my last post.

Vampire Diaries?!

BANNED.

But really, sorry, I try to keep it limited to comic book characters. Perhaps you could make that in Off-Topic?

Thanks for taking the time to ease my raging nerd-concerns, haha.

@k4tzm4n: Yes sir. Ok, it was just an idea for something new so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Hey, always happy to hear ideas, but yeah, I try to keep this to characters from comics. Thanks anyway.

You're welcome.

Hope they do a DC character next week

Anyone in particular you'd like to see?

@k4tzm4n: superman vs hyperion, helspont vs somebody, or first lantern vs Franklin Richards

Edit: volthoom at full power

Fan of powerhouses, eh? They appear less frequently because honestly, it's really tough to balance them in remotely original matches. I'm trying, though.

@k4tzm4n: yeah I hear you how about Talon vs Deadpool or black widow vs huntress

Your kidding right @ulquiorraschiffer? Just from the list above of previous fights listed above there are many less popular that win

• Daredevil vs. Nightwing (Winner: Daredevil)
• Ultimate Captain America vs. Deathstroke (Winner: Deathstroke)
• Moon Knight vs. Red Hood (Winner: Moon Knight)
• Movie Black Widow vs. TV Green Arrow (Winner: TV Green Arrow)
• Movie Batman vs. Movie Dredd (Winner: Movie Dredd)
• Bloodshot vs. Daredevil (Winner: Bloodshot)
• Animated Versions: Batman/Katana vs. TMNT (Winner: TMNT)
• Luther Strode vs. Sabretooth (Winner: Luther Strode)
• Guardians of the Galaxy vs. X-Force (Winner: Guardians of the Galaxy)

These are all cases where the lesser known won (I even took some out i thought were debatable on who was lesser known)

as for the current match up X-O might be strong but Colossus skin is made of Osmium (Hardest metal of the platinum family, rivaling that of diamonds) Then of course it is supposedly osmium from another dimension so they could say it is as hard as they want too.

I'm happy. Colossus was losing in the beginning of the pool, but it's cool to see he made a comeback. Though Valiant may be my current favorite comic company, I'd rather root for one of my favorite characters.

Colossus my boy!! :)

@mikep12: Superman vs Hyperion would be awesome. (I'm a huge fan of both of them) But which Hyperion?

@k4tzm4n: hey bro this is totally a suggestion but what would you say to

Psylocke (with limited TP/TK) vs someone like Cassandra Cain (or something like that)

because Psylocke is a relatively unknown character and it would be a good chance for the Vine in general to get a reading on her powers.

I honestly thought X-O would win the poll, I know he has a large fan base here, but I agree that Colossus should win a majority.

This comes from someone who doesn't follow either but just spent the week researching both to get a better idea and familiarity of both characters. Interesting fight.

Would love to see Lono or the Minute Men from 100 Bullets in a matchup with some equally skilled assassins, but can't decide who. Equally a battle of the ladies, Shiva vs Lady Bullseye

Makes sense. The X-O suit definitely has the capability to thoroughly beat Colossus, but not so much in the hands of Aric.

@k4tzm4n: Midnighter (New 52) vs Batman

@micah: @maddpanda531: current versions also micah midnighters far from street level

@mikep12: That would be awsome, I wanna see that and Ninjak vs Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow

@micah: unfortunately not an expert on either of those

@k4tzm4n: Anti-Venom vs Clayface

@mikep12: Well start with the fact that their Ninjas and go from their :)

Black Manta(new 52) vs Cyclops

Ares(Marvel) vs Toxin(Brock)

Carnage vs Thing

Circle of 4 vs Suicide squad

@micah: lol

Damn, close fight. I thought X-O had this for sure.

Not that I really want to see this match up, but it is a possible match up in a round about way. You want to keep it with comic book characters, well DC has put out multiple volumes of that Supernatural as well as a new run of that Banned one (VD). So you could do it.... if you had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for some reason.