Comic Vine Battle of the Week: Snake Eyes vs. X-23

Haven't been interested in the last two :( The first two were perfect.

@alkusanagi: not really if they are 50 feet away and at night then Snake has more than enough time to run down an alley and vanish.

i just hate that people are voting before they even know about snake eyes, i mean honestly he is single handily the best and most skilled fighter in any comic

@allstarsuperman: no, it says she only has it on her claws.

Snake Eyes is amazing, but I don't see him winning this. X-23 has had extensive training over the years which would already make her a formidable opponent - she wouldn't win based on pure experience since Snake Eyes definitely has more, but her mutant enhancements make her the definite victor here.

unlike most of her opponents there is no banter with snake eyes , snake eyes decapitates x-23 .

whats up with these lame ass picks i mean x-23 has an advantage the healing an all but id go for snake eyes but u guys need better match makers lol

You haven't looked at the poll, have you? If this is such an unfair fight, surely you can back up those words and change the tide of the voting, yes?

Because if you're rooting for Snake Eyes and actually want to give him a chance, comments like that aren't going to help his odds. Like, at all, especially when people supporting X-23 are giving legitimate reasons.

X-23, hands down.

If X-23 didn't have a healing factor i would say snake eyes, but she does so X-23 would probably win

Alright, first things first. Lets clear up some of the misconceptions I’ve seen being tossed around in this thread.

#1. Snake-Eyes is just some dude.

I am assuming that the poster was referencing the fact that Snake-Eyes is human and appears to possess no powers. This is clearly incorrect. A majority of what Snake-Eyes does issue to issue is clearly superhuman. How many street level humans do you know that can crush stone statues with their fists, dodge bullets after they are fired, catch arrows out of the air, or chase down a guy on a motorcycle on foot? (Just to name a few things) Snake-Eyes, has demonstrated that due to his ninja training he is indeed superhuman.How many humans you know can do this?

#2. X-23 will simply cut his sword to ribbons.

This is completely false. Arashikage blades forged of Onihashi laminated steel are considered to be for all intents and purposes unbreakable.

#3. Snake-Eyes has never taken on superhuman opponents.

Also false. Snake-Eyes has taken on a multitude of different superhuman opponents, most notably Storm Shadow who also is an elite street level character with superhuman feats. They have faced each other hundreds of times and Storm Shadow is both faster and more skilled than X-23. Snake-Eyes has faced both the Hard Master and the Soft Master in combat and beaten both. They both have superhuman feats as well. Snake-Eyes has also faced a world class mercenary with a stealth suit that grants him a high level of durability as well as invisibility, a fighter who has abilities that are a cross between Taskmaster’s photographic reflexes and a less powerful version of Midnighter’s battle computer, and a pair of ninja’s who are telepathically linked. Then he also takes on droves of Neo-Vipers who have strength and reflexes twice that of a normal soldier, Arashikage ninjas who are also superhuman, Cyborg Ninjas, Androids, Elite Vipers, etc.

#4 Snake-Eyes is blind.

Snake-Eyes is mute, but not blind lol. Although he can fight blind extremely well.

X-23 can be dismembered.... And snake has range with his sword. The only problem is that x-23's claws will cut through his sword. Then again, he has more blades after he sees the sharpness of her claws. This will be closer than people think.

I'll wait for more argument for Snake Eyes before voting.

x-23

This is the first one where I've voted for "Too close to decide".

This is the only part of your argument I'd really quibble with: I don't think you can be quite so certain when the sword is pitted against a fictional material that's fairly consistently shown to be able to destroy pretty much anything except itself and a godly object like Thor's hammer.

Honestly I don't even get where people are coming from here? The material doesn't matter, X-23 can't generate enough force to break Snake-Eyes sword. If it was hulk swinging an adamantium blade then yes I'd give it to you maybe, but to just assume X-23 can cut through his sword (which is nigh unbreakable) just because she has admantium claws is a big stretch.

Given that only her claws are indestructible (yes I read her powers since I haven't really been interested in her as a character) I feel that snake eyes would most likely get lucky and cut off an arm or a leg, and assuming it would take some time for the wounds to heal it would allow him to go in for the win.

Much estimated Katzman, what about an all female battle, a few options down here:

Vampirella vs. Selene (Underworld)

Red Sonja (Conan) vs. Katana (DC Comics)

Angela (Spawn) vs. Zealot (WildStorm/DC Comics)

Thanks and best regards

In terms of advantages and disadvantages, I believe Snake-Eyes has a fair edge on skill. Not a lot, but distinct.

In terms of weapons, her claws have the advantage in the sense that they could cut through his sword if they clash. Otherwise it doesn't matter, since they both have the potential to cut each other with their edged weapons. However, since they start 50' apart, Snake-Eyes has a clear weapons advantage. Snake-Eyes regular gear includes various guns and grenades in addition to his standard ninja weapons. 50' gives a lot of time for him to shoot her, injure her with frag grenades, or perhaps use smoke etc. grenades. X-23 can dodge some, of course, but I doubt all, and that helps soften her up--as well as clue him in on her healing factor.

In terms of agility and strength, X-23 is probably technically stronger, but I doubt it will make much difference in this particular fight. In terms of agility and speed, while X-23 is officially superhuman, Snakes is also functionally if not technically superhuman and I would probably give him the edge.

In terms of powers, obviously she has them and he doesn't. Her healing factor is a major factor in the fight. However, there are definitely ways Snake-Eyes can win. He can decapitate and/or cut off her limbs--while her healing factor can heal any limbs he might cut off, it's not fast enough to work in the middle of the fight. He can put her in arm locks (etc) for incapacitation. He can potentially drown her if he finds any water anywhere--a fountain, a restaurant sink. These are not automatic wins, they are just possible options for getting around her healing factor. I believe he is skilled enough to do any of these things to X-23 given the right chance. He won't know she has a healing factor right away, but he will be able to figure it out pretty quickly, and will then go for one of the methods I just described. Again, I'm just listing these are possible tactics.

So, put all that together with some definite options for Snake-Eyes to take in order to actually put her down, at least temporarily, and I think Snakes takes the majority. 6-7/10.

Anyone voting for X-23 clearly doesn't know what Snake-Eyes is capable of.

1. Snake-Eyes is trained as an Arashikage Ninja (The most deadly and efficient ninja clan)
2. Snake-Eyes is also a Commando/Army Ranger proficient in all forms of hand held firearms, and explosives.
3. His sword which is made from a secret technique used only by the Arashikage, can not break, no matter what is used against it. (It would slice right through the Adamantium bones of X-23 (I believe Stan Lee once said that Snake-Eyes's sword would go through Wolverine))
4. At 50 feet away Snake-Eyes could kill X-23 1000 different ways before she even realizes the fight had begun.
5. Snake-Eyes's only downfall in this match would be the fact that he would rather let her live then strike her down for no reason, but even then he'd still incapacitate her.

This is the best scenario of how a fight between these two would go down:

Snake-Eyes drops smoke bombs when X-23 lunges at him. He disappears into the shadows since it is night. X-23 is confused for a brief moment, but picks up his scent and attacks again. Snake-Eyes throws several ninja stars, but X-23 uses her blades to slice them out of the sky. Snake-Eyes is surprised to see the blades spring from her flesh, but it doesn't stop him. This time Snake-Eyes unloads his dual uzis into her chest. X-23 drops, and Snake-Eyes believes he won. He approaches the falling Laura, only to find her wounds healing. X-23 unleashes the blades in her feet, and slashes Snake-Eyes across his stomach. The cut isn't too deep as Snake-Eyes managed to jump back. X-23 jumps to her feet and the two engage in combat. Snake-Eyes gains the reach by using his sword to keep her at bay. X-23 manages to land small cuts her and there against Snake-Eyes, but he shows no signs of fatigue or pain. This angers X-23 and she goes into her berserk rage. Snake-Eyes in a ninja trance that allows him to control his heartbeat and steady his nerves, uses X-23's rage against her, and soon sweeps her feet out from under her and lands what should be a lethal cut across her abdomen, however the healing factor saves her once again. X-23 fights her way back to her feet, and once again the two lock in combat. X-23 thinking she could distract Snake-Eyes by removing his mask soon aims all her attacks at his head. She gets lucky and soon removes the mask only to be met by a hideously burnt and scarred face. X-23 is taken back by the horror that is Snake-Eyes, and in that brief moment of horror Snake-Eyes slashes at a speed X-23 hardly even recognizes. A soft hiss goes through the air, and Laura stands frozen in place. Snake-Eyes puts his sword back into his scabbard turns and walks away. X-23 falls to her knees, then arches over and hits the ground. As her body touches the ground her head rolls away, and the fight is over. Snake-Eyes is victorious!

Snake-Eyes wins this battle 10/10 times!

Reposting from the other page because I thought for some reason the thread was all linked:

I'm going to play devil's advocate because I think Snake Eyes can take this. The main reason being he is such a highly trained soldier who's tactics are not one or even two dimensional, but incredibly multi-dimensional. I would wager to say Snake-Eyes has the edge in training, tactics, speed, equipment versatility, and environment usage. X-23 I'd give the edge to in durability, strength, powers, and melee weapons. It is debatable if Snake-Eyes' sword can be cut or not, so I will assume it can be for the sake of argument. Now obviously as someone who has high level ninja training Snake would try to stealth early, and while X's nose (like Wolverine's) can track him it is not immediate. What I mean is it is not like a motion detector where she can track him in real time as he moves. There would be a delay, being likely 2-5 seconds behind his movements. Not saying it's a decisive advantage, but only that tactically cannot be overlooked. If she broke his sword in melee, he carries (or at least used to) a brass knuckle trench knife, and usually 2 pistols, one typically being an auto-pistol.

This is where the dynamic training comes into play. Snake-Eyes was a Special Forces Delta Operator before becoming a Joe, if option one doesn't work he will move to option two. Delta Operators can fire on the move at a target over 25 feet away and hit a grouping no wider than 1/4 inch. Now X is not a typical target, and will be tougher to hit than your standard enemy soldier, but I believe Snake can get an accurate shot in a vital area (say, the head). Now X is not adamantium laced like Wolverine, a shot such as that should knock her off balance making follow-up shots easier. Several shots to the head should incapacitate, giving Snake the opportunity to decapitate.

If he chooses to engage in melee, it becomes a combination of swordplay and gunplay (Gun-Fu if you would) with a primary focus on dodging X's attacks rather than blocking (this again assumes Snake's sword can be broken and has been at this point). In which case it's a matter of targeting X's joints, as they are the weakest and easiest to break points on the body and due to their complexity may take longer to recover (not much longer, but every second would count in a fight like this so it could be all either side might need).

It's going to be a long fight, with quick application of carefully, and possibly painfully, earned knowledge of X's powers. I think X will not be so quick to adapt to Snake-Eyes due his huge dynamic of martial arts and Special Forces training, and Snake-Eyes would be quicker to adapt and overcome X's superior powerset. X is more likely to show her hand first in all her potential as well, while I think Snake-Eyes' training teaches him to use as much as needed, and as the situation evolves he would show more potential and use more equipment.

The issue of morality is what really serves as Snake-Eyes disadvantage. Snake-Eyes has shown many times he will not kill if it is avoidable. As both a code of honor, and that Special Operators (while very efficient killers) are trained to recognize a live prisoner is worth more than a dead body. Now Wolverine, despite his healing factor, has been KO'd in comics. That is with his skeleton, granted its against super-powered beings. That being said it would stand to reason a peak-level human such as Snake-Eyes could KO X-23 with several, or perhaps many, blows to the head from that brass-knuckle trench knife. Especially with Snake's training he would know where the pressure points are on the jaw and around the skull that we refer to as the "knockout points". Since victory can be achieved by KO I would say its possible.

This is by no means easy, or short. This is a long, painful fight. And Snake-Eyes would not take an overwhelming majority, but I'll risk it to say he could win 6/10. Thanks for reading.

She has a healing factor and the unbreakable bone/ Wolverine thing going, this is a no brainer! I have love for Snake Eyes and like him more.

No, she doesn't. Only her claws are laced in adamantium.

X-23 has a lot of advantages here. She can easily match his agility, she has immense speed matching, and possibly even surpassing her fathers. She has enhanced senses that will make sneaking up on her nearly impossible. She has adamantium claws that will maim, slice, or kill anything they come into contact with, and as many have stated she has a healing factor to contend with.

Stacked on top of this she has her father's berserker rage which seems to increase her physical abilities quite a bit. However, she's also a trained assassin, and has proven that she's a more than capable fighter, able to go toe to toe with Daken and her father in a relatively equal match.

That being said. She lacks her father's adamantium skeleton. Because of this any projectile from Snake Eyes, and any attack will serve to incapacitate, wound, and slow her down, if not KO or kill her outright. Though she does possess a healing factor, and a potent one at that, it is still far from instantaneous. Snake Eyes is a remarkable marksman, and pretty much every member of Wolverine's family has shown that they are more than willing to take bullets during a fight if they think it'll grant them the upperhand. However, that tactic is a poor one to use on someone like Snake Eyes.

His speed, agility, and melee skills are a match for X-23. However, in the mid-long range fight, he holds a huge advantage, as she has none. X-23 has to rely on a close game fight, because she has no real means of fighting at distance. Combine the superior versatility granted through a superior arsenal, and superior range, and you have a tough cocktail to go up against.

Personally, I still side with X-23. I think at 50 feet she could close the distance, avoid a lot of damage, and more importantly recover from a lot of damage. Over and above that, though it's been awhile since I've read GI Joe (and I only read the kids comics when I was younger, and watched the crappy tv series), Snake Eyes isn't exactly opposed to engaging his opponents in melee combat. Which I really do believe will lead to his downfall. Though I do honestly believe a potent argument could be made for him taking the majority, I don't think any scenario is going to be much more than 5.5 to 6 wins out of 10 matches for either side, and I'm going with the 5.5/10 for X-23.

Thanks for reading,

Floopay

@k4tzm4n:

True! She still has the healing factor, in which poor Snake Eyes doesn't!

@pymsego: Daken's claws were bonded with that one powerful sword. Muramasa Blade? I forget what the sword was called, but it gave its wielder power

Some more detail on how i think this would go.

I actually think, given the lethality of the characters, this one would be over pretty fast.

Battle starts. X-23 reacts first, because she’s a mutant with superhuman reflexes. Snake Eyes is human, trained to an exceptional level by a ninja clan, but still only human (sourced from his ComicVine wiki, for the curious).

X-23 is aggressive, and she attacks immediately. 50 ft is not far: it’s about 16 yards, football fans. NFL athletes can cover that in about 2 seconds from a standing start. X-23 is superhumanly fast: that she’d be on Snake Eyes in a second or less seems likely.

Snake Eyes is a supremely trained and experienced warrior. Having a clawed teenager race at him with unnatural speed doesn’t faze him. Indeed, a second is a long time for a great ninja. He can ready weapons and prepare for the fight—but what he won’t have time to do is retreat and try to gain a tactical advantage through stealth. Her greater speed and super senses would make attempted flight a bad idea, anyway. Remember, she starts one second away from him. He's not getting away.

He draws his pistol and fires, trying to end the fight immediately. X-23 dodges the bullets (Wolverine can do this, and she’s faster). She's almost on him now. Snake Eyes is fast enough to change weapons to his sword and tries to behead his assailant. She dodges: X-23 is a highly trained martial artist and assassin, not yet at Snake Eyes’ capability, but she makes up for that by, again, being superhuman. Both her agility and reflexes are beyond human limits. We can assume Snake Eyes is at those limits. She’s faster in both reaction and movement than he is.

She attacks with her hand claws, keeping the foot claws in reserve because she’s a tactical fighter. Snake Eyes blocks with his sword.

Personally, I think the sword breaks. An indestructible material at razor sharpness carries immense force at its edge, even with X-23’s paltry-by-superhero-standards (but still enhanced) strength. Snake Eyes’ sword might be the finest steel ever made, but it’s still just steel. If it breaks, X-23 pops the foot claws too and attacks ferociously. Snake Eyes can’t block, he can’t take time to pull another weapon. He can dodge, but she’s faster than him, the claws give her extra reach, and one hit from any one of four points would very likely cripple or kill. She’s superhumanly fast, highly skilled, and ruthless. Without the sword, and without time to pull another weapon, he is surely dead in moments, probably with some limbs lost in futile attempts to block.

But say the sword doesn’t break. He has one weapon, she at the moment has two. They battle ferociously. He can’t get to her head (she knows it’s her weak spot), and the fact that she’s so fast and attacking from two points means he’s mainly on the defensive.

He sees a momentary break in her defenses and stabs her through her torso—a killing blow, he knows. But he doesn’t know about her endurance and healing powers. She grabs the sword, pops the toe claws, and with a kick guts him.

He’s peak human in both physicality and skill. She’s beyond peak human physically, enough to make up for the skill deficit. Plus she has razor-sharp adamantium claws at both hands and feet, healing power, the advantage that her abilities are unknown to her opponent, and her fighting style means she won't let up for an instant.

X-23 wins.

If there was no healing factor nor adamantium, it may be an equal fight. Unfortunately this goes to X-23.

Does Laura have any particularly impressive skill showings? The best I can think of is holding her own against Daken in a largely off-panel fight during Dark X-Men, and if I remember correctly he had the advantage in their only other encounter. What skilled opponents has X-23 beaten? (Besides Deathstrike, who was winning until Laura tricked her.)

@delek_reap: Far as i know the Muramasa blade is one created during Wolverines time in feudal Japan. It was somehow forged with a piece of his soul (because COMICS) and inhibits healing factors. Not included in the adamantium in her hands and feet so far as i know.

I do feel like people are maybe dismissing the foot claw as a useful weapon here. (She can be seen incapacitating a &*%$in' shark with it while the shark is chewing on her in X-23 Vol.2 Is.7) It is far from being her go-to weapon, but i coud see her scoring the crucial sixth victory with it in the out of 10 format. (surprise attack!)

I do confess that some of the comments are moving the needle in Snake Eyes' direction though.

Laura was biding her time and was in control throughout the entire fight with Lady Deathstrike. There was no tricking --

@lykopis: She let Deathstrike cut her to pieces for several panels before taking advantage of Deathstrike hesitating. Maybe you would prefer 'outsmart' to 'trick?' But either way, it's not a showing that demonstrates considerable hand-to-hand skill from Laura. Deathstrike even comments that X-23 isn't fighting back. I understand why you take issue with my word choice, but regardless of how you present it the Deathstrike fight isn't a particularly noteworthy showcase for melee combat skill.

@esquire:

Going to disagree with you.

Deathstrike mentions Laura isn't fighting back -- the reason for that being Laura is trained to assess her opponents -- figuring out their weakness and when the opportunity presents itself, she takes it. Instantly.

Not your word choice I take issue with -- it's the idea Deathstrike had the upper hand on Laura. She didn't. Laura had the fight under control the entire time -- entrapping her opponent as she's been created and trained to do her entire life.

Outsmart, trick -- doesn't matter which word is used -- this was a fight out in the middle of nowhere -- an opportunity given to Laura by Logan and she dispensed with her opponent efficiently.

@lykopis: She did indeed take down Deathstrike, and did so effectively, but not using traditional hand-to-hand skill. My initial question was what good skill showings Laura has against skilled opponents, and my intention was to preclude Deathstrike from that list since she didn't use traditional h2h skills. Not saying that vs Deathstrike is a bad showing, or even that it doesn't apply to vs Snake Eyes. But people are saying that she's close to Snake Eyes in terms of hand-to-hand skill, and I personally can't think of any feats that demonstrate this. It seems I haven't communicated my purpose clearly, or I've given an implication that I didn't intend. My apologies.

@lunacyde: Dude! I just reviewed this respect thread and you did more dedication than not.

I have no doubt Snake Eyes can hold his own against 23. The only thing that matters is time. I'm betting once Snake Eyes gets the gist of how 23's HF works, decapitation is surely on the table. SE is fast enough to escape mass amounts of bullet spray from 14 armed men and wind up behind them without them knowing. This kind of speed is something worth note.

@monsterstomp: thank you. I don't understand quite what you mean by I did more dedication than not?

@lunacyde: What I meant was you participated in finding scans for SE and SS the most. So kudos to ya :)

My first thought when I saw this was, X-23 should stomp. Her adamantium claws and healing factor are a sore thumb that sticks out and makes it easy for me to say she has powers; he doesn't, so she wins. The more I think bout it though, Snake Eyes can take the win too.

They start 50 feet apart. Standard equipment for SE will have him carrying some sort of side arm. This could be a pistol, some sort of automatic, or both. He might have a grenade or two on hand as well. This gives SE a huge ranged advantage. It's easy to forget that he is a master of explosives and firearms along with his swords and stealth. He might have a flashbang grenade or smoke grenade that would allow him to disappear and use stealth to his advantage also. He would have to use this advantage quickly because it won't lost long against X-23's heightened senses, but it does open a short window for him to at the very least distract X-23. He could also keep firing bullets at X-23. If she is able to dodge them, he could still use this tactic to keep her on her heels to close the distance and finish with his sword.

A big thing for me too is that X-23 could cut his sword in half with her claws. But Snake Eyes usually carries two sword along with knives. After one of his swords is cut, he will know that he can't use his other sword or knives to block, and will have to rely on dodging for his defensive maneuvers. I think Snake Eyes has the capability to do this. He is almost superhuman with his reflexes, he dodges bullets with ease, he is very highly trained, and he is older with more combat experience then X-23. I'm not saying Snake Eyes would win every time, but I think he can split with her or maybe go 6/10.

Actually I believe I provided all the scans. Son of Liberty was an old account of mine wayyyy back.

@thebane2890: X-23 only goes berserker with the trigger scent. She's not an animal; she's a robot (metaphorically speaking).

And she also wouldn't be phased by his hideously burned face. She was trained to be the perfect assassin and she was. Little things like appearances won't distract her. She is a pro.

Also, X-23 doesn't tank, like Wolverine. She's been known to go for the sacrifice play, as she doesn't value her life above the mission, but in a fight, she's not going to just take hits just because she can. She usually dodges. She's fully aware that artillery can slow her down, even with her healing factor. Why would she risk it, with the mission still on the line? She's more valuable dead than alive. If she goes for the sacrifice play, it's always the last option, and it ends up winning the day.

I'm going with Snake Eyes here. Being well, Snake Eyes, he has shown better stealth abilities (to my knowledge) and is a very precise fighter while X 23 is very similar to Wolverine, a skilled and precise fighter when they need to be but usually very Savage (as shown in the movie Logan, that and some comics is all I know on X 23.) Also, Snake Eyes (admittedly in a crossover comic) destroyed star scream, while he is a weak transformer he is still a transformer. Also he doesn't need to kill X 23, for example Punisher BEAT Wolverine, so why can't Snake Eyes do the same to X 23

X-23