Gladiator VS Trauma

Gladiator's powers are based upon his confidence, but if he faces someone like Trauma will his confidence go down. Because Trauma can take ont eh form of his worst fear. Can Trauma actually defeat this cosmic?

Courtesy of EC xP

I think Trauma would win in almost any battle [this being one of them]. Unless gladiator magically resolves his fear, then he doesnt stand a chance

Sidenote....What are those things from Harry Potter that take the shape of your fears?

Interesting. I could be wrong, but I don't believe Gladiator fears anything (at least not to start with) say they square off and Trauma tries to get a read on what Gladiator is afraid of. There'd be nothing there to read. He starts off confidant and really, except for a few rare occasions he never loses it.

Gambler says:

"Interesting. I could be wrong, but I don't believe Gladiator fears anything (at least not to start with) say they square off and Trauma tries to get a read on what Gladiator is afraid of. There'd be nothing there to read. He starts off confidant and really, except for a few **rare** occasions he never loses it."

Exactly, but what if this is one of those occasions. What if Gladiator is afraid of something and it just hasn't been brought to light yet? He could be afraid of something as simple as being considered a traitor to the Shi'ar empire. And if thats the case who's to say Trauma wont take the form? He might even be afraid of Lilandra for all we know.

Courtesy of EC..

Post Edited:2008-03-26 10:09:08

Good points. Say he is afraid of being considered a traitor to the Shi'ar Empire, who does that translate into a win for Trauma? Its not a fear thats going to cripple Gladiator and I don't believe Trauma has anything in his arsenal strong enough to damage Gladiator.
Post Edited:2008-03-26 14:01:11

Pixelized, those were called Boggarts.

Gambler says:

"Good points. Say he is afraid of being considered a traitor to the Shi'ar Empire, who does that translate into a win for Trauma? Its not a fear thats going to cripple Gladiator and I don't believe Trauma has anything in his arsenal strong enough to damage Gladiator."

If Gladiators confidence is low enough, the people like Captain America and Reed Richards can take him down. I'm pretty sure Trauma can turn into something to take the big guy down. That being said if he is afraid of something, like Lilandra or being called a traitor, Trauma can turn himself into something that can help him take down Gladiator. Even if it is Gladiator himself. Gladiator has never been put up against someone like that, so its possible for Trauma to win. It just depends on Gladiators fear.

Actually neither Captain America or Reed defeated Gladiator. It was thee Invisible Woman who knocked him out with a force field blast. So even though his confidence was down it took the power of Sue Storm to down him. Does Trauma posses that type of power? Who does his fear (if it even exists) of being labeled a traitor translate into a win for Trauma? Say he turns into Lilandra and begins to denounce Gladiator. That may shake his confidence, it may not. I'm pretty sure no matter what happens he believes himself strong enough to take care of Lilandra or anyone else in the Shi'ar Empire. And as soon as Trauma begins to attack him he's going to defend himself. Even with his confidence low he would still be strong enough to decimate trauma with one shot.

Now I'm open to the possibility of Trauma winning. I just don't believe Gladiator's fear of being a traitor is good enough to support that theory.

I'm not saying That Gladiator's fear of being considered a traitor is enough to win. That's not my argument at all, I'm simply using that as a foundation of my arguement that Trauma can win. Thats the whole point of my arguement. We don't know what Gladiator's fears is, its one of those things that need to be investigated further. Gladiator hasnt really been investigated enough to know what his fear is.

Courtesy of EC

Lmao, the foundation of your argument? Lets set this up a little better then shall we? First, how long does it take for Trauma to probe someone's mind? Is it instantaneous? Is it less time then it would take Gladiator to fly over and tear him apart? When MVP killed him he scanned his mind and turned into (what he believed was MVP's greatest fear) his worst enemy. MVP laughed and said that wasn't his fear. So did Trauma get it wrong then? And if so whats to say he wouldnt get it wrong against Gladiator. Now it says he has complete control of his powers, but the fact that he got MVP's weakness wrong and it got him killed would suggest otherwise.

But lets go back to the traitor part. I agreed to engage in a hypothetical about Gladiator losing confidence after being deemed a traitor. But as I asked in my earlier post, what then? Gladiator's confidence is down, what does Trauma now do? Does he turn into Lilandra and thus gain her powers? If so I've never seen her do anything other then fire a laser. Thats not going to accomplish anything.

We already know Gladiator's fear. Its the fear of losing his confidence. But is being deemed a traitor enough? And if so what power does Trauma posses to take Gladiator out?

Hahahaha, Kiara in the middle :P

:P

Excellent job Gambler.

Thanks man.

Gambler says:

"Lmao, the foundation of your argument? Lets set this up a little better then shall we? First, how long does it take for Trauma to probe someone's mind? Is it instantaneous? Is it less time then it would take Gladiator to fly over and tear him apart? When MVP killed him he scanned his mind and turned into (what he believed was MVP's greatest fear) his worst enemy. MVP laughed and said that wasn't his fear. So did Trauma get it wrong then? And if so whats to say he wouldnt get it wrong against Gladiator. Now it says he has complete control of his powers, but the fact that he got MVP's weakness wrong and it got him killed would suggest otherwise. But lets go back to the traitor part. I agreed to engage in a hypothetical about Gladiator losing confidence after being deemed a traitor. But as I asked in my earlier post, what then? Gladiator's confidence is down, what does Trauma now do? Does he turn into Lilandra and thus gain her powers? If so I've never seen her do anything other then fire a laser. Thats not going to accomplish anything. We already know Gladiator's fear. Its the fear of losing his confidence. But is being deemed a traitor enough? And if so what power does Trauma posses to take Gladiator out? "

Trauma has complete control of his power, that's a fact and even took a few shots from Hulk, and not only that, but had the powers of Hulk's fears. As far as how long it takes, it's going to take Trauma a few seconds, at least 2 or 3. I don't see Gladiator rushing in to go stop out a kid, it just doesn't seem to be his style, something that will raise his confidence (admittedly) however, he may just turn his back Trauma, since he's one hell of a cocky purple bastard. After Trauma probes his mind and becomes whatever the hell he becomes, he can use that to totally mess with Gladiator's mind. Trauma's powers even stopped World War Hulk in his tracks, left him like a cowardly kitten for a few minutes as Trauma spoke.

Like I said, I was using this example as a foundation, but I'm at the point of screw it, I'll swing it. If Gladiator is afraid of that situation, Trauma can manipulate Gladiator and give him a command, something that no matter what, Gladiator is loyal to the word of Lilandra. He'd probably forget that it's Trauma, something that's understandable. Or if Gladiator's afraid of himself, Trauma will become that too.

If Gladiator's fear is losing his confidence and being weak, Trauma can pull that off too, he can pull off the image of a weak and beaten Gladiator, something that will tear at him. There's a variety of things, that can happen, I just don't know enough about Gladiator, and there's not enough known about Trauma to do anything with.

Eternal Chaos says:

"Gambler says:

"Lmao, the foundation of your argument? Lets set this up a little better then shall we? First, how long does it take for Trauma to probe someone's mind? Is it instantaneous? Is it less time then it would take Gladiator to fly over and tear him apart? When MVP killed him he scanned his mind and turned into (what he believed was MVP's greatest fear) his worst enemy. MVP laughed and said that wasn't his fear. So did Trauma get it wrong then? And if so whats to say he wouldnt get it wrong against Gladiator. Now it says he has complete control of his powers, but the fact that he got MVP's weakness wrong and it got him killed would suggest otherwise. But lets go back to the traitor part. I agreed to engage in a hypothetical about Gladiator losing confidence after being deemed a traitor. But as I asked in my earlier post, what then? Gladiator's confidence is down, what does Trauma now do? Does he turn into Lilandra and thus gain her powers? If so I've never seen her do anything other then fire a laser. Thats not going to accomplish anything. We already know Gladiator's fear. Its the fear of losing his confidence. But is being deemed a traitor enough? And if so what power does Trauma posses to take Gladiator out? "

Trauma has complete control of his power, that's a fact and even took a few shots from Hulk, and not only that, but had the powers of Hulk's fears. As far as how long it takes, it's going to take Trauma a few seconds, at least 2 or 3. I don't see Gladiator rushing in to go stop out a kid, it just doesn't seem to be his style, something that will raise his confidence (admittedly) however, he may just turn his back Trauma, since he's one hell of a cocky purple bastard. After Trauma probes his mind and becomes whatever the hell he becomes, he can use that to totally mess with Gladiator's mind. Trauma's powers even stopped World War Hulk in his tracks, left him like a cowardly kitten for a few minutes as Trauma spoke.

Like I said, I was using this example as a foundation, but I'm at the point of screw it, I'll swing it. If Gladiator is afraid of that situation, Trauma can manipulate Gladiator and give him a command, something that no matter what, Gladiator is loyal to the word of Lilandra. He'd probably forget that it's Trauma, something that's understandable. Or if Gladiator's afraid of himself, Trauma will become that too.

If Gladiator's fear is losing his confidence and being weak, Trauma can pull that off too, he can pull off the image of a weak and beaten Gladiator, something that will tear at him. There's a variety of things, that can happen, I just don't know enough about Gladiator, and there's not enough known about Trauma to do anything with. "

It may be a fact. But it doesn't change the fact that he was killed by MVP when he choose the wrong fear. As far as Gladiator not attacking, can the same not then be applied to Trauma? That also seems out of character. You created the battle so the circumstances of the battle are up to you. Are they face to face? Why are they even about to fight in the first place? If where going to use there personalities you must first set the scene of the battle. Where are they, why are they, things of that nature. If Gladiator was given a command to kill this kid, then we can toss the notion of him not attacking right out the window. When you say he took shots from the Hulk, do you mean he survived, what happened? was he sent flying? What was the Hulk doing, trying to kill him or move him or what?

The rest is speculation. There's no way to say that Gladiator would loss confidence simply by seeing himself defeated (and Vice Versa) but what will Trauma do to hurt Gladiator? Its a common misconstruction that Gladiator loses his confidence so easily. I've only seen one instance and that was a FF4 comic from the 80's.
Post Edited:2008-03-26 14:30:57

Buckshot says:

"Gambler says:

"Lmao, the foundation of your argument? Lets set this up a little better then shall we? First, how long does it take for Trauma to probe someone's mind? Is it instantaneous? Is it less time then it would take Gladiator to fly over and tear him apart? When MVP killed him he scanned his mind and turned into (what he believed was MVP's greatest fear) his worst enemy. MVP laughed and said that wasn't his fear. So did Trauma get it wrong then? And if so whats to say he wouldnt get it wrong against Gladiator. Now it says he has complete control of his powers, but the fact that he got MVP's weakness wrong and it got him killed would suggest otherwise."

Just wanted to say a little in response to this. Trauma didn't exactly get it wrong, he just didn't focus on the right person. He chose the greatest fear of the Tactigon (KIA's weapon) but didn't do anything to counter KIA himself. He may have done this because the Tactigon had a stronger fear of what he became than KIA might have had of something else, or because the Tactigon was the actual threat or some other reason. He was incorrect in this because he neglected to take into account that KIA was separate from the Tactigon and wouldn't be slowed by the sight of something his weapon was afraid of but he didn't care about (or that KIA is basically insane). In this situation (with Gladiator) I don't think that problem would come up again because there's only one enemy this time and only one person's fear he needs to exploit. That's not to say he could do it fast enough, just that if he were to attempt it and had time, I think he'd get it right in this case.

Gambler says:

"But lets go back to the traitor part. I agreed to engage in a hypothetical about Gladiator losing confidence after being deemed a traitor. But as I asked in my earlier post, what then? Gladiator's confidence is down, what does Trauma now do? Does he turn into Lilandra and thus gain her powers? If so I've never seen her do anything other then fire a laser. Thats not going to accomplish anything.We already know Gladiator's fear. Its the fear of losing his confidence. But is being deemed a traitor enough? And if so what power does Trauma posses to take Gladiator out?"

As for exactly how much the fear Trauma becomes, I don't know and I'm interested to find out. Does he totally become someone's fear, visually as well as physically (meaning he gets their powers), or is he basically just an image and shape? Can he mix and match from what's in someone's mind to hit them with multiple fears at once, and in doing so, gain the abilities of multiple fears at once?

I think there's too much focus on the traitor thing. I know it's just an example but it could be something else. Surfer once told him he knew his weakness, maybe Trauma could become a being made of that kind of radiation. It could be many other things too, things we may not know about but would be easily accessed by Trauma.

On the question of is it "enough", I think if Trauma picked the right thing (and only Trauma and Gladiator would know for sure what that thing is) it would be enough. Trauma's whole deal is throwing your fear at you larger than life and in your face. If he finds the thing Gladiator is most afraid of in all the universe and becomes it, I think that would be enough. The question of "could he actually do it" would require more speed out of Trauma than he has as well as answers to questions that we just don't have yet."

Cool. That cleared up some things as well as raised some new questions.

Gambler says:

"Lmao, the foundation of your argument? Lets set this up a little better then shall we? First, how long does it take for Trauma to probe someone's mind? Is it instantaneous? Is it less time then it would take Gladiator to fly over and tear him apart? When MVP killed him he scanned his mind and turned into (what he believed was MVP's greatest fear) his worst enemy. MVP laughed and said that wasn't his fear. So did Trauma get it wrong then? And if so whats to say he wouldnt get it wrong against Gladiator. Now it says he has complete control of his powers, but the fact that he got MVP's weakness wrong and it got him killed would suggest otherwise."

Just wanted to say a little in response to this. Trauma didn't exactly get it wrong, he just didn't focus on the right person. He chose the greatest fear of the Tactigon (KIA's weapon) but didn't do anything to counter KIA himself. He may have done this because the Tactigon had a stronger fear of what he became than KIA might have had of something else, or because the Tactigon was the actual threat or some other reason. He was incorrect in this because he neglected to take into account that KIA was separate from the Tactigon and wouldn't be slowed by the sight of something his weapon was afraid of but he didn't care about (or that KIA is basically insane). In this situation (with Gladiator) I don't think that problem would come up again because there's only one enemy this time and only one person's fear he needs to exploit. That's not to say he could do it fast enough, just that if he were to attempt it and had time, I think he'd get it right in this case.

Gambler says:

"But lets go back to the traitor part. I agreed to engage in a hypothetical about Gladiator losing confidence after being deemed a traitor. But as I asked in my earlier post, what then? Gladiator's confidence is down, what does Trauma now do? Does he turn into Lilandra and thus gain her powers? If so I've never seen her do anything other then fire a laser. Thats not going to accomplish anything.We already know Gladiator's fear. Its the fear of losing his confidence. But is being deemed a traitor enough? And if so what power does Trauma posses to take Gladiator out?"

As for exactly how much the fear Trauma becomes, I don't know and I'm interested to find out. Does he totally become someone's fear, visually as well as physically (meaning he gets their powers), or is he basically just an image and shape? Can he mix and match from what's in someone's mind to hit them with multiple fears at once, and in doing so, gain the abilities of multiple fears at once?

I think there's too much focus on the traitor thing. I know it's just an example but it could be something else. Surfer once told him he knew his weakness, maybe Trauma could become a being made of that kind of radiation. It could be many other things too, things we may not know about but would be easily accessed by Trauma.

On the question of is it "enough", I think if Trauma picked the right thing (and only Trauma and Gladiator would know for sure what that thing is) it would be enough. Trauma's whole deal is throwing your fear at you larger than life and in your face. If he finds the thing Gladiator is most afraid of in all the universe and becomes it, I think that would be enough. The question of "could he actually do it" would require more speed out of Trauma than he has as well as answers to questions that we just don't have yet.

Buckshot basically summed up alot of things in his response, but in the long run, his main statment was the fact that we still don't know enough about Trauma, or his powers to fully understand what he is and what he isn't capable of. That's the overall. My entire purpose of this battle thread was pretty much to see what other people thought about Trauma's powers and if they would be enough to take on Gladiator. That's the main reason I wanted to create this, hence the vagueness of everything. To answer your question about what happened between Trauma and Hulk, Hulk was trying to disable him and get him out of the way, so you can assume Hulk hit him really hard, alot harder then a normal human being like Trauma could take (Trauma was in his Abomination or Juggernaut form, I don't remember). And Buckshot, as for the powers thing, I think we saw a part of that with the Hulk thing I just explained to Gambler.

Sidenote: Sorry about replying so late, I didn't know anybody responded to it since I logged offline for a little while.

Gambler says:

"So then he **can** assume the powers of the....nightmares if we wanna call them that. Like he turned into the Abomination and was able to withstand a punch from the Hulk?"

Pretty much. He took the hits from Hulk when he turned into abomination or Juggernaut (I told you, I forgot which one he transformed into) and he was basically telling Hulk that he was afraid of not being the strongest. Superman Prime should've been there, Trauma could've turned into him and took out Hulk. LoL, (small joke) anyway, back to the issue. Yeah, it seems as if he can assume the "nightmare's" powers. We haven't seen much of him lately or his power usage though. We'll have to wait to see what he can really do.

So then he can assume the powers of the....nightmares if we wanna call them that. Like he turned into the Abomination and was able to withstand a punch from the Hulk?

Cool. What issue was that Hulk fight in? I'm gonna have to pick that up.

Gambler says:

"Cool. What issue was that Hulk fight in? I'm gonna have to pick that up."

Avengers: The Initiative #5

The Outlawz says:

"Thanks"

No prob.

Why the hell do you have an Organization 13 thing as an avatar? I could be wrong and I could just want to play Kingdom Hearts. LoL.

Thanks

Thing is though, that's nothing a shape shifter (one that could alter their mass) couldn't do. For example, Mystique can make herself tougher (not to the same extent, but a little bit) through shape shifting if she wants. Pretty sure even Mr. Fantastic can do that. Trauma may just be a shape shifter with control over his mass so when he becomes bigger things he is more like them. That would allow for him to take the form of Abomination and take hits like he can. There was another thread involving Trauma where I got more into it, but basically there's not enough information to show that he gains powers aside from physical form. If he became Storm and could control the weather, that would be something different, but what he's shown so far is mostly just size and mass changing to match the fear he's become.

Whats Organization 13? I'm still looking for avatars :P

Well I just read Avengers Initiative #5 and I think somethings may have been stretched. First Trauma turned into Abomination. He landed a shot on the Hulk that did nothing. Then the Hulk blasted him back, and Trauma gathered his composer while turning into the Juggernaught. But the Hulk didn't get scared (either time) in fact he put Trauma in a choke hold. Then Trauma changed two more times, once into the Hulk's father and then into Bruce Banner. Then all the sudden Trauma panics and says he cant change, that his powers aren't working. The Hulk clocks him and puts him down for the count. He explains how the punch would have killed him had he not held back.

I understand we don't know enough about his powers yet, but from what I've seen I feel confident in saying he couldn't stop Gladiator.
Post Edited:2008-03-26 18:42:30

The Outlawz says:

"Well I just read Avengers Initiative #5 and I think somethings may have been stretched. First Trauma turned into Abomination. He landed a shot on the Hulk that did nothing. Then the Hulk blasted him back, and Trauma gathered his composer while turning into the Juggernaught. But the Hulk didn't get scared (either time) in fact he put Trauma in a choke hold. Then Trauma changed two more times, once into the Hulk's father and then into Bruce Banner. Then all the sudden Trauma panics and says he cant change, that his powers aren't working. The Hulk clocks him and puts him down for the count. He explains how the punch would have killed him had he not held back. I understand we don't know enough about his powers yet, but from what I've seen I feel confident in saying he couldn't stop Gladiator.
Post Edited:2008-03-26 18:42:30"

I don't remember the issue, It came out months ago, LoL.

@Buck: Agreed. We'll just have to wait to see what Trauma is capable of.

The Outlawz says:

"Well I just read Avengers Initiative #5 and I think somethings may have been stretched. First Trauma turned into Abomination. He landed a shot on the Hulk that did nothing. "

I wouldn't say his hit as Abomination did nothing. He knocked his head back. That's not super impressive normally but it does show that he has more strength in that form. Trauma as a human would never be able to do that to Hulk so obviously he did gain something from taking the form of Abomination. It makes sense if his mass changes along with the fear he becomes.

Yeah I guess "Did nothing" was more of an exaggeration. I should have said something like "The real Abomination's punch would have done more then simply turn Hulk's head back. It would have lifted him off his feet" I agree with your point about mass.

Also in that issue he turns into Thor. One of his teammates says he has the power of Thor, but we never actually see this.

I did bring up the Thor thing in the other thread (wish I could find it) but more for the little bit of energy he displayed. That could lead to something else but it was just a tiny flash that they didn't do anything with. As for the girl (she actually follows Trauma around and believes he really has the power of Thor in later issues) it think it's just that what he does preys on emotions (fear for the target but for other people it could be another emotion) is so realistic that even other people can have strong reactions to it.