Gotta tell ya, I reread the comic and they had none lol.
Hahaha, well I appreciate the bluntness. We can assume their durability is that of a standard human then. Chopping someone's head in half with their hand is impressive for a street-leveller but nowhere near impressive anyone against someone like Mera.
That was a mistake on my part. I meant to say that Parasite had absorbed his healing factor, not his battle computer, and I was trying to highlight Midnighter's ability put Parasite down for some time despite the impressive healing factor.
Fair enough! This doesn't change much however.
Don't see it helping in any way against dehydration, but everything else? Totally. The guy was able to get up 4 pages after getting his neck snapped:
Four pages could be a long time. It isn't a very quantifiable feat. For the purposes of a CaV/tournament, needing 4 pages to recover isn't enough to avoid a loss. Once you're down, you're down.
One of the functions of the battle computer lets him instantly know someone's abilities, so having never fought someone like Mera shouldn't be an issue. And her versatility in its uses shouldn't be any challenge at all. The feats of a battle computer are pretty crazy. Midnighter was able to accurately predict the geopolitical consequeces of the Authority's actions for at least two weeks into the future; when someone came to his house to attack him, Midnighter knew he was coming hours beforehand and left the guy a note in the door; when StormWatch was about to teleport in front of the Authority, Midnighter knew it even when the Engineer (a technopath of the highest calibre) and various other members with super senses didn't appear to sense anything coming. Midnighter himself states that he can predict every possible outcome
so given that you've already conceded that he will be able to know her abilities, I am utterly unconvinced by the idea that Mera could come up with a way to use her powers that Midnighter has not already predicted. Especially as dehydration isn't even that crazy of a use of hydrokinesis.
For all intents and purposes, Midnighter's Battle Computer is as weak or strong as the writer or plot requires it to be. If it was as absolute as you suggest it is, he would have never lost a fight. In fact, he would win against pretty much anyone of any tier, because he would know everything they will do before it happens. Essentially, he would be omniscient.
Claiming he will know every single aspect of Mera's powers despite never meeting her nor knowing anything about her is a massive generalization of his Battle Computer. Being able to control external sources of water isn't necessarily correlated with being able to control the water in someone's body. I'd even argue that almost all fictional characters with hydrokinesis/waterbending/aquakinesis don't actually demonstrate the ability to dehydrate someone by draining the water from their bodies. Therefore, you you can't assume that Midnighter would know the full limits and capabilities of Mera's powers just by witnessing her controlling external sources of water.
Uhh, not really. Midnighter rarely preps for battles. Most of his fights are random encounters, and even when he knows a fight is coming, he doesn't tend to bring anything extra. When he fought StormWatch and took down Winter and later impetus he had no prep (heck he had to battle computer against Impetus); When he basically solo'd the Authority, he didn't use prep he just beat them down; When he fought the children of Gammora he had no prep; Midnighter isn't really a prepper because he doesn't need it, the battle computer basically gives him auto prep (tactics wise). It's also worth noting that Midnighter is a pretty tactical thinker even without the BC:
Fair enough, but he did have prior knowledge in the majority of these cases, which definitely helps.
And you're forgetting one thing. He does know something about Mera. He knows all of her powers and abilities and what she can do with them. He may not know her personality or things like that, but he already knows everything he needs to know just by looking at her.
Again, not necessarily. Doing this is bordering on omniscience. Unless you can show me multiple consistent examples of him being able to deduce the full range of someone's powers without having any prior knowledge on them?
Absolutely not. If we are speaking about New 52 Midnighter, I'd probably agree with you (though you could argue New 52 Midnighter to be Mid Tier due to speed bursts), but Wildstorm Midnighter is definitely not street level. I would go on to say why, but I think my post has said all that needs to be said.
The doors and speed burst certainly make him more formidable, but he is still on the lower-end of mid tiers in my opinion, at best. We can agree to disagree.
As I have demonstrated, Midnighter has consistently demonstrated the striking to hurt characters of Mera's level, and also the durability to tank attacks from her (though not a large amount in quick succession). This combined with his (arguably) superior speed and greater skill on top of his battle computer means that he will eventually put Mera down in a physical confrontation.
I do admit he could take Mera out physically, but only after a prolonged battle and only after landing multiple good strikes against her. I can also see him taking several hits from Mera, physically. Fortunately, Mera isn't just some physical powerhouse without any other powers.
I disagree about the speed though, as I mentioned before.
If she tries to use big AOE water attacks, he can simply door himself out of the way, or even use doors to redirect her attacks elsewhere. This would also allow him to get around your strategy of Mera eventually flooding the island with water as he could just BFR the water off of the Island. However, there is one hole in my plan:
He definitely could door himself out of the way or redirect her attacks. But, the more he does this, the more water will flood the area, the more water Mera can use, the bigger her attacks will be, the harder it will be for him to dodge, and so on.
Essentially, Midnighter would have to avoid every bit of water that Mera launches at him and continuously drain the area of water. I don't think that amount/size/quick succession of doors is realistic for Midnighter to keep throwing out without getting tagged.
And if Mera floods the area with enough water (which she can do given the volume of water she has manipulated), Mera will get much stronger and faster and deadlier by being able to move in the water, which also severely weakens Midnighter's ability to land any hits on her.
I agree that this is how the fight would probably go if Midnighter could do nothing about her dehydration. Fortunately, I know of a few things that could help him out. First of all, he can use his radio telepathy as a distraction. Mera's hydrokinesis must require some concentration, and I imagine getting telepathically sent images of Midnighter having sex with his husband would be pretty shocking and distracting (before you ask "has Midnighter done this before", the answer (I think lol) is no. However, it has been shown that radio telepathy can be used to transmit messages/images to people who don't have the tech like when the Engineer used it to ask the whole planet to vote. Thus, this strategy is possible and given that I can think of it, I don't think it would be any stretch for the battle computer to think of it).
I fail to see how his radio telepathy could be of any use against Mera, including as a distraction. Mera isn't ignorant about telepathy, as her husband (Aquaman) is a telepath, and she has fought alongside the JL on many occasions, which includes telepaths like Martian Manhunter. Midnighter talking to her telepathically or implanting sexual thoughts will do nothing but slightly inhibit Midnighter's focus as well. This is pretty LOL of a strategy, and very creative on your part, but 1) not useful, and 2) not likely to happen.
This would only be temporary, but it should be enough of a distraction to stop Mera's dehydration for a moment, and in that moment Midnighter can use his speed burst to deliver the finishing blows.
I doubt someone as battle-hardened as Mera would be distracted in the slightest by this strategy, especially since her own husband is a telepath as well.
On top of this, he can also use doors against her, by either teleporting her or teleporting himself to somewhere else on the island. I am also assuming that Mera at the least needs to be able to see what she is using her hydrokinesis on to be effective, so teleporting her a few hundred metres away facing the opposite direction should free Midnighter from her grasp.
Sure, but he is just as unfamiliar with the island as Mera is, so it's not like he wouldn't be disadvantaged as well by teleporting himself or Mera somewhere else on it. Either way, the entire island is surrounded by water and contains multiple sources of water for Mera to use. With the feat I provided in my opener about her being able to sense water, she will never be rendered useless.
Oh, and as for her trapping him in a water sphere, no reason he can't just door himself out.
He needs to say "door" to do so, and that won't be easy when he's drowning in a sphere of water ;)
Midnighter has the striking to put Mera down eventually
Key word here being "eventually".
His speed skill and prediction, as well as doors, should allow him to avoid getting hit
He will need to constantly be on the move and using multiple doors of large sizes in order to completely avoid both her physical attacks and hydrokinetic attacks. And that doesn't even include the instant dehydration.
Should he get hit, he has the durability to tank a couple hits and can heal from them easily
He could tank a few physical hits, but her hydrokinesis hits HARD as she has slammed around characters like Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Ocean Master, and Cyborg, to name a few.
Requiring 4 pages to heal from a snapped neck will not be enough.
He can use doors and radio-telepathy to temporarily get around her dehydration whilst he ends the fight
I already debunked your "radio telepathy distraction" strategy. As for doors, they won't save him from being instantly dehydrated when all Mera needs to do is hold her hand out. Once he's dehydrated, he won't be able to speak and door himself out, let alone breathe.
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