John Rambo vs Martin Riggs

John Rambo

Martin Riggs

Rules:

• Random encounter
• No prior knowledge
• In character
• Weapons of choice for both
• Winner is by death, KO or incapacitation
• Movie versions

Location:

Callouts:

Feel like Rambo is just superior all around honestly

If it’s just Rambo as of First Blood, then it would be.. interesting. However, weapon of choice? We see Riggs using a handgun and a sniper rifle - and that’s about it. Rambo from recollection likes machine guns (and bows with explosive arrows, for some deranged reason ;)). He also uses combat knives. (And in Rambo III a tank.)

I think you’d have to favour Rambo.

If it’s Rambo as of the sequels, then Rambo easily. He does some utterly ridiculous things in the sequels, from recollection, whereas the first Lethal Weapon is Riggs at his best.

It says First Blood but the picture is from Rambo 3.

Is it just First Blood feats?

Rambo still wins.

@lunacyde: All feats.

Depends on the starting distance and if they're visible or not. Accuracy is Riggs' only advantage but it's a huge one. If they start visible than Riggs headshots. If not I can see Rambo winning a majority.

ooooh interesting, like this

Bump.

Pokeye is right. If Riggs can snipe Rambo he lives...if not he dies.

Who is more badass?

@the_hajduk: Please tell me you've at least seen First Blood.

I have seen First Blood. Sylvester Stallone is one of my favorite actors.

Yeah, Rambo likes bigger guns. The biggest I've seen Riggs use is an MP-5. Rambo will overcome Riggs with firepower if Riggs doesn't snipe Rambo first.

@the_hajduk: Thank God. There is hope for you yet.

To piggy back on Pokeysteve's post on Riggs' accuracy....

At the gun range with Murtaugh...

Rambo should likely win. Riggs is probably more accurate and a more skilled hand to hand fighter, but Rambo has gone up against greater odds, and he will have better weapons by the wording in the OP. Plus he is a lot more tactical.

@static_shock:

Gun range is one thing, accuracy in a fire fight is something else. Riggs is damn good, don't get me wrong, but Rambo is no slouch. With a bow he was headshotting running targets and with a pistol he drew and one-shotted 5 spread out pirates before they could react.

Add in Rambo's superior stealth, toughness, and tactics and I'll say he wins 7/10.

Fair enough. LOL.

If you wanna talk about odds, I don't think that Rambo has ever fought somebody as dangerous as Jet Li, yet Riggs had to take him on when he was an old man.

I don't think "greater odds" is that simple to quantify. Several times Riggs was tasked with running down suspects in vehicles while on foot, sometimes he had to do that when he was extremely injured. If you wanna talk about odds, I'd say the odds of anybody succeeding in that scenario are pretty low, but Riggs succeeded each time.

"Better weapons" and "a lot more tactical" is also being disingenuous, because every weapon has its own function. Part of being tactical is utilizing equipment to its fullest in the given situation. Rambo is particularly handy with heavy weapons, like a machinegun, but Riggs might just choose a sniper rifle and kill Rambo from afar. That sounds pretty tactical to me.

What about melee? (directed to both of you)

Kinda close but I see Riggs being the clear winner here. Much more skilled.

Agreed.

@the_hajduk: Riggs also was beaten in that sniper scene by sneaking up on him. It's reasonable for that to happen, since Riggs isn't a super soldier or anything, and his focus was elsewhere, but Rambo's stealth is pretty good, and he does have a lot more moments of being very tactical in a fight.

He was dropped into a warzone after his parachute crashed, and only had a knife and a bow, and was given intentionally bad intel for his mission. Then had to fight his way out of a POW camp, and kills every soldier in it. It's tougher odds then fighting Ku IMO.

EDIT: Plus bomb arrows. Those things are way too stupidly powerful.

Which scene are you talking about? From Lethal Weapon 2? Or do you mean when the General sneaked up on him in the desert?

@heroup2112: In the grenade standoff from Lethal Weapon 1

Ah, the word "beaten" was what got me confused. He was sneaked up on while his attention was focused on his targets. The same wouldn't happen with Rambo and knowing where he was and covering his zones, pieing doors and corners and such.

I’d go John Rambo under these conditions. I’d love to see a h2h fight between these two in their prime no weapons, that’d be some brutal sh!t ?

@heroup2112: That’s why I said it was reasonable. I agree.

But Rambo uses his stealth a ton. And he only needs a brief window of not being seen to blow Riggs to pieces with his grenade bow, which he does in character often.

The way I see it the circumstances for a Riggs win are a lot narrower than the circumstances for a Rambo win. This area isn't great for a sniper, and Rambo isn't going to run around in the open. He'll most likely hunker down in a tactically advantageous area, rig some traps and make Riggs come to him.

The longer the fight lasts the more it sways to Rambo's favor.

Certainly possible. This isn't the most ideal set up for sniping, though Rigg's insane accuracy with pretty much any weapon he gets his hands on will help him a lot. It would be difficult as hell for Rambo to ambush Riggs in a sniping position on this set up because the only two good sniping positions are at elevation and enclosed. Now, if Rambo had a grenade he could lob into one of the positions Riggs would probably be screwed.

However, if Rambo showed himself long enough to shoot his grenade arrow Riggs would shoot him dead and the arrow would blow up Rigg's position so they'd both be dead.

@heroup2112: He has grenades on his arrows, that are crazy overpowered. Like beyond RPG levels

But ya, Riggs wins the accuracy edge as far as guns go. Rambo is pretty incredible with his bow though. Maybe not quite as amazing as Riggs is with a gun, but still incredible. Rambo just isn’t the one-shot-one-kill kind of guy with a gun. More like spray a thousand bullets out of a machine gun until they make everything in front of him dead. Lol

I was talking about him sneaking up close enough to lob a regular grenade into the enclosure. I WOULD say that if he were that close and used his grenade arrow it would kill him too but Rambo regularly survives explosions that would take out tanks.

He's done this with a pistol in his old age, which is a pretty incredible shooting feat.

It most certainly is.

@heroup2112: Why would Rambo have to expose himself to fire an arrow? With an explosive arrow he only needs to be in the right area, and arrows can be fired at an angle to drop at a distance.

@lunacyde: You do have a good point here.

No, getting into a static sniping position would maybe not be Riggs' best idea...assuming Rambo spotted him. Depends on if he thought it was worth the risk.

@lunacyde: the gun range isn't even his Riggs best feat.

In lethal weapon 2 Riggs soloed a wet team of mercs + A freakin helicopter....with 1 pistol.(all at night to boot)

While this is VERY true, the issue is that Riggs standard weapons are a bit under powered (they all shoot pistol ammunition) compared to what Rambo typically carries, explosive arrows and an M-60.

@heroup2112: Rambo can't have it both ways though. You don't get a stealthy advantage with these heavy weapons.

Just spray and pray. One good bullet is all that's needed to cripple him

The problem is range though. I WANT Riggs to win, it's just going to be tenuous. That's a LOT of firepower to deal with that will go through walls and do a lot more damage, not to mention explosives if he knows where Riggs is.

However, Riggs will have the advantage (usually) of being able to hear Rambo and more quieter. They've both SUPREMELY trained Special Operations guys from the same era, and Riggs is almost a super natural shot. It mainly depends on if he can get close enough.

@heroup2112: fair enough and there isn't much safe coverage on the field.

Either way this is a cool matchup of these cult classics. (They'd be a deadly duo)

Ohhhhh yes the would. Rambo would be laying down hellacious fire, and setting traps, and Riggs would be doing majestic CQB.

Even with a sniper i don't see Riggs winning, the area is way to small for him to use a sniper. Besides that, once John realizes he's up against a skilled shooter, he'll resort to stealth which pretty much means game over for Riggs.

This is old but I just HAD to reply lol..

I would go with Riggs. He is a SAVAGE remember, also a Vietnam veteran and ridiculously good shot.

Obviously if Rambo has explosive bows then.. well lol. But those rules suck.

I never watched Rambo 08 or Last Blood, does he get old? Like it’s a plot point in Lethal Weapon 4 that Riggs isn’t as fit as he once was, is old Rambo like that?

Speaking to 08, he doesn't have any CQC feats and deals with enemies through shooting and stealth. He doesn't seem to be hampered in any real way.