MCU: Grant Ward vs Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow) - Knife Combat

Both are armed with a military combat knife.

Morals off.

Starting distance is ten feet.

No prep or body armor.

Who wins?

If someone could break this fight down into detail, I'd love that.

Ward should win. She's more agile for sure, but I'm not sure if she's actually faster. I can envision this being a good fight with Widow actually seeming to have the upper hand for a long time, getting off lots of superficial cuts but with Ward protecting everything vital before he gets a hold of her or gets a good hit, then he body-slams her through a table and sticks his knife under her chin or something.

Ward in a decent fight. Widow would get some hits in but Ward has the speed, skill, strength, and pain tolerance to win this.

@angeljax@anthp2000

@the_magister: I think a knife gives Widow an edge to potentially sway the battle in her favor. If this were unarmed combat, I'd support Ward more times than not but with a weapon coupled with Nat's superior agility and maneuverability may grant her the victory. It's a very close battle either way though.

Widow

@angeljax: Ward is ahead of her in a purely tactical sense and has better improvisational abilities, but Nat is very agile.

Ward is a lot stronger, but Natasha is more acrobatic.

@the_magister: Accurate observations.

They both have their own unique and totally efficient styles. I think Widow's fluid fighting style is the prefect counter to Ward though.

Bump

@rukelnikovftw

Does Natasha have any feats with knives?

@amcu: Extrapolate lol, she is sure to be skilled with a knife.

@the_magister: Okay. Does Ward have any knife feats? I feel like he does but they aren't coming to mind for some reason.

@amcu:

He carved up 6 SHIELD agents off-screen in what seemed to be a few seconds, he's been seen carrying knives as a part of his gear when on the run, and he countered a knife thrust from a HYDRA soldier:

Ward's knife expertise is more implied via these than outright shown. Also worth noting that he has some solid speed and pain tolerance.

@the_magister: Okay I'm thinking he wins. I think I vaguely remember him beating the shield agents. On top of that the feat you showed and the fact that he has the physical advantage. I think he should win this.

@amcu: I think when it comes to weapons combat, Ward takes the edge over Natasha; that extends to guns as well. Nat is very acrobatic, though.

@the_magister: Yeah. She's too skilled for it to be easy and technically she did manage to survive when mind controlled Clint tried to kill her with a knife. Infact she bit him. I see Ward winning but its gonna be close.

Her biting Clint is a really good point. Clint has one strength feat (getting BP in a hold) so I wouldn't say he is as strong as Ward necessarily, but it shows she can handle a stronger opponent by being willing to fight dirty. I think that will be useful against Ward. He'll fight dirty too though so it'll be tough.

@jayc1324: Natasha is very skilled, underratedly so at times. There is a reason why she is considered one of SHIELD's finest agents. Ward and Nat are both in that upper echelon of combatants.

I'm going to go against the grain and say Natasha.

@jayc1324: Yeah man. I always thought it was cool that she was resourceful enough to actually think to bite Clint.

@amcu: I think Natasha's main problem here will be if Ward gets her in any sort of compromising position. Considering his strength advantage, that could be fatal. Ward's physicals would be a major problem for Widow here. He has impressive speed and also a pain tolerance advantage which would be very tough for her to deal with. And in terms of pure skill with a knife, Ward has the advantage as well.

@the_magister: Yeah I agree.

Tbh, the knife is the only thing that makes this a fight, I think that if widow goes for killer strikes from the beginning she would lose, but if she tries to wear him down with cuts here and there she has a chance, thing is, if ward gets a good hold of her or a nice stab its fight over.

Ward for the majority

@ithemanwithoutfeari My man!

Natasha, speed and skill edge.

Ward can take some rounds tho, and it's very close.

@anthp2000: I think their fighting styles would juxtapose in a way that would be incredible to watch.

Natasha takes this in a close fight. Ward may be stronger and more durable and might even beat Nat in unarmed combat, but in a knife fight, Nat's skill and especially speed/agility edge should give her the win.

@the_magister: Yeah, like I've said before most scenarios involving Natasha fighting Ward would be amazing to watch, have it be unarmed combat, gunfight, h2h, melee weapons.

Ward fights in a very efficient manner that involves abusing his years of combat training and experience combined with the size and stat advantage he's got over most opponents. He's basically using his physicals skillfully in a very unorthodox manner.

Natasha fights using small precise movements and trying to gradually slow down the opposition through martial arts and put them down with high end damage output at the end while she's also willing to play dirty abusing her own small size for evasion and quick, unexpected blows.

@anthp2000: Yep, and both of them have way better choreography than Oliver.

Lol still savage af.

Easily widow. I just think she is the best human level fighter in the MCU.

Still Ward.

Mate I really don't know.
I clicked on this thread multiple times ready to write down who wins, but honestly I still can't decide ... :D

Normally I would say Ward got this, but in a knife fight ? That changes a lot. It's too close to call imo.

bump

Can you say who you think wins in your own thread?

Sure. So long as I don't actively debate and just restrict myself to asking others for reasoning.

@the_magister: Okay. Cool.

@amcu: My gut feeling tells me Nat is meant to be a bit quicker than Ward. You?

@the_magister: Most likely yes.

@amcu: He's a lot stronger for sure. idk, I just have a gut feeling that Nat would win a knife fight while Ward would win unarmed.

@the_magister: I really don't know. I feel like if they fought Nat would most likely win but I also think Ward probably has better feats.

@dstreet45: Did you just tag-quote yourself?

@the_magister: Yeah. Too tired to make up an original response.

Ward.

Nat

One of these people was selected the be an Avenger. One of them was not.

My memory of the early AoS episodes is faint, but didn't May best Ward in a 1v1 at some point? And didn't they say somewhere in season 1 that May is second to Natasha? If that is the case, i don't see why Natasha wouldn't win. Sure, it is a toss up but i favor Natasha.