MCU: The Cavalry (aka Melinda May) vs Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanoff) - multiple scenarios!

Round 1 - Pure hand to hand combat... BLOODLUST ON

Round 2 - May gets a bo staff, Widow gets her tonfa...takes place in a dojo

Round 3 - Natasha gets her Widow's Bite, May gets an ICER...start on opposite ends of a warehouse with standard body armor and no prep

Round 4 - May gets a sword, Widow gets a bladed metal spear

@arcus1@rbt

May. She is just better

Widow just because I feel like we have seen her use those more

May, because I think ICER shots move faster than Widow's Bite. This can go either way though, Widow has good feats with her gear against BP, WS, and tons of goons/

May takes R1 and 2. Three could go either way.

1. May.
2. May.
3. 50/50.

Round 1: I feel like if this were to happen in universe, Widow would win, but from the beginning May was hyped to be Widow tier, and she has feats on her side

Round 2: Basically the same, weapons help both of them, but I don't think they're a game changer for either one

Round 3: This one's interesting. In a firefight, an Icer's probably more useful than Widow's bite, but if the fight gets to close quarters, May can be disarmed far more easily than Natasha. They've both got some good stealth feats, hard to say for sure who would be better at sneaking up on who here, maybe a slight edge to Widow, as espionage/assassination is a bit more of her specialty. If I had to pick a winner, I might lean towards Natasha

Widow

Widow

Widow

Movies > tv series always. Period. They are in there for reason, you know.

May takes all rounds.

May takes the first round, has superior raw martial arts ability and showings. She should take it with mild difficulty

With a staff, May was able to fight a Telepath and actually manage to land an attack on him. May also has the reach advantage. Giving R2 to Melinda

R3 could go either way, Widow has more showings with guns and seems to be more tactical and efficient with her bites than May is with guns/ICERs, if only by a little.

I agree with you

@the_magister: Mhmmm, I believe Natasha is better with firearms than May is. In a pure tactical shootout, she'll most likely win. But May is no slouch in that department either, so it's really anyone's game there. Maybe a moderate edge goes to Nat.

You are welcome :)

Going with May all 3 rounds. Will explain later.

@rogueshadow: yeah, they’d write it as a stalemate most likely

@arcus1: It would be epic..........truly a battle for the ages.

About the same. Nat has quicker shot sequences, but May has longer shots. She also has better base tactics, as demonstrated when working with Hunter. Nat's quick repelling kills on the Lemurian Star a in a large part balanced by May dropping 4 shots on separate targets while upside down, flipping through the air.

Round 1 to May. Rd 2...Nat. May might honestly sacrifice her staff after a while in favor of unarmed. Widow is far more weapon dependent, and prefers this fight.

Rd 3...toss up. Guns are almost always an advantage though. All things equal, go with the one with the range and firepower, so May.

are tie in comic feats allowed for widow ? i think shes a bullet timer in those

@del_torro: Use anything, this is a hypothetical battle between fictional characters after all. :P I don't mind.

Waiting on you bruh

May is just better

@_kingoflatveria: All rounds? I think May has Round 1 and Nat has Round 3, while Round 2 is a stalemate.

Didn't mean to keep you waiting. I'm acutally going to change my answer for Round 3 to 50/50.

May has better H2H feats than Widow does any way you slice it. She performed better against fodder (usually taking on more at a time than Widow has), has more fights against established characters, some of which have feats as good if not better than Widow, and even performed better against opponents with enhanced physicals. May even has the edge when it comes to statements as she was stated to have more black belts than Widow herself and was stated be the most lethal agent in SHIELD. Pretty cut and dry.

Same as round one. Both don't really use those weapons often but have shown proficiency with them.

Both May and Natasha are efficient and tactical shooters being able to tag their targets even in potions that would be considered too awkward or difficult to get an accurate shot off. Widow might have an edge due to almost shooting The Winter Soldier in the eye but I think May has shown that she's more than capable of holding her own in a (sort-of but not really) gunfight. Both May and Widow are masters at stealth so if they feel that things are getting too hot or they want to gain an advantage they could try to maneuver through the warehouse and get the drop on the other. So I think this ultimately is decided on their weapon of choice.

IMO Widow Bites are overrated. Ant-Man was fine after being hit by one directly, Rumlow was able to no-sell it due to nerve damage, and Widow herself was only down for a few seconds after hitting herself with it. And in Ant-Man's case he was KO'd by tasers in his solo, and Darren Cross was killed by a bug zapper before the electricity from the same bug zapper reanimated him. I don't really see Widow Bites as anything more than an advanced taser as anyone with a high tolerance to pain, or resisted the effects of electrical discharges shouldn't be downed by them or at the very least wouldn't be one shotted. That being said, May could fall to them as she was taken out by a taser early on in Season 2 (though she resisted electrical torture via live wires in the same episode so she might not go down easy). I'm not sure if the electricity from the wires was more powerful than the taser so I'm not sure if May could resist the Widow Bites.

ICERS on the other hand, are for all intents and purposes instant one-shots. Clothes and even body armor are not enough to prevent the dendrotoxin from entering the body. The only time an ICER round hasn't affected its target was when the target had an extremely higher metabolism/recovery rate than a normal human such as Centipede soldiers or are had release so much dopamine from the brain that it could resist it such as Hive-infected Inhumans. None of which applies to Natasha so if she gets tagged she's out for good.

It depends on who gets the first hit. I'd put money on May but I think I'm a little biased against Widow at times so I'm calling it even.

@dstreet45: Good breakdown on rd 3.

@dstreet45: ...wow. I want to play devil's advocate, but I really can't argue with most of this.

Widow and ward is consider on the same level

Ward and may was a close fight but ward was superior

Widow is a avenger she is held on a alien ship with one hand so she is physical superior

She got slam by hulk and took down Clint while holding back and she was wounded

Widow is more smarter and a better shot then may

I love may but widow is superior

May was stalemated by agent 33 that Skye give a good fight

Widow all rounds

@_kingoflatveria: When you say "May is just better," what do you mean? Widow is arguably more tactical and an equal marksman.

bump

How did I miss this.

I think May sweeps this in good fights. Even round 3.

1. That's right... but even Coulson himself has said May has more black belts and experience than Romanoff...
2. In the three fights they had, May's intention was 1st: get him out of combat in sparring. 2nd: get him out of combat, even tho he was trying to kill her due to Lorelei's influence... I'd say here she had the upper hand since he knows that only way he could end her is with that gun. 3rd: Even tho she said she was gonna kill him, her intention wasn't that. It was getting him to justice and interrogating him later... he was going 100% for it, she wasn't, and he also used tools to overpower... my point is that, if May was too going 100% for it, she would have defeated him in pure H2H... I'd barely put her above him... May>=Ward=Romanoff
3. May has taken hits from superhumans as well, even with a hole in her leg she took a kick from Sinara, a Kree, to the head, yet she still fought back... and with single punches she has taken people out of combat... she has even broken people's and enhanced villains' necks with ease... has survived a lot of falls and has landed perfectly from high distances... I'd say they have the same striking power and physical strength... and I can totally see May performing the exact same things... and having the title of Avenger doesn't guarantee anything... I mean, May defeated Scarlotti with minimum difficulty, an assassin who was revealed that in the past was going to kill Hawkeye, an AVENGER... besides, May was also going to be an Avenger... in Bahrain, Coulson offered May the job as well...
4. Clint is not big deal, Giyera is much more impressive than him... May wasn't going for the kill, yet she defeated Scarlotti as I said, someone who was capable of almost killing Barton in the past...
5. May has done the exact same feats Romanoff has done more than twice... and has more clear H2H fights than Nat...
6. Pretty sure they're kind of equal...
7. Earlier in that episode, May defeated Kara in a few seconds, she subdued her even faster than Bobbi when she fought her...then Bakshi appeared, she defeated both handily, until she got distracted and Kara electrocuted her... then, later on, she fought Kara again, and May was tortured before that fight, yet she accomplished to defeat her...

I'd say May>=Romanoff in Round 1...

Round 2 could go for both (I can totally see May doing well against Corvus and Proxima as well as how Romanoff was doing... I mean, she has accomplished to do the same exact feats Romanoff has done against regular human, and has certainly do better against enhanced people)

Round 3 goes to Romanoff for sure...

May

May

Natasha

All rounds are extremely close.

How do you rank these two within the scope of the larger MCU?

@the_magister:

As in, street levellers in general or peak human fighters?

@anthp2000: Widow would take may in a close fight she held her own against black order

@anthp2000: Peak human combatants

R1: MAY

R2: Could go either way

R3: Nat

@phoenixdiamond616: Why do may win round one Natasha held her own against black order nuff said

@psi-lock23:

And May has held her own against the Kree and against fighters who have showings just as good as Widow's against Corvus and Proxima (Bobbi Morse). Those are just as good of showings. May has a direct statement to put her a slight step above Natasha in martial arts, and while she's not as good physically, I don't think it's more important.

@anthp2000: But she would not take her down May lack striking feats

May could literally do the exact same thing Romanoff did... I mean, she has done the exact same feats Nat has done against humans H2H wise more than once, and has certainly done more against enhanced/super powered people close combat wise even when she is not going for the kill... give May Proxima's spear and she'd do the exact same against Corvus... or give May a high tech staff and team her with Romanoff vs Proxima, they'd do the same damage... May>=Romanoff>Okoye

@the_magister:

In unarmed combat, I think May's the most skilled martial artist in the MCU, and by extent, the best h2h combatant.

She's closely followed by Bobbi and then Nat. I'd have Daredevil right below with Ward next.

With standard melee weapons, it's pretty much the same although Clint is added in the higher class along with them imo.

If we're going by overall standard gear, I don't see anyone beating Natasha other than T'Challa, so I have her on top of the peak human hierarchy that way. I'm not sure how to rank Hawkeye, but his only competition would still be Bobbi or May.

The agents have the speed, skill and gear to put them incredibly high in the food chain imo, even including enhansed humans.

@psi-lock23:

Widow didn't take down Proxima either. And she only beat Corvus with a spear that could put him down.

Not really. She just punched a man once and she knocked him out... she kicked a Kree and took him out of combat, later on she kicked another Kree in order to help Coulson and she sent that Kree flying with that kick (Kree>>strongest humans), even with her not being heaalthy (she still had that fresh wound in her leg)... in season 1, she kicked a heavy door really hard she managed to open it, and Ward was thinking of using the truck in order to open it, she also managed tackling Grant Ward more than once... she was also able to escape from a window with some cable, and she managed to easily withstand her weight in free fall... she has kicked people and has sent them flying (like those huge prisoners in S4 for noting someone... she just one-shot them with a kick and knocked them out, it's also worth noting that those same prisoners she took down didn't even got to get hit by Daisy earlier before)... she has also accomplished to break people necks with a single part of her strength... damn, she even managed to break a Primitive's neck so easily in a deleted scene (Primitives>strongest humans), and has taken them down and has thrown them around everywhere pretty easily...besides, she does not only hit hard, she grabs and throws using momentum pretty good...

EXACTLY! Give May that same spear, she'd do the same exact thing...

I agree... but Id put Daredevil above her due to the fight he also gave Elektra a good fight...

@phoenixdiamond616: May lacks Speed and agility

@phoenixdiamond616:

Eh, Bobbi and Widow gave better fights to opponents who, while not as raw skiled as Elektra, are decisively superior to her.

The hell are you talking about? She managed to avoid a projectile Deathlok shoot at her, even when it was already shot, she avoided it... she avoided Scarlotti's weapon, managing to perform great flips, she also avoided Absorbing Man weapon... even with a hole in her leg, she managed to avoid Sinara's balls with flips (it's worth noting Sinara's balls go at immense speed since they can pass through people with ease), she also punched those balls when coming at her again... she avoided Hydra agents shots and shot them back even when performing an aerial... she has done the same leg lock Romanoff usually does more than twice, and has done locks to arms, torso, and legs... she was going to get to the floor once, yet she grabbed Mace and reversed the effect and put him on the ground... she has performed flips in her fights to get men to the ground in manner of seconds... she was faster than that man who was running to get the phone in season one, and she got there first managing flips, then she kicked him and got him out of combat... she was about to get hit by that 'Ghost Man' in season 1, and even when he was trying to get her back again, she was already gone in about 1-3 seconds... and in that same momentum feat I already told you about, she was fast and agile enough to grab that Hydra man and took him to the floor in a manner of seconds, yet she is still not at her 100% of health... and in her most current fight, from the latest episode, she was able to give those aliens great hits, and it's worth noting they were able of performing parkour and free running stuff... she has performed parkour as well... and she has done much more...