Wonder Woman Vs Lady Sif
Florentina Holcombe
Sometimes I see reflections on bits of glass on sidewalks
I catch the glimmer of empty bottles floating out to sea
Sometimes I stretch my arms way above my head and wonder if
There are women along the Mekong doing the same
Sometimes I state longingly at women who I will never know
Generous, laughing women with wrinkled cheeks and white teeth
Dragging along chubby, rosy-cheeked babies on fat, wobbly legs
sometimes I state at Chinese grandmothers
Getting on the 30 Stockton with shipping bags
Japanese women tourists in European hats
Middle-aged mothers with laundry carts
Young wives holding hands with their husbands
lesbian women holding hands in coffee-houses
Smiling debutantes with bouquets of yellow daffodils
Silver-haired matrons with silver rhinestoned poodles
Painted prostitutes posing along MacArthur boulevard
Giddy teenage girls snapping gum in fast cars
Widows clutching bibles, crucifixes
Why must women stand divided?
Building the walls that tear them down?
Jill-of-all-trades
Lover, mother, housewife, friend, breadwinner
Heart and spade
A woman is a ritual
A house that must accommodate
A house that must endure
Generation after generation
Of wind and torment, of fire and rain
A house with echoing rooms
Closets with hidden cries
Walls with stretchmarks
Windows with eyes
Who do you guys think will come out on top as the better fighter? Batman himself has acknowledged that both women are superior to him in melee combat. Both have been raised since childhood as practitioners of two different, but effective, styles of fighting. I think it would be pretty close.
The only reason why I included coaches is so that the fighter can get some insight on her opponent. Both Batman and Cheetah are worse than their trainees, but are considered to be rivals of the combatants' respective opponents. Therefore, they can give helpful tips based on past experiences in order to reduce the chance of being surprised in the ring. I could have just said that both fighters have full knowledge of one another, but I preferred to keep a little bit of uncertainty for the sake of entertainment. Otherwise, I think it would've been too close to call.
Batman isn't worse than his trainee by any definition of the word. Wonder Woman has never done anything to suggest she is remotely on Batman's level. The only thing that supports that statement is some nonsense from McDuffie.
The problem with judging WW's h2h skills is that when her force stops and her skill start. For example, she beat Artemis in the last WW issue, and she did it with her skill and cunning. Artemis is extremely powerful and has fought for thousands of years. Now how you judge that compared to a normal person taking down a full squadron of soldiers of something like that?
Thanks for all the feedback, guys! Looks like this fight is a lot more one-sided than I thought it would be. What actually surprised me the most is how people also seem to unanimously agree on that WW is not up to par with Batman in terms of fighting skill. I recall reading a 3-year old battle thread:
Back then, it seemed like the opinion was fairly divided. Therefore, I assumed WW vs. Shiva would be a close match. Looks like public view has changed a lot since the creation of that topic. Again, thanks to everyone who took the time to give a response!
It kind of is. Even depowered Wonder Woman you're talking about is an amazon. They are way stronger than humans. Limiting her to human strength would get her in a lots of trouble. She would loose to most of the bat family. Shiva is way too much.
@rbt:i just think that some people underestimates wonder woman's skills,i don't think this is a stomp,specially if the fightig skills that she showed in the late 60s are still considered part of the character standard,but some post crisis skills.
Anyways I will say Diana takes this through a mix of existing skill and determination, she will benefit the most from her teacher whom she already matches, and she is still peak human condition and shes the sort of character that will keep going until she is unconscious or dead. And (sadly perhaps) Shiva is a character thats more scary on paper than she is on page, sometimes we get to see glimmers of how good she is but quite a few times we see her defeated to help the story (like having some girl smash a chair over her head).
i agree, sadly lady shiva Pre-New 52 got beaten to many times, for someone that should be invencible!...i understand that DC can't have villains beating heroes to often, but they could have shiva beating black canary, and at some point in the fight canary using her bird call for the win...or shiva beating batman, and Batman using one of his gadgets fo the win...this would be "good writting"
Shiva stomps. Diana has some pretty good skill feats, it's true but Shiva has stalemated a master of 127 martial arts styles and been involved in the retraining of said master. That alone is above what Diana can do in terms of skill.
The above scan doesn't take into account the sheer extent of feats and showings Batman has against far more skilled opponents than Wonder Woman and even Shiva at times. What do you expect, he's DC's most popular character now so he can get more feats in his fights and that's the case here. Batman has way more and better skill feats than Diana yet Shiva always does well against Batman. Aside from in Public Enemies but that was Loeb writing the fight so what do you expect?
Shiva is formidable, but Diana's martial training extends back to her childhood (like Leonidas in 300) and incorporates several styles, as well. Besides, I imagine sparring with Batman and other hand-to-hand combatants in the JLA have taught her how to be flexible and to account for differences in style. I do not mean to be contrary with many well-articulated opinions, but Wonder Woman wins it.
But I agree that if Batman wasn't busy multitasking several phone-calls at the same time, he might have done better, but I wonder how much considering that it's pretty much how he is always working. I also agree that Diana may not have the sheer amount of 'skill feats' Batman has, primarily because skills is all Batman has besides toys and Diana's foes tend to need less skill than brute force.
Fact however is that Diana, even when depowered, can kick a huge amount of ass with her skills (as Black Canary testied, who is also considered one of the greatest fighters within DC). What gets in the way of them really showing however is her colossal amount of strength and speed.
As for Shiva, yes she may, in the right hands, do well against Batman and loose because he's more popular. But her problem is also that her reputation sets her up as a target for someone to knock down to prove something; Like Drake not being super stupid, that she might be too focused on a target (Catwoman) at times, or Huntress being tougher than everyone thinks... and Cass Cain being well on the way to super MA stardom just from carrying Shiva's genes.
The scene: A besieged town on the Western Front during World War I. German soldiers are holding strong, and out of the shadows comes Diana Prince, deflecting bullets with her gauntlets and shield, bursting through walls and taking down every enemy in her way as her theme song swells menacingly amid the action. The reality: Me, sitting in a dark theater, enjoying every second of this alternate reality with very real yet seemingly inexplicable tears streaming down my face. It seemed kind of insane in the moment, but it's not just me. Lots of women are crying during Wonder Woman fight scenes.
On the surface it seems kind of odd, even contrived, to get misty-eyed over a woman kicking ass in a superhero movie, but it's a very real phenomenon. I hate crying in public, and yet the movie critics on either side of me found themselves sitting next to a human puddle every time Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman did something badass onscreen. I couldn't help it.
There is, of course, one very clear explanation for the teary reaction to Diana fighting. This is the first major female superhero film, and it's directed by a woman. The sheer weight of the historical nature of that is enough to get you right in the feels. But then, when the film reaches peak action and the lead actor, the director, and everyone involved are clearly hitting the high-octane scenes with everything they've got, eschewing sexy shots for powerful ones and holding absolutely nothing back, it's hard not to see it all as a heartfelt victory.
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