THE 4 HORSEMEN OF APOCALYPSE

As a kid I always enjoyed making up teams of characters. Whether it was pro wrestlers I liked or super hero action figures or GI Joes or whatever. I would mix and match and make up new teams all of the time.

A few years back, Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis took over the reigns of The Avengers stories. He started with blowing them up. Literally. In Avengers: Disassembled, Bendis literally blows up Avengers mansion on one of the first few pages. By the end, the classic Avengers, as comic fans knew them, were no more. Bendis' next step was introducing the New Avengers which would prove a bit controversial. The new team would consist of Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Sentry, The Thing, Dr. Strange, Sider-Woman, Ronin (Hawkeye in a different costume), DareDevil, Iron Fist, Captain Marvel, and Jessica Jones. Readers began to ask, "can anyone be an Avenger?" Well, as a big fan of super hero team-ups, I loved it! Two of my favorite characters became Avengers! Wolverine and Spider-Man.  Anyway, this isn't what today's topic is about.

In June, we're getting a brand new X-Men movie; X-Men: Apocalypse. The character of Apocalypse is quite interesting in himself, but my favorite thing about him is that he would surround himself with 4 elite soldiers he called; The Horsemen of Apocalyspe! The premise was simple enough, each time Apocalyspe would return he would seek out 4 people that would fill the roles of the Horsemen; War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.

There have been several incarnations of the Horsemen over the years. Since most aren't really worth going into detail about, I will mention the worthy ones before getting to my main topic. Major characters that were chosen as Horsemen:

ARCHANGEL: Formally known as Angel. Warren Worthington III was an original member of the X-Men. He was a blond haired, blue eyed, white dude with wings. That was it. For years! Until Marvel reinvented Angel, had him dewinged and sabotage his own airplane. Instead of doing a kamikaze into a mountain, Angel was taken by Apocalypse who did some comic book sciencey stuff and created Archangel. A much cooler looking character with blue skin and metallic wings. Archangel's appearance as the Horsemen Death was a major shocker in the comics. Great read, great episode of the 90's animated show too.

Hulk: Even the Hulk is susceptible to Apocalypse. For a short time, he was the Horsemen War, before he came to his senses after injuring his friend Rick Jones.

Wolverine: This is probably my favorite Horsemen because it combined two important story lines for me as a fan. It introduced Wolverine as a Horsemen and a bad guy AND gave answer for Wolverine to have adamantium again. At the time, Wolverine was going through some major character changes. In issue #75 he had his adamantium ripped out of him by Magneto. 70 issues later it's revealed that at some point the Wolverine everyone knew had been replaced by a shape-shifting Skrull and the real Wolverine had been captured and brainwashed by Apocalypse to become the latest Horsemen: Death.  Apocalyspe forced Wolverine to fight his long time nemesis, Sabertooth (whom also had an adamantium laced skeleton), with the winner to become Death. Wolverine, being the kind of guy he is, decided that he could at least try to fight off Apocalypse's influence while Sabertooth would embrace it, and so he defeats Sabertooth. Apocalypse then strips Sabertooth of his adamantium and gives it to Wolverine.

Other significant members of the group at one point or another: Spider-Man, Gambit, Psylocke, Banshee, Red Hulk, Scarlet Witch, and Daken (Wolverine's son).

Now, being the kind of guy that I am, I've been thinking of and have always thought of who I would choose as MY 4 Horsemen, but I'm opening it up to ALL of Nerdiverse.  

I'll start with the Marvel universe: Pestilence - Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin, Famine - Spider-Man or Deadpool , War - Cable, The Sentry or The Hulk, Death - Wolverine or Captain Marvel.

DC Universe: Pestilence - Lex Luthor or The Flash, Famine - Sinestro or Black Manta, War - Superman or Doomsday, Death - Wonder Woman or Black Adam.

Entire Nerdiverse (representing the ULTIMATE team up): Pestilence - Skeletor (from the Masters of the Universe universe), Famine - Mumra (from the Thundercats Universe), War - The Silver Surfer (from Marvel) and Death - Superman or Black Adam from DC. I'd even throw Wolverine in as Death again.

But who would face these Horsemen and win? How about the ULTIMATE GOOD GUY TEAM UP: HE-MAN, LION-O, BATMAN, THE HULK, WOLVERINE, SHAZAM, WONDER WOMAN, CAPTAIN MARVEL, and led by CABLE!

Now, who would YOU choose to be your Horsemen?

The Punisher vs. Deathstroke

Originally published on HeroicUniverse.com http://heroicuniverse.com/saturday-night-main-event-deathstroke-vs-the-punisher/

I wrote this awhile back. This was my favorite.

DEATHSTROKE VS. THE PUNISHER

OVERVIEW

These two are both highly skilled, killing machines. Deathstroke is more skilled when it comes to hand to hand combat, but Punisher is no slouch. A fist fight between these two would be very entertaining.
Both men are easily able to adapt to their surroundings, and can therefore operate in nearly any enviorment from rooftops of the city to the dense jungle.
This is a great match up, with Deathstroke holding a slight edge. Although Punisher's toughness and drive could be just enough to overcome the Terminator.

ARGUMENT FOR DEATHSTROKE

Deathstroke the Terminator (aka Slade Wilson) is a very highly skilled mercenary who can give Batman a run for his money. He is a master martial artist, as well as a master of his weapons of choice; which are mainly guns, broadswords or katannas, and a bo staff. On occasion, Wilson has been known to carry specialized gadgets as weapons such as grappling guns.
Slade was injected with a serum that gives him regenerative powers, as well as nearly superhuman strength and speed.
Deathstroke would be the aggressor in this fight, hunting the Punisher and use his superior fighting skills to take Castle out.

ARGUMENT FOR THE PUNISHER

Frank Castle has been trained in several disciplines of the military. He's served as a marine, completeing

OUTCOME

a jungle. day.

The sun shines through in patches as Deathstroke walks through the trees. He picks his way over fallen trees and ducks under creeping vines, looking for any clues that a man had been this way. A broken branch and partial bootprint tell him he's headed in the right direction.
Deathstroke arrives at a clearing, when something catches his eye. The shining sun reveals a tripwire attached to a land mine buried nearby. He bends to examine and disarm it. 

Suddenly Deathstroke is stuck in the head, his helmet is knocked off and bounces away.
Deathstroke acts on instinct, diving for cover as several more shots fly by, striking a tree. Behind a log, Deathstroke tries to look out for where the shots are coming from, he's able to spot a flash from the rifle in the far distance just before a bullet hits the log just below his face. He leaps over the log with great agility and speed and runs for cover behind a large rock.

Jumping to avoid a rain of bullets, he lands and rolls behind the rock. As he leans up behind the rock, he hears a high-pitched beeping sound. Deathstroke doesn't wait, he's back on his feet as a proximity bomb explodes behind him, throwing him into the underbrush.
About 3 hundred yards away, the Punisher sees the explosion and starts to move his position. So far his plan is working. He's managed to position Deathstroke right in the middle of an obstacle course of booby-traps. The first mine was a decoy, giving Punisher time to line up a shot to take off Deathstroke's helmet; exposing a weak point.

Punisher knows he can't stay in the same sniper position for too long, so he's on the move, trying to keep an eye on Deathstroke's location at the same time. That's not as easy as it sounds. Deathstroke is on the defensive now and will be trying to gain the advantage any way he can. As Punisher is thinking that, another explosion erupts in the distance, now about 175 yards out.

"Damn he's moving fast," thinks Castle. "Hopefully, he's at least wounded."

Punisher crouches for cover amongst a few fallen trees and rocks, his rifle at the ready for the moment Deathstroke's head comes into view.

As he searches for his hiding foe, he senses movement from above. Punisher looks up just in time to see Deathstroke come leaping at him firing a sub machine gun. Punisher is hit across his chest, luckily he's armored, but he's still knocked back. Deathstroke follows up his attack with a strong kick to Punisher's face. Now it's Punisher being knocked into the underbrush. Castle recovers quickly, though, and pulls a high powered machine gun from over his shoulder, spraying a hail of bullets in Deathstroke's direction, but he's gone.

Punisher is back on the search again, this time checking the trees around him. He moves forward cautiously when he's hit in the shoulder by something. It sticks to him and fires off a grappling line. The other end hits a tree, and Castle is lifted off his feet flying towards the tree. He hits it hard and flips around, his body landing in some bushes.

Deathstroke steps out from behind a tree, and draws his bo staff. He slowly walks up to Punisher crawling out of the bushes.

"You're resilient. I'll give you that." says Slade. "That only makes me want to hurt you more."

WIlson twirls his staff and hits Castle across the back, knocking him to the ground and the wind from his lungs. Punisher rolls over as Deathstroke comes down with his staff again, this time Punisher is able to dodge out of the way; pulling a pistol from a holster on his hip, he fires at Deathstroke, who jumps away.

Punisher empties his clip and reloads as Deathstroke comes flipping at him; Deathstroke swings his staff and knocks Punisher's gun away; then the bo comes at Punisher again. This time Punisher is able to get a hold of the staff. Using Slade's momentum against him, he's able to hurl Deathstroke into a tree, the bo staff disappears amongst the strees.

Deathstroke is up quickly though, and Punisher is staring him down. Punisher reaches down, and pulls out an enormous hunting knife. Deathstroke reaches over his shoulder and unsheaths his katanna sword. They start running at each other, blades colliding and throwing up sparks. Deathstroke comes slashing down with his katanna, forcing Punisher to a knee as he blocks the blow with his knife. Deathstroke is too fast for Punisher's defenses and is able to open up a few deep cuts on Punishers arms along with a big gash across his cheek.

Deathstroke attacks again, Punisher is able to block a few more slashes, but the last two cut deep on his shoulder and chest; Deathstroke follows the barrage up with a devestating punch to Castle's jaw and knocking the knife from his hand.

"You really can take a beating." Deathstroke taunts. "But you're only making things worse for yourself."

He swings his katanna at Punisher's head, but Punisher ducks out of the way, grabbing the fallen knife. He lunges at Deathstroke, who dodges the blade, grabs Punisher by the wrist and drives an elbow into Punisher's forearm; breaking his arm. Punisher yells in pain and looks down at his arm, a sharp arm bone is sticking out of the skin.
Punisher falls against a tree, cradling his arm. Deathstroke twirls his katanna and steps in closer.

"I warned you about this. The longer you fight, the more pain you will suffer." He says as he kneels down next to Castle, their faces inches apart.

"Have you had enough?" Deathstroke asks. "Shall I end it quickly? Or should I just leave you here to bleed out and let the animals have you?"

"How's this for enough?!" grunts Punisher, using a burst of adrenaline; he rips off his arm and stabs Deathstroke in the neck with the pointed end!

Deathstroke staggers back, and grabs at the arm sticking out of his neck. He pulls it out of him with blood spurting out of the wound, he puts his hand over to stop it.

"Ahh You fool!" Deathstroke yells. "No more games!"

And with that, Deathstroke takes Punisher's own arm and stabs him through the top of the head with it.

WINNER: DEATHSTROKE 

Happy 2016!

Hello InterWeb-Slingers! It's been a decent amount of time since I've posted, I know, but some times life gets in the way. Anyway, I've got some things I would like to discuss.

First off, it is 2016 and this year is set up to be the BIGGEST year for super hero movies and media! I am very excited. 2015 ended on a strong high note with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I personally loved it and have a strong theory that I will post at another time. Onto 2016!

So the first offering of the new year was one of my most anticipated: DEADPOOL! And it did not disapoint! This movie was EXACTLY what I hoped it was going to be! Ryan Reynolds is perfectly cast as the Merc with the Mouth, the story is good, the action is great and the humor is perfect! I loved how the X-Men were incorporated into the movie and look forward to the sequel.

Now, the success of Deadpool is actually very important. It was Rated R, which was somewhat of a struggle to get, and was met with resistance all the way up to the release. Parents who don't understand comic book characters could not understand why a super hero movie needed to be R rated. Deadpool definitely needed to be R rated to work. This was a big deal, because if Fox studios (and hopefully other studios) saw that a Comic Book Movie could see box office success with an R rating, then maybe (finally) we would get more R rated films that actually depict comic characters like they are in the comics.  That is essentially what comic fans want out of all of these movies; true depictions of their favorite characters.

The biggest character and franchise to benefit from Deadpool's R rated success (besides Deadpool) is Wolverine. The 3rd installment of the franchise is due out in 2017 and really needs to be good. The last 2 movies have been pitiful attempts at showing the true awesomeness of Wolverine. And now the latest rumors seem to be leading in that direction.  I will believe it when I see it. Wolverine is a huge character and I don't necessarily believe Fox would limit their box office potential with an R rating. BUT, creatively speaking, Wolverine needs an R rating. We need a Wolverine movie with blood and gore! We need to see him ripping and tearing through a pile of bad guys, getting ripped apart himself and barely coming through the other side. THAT's what Wolverine is all about; his unrelenting belief that what he's doing is for the greater good, and no one else can do what he does because he is the best!  We'll have to wait and see how this unfolds.

Moving along, I just want to quickly mention some TV shows. I have heard really great things about Supergirl on CBS. I haven't actually watched any episodes after the pilot, but only because there are so many things to watch these days and I have to choose what to put off for awhile. I will get to it. Supergirl show runners recently released set photos of Supergirl and The Flash crossing over! Which means that they share a universe! This is awesome for a couple of reasons:

          1. The Flash is kiling it and is currently the best Super Hero Show on TV right now. It's fun, light hearted, easy to follow and features a lot of super powers in use. They've introduced Earth 2 and the multiverse of DC and have alluded to major heroes like Superman and Batman a few times as well as the possible formation of the Justice League. (More on this another time).
          2. Flash, Arrow and Supergirl now share a universe. The DCTV universe has grown exponentially, and judging on the success of the Flash and Supergirl, there is nothing but awesome potential for both shows. (I gave up on Arrow in Season 2, kept losing interest).
         3. The Multiverse itself offers so many possibilities including a crossover with the movie universe (Cavill and Affleck's Superman and Batman). To comic fans this could lead to a "Crisis on Infinite Earths" movie event. For non-readers, read it. it is bad ass. Also read Infinite Crisis. (Once again, more on these another time).

If you haven't seen The Flash or Supergirl yet, that's ok, you've got plenty of time. Supergirl will be entering the 2nd half of the first season and Flash is in the 2nd half of the 2nd season, with the first available of Netflix.

So what's next to look forward to? A whole hell of a lot. Next up is the possibly the most anticipated movie of all time; Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. There is a lot of speculation on whether or not this movie is going to be good, but no matter the quality this movie is historical. It will be the first time Batman and Superman share the big screen together. I'm so excited for this movie. I don't care if it's bad, I will watch this movie so many times.  BvS:DoJ hits theaters March 25, but I will be seeing an advanced screening on the 24th. Come back here for a my spoiler free review!

Also released on March 25th will be the 2nd Season of Marvel's DareDevil on Netflix. So what a weekend this is going to be! Season 2's trailer is worth a look as it introduces a couple of new characters that should make for some awesome tv. First off we have DareDevil in his suit, full time now and he meets one of my favorite comic characters: The Punisher. I can't wait to see what they do with Frank Castle.  The other character is also close to DD and she is just as deadly as the Punisher. Electra makes her debut this season; friend of foe though? We have to wait and see; although the trailer alludes to a past between Matt Murdock and Electra. Can't f'n wait!

So that's March, April brings another HUGE movie event. Marvel's CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR! I've seen all of the trailers, and read all of the rumors and my speculation is that this movie is going to be awesome! Comic fanboys aren't convinced, because the movie differs from their beloved comic story line; however from what I can tell, it doesn't matter! The MCU is much different than the Comic Universe, and this new movie looks great!

Do you know what I'm most excited about though? It's not Cap vs. Iron Man believe it or not, but actually the new characters that we haven't met yet. Black Panther and SPIDER-MAN! I LOVE Spidey and I CANNOT wait to meet the MCU's version of the Wallcrawler. May 6th is the release date for this one.

We're not slowing down though. We've got a little breathing time between BvS:DoJ and Civil War, but after Civil War the next major release is 3 weeks later! X-Men: Apocalypse comes out on May 27th! Now, I haven't really been looking forward to this one much. I kind of liked the last X-Men movie, and First Class was pretty good, but I haven't really been that impressed with the X-Men franchise at all. However, the trailer that was shown during the Super Bowl has changed my mind. I am now pretty pumped to see this one, but I still have some reservations.

After X-Men, we've got some more breathing time before the next Comic Book Movie. But there are a couple blockbusters that people will be excited for including:TMNT 2: Out of the Shadows June 3rd, Warcraft June 10th, Independence Day: Resurgence June 24th, the Ghostbusters reboot (BOOOOOO!) July 15th, Star Trek Beyond July 22nd, and the new Bourne movie July 29th. If you see any of them, I hope you enjoy them. I'll be taking a break. Until August.

August 5th brings us the next installment of the DC extended universe; Suicide Squad. I am the least excited for this one, only because there is a lot of ego in this movie and also of stuff that has to happen for it to make sense. You have a group of bad guys that would ordinarily have their own movie to develop their backgrounds are thrown together into a team. It's an interesting concept, but untested on film. This could be a runaway hit as easily as it could be a total dud. It has potential though, and we're still months away with plenty of marketing opportunity; so I'm going to keep an open mind.

Second to last is another highly anticipated film and Marvel's 2nd release of the year; Dr. Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the good doctor. This movie is being said to open up the MCU in ways never seen before. Basically meaning the introductin of parallel dimensions, as well as magic. Dr. Stephen Strange is Marvel's Sorceror Supreme and is a major player in the comic book universe. He, along with the Black Panther, are very powerful and will have major roles in the upcoming Avengers movies; Infinity War Part 1 & 2. More on Doctor Strange as we get closer to the release date.

Finally we come to December and the last of my most anticiapted movies. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a spinoff movie that tells the story of the rebel squad that steals the plans for the Death Star. Lots of potential for an awesome movie. For those that enjoyed the new blood in The Force Awakens, here is your opportunity to meet new characters in an already established universe. I am very excited for this. December 16th is the official release date.

That's all for now. I'll be back soon to expand on things I touched on earlier. Til then, read some good stuff, watch some good stuff and let me know what you think! Later.