The LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN - Team Tournament Breakdown

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LoEG) is a team made up of heroes (and sometimes some villains) from literature and pop culture. Created by one of my favorite writers, Alan Moore, the LoEG is one of my favorite concepts. I love the idea of these famous literary characters having side adventures and team ups, just like comic book super heroes! There was a movie some years ago that I actually enjoyed, but it didn't perform well and was met with a lot of critical backlash. That lineup consisted of Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man II, Mena Harker, Dorian Grey, and Tom Sawyer. This is only one version of the team, some past members include; Huck Finn, Sherlock Holmes, John Carter, Campion Bond (James Bond's grandfather), James Bond himself, Santa Claus, Judah Ben-Hur, and even Beowulf! Here is the lineup Jimmy and I went with:

Allan Quatermain - from H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and it's sequels. He is a professional big game hunter, when that was a big deal, from England who prefers the wilds of Africa over the cities and landscape of the UK. He is a master marksmen, and can hit a target from hundreds of yards away. He's an old man, and wiry, but (and we're going with how the movie writes him here) he's been blessed by African Witchdoctor's that say "Africa will not let Allan Quatermain die"; and therefore is somewhat immortal.

Captain Nemo - from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He is a scientific genius that travels the world in his submarine the Nautilus. He's one of the most famous anti-heroes in literature and is painted as a possible pirate in the LoEG movie. He's also a master swordsman, and an expert in hand-to-hand combat.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - from the famous novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was one of my favorite reads when I was a kid. For this tournament we're sticking with the comic book version, so Jekyll/Hyde work as the strong guy of this group. When Jekyll takes a formula he created, his body goes into an incredible physical and mental change. Mentally he becomes Mr. Hyde, a hulking brute with rather violent tendencies. Physically he is the strongest member of the team, but his strength has limits. For instance, he's not as strong as the Hulk, but comparable to say The Thing, and in his Hyde form he has increased durability. But he is mentally unstable and could easily lose control.

James Bond - the most famous secret agent of all time! I'm pretty sure everyone is at least aware of James Bond and his adventures. His adventures were novels first before they became the famous movie series they are now. James Bond is so great at what he does, that we couldn't pick a version of Bond that was better than the other. So we're going with personal preference. So think of the Sean Connery version of the Gentlemen Spy. A master marksman, expert hand-to-hand combatant, and master spy skills, plus expert tactician and strategist. The combo of leadership between Nemo and Bond should lend well to this team.

The Invisible Man II (Hawley Griffin) - in H.G. Wells' novel The Invisible Man is about how Dr. Griffin invents a serum that makes him invisible and his descent into madness from it. In the movie and comic book LoEG, Griffin is a thief that stole the serum from the original Invisible Man and uses it for his own benefits. Griffin is constantly invisible and can't switch it off. In order to appear to other people, he covers his face in make up, wears a long trench coat, dark glasses, and gloves, sometimes he wraps himself in gauze. When not wearing his clothes, he is completely invisible, only leaving footprints behind at times. The Invisible Man could be a great asset in a fight, especially if his opponents have no idea where is at at any time.

Mina Harker - from Bran Stoker's Dracula, as the LoEG story goes; after the events of Stoker's novel, Mena and her husband were bitten by Dracula and turned into vampires. Her husband died many years ago, but Mina embraced her change and uses her abilities for good and joined the LoEG, even became their leader. As a vampire, Mina Harker can fly, communicate with bats, transform into mist as well as a bat and a wolf. She also has super human strength and speed, and increased durability. Since Mina is a vampire then she is technically undead, which makes her very difficult to kill or even simply injure. Her only real weakness is her hunger for human blood, which could be an asset in a fight to the death. It should be interesting to talk about Mina Harker taking on the Lord of Vampires, Count Dracula!

Harry Potter - yeah, I know what you're saying, "are you serious?" Well, I am hahaha. I looked up a list of former members of the LoEG and imagine my surprise to not only see Harry Potter on the list but also Vinnie Chase from Entourage and Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock! So, after seeing those two, Harry Potter made a ton of sense. Let's think about how great of an asset and how powerful Harry is. He faced and beat Voldemort in the novels, who was the most powerful wizard of all-time (maybe 2nd to Dumbledore) in the wizarding world. After the events of the novels, Harry grew up to be an Auror, a kind of wizard cop that investigates and fights evil wizards. His battle with Voldemort made him famous, but he went on to lead a very heroic life. According to his exploits with LoEG, Harry was a total bad ass but lived a dark life. He was scarred by a man named Oliver Haddo (who possessed the body of Tom Riddle aka Voldemort), which sent Harry on his path in the novels. Later, he discovered the truth, which traumatized him to the point that he slaughtered all of the students at his beloved Hogwarts, and beheaded Habbo, keeping his still living head in a cage. His scar was actually the mark of the beast and led him to become the Anti-Christ who was later defeated by God who had taken the form of Mary Poppins. Holy shit, this sounds crazy right? Crazy awesome! I HAVE TO FIND THIS!

The Odds:
The LoEG's first round match up was purely random, but fits perfectly! Each member possesses some ability that boosts the entire team, combining the physical power of Hyde, Nemo, Quatermain, and Harker the stealth of the Invisible Man, plus the smarts of Quatermain, Bond, Nemo, and Jekyll, and also adding the supernatural might of Harry Potter and Mina Harker; this team could be the dark horse group that can sneak it's way into the next few rounds. Will see how they fair against their first opponents: the Universal Studios Movie Monsters which will be a lot fun to talk about. But if they make it to the second round, they're looking at some really tough competition!

THE AVENGERS - Team Tournament Breakdown

The Avengers! Yeah! Everyone loves the Avengers right? No? Well, too f'n bad, cause we're talking about them! They've been around for a long, long time. Since 1963 in fact, the same year that Spider-Man debuted, both of which were also brilliant creations from the genius duo; Stan Lee and Jack Kirby!

The Avengers are an incredibly powerful team! They have fought a shit ton of villains over the years and always finding a way to win. Originally the team was made up of Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and the Hulk. Captain America joined the team in the second issue after the Hulk's departure. This was just the beginning of the changes the team would make throughout their history including the variation we selected for this tournament.

Captain America - Steve Rogers was a 90 lbs weakling who was given the Super Soldier Serum, designed by Dr. Abraham Erskine. The serum gave Steve enhanced strength, speed, and agility, as well as enhanced mental faculties. He trained to be a master of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat; he's an expert marksman and master of various weapons, most specifically his vibranium shield; he's also a master tactician, strategist and field commander. The serum also gave Cap a healing factor of sorts; well more like the serum made his body work so perfectly that it heals from wounds very quickly and his muscles never get tired. So he could keep fighting for days and days. Captain America's shield, as I said before, is made of vibranium. An unbreakable metal alloy that absorbs the force of whatever it hits, also the strongest natural metal in the Marvel Comic Universe.

Iron Man - I believe we're all familiar with Tony Stark and his armor(s). Just for giggles and shits though...He's a genius, having built all of his own armor and weaponry. His armor gives him super strength and durability, also supersonic flight capable of reaching mach 3. Some weapons contained inside his armor are his repulsor beams that he can fire from his gauntlets and his chest, as well as various guns and missiles. Stark is such a brilliant inventor and engineer that he built his armor to give him regenerative life support powered by the sun AND a cyberpathic link to a computer program that can control every aspect of his armored suits. This program can scan an opponent's fighting style and automatically start defending against attacks.

Thor - The God of Thunder, Thor Odinson! Thor is a god of Asgard, giving him god-like strength and durability. He is the son of Odin, the All-Father and so has been raised and trained to rule Asgard and all it's realms. That means he's been trained to fight and lead and just be an overall bad ass. Thor drinks hard and fights even harder. He's extremely loyal to his friends, but also a complete hothead that is very quick to prove his greatness. He's strong enough to fight toe-to-toe with the Hulk, can control lightening, and wields the mighty hammer Mjolnir, as well as the Belt of Strength. Mjolnir gives him the ability to manipulate the weather, as well as fly. By throwing the hammer in whatever direction, or swinging it around his head, Thor can fly or hover. The Belt of Strength doubles his already great strength! His Asgardian physiology gives him near invulnerable durability. Thor is one tough mofo.

The Hulk - Dr. Bruce Banner gets mad and WATCH OUT! The Hulk is the strongest one there is! Hulk smash! Hulk invulnerable. Hulk fight Wolverine a bunch of times, Hulk got cut, but Hulk heal fast. Hulk near unstoppable. How you gonna beat Hulk? Hulk don't know. Hulk smash puny Thundercats.

Spider-Man - Peter Parker is the Amazing Spider-Man! He has the comparative strength, speed and agility of a spider! A lot of people underestimate just how powerful Spidey is, he pulls his punches against nearly everyone he faces because if he didn't they would be killed. Parker is also a brilliant scientist and inventor! He developed his own webbing and webshooters that are strong enough and sticky enough to bind up enemies as large as Rhino and Juggernaut, and allow him to swing through New York City at spectacular speeds! Spider-Man is one of my all time favorite super heroes and one of the best parts of this line up!

The Sentry - Robert Reynolds is the mind boggling Sentry. He has had a strange history in the Marvel Universe, so much so that I don't have time to get into it. The Sentry has the power of a million exploding suns. Whatever that means. He's strong enough to go punch for punch with the Hulk when the Hulk is at his maddest/strongest. He can fly, move at super speeds, and rip dudes in half! I'm not kidding! He did it to Carnage in the first issue of New Avengers. He grabbed Cletus Cassidey (Carnage), flew him into space and ripped his ass in half! It was cra-AZYballs!

Doctor Strange - Doc Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe! He is the ultimate magic user in this tournament I think (Still haven't talked about Zatanna or Constantine yet ;-)) Strange gives the Avengers a HUGE advantage against any team they face in this tournament.

The Odds
Obviously the Avengers are one of the teams that are heavily favorites to win. Looking back at what I just wrote...HOLY SHIT! This is a tough fucking team! Sorry, but I mean...WOW! The Hulk, the Sentry, Thor, AND DOCTOR STRANGE! Captain America, Iron Man AND SPIDER-MAN! They are not completely unbeatable though. The Sentry has a weak mind and can be immobilized that way, the Hulk can also be mind controlled. There are ways to beat the Avengers, just very few. And the heavy hitters are particularly difficult to defeat, so we'll see how the Thundercats can handle this. I'm thinking we're going to see the Avengers in round 2, but the outcome should be very interesting nonetheless.

The Thundercats - Team Tournament breakdown

Thunder...Thunder...THUNDERCATS! HOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I can't tell you how many times I have said that as a child and also as a grown man. Ha! This was one of my favorite cartoons while growing up. The Thundercats debuted in 1985 and ran until 1989, and then had a reboot released in 2011. The Thundercats themselves are a heroic group of cat-like humanoid aliens. They left their home planet of Thundera, chased by their enemies the Mutants, and crash landed on Third Earth; which they in turn, renamed New Thundera. The story is kind of strange. When I was a kid, the Thundercats were absolutely the good guys, but now that I'm older it kind of looks like a Christopher Columbus situation. Where the Thundercats found a new planet and totally took over the place, renaming it and things in whatever way they wanted. So, who is really the good guys? The invading Thundercats or the native Mumm-Ra? That's for another post though, so let's meet the Thundercats!

Lion-o: The leader of the Thundercats. When the cats left Thundera, Liono was only a 10 year old boy, but was put into a cryofreeze that matured his body but not his mind. When the Thundercats crashed on New Thundera, Lion-o awoke to find himself fully grown but still behaving like a child. He was forced to learn how to use his abilities and grow up enough to actually lead the Thundercats. He was dubbed the leader and given two weapons. The "Sword of Omens" is an unbreakable blade that has two forms. The first, when dormant, is dagger sized; but when Lion-o says, "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight!" The dagger's cross guard grows slightly and curves so that Lion-o can fit his eyes behind it. Doing this allows him to see over great distances. When called into action with Lion-o saying, "Thunder...thunder....Thundercats! HOOOO!!!!" The dagger grows with each utterance of "thunder" until it is a full sized sword. When in this form, the Sword of Omens can fire bolts of energy as well as send out a signal that alerts all Thundercats to Lion-o's presence and troubles. Lion-o also carries a "claw shield" and it looks exactly like it sounds. It's a shield that fits over Lion-o's hand and forearm and can fire grappling lines from its claws. It also acts as a sheathe for the Sword of Omens. Without his weapons, Lion-o is still quite formidable. He's strong, fast, and agile as well as cunning, skillful, and intelligent. While he may be a boy in a man's body, and sometimes behaves that way, he has passed the "Anointment Trials" with flying colors to be named the Lord of the Thundercats. He passed the trials without any weapons, and also fought Mumm-Ra and the Mutants as a final battle.

Panthro - is a great warrior and the mechanic/pilot of the Thundercats. He's physically the strongest of all the Thundercats and also an expert in martial arts. With some help from Tygra, Panthro built all of the vehicles used by the Thundercats including the Thundertank, which will be an added weapon in this tournament. Panthro carries a pair of nunchaku that have different colored cat paws for handles. Inside each one is a chemical compound and items that Panthro can use in battle. He wears spikes on his costume that can also be fired as projectile weapons or used for rappelling lines. He's a loyal Thundercat and one their greateset warriors.

Tygra - is described as the staunch, level-headed member of the Thundercats and referred to as Lion-o's second-in-command. He's responsible for all Thundercat structures on 3rd Earth/New Thundera namely the Cat's Lair and the Tower of Omens. He also has "mind-power", or telepathy, that allows him to create lifelike images in other people's minds. However, this ability is a great train on Tygra, so it's not an ability he can use often. He carries a whip with 3 tips that end in rock hard spheres. The whip can double as a bola, to be used to capture fleeing enemies.

Cheetara - is the only adult female on the team. She is described as being as lovely as she is brave and caring. She is often the voice of reason and has a "sixth sense" that can detect when something is unsafe or if evil is near. Kind of like a "spidey-sense" but not nearly as strong. Along with this sixth sense comes a slight ability to see the future, but using this power leaves her greatly weakened. Cheetara is also the team's speedster! No where near as fast as the other speedsters in this tournament, but fast enough. She's been clocked at over 120 m.p.h. during a morning jog. She also carries a retractable Bo Staff as her primary weapon that she can wield at great speeds and with tremendous force.

Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat - I'm putting them together because individually they are the weakest members of the team, but together they are as strong as a full grown Thundercat. Since they are so young, they aren't looked at as physically intimidating, however they are mischief makers and often use tricks, slingshots, and other gimmick weapons in their fights against evil. They are also the most agile members of the team, which lends a lot to their own defense. Technically they are older than Lion-o, but are still in their teenaged bodies. They are pretty inseperable and work together extremely well, with one expertly complimenting the other.

Jagara - takes the Thundercats up a notch powerwise. They are already a formidable team, but Jagara gives them an edge because she is an immortal sorceress. She is able to levitate, teleport, and use pyschokinesis (the ability to move objects with your mind). She is extremely powerful, but slightly less so than Mumm-Ra.

The Odds:

The Thundercats are a team of proven warriors, their teamwork and cunning make them WAY stronger than the SilverHawks (the space version of the Thundercats). In the first round they have a tough fight against the Avengers. I, for one, can't wait to talk about the Sword of Omens clashing with Captain America's unbreakable vibranium shield! It should be a great discussion!