User blog:BeastMan14/Spoilers Ahoy! The Arkham Knight vs The Winter Soldier!



It's a clash of fallen heroes turned by torture and tragedy! Arkham Knight! Former sidekick of Batman turned mercenary hellbent on killing his mentor! Winter Soldier! The Howling Commando and best friend of Captain America captured and converted into HYDRA's personal killing machine! WHO...IS...DEADLIEST?

Arkham Knight
"You always told me, Bruce... focus on what I want to achieve, and it'll happen. Well, want to know what I want now, huh? I want you dead."

- Arkham Knight

Chosen by Batman to be the second Robin following the departure of Dick Grayson, Jason Todd differed from his predecessor and mentor in his attitude towards crime. Angered at Batman's refusal to kill his nemesis the Joker, Todd tracked down the Joker and attempted to bring him down. However, the Joker defeated and captured Todd, torturing and seemingly murdering him in a tape sent to Batman. In reality, the Joker faked Todd's death and continued torturing him both mentally and physically in an effort to turn him against Batman.

Eventually escaping (or being set free), Jason ended up in Venezuela, where he founded and trained a mercenary army with state-of-the-art tech and weapons, alongside donning his own version of Batman's armor before deeming himself "The Arkham Knight". He then took to monitoring Batman and his allies after the Arkham City incident, before allying himself with Scarecrow and his plot to infect Gotham with fear toxin.

On the night of the actual attack, the Knight's mercenaries quickly brought Gotham to it's knees, with the Knight growing increasingly impatient with Scarecrow and demanding to kill Batman. Eventually, Todd's anger gets the better of him and he attempted to kill Batman in a tank battle, with his failure leading to the destruction of the Cloudburst, a weapon crucial to Scarecrow's plan. After fleeing for some time, the Knight ambushed Batman in the subterranean area of Gotham with a giant drill, and managed to destroy the Batmobile after a brief chase.

As Batman attempted to free Commissioner Gordon from the Scarecrow, the Knight cornered him and revealed his identity. Batman's shock angered him further, and Jason attempted to kill Batman once again. After his final defeat, Jason fled, initially broken, though he ultimately switched sides and rescued Batman from Scarecrow's clutches. Abandoning the persona of the Knight and instead becoming the Red Hood, Jason swore to protect the people of Gotham from crime, but in a much more ruthless fashion.

Winter Soldier
"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's a ghost, you'll never find him..."

- Black Widow

The Winter Soldier was once Bucky Barnes, a U.S soldier and the friend of the wimpy Steve Rogers. During an operation in Germany, Bucky was captured and experimented on by HYDRA, though Steve, who had been injected with the super-soldier formula and become Captain America, launched a rescue mission and saved Bucky, alongside numerous soldiers. Together, the two formed the Howling Commandos, a special forces unit handpicked to fight HYDRA operations, and they went on many missions together until Bucky was seemingly killed when he was knocked off of a train carrying HYDRA tech. In reality, HYDRA re-captured and brainwashed him into a super-soldier of their own.

Renamed the Winter Soldier and given a cybernetic arm, Bucky would become HYDRA's deadliest assassin over the course of the next 60 years, killing numerous targets and even having a run-in with Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. In the modern day, SHIELD director Nick Fury, suspicious over his suddenly being locked out of Project: Insight, contacted his friend Alexander Pierce to stop the project. Pierce, one of many HYDRA agents who had infiltrated SHIELD, tried to have Fury eliminated by having the Winter Soldier kill him as he left headquarters, though Fury was able to escape by using technology created by Agent Leo Fitz. Bucky would track Fury down to Captain America's, also a man out of time, and shoot him several times with a sniper rifle, seemingly killing him, and escape before Cap could catch him.

Cap and Bucky clashed during an attempt on his, Romanoff's, and Sam Wilson (a.k.a The Falcon's) lives, with Cap knocking Bucky's mask off and revealing his identity. Shocked to see his friend, Cap was defeated by Bucky and captured alongside his friends, though Agent Maria Hill helped them escape and meet up with Nick Fury, who had merely faked his death to escape HYDRA. As they formed a plan to stop Project: Insight, which was a plan by HYDRA to build Helicarriers to eliminate their enemies, like Bruce Banner and Stephen Strange, Cap became determined to free Bucky from his brainwashing. When the two fought as Cap tried to bring down the final Helicarrier, he refused to give up on his friend, and Bucky was ultimately freed from his brainwashing when he chose to save Steve from drowning as the Helicarrier crashed and fled, last being seen standing in the Smithsonian museum, looking at the exhibit on himself and the other Howling Commandos.

Arkham Knight
"Always defending the weak and the helpless. That's what I like about you. Predictable. And that's why we're gonna win. We know your move before you do. We know how you think!"

- Arkham Knight


 * Hand-to-Hand Combat: Having been trained by Batman, the Arkham Knight is a master of numerous martial arts, and was strong enough to knock Batman to the ground with one well-placed cobra punch. According to the developers at Rocksteady, the Knight, had he chosen to, would have been capable of going toe-to-toe with Batman in melee combat.
 * Tactical Genius: The Arkham Knight is a genius in the field of the combat, capable of leading a mercenary force in a massive attack that brings Gotham to it's knees in a matter of hours and planning out several (nearly successful) traps for Batman.
 * Batsuit: The Arkham Knight is equipped with a suit, similar to that of Batman's, that enhances his strength and agility. It also extremely durable, as it was capable of surviving the explosion that brought Arkham Asylum to the ground. On it's chest, it contains the Arkham symbol, which is where the bullet-proof armor is strongest, much like Batman's.
 * Helmet: The Arkham Knight wears a helmet designed to keep him updated on and in contact with his men throughout the city. Like much of his equipment, it is designed to be a mockery of Batman's.
 * Grapple Gun: The Arkham Knight possesses a grapple gun of some form, which is also capable of electrically shocking targets.
 * Dual Pistols: The Arkham Knight wields a pair of what appear to be Desert Eagles, customized to also form into a sniper rifle with a laser-sight.

Winter Soldier
"Who the hell is Bucky?"

- The Winter Soldier
 * Super-Human Strength and Endurance: Thanks to both his metal arm and HYDRA's experimentation, Bucky's natural skills are greatly enhanced. He's strong enough to rip a car door off of the rest of the truck, catch Cap's shield, and hurl a man into oncoming traffic with ease, alongside being able to dodge gunfire and fall from great heights and still hit the ground running.
 * Tactical Expert: The Soldier is an intelligent combatant, capable of planning out several ambushes, two of which nearly killed Nick Fury.
 * Expert Knife Fighter: On top of his already impressive melee skill, the Soldier is an incredibly deadly knife fighter.
 * Metal Arm: The source of his strength, Bucky's metal arm is also incredibly durable, capable of shrugging off M4 fire as though it were nothing.
 * Gerber Mark II Knife: The Soldier's knife of choice, he's shown himself capable of wielding it with tremendous skill.
 * Skorpion SMG: An SMG with 20 round per clip, a range of 50-150 meters, and a rate of fire of 850 rounds per minute.

Explanations

 * Both men are fairly strong combatants, but the Winter Soldier's arm enables him to seize the edge rather easily. At the end of the day, one guy has an arm that can tear car doors off of cars and toss men around like rag dolls, and the other doesn't.
 * The Winter Soldier is no slouch when it comes to acrobatics, and he's shown himself to be rather nimble when it comes down to it. However, Jason Todd's entire fighting style revolves around his ability to maneuver effortlessly around the battlefield and stay out of reach of his foes, giving him the edge here.
 * Both men have received top-notch training, but while Bucky has only his HYDRA training to go by, Jason was trained by Batman, one of the world's most skilled and intelligent heroes, and has learned numerous tactics and tricks for combat, to the point where he trained an army capable of going toe-to-toe with Batman.
 * The Arkham Knight has had adventures with Batman and built a mercenary army, but he still can't match the seven decades of experience Bucky had as a soldier and assassin. Bucky's been killing targets since the end of World War 2, and has had run-ins with numerous foes, such as Black Widow.
 * Both men have had their fair share of mental trauma, with the only difference being how they've suppressed it. Bucky's been brainwashed, meaning he can't be affected by his past because he's unable to even think about it. Jason, meanwhile, has been reduced to an emotionally stunted young man, prone to egotistical fits of rage and meltdowns, especially when his former mentor is involved.

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