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CPF WotS, Rd. 1: Storm vs. Banshee

Storm

12 votes

Banshee

1 votes

Edgy MD Nov 25 2014 09:26 PM

Our third 2-7 matchup takes us to the Marvel Conference Bronze Age X-Mutants Bracket, with a battle of two X-Men recruited at the same time. Both fly, not by internal properties, but by manipulating the atmosphere around them. [fimg=350]http://www.geekcrusade.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Storm-of-the-X-Men.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=350]http://application.denofgeek.com/pics/film/x-men.first.class/x-men.fc/01.jpg[/fimg] Name: Storm Name: Banshee AKA: Ororo Munroe, Ororo Iquadi T'Challa, Weather Witch AKA: Sean Cassidy Creator(s): Lee Wein, Dave Cockrum Creator(s): Roy Thomas, Werner Roth Origin: New York City, NY; family relocated to Cairo, Egypt during her infancy Origin: Cassidy Keep, Ireland Base of Operations: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Westchester County, NY Base of Operations: Muir Island, Scotland; Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Westchester County, NY Teams: X-Men Teams: X-Men, Interpol, Generation X, X-Corps Signature Lines: "The elements marshal their infinite might at my beckoning! Power seethes in the rolling clouds! Now, at my command -- STRIKE! " Signature Lines: "Ye'd best cover yer ears, kids... this is goin' to hurt some! " Arch-Enemy: Mystique Arch-Enemy: Black Tom Cassidy Paramour(s): Black Panther, Forge, Wolverine Paramour Maeve Rourke Cassidy, Moira MacTaggart Once Played By: Halle Berry Once Played By: Caleb Landry Jones Could Have Been Played By: Shari Belafonte Could Have Been Played By: Shaun Cassidy Song I Think Of: "Electrical Storm" Song I Think Of: "Cities in Dust" Powers: A mutant capable of interacting with and manipulating local weather, storm can summon wind to help her fly, lightning to strike down her foes, and rain to soak the battlefield. She can make a pocket of temperate weather around her and so be immune to temperature extremes. She's a good leader with a strong will, courageous in a scrum, and resistant, to an extent, to mind weapons. Powers: Possesses a sonic scream that can shatter solid objeccts he directs it at, without damaging the skulls of his teammates. He can generate soundwaves powerful enough to lift him in flight. His mutant screaming can also work as a sonar, a sonic shield, or an equilibrium distorter, throwing opponents off their game. He can place folks in a trance or knock them senseless, by SCREAMING. He's also a rich landowner and a talented musician. Weaknesses: The weather responds to her moods, too, so when she gets down, it's just a lousy day for everybody. A lover of the outdoors, Storm can be claustrophobic. And her body is just flesh and bone. Weaknesses: He gets sore throats. Seriously. Vocal chord injuries, which he sustains on occasion, make him as powerless as you or me.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 25 2014 09:35 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

One of these guys is a talented thief/acrobat, has died and come back from the dead twice, and led the X-Men and held her own in fights with some of the world's most powerful mutants while without her powers. The other gets sore throats sometimes. (She slept with Wolverine, though? Really? Come on, girl.)

Mets – Willets Point Nov 25 2014 10:02 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

Banshee is a dude? OK, I actually I once had a male cat named Banshee.

Nymr83 Nov 25 2014 10:15 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

Storm is awesome and was even awesome when she lost her powers. Banshee? bleh.

Edgy MD Nov 25 2014 10:22 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

For the second generation of the X-Men, Charles Xavier hastily assembled an international team, Marvel hoping perhaps meet the tastes of a generation looking outward. But some ethnic moves by superhero books can have a backfire. You start out trying to respect and honor sub-cultures, but then end up shooting yourself in the foot, hammering home stereotypes and misfires. Storm mostly works fine, because while she's from a Kenyan family, she was born in New York and raised in Cairo, before becoming a vagabond goddess and ending up an Exxy in New York. She doesn't have to fit a type because she's already culturally pluralized. Not so, Banshee. Firstly, yeah, he's a dude. Roy Thomas later admitted he had no idea that banshees were exclusively female spirits. Apparently, nobody at Marvel did. Secondly, he's all faith and begorrah and fiddle-dee-dee of Vaudeville era stage Irishman. He looks like a young Gerald O'Hara and smokes a long folksy pipe like J.R.R. Tolkien. He owns a fine old family estate, despite the Catholics clearly not being the old estate owners of Ireland. He's a poetic flirt, calling folks lad and lassie, conflating the twinkle-eyed Irishman with the randy Scot. He's a disaster. A sonic scream is otherwise a pretty cool superpower.

Edgy MD Nov 25 2014 10:28 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

Things didn't get better for Ireland. Marvel's next attempt at an Irish super was called Shamrock. One page describes her thusly. There was a time when the Irish were looked down upon in our country. Signs would read “Help Wanted – Irish need not apply.” Fortunately, that’s very much in the past. But if this character had come out back then? Hoo boy, there would’ve been riots. Mark Gruenwald created Shamrock for Marvel Comics in 1982 and she was a cliche pastiche of everything we think of the Irish. Molly Fitzgerald is from Dunshaughlin, Ireland and has red hair and good luck powers. She wears a green cloverleaf costume. And, to separate her from Lucky the Leprechaun who’s always hiding his delicious Lucky Charms, her father was a member of the IRA. I’m sure if there was one more page to her first comic, she’d have a drinking problem, too.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 26 2014 05:46 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

This is an easy one. Storm is an interesting and important character, and Banshee isn't. If I remember right, Shamrock was introduced in some stupid contrived special Marvel event where superheroes from different countries around the world teamed up in one epic battle. Some countries, like Japan with Sunfire, already had established heroes that could be used, but they had to invent new characters for many nations. A lot of these heroes only appeared in one panel, and all we'd know about them were their costumes and their names. Like, (and I'm making these examples up) Italy had "Spaghetti Man" and Spain had "The Bullfighter" and India had "Captain Curry". Stupid stuff like that. I don't even remember the title of the miniseries. I'll have to see if I can find it...

Benjamin Grimm Nov 26 2014 05:54 AM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

It doesn't take long to find things on the Internet. (I remember in the late 90's, every web search yielded a lot of porn results. That's changed, probably for everyone but Fman99.) Anyway, the series was called Contest of Champions. Wikipedia wrote: An Elder of the Universe, the Grandmaster, challenges a hooded female called the "Unknown"—eventually revealed to be Death—to a game for the life of his fellow Elder, the Collector (killed by the cosmic being Korvac in the title Avengers). The pair decide to use various superheroes from Earth as pawns, the goal being to collect the four pieces of a prize called the "Golden Globe of Life." A victory for the Grandmaster's team means the Collector may be resurrected, while a loss indicates the character must remain dead. The Grandmaster's team consists of Captain America; Talisman; Darkstar; Captain Britain; Wolverine; Defensor; Sasquatch; Daredevil; Peregrine; She-Hulk; the Thing and Blitzkrieg; while Death's team consists of Iron Man; Vanguard; Iron Fist; Shamrock; Storm; Arabian Knight; Sabra; the Invisible Girl; Angel; Black Panther; Sunfire and the Collective Man. Although the storyline depicts a tie, and the Grandmaster's team is written as being successful, Death advises that the Collector can only be resurrected if the Grandmaster takes his fellow Elder's place in the Realm of the Dead, with the character agreeing to the terms. International heroes Blitzkrieg (Germany); Collective Man (China); Defensor (Argentina); Peregrine (France); Shamrock (Ireland); and Talisman (Australia) debut in the series, and each issue contained a catalogue of all featured heroes and was the prototype for the publication the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Fman99 Nov 26 2014 04:25 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

So Banshee is a dude? Who cares then?

Edgy MD Dec 09 2014 06:05 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

An overwhelming victory for our (lone?) African entry, as Ororo shames Ireland's great hope, 12-1.

Vic Sage Dec 10 2014 02:26 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

Nymr83 Dec 10 2014 08:36 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

Edgy MD wrote: An overwhelming victory for our (lone?) African entry, as Ororo shames Ireland's great hope, 12-1. Black Panther didn't make it??????????????????????????????

Edgy MD Dec 10 2014 09:07 PM Re: CPF WotS, Rd. 2: Storm vs. Banshee

I had overlooked the president of Wakanda. He will certainly appear.