jerrygoodman

While we're still on the cosmic route, I'm going to revisit another "oldie-but-goodie"...the enigmatic Adam Warlock! Created by the renegade scientists called the Enclave, Warlock was created to be the perfect human being, the pinnacle of future human evolution. As he emerged, he sensed his creators' evil intentions and lashed out them. He then escaped, and went on to become one of the most pivotal figures in the Marvel Universe's cosmic pantheon. Much of Adam's powers are derived from his unique biology, which grants him vast capabilities and powers. These powers are also subject to various changes with each rebirth and development from his regenerative cocoon on a subconscious level and can develop powers depending on the situation at hand. According to Thanos, Adam is also a unique being like himself and is described to be apart of the "cosmic norm". During his time as the Magus, the Xandarian Worldmind stated that Adam's power was beyond Dark Quasar and labelled him being powerful to a degree that made it impossible for it to measure against Richard Rider, who was a Nova-Prime. From his experience with the Soul Gem, the Infinity Gem has formed a willing, symbiotic bond with Adam, giving him the ability to sense its whereabouts at will. Out of all the hosts the Soul Gem has bonded with, it has stated that Adam was the most powerful of all his hosts, having retained his will under it's control. Because of this bond, Adam can render himself immune and even counter the likes of the Soul Gem being used by others. Originally destined to become the Avatar of Life by the In-Betweener, Adam was designated as the Avatar of life by the aforementioned entities in order to oppose the then-Avatar of Death, Thanos, and keep a cosmic balance between life and death. After re-inserting the inactive timeline involving the Magus, Adam was officially recognized as Earth-616's Avatar of Life again. The first iteration of Magus was capable of once summoning the In-Betweener by saturating his past counterpart in a harmless special radiation that acted as a beacon. It's unknown if this capability can only be done via the Soul Gem or that being an Avatar of Life allowed it to be possible. In addition, Adam Warlock possesses a number of super-human properties and powers derived from his artificially determined genetic structure. This is owed due to possessing a perfect, genetic template. This perfection was noted by Ultron and the High Evolutionary, who even cited his being was something he could not quite replicate easily. These abilities include -- - Energy Consumption: His new body, according to Thanos, has made him a more direct consumer of energy much like that of Galactus' heralds and even Thanos himself. This, in turn, allows him to even sustain himself without food or water like the Mad Titan. This can be done via contact with a energy conductor or the energy itself. Prior, he was able to absorb magical energies and life energy as well as other kinds. - Superhuman Strength: Warlock possesses super-human strength, though its exact level is unknown. Previously listed at class 4, he could once enhance his strength, enabling him to reach class 40 for less than one hour. However, Adam Warlock has been able to fight hand-to-hand, and injure, beings such as Wonder Man, Thor, and Ulik. - Superhuman Speed: Warlock is capable of running and moving at speeds much greater than even the finest human athlete. He was able to dodge an attack Galactus made at point-blank range and reappeared above him. It is not known whether he did this by teleportation. He has also been able to move at speeds Drax was unable to see. - Superhuman Stamina: Warlock's musculature generates less fatigue toxins, during physical activity, than the musculature of a human being. While not employing his energy to enhance his natural physical strength, Warlock can physically exert himself at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue begins to impair him. - Superhuman Durability: Warlock's bodily tissues are much harder and more resistant to injury than those of a human. He is capable of withstanding tremendous impact forces, falls from great heights, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, the vacuum of space, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. His body is also specially adapted to withstand the physiologically debilitating effects of moving and running at high rates of speed without sustaining injury. Adam has survived punishment from Thor, a Thanos clone, Drax, and the Man-Beast, despite them all outclassing him physically. - Superhuman Agility: Warlock's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete. - Superhuman Reflexes: Warlock's reaction time is similarly enhanced, enabling him to react at a level that is beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. - Flight: Adam Warlock can also employ cosmic energy to negate the force of gravity beneath him, enabling him to fly. In an Earth-like atmosphere, Warlock is easily capable of reaching the speed of sound, roughly 770 miles per hour. While in outer space, however, Warlock has been shown to have been capable of attaining supraluminal (faster-than-light) velocities. - Immortality: While Adam can be killed, he never truly dies. This is due to the fact his soul is so strong, even Death herself cannot claim his soul. As such, he can be reborn. - Cellular Regeneration: Adam's regenerative and restorative abilities are extremely advanced. In addition Adam possesses Ultra Senses -- After taking the memories of the Magus from his soul and some of his own abilities as a result, he gained superior senses in which allowed him to locate space anomalies such as black holes Adam was later gifted with enhanced perceptions from his rebirths, allowing him to see the auras, the souls and states of others as well as examine others genetic structure. In addition, his multi-compartmental brain bestow Adam cosmic senses. Adam has the ability to detect or produce wormholes and other irregularities in space on a cosmic scale. After one of his recent rebirths, He also has the ability to sense whenever someone is teleporting. Adam possess profound mystical senses in addition to his cosmic awareness capabilities that is capable of sensing mishaps on a spiritual level such as irregularities. Adam is capable of resisting the Time Gem's time freeze capabilities when utilized on him by Rune. Also, due to his firm grasp on reality, Adam is highly resistant to "reality warping." While formerly possessing powerful telepathic capabilities as Him, Warlock has since lost most of the high level of telepathic power, retaining a fraction of telepathic power he once possessed. However, the exact level of capability in his Telepathy is unknown. His defenses have been described by renown and extremely powerful Moondragon to be intense and even was able to throw out Moondragon from his mind as well as dispel Mantis's intrusions. Adam is a capable energy manipulator, with such power having been augmented by the Soul Gem for the majority of his life, although was somewhat capable of doing so independently until his recent resurrections. His latest resurrection has allowed him greater capability with his manipulation, now capable of "short-circuiting" even other energy manipulators such as both Silver Surfer and Quasar. According to Adam himself after his later resurrection, his increased skill allows him convert energy into matter and has absolute control over the process in addition. Prior to his resurrection, his matter manipulation was great enough to turn Thanos into granite, a process only undone by Death. Adam has been seen employing various kinds of energy into constructs. Whether the use of it comes from his metaphysical quantum energy or other kinds of energy, he has been shown capable of creating swords, pieces of armor, and shields. True to his naming of Warlock and among his energy manipulation capabilities includes manipulating mystical energy for a variety of purposes. He relayed much of his mystical powers, however, from the Soul Gem instead of his own independent energies during his extended time with the Infinity Gem. However, he still displayed some independent powers without it's reliance. Much of his mystic powers includes exorcism, body transmutation, and astral projection. Adam was capable of resurrecting other beings by imbuing their souls into bodies and transmuting to alter it to appear as their original body. Adam can use his mystical powers to travel into the future in his astral form. As a master of his own soul, he can render himself immune to individuals who are capable of draining other's souls. Adam can cast spells for a variety of effects. He was able to use a spell to expunge both Drax and Silver Surfer from the Soul World with an incantation. Adam has displayed capability in creating mystic portals. To counter the future dilemma of the Fault expansion into the Cancerverse, Adam's subconscious allowed his resurrected form to gain the power to heal repairing space and reality itself. Dubbed "Quantum Magic" and also referred to as "Metaphysical Quantum Energy Manipulation", this allows him to perform magical feats in which are performed from available power around him and "conjured psi-llables" His current powers derived from his newfound "Quantum Magic", allows him to seemingly continue his usage of his spiritual powers the by manipulating the energy from souls to imbue them to items or to use offensively as beams. Because of his connections to the usage of souls overtime, Adam had later gained empathic capabilities from sensing souls. Such capabilities allowed him to feel the billions of souls killed in the Annihilation Wave. He is also capable of performing large scale and complex spells capable of manipulating the timeline and insert a previously "unused" future in place of the current timeline. Such a feat, however, can only be performed If properly energized by a tremendous amount of energy and cannot hear others during it's preparation and casting. He can even cast spells for healing, magical energy blasts, telekinesis, magical lightning, teleportation, transmutation, materialization, and force field generation. Adam can use his Quantum Magic to create an enchantment capable of manipulating timelines in order to overlap an "unused" future. Such a capability, however, requires Adam to be sufficiently energized. As the Magus, he also controlled the timeline to the point of changing all futures in which he himself rules. During his time as Magus, Adam was capable of transmuting even reality itself to create an illusion to fake his death at the hands of a Cosmic Cube. Among his body's special adaptations are an enclave of cells able to tap and transform cosmic energy for personal use such as projecting blasts of cosmic energy, locate and enter natural space warps, and augment his own physical capabilities. He can use his cosmic powers for healing purposes. Warlock shown the ability to generate intense thermal energy. According to Lord Chaos and Master Order, Adam is outside the loop of destinies and as such is capable of deeds in which cannot easily be seen or tracked by even those with cosmic senses (such as Quasar) wielding the Infinity Gauntlet and exclusively using their cosmic senses granted from the gauntlet. This also extends into supernatural powers, with those unable to gather intelligence on Adam Warlock through magical means. So, basically...I'd have to give this fight to Adam. Archanfel wouldn't have a chance.

Anything?

I'm desperate for anything at this point...even a Gregole doing the Macarena would be exciting.

Please don't let it be a hoax, please don't let it be a hoax...

Yeah, no kidding. I looked this guy up after you posted him, and man...no wonder he hasn't been used since. For my next contestants, I give you...the Guardians of the Galaxy! (Yeah, I'm sure some of you were expecting the 21st century team, but I wanted to go old school on this one...) Hailing from the 31st Century of Earth-691, the original Guardians were a team of freedom fighters who banded together to battle the alien race known as the Badoon, and later on facing threats such as the cyborg-turned-cosmic god Korvac and the Iron Man armor-wielding species called the Stark. If these guys can take on cosmic beings and alien empires, I think a Zoalord supreme should be no problem for the Guardians. Thoughts?

I'll wait for as long as it takes...

Thought I'd revisit a contestant from my original thread... My next contender is the man who pretty much patented the phrase, "Hell on Wheels"...Johnathon Blaze, better known as Ghost Rider! Johnny Blaze possesses the supernatural ability to transform into the Ghost Rider at will. Originally, he would automatically transform at night or in the presence of evil. Recently, however, he has gained control over his transformations and can transform through an act of will or when innocent blood is spilled. It has recently been stated that Johnny Blaze and the Spirit that was supposedly the Ghost Rider are in fact agents of Heaven. The power of the Ghost Rider depends on who is in control of the Ghost Rider (effectively Johnny's body). Johnny and the Spirit inhabit the same body, and while transformed Johnny is in control for the majority of the time, but if he losses focus or control of the power of the Ghost Rider, the Spirit regaining control is likely to occur. While the Ghost Rider is in control, Johnny Blaze only influences its decisions to an extent as he takes the "back seat" to the Spirit. As stated by Doctor Strange, Johnny Blaze is simply a mortal and acts as a built in safety, that severely limits the power of the Ghost Rider. Doctor Strange also stated, that when Zarathos takes possession of the Ghost Rider, the Ghost Rider's powers are, for most intents and purposes, boundless and "God Like." Johnny Blaze is one of the strongest and most powerful beings on the planet, while the Ghost Rider, is for all intents and purposes described as boundless in power to the extent where the Ghost Rider was able to defeat Doctor Strange in battle. Similar to any other supernatural being, the Ghost Rider owns several superhuman feats. He possesses superhuman strength sufficient to lift up to 25 tons under normal circumstances, nevertheless if desired he could, given the divine nature of his powers increase them to incalculable levels. The mystical energy that empowers Ghost Rider prevents his muscles from producing fatigue toxins during physical activities, granting him limitless superhuman stamina. Johnny Blaze is highly resistant to the point of being basically immune to all types of earthly physical damage, as he has taken blows from beings such as the Hulk, had his entire skull destroyed and regenerated instantly without any discomfort, and while the Ghost Rider is in control only divine weapons (forged in Heaven) can harm the Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider is capable of withstanding great impact forces, temperature and pressure extremes, powerful energy blasts, and falls from great heights without sustaining injury. As his bodily tissues have been transformed, leaving only a skeleton, most projectiles such as bullets simply pass through him or bounce off his bones. Ghost Rider's body is for all intents immune to physical injury, as he is evidently not able to feel pain and is able to survive with no apparent discomfort no matter how severe the injury (unless a weapon forged from Heaven itself is used against him). His mystically augmented being grants him enhance reflexes, coordination, dexterity and accuracy. This provides heightened movements allowing him to dodge projectiles such as Thor's hammer. Despite his invulnerability to conventional forms of injury, objects such as weapons forged in heaven by the arch angel Zadkiel, can actually harm the Ghost Rider to a certain extent. However, if his being is damaged, the magical energies imbuing him allows the Ghost Rider or Johnny Blaze to instantly regenerate any and all damage done, even to the point of fully regenerating lost limbs in moments, and regenerating his skull after it was destroyed in seconds without any discomfort or any evident pain. Ghost Rider is able to feel the transgression of an individual he encounters by looking into their heart and soul. He can also decide whether or not a person is innocent or evil and in need of punishment. He is also capable of doing this ability without the process of transformation. He can also determine the identity of the individual by simply looking into their soul. However, if certain beings do not possess a soul such as a symbiote or demons, he can still identify them. Ghost Rider possesses an extrasensory ability that allows him to detect any supernatural occurrences around him. Ghost Rider can manipulate the immoral act known as sin. He can purify any soul, whether righteous or degenerate, from sin. However, this effect may cause the victim to be emotionless. He will only backfire the wrongs of the victim causing either an emotional break down or repentance. He can do a number of things with it, such as sin perception -- in addition to read the heart and souls of his victims, he also read, feel and sense the sorts of sins the individual has committed in the rest of their life, as well as sin eating, or sin removal -- he can remove/absorb any sort of sin from the individual if so desires. GR also possesses the ability of Hellfire Manipulation, or Infernal Pyrokinesis -- he can generate, control, and project mystical fire, or "hellfire" at will. Hellfire is an ethereal and supernatural flame that burns the soul of a person and can also be used to burn their physical body. He can utilize this fire in various ways: - Hellfire Infusion: His ability to channel hellfire allows him to imbue objects and vehicles by choice with his mystical element. - Hellfire Projection: He can spew the fire from his eyes, mouth, hands and chest, including channeling the fire from his body into his weapons such as his shotgun. - Hellfire Forgery: He is able to construct various things such as walls, weapons and his motorcycle. - Hellfire Telekinesis: He can also control hellfire infused objects through his mind.[50] - Hellfire Attacks: In addition to projecting and infusing hellfire, he can perform a number of attacks. He can create hellfire balls, spew out a massive wave and unleash omnidirectional explosions that are incredibly powerful, capable of bringing great pain to the Hulk. - Hell Firestorm: He is able to rain down a firestorm of hellfire directly towards the surrounding enemies resulting to devastating destruction. Ghost Rider has the ability to manipulate souls, the incorporeal essence of a living thing. This more evident when he performs the Penance Stare. He can read the souls of his victims and judge their innocence and guilt, their sins and identity. He can consume souls if the individual is degenerate and heartless to an extent where the victim becomes lifeless. Ghost Rider is able to traverse different dimensions. Though it may have some complications due to Johnny Blaze unfocused behavior, he can open vortexes to escape other realms. He wields a mystical chain that is capable of growing in length, cutting through almost anything, and transforming into other weapons. He can also spew and project chains from his mouth or chest at will, and control the movements with his mind. Ghost Rider utilizes demonic forces and satanic spells to his advantage. His knowledge of hellish energies and essence provides him supernatural awareness when he encounters otherworldly figures. Ghost Rider's signature ability is his Penance Stare -- he possesses the supernatural ability to cause any individual who stares into his eyes to see and feel every bit of pain they have ever inflicted on anyone in their entire lifetime for all eternity. Recently, he was able to incapacitate the inhabitants of Mojoworld without looking into their eyes and still inflict great suffering. In the past, Ghost Rider demonstrated his ability to increase his size. After being shrunk, he was able to grow back to his original height through a sheer act of will. Recently, he once again perform this action but only heightening himself against beings such as Thor and Satana Hellstrom. All in all, I think Archanfel should think twice before butting heads with the Spirit of Vengeance. What do you think?

Well, it's that time of the month...again. You sure there hasn't been anything? A word, a rumor, a whisper, something second-hand, third-hand even?

I will give it this much...it doesn't feel anything like the dreck we got back in 2016. I saw parts of that and...well, let's just say it didn't feel right to me. Hopefully, this will wipe that clean.

For my next contestant, I'd like to...oh bollocks, has anyone got a cigarette? Yeah, as you've probably guessed, our next contender is the Hellblazer himself -- John Constantine. One of the most notorious magic-users of the DC Universe, Constantine rarely uses magical spells, unless he has to, especially in combat. Constantine faces most of his challenges relying primarily on his cunning, quick-thinking during fights, vast knowledge of the occult, manipulation of opponents and allies, and an extensive list of contacts. These skills are often more useful than his magical ones. He is known to have deceived many of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe, such as The First of the Fallen and The Presence, as well as manipulating Batman and Superman. He is considered by many as being the world's greatest con man. Constantine is one of a few people knowing all the routes to Heaven, Hell, and the afterlife, which he uses to escape and teleport without the danger of being chased by enemies. In the graphic novel Pandemonium, he once allowed himself to be killed, but later resurrects himself by exiting the afterlife. As a sorcerer, Constantine is armed with the knowledge of many magical spells, rituals, and curses, such as evocation, necromancy, illusions, invisibility, and can even use magic to time travel. He has a wide range of protection magic such as sigils and magic circles that can protect him from both physical and supernatural attacks. John's most signature ability is synchronicity wave traveling, which is an instinctual supernatural ability for Constantine to make his own luck. This has led John to uncanny luck at games of chance, the ability to avoid and escape harm, meet the right kind of ally to help prevent or stop an apocalyptic event from happening, and reshape the battle he's fighting to his own accord. Constantine is highly resistant to many psychic attacks such as telepathy, possessions, and mind control. He can even use magic to block off omnipresence, seen where he once used sigils to hide himself from the First of the Fallen. By the New 52, other magical powers such as teleportation, counter spells, elemental magic, telekinesis, and immobilization have been added. He can use magic to reflect damages done to him onto his enemies. Aside from sorcery, Constantine has exhibited considerable mastery in "stage magic skills"—hypnosis, sleight of hand, pick pocketing and escapology. John carries with him an arsenal of powerful magical artifacts to aid him in battle, such as The House of Mystery, which also serves as his transport to different realms of the universe, and his trademark trench coat that possesses powerful demonic powers. Ever since tricking the Lords of Hell into curing his lung cancer, he was perpetually in good health and physicality. Constantine's blood is demonically tainted, initially by a blood transfusion from the demon Nergal, and later by sex with a succubus. His blood has been shown to have healing properties, and is noted to have an age-managing effect. It also acted as a defence mechanism when attacked by the King of the Vampires, as it is highly corrosive and poisonous. Constantine's skill at unarmed combat varies depending on the writer. Some portray him as a poor physical fighter, others as a capable hand-to-hand combatant. Over time he has won occasional fights using magical weapons, by fighting dirty, or by quick-thinking. Constantine sold his soul to two lords of Hell, Beelzebub and Azazel, both of whom accepted the deal. This was a trick to make sure that neither they nor Satan himself, who also had a claim, could take possession of his soul without destroying hell and its denizens. Thus until Satan quit and Azazel was sealed away by Dream of the Endless he was protected by the three like guardian angels. So how would a match between Archanfel and Constantine go? Well, I'd hate to hazard a guess but I think it'd start something like this... "I am Archanfel, and I am a demigod!" "Great stuff. I'm John...and I'm a bastard."

Well I'm bored and I want to get some more contenders in. So...our next contestants are... THE ETERNALS! An evolutionary offshoot of humanity created by the Celestials, the Eternals have served as humanity's protectors, most notably against the Deviants, another Celestial creation. Due to the cosmic energy that suffuses an Eternal's body and the unbreakable mental hold they have over their physiological processes, the Eternals of Earth are effectively immortal. They live for millennia, do not fatigue from physical exertion, are immune to disease and poison, and are unaffected by environmental extremes of cold and heat. Most cannot be injured by conventional weaponry, and even if they somehow are, an Eternal can rapidly regenerate any damage as long as they are able to retain their mental hold over their bodies; this mental bond can be broken however. It was also stated that Eternals are able to absorb oxygen directly from water, and therefore cannot drown. In the same series, Ikaris was plunged into molten metal and experienced great pain, but no physical injury, which the Deviants attributed to a forcefield which protects Ikaris even when unconscious. It is unclear if all Eternals share this degree of protection. This same cosmic energy can be channeled for a number of superhuman abilities. All Eternals are potentially capable of: Superhuman strength. The limits of their strength can be increased as a result of years of focusing some of their energy towards that purpose. Projecting concussive blasts, heat, and/or blinding flashes of energy from their eyes and hands Flight (and levitating others) Reading/controlling minds Generating illusions Teleporting vast distances, though most Eternals prefer not to use this ability as many find it uncomfortable (it also greatly depletes their store of cosmic energy) Transmuting objects, altering both their shape and composition. (The extent of this ability can vary from one Eternal to another.) Forcefield generation providing invulnerability to harm. In addition, groups of Eternals, as few as three at a time,can initiate a transformation into a gestalt being called the Uni-Mind, a vastly powerful psionic entity that contains the totality of the powers and abilities of all the beings that comprise it. Some Eternals choose to focus on a particular power in order to increase their effectiveness with it. Sersi, for example, has developed the power of transmutation further than any other Eternal. Additionally, some Eternals choose to focus their cosmic energies into other, non-standard abilities. Ikaris, for example, channels cosmic energy to greatly enhance his senses, while the Interloper uses his to generate fear in others, and Makkari uses his cosmic energies for superspeed. I think the Eternals have a pretty good shot at taking Archanfel down. What say you?

Crud...

Man, if those two went head-to-head...well, better hope you're insured, that's all I'm gonna say. Now, I wanna throw in a contender from left field... hailing from Earth-9810, I give you...Anthony Stark, Sorcerer Supreme! Stark's mechanical aptitude combined with the mystical power of a Sorcerer Supreme...that would make for a formidable combination against Archanfel.

This one I'm throwing in just for giggles...Archanfel versus LOBO! Pretty much the ultimate "bad boy" of the DC Universe, Lobo has managed to hold his own against the likes of Superman and the Demon Etrigan, killed Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, gotten himself banned from entering Heaven and Hell, making him effectively immortal...he's pretty much a magnet for wanton mayhem and destruction. So...anyone think Archanfel has a shot against the Main Man?

Hey Dave! Welcome aboard!

Dammit...well, do they have a "preview of next month's issue" page or something?

So...any updates? News? Chapter? Anyone? Anyone?