Comic Books throughout the years have become a crucial piece of pop culture and have introduced the population to many famous superheroes such as DC’s Superman and Batman, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Wolverine, and Image’s Spawn. Many of us as children were asked the question, “If you could have one superpower what would it be?” and a lot of if not all of us would base our power on our favorite superhero. But now the decision is known. Eaglecrest’s favorite hero is Spiderman!
Round 1:
Day 1:
Day One of the bracket featured many notable matchups and also featured many great games
between two superheroes. Here are the day one recaps. Iron man beat Black Widow by a score of 35-6. The two Avengers fought in a great fight to start, but Iron Man was just too much for the Spy, and he moved onto the next round. Doctor Strange managed to beat Cyclops in a 30-10 battle. Cyclops and Doctor Strange are two rare cases of heroes who are seemingly plagued by their powers. So this matchup was a good one to watch. But ultimately the Sorcerer Supreme would win.
Wolverine would destroy Punisher with his claws by a score of 35-5. This was rather expected since Wolverine is one of Marvel’s poster characters when compared to Punisher but it is hard to say that it was entirely shocking. Realistically Punisher could have been shutout, but 5 votes? That is a win for Punisher. The Flash would beat his Justice League partner Green Lantern by a score of 32-7. Same case as with the previous Wolverine matchup. The Flash is one of DC’s stars compared to Green Lantern. So, it was just a reasonable win for Barry Allen.
In a matchup of revolutionary Women heroes, Wonder Woman would beat Captain Marvel 24-15. Funny enough Captain Marvel was ahead for a long time, until the night before voting closed, Wonder Woman surged back and won. Valiant Battle between the two though.
In arguably the most predictable matchup of them all Batman beat Hawkeye in a 40-2 blowout. Personally I am a huge Hawkeye fan, but there was just no way he was getting past arguably the most recognizable Hero in comic book history. 2 votes for pity, but Hawkeye is unfortunately just too irrelevant.
In the final two matchups of Day 1, Superman would beat Moon Knight 33-10. Kind of crazy to think of how much of a fight Moon Knight put up. 10 votes against THE Superhero is an impressive feat for the Knight. Meanwhile, in our closest matchup of the day, Nightwing would upset Thing. It went back and forth for a long time, but Nightwing was able to pull ahead very late and would end up winning.
Day 2:
Day two featured the rest of the matchups in round 1, which included notable fights such as Captain America vs Storm, and the highly anticipated debut of Spider-Man facing Cat Woman. Scores varied as we had some blowouts and some close games once again. Here are the recaps from the final day of round 1.
Hulk managed to beat the lone representative of Image Comics in Spawn by a final score of 27-5. Spawn surprisingly led in the first few hours of the polling but once voting kicked off, Hulk was able to take off and win it by that final score. Spawn is one of those rare cases of a superhero who people don’t know appearing in a known hero bracket, and it isn’t for any reason in particular, people just don’t know as much about Spawn when compared to a hero such as the Hulk. Deadpool was able to beat Green Arrow by a score of 31-2 in a massive blowout that may or may not highlight the prominence of Deadpool. Green Arrow may be unknown to many nowadays but Deadpool having a highly-rated movie coming out during the summer is more likely the reason why he won. Nonetheless, though Deadpool is moving on.
In another of the predictable matchups, Aquaman beat Wasp 26-6. The fight was really undisputed as it took a while for Wasp to receive votes, and by the time she did Aquaman was already up big, so just real dominance displayed by Aquaman, to beat Ant-Man’s sidekick. To wrap up the left side of the bracket, Thor beat Beast 25-6, which comes as a bit of a shock considering that Beast is seemingly more recognizable than Thor. Movies may play a factor though because Beast has never really been in a position to succeed cinematically compared to Thor who has become one of the most popular characters in the MCU, hopefully, Beast will be back soon with Marvel’s X-Men in the future of their film plans.
In the most anticipated match of the tournament so far, Spider-Man finally makes his debut, beating Cat Woman 30-2. No need for commentary here, Spider-Man is arguably Marvel’s Poster character, so it is no wonder he beat such an obscure character as Cat Woman. Meanwhile, while still a blowout, Captain America beat Storm 25-5. This would’ve been one that could’ve gone either way and it was arguably the best matchup of round 1. But like Thor vs Beast, Storm just hasn’t been in a position to succeed against such a popular character like Captain America.
In a battle of DC heroes, Robin beat Shazam 20-10. In a head-to-head fight, Shazam would destroy Robin, but as far as being iconic goes, Robin takes the cake. He is by the majority, the most well-known Sidekick in comic history, meanwhile Shazam (AKA Captain Marvel) isn’t even the most popular Captain Marvel in the bracket. To wrap up round 1 we had a fitting duel. Ant-Man vs Hellboy was the closest fight in the first round, but Hellboy managed to win it 18-15. Spawn may have been voted off, but Hellboy ensured that comics other than Marvel and DC could still win. Since he is facing off against Batman next don’t expect to see Hellboy crack the Elite 8 but it is a feelgood story, knowing that people still care about comics other than Marvel and DC.
Round 2 Day 2:
On the concluding day of round 2, we had a fair bit of everything. We had a blowout, and we had an upset. So without much more talking here are the recaps of round 2 day 2.
When Hellboy was put into the bracket, he was put in mostly as a diversity inclusion. You can’t have a best comic hero bracket if all of the heroes were DC or Marvel, there has to be some other comic company present, and while Spawn went down in round 1, Hellboy managed to make it by Ant-Man. However, it is hard to be disadvantaged and then expect to put up a fight against Batman. Batman beat Hellboy 36-3. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and Robin went back and forth for a while until Wonder Woman pulled ahead to beat Robin by a score of 21-17. It is easy to forget Robin is the most iconic sidekick of all time, but unfortunately being an iconic no. 2 option doesn’t get you everywhere. As we know now, that also means into the elite 8 of Nest Network’s comic hero bracket.
Captain America and the Flash also had a good fight with Captain America eventually winning 24-15, it’s just another case of who is more popular, and in this case, more people like Captain America when compared to the Flash, is it because of the movies? Is it because Captain America is a good first comic book to read for those getting into the hobby? We’ll never know, but Captain America is moving on. In the last fight of the day, Spider-Man beat Wolverine 29-9. Two of Marvel’s poster characters went at it in a fight that could’ve been a finals matchup. Despite it being a good matchup, 29-9 is expected as Spider-Man is just slightly more iconic. Anyways though we have a set Elite 8. Voting begins now.
Elite Eight Recap:
After weeks of battle we are finally down to four competitors in the tournament. This round featured lots of matchups with fan favorite heroes including the likes of Iron Man and Captain America. Here are the recaps of the elite eight.
In the first matchup of the day Deadpool beat number 1 seeded Superman by a score of 30-9. We all knew Superman would go at some point, but in a blowout is a bit suprising considering he is the poster child of a Superhero. Nonetheless Deadpool moves on to the final four. Iron Man was able to beat Doctor Strange by a score of 29-11, Doctor Strange by many was considered a first round exit, but he persevered and made it through to the elite eight, only to be beat by Iron Man. Not a bad run for the sorcerer supreme.
On the other side of the bracket, Spider-Man beat Captain America 29-12. Now it was inevitable because Spider-Man a really popular choice when you think of a comic book character, but it wasn’t like Captain America was a complete ghost here because 12 votes can still be considered a fight and Captain America always fights till the bitter end. In the concluding matchup of the round, Batman beat Wonder Woman 39-2. Again, simple case of a more popular hero decimating an inferiorly popular one. Batman moves on and we have a set final four.
FInal Four Recap:
As this edition of the Raptor Bracket Challenge gets ever closer to the end. We have our finalists. Through 4 days of play, it became clear who would represent each side of the bracket, and you, the reader are sure to not be disappointed. Here are the recaps from the final four round.
In the first of the two fights. Deadpool and Iron Man faced off. Two prominent characters in marvel’s lineup. Iron Man known for his intelligence and suits of armor. Deadpool known for being the “Merc with a Mouth” and also just being a really cool character. Deadpool would end up winning by a score of 20-13. At the start the two were going back and forth, but it became clear that Deadpool was the clear winner, so while 20-13 shows a lead struggle, it clearly shows that voters prefer Deadpool, so he moves on.
In a battle of No. 2 and No. 3 and respectively the icons of the two biggest comic companies. Spiderman and Batman faced off in what would be a 28-10 win for Spiderman. Now to be fair 10 votes is a good amount, but it was clear from the start that Spiderman would win, I mean, he is who you think of when you think Marvel heroes. It isn’t a surprise to see him in the finals.
Finals Recap:
After a few weeks of play. We made it to the final two. Deadpool and Spiderman, friends in the comics but today enemies. And after an extended voting period which involved first half dominance by Deadpool, compiling a total vote count of 14-3. However, the finals don’t end in the usual format of the rest of the rounds, and Spiderman managed to score 25 unanswered votes to win the finals 28-14. It is fair to assume that Spiderman would’ve won. Spiderman as sales show is the most popular comic hero in Marvel’s history, and a hero who came along a lot later, while he may be popular, Deadpool just can’t compete with one of the greatest superheroes of all time. So we finally have our answer to the question posed at the start. Spiderman is Eaglecrest’s favorite hero!
