So, Who Would Win?: The Fantastic Four VS. The Four

TGIT!!!!!


Welcome to another edition of So, Who Would Win?, where I pit a team of super-powered individuals against each other, or rather a one on one battle between two super-powered beings to see who'd be the last man standing.

This week I'm closing out my birth month of August with a battle between the first family of Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four and their darker, evil counterparts, The Four.





Now honestly this has been a fight I've been wanting to see for some time now, ever since Warren Ellis and John Cassidy's evil and twisted version of the FF first appeared in the pages of Planetary #6 (May 1999). 

The Four came to be after their mission to outer space had them instead run into the Bleed, an interdimensional highway to the multiverse. It was there, that they met up with an extremely powerful and advanced race of alien beings that spared their lives and gave them super powers in return for the Four allowing them to successfully invade Earth. They did this over the next 50 years by undermining and subverting any attempt or uprising of super-powered beings that could possibly disrupt that plan.

Actions like these, as well as various atrocities and cruel, scientific experimentations by Dowling is what brought the Four into a long conflict with the Planetary organization.

Eventually Planetary won, and the Four was finally defeated for good in Planetary #26.

Now let's compare the two teams stats and see how they stack up against each other:

-The Fantastic Four:


1). Mr. Fantastic -

Abilities	Genius-level intellect Extreme superhuman elasticity, malleability, and endurance Resistance to most physical assaults and electricity Virtual immunity to psychic powers

2). The Invisible Woman-

Abilities	Competent martial artist Invisibility Projected invisibility Invisible force field projection (which bestows the ability to generate protective invisible shields and invisible energy constructs as well as the power to control and manipulate objects)

3). The Human Torch-

Abilities	Pyrokinesis Fiery form that enables flight, serves as damage shield Heat energy absorption Resistance to extreme heat

4). The Thing-

Abilities	Skilled street fighter and hand to hand combatant Superhuman strength, stamina and durability Rock-like skin Excellent dexterity Above-average reflexes Enhanced lung capacity

The Four:

1). Randall Dowling- Dowling himself has the ability to "stretch" his mind, and "pilfer" information from the minds of those who have been in his proximity.

2). Kim Suskind- Endowed with the powers of invisibility and force field generation.
She wears special goggles that Dowling invented for her; these goggles enable her to see when using her powers, as light passes through an invisible woman's eyes.

3). William Leather- amplified strength, durability and energy projection, the latter his point of similarity to the Fantastic Four's Human Torch.

4). Jacob Greene- mutated into an immensely durable but hideous being (similar to the Fantastic Four's Thing)

As you can see, both teams are pretty evenly-matched in terms of powers and skills, with one notable exception in the case of Dowling; he can't stretch his body like Reed can, but rather "stretch" his mind to invade the minds of others and gather any information he wants. Now whether or not this counts as a psychic attack that Mr. Fantastic is supposed to be immune to, I don't know, but kinda' sounds like it.

Now one on one, it looks the Four could possibly, POSSIBLY, squeeze out a victory.
Why do I say that?

Well.....

• While Dowling is as smart as Reed, his powers are such that, if Reed can resist Dowling invading his mind, then Reed's got this easy.
• Sue's powers are more powerful than Suskind's not to mention she doesn't need special goggles to see, so right there Sue has a distinct advantage. All she has to do is damage or disable those goggles, and that's it, game over for Suskind.
• Leather has enhanced strength and durability, which may give him that little bit of an edge over Johnny if they're already evenly matched. 
• Likewise, it seems just based off the way Ellis portrayed Greene, that he was probably stronger and overall tougher than our boy Ben. The fact that the only way that Snow and his crew could neutralize Greene was by banishing him to the darkest depths of space since they couldn't kill him, even with all their technological resources, should speak volumes to just how tough Greene really was.

All that being said, I expect one hell of a fight, no matter the duration, especially since the Four really are more ruthless and sadistic than their more heroic counterparts, but not necessarily more powerful.



So,

The Fantastic Four













VS.

The Four






Who wins and why?
As always I'm curious what you guys think, so feel free to leave your thoughts and speculations in the comments' section.

Have a good weekend folks....