Mortal Kombat vs Street Fighter: Round 2

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This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. Hi, welcome to
the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we

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review superhero films and debate the
superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing

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their characters in stat-based battle
simulations. I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin

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brother, Marvelous Joe. And, whoa, look at that up
in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! Oh, it just

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landed. Oh, it looks like it's actually a comic
book. Where did that come from? Mortal Kombat vs

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Street Fighter. I didn't know they made this
title. Oh, look, it's published by the DynaMic

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Network. What?! Well, let's open up the comic book
and see what's inside. Duel Max Destruction will

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give you shadow kicks and sonic booms as Johnny
Cage goes head-to-head with Colonel Guile for

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round three. Finally on Senjoh World, Evil Reigns
Supreme as Revenant Liu Kang's Fireballs clash

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with Evil Ryu's Hadoukens in the final round. It
begins now! Listen each day for a new fight. But

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only on Senjoh World will you learn which universe
survives and which becomes my personal well of

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souls to claim. Whoa, that's one of those talking
comic books! Yeah, I bet you guys were expecting

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another Marvel vs DC episode on this special April
Fool's week at the network. But like last year when

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we gave you guys Godzilla vs Ultraman, we're
diving into other franchises yet again and giving

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you round two of the Mortal Kombat vs Street
Fighter tournament. And strangely enough, both

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Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter have dipped
their toes into the worlds of DC and Marvel. That's

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right, famously there was a Mortal Kombat vs DC
video game as well as some tie-in comic books, but

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also DC has published several Mortal Kombat comic
series. Yeah, and with Street Fighter there's the

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famous Marvel vs Capcom video game series which
included X-Men vs Street Fighter all the way

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through Marvel vs Capcom 3 along with some tie-in
comics as well. So this will be a fun episode, be

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sure to listen to round one of the Mortal Kombat vs
Street Fighter tournament over on Konsole Kombat

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and then tune into Max Destruction tomorrow for
the third round in the tournament and then get the

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final results in the Senjoh World podcast on
Thursday. Before we get into our main event

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though, we're going to break down the comic book
movie news from this past week of which there was

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just one major news item and that was the cast
reveal for Avengers Doomsday. Yeah, a lot to talk

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about there. Can't wait to discuss it, but as
always we list our segment times in our episode

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description, so feel free to check out the show
notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular

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topic. Our artificially intelligent dual
simulator AJ9K has a quick message for our

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listeners, so listen up. Why hello there. Do you
want even more from this podcast? Then become a

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part of the dynamic dual community on Patreon
where you can choose from three tiers. The dynamic

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2.0 tier gives you access to our Discord chat
server, the Fantastic Four tier gives you two

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bonus episodes each month and the X-Force tier
makes you an executive producer of this show.

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Lastly, the Diner Mike podcast network tier lets
you create your own podcast using this Monte Carlo

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simulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop
your show, provide graphic support and

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consultation and get you simulation results.
Pitch the twins your ideas via email at

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dynamicdualpodcast at gmail.com. Check it out at
patreon.com slash dynamicdual. Pip pip cheerio.

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Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports
the podcast. But with that out of the way, quick to

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the no prize. A no prize is an award Marvel used to
give out to fans. Our version, the dynamic dual no

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prize, is a digital award we post on Instagram for
the person that we feel gave the best answer to our

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question of the week. Last week we asked you guys,
what Marvel or DC actor whose performance was

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hidden by practical or special effects would you
like to see play another character? And this was

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coming off of the news that Colin Farrell is in
talks to play Sergeant Rock for that upcoming

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movie, Colin Farrell being the guy who plays the
penguin in a largely unrecognizable role in the

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Batman franchise. Let's break down our three
honorable mentions before revealing this week's

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no prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes
to Matt from Texas. Who said? Hey guys, Matt from

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Texas. The actor I would like to see is Matt Damon
since he was in two different Marvel movies,

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Deadpool 2 and the sequels of Thor. I would like to
see him show up as an actual character, probably

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Nighthawk of the Squadron Supreme, just to play
off of his friendship with Ben Affleck. Ben

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Affleck being Batman, he could play the Marvel's
version of Batman. That'd be awesome. Yeah, Matt

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Damon has been at the top of a lot of people's lists
to play his superhero role for decades now. I

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remember way back in the day when they were
thinking about making an Iron Fist movie, Matt

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Damon was the lead rumored contender for that
role. And to this day, he still has yet to play a

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Marvel or DC superhero, despite making some cameo
appearances in both Deadpool 2 and Thor Ragnarok

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and Thor 11 Thunder. I feel like the guy can't turn
down a cameo, which is wild. Since his often screen

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partner and friend, Ben Affleck, played Batman in
the DCEU, it would be kind of hilarious to have Matt

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Damon play Marvel's Batman counterpart from the
Squadron Supreme, Nighthawk. And it kind of met a

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gag to the audience. Even if it just ends up being
another cameo, where in one of the upcoming

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Avengers movies, we see the Incursions
destroying these other worlds and we get this

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glimpse of the Squadron Supreme being destroyed
by an incursion, I think that would be entirely

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worth it. Yeah, Hyperion could be Henry Cavill,
Power Princess could be Gal Gadot, but make

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Nighthawk Matt Damon. There you go. We know Henry
Cavill is up for these Marvel cameos. Apparently.

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So good answer, Matt. Our next honorable mention
goes to Travis Herndon. Who said? What's up,

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dynamic dudes? Travis here, shout out to me, with
twins. So my pick would have to be Ada Wale, Alec

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Kono'i. I probably butcher his last name. But the
actor who played Killer Croc in the Suicide Squad

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movie, I mean, he had, and I think he'd be the
perfect pick as Tombstone. He has the attitude. He

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has to hide, give him the sharp teeth, the white
skin and the hairstyle. And I think he can make a

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pretty sick tombstone for a Spider-Man MCU movie
in the future. Yeah, Ada Wale, Akanoye Agbaje has

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played multiple roles for both Marvel and DC. He
was Killer Croc, like Travis said, but he was also

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Curse in Thor of the Dark World. So the guy has
always just been covered up in prosthetics and

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hasn't really got the chance to shine as a Marvel or
DC character. Now, he'd also be wearing a lot of

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makeup for Tombstone if you played that role, but
considerably less so. Basically, just slap some

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white makeup on him and he's good to go. Yeah,
that's all you really need. I think he'd be great

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for the role. He'd be one of my top picks if they ever
cast Tombstone in live action, which, you know,

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who knows, the character showed up in the Into the
Spider-Verse movie, so he could show up in live

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action, possibly in Spider-Man 4 or 5 with Tom
Holland. I wouldn't mind that at all. Yeah, give

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the guy a shot. Great answer, Travis. Our final
honorable mention goes to Christopher Minotti,

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who said, Hi guys, Christopher Minotti. My choice
would have to be Paul Bettany, who obviously

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played his vision. I'd like to see him play Mr.
Freeze. I think that would be really cool. Paul

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Bettany has, if you ever saw the Da Vinci Code, he
played the kind of tragic villain in that one, and

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he was amazing in it. And I just think that it would
be amazing. He would do an amazing job as Mr. Freeze

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because of that. Yeah, I keep hearing rumors that
Mr. Freeze is going to be the villain for the second

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Batman film in Matt Reeves' Batman Universe. I
don't know if that's true, but if it was, Paul

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Bettany would make a fantastic Mr. Freeze. I think
he would do well in that universe as well. Yeah,

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based alone, even on his role in the Da Vinci Code.
Yeah, he was also in Firewall, I believe. He played

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a great villain in that movie. He's just a
fantastic actor. And he's also really pale and has

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got features, which I think is perfect for the
character of Mr. Freeze. Yeah, I could totally see

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that. Great answer, Christopher Minotti.
Everybody had great answers this week. I was like

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uncertain if it was even a good question of the
week, but you guys came through. Quick shout out to

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Lee Tapscott, who also called in saying that Doug
Jones, who played the Silver Surfer, should play

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Plastic Man in the DCU. But the winner of this
week's No Prize is Colby Hentges. Who said? Hey,

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boys, Colby Hentges. I would like to see Bradley
Cooper, everybody's favorite Rocket Raccoon,

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play a different Marvel superhero. But here's the
thing, I'm going to stick it behind special

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effects again. Because I'd like to see him play
Johnny Blaze, the ghostwriter, maybe teaching a

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young Robbie Reyes the ropes or some kind of
Midnight Sun's spirit of engines movie. Yeah, I

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really like this answer. I think a lot of people are
bringing up like Ryan Gosling for the role of

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Johnny Blaze, but I could totally see Bradley
Cooper in this role. And I think, you know, his

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voice was nearly indistinguishable as Rocket
Raccoon. So despite the fact that he's lent his

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talents to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I think
he could do so in live action as the character

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Johnny Blaze, who turns into ghostwriter. Yeah,
if all of the actors that could play ghostwriter, I

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think Bradley Cooper would be by far the best one to
do so. But too bad because apparently, according

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to a certain scooper who has seen an early version
of the Superman movie, Bradley Cooper has already

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been cast as Jor-El in James Gunn's DC Universe.
That doesn't mean he couldn't play Johnny Blaze

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because we all know Jor-El dies. It's a small role.
His fate is to not live and send his only son to

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Earth. Well, until they make the Superman prequel
where they show everything that happens on

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Krypton. Okay, okay. No, I still think that
Bradley Cooper would make a great Johnny Blaze

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and, you know, the whole Jor-El thing that hasn't
been confirmed yet. So we'll see if that actually

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comes out to be true. But great answer, Colby
Hitches. You win this week's No Prize. If you're

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the listener, want a shot at winning your own No
Prize, stay tuned to later on in this episode when

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we'll be asking another question of the week.
Another that's done? On to the news! Alright, this

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past week we got a major cast announcement for the
upcoming Avengers Doomsday film, which has now

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begun production. It is a massive cast list that
dwarfs even the size of Avengers Endgame in

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Infinity War. And suffice to say it was an exciting
time this past week getting to see all the names

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that would be in the film. Yeah, it took hours to get
through. Holy shit. It could have been a tweet.

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Yeah, it could have been a tweet. It would have been
a long list, but I'll say that the engagement that

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Marvel got from this slow reveal of a camera
panning across different chairs with the actors'

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names on them, it was kind of a brilliant move.
Everybody was talking about it at the time. It was

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hard to be at work at the same time that this was all
happening. But I'm going to go ahead and run down

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the list in the order that they were revealed, and
we'll talk about them as we go. The first name on the

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first chair that we saw was Chris Hemsworth, and my
initial reaction to that was, of course. We all

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figured that Thor would be back. Chris Hemsworth
has to be there as the sole returning

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representative of the original Avengers team.
Hopefully he can redeem the character from how

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fucking goofy he was in Thor 11 Thunder. Yeah, that
bow god of dumpling still gets me as everything

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that's wrong with Marvel right now. The next name
that was revealed was Vanessa Kirby, who will be

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playing the invisible woman in the upcoming The
Fantastic Four First Steps movie. This was kind of

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a surprise in that I didn't know necessarily that
The Fantastic Four was going to show up in

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Doomsday. I mean, I had a good idea, but the fact
that we're getting both the Avengers and The

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Fantastic Four in one film was big enough news to
get me excited. Yeah, because the Fantastic Four

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members are not typically Avengers characters,
right? So I was surprised by this, but also not so

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surprised because obviously Dr. Doom will be the
villain in Avengers Doomsday, and wherever

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there's Dr. Doom, you also expect there to be
Fantastic Four. Yeah, it does seem like even

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though The Fantastic Four get their powers in
another dimension, as we'll see in the upcoming

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Fantastic Four movie, they eventually make their
way to the primary Marvel Cinematic Universe. The

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sacred timeline is at work. After that, we've got a
reveal of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan.

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Anthony Mackie wasn't surprising. Sebastian
Stan also wasn't, but it's cool to see him so

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frequently now since he had that cameo in Brave New
World, and of course, he'll show up in the

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Thunderbolts movie, and we'll see him again in
Doomsday. Then we got Letitia Wright, who's going

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to be in the movie playing Black Panther. I wasn't
sure if this film was going to reveal the new

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T'Challa actor and who's going to play that new
version of Black Panther. It looks like we're

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going to get Letitia Wright again as Shuri's Black
Panther. Which is fine because I really liked her

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as the character in Black Panther Wakanda
Forever. Yeah, and I'm sure these two Avengers

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films, the way I imagine it's going to play with
time and reality, will allow for a natural

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introduction to a young T'Challa donning the
mantle of Black Panther. Or an older T'Challa, as

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we saw in the concept art for Avengers Secret Wars.
Yeah, right. Next up was Wyatt Russell as US Agent.

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I think my first reaction there was that, okay, so
he's going to survive the events of Thunderbolts.

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I really was expecting prior to this announcement
that a lot of the Thunderbolts characters were

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going to die in their battle with the Century
during the course of that film. But, you know, as we

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go through this list even further, we realize that
that's not the case. Yeah, it looks like a majority

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of the Thunderbolts are going to survive, which,
spoiler alert, I know, right? But that is kind of

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cool that not only is this going to be an Avengers
film, it's also going to be a fantastic four film

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and a Thunderbolts film. Next up, we learned that
Tanok Kwertha was going to be reprising his role as

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Namor the Submariner. And that's pretty cool
because Namor has had a lot of dealings with Doom

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over the years, sometimes as an ally. But it'll
also be interesting since the Fantastic Four is

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going to be in this movie to see if he has any
interactions with Sue Storm since he has a big old

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crush on her. Yeah, this is one of my favorite
announcements that they revealed because I love

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the MCU adaptation of Namor. Like, they did a way
better job with the character than the comics ever

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have. I agree. Yeah, he's definitely one of
Marvel's more interesting newer additions. And

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you know, he's been an adventure in the comic
books, so whether he joins the side of the good guys

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or teams up more with Doom will be interesting to
see what side he falls on. Next on the cast was Ebon

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Moss Bakrok, who was expected once we got the
announcement of Vanessa Kirby. Again, it's just

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nice to see the Fantastic Four here. But then we got
news that Shang-Chi, played by Simu Liu, is going

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to show up again. And at that point, I think I got
really pumped and excited because I think

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everyone else was kind of expected. But I've been
dying to see Shang-Chi again in a Marvel project

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since that film came out because I was such a huge
fan of that movie. And I think we've been long

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overdue to get an appearance from him again within
these stories. Yeah, 100%. Rae and I saw that. I was

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like, it's about damn time. Then Florence Pugh was
announced to return as Yelena Bolova the White

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Widow. Again, I was like, okay, so she survived
Slender Bolts too. But after that, I think the

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biggest shock so far was the announcement of
Kelsey Grammer returning as Beast. That was huge

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because we last saw him in the end credit scene of
the Marvel's movie. And when I saw this, I

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immediately assumed that that world that Monaco
Rambo ended up in was going to either perish in an

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incursion or find their way to the MCU. This either
meant that Beast was going to be a member of the

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Avengers as he has been in the comic books. Or we
were going to get the X-Men. I was more thinking the

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former rather than the latter. I thought we were
just really going to get Beast showing up in this

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Avengers film. But I was shocked to say the least by
later announcements. I was shocked that we didn't

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get Teyona Paris on this cast list. I know. Yeah,
that's a little weird. We'll talk about the people

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who didn't show up and how that surprised me. The
next one to be announced was Louis Pullman as the

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Sentry. That completely shocked me because the
Sentry or the Void rather is the primary

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antagonist of the upcoming Thunderbolts movie.
So something happens there where he's not

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necessarily defeated, but instead he's reformed
or something like that. Or they managed to destroy

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the Void without destroying the Sentry. Or he gets
imprisoned and in the course of Doomsday he

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escapes or something like that. Who knows what's
happening? All we know is that the Thunderbolts

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don't kill the bad guy in that upcoming movie,
which I think it was a terrible spoiler. I wish they

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would have saved all the Thunderbolts cast
announcements for later on after the movie was

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released. That way we didn't get any of these
spoiler stuff. Well, I mean, as far as we know,

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Julie Louise Dreyfus could be the main antagonist
of the Thunderbolts. She was on this cast list. I

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don't think she would be, but you're probably
right. Next announced was Danny Ramirez as the

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Falcon, which was no surprise because Anthony
Mackie was already announced and the Falcon is

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Captain America's sidekick. Then we got Joseph
Quinn as the Human Torch. Again, no surprise. And

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David Harbour as the Red Guardian, which at that
point I was like, okay, so everybody in the

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Thunderbolts basically does live. I was
surprised to see Winston Duke return as Mbaku just

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because the character status has been really
elevated within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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Yeah, I mean, by the time this comes out, he'll be in
more Avengers movies than Black Panther movies.

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That's true. Wow. That's kind of surprising. Next
up is Hannah John Kammon, who played Ghost in

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Ant-Man and the Wasp and is reprising the
character in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie. It

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looks like she lives too. And then actually a big
announcement that I guess wasn't surprising, but

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one that I absolutely loved was that we get to see
Tom Hiddleston back as the character of Loki. It

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makes sense because at the end of Loki Season 2, we
see Loki, you know, sitting on his throne kind of

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overseeing the multiverse. So if Doomsday deals
with incursions, there wouldn't be any doubt that

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we would see some kind of appearance from Loki as
these universes are colliding and getting

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destroyed. I'm wondering if he even kicks off the
whole story. Yeah, probably. You keep saying

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incursions, though, but I don't know if I believe
that just because Benedict Cumberbatch was not in

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this cast list. He doesn't need to be in the movie
for there to be incursions. Well, he was our

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introduction to incursions at the end of
Multiverse of Madness. So I have a hard time

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believing that if incursions were involved, he
would not be like the main character. Why? Because

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he would need to introduce the audience to
incursions because the character of Clea was the

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one that introduced that to the Marvel Universe in
general. No, Clea didn't introduce it. Dr.

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Strange had to help Clea with an incursion, but
Loki could also introduce the concept of

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incursions. It doesn't have to be Dr. Strange.
Okay, Loki's inclusion didn't make you sad at all

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that they're revisiting a story arc that had
already been perfectly resolved? No, I expect it

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to seem more of Loki by the end of Loki season two.
And I don't think his appearance here ruins the

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ending of that show because comic books, by their
very nature, have stories that go on and on and on.

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The conclusion of one arc doesn't diminish the
character's inclusion in another. The next

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announcement was a big one. I got really excited by
it. We get to see Patrick Stewart reprise his role

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as Professor X. By this point, I was like, okay,
that's two X-Men. We're definitely going to get

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more. And hopefully this time he lives and he
doesn't get his neck snapped by the Scarlet Witch

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was my thought. Well, yeah, considering it looks
like Scarlet Witch is not in this movie, it's a safe

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bet that that's not going to happen. I think by the
time this next announcement rolled around, Ian

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McKellen as Magneto, I was full on screaming with
excitement because I think I knew where they were

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starting to go with these announcements with the
back to back reveal of Professor X and Magneto. I'm

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not going to lie. I was pretty underwhelmed by this
list or not really impressed by the list up to this

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point because I was just like, okay, just everyone
in the MCU so far. Gotcha. Don't need to watch

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anymore. But once they said Ian McKellen, I was
like, holy shit, how did they get him to come back?

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You know, he hasn't played the role in quite some
time, but he was the perfect Magneto. And it's

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really interesting to see that they got him back
into the role for this film. Yeah, they basically

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have him until he's fucking 90. I have no idea how
old he is by now, but he's got to be close to 90. Oh,

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yeah, he's 85 years old. There you go. The next
announcement had me laughing on the floor because

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while this whole thing was going on, I posed a
question to our patrons on the discord. Like, who

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do you want to show up in this movie that you think is
not going to? Like you think has no chance. And one

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of our executive producers, Brandon Estregard,
said, I know there's absolute zero chance of this

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happening, but if they bring back Alan Cumming as
Nightcrawler, I will shit gold for three days

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straight. And I remember reading that thinking
that there was no way in hell that Alan Cumming was

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coming back. And then all of a sudden his fucking
name showed up on that chair. And we all messaged

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Brandon saying like time to start shitting
because Alan Cumming is back as Nightcrawler. And

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that was just, I was floored. I was floored. By that
point, I couldn't work anymore. And I was just

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glued to my screen on the Marvel YouTube channel,
just waiting to see who else was coming back. Yeah,

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that's about the time when I dipped off of the
discord because all the Marvel fans started

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talking about how they were coming and all the
different coming jokes. I was like, I'm out. We

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were just really happy. Rebecca Romain was
announced next. Glad to see that she's coming

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back. It is interesting that they're bringing
back the original X-Men lineup and not, you know,

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the first class lineup. So we're not getting James
McAvoy or Michael Fassbender or Jennifer

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Lawrence. You know, we're getting the original
actors, including James Marston, who's coming

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back as Cyclops, which is really exciting. I
really want to see James Marston given his due as

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the character because he kind of went out like a
punk ass in X-Men The Last Stand. And in the first

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two movies, he didn't have a whole lot to do. So I'm
hoping that, you know, we see James Marston in the

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classic Cyclops outfit and that he's a total
badass. Yeah, considering what Marvel Studios

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was able to bring us with X-Men 97, I have total
faith that they can do Cyclops justice in a way that

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Fox couldn't. Right. Like how they couldn't do
Channing Tatum justice with the character of

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Gambit until Deadpool and Wolverine. And
speaking of Channing Tatum, he was the next one

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announced. I think we all knew that Channing Tatum
was going to come back as Gambit. I didn't know it

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was going to be this soon because we never got to see
Gambit interact with the rest of the X-Men team. He

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only made that one, you know, brief appearance in
X-Men Origins Wolverine and that was super lame.

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This will be much more exciting and much more true
to the character in the comic books. I just had a

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ball watching him in Deadpool and Wolverine and I
want to see what the team dynamic is like with

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Channing Tatum in the role here. Yeah, that said
Channing Tatum's role in Deadpool and Wolverine

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was fairly comedic, I would say. So I'm interested
to see how that changes or maybe doesn't change for

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this movie. Considering Ryan Reynolds was not a
part of the cast. Yeah, we only have two names

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announced left. I think I was expecting like 10
more names. I thought that announcement was going

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to go on for like hours longer. And then we got Pedro
Pascal as Mr. Fantastic, which of course he was the

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final member of the Fantastic Four that they had
yet to announce. And we all knew that was coming.

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But then we got Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Doom. And at
that point I knew that was it. That was the final

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cast member that was going to be announced. We
already knew that of course Robert Downey Jr. was

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going to be in this movie. For the record, I'm still
fucking livid that they cast Downey in this role.

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Because I don't want the Victor Von Doom on the
screen to just be a Tony Stark variant. I still

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really wish this was a different actor. Well, what
if they never show his face? If they never show his

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face, I'll be a little bit more lenient. So they
better not ever show his face basically. But if

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that's the case, then, you know, why get Downey Jr.
just for his voice? That doesn't really make

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sense. Well, just because he's a good actor. I
don't know, it may kind of be like the whole penguin

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and Sergeant Rock scenario, like our question of
the week. Where one actor plays two different

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characters, but one of them is heavily covered up
in makeup or CG. If they completely make Downey

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unrecognizable in the role, then I'll accept it.
Because then I'll just see Doom, you know. So yeah,

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that might be acceptable. That was the entire cast
list. I want to give a quick spotlight on the

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characters that I thought would have been
announced, but have not been. There was some

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discussion on social media between Robert Downey
Jr. And, you know, the official Marvel account

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about how there will be more names in the movie
besides just this list. But I was really surprised

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that, you know, people like the Hulk or She-Hulk
aren't going to be in the film. Spider-Man, Dr.

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Strange, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hawkeye. It
would have been really cool to see the Disney Plus

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show characters like Moon Knight and Daredevil
show up. Really surprised we didn't get any of the

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Marvels like Captain Marvel or Photon,
considering where Photon ended up at the end of the

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Marvels film. Yeah, we didn't get any of the young
Avengers or Star-Lord, really anyone we saw in the

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concept art for Avengers Secret Wars. Yeah, so it
kind of seems like they're dividing a lot of their

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characters between these two films. Like the
characters that don't show up in this movie like

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the Hulk are going to have a lot more screen time in
Avengers Secret Wars, where we saw in the concept

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art like there's going to be Hulk and She-Hulk and
Vision and Star-Lord and Dr. Strange. So I guess

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that's just a way to save money, but that being
said, this cast is already fully stacked and it

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would be hard to see where they could possibly even
insert additional characters. But Jonathan,

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considering that this is now not only an Avengers
film, but an Avengers slash Fantastic Four, slash

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Thunderbolts slash X-Men film, how jealous are
you on a scale of 1 to 10? Uh, zero? Why would I be

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jealous of that? Because that's the equivalent of
getting a Justice League slash Justice Society

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slash Suicide Squad slash Titans movie, which you
will never get. You will never get this. You'll

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never get this. You'll never get this. Uh, well,
when you put it like that, I just have to say I also

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don't want that because that's too many teams in
one movie. There's no such thing. There's no such

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thing and you're lying to yourself. Unless it was
like a crisis movie, then I could maybe see it. And,

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well, frankly, this may be Marvel's crisis movie,
to which I just have to say a ripoff. Secret Wars is

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not a ripoff of crisis. Sorry. Yes, it is, bro. Like
a multiverse coming together and then like

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reforming into one universe. That's crisis.
Yeah, I don't see the comparison. I don't see the

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comparison. I don't know what you're talking
about. Now who's lying to themselves? But

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Avengers Doomsday comes out in a little over a year
from now on May 1st, 2026. So it'll be really

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exciting to see what news comes out going forward.
But speaking of the Avengers Doomsday cast, that

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brings us to our question of the week. The bottom
right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt

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you to leave us a voicemail. Your message could be
up to 30 seconds long. And don't forget to leave

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your name in case we include you on the podcast.
We'll pick our favorite answer and award that

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person a dynamic dual no prize that will post to
Instagram. Be sure to answer before April 5th. But

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that does it for all of the news for this episode. So
now let's go ahead and move on to our main event.

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Joseph, go ahead and grab that Mortal Kombat vs.
Street Fighter comic one more time. You know, the

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one that talks. Let's see what Shang Tsung has to
say. It has begun. Okay, this is round two of our

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Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter Dynamite
Network crossover event for April Fool's Week.

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Yeah, looking at this comic book here, it looks
like this matchup round two is going to be between

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Raiden and M. Bison. That's pretty cool. We have
the Thunder God going up against the wielder of

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Psycho Power. Yeah, interesting matchup. I'm
really excited for Raiden. He was the protagonist

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of the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe comic book
series, as well as one of the protagonists of the

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video game. He also made an appearance in
Injustice 2, which is a DC fighting video game and

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probably has my favorite version of the Raiden
character. Yeah, so there's a lot of crossover

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between Mortal Kombat and DC. There's a lot of
crossover between Street Fighter and Marvel as

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well. As I mentioned earlier, there's the Marvel
vs. Capcom video game series, but that whole thing

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was started with the X-Men vs. Street Fighter
video game of which M. Bison was the primary

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antagonist along with Magneto. So kind of like our
last April Fool's episode, which was Godzilla vs.

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Ultraman. Godzilla had ties to the DC comics and
Marvel had their own line of Ultraman comic books.

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It's nice that things are still able to be tied to
the Marvel and DC universes. Absolutely. But to

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explain the methodology behind our duels, let's
go to our sentient duel simulator, Alphard Jarvis

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9000. A.J .9K, tell our listeners how you go about
determining a winner in our duel matchups. Yes, of

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course, sir. The way I determine a winner between
the contestants is by running 1000 Monte Carlo

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simulations using the characters statistics. A
Monte Carlo simulation is a probabilistic model

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used to determine outcomes through random
sampling. In this case, I randomize the

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statistics along a normal distribution as a way to
simulate the many variables that can occur during

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battle. The stat parameters are based on the
official Marvel power grid from which the DC

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00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:56,980
characters statistics are extrapolated.
Additional stat categories are included such as

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00:30:56,980 --> 00:31:02,500
range, damage potential, versatility and
perception in order to create a more detailed and

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00:31:02,500 --> 00:31:07,860
accurate simulation. The results of the 1000
simulations provide a percentage of wins for each

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00:31:07,860 --> 00:31:12,440
character. The contestant with the higher
percentage is declared the victor as they have a

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00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:17,740
higher probability to win any given battle. In an
equitable pairing, neither character should win

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00:31:17,740 --> 00:31:23,060
100% of the matches. The comic book stories have
shown that there's even a way for Batman to defeat

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Superman, so the confidence rate of my method
falls in line with the precedents that have been

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established in the source material. My
mathematical simulations are without

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00:31:31,380 --> 00:31:36,960
subjectivity or bias. Feats are not the sole
consideration, nor are fan votes tabulated for

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00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:42,610
determination of the winner. Thanks AJ9k. Before
we run the simulations though, we'd like to break

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down each character's histories and abilities
before improvising a scenario on how we imagine

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one of the 1000 simulations would play out beat for
beat. And I believe it's my turn to go first, so let

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00:31:52,730 --> 00:31:58,530
me go ahead and tell you all about the Street
Fighter character M. Bison. Little is known about

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the early life of M. Bison, including his birth
name or nationality. As a young man, he was a

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martial artist who once wielded soul power, a
spiritually aligned energy based on positive

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emotions and balance. He trained under a master
capable of manipulating psychopower, a darker

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00:32:16,370 --> 00:32:21,670
supernatural energy force rooted in negative
emotions like hatred and aggression. Obsessed

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with becoming the strongest martial artist in the
world, Bison murdered his master and discarded

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soul power entirely, embracing the corrupting
influence of psychopower. He journeyed on a quest

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for power, defeating numerous martial artists
and absorbing their knowledge and techniques,

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eventually gaining control over a criminal
syndicate known as Shadalu. At some point, Bison

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became aware of the secret assassination martial
arts style of Ansatsuken and sought out its

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practitioner, Gouken. Upon confronting him,
Bison fought Gouken, but was unsatisfied when the

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master chose not to utilize techniques like the
Hadouken Fireball or Shoryuken Uppercut.

349
00:32:59,370 --> 00:33:03,810
Disappointed by the encounter, Bison cursed
Gouken for withholding the true potential of his

350
00:33:03,810 --> 00:33:10,090
style and turned his attention toward Gouken's
students, famed warriors Ryu and Ken. As the

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00:33:10,090 --> 00:33:14,910
leader of Shadalu, Bison began expanding his
organization's global influence, carrying out

352
00:33:14,910 --> 00:33:20,150
human experimentation, military operations,
and assassinations, such as the murder of

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00:33:20,150 --> 00:33:25,490
Interpol Inspector Dori, who came too close to
learning the syndicate's secrets. Bison later

354
00:33:25,490 --> 00:33:30,890
fought Dori's daughter, Interpol Officer Chun
Li, and revealed to her that he was responsible for

355
00:33:30,890 --> 00:33:36,370
her father's death, for which she swore vengeance
against him. Bison pursued Ryu after the fighter

356
00:33:36,370 --> 00:33:42,150
defeated Sagat, one of Shadalu's newly recruited
lieutenants. Intrigued by Ryu's power, Bison

357
00:33:42,150 --> 00:33:46,450
sought to recruit him to the syndicate. When Bison
finally tracked him down, he offered to make him

358
00:33:46,450 --> 00:33:52,190
the most powerful fighter in the world by infusing
him with psychopower, but Ryu refused. In a covert

359
00:33:52,190 --> 00:33:57,650
operation, Chun Li and Air Force officers Charlie
Nash and William Gile, longtime Wingman and

360
00:33:57,650 --> 00:34:03,130
friends, infiltrated Shadalu's base to destroy
it. During the assault, Bison mortally wounded

361
00:34:03,130 --> 00:34:08,710
Charlie by punching him through the chest, a
pivotal moment for Gile, who vowed revenge.

362
00:34:08,710 --> 00:34:13,090
Charlie stayed behind to ensure the base's
destruction, sacrificing himself while Gile and

363
00:34:13,090 --> 00:34:18,270
Chun Li escaped. As Bison's reliance on
psychopower intensified, the strain began to

364
00:34:18,270 --> 00:34:22,969
degrade his physical body. Anticipating this, he
commissioned his scientists to create a

365
00:34:22,969 --> 00:34:29,830
replacement host, leading to the creation of
Kami, a clone derived from Bison's own DNA. Kami

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00:34:29,830 --> 00:34:35,489
was placed among the dolls, a group of elite female
assassins brainwashed to serve Shadalu and each

367
00:34:35,489 --> 00:34:39,690
implanted with fragments of Bison's
psychopower. Kami, however, began developing

368
00:34:39,690 --> 00:34:45,330
self-awareness and defected. Bison responded by
dispatching his lieutenant Vega to retrieve her.

369
00:34:45,330 --> 00:34:50,230
When these efforts failed, he renewed his
interest in taking over Ryu's body as a more

370
00:34:50,230 --> 00:34:56,389
suitable vessel. In pursuit of Ryu, Bison learned
of Akuma, Goken's younger brother who had fully

371
00:34:56,389 --> 00:35:02,010
embraced the dark side of Ansatsuken, fueled by
killing intense and unrestrained aggression.

372
00:35:02,010 --> 00:35:07,710
After defeating Akuma, Bison dismissed his power
as inferior to his own and declared it only a matter

373
00:35:07,710 --> 00:35:13,330
of time before he controlled Ryu. To provoke the
fighter, Bison captured Ken, Ryu's closest

374
00:35:13,330 --> 00:35:18,110
friend, and subjected him to brainwashing,
pitting the two against each other. Ken

375
00:35:18,110 --> 00:35:23,730
eventually broke free of Bison's influence and
urged Ryu to end Bison's tyranny. Bison fought Ryu

376
00:35:23,730 --> 00:35:29,390
once more, overpowering him and attempting to
convert him once again. Sagat, witnessing these

377
00:35:29,390 --> 00:35:34,250
events, objected. Bison offered Sagat his
long-desired rematch with Ryu, hoping the

378
00:35:34,250 --> 00:35:39,250
encounter would cause Ryu to give in to his dark
side. Ken intervened, however, breaking Bison's

379
00:35:39,250 --> 00:35:44,090
mental hold. Ryu regained control and, with
encouragement from his friends, defeated Bison

380
00:35:44,090 --> 00:35:49,910
with a Mezu Shoryuken, a more powerful variant of
the traditional Shoryuken uppercut, enhanced by

381
00:35:49,910 --> 00:35:56,130
spiritual force. Bison fled to his Psycho Drive, a
powerful machine used to amplify his Psycho Power

382
00:35:56,130 --> 00:36:01,310
in order to restore himself. Meanwhile, Kami
rallied the remaining dolls to rebel against

383
00:36:01,310 --> 00:36:06,410
Bison. When Bison reappeared, he declared them
expendable and warned that their psychic

384
00:36:06,410 --> 00:36:11,630
connection to him meant they would die if he did.
Kami accessed the Psycho Drive and severed the

385
00:36:11,630 --> 00:36:17,650
link, freeing the dolls. Bison's control over
them collapsed, but he remained a looming threat.

386
00:36:17,650 --> 00:36:23,210
In the years that followed, Bison rebuilt
Shadalu, establishing a new base in Thailand. To

387
00:36:23,210 --> 00:36:27,630
draw out Ryu, he hosted the World Warrior
Tournament. His plans were interrupted when

388
00:36:27,630 --> 00:36:32,950
Akuma suddenly appeared and killed him with a
Shungoku Satsu, a devastating finishing move

389
00:36:32,950 --> 00:36:37,970
that targets the soul. Refusing to surrender,
Bison unleashed all of his Psycho Power in a

390
00:36:37,970 --> 00:36:44,050
suicidal blast. However, his soul persisted,
waiting for a new host. Prior to these events,

391
00:36:44,050 --> 00:36:50,310
Bison had ordered Shadalu to create a line of
advanced androids. Seth, or Unit Number 15, rose

392
00:36:50,310 --> 00:36:55,750
to prominence among these androids and attempted
to lead Shadalu after Bison's death. Seth was a

393
00:36:55,750 --> 00:37:00,590
synthetic being programmed to emulate and
improve upon human martial arts styles, acting as

394
00:37:00,590 --> 00:37:05,830
a contingency vessel for Bison. Eventually,
Bison reemerged in a weaker body, rejecting the

395
00:37:05,830 --> 00:37:10,350
advice of his scientists to wait for a more
suitable vessel to return. He declared that

396
00:37:10,350 --> 00:37:15,630
Seth's actions were part of his plan all along and
quickly dispatched his rogue creation.

397
00:37:15,630 --> 00:37:19,370
Meanwhile, Bison deployed seven satellites
capable of unleashing devastating

398
00:37:19,370 --> 00:37:25,810
electromagnetic pulses to plunge the world into
chaos and fuel his Psychic Power. After one such

399
00:37:25,810 --> 00:37:31,450
satellite destroyed a major North American city,
Bison personally arrived on site, now fully

400
00:37:31,450 --> 00:37:37,870
powered and easily overcoming Chun Li. Kami
rescued her and the two retreated. As panic spread

401
00:37:37,870 --> 00:37:44,210
worldwide, Bison's power reached unprecedented
levels. Charlie Nash, who was resurrected using

402
00:37:44,210 --> 00:37:49,910
bio-enhancement, confronted Bison and was again
defeated, but he succeeded in absorbing much of

403
00:37:49,910 --> 00:37:56,030
Bison's Psycho Power and sacrificed himself to
weaken the dictator. In the final battle, Ryu,

404
00:37:56,030 --> 00:38:00,730
having achieved the power of nothingness, a
serene spiritual state that nullifies negative

405
00:38:00,730 --> 00:38:07,430
energy, confronted Bison and overpowered him.
Laughing, Bison attempted one final attack, but

406
00:38:07,430 --> 00:38:12,910
was consumed by his own dissipating Psycho Power
and vanished. Despite the destruction of

407
00:38:12,910 --> 00:38:18,350
Shadowloo, remnants of Bison's influence
endured. In time, a nameless man appeared in Metro

408
00:38:18,350 --> 00:38:23,910
City, exhibiting violent tendencies and
wielding Psycho Power. With no memory of his past,

409
00:38:23,910 --> 00:38:29,730
he wandered until his power led him to a ruined
Shadowloo Lab. There, an echo of his past self was

410
00:38:29,730 --> 00:38:35,330
released by a malfunctioning lab device, and the
nameless Bison absorbed it and regained his full

411
00:38:35,330 --> 00:38:40,290
power and memories. Speculating that his
survival was due to his soul transferring into one

412
00:38:40,290 --> 00:38:45,710
of his many contingency bodies, he acknowledged
that while Shadowloo had fallen, his ambition for

413
00:38:45,710 --> 00:38:50,810
global domination endured. And Bison's history
also includes interactions with the Marvel

414
00:38:50,810 --> 00:38:56,590
Universe in the Marvel vs. Capcom video game
series. In X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Apocalypse

415
00:38:56,590 --> 00:39:01,870
began abducting powerful mutants and street
fighters for experimentation. In response,

416
00:39:01,870 --> 00:39:06,550
fighters from both universes joined forces to
stop him. In this conflict, M. Bison allied

417
00:39:06,550 --> 00:39:12,030
himself with Magneto in a temporary partnership
aimed at world domination, though Bison harbored

418
00:39:12,030 --> 00:39:16,610
intentions to betray Magneto and seize power for
himself. In the video game sequel Marvel

419
00:39:16,610 --> 00:39:21,630
Superheroes vs. Street Fighter, Apocalypse
returned as the main villain, expanding his reach

420
00:39:21,630 --> 00:39:25,990
to not only mutants and street fighters, but also
superheroes and villains from across the broader

421
00:39:25,990 --> 00:39:32,110
Marvel Universe. His experiments resulted in
monstrous fused beings such as Cyber Akuma. Once

422
00:39:32,110 --> 00:39:36,490
again, Bison took part in the battles against
these threats, pursuing his own ambitions amid

423
00:39:36,490 --> 00:39:42,470
the chaos. The crossover continued in Marvel vs.
Capcom, Clash of Superheroes, where Onslaught, a

424
00:39:42,470 --> 00:39:47,690
psychic entity born from Charles Xavier and
Magneto, threatened the multiverse. Bison

425
00:39:47,690 --> 00:39:51,950
appeared among the characters drawn into the
conflict. Further crossover events such as

426
00:39:51,950 --> 00:39:57,050
Marvel vs. Capcom 2, New Age of Heroes, involved
the emergence of the reality-threatening being

427
00:39:57,050 --> 00:40:03,230
called Abyss. In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Fate of Two
Worlds, interdimensional tampering awakened

428
00:40:03,230 --> 00:40:09,590
Galactus. And in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, the
fusion of Ultron and Sigma using the Infinity

429
00:40:09,590 --> 00:40:15,350
Stones created Ultron Sigma, who merged the
Marvel and Capcom universes into the converged

430
00:40:15,350 --> 00:40:20,750
realm. In these events, Bison was among those
affected as the two universes collided. And

431
00:40:20,750 --> 00:40:26,210
that's in Bison's backstory. Powers-wise, M.
Bison wields Psycho Power, the supernatural

432
00:40:26,210 --> 00:40:32,750
psychic energy fueled by hatred, rage, fear, and
destruction. With it, he can perform feats of

433
00:40:32,750 --> 00:40:37,530
telepathy, including mind reading, psychic
hallucinations, and controlling the minds of the

434
00:40:37,530 --> 00:40:42,270
weak-willed, or stronger minds with
technological assistance from the Psycho Drive.

435
00:40:42,270 --> 00:40:47,050
His power also enhances his physicals, granting
him increased strength with enough force to punch

436
00:40:47,050 --> 00:40:52,690
a hole through a man, increased speed with the
power to teleport, and increased durability. If

437
00:40:52,690 --> 00:40:57,950
his body is destroyed, Psycho Power allows his
soul to live on, wherein he can transfer it to

438
00:40:57,950 --> 00:41:04,210
another physical form such as a cloned body or
another adequately strong host like Ryu. Bison is

439
00:41:04,210 --> 00:41:13,610
a commanding leader of a manipulation. Bison is
also a master martial artist who incorporates

440
00:41:13,610 --> 00:41:18,370
Psycho Power into his own unique fighting style
characterized by powerful strikes,

441
00:41:18,370 --> 00:41:24,330
unpredictable movements, psychic pressure, and
aerial mobility. And that's in Bison. So he's

442
00:41:24,330 --> 00:41:29,390
essentially a really powerful telepath. Yeah,
telepath with some telekinetic abilities as

443
00:41:29,390 --> 00:41:35,810
well. Okay, gotcha. Now, correct me if I'm wrong,
his name isn't actually in Bison in the Japanese

444
00:41:35,810 --> 00:41:41,830
version of the game, because I remember there was
some copyright thing with M. Bison being the name

445
00:41:41,830 --> 00:41:48,950
of a boxer character I think that was playing on
Mike Tyson. Right, yeah, in Japan M. Bison is known

446
00:41:48,950 --> 00:41:55,750
as Vega. Okay, that's right, and Vega is Balrog,
and the boxer Balrog is actually M. Bison.

447
00:41:55,750 --> 00:42:00,250
Correct, yeah, the three didn't name swap, but in
the United States, you know, Vega is the Spaniard

448
00:42:00,250 --> 00:42:06,450
with the Wolverine Clause, and Balrog, of course,
is the boxer. Gotcha. Okay, well, what does the M

449
00:42:06,450 --> 00:42:15,310
stand for? Motherfucker. It has not actually been
revealed what M stands for. It's just part of the

450
00:42:15,310 --> 00:42:19,890
mystery of the character, but a lot of fans think it
stands for master Bison. Okay, this is

451
00:42:19,890 --> 00:42:25,630
interesting. Yeah, it's like one of Street
Fighter's major antagonists going up against one

452
00:42:25,630 --> 00:42:31,170
of Mortal Kombat's primary protagonists or
champions. Right, yeah, I think this is a great

453
00:42:31,170 --> 00:42:35,970
matchup. Let me get into the Mortal Kombat side of
things by telling you about the history of Raiden.

454
00:42:35,970 --> 00:42:41,710
Now at the dawn of Earthrealm's history, Raiden
was chosen by the Elder Gods to serve as its divine

455
00:42:41,710 --> 00:42:47,550
protector. When the Elder God, Shinok, sought to
conquer Earthrealm and rule it for himself,

456
00:42:47,550 --> 00:42:53,010
Raiden led the defense against him in a
cataclysmic war. The conflict devastated large

457
00:42:53,010 --> 00:42:58,570
swaths of the realm, wiping out entire
civilizations. With the Elder Gods aid, Raiden

458
00:42:58,570 --> 00:43:04,010
defeated Shinok by stripping him of his powerful
amulet and banishing him to the Netherrealm. To

459
00:43:04,010 --> 00:43:09,850
prevent Shinok's return, Raiden built a temple of
the elements in the mountains of Nepal, where he

460
00:43:09,850 --> 00:43:16,170
hid the amulet and appointed four elemental gods
as its guardians. Millions of years later,

461
00:43:16,170 --> 00:43:21,550
Shinok's follower, the sorcerer Quan Chi,
manipulated the assassin's sub-zero into

462
00:43:21,550 --> 00:43:27,410
stealing the amulet for him. The Raiden was able to
sense the theft and with Sub-Zero's help was able

463
00:43:27,410 --> 00:43:32,750
to recapture the amulet and prevent Shinok's
return. Soon after, Shang Tsung invited

464
00:43:32,750 --> 00:43:38,830
Earthrealm warriors to compete in Mortal Kombat,
a tournament between realms that, if lost, would

465
00:43:38,830 --> 00:43:45,210
allow Outworld to invade Earthrealm. Aware of the
danger, Raiden took on human form and entered the

466
00:43:45,210 --> 00:43:50,310
tournament to ensure Earthrealm's survival.
When Earthrealm's champion, Luke, defeated

467
00:43:50,310 --> 00:43:56,590
Shang Tsung, the threat was temporarily ended.
However, a year later, Raiden received another

468
00:43:56,590 --> 00:44:02,190
invitation, this time to a tournament in
Outworld. Knowing the treachery of Outworld's

469
00:44:02,190 --> 00:44:07,550
ruler, Shao Khan, Raiden warned the surviving
champions of the Shaolin Temple and then traveled

470
00:44:07,550 --> 00:44:12,930
alone to Outworld to confront the threat. After
Earthrealm's victory in the second tournament,

471
00:44:12,930 --> 00:44:18,390
an unexpected convergence emerged between
Earthrealm and another universe populated by

472
00:44:18,390 --> 00:44:23,750
powerful beings such as Superman, Batman, and
Wonder Woman. As this dimensional collision

473
00:44:23,750 --> 00:44:29,930
intensified, it caused rage and instability to
spread among fighters from both worlds. Raiden

474
00:44:29,930 --> 00:44:35,130
initially believed these newcomers to be
invaders, aiding Shao Khan, and fought several of

475
00:44:35,130 --> 00:44:40,090
them, including Captain Marvel and Batman,
before realizing that they were also acting in

476
00:44:40,090 --> 00:44:45,970
defense of their own realm. The true threat was
revealed to be Dark Khan, an interdimensional

477
00:44:45,970 --> 00:44:51,950
fusion of Shao Khan and Darkseid, created when
Raiden blasted Shao Khan with a lightning strike

478
00:44:51,950 --> 00:44:57,470
through a portal at the same moment when Superman
struck Darkseid with heat vision into a boom tube.

479
00:44:57,470 --> 00:45:03,150
With their combined energies and rage fusing
between the universes, Dark Khan sought to merge

480
00:45:03,150 --> 00:45:08,990
and conquer the two worlds. Raiden eventually
worked alongside the DC Universe's champions to

481
00:45:08,990 --> 00:45:14,830
bring an end to the chaos, later confronting Dark
Khan alongside Superman, defeating the merged

482
00:45:14,830 --> 00:45:20,210
entity and restoring balance to both universes.
With their crisis resolved and their realms

483
00:45:20,210 --> 00:45:26,190
restored, Raiden returned to Earthrealm, though
he did return later to the DC Universe on a mission

484
00:45:26,190 --> 00:45:31,430
to stop Brainiac's conquest of it, fearing
Earthrealm would be next. You can learn more about

485
00:45:31,430 --> 00:45:37,610
Brainiac in our Brainiac vs. Ultron episode and
Darkseid and his duel against Thanos. It wasn't

486
00:45:37,610 --> 00:45:43,090
long after his defeat that Shao Khan enacted a new
scheme to merge Earthrealm without world by

487
00:45:43,090 --> 00:45:49,690
resurrecting his queen, Sindel, within
Earthrealm itself. Her rebirth gave him an excuse

488
00:45:49,690 --> 00:45:55,870
to violate the rules of mortal combat and invade
the realm directly. As Earthrealm's protector,

489
00:45:55,870 --> 00:46:01,350
Raiden was unable to fight without giving up his
godhood. Choosing Earthrealm's safety, Raiden

490
00:46:01,350 --> 00:46:06,650
relinquished his immortality and fought
alongside its champions. When Liu Kang defeated

491
00:46:06,650 --> 00:46:13,430
Khan once more, Raiden's godhood was restored.
Soon after, Shennock escaped from Netherrealm

492
00:46:13,430 --> 00:46:18,990
and began a second war against the Elder Gods.
Caught off guard, many of Earthrealm's gods were

493
00:46:18,990 --> 00:46:24,990
killed. Raiden assembled a force of mortals to
fight alongside him, led once again by Liu Kang.

494
00:46:24,990 --> 00:46:30,830
Together they defeated Shennock's forces and
Raiden was elevated to the status of Elder God. He

495
00:46:30,830 --> 00:46:36,650
passed the role of Earthrealm's protector to the
Wind God, Bujin. Years later, when Liu Kang was

496
00:46:36,650 --> 00:46:41,590
killed by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, now calling
themselves the Deadly Alliance, Raiden

497
00:46:41,590 --> 00:46:47,290
petitioned the Elder Gods to intervene. When they
refused, he relinquished his status and returned

498
00:46:47,290 --> 00:46:52,710
to Earthrealm to stop them himself. Despite his
efforts, Raiden's warriors were slaughtered in

499
00:46:52,710 --> 00:46:58,370
battle against the Tarkhautans. Desperate,
Raiden confronted the Deadly Alliance alone, but

500
00:46:58,370 --> 00:47:04,690
was defeated. As Shang Tsung and Quan Chi prepared
to face each other, the Dragon King Onaga appeared

501
00:47:04,690 --> 00:47:10,110
and reclaimed his lost throne. Recognizing the
hopelessness of the situation, Raiden

502
00:47:10,110 --> 00:47:16,470
sacrificed himself by unleashing a massive
explosion of godly energy. Onaga survived,

503
00:47:16,470 --> 00:47:22,190
however, and Raiden's essence reconstituted in
Earthrealm, now corrupted and embittered.

504
00:47:22,190 --> 00:47:27,530
Disillusioned by how humanity treated its realm,
Raiden became increasingly harsh and

505
00:47:27,530 --> 00:47:33,690
authoritarian in his judgment. He blamed
Shunjinco, a warrior manipulated into gathering

506
00:47:33,690 --> 00:47:39,670
the Kamidagu relics that freed Onaga and nearly
killed him in rage. Shifting his focus, Raiden

507
00:47:39,670 --> 00:47:44,790
exhumed the corpse of Liu Kang and took it to a
temple once belonging to the necromatic Kuon

508
00:47:44,790 --> 00:47:50,630
sect. Using enchanted bindings and the sect's
resurrection magic, Raiden revived Liu Kang's

509
00:47:50,630 --> 00:47:56,390
body and imbued it with his power, turning it into a
mindless revenant to enforce the will. The undead

510
00:47:56,390 --> 00:48:00,750
Liu Kang carried out Raiden's orders, targeting
those Raiden deemed responsible for

511
00:48:00,750 --> 00:48:05,210
Earthrealm's peril. When Shinnok offered an
alliance, promising Earthrealm's safety in

512
00:48:05,210 --> 00:48:10,130
exchange for Raiden's cooperation, Raiden
feigned acceptance to learn his plans. He also

513
00:48:10,130 --> 00:48:15,450
struck a deal with Shao Khan, agreeing to
eliminate the demigod Taven to ensure Earthrealm

514
00:48:15,450 --> 00:48:20,370
would be spared if Khan conquered the other
realms. Raiden confronted Taven on a Dina's

515
00:48:20,370 --> 00:48:24,910
doorstep of what was defeated. Meanwhile,
Raiden's former allies began to take notice of his

516
00:48:24,910 --> 00:48:31,230
instability. Fujin and Kung Lao joined forces to
confront him and the revenant Liu Kang. Before a

517
00:48:31,230 --> 00:48:36,630
resolution could be reached, the timeline ended
in the Battle of Armageddon. Raiden and Shao Khan

518
00:48:36,630 --> 00:48:42,470
were the last warriors standing. As Khan prepared
to strike the final blow, Raiden used the last of

519
00:48:42,470 --> 00:48:48,450
his power to send a message into the past. He must
win. In the altered timeline, Raiden received

520
00:48:48,450 --> 00:48:53,590
fragmented visions of the future and tried to
prevent Armageddon by altering events. Though

521
00:48:53,590 --> 00:48:59,070
well-intentioned, his interference had dire
consequences. Many allies, including Kung Lao,

522
00:48:59,070 --> 00:49:03,770
Smoke, and Kitana, were killed. Liu Kang blamed
Raiden for their deaths and during a

523
00:49:03,770 --> 00:49:09,030
confrontation, Raiden accidentally killed him
in self-defense. When Shao Khan attempted to

524
00:49:09,030 --> 00:49:14,390
merge Earthrealm and Outworld outside of Mortal
Combat, the Elder Gods intervened, empowered

525
00:49:14,390 --> 00:49:19,490
Raiden, and allowed him to destroy Khan, though
the lives that were lost left Raiden deeply

526
00:49:19,490 --> 00:49:25,890
shaken. During the Netherrealm War, Raiden and
Sonya Blade stormed Quan Chi's fortress. There,

527
00:49:25,890 --> 00:49:32,990
Raiden combined divine and dark magic to restore
Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Jax to their human forms.

528
00:49:32,990 --> 00:49:38,770
During Shennok's return, he pleaded with the
Elder Gods to destroy the fallen Gods' amulets.

529
00:49:38,770 --> 00:49:44,590
They refused, but permitted him to seal it using
the blood-bound Kamidogu Daggers. Raiden

530
00:49:44,590 --> 00:49:50,250
allowed each dagger to pierce him, then entrusted
them to his champions. With the Chaos Realm,

531
00:49:50,250 --> 00:49:55,630
Denizen Havok used blood magic to corrupt the
daggers. Raiden invoked the same magic to trace

532
00:49:55,630 --> 00:50:01,590
the threat, but was again corrupted, this time by
Havok himself. Under Havok's control, Raiden

533
00:50:01,590 --> 00:50:07,310
helped turn Rako into a blood god and later
enslaved Malina. Though Havok was ultimately

534
00:50:07,310 --> 00:50:12,650
defeated, Raiden no longer entrusted himself
with Shennok's amulet and gave it to Sonya Blade

535
00:50:12,650 --> 00:50:18,610
for special forces protection. Soon after,
Shennok invaded Earthrealm. Raiden and Fujin

536
00:50:18,610 --> 00:50:24,930
defended the Jinsai Chamber until Cassie Cage
sealed Shennok away, but Raiden's exposure to the

537
00:50:24,930 --> 00:50:29,550
Gods' corruption changed him. He descended into
the Netherrealm, delivering Shennok's

538
00:50:29,550 --> 00:50:34,770
still-living head to Liu Kang and Katana as a
warning. He would now destroy all threats to

539
00:50:34,770 --> 00:50:40,130
Earthrealm without mercy. Two years later,
Raiden led an assault on the Netherrealm, losing

540
00:50:40,130 --> 00:50:46,010
Sonya in the process. His violent methods alarmed
his allies and when a temporal disturbance

541
00:50:46,010 --> 00:50:51,410
brought younger versions of fallen warriors into
the presence, the corrupted Raiden vanished,

542
00:50:51,410 --> 00:50:57,030
replaced by a pure, younger version of himself.
This Raiden joined Liu Kang in confronting

543
00:50:57,030 --> 00:51:02,630
Kronika, the keeper of time. On the break of
turning dark again, Raiden experienced visions

544
00:51:02,630 --> 00:51:08,630
of his endless battles with Liu Kang and realized
they had been manipulated across timelines. He

545
00:51:08,630 --> 00:51:15,130
merged his essence with Liu Kang, transforming
him into a fire god who defeated Kronika. In Liu

546
00:51:15,130 --> 00:51:21,370
Kang's new timeline that he created, Raiden was
reborn as a humble farmer in Fengyan. After

547
00:51:21,370 --> 00:51:26,250
winning Outworld's tournament, Liu Kang granted
him an amulet that allowed him to control

548
00:51:26,250 --> 00:51:32,150
lightning. Raiden helped defend the realms
against Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, and Titan Shang

549
00:51:32,150 --> 00:51:37,930
Tsung. Later, when Sub-Zero attacked the Wushi
Academy and fell to Titan Havoc's corruption,

550
00:51:37,930 --> 00:51:43,110
Raiden helped subdue him and placed him in the
Temple of the Elements to await a cure. And that's

551
00:51:43,110 --> 00:51:48,030
Raiden's history so far. Now there have been
various versions of Raiden throughout his

552
00:51:48,030 --> 00:51:53,610
history, but the version I'm going with for this
match is the God version from the Mortal Kombat vs

553
00:51:53,610 --> 00:52:00,330
DC Universe and Injustice 2 video games and
comics. Powers-wise, the Wise Raiden possesses

554
00:52:00,330 --> 00:52:05,470
control over electricity and weather,
channeling divine lightning to attack enemies

555
00:52:05,470 --> 00:52:12,870
and teleport. As a god, he is capable of flight,
immortality, and dimensional travel. His skills

556
00:52:12,870 --> 00:52:18,430
in martial arts, particularly in hand-to-hand
and staff combat, make him formidable even

557
00:52:18,430 --> 00:52:23,590
without his powers. That's Raiden. You know, with
every DC backstory that you give, you always have

558
00:52:23,590 --> 00:52:28,790
to go through multiple timeline iterations of
these characters. You know, post crisis, post

559
00:52:28,790 --> 00:52:33,290
flashpoint, it seems like the characters in
Mortal Kombat are no exception, as you have to keep

560
00:52:33,290 --> 00:52:38,550
going through multiple iterations. Yeah, you
could say that. They even had their own flashpoint

561
00:52:38,550 --> 00:52:44,530
event that reset continuity. In a way that seems
pretty apt considering you're the DC guy, I'm

562
00:52:44,530 --> 00:52:48,190
really glad that I don't have to do that as the
Marvel guy because I like to think of just one

563
00:52:48,190 --> 00:52:52,010
version of the character. And while Bison has
certainly gone through changes in the course of

564
00:52:52,010 --> 00:52:57,010
his history, dying on several occasions, the
version that I'm going with for this matchup is

565
00:52:57,010 --> 00:53:02,110
probably the one from Street Fighter 5, not when he
was super powered by the satellites or anything

566
00:53:02,110 --> 00:53:06,850
like that, but the most recent version where he
doesn't have his cape, but rather he has that long

567
00:53:06,850 --> 00:54:05,570
jacket. All right, well now that we've got their
histories and abilities out of the way, let's

568
00:54:05,570 --> 00:54:11,370
speculate on how one of the 1000 simulated matches
will go. The winner is determined by simulations,

569
00:54:11,370 --> 00:54:17,330
not the speculation, but it's fun to imagine how
this fight could play out. AJ9K, what are the rules

570
00:54:17,330 --> 00:54:22,890
of our speculation? Well, I should say there are no
rules other than the characters have no prior

571
00:54:22,890 --> 00:54:27,670
knowledge of the other going into the fight. All
they are aware of starting out is that the other

572
00:54:27,670 --> 00:54:32,790
character is a threat that needs to be eliminated.
For the speculation, the contestants will begin

573
00:54:32,790 --> 00:54:38,190
approximately 50 meters apart in a nondescript
environment that will have no bearing on the match

574
00:54:38,190 --> 00:54:43,110
itself, as no environmental statistics are
considered in my simulations. The contestants

575
00:54:43,110 --> 00:54:48,670
must earn victory on their own merit. All right,
then let's get into it. Raiden and M. Bison meet on

576
00:54:48,670 --> 00:54:56,230
the battlefield. Who goes first? I think M. Bison
is going to go first because he's so evil. So like

577
00:54:56,230 --> 00:55:01,690
with this like sinister grin, he's going to rush at
Raiden, just covering the distance between them.

578
00:55:01,690 --> 00:55:07,610
Okay, and as Bison runs toward him, Raiden is going
to slam his energized fist into the ground,

579
00:55:07,610 --> 00:55:12,810
sending an electric current through it that's
going to just race right towards Bison's feet and

580
00:55:12,810 --> 00:55:19,830
shock him. No, Bison leaps over the ground current
and is going to stomp down on Raiden's head with

581
00:55:19,830 --> 00:55:24,810
both of his feet in a move that's called Skull
Diver, and he bounces off of Raiden's head back

582
00:55:24,810 --> 00:55:32,850
into the air, knocking off Raiden's signature
hat. Oh, shit. No, you didn't. Before Bison is

583
00:55:32,850 --> 00:55:38,430
going to land on the ground, I'm going to say Raiden
does this vicinity blast move that's like this

584
00:55:38,430 --> 00:55:44,850
electrified sphere of electricity that is going
to knock Bison out of the air. It's like an aerial

585
00:55:44,850 --> 00:55:50,810
counter. And that's when Raiden does his front
he's got a car electric fly attack, and he's going

586
00:55:50,810 --> 00:55:57,670
to fly into Bison while electrified and shove him
backward. I think he was more like, yeah, no, it's

587
00:55:57,670 --> 00:56:04,730
more like, hey, you got a baby. It's different.
When Bison sees Raiden flying at him, he's going to

588
00:56:04,730 --> 00:56:09,730
counter with his own flying attack. It's this
flying corkscrew move called psycho crusher

589
00:56:09,730 --> 00:56:15,730
charged with his flaming purple psychopower, and
Raiden and Bison are going to fly into each other

590
00:56:15,730 --> 00:56:19,910
and the two moves are going to cancel each other
out, and they're both going to ricochet off in this

591
00:56:19,910 --> 00:56:24,810
like lightning psychopower energy explosion.
Oh, yeah, I was wondering which of those two were

592
00:56:24,810 --> 00:56:30,470
more powerful. They have a lot of similar moves.
Yeah. Okay, well, once Raiden is back on his feet,

593
00:56:30,470 --> 00:56:36,070
he's going to instantly teleport behind him by
Bison by phasing through the ground, and he's

594
00:56:36,070 --> 00:56:41,050
going to uppercut Bison, knocking him into the
air, and that's going to allow Raiden to pull off

595
00:56:41,050 --> 00:56:47,670
this like devastating martial arts combo that
Bison is going to be helpless to defend against as

596
00:56:47,670 --> 00:56:52,550
he's, you know, juggled in the air with a series of
punches and kicks, and Raiden's going to end the

597
00:56:52,550 --> 00:56:57,190
combo by grabbing Bison by the neck and just
sending a surge of electricity through his body

598
00:56:57,190 --> 00:57:03,450
for dropping him. Okay, Bison's hit by this combo.
But before Raiden can finish by electrocuting

599
00:57:03,450 --> 00:57:09,830
him, Bison's actually going to get out of the combo
by teleporting behind Raiden and doing a slide

600
00:57:09,830 --> 00:57:15,790
kick. It's kind of like a slide tackle that sweeps
Raiden off of his feet onto the ground, and then

601
00:57:15,790 --> 00:57:20,290
Bison's going to just stomp into him repeatedly
with a series of kicks. That's kind of like Luke

602
00:57:20,290 --> 00:57:26,450
Hanks flying bicycle kick, but it's more stompy,
and Bison's going to finish off by kicking off

603
00:57:26,450 --> 00:57:34,330
Raiden doing this backflip and landing on the
ground. Okay. Well, as Raiden is getting back up,

604
00:57:34,330 --> 00:57:40,130
that's when he's going to hurl a bolt of lightning
at Bison, which shocks and stuns him in place, and

605
00:57:40,130 --> 00:57:45,030
that's going to allow Raiden to surround Bison
with a series of static traps. They're these like

606
00:57:45,030 --> 00:57:50,550
small electrified orbs of energy that are
connected by arcs of lightning. Let's take a full

607
00:57:50,550 --> 00:57:57,150
Bison into walking into them, because as he comes
out of being stunned, he's going to read Raiden's

608
00:57:57,150 --> 00:58:01,750
mind with his telepathy. So he knows, you know,
what these are not to move, and then he's going to

609
00:58:01,750 --> 00:58:08,210
shoot out this quick expanding like orb of psycho
power, like a force field from his body. It's

610
00:58:08,210 --> 00:58:13,670
called the psycho burst, and that is basically
going to dissolve these static traps. And with

611
00:58:13,670 --> 00:58:18,910
them gone, Bison is going to leap from his force
field with the scissor kick, which is like a front

612
00:58:18,910 --> 00:58:24,610
flip double kick. Well, actually, just as that
scissor kick is about to land, Raiden's going to do

613
00:58:24,610 --> 00:58:31,410
a electric storm move where this lightning bolt
from the sky crashes down on him and electrifies

614
00:58:31,410 --> 00:58:36,650
Bison, just stunning him. So that's when Raiden's
going to grab him by the neck with one hand,

615
00:58:36,650 --> 00:58:41,410
electrocuting him still. And with his other hand,
he's going to plunge it right into Bison's

616
00:58:41,410 --> 00:58:47,250
abdomen, just grabbing his spine and overloading
his whole body with so much electricity, that

617
00:58:47,250 --> 00:58:55,730
Biden's just going to explode. And there's bones
and blood everywhere. Fatality. I'm going to say

618
00:58:55,730 --> 00:59:01,910
that Raiden meant to do a fatality, but he got his
inputs confused. And he actually performed a

619
00:59:01,910 --> 00:59:07,870
Mortal Kombat friendship instead of a fatality.
So instead of electrocuting him, Raiden summons

620
00:59:07,870 --> 00:59:15,010
just this mini version of himself. And both Bison
and Raiden are like, what? Kid Thunder? Right. And

621
00:59:15,010 --> 00:59:18,850
Bison takes advantage of the distraction by
straight up punching Raiden in the gut with a

622
00:59:18,850 --> 00:59:25,090
psycho power charged fist, and then grabs Raiden
and charges him full of psycho power, which is

623
00:59:25,090 --> 00:59:29,770
going to psychically take over Raiden's mind and
flood him with all this negative energy that's

624
00:59:29,770 --> 00:59:38,050
going to transform him into like evil Raiden. And
now he's just one of Bison's lieutenants in the

625
00:59:38,050 --> 00:59:45,230
Shadow Loose Syndicate. Okay. So either Raiden
inputs the fatality correctly and he overloads

626
00:59:45,230 --> 00:59:52,510
and Bison with electricity, or he gets a wrong and
then Bison overloads Raiden with psycho power.

627
00:59:52,510 --> 00:59:58,090
Correct. Taking over his mind and turning him into
evil Raiden. Well, you know what? Kid Thunder will

628
00:59:58,090 --> 01:00:04,330
avenge him. Let's go ahead and find out which of
these two scenarios happens by inputting the

629
01:00:04,330 --> 01:00:10,770
character stats, running the simulations, and
coming back with a winner. AJ9K, hit it. Inputting

630
01:00:10,770 --> 01:00:16,770
data, running calculations, processing
results, simulations complete. All right. That

631
01:00:16,770 --> 01:00:21,510
was a lot of fun. I was surprised during the course
of this match, just how similar Raiden and Bison

632
01:00:21,510 --> 01:00:26,410
were, because they could both teleport. They both
have like these flying attacks. They both have a

633
01:00:26,410 --> 01:00:31,470
lot of energy moves, and they could both like grab
you and charge you with that energy. There's a lot

634
01:00:31,470 --> 01:00:36,810
of stuff that they have in common. Yeah, they even
do like energy orb traps. Yeah. One of M. Bison's

635
01:00:36,810 --> 01:00:42,010
moves is to trap you in these psycho power orbs.
It's a little copy cat-ish, I think, on behalf of

636
01:00:42,010 --> 01:00:46,630
Mortal Combat, because everybody knows that
Street Fighter was the first and best. No, I'm

637
01:00:46,630 --> 01:00:51,910
sorry. Mortal Combat has very much surpassed
Street Fighter in the fighting genre. Have you

638
01:00:51,910 --> 01:00:56,310
played one of the newest Mortal Combat games?
They're awesome. No, I haven't, because I don't

639
01:00:56,310 --> 01:01:03,050
play lame games and I don't read lame comics. You
read Marvel, bro. Yeah, you do. The characters

640
01:01:03,050 --> 01:01:07,970
were nearly identical in almost every stat
category, including evasiveness, because they

641
01:01:07,970 --> 01:01:11,970
could both teleport and erect like energy
shields. They were both evenly matched when it

642
01:01:11,970 --> 01:01:15,830
came to fighting, as well, obviously. They're
both expert fighters, as they are major

643
01:01:15,830 --> 01:01:21,770
characters in a fighting video game. They're both
highly durable. They're both pretty damn strong.

644
01:01:21,770 --> 01:01:27,070
Very intelligent and very versatile with the
powers that they have. We did give the edge to

645
01:01:27,070 --> 01:01:31,550
Raiden when it came to range, because, you know, he
could hurl lightning bolts. Yeah, he

646
01:01:31,550 --> 01:01:37,110
incorporates a lot more long range attacks than M.
Bison does. We also gave the speed edge to Raiden,

647
01:01:37,110 --> 01:01:40,590
though Bison got the edge when it came to
perception, because he does have those

648
01:01:40,590 --> 01:01:45,590
telepathic abilities. So taking all of this into
account, who do you think came out on top, Joseph?

649
01:01:45,590 --> 01:01:50,290
I'm going to say my boy Bison has got this. He's
going to beat Raiden and incorporate him into

650
01:01:50,290 --> 01:01:56,850
Shadowloo. And I would say that the Instagram
followers agree with me just because Jonathan

651
01:01:56,850 --> 01:02:01,890
forgot to post the Instagram poll. I didn't
forget. This is like a surprise April Fools

652
01:02:01,890 --> 01:02:09,410
episode, bro. I'm going to spoil it. I say Raiden
wins. Well, let's find out. AJ9K, the results,

653
01:02:09,410 --> 01:02:14,770
please. Hey, you are, sir. You dumb robot. These
aren't the results. This is just that comic book

654
01:02:14,770 --> 01:02:19,350
that showed up. Oh, whoa. Why is it glowing? It's
flying back into the air. It looks like it's

655
01:02:19,350 --> 01:02:23,630
transforming into a video game console and then
flying out of my hands back up into the air. I know

656
01:02:23,630 --> 01:02:28,630
you guys can't see this, but I'm describing it to a
T. Just trust me. All right. There it goes. Right

657
01:02:28,630 --> 01:02:33,270
through an Outworld portal. Wild. I wonder where
it's going to end up. Well, it looks like we won't

658
01:02:33,270 --> 01:02:37,730
get the results for this matchup today, folks.
You'll have to tune into the Max Destruction

659
01:02:37,730 --> 01:02:42,870
podcast tomorrow for around three of the
tournament where they're pitting Gile against

660
01:02:42,870 --> 01:02:48,590
Johnny Cage. And then on Thursday, tune into the
Senjo World podcast where round four is going to

661
01:02:48,590 --> 01:02:54,450
determine the winner between Evil Ryu and
Revenant Liu Kang, as well as provide all the

662
01:02:54,450 --> 01:02:59,750
results from these tournament matches. Yeah. And
we finally find out which franchise is better,

663
01:02:59,750 --> 01:03:07,930
Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter that does it for
this duel. AJ9K help close us out. Thanks for

664
01:03:07,930 --> 01:03:13,250
listening to Dynamic Joule. Visit the show's
website at dynamicjoule.com and follow us on

665
01:03:13,250 --> 01:03:18,930
Instagram at Dynamic Joule podcast. You can
support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash

666
01:03:18,930 --> 01:03:24,070
dynamicjoule and joining a tier that works for you
or by rating and reviewing Dynamic Joule on Apple

667
01:03:24,070 --> 01:03:29,890
podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser or on our website.
Don't forget to listen to the other shows in the

668
01:03:29,890 --> 01:03:36,650
Dynamite podcast network, including Max
Destruction, Senjo World and Console Combat.

669
01:03:36,650 --> 01:03:41,430
Yeah, don't forget to listen to Console Combat,
Max Destruction and Senjo World for the rest of

670
01:03:41,430 --> 01:03:45,130
this Mortal Kombat versus Street Fighter
tournament. Our next episode, guys, is going to be

671
01:03:45,130 --> 01:03:50,490
another duel where we find out who'd win in a fight
between Ratcatcher, who you may remember from the

672
01:03:50,490 --> 01:03:55,910
Suicide Squad film, and Squirrel Girl. It's
basically rats versus squirrels. But that does it

673
01:03:55,910 --> 01:04:00,650
for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our
executive producers, John Sturrosky, Zachary

674
01:04:00,650 --> 01:04:05,050
Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, Mickey Mithangian,
Brandon Estregard, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi

675
01:04:05,050 --> 01:04:11,370
Aitin, Austin Wyselowski, AJ Dunkerly, Nick
Obanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spees,

676
01:04:11,370 --> 01:04:17,210
Dean Molesky, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, Josh
Leiner, Mike Williams and Oscar Galvez for

677
01:04:17,210 --> 01:04:22,570
helping make this podcast possible. We'll talk to
you guys next week. Up, up and away, true

678
01:04:22,570 --> 01:04:24,330
believers. Your soul is mine.