Comic Vine Battle of the Week: Sabretooth vs. Luther Strode

One of Wolverine's deadliest villains is taking on one of Image's most brutal heroes. These are two vicious characters, so odds are the feats presented won't exactly be PG and it's not a match made for the faint of heart. Will Luther Strode's impressive physicals grant him the win or will Victor Creed's experience and healing factor allow him to triumph? Well, it turns out the winner is determined by you. Yes, you, so read on to check out all of the rules and see where the fight is taking place. Once you've absorbed all of that info, it'll be time to click the link and get your discussion on.

We understand not everyone's knowledgeable on both characters, so please keep in mind you have all week to vote. Seriously, the poll is open until Friday morning (ET), so there's no need to vote right away. Go ahead and conduct your own research or head to the poll thread (link provided below) and read the arguments which will be made for both sides. If you do know both sides well enough, jump into the poll thread right now and let us know who you think should win and why. Impress us enough and you just may earn the Viner Argument of the Week spot in Friday's update (post must be free of scans). You can't put that accomplishment on your resume, but it's still a pretty damn satisfying award.

Oh, and we know there aren't too many cosmic/team battles in this segment, but honestly, that's because they're much more difficult to balance (especially if you're trying to make a remotely original one). But fear not, there will definitely be one next week. In the meantime, do try to have a good time with this one.

Comic Vine Battle of the Week Rules

• Combatants are in character.
• Characters have standard gear (which is unarmed for both).
• Victor Creed does not have adamantium lacing. And yes, he's been treated like a total jobber as of late, but do try to take all of his showings into account instead of just the humiliating ones. The objective is to make this a good fight, after all.
• Knockout, incapacitation, or death all count as elimination. Making a tactical retreat counts as a loss, too.
• They're fighting in a generic downtown city setting. It's unpopulated, at night and all standard city lights remain on. They start roughly 20 feet apart and visible. There's a fair amount of cover between them (parked vehicles, bus stops and such). The entire city region is on limits.
• It's not mandatory, but if you take time to vote, elaborating as well would be extra awesome. Keep things informative and your post could be the next Viner Argument of the Week!

Click the following link to cast your vote. Again, it would be extra cool if you could get your elaboration on as well. If you vote for a side, be sure to tell us why! Oh, and do try to remember this is just a conversation about fictional characters fighting, so keep things informative and not personal.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!!!

Viners, you have the week to research, debate and vote! This means there's no reason to vote right away if you don't have all of the info you need to make an educated decision. Check the homepage Friday for an updated article with the following:

• Thoughts from the CV staff.
• A Viner Argument in favor of the poll's winner (can't include scans and must be in the poll thread).
• If we're lucky, blurbs from industry talent.

Feel free to make future match suggestions in the comments below or via Gregg's Twitter page.

interesting, I think Luther Strode will win the poll. I will wait for the debates though.

Do you want the truth? Here is is: Luther is just too much to handle for sabretooth. However sabretooth will win due to popularity. Mark my words.

Nah, he's not popular enough. Sabertooth has this poll in the bag.

P.S: Joking.

Yeah but people dont remember the good Sabertooth all they know is that he is a megajobber nowadays. I think Luther stands a chance at winning.

I just ordered the first volume of Luther Strode in the mail.

I was thinking the same thing. I don't know enough about Sabretooth to debate aganist him,but I know he has a larger fan base.

You rock.

"And yes, he's been treated like a total jobber as of late, but do try to take all of his showings into account instead of just the humiliating ones. The objective is to make this a good fight, after all." is in the rules for a reason!

Strode takes this boys and girls. While sabertooth brings a wealth experience, skill and viciousness to the fight, the man hailed as one of "Cain's greatest students" is a whole other bag of destruction. He is a known bullet timer. He has superhuman strength feats that have destroyed whole buildings such as when he fought the librarian at the house on the docks. He has complete control over his body's functions. The guy sucked his own guts back inside his body after breaking his enemies neck with his small intestine. Then of course there is the precog. He can see his opponent's possible movements and act accordingly.

Sabertooth on the other hand has also demonstrated impressive feats. He is a skilled stealth hunter and has superhuman attributes which, though formidable, are not nearly on the same level as luthor. Sabretooth does bring a generous amount of intelligence to this fight though. He is Easily more tactical than strode in his methods. However he has displayed an arrogance that could lead to him underestimate strode and that's all it could take to catch a fist through the face.

It could be a close fight if sabretooth can utilize his stealth to land some pounces, but if I recall correctly, strode has the ability to sense bloodlusted individuals like Jack the Ripper. And if we know anything about creed it's that he is bloodlust incarnate. The stealth and tactics could get washed right down the drain if luthor focuses his senses.

It's a uphill battle for the man with the fuzzy collared costume

Glad to hear that there'll be a cosmic/possibly powerhouse battle next week. In the meantime I'll see what discussions this fight brings about.

I'd give it to Luther for the majority. Just a breakdown:

Strength: These 2 apply their strength differently. Luther's author has stated Strode does have superhuman strength, enough to flip a car over but not enough to lift a car over his head. We've seen Sabretooth trample through forcefields to stop elephants and crumple massive barbells as if they were tissue paper. I know handbooks say different things for Sabretooth, but his feats aren't legitimately impressive. Now while I might give Sabretooth the strength when it comes to lifting things slightly, but Strode definitely makes up for it with his striking feats. The fact he was toppling a warehouse when fighting the librarian, he slammed Jack the Ripper so hard he made a decent-sized crater, and he and Jack cracked the ground around them for a good 15-20 feet, if not more, around them when they clashed in their final fight. Unless he wrestles with Creed, I think Luther has a marginal heads up in strength based on just how hard he can hit.

Speed: A more close cut category. Both of these guys have feats of disappearing to humans and weaving in and out of gunfire, so I don't think speed is going to be really important here since it is relatively close.

Durability: Both are durable combatants based on their healing factors. We've seen Luther pop bullets out of his body and shove his small intestine back into his body and focus to heal. He's also healed through stab and slash wounds relatively quickly. Jack the Ripper was able to land multiple blows on him and he kept fighting. Jack even bit a chunk off of Luther's neck, most likely his carotid, and he healed up shortly after. Creed we know has his fair share of healing feats. The guy's been able to do extended battles with Wolverine when he isn't jobbing and run through hail storms of bullets in the past. So Creed is a tough combatant and both of these guys have solid healing factors. Now who has the better one I would say is kind of up for grabs. I believe it was shown that if something major was destroyed, the Talented couldn't completely heal it back or it took much longer. Binder was blinded, and for quite some time, he was depicted with his eyes bloody and closed. He was just using his other senses to see the world. His weren't shown up until the Butler (forgot his name) blew up the house, and Binder was shown with his eyes now fully opened. Creed's healing factor should let him heal something like much quicker. So they may actually be close in just the extent of what they can heal, but based on this, I believe Creed's healing might be a little faster and heals more severe damage quicker. Even Wolverine's said he heals faster than him. However, this advantage isn't permanent as Wolverine type characters can have their healing factors burn out the longer a battle goes on. It takes some damage but is possible. I'll address this later.

Fighting skills: Actually, Creed should be quite a few steps ahead when you consider his battle experience and all the organizations he's worked for, but that isn't the case. The guy likes to fight like an animal. He is the polar opposite of Wolverine. Luther was shown having trouble when it came to more skilled opponents like the Librarian, Binder, or Jack, but he would pull through with his tenacity and his usually all around superior physicals, except for Jack whom was faster. But Luther was stronger than him. Anyways, both of these guys fight like brawlers most of the time. If Creed decides to use his training and experience, then he would have this category.

Claws vs Hands: I'm using this as their primary go to weapons. Creed's claws are about 3-6 inches at most, and he can rend through things like steel with them. Luther has used his talents to straight up slice people in half. Throw in his striking abilities and he has a more versatile tool set when it comes to his weapons. I think Sabretooth can slice through harder materials, but Luther makes up for that with Creed's lack of range, and Luther's ability to also hit as hard as he does. If Luther decides to try and chop Creed, he will at the very least slice through flesh and muscle. Now if he can completely slice off limbs, that I am not totally sure of since his healing factor allows him to have such a tremendous damage soak. Wolverine characters' bones seem quite a bit more durable than humans and they also heal incredibly fast. But Luther only needs to damage the squishy parts anyway. I'd give this to Luther based on his slicing and striking ability.

Strange Talents: Now this is where Luther also holds an advantage. He uses his talents to his advantage. He has his precognition, and while it most certainly helps, this ability doesn't completely prevent him from getting hit. He also has shown to use his organs weapons if they get spilled out like when he choked the Librarian with his small intestine. Another ability I do think will come in handy is Luther has stopped weapons or limbs in his muscles when struck. He's stopped bullets in his muscles and he also trapped Jack's hands in his pecs when he struck him there. This opened up for an attack. Sabretooth's claws come at a disadvantage when you take into account how massive Luther is and the lack of reach his claws have. I can Creed coming in for a shot and Luther can momentarily trap the claws before Sabretooth tries to rend them out. It could be enough to give Luther that moment to get the opening.

In Summary: I think Strode takes it, all things considered. His size, speed and healing should keep him in the game long enough to deal with Victor's claws, his fights with Jack showed he can tank slicing damage for awhile. And in the end, his superior striking and slicing ability should be enough to take Victor out in what I would assume to be a blood and fantastic battle.

Nevermind,I seems that people are actually debating and being unbiased between the two!

I didn't even see the article thread for Bane vs Bullseye. Who won?

Here you go:

http://www.comicvine.com/articles/batman-battle-of-the-month-results-bane-vs-bullsey/1100-147834/

Man I would kill to see someone write and illustrate this and a couple other battles we've gotten so far. Don't know too much about these two though I know more about Creed than I do Luther so I'll wait till Thursday or Wednesday to vote

No idea who Luther Strode is, but Sabertooth is a jobbing machine.

Are we taking into account AoA/Exile Sabertooth feats as well?

Nope, this is just taking 616 Sabretooth into account.

Sabertooth digs out his brains. Gbam!

The fact that Luther can slice someone in half with just a mere judo chop takes it for me. Yes Sabretooth is strong, yes his healing factor is faster, and yes his claws can rip through steel like its nothing, but Luther's sheer strength, precognitive abilities, and Mark of Cain (Rage Mode) would just put Sabretooth 6 feet under. I just don't see this fight lasting long at all just because of Luther's way of dealing with violent situations which is to do everything possible to kill his enemy as fast as he can.

luthor strode has to be the most cheesiest characte rout their. has no powers but possibly could destry superman. he was made to be a god like street fighter

@jackbensley777: So Luther having the Mark of Cain is a less logical explanation than a bunch of "mutants" who have all spontaneously skipped over thousands of generations of improbably/impossibly unique evolutionary lines, to just kinda "pop up?" Yeah, you're probably right. All new comics should have to be at least as plausible as The X-men are :/

Sorry man, but there has been literally nothing in Strode's history which implies he could give Superman any degree of trouble at all.

@patera_all: Well mutants containing an extra gene is definately more scientific...

he can rip people heads off and detatch their limbs and punch a crater into a body. he doesnt have any powers thats crazy

Based on what I read powers wise I voted too close to call. Seems like both can take a lot of punishment and have no problems with going to the extremes. Sadly popularity wins out sometimes so it may go Sabertooth.

@jackbensley777: No it isn't. Saying they contain an extra gene is no more scientific than saying Superman can fly because of sunlight, or that Luther is really strong because of the Mark of Cain. They're all explanations which are completely unscientific. Envoking the words "evolution" and "gene" doesn't mean you're offering a theory which resembles science. In fact, Luther carrying the Mark of Cain, is an idea which fits into thousands of years of Judeo-Christian tradition, making it a much more sound explanation than say, fly-by-night psuedo science.

Luthor Strode and his Heracles Method take another victim.

Sabertooth cause I have no idea who the other guy is also I only have money for four titles a month all of which are DC

Just read the entire wiki on Luthor Strode since I didn't know anything about him and I think he can take Saberooth so I vote for him.

@patera_all: are you putting judeo-christian traditions above science?

@God_Spawn : I will just take for granted that what you wrote about Strode is accurate (along with the wiki page here). Sabes can cut steel then he could shred Luthor Strode to ribbons. If Sabes wasn't a better healer than Wolverine then Strode might have a chance to catch him with some kind of haymaker... but Sabes is. He is a better healer than Wolverine. Wolverine has come back from a bare skeleton. I understand Luther Strode heals too, but it's kinda hard to heal from ribbons.

Not at all, I'm an atheist. But comics are about story telling. You say Luther has no powers, so his feats are bogus, despite the fact that in his comic he has the Mark of Cain, which is no less valid than the psuedo science of the X-men. You're the one who keeps saying "he doesn't have any powers" because you don't like the explanation, but defend the "X" gene as being scientific, when its just as mystical/magical an explanation as anything in Luther's world.

Here is my break down. This is an even fight as one can get. Healing, Super Strength, Speed, Durability, and both seem to have skill showings of the same quality.

On one hand you have Sabertooth. A guy who has beaten a younger Wolverine like a meaner older brother all the time. Sabertooth strength is great enough to crumple barbells , overpower Wolverine, and even KO Rogue with a few hits. He also possesses Razor Claws that add to his damage output with his immense strength. This guy when not jobbing has beaten people like Wolverine, Psylock, and even a Wendigo in a straight up fight. Something Wolverine has trouble doing.

With all this said, Luther would win IMO. Luther Strode powers look near same, but IMO his stats are slightly higher. Luther strength for example is shown to punch holes in people all the time. He has loped off limbs with his bare hands due to his strength with speed. He even wrecked an entire large room by slamming Jack the Ripper. Speed is something IMO Luther is greater in too. His speed feats show him weaving between AR gunfire which is Mach 2+ bullets. He has shown consistently in just about every fight to be faster than any human can react. He also kept up with the insane fast Jack the Ripper. The next thing Luther is superior in is his Healing Factor. Creed has one too, but unlike Creed, Luther has shown to use his Haling Factor like a weapon. He has used his Intestines to choke out super strong foes. He has commanded his body to lock up attacks, and thus disarming, or leaving his enemies wide open for counter attack. I have never seen a comic character use their organs as a weapon. Creed would depend on his close combat claw action and find his hands stuck in Luther’s body! One final thing to add in Luther’s favor is his precognition. This Precog allows Luther to see up to 1000 possibilities. He can more than stay ahead of Sabertooth best hits while countering with his own.

I love this match with Sabertooth, I really wish they make more mini series with him, against Image’s top street leveler. It would be a bloody epic fight, but in the end I can see Luther pulling more wins than Sabertooth. Slight Majority to Luther Strode.

Wolverine coming back from a skeleton is irrelevant. He was still on the ground for a time. That would consist as a victory under the rules here. And I've already mentioned Sabretooth can cut through steel, but that doesn't mean Strode is just sashimi in a few slashes. He's already dealt with multiple slash wounds from Jack the Ripper and carried on in a fight so we know he can tank those kinds of attacks. Strode is also physically massive as a person. Sabretooth has to hit the right spots to deal any significant damage and the more vulnerable areas Strode has tanked such as happing his carotid artery bitten through and a chunk of his neck taken off. Strode has more than enough physical strength to KO Sabretooth due to his striking feats, and he himself can deal major slashing damage to Sabretooth. All of this would eventually make his healing factor less effective.

Not familiar with Strode, but after a little research I believe he can take Sabertooth.