Taskmaster Vs Vamp

Taskmaster Vs Vamp

Stipulations

• No shadow control
• Speed & Strength equalized
• Tony only has his sword, shield, and two combat knives
• Standard gear otherwise
• Taskmaster is on a contract to kill Vamp and Vamp knows this
• In character
• Win by KO, major incap, or death
• Neither are sure where the other one is
• Start 40 Feet apart here:

Let me know if this battle is too in favor of one character and I will do my best to fix it.

Other than that, who wins?

Callouts:

Feats for Vamp?

I don't know if Taskmaster is fast enough to mess around with Vamp.

He did catch a bullet, hang with Daredevil & Spider-Man, and is just really fast.

Though I thought about equalizing speed at first. Do you think I should?

@hatemalingsia: From MGS2: Can bullet time (I believe he can deflect them as well), reads muscles, moves around faster than normal people can see, can't die by conventional means, and he manages to get the drop on Snake and wound him.

Those are off the top of my head. In MGS4, he gives Raiden two good fights.

@frisky4: Isn't equalizing characteristics against site rules? I only scanned them, but I remember something about that.

As for the fight, should their strength be equalized as you say, I'm going with taskmaster, as he has far more skill and an insane amount of experience, especially on things like this.

If Taskmaster is on contract to kill Vamp, he'd clearly observe what the guy can do, whether through direct spying, or through watching clips of his fighting styles. This would allow him to essentially predict anything, and I mean anything Vamp would do.

Vamp would have the edge if they are unaware of each other's locations, as he has his super senses, but it would quickly turn over to Taskmaster as not only does he have far more skill-enough to even take on enemies like Captain America, far superior physically and mentally to Taskmaster-he can copy and much more efficiently predict an enemy's moves, as he does not predict from their muscle movements, but from their past fights, and thus predict movements before Vamp.

Having a shield also gives him a strong advantage as it's unlikely Vamp could get through it specifically, being made of Osmium-the same thing Colossus is made of-and a sword is much longer than the knives Vamp uses. Although he could get around it, it's much harder to get around a shield than it is to simply strike someone directly.

Vamp's best advantage would be to use his seemingly Superhuman speed, but being able to predicting your opponent's moves pretty much counters that as he'll know exactly when he has to move, and Vamp doesn't seem to move so fast that it's impossible to counter him. At least not from what I've seen. If someone has an example of him being able to do this, then please share it, as it could certainly be an equalizer.

I have also heard something about advanced healing from Vamp, but from what I see, it's not like Wolverine's healing factor, and it takes much longer for him to heal from a killing blow.

Otherwise, Taskmaster being on contract and thus most likely having prep time, gives him far too much of an advantage. If this wasn't what you intended and neither have prep, then perhaps Vamp could win and overwhelm Taskmaster quickly with his speed. Although Taskmaster not being able to predict Vamp's moves does not mean he'll automatically lose. It's just much more even like that.

@vance_astro: @hatemalingsia: @zaied: Speed equalized.

Hanging with Daredevil doesn't put him in Vamp's league since Daredevil isn't as fast as Vamp. Taskmaster's record against Spider-Man is impressive, but unlike Spider-Man Vamp has the super agility AND martial arts skill in his favor.

I really just don't think Taskmaster can keep up. I mean he's good, but come on let's not overestimate the guy.

@frisky4:

From that video, Taskmaster for now. The problem is how can Taskmaster kill him lol.

@conner_wolf: @nickzambuto: Speed unequalized!

Convince each other of your opinions!

Thanks. Leaning towards Vamp now.

Vamp

@nickzambuto: Spider-Man isn't unskilled at all, he's actually a Master Martial Artist in himself, and he's also kept up with fighters like Cap who sidestep bullets like Neo from the Matrix and a reaction time of 5.5 Miliseconds. Taskmaster may be human physically, but if he's hunting Vamp down, his ability to predict his enemies moves before they make them, trumps Vamp's abilities to predict as they make them. Taskmaster's skill is taken from some of Marvel's greatest fighters, and even if Vamp could predict Taskmaster's moves as he makes them, that isn't always a guarantee to be able to dodge.

@conner_wolf: Also, buffing and debuffing is okay to a point. Equalizing a stat here or there is totally okay. But when there's battles like, Superman with no superpowers aside from strength and durability Vs a Hulk that's emitting Kryptonite, then you have a problem. And that was an actual battle BTW. You can't give Marvel characters Green Lantern rings just so they can fight people above their tier. Deadpool Vs Superman was locked for that exact reason.

With a contract that gives him time to study Vamp. With speed and strength equalized it puts the ball in Tony's court even more so. The only thing he has to worry about is Vamps healing factor which you didn't remove. Don't really know many of Vamp's MA feats but I'm sure Tony has him in that department. Also what's stopping Tony from blitzing Vamp with a ton of different techniques like he did in his most recent mini (2009 I think). Besides the skill advantage he also has better gear. His shield for blocking or throws (he's just as good as Cap) I don't know if he's faced anyone who usesd knives but he could just observe Vamp to gain his throwing knife accuracy.

@frisky4: Alright, I've seen a couple matchups that equalize certain stats so it's good for some clearance on that.

Well, I mean the "on contract" thing just as his motivation. For speed and skill see the video above. Fighting Raiden at all is note worthy speed feat.

@conner_wolf: Hey, not gonna lie, you make some good points. If the scenario is Taskmaster has time to prepare and can study Vamp and his battles for as long as he wants until he's mapped out the entire fight in his head and knows exactly how to win, then I'd be more hard pressed to argue Vamp winning. However, I think the OP had more of a straight fight in mind. I know he said Taskmaster is on contract, but he doesn't actually mention any prep time. Even if Tony did have prep time, I can't imagine where he would get footage of Vamp fighting to study. Vamp isn't like Captain America, he's not a superhero who fights in the middle of New York City where hundreds of people can see and record him, he's a terrorist and mercenary who operates in isolated locations. So either way you cut it your strategy isn't completely sound. @frisky4 Mr. OP, can you shed some light on this?

Anyway like I said you raise a lot of good points, but there are a few key things you're wrong about:

• It can easily be argued that Vamp is more skilled than Taskmaster and that Tony's only saving grace is his photographic reflexes.
• Even than, Taskmaster's photographic reflexes aren't perfect. He doesn't have precognition, he's been beaten by Captain America and Daredevil, among others, guys who he has studied extensively, so he can't predict every single move a character is going to make, let alone if he doesn't even get the chance to study Vamp at all. In a random encounter, Vamp has a huge edge.
• Even if Vamp's muscle reading isn't as good as Taskmaster's ability to predict, the significant difference in speed should even that out anyway.
• Raiden uses a sword yet Vamp's superhuman agility made the reach advantage a non-factor. Taskmaster should be no different. A shield is an advantage, but then Vamp is way more maneuverable.
• Just because Vamp's healing factor isn't as fast as Wolverine's doesn't mean it isn't an advantage.
• Spider-Man isn't a master martial artist, huge, mega, gigantic exaggeration. Yes he is extremely agile and has developed his own unique fighting style to compliment his abilities, but that's far from being a 'master martial artist.' Without his powers, I don't see Peter beating more than two or maybe three canon fodder. That's Pre-Way of the Spider. Post-Way of the Spider, Peter and Taskmaster haven't fought, but Otto and Taskmaster have and Otto threw him away like canon fodder. Vamp is very comparable to Spider-Man in terms of agility, but he's much more skilled. So maybe Vamp will throw him away just as easily.
• Solid Snake = Captain America, and Taskmaster's record against Cap is no better than Vamp's record against Snake.

@frisky4: Who's speed and strength are we equalizing btw? Vamp's or are we boosting Tony? Yes Raiden is skilled in his own right but Tony has a plethora of fight skills at his disposal. I see vamp being more on the defensive than attacking. His pre cog will help but it won't stop Tony from switching styles or like I said before, blitz him with a number of skills he's gotten from other heroes. This might all be useless though with vamp's healing lol.

Vamp. While Tony is more skilled, Vamp has knives that'll tear through his weapons, a great healing factor, and is able to read his muscles. Not to mention Vamp's big speed advantage.

@darthaznable: "Yes Raiden is skilled in his own right" is the understatement of the century. I've never seen Taskmaster sword fight with his feet.

@nickzambuto: I meant the contract bit only as Tony's motivation. But if you can get Conner to admit he needs time to study Vamp, I'll let Tony study Vamp's fights and cinematics from the games for a reasonable amount of time.

If it becomes unanimous that Vamp wins, I'll equalize speed to make it more fun.

@nickzambuto: Well apparently Frisky4's above comment just stated motivation, not prep time, so I totally agree Vamp would win in this scenario, but I'll respond to your points anyway.

Where would he get video of Vamp fighting? Probably through espionage tactics and the like.

It can be argued, but the fact he gained his skill from Photographic Reflexes does not mean that skill does not exist.

In a random encounter, Vamp would certainly win, but Taskmaster would put up a good fight.

It does even the two out, which was the point I was making above, which at that point it becomes about pure skill.

It wasn't just about the reach of a sword, it was about the combination of that reach mixed with that defense, but you are correct, it is possible to get around the shield.

I simply don't see it as an advantage because I haven't seen it heal him near-instantly for the fight to be continued after a fatal blow.

He hasn't? Could have sworn he's fought Spider-Man post-way of the spider at least once... And being a master Martial Artist does not mean you suddenly know dozens of Martial Arts, he is a master of his own art because he developed it, thus that makes him a master Martial Artist. After all, it was developed under the tutelage of Shang Chi. Although the fact Otto simply threw aside could easily be because Taskmaster has observed Spider-Man fight, and Spider-Man holds back so much, he was clearly unprepared.

I could argue that Cap surpasses Solid Snake, but I agree with that assessment. Vamp could certainly win even if Taskmaster had prep, but without prep Taskmaster would certainly lose.

Does he have HF knives? Considering he was clashing with Raiden's sword I would assume so.

How does that translate to huge amounts of skill? He doesn't need to when he has Cap's, DD, Shang Chi, Iron Fist, Wolverine, etc moves. If Taskmaster copied Raiden I'm sure he could to if he wanted. I never said Raiden was unskilled in the first place so I don't see the problem.

I love this battleground. I might steal it for a battle.

Anyway, I see Vamp winning this. It'll be a really tough call, but the skill gap is not that large, and Vamp's got some sick knives. Good battle though, made me think. Still really could go either way, I'm not really that knowledgeable on Metal Gear.

Unless there is something I missed, he has not fought Spidey post WoTS.

@darthaznable: I assume they're HF knives, considering they were able to evenly lock with Raiden's blades and he was able to pierce bullet-proof tentacles win ease, just by throwing his knives. And his healing factor got a huge buff in MGS4.

Nick Z & Conner W should do a CaV. Captain America Vs Solid Snake.

@nickzambuto@conner_wolf Thoughts about that?

Then like I said in the last part of my sentence. He should win due to healing and now that I know, his knives. Not sure muscle reading gives him a huge advantage. Tony doesn't have the damage output unless he decapitates him but I don't see that happening.

Alot of people on here are underestimating what a master strategist means he's on a contract kill of course he's gunna know his target and how to kill him and taskmaster may not be as fast but.......

He does read muscle movement

He does react more on the speeding bullet side then anything else

He does have photographic memory and studies moves with precision's

It wouldn't be a matter of vamp killing him, it would be a matter of how long Vamp can last before TaskMaster figures out a way to kill him

@frisky4: I don't know too much about Solid Snake, what are his capabilities?

He may be a master strategist but he is also a coward. :'( I <3 my Tasky though.

But actually, isn't this neat....and a coincidence:

Solid Snake Respect Thread on Comic Vine Done By Nick Z

@frisky4: Ah yes, the medic.

Agent Carter just came on, so I'll check out the Solid Snake thread in about an hour and be bck then.

@conner_wolf said:

Spider-Man at the time that Taskmaster fought him was shown to be terrible against great martial artists and Taskmaster was the best.

@frisky4 said:

I still don't know if Taskmaster can beat Vamp even with this. Taskmaster is the better fighter regardless of their physiology but Vamp has powers outside of his physical ability, you said no shadow control but you didn't say no muscle reading.

@frisky4 said:

I don't think that Taskmaster ever used Double-Time or Double-Speed or whatever it was called outside of the Udon version of him and although I believe that version is cannon based on the stats that were written up for him he's not physically superhuman in anyway or even close to that. Spider-Man & Vamp as well should be alot faster than him and Spider-Man doesn't kill Vamp does. Spider-Man may take it easy on Taskmaster knowings he's a regular human under the costume but Vamp will kill Taskmaster if he can.

About Spider-Man, even before his training from Shang-Chi, Peter had developed his own fighting style revolving around his spider speed and agility. He was always a competent fighter, but never a "master martial artist". This is the version of Spider-Man that Taskmaster has great feats against, the street fighter with minimal formal skill but lots of instinct and experience. After training with Shang-Chi and refining his fighting style, developing it into The Way of The Spider, I would say he does qualify as a master martial artist, but then Taskmaster has no feats against Spider-Man post-training, unless you count Otto who has Peter's memories and, again, threw Taskmaster away like he was nothing.

My main point I'm trying to argue is that Vamp has more in his favor than just speed. He's an amazing fighter too, I don't know if he's better than Taskmaster since Taskmaster is so inconsistent, but the difference should be negligible. They have very differing fighting styles so it's hard to compare quantifiably, but I can picture them going back and forth in terms of martial arts. Vamp's martial arts shouldn't be underestimated, and I'm not prepared to give Taskmaster the advantage just because he's a comic book character. Techniques like shadow binding and muscle reading blur the line between skill and the supernatural, he regularly displays perfect, almost superhuman precision with his knives, targeting and severing vitals and arteries even from a distance, and in the DGN he even used pressure points. While Taskmaster is able to fight Spider-Man, Vamp can fight Cyborg Ninja Raiden on even ground, who absolutely blows Peter Parker out of the water in every conceivable area.

How does it not? Do you realize how difficult it would be to pull off sword fighting techniques with your feet? The precision and dexterity Raiden must possess in order to maneuver himself and keep up with opponents and parry attacks using his legs? Taskmaster has the moves of all those characters, but none of those characters have moves that are half as advanced as sword fighting with your feet. If you don't immediately see how impressive that is than I don't know what to say to you. I guess you prefer pressure points and useless things like that to prove skill, right?

I think I can do that.

@nickzambuto: Being able to dance around like that on your sword is no more skilled someone who can use advanced pressure points. It's like a capoeira expert fighting a karate expert. Neither is more skilled than the other. I do not have time for your salt. I know pressure points can be overblown here and video game characters who aren't Dante or Asura can be underestimated but seriously. It's just his style. And lol at pressure points being useless. It helps take down people who otherwise can't be taken down with pure brute force or helps end a fight quickly.

Udon is indeed canon.

Now that speed and strength are equalized Tony wins with copy powers and superior skill.

But, I am really starting to hate these equalized threads and I am starting to find them very stupid.

@darthaznable said:

That's what I thought, I was just making the point that I never seen anything like the bullet catching feat outside of that.

I'm sorry.

What about Vamps ability to stick to walls and his hypnosis?

Vamp, still. Superior move reading, durability, healing, and weaponry. He also has a mindset that Tony doesn't do well against.

I think Tony could throw him off with variations in styles or using multiple ones at once but Vamps durability and healing makes it too hard to put him down. Has Tony ever used an adamantium blade?

@darthaznable: Not to my knowledge. And even if he had one, I'd still back Vamp.