Quorra vs. Zatanna

Origin:

Quorra is an Isomorph or ISO from the Grid in the Tron Universe. After manifesting themselves from nothingness, the ISOs integrated themselves into the Grid before Clu decided they represented an imperfection and should be eliminated. She is the only one remaining.

Zatanna is the daughter of the renowned magician John Zatara. Her first appearances revolved around her search for her missing father. She became a prominent character once she was elected to be a part of the Justice League.

Tammy: I do like the Quorra's origin (in fact I wrote a blog about it) but in terms of actual fleshed out origins I would have to go with Zatanna here.

Unknown: Zatanna has had quite a journey starting from a minor character whom only made minute appearances now and then to becoming one of the most prominent DC character.

Powers:

Sort of similar to the Matrix, the ISOs in the Grid (as well as the users) have some ability to alter the world which they live in. This means acrobatics involving themselves or machines are not impossible thus making them adept fighters. Quorra was also shown to be able to regenerate herself with the aid of a user.

Zatanna’s powers are nearly limitless as she can do almost anything that she can think of doing. In order to cast spells, she has to speak out loud the incantations backwards. In dire circumstances, she has also performed blood magic which allows her to conjures even more powerful spells.

Tammy: I think magic would still work in the grid, so there is nowhere that Quorra could beat Zatanna.

Unknown: Zatanna – I’d hate to think what would happen if she ever didn’t have us regular folks’ best interests at heart!

Costume:

The Tron costumes are pretty iconic among science fiction films. With Tron Legacy they were updated to look even edgier. Quorra wears the updated version of this costume, black with lighted lines running along the costume.

Zatanna has had relatively few costume changes over the years and her most prominent one by far is the one with the fishnets, a professional looking coat and most importantly sporting a top hat! She also used to wear a cape for some time. In the new Justice League Dark, her appearance has taken a more practical route.

Tammy: Depending on the Zatanna costume some of them have been kind of unsightly and others have been good (I like the newest version.) I will go with a tie here, because I thought the design of Quorra was really good.

Unknown: Zatanna – All of her costumes have been great additions, well, except for that one time I found myself agreeing with Etrigan of all people…

Personality:

As first portrayed, she is naive and interested in learning. This is the result of being a self aware computer program. Despite a synthetic intelligence, she still displays the ability to emote by showing loyalty to the Flynns (the main characters of the movies)

Even though Zatanna has done some questionable things in the past, her heart has remained pure. She has at times felt guilty about erasing the memories of others, the most notable instance of removing the memories of the villain Doctor Light. This has caused both mental and physical strain for her and led to a period where Zatanna lost her powers.

Tammy: Zatanna is one of my favourites in comics, and it is for a reason. Despite being the most powerful sorcerer on Earth, she is still written with a bit of frailty.

Unknown: Zatanna is a complex character that yet also feels very relatable.

Aesthetics:

The concept of life manifesting itself from nowhere is an interesting one and ties heavily into the theory of evolution. It is not necessarily 100% accurate, but it was still portrayed well in this story.

Zatanna is renowned as one of the most powerful magicians in the DC Universe. She also performs stage magic and fortune readings in order to make a living and is renowned as somewhat of a celebrity.

Tammy: Have to go with Quorra here, I love that presentation of evolution even if it is not 100% accurate.

Unknown: Zatanna’s other activities give more dimensions to her character and only makes her adventures more enjoyable!

Best Story:

Best story doesn't apply as much here as the character has appeared in only one movie. I would say her rescue of Sam and then subsequent revelation that she could be healed by Kevin was probably her highlight in the movie. Or maybe the part where she chose to sacrifice herself so that she could distract Tron while the others escaped.

Her team up with Batman where the two worked together to confront the Joker. Pretty much anything by Paul Dini, including Zatanna’s stories in the DC animated Universe, are fine choices.

Tammy: Zatanna wins by default by having more than one story.

Unknown: Too many great ones for Zatanna!

Fun Fact:

Well ... when Quorra escapes the Grid to the real world she is still basically made up as she was in the grid, save that her appearance has changed slightly in that she is now wearing skin tight leather. Still how did she figure out how to do her makeup so fast? That is a pretty advanced look that I couldn’t just copy.

She finds dolls and dummies to be creepy.

Tammy: The makeup thing for Quorra is actually one of the things I liked least about that movie. They could have toned it down a bit for the real world.

Unknown: I have no knowledge of makeup but those dummies/puppets DO look creepy!