This time we will take a look at the gentlemen of Marvel Expanded Universe and see, which one is the best fencer.
10. El Aquila (Alejandro Montoya) was born in Madrid, and the migrated to USA. As a kid he was fascinated with the legend of Zorro, but when he discovered his mutant powers he decided to become a mask vigilante and took a moniker of El Aquila(„The Eagle”). Initially he focused on fighting drug dealers and other criminals who were preying on weak and destitute. His exploits were not appreciated by the authorities and have been wanted man ever since. As a superhero he often teamed with other street level heroes as Coleen Wing and Iron Fist. He is a skilled fencer with extraordinary swordsmanship skills, an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, and an acrobat. Montoya gives new meaning to the idea of using electric blades in fencing, because his power allows him to generate an electric charge of up to 100000 volts which he can then channel into any object made of metal… such as a smallsword or rapier which are his weapons of choice. So if you ever come to cross blades with him, prepare for an electrifying experience.
9. The swordsman (Jacques Duquesne) was born in a wealthy French family living in a fictional South Asian country of Sian-Cong. Fancying himself to be a freedom fighter he joined communist rebels trying to overthrow French colonial government of Sin-Cong. Devastated and disillusioned after death of his father at the hands of rebel leader, Duquesne departed Sian-Cong to seek a different life for himself. He traveled the world for a few years, but he eventually joined the Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders where he made a living showcasing his fencing tricks. While in his thirties he trained a young runaway named Clint Barton and taught him how to use bladed weapons. After making a name for himself Barton eventually became a member of the Avengers as Hawkeye. Forced to leave the circus, Duquesne worked as a mercenary, sometimes along the Avengers but more often against them. Although possessing no superpowers, he is an athlete of Olympic-level physical condition and cunning strategist with phenomenal reflexes and highly adept at melee combat. His weapons of choice are blades of all sorts, but his main weapon is a sword modified by the super-villain Mandarin. The sword has a various built-in special abilities, ranging from projecting nerve gas to firing a jet of flame or even a disintegrating ray. Encountering the Swordman during competition is a challenge of its own due to his skills, but if you smell something funny, and then suddenly fell dizzy or get uncontrollable muscle contractions after a touche, this probably means he is not using regulation equipment.
8. Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo) – 13th hair to the title, son of legendary Heinrich Zemo, one of the greatest foes of Captain America. Born in Leipzig in Germany, he was raised by a father obsessed with the idea of Germans being master race destined to rule the world. When Steve Rogers returned Helmut decided to follow into his father’s footsteps. During his first clash with Captain America he fell into a vat of boiling adhesive X, he survived but his face was hideously scarred. Later he was trained by the Red Skull himself, formed a new incarnation of the Masters of Evil supervillain team and combated Avengers and Captain America. Later he reformed, formed his own version of the Thunderbolts comprising of similarly reformed former villains to fight along other superhero teams. When it turned out to be another trick to obscure another of his world domination plans his teammates rebelled and he had to flee. He considers himself to be an altruist trying to conquer the world but only to save it.
Zemo does not have any superpowers but he maintains peak physical condition. His combat skills are only slightly below Captain America’s. He is a master swordsman specializing in broadswords and rapiers. Besides owning several degrees in science and engineering he is a brilliant strategist, tactician and conspirator. Facing Baron Zemo in a swordfight you should be very wary of openings as they are most likely just a part of a plan for a complex counterattack.
7) Silver Samurai (Kenuicho Harada) is a illegitimate son of crime lord Shingen Yashida born with a mutant gene. In his mercenary career he clashed with heroes such as Daredevil, Black Widow, Spiderman and Spider-woman. He also fought against the X-men and became a nemesis for the Wolverine for some time. Later he reformed, become Oyabuna of Yashida Clan and fought along Wolverine, gaining his trust and even becoming a guardian of his adopted daughter Amiko Kobayashi. For some time worked as a head of security of prime minister of Japan.
He is not known to have superhuman strength or agility, but he is extremely fit and dedicated to his training regime. His mutant powers allow him to generate a tachyon field which he usually focuses through his katakana, enabling it to cut through nearly anything, except substances as hard as adamantium or vibranium. Harada is highly skilled in martial arts, especially jujitsu and tantojitsu. His weapon of choice is a katana sword made by legendary swordsmith Murasmasa. While in combat he sports silver armor made from ultralight alloys, so if your next opponent in a competition is wearing unusually colored protective gear and prefers a tanto instead of parrying dagger, you should prepare for a close demonstration of a Way of a Samurai.
6) Taskmaster (Tony Masters). His origins are not fully known but he is believed to have been born in Brooklyn New York. In his childhood he demonstrated unusual ability called photographic reflexes, which seems to be am advanced version of eidetic memory. This ability allows him to absorb and replicate any set of physical movement he is able to observe. Because of that ability he was able to learn fighting styles of the most prodigious warriors of Marvel Universe and was able to defeat with such heavy hitters like Captain America and Ironman. He considered a career as masked hero, but he came to a conclusion that the job of an instructor could prove more profitable and he started his own secret academy where he teaches combat skills both to heroes and villains, for a fee of course. He is excellent hand to had combatant and marksman, but his favorite weapons are a sword and a replica of Captain America’s shield. His ability allows him not only to memorize his opponent’s style, but also predict his next move, so if you ever try a feint or use your favorite parry-riposte, don’t expect for to to work again.
5) The Black Knight (Dane Whitman). Born in Gloucester in Massachusetts, he is descendant of the original Black Knight who was a companion of King Arthur. He took the mantle of the Black knight at the behest of his supervillain uncle who was mortally wounded by Ironman and in his dying wish asked Dane to clear his family’s name. Ho worked as a member of the Avengers for a couple of years and then joined another superhero team, the Defenders. His body was turned into stone and his soul was shifted in time into 12th century where he live in body of his ancestor Eobard Garrington. For many years he was protector of mythical Avalon and return to the present when his ancestor’s body was destroyed. Later he worked as part of British counterintelligence M13. For the most of his career he struggled with the curse of Ebony Blade – an enchanted sword, giving his wielder a great power but increasing insanity whenever the sword tasted blood. Dane does not have superpowers on his own, but he is talented physicist and engineer. He is skilled equestrian and have ridden several genetically modified steeds: Aragorn, Strider and Valinor (Whitman being a Tolkien fan). His career led him to use a score of unusual blades – Ebony Blade, a neuron sword which he made by himself, Sword of Light and the fabled Excalibur. He is protected by a magical suit of armor made in Avalon. He is highly skilled and experienced fencer able to stand toe to toe with such powerhouses as Captain America and Wolverine, so if you have not been able to drink some supersoldier serum before the Championships you should really focus on your parries.
4) Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner). A son of demon Azazel and mutant shapeshifter Mystique he inherited his uncanny look from his father and gene X which gave him power of teleportation of his mother. He was abandoned by his mother in his infancy and found in Schwartzwald forest by a Romani witch Margali Szardos. He was taken up and brought up by circus workers, later worked there as an acrobat act. Wrongly accused of murder of several children he was rescued by professor Xavier and became one of the most famous X-men team members, eventually becoming a leader for some time. Except his ability to teleport he is excellent acrobat. He took up fencing at the age of five and it became his favorite hobby. He is slightly stronger than an average man but he possesses superhuman agility, reflexes and spatial awareness. He is also able to to wield a weapon with his prehensile tail which makes dueling him with rapier and dagger a real nightmare. He also used to be a pirate, so fencing with a cutlass, on ship rigging, during a storm is just normal Tuesday for him.
3. Fendral the Dashing is an Asgardian and along with Volstag and Hogun form „Warriors Three” – a group of closest companions of Thor. Incurably romantic, noble to a fault but a bit too hot-headed warrior who often gets his companions into trouble. He owes his nickname to his constant womanizing though with varying degrees of success. During his adventures, both alongside Thor and by himself, he combated a huge number of opponents like ice giants, flying trolls, other Asgardians or even Silver Surfer and dragon Fafnir. Typically of an Asgardian he has enhanced strength, speed and stamina but centuries of honing his martial skills made him much faster and stronger than most of his race. His is immensely skilled with blades and he is often seen using rapiers or broadswords. Thor considers him as the best swordsman among his companions. His fencing experience means that you have little chance of scoring a hit within opening phase of a bout and practically none in the ending. On the other hand, he will most likely beat you in such a style, that you will be impressed yourself and thank him for interesting experience. (while you are feasting in a local inn with his companions, lads and wenches).
2) Blade (Eric Brooks) is a Dhampir, half man, half vampire. He was born in brothel in London Soho. A doctor called to assist in his birth turned out to be a vampire and fed on Eric’s mother but was chased away before he attacked the child. Eric’s mother died, but he was infected with some enzymes that gave him special powers. At the age of nine he helped defend an elderly man attacked by three vampires. This man turned out to be Jamal Afari a famed vampire hunter. Jamal taught Eric his skills and even became a substitute father for him. Young Brooks traveled around the world becoming a bane of blood suckers and even clashed with Dracula himself. His combat skills constantly developed and he became an expert in use of swords and knives which leads to him being nicknamed the Blade. He went high profile, worked for SHIELD and founded his own teams such as Borderline or Nightstalkers. He fought along Ghost Rider, X-men and even Avengers against vampires, other supernatural foes and he even faced Thanos. As a dhampir, Blade is much faster and stronger than an average person and also has enhanced reflexes. In combat he uses a mix of several martial arts such as jeet kune do (a form created by Bruce Lee), kung fu, hapkido, jujitsu and capoeira in combination with assortment of blades. His favorite weapon is a sword similar to katakana with a blade covered with thin layer of silver. His superhuman stamina allows him to fight full speed for hours before he even begins to get tired, so you won’t be able to gain an advantage even with the most intense footwork.
1) Deadpool (Wade Wilson) is a messed up reject of Weapon X program that lead to creation of heroes such as Wolverine or Captain America. He is most likely Canadian, a son of decorated war veteran. He was a bit of a nutjob even in his childhood, he was attracted by anything dangerous so he joined the army and worked as an assassin for several government organizations. His „eccentricity” has led to him being kicked out of Special Forces and becoming a mercenary. Unfortunately he was diagnosed with malignant form of cancer and volunteered to be experimented on by the Weapon X program. During the experiments he gained his ability to regenerate from any injury, but he became even more insane. His career is full of twists and turns, sometimes he fights along Avengers and X-men, sometimes against them, it all depends on his current mood and time of the day. He is an excellent marksman and is known to be able to learn to use any firearm within five minutes. He is extremely fit and prefers to dual wield two katakana in melee. His style is highly unpredictable and he is said to be the only person that Taskmaster was not able to figure out. In combat he enrages and distracts his opponents by constantly mouthing them off. His healing factor lets him regenerate any injuries from stab wounds up to and including immolation and decapitation, therefore his is absolutely indifferent to double hits. He might as well talk you to death. A word of advice, he is rumored to suffer from bovinophobia and is terrified of cows, so you might consider giving your mask a paint job.
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