Guts runs a gauntlet

[Piedmon_Sama]

So, I still love contemplating inane what-ifs in my head, like what if X fought Y or teamed up with Z. I think these would all be pretty entertaining battles to see, assuming Guts from Berserk had to fight the following list of characters gauntlet-style. Assume it's Guts in possession of the Armor of the Berserk and his Dragon Sword, become filled with magic after consuming countless lives.

(For those not familiar, a Gauntlet versus match is when one character moves through a series of indestructible chambers and fights a separate opponent in each, without pausing to rest between rooms. Let's assume each chamber has a stone floor and walls and ceiling of indestructible Unobtanium.)

Guts (Berserk) vs:

1. The Kurgan (Highlander) and Storm Shadow (G.I-Joe)

2. The original Greed (Full Metal Alchemist)

3. Wolverine (X-Men)

4. Steve Rogers/Captain America (Avengers)

5. The Elric Brothers (Full Metal Alchemist)

~An intermission allowing Guts full time to recover here~

6. Deathstroke the Terminator

7. T'Challa/The Black Panther

8. Comedy Mismatch: Notorious Outlaw Vash the Stampede


How far does Guts get?

[Anteros]

He'd never make it past Wolverine. And Vash has a gun.

[UltraDude]

If incapacitation counts as winning, he'll just leave Wolverine in enough pieces to force him to spend a looong time regenerating, I'd imagine.

Greed might wear him out a bit before that, but Cap and the Elrics shouldn't be too bad if he makes it past those two.

[DamnedIrishman]

If incapacitation counts as winning, he'll just leave Wolverine in enough pieces to force him to spend a looong time regenerating, I'd imagine.


Traditionally, Wolverine just healed quickly. If you ripped his head off, he wouldn't grow a new one, or grow a new body from the severed head...

Yes, he has a whateverium-coated skeleton. But unless he also has titanium muscles and sinews, that's not going to prevent decapitation. Just aim between the neck joints.

[UltraDude]

Traditionally, Wolverine just healed quickly. If you ripped his head off, he wouldn't grow a new one, or grow a new body from the severed head...

Yes, he has a whateverium-coated skeleton. But unless he also has titanium muscles and sinews, that's not going to prevent decapitation. Just aim between the neck joints.

Well then we're getting down to pinpointing a specific version of Wolverine, which the OP didn't do.

[Berserk Monk]

I don't see him getting past the Ultimate Shield. He has diamond hard skin, immortality, and insane regeneration, not to mention Guts would have already used up some energy fighting the first two foes. Should he take down Greed, Wolverine just gonna tear him up. He's basically Greed except he traded diamond skin for an even harder skeletal structure and razor claws.


Greed might wear him out a bit before that, but Cap and the Elrics shouldn't be too bad if he makes it past those two.

I think two brothers - one who's an animated suit of armor, the other a crazy little monkey-like fighter with metal limbs - that can manipulate matter by clapping their hands could just alter the arena to screw Guts over.

Still, I've never seen Berserk (always wanted to get into the series though) so this is all just speculation based on my familiarity with the other characters.

[Anteros]

Gut's is fast, but he's not Wolverine fast. While he could probably cut right through Greed, it's doubtful he could cut through addy...and no way Wolverine is still enough for him to aim a blow between bones. (Not that Guts would even know to.)

[chiasaur11]

Don't know Guts that well, so most of the list I can't comment on except for one thing.

Assuming all parties are in their right minds, no mind control etc...

There is no way on Earth he's getting past Rodgers.

[Tengu_temp]

Let's assume each chamber has a stone floor and walls and ceiling of indestructible Unobtanium.

So even if Guts somehow goes past the first four rooms, when it's his turn to fight the Elric Brothers he suddenly gets surrounded by an indestructable barrier from all sides, with no means of escaping.

[Piedmon_Sama]

Nah, Elrics have no idea what Unobtanium is made of. :V

[Decoy Lockbox]

Still, I've never seen Berserk (always wanted to get into the series though) so this is all just speculation based on my familiarity with the other characters.

Do yourself a favor and read the manga! You can buy the English version from Darkhorse, or you can...illicitly obtain copies though various methods of skullduggery. Whatever you decide to do, please do give it a read.

As much of a Berserk fanboy as I am, I think the Elrics would cream Guts. If I recall, Guts' sword and most of his gear is just made of iron, so it would be easy for Ed to simply destroy them or transmute them into something unusable. Then again, if Guts got the jump on them, he could probably kill them with a single swing of his sword. Now, if he swung though the middle of their torsos (as he usually does against human-sized foes) that wouldn't kill Al, but it would incapacitate him.

Since the OP said that Guts has the Berserker's armor and the Dragonslayer, I assume we are talking about "later period" Guts, and not "golden age" Guts. In that case, he might not even want to fight the Elrics, since Ed is, if memory serves, only 13 or 14 years old. In the later chapters, Guts has mellowed out a bit and is now something of a surrogate father figure for the two youngest members of his party, while the younger Guts depicted in the earlier chapters was a real nasty piece of work who...committed certain deeds that he immediately regretted having done in relation to a 13-year old boy. I won't spoil anything, so get out there and read the dang manga :smallbiggrin:

In retrospect, I'm going to downgrade that happy face into a :smallfrown: given the extreme tragedy of that particular chapter.

[North]

Yknow I dont thnk he would even make it past Storm Shadow. Super ninja soldier who also uses grenade, explosives and guns. Storm Shadow can avoid being touched while Kurgan provides a distraction, then ventilate Guts.

[Piedmon_Sama]

@Lockbox: Honestly I gave Guts the edge in all the earlier fights because he would either be the superior combatant or, in the case of the Elrics, because he goes from 0 to 60 in roughly .01 seconds---except for maybe Scar, the Elrics would have never fought anyone as intense and violent as Guts, and I don't think they'd be prepared for him to blitz right out of the door.

Although you're right, to stay fully in-character Guts might blanch at wiping out a 15 year old kid. Unless the fight with Wolverine was desperate enough that he was fully lost to the Berzerker Armor. :p

[thubby]

@Lockbox: Honestly I gave Guts the edge in all the earlier fights because he would either be the superior combatant or, in the case of the Elrics, because he goes from 0 to 60 in roughly .01 seconds---except for maybe Scar, the Elrics would have never fought anyone as intense and violent as Guts, and I don't think they'd be prepared for him to blitz right out of the door.

Although you're right, to stay fully in-character Guts might blanch at wiping out a 15 year old kid. Unless the fight with Wolverine was desperate enough that he was fully lost to the Berzerker Armor. :p

Alphonse has actually been incredibly quick on the draw, and seems to be damn near indestructible.

could he even damage greed in any meaningful way? between his diamond hard armor, being a homunculus (he's had his head smashed off and didn't even hit the ground), and being quite the acrobatic fighter, it could well end there.

[Piedmon_Sama]

Unlikely. Yeah, Greed's virtually indestructible, but he's not very bellicose by nature. He'll fight when he has to, but he'd rather everyone be reasonable and cut a deal. While he's not a schlub like, say, Mr. Immortal, if he faced a beast like Guts I think he'd be in a similar predicament---you don't have to break someone's skin to knock them around, and with the speed and power of his sword that's exactly what Guts would do. I see Greed getting whacked around like a T-Ball, and he's not really the type of guy to fight to the death unless his back is to the wall. He would forfeit, in other words (and that's totally an option here).

[Decoy Lockbox]

Alphonse has actually been incredibly quick on the draw, and seems to be damn near indestructible.

could he even damage greed in any meaningful way? between his diamond hard armor, being a homunculus (he's had his head smashed off and didn't even hit the ground), and being quite the acrobatic fighter, it could well end there.

Right, wouldn't he need Greed's remains to do him in?


@Lockbox: Honestly I gave Guts the edge in all the earlier fights because he would either be the superior combatant or, in the case of the Elrics, because he goes from 0 to 60 in roughly .01 seconds---except for maybe Scar, the Elrics would have never fought anyone as intense and violent as Guts, and I don't think they'd be prepared for him to blitz right out of the door.

Although you're right, to stay fully in-character Guts might blanch at wiping out a 15 year old kid. Unless the fight with Wolverine was desperate enough that he was fully lost to the Berzerker Armor. :p

I guess if Ed is 15, Guts would probably not have a problem taking him down, especially since he would actually be armed and fighting back. Honestly, I think that if Guts and the Elrics got to know each other, they would develop something of a rapport.

So is anyone familiar with the game Mugen? I'm pretty sure you could actually do all of these fights in that game. For example, here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTRy1yRaE8s&feature=related) is a survival run using Guts (first fight is against the Green power ranger).

[UltraDude]

Alphonse has actually been incredibly quick on the draw, and seems to be damn near indestructible.

could he even damage greed in any meaningful way? between his diamond hard armor, being a homunculus (he's had his head smashed off and didn't even hit the ground), and being quite the acrobatic fighter, it could well end there.

Dunno... the Dragonslayer cuts through non-physical beings and is super sturdy and heavy besides, but I don't know how well that translates to smashing diamonds.

IF the Dragonslayer is good enough to hurt Greed though, I assure that Guts will be strong enough to hit that hard.

[FoE]

Isn't Deathstroke a bit high on the list? My impression is that he's a fairly low-level villain.

[thubby]

Unlikely. Yeah, Greed's virtually indestructible, but he's not very bellicose by nature. He'll fight when he has to, but he'd rather everyone be reasonable and cut a deal. While he's not a schlub like, say, Mr. Immortal, if he faced a beast like Guts I think he'd be in a similar predicament---you don't have to break someone's skin to knock them around, and with the speed and power of his sword that's exactly what Guts would do. I see Greed getting whacked around like a T-Ball, and he's not really the type of guy to fight to the death unless his back is to the wall. He would forfeit, in other words (and that's totally an option here).

if we're going to start in with their proclivities toward violence, only like 2 of the people on the list have any reason to fight.
on top of that, if you're going to assume he rushes out of the gate on the elrics, what makes you think greed will get the opportunity to make a deal? or won't kill him as a simple reaction to such blatant aggression. he may not be the most vicious homunculus, but he's no pacifist.
there is also the common anime physics shift his shield causes, things that don't damage him don't seem to push him either

[Piedmon_Sama]

if we're going to start in with their proclivities toward violence, only like 2 of the people on the list have any reason to fight.
on top of that, if you're going to assume he rushes out of the gate on the elrics, what makes you think greed will get the opportunity to make a deal? or won't kill him as a simple reaction to such blatant aggression. he may not be the most vicious homunculus, but he's no pacifist.
there is also the common anime physics shift his shield causes, things that don't damage him don't seem to push him either

Greed's incredibly strong, but there's no way he could just kill Guts with a punch or a backhand. This guy fights gigantic demons that can smash down buildings and gets thrown around and crushed all the time, but always gets back up for more. And that's before he gets his magic armor, which basically keeps him alive through horrific injury. Greed's only chance would be wearing Guts down, which would take a long time.

As for his shield, this actually slipped my mind until now but right after he gets his armor, Guts
goes up against a giant, who turns into a dragon made of diamonds. And he manages to not only take a hit from the monster, he injures it in return.

That makes me believe that Guts, if he can't permanently injure Greed, could certainly give him a hurtin'.


Isn't Deathstroke a bit high on the list? My impression is that he's a fairly low-level villain.

I think he's been upgraded to Serious Threat ever since Identity Crisis, though for some people I guess that's discontinuity. Anyway, he has better-than-human reflexes so I think he'd be a serious threat. Guts would probably beat him, but he's certain to take a few injuries in the process.


So is anyone familiar with the game Mugen? I'm pretty sure you could actually do all of these fights in that game. For example, here is a survival run using Guts (first fight is against the Green power ranger).

Yeah, Mugen is awesome. :smallcool:

[Berserk Monk]

Alphonse has actually been incredibly quick on the draw, and seems to be damn near indestructible.

Scar nearly destroyed him with his death arm, Gluttony ate his metal limbs in another episode, and Kimly turned him into a bomb which he almost exploded from.

Also, I'd like to see Deadpool in this fight. I don't want to see who's the better fighter, I just think it'd be hilarious based on the extremely limited knowledge I have of the character. No guns of course because that's just too easy for the mercenary.

[thubby]

Scar nearly destroyed him with his death arm, Gluttony ate his metal limbs in another episode, and Kimly turned him into a bomb which he almost exploded from.

and all it took was a fundamental altering of his chemical composition.

he's been shot repeatedly, slashed and stabbed, hit by falling debris, and i think blown up at this point. and it took being disintegrated to warrant repairing him.

[Selrahc]

6, 7 and 8 would beat Guts even if he was fully recovered.

The first five would all give him a good fight, but if he was on top form then he should be able to win.

As it is, I'd say that he would be stopped by either Wolverine or Captain America. He isn't too much better than either of them, and having to fight against them after two other fairly gruelling fights would leave him in a very precarious position. He would certainly be stopped before the Elrics.

[Piedmon_Sama]

and all it took was a fundamental altering of his chemical composition.

he's been shot repeatedly, slashed and stabbed, hit by falling debris, and i think blown up at this point. and it took being disintegrated to warrant repairing him.

I really don't think Alphonse is tough enough to shrug off a sword-blow from Guts. Yeah, he took a pistol shot without a scratch, but that was a 1910s/20s model pistol, and (more importantly) Guts hits much harder than any man with a melee weapon should be able to. This guy can delimb monsters with legs as thick as treetrunks and, with the Berserk armor pushing his strength, crushed a diamond-strong hide.

Really there's no way Alphonse is strong or fast enough to go toe-to-toe with Guts for long, and unlike Edward he has to go through the whole circle-drawing step to perform alchemy.

[Berserk Monk]

and all it took was a fundamental altering of his chemical composition.

he's been shot repeatedly, slashed and stabbed, hit by falling debris, and i think blown up at this point. and it took being disintegrated to warrant repairing him.

We don't know how Gluttony is able to bite through just about everything. It's probably some form of alchemy/supernatural science, but yeah I see your point.

[Anteros]

No way can Alphonse shrug off hits from Guts. Heck, he got chopped up by that chopper guy in the manga, with just a normal meat cleaver.

[thubby]

No way can Alphonse shrug off hits from Guts. Heck, he got chopped up by that chopper guy in the manga, with just a normal meat cleaver.

i don't doubt guts could damage al, it just wouldn't be easy, and i don't think deflection is out of the question.

also, i don't remember barry the butcher/chopper actually hurting al.

[Anteros]

I know that Al destroys him in the anime, but I seem to remember a scene from the Manga where he gets cut into. I may be misremembering a scene where one of the other sentient armors gets chopped up though.

Either way, we do see several suits of armor in the Elric's world get destroyed...and we have no real reason to believe that Al's armor is any more durable than most.

[TheThan]

Traditionally, Wolverine just healed quickly. If you ripped his head off, he wouldn't grow a new one, or grow a new body from the severed head...

Yes, he has a whateverium-coated skeleton. But unless he also has titanium muscles and sinews, that's not going to prevent decapitation. Just aim between the neck joints.

Wow I just figured out how wolverine manages to get in all those different comics all at the same time!

When you chop off his head, he grows a new head, and his severed head grows a new body. So every time to decapitate him, you end up with two wolverines. Complete with the same personality and everything.

[Myatar_Panwar]

If Guts has anything above some of these guys, its extreme force of willpower and a far too high endurance for pain.

some spoilers

I mean if a guy is crying and its not because he had to hack through his own arm, and then had one of his eyes impaled, thats pretty hardcore.

Also I don't think there has been any mention of Gut's cannon arm. Pretty big deal.

[chiasaur11]

If Guts has anything above some of these guys, its extreme force of willpower and a far too high endurance for pain.

some spoilers

I mean if a guy is crying and its not because he had to hack through his own arm, and then had one of his eyes impaled, thats pretty hardcore.

Also I don't think there has been any mention of Gut's cannon arm. Pretty big deal.

Rodgers can probably match him on the willpower bit. He goes in front of a being who might as well be god, who just killed every one of his allies, and stares him in the face with no fear. He does this more than once. Man has the second strongest will in the Marvel Universe, and considering #1 is Victor Von Doom, that's still a pretty impressive position.

[Piedmon_Sama]

On the Elrics: Hell, I'd actually give Ed the advantage if he fought Guts alone and was told Al's life was dependant on him stopping the mad swordsman about to charge through the chamber. The kid only has to clap his hands to just shovel tons of earth squarely at the Black Swordsman. The thing is, he rarely cuts loose like that because he refuses to kill people until it's obviously necessary. He wouldn't go throwing sliding mountains of rock at Guts right out of the gate, he'd probably try smaller waves of rock to try and hem Guts in at first, or close in with the kung fu (which if he does, honestly, he's just dead. Ed's not that quick.) To win, Ed would have to go against his usual M.O which I don't consider valid for versus matches. Sure the characters are fighting for no particular rhyme or reason, but they're still themselves.

On Rogers, yeah I'm not going to try to argue that Guts, hard as he is, surpasses Steve Rogers in will. Or skill, for that matter, since Cap is ridiculously good with that shield (it's just as ridiculous as Guts being able to swing a 7-foot slab of iron faster than the eye can see, really). I'm sure Guts would take quite a few hits, but the difference is he has much more than human endurance, while Rogers is still merely human.

[nothingclever]

I think Guts would most likely win against any of these characters individually and possibly against all of them consecutively.

Guts clearly has superhuman strength, durability, speed and stamina before he gets his armor. When he's thrown against stone walls/pillars they break while he does not and he is still able to fight.

He fights dozens of armoured soldiers consecutively and kills them all.

He cuts through several thick stone pillars in one swing and they only slow his blade down enough for another master swordsman to barely dodge his strikes.

He is able to draw his massive sword faster than Griffith, another highly skilled swordsman, can draw his despite it being very thin and light. He's able to swing his sword downwards and stop it in midswing just above Griffith's shoulder before he can do anything. That's superhuman strength, speed and control right there.

Gut's sword gives him ridiculous reach. He would totally destroy the Elric brothers, Captain America and Greed. Greed has been shown to be sliced so quickly that he can't harden his body in time to do anything so Guts could beat him that way. Alternatively he could probably just pound him until he ran out of energy to continue living or use his powers even with his hardening assuming he could at least chip him a bit with each strike which doesn't seem very unlikely considering his weapon. He could also bury greed in rumble or hold him still and throw him down a giant hole. Guts is just way stronger and faster even without his armor.

The Elric brothers would easily be sliced up before they could do anything. Alphonse's armor body can be damaged and smashed to bits. He definitely needs repairing in the manga when someone hacks at him. Guts could also manhandle him as well. He could separate each piece of armor from the rest and throw them all in different directions so he can't reassemble. Ed and his brother use really weak alchemy. Proof? Scar can tie with both of them and Guts>Scar.

[nothingclever]

My dsi claims I have reached my character limit in my last post.

Anyways Guts is vastly superior to Scar all around. His sword is way more deadly than Scar's hand because of its range and equally great destructive power. Ed and Al haven't been able to seal fast opponents in stone before so they definitely won't seal or hit guts. They may transmute guns in videogames but they mostly stick to melee weapons and walls in the show and manga. Even guns would not work on Guts because his armor would make him bullet proof. If his armor like his body can survive being thrown through walls and whipped about by giant monsters without being dented there's no way bullets or even many explosives will hurt him or at least not enough to matter. His armor gives him even greater superhuman strength, durability, stamina and speed. It also covers his entire body. He can break bones and tear muscles and keep going.

He could slice up Wolverine from a distance and run away before he could regenerate. He could use his sword like a baseball bat and send him flying giving Guts time to run off to his next opponent.

Guts could beat the rest for the above reasons and because he has his own arm cannon to shoot people with. Even if he could only use one shot per fight he'd probably make each one count substantially.

[Selrahc]

I think Guts would most likely win against any of these characters individually and possibly against all of them consecutively.

Vash and Black Panther would certainly win even if he was fresh, with Deathstroke perhaps being more debatable.