Round 1: Vash the Stampede vs. The Joker

[The Doctor]

Round One

Vash the Stampede is a wanted man. The gunslinger from the wild west has a bounty on his head the size of Jupiter, due to an incident years ago where he lost control and reduced an entire town to rubble. Since that day, he has taken a vow of pacifism, swearing that it will never happen again. Against The Joker, however, this may be the wrong decision. The Joker is one of the most twisted and evil villains in all of comics, able to prey on emotions and fears like no one else. Will he be able to get into Vash's head? Will the Stampede be able to fight without losing control? There are many questions, but only one goal - Walk out of this fight the winner.

FIGHT!​

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

This is a very intriguing battle. On one hand you have a guy like the Joker who can use his genius to develop killer strategies, but also manipulate his way into someone's head and expose their weaknesses. On the other you have Vash, a spectacular gunslinger who has survived for years on his belief of love & peace, but also holds a dark past.

Now then, I foresee the Joker and Vash being fairly even when it comes to physical battle. Vash is probably quicker, but the Joker is arguably stronger. In a fist fight it's Joker, in a battle of speed, it's Vash. In terms of mental battle I think the Joker would hammer at Vash and try to get at his raw past which may seem like a good idea for the former Mr. Napier, but it's a really bad one. Doing that causes him to unleash the hidden powers of Vash and the weapon that took a chunk out of the freaking moon.

Vash gets manipulated into using it and the Joker ultimately causes his own demise. Poetic to be sure. He may not like it, but Vash goes through.

 

[Kermit]

Vash the Stampede is my dark horse for the tournament. The problem I see here is at what point Vash is going into the tournament. It's been quite awhile since i've watched Trigun, but doesn't Vash have a strict no killing policy?

(Spoiler: Don't read if you haven't watched the show.)

Spoiler

Except for Knives who he eventually has to kill.

This is the biggest downside I see that Vash is carrying into the tournament. He is going up against an insane foe who will bend the mind of his opponent into any way he wishes if he is able to. Vash is a very sensitive person, but I don't think he would stand for Joker's senseless use of bystanders as tools in their battle. Vash has the quick draw and, if it has to come to it, his cybernetic arm gun.

Joker could probably get away with beating a large amount of opponents in this tournament, but I don't think he can slip past Vash so easily. Again, the argument of "Vash doesn't like to kill people" will come into play, but Batman was able to stop Joker without killing him; and I think if it had to come down to a death match, Vash could kill him too.

*I honestly think that Joker will probably get through this tournament just on his reputation, and not on actual skills.

But, my vote goes to Vash here.

 

[JWGunslinger]

The Joker's wit is going to be the death of him here, he is going to frustrate Vash and will then be shot. Vash's not being able to control himself is what is going to help him win this fight, Vash wins!

 

[Uncle Sam]

Ah, Trigun. Trigun, Trigun, Trigun. What the fuck was that series about, uh? Started out as a competent western, ended up as some sort science fiction space opera about clones and twins and robot arms or something. It's definitely Japanese, I'll tell you that much. There was a cat in every episode, too. Yeah, that was definitely a thing that happened.

Vash's assets can be boiled down to what? That's he's really good at shooting? I mean, he's not moronic but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer either.

The Joker suffers, or benefits, from being a comic book character. You see, how potent comic book character are depends on the writer - they're as powerful and as difficult to defeat as the writer needs them to be. Spider-Man, for example, will get his arse handed to him by the Black Tarantula one issue and then lay out Doctor Doom the next. The Joker has been similarly inconsistent. Often a physical coward, but has been known - across different media - to put up his dukes and hold his own against Batman.

Essentially, what you need to know is this; the DC Universe is occupied by gods - no two ways about it. Batman is Sherlock Holmes meets Bruce Lee meets, I dunno, John Cena. Superman is a couple steps down from being omnipotent. The Flash runs so fast that speed itself slows down, or some other dumb shit. The Green Lantern controls the power of thought. In this universe of over-powered jock cuntbags, The Joker remains a persistently deadly threat. So deadly, in fact, that every other villain short of Lex Luthor pisses in their pants at the sight of him.

I don't care if you've got, I dunno, a giant cross gun that has lots of littler guns hidden inside - you're fucked.

 

[The Doctor]

Vash's assets can be boiled down to what? That's he's really good at shooting? I mean, he's not moronic but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer either.

Jeesh, Sam, did you skip the whole second half of the series?

Vash's "goofy ladies man" personality is a front. A facade to hide his inner turmoil at the incident that happened years ago. He's called "The Stampede" and "The Humanoid Typhoon" for a reason. Years ago he was pushed emotionally so hard he unleashed his true power and singlehandedly leveled the city of July, turning it into nothing but dust and memories.

Hell, in the manga a very similar battle to this one took place, where he lost control one more time. He had to put a hole in the moon in order not to kill any more innocents. The moon!

Vash can dodge bullets and knock them off their courses, as shown by the scene where he threw rocks at oncoming bullets and knocked them out of the sky.

I hold firm to my belief that The Joker would try to have his fun with Vash and manipulate him into using his Angel Arm one last time, and that would be Joker's downfall.