Marvel vs DC · Superhuman
Deathstroke vs Black Panther
The world’s most expensive mercenary takes a contract on a king.
Tale of the tape
| DC | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Superhuman | Tier | Superhuman |
| Enhanced reflexes and tactical genius | Strength | The heart-shaped herb and a vibranium suit that absorbs and returns kinetic energy |
| Cold calculation can be baited | Weakness | Carries the weight of a nation into every fight |
| 3–2 | Record on Versus | 2–0 |
The Arena
Someone paid Deathstroke an enormous sum to cross into another world and kill the king of a hidden nation. Slade Wilson studied the contract, saw the price, and accepted. He infiltrated the jungles on the border of Wakanda and set up an ambush on the king’s patrol route.
T’Challa knew he was coming. His scouts had tracked the mercenary from the moment he crossed the border. He walked into the ambush alone, his vibranium suit gleaming faintly in the moonlight, and stopped in the middle of the clearing. “You may as well come out,” he said. “My people have been watching you for three days.”
Deathstroke stepped out of the trees, sword drawn, his mask expressionless. “Then you know why I’m here.” T’Challa’s claws extended. “I know you will fail.”
Round One
Deathstroke attacked with the speed and precision of a man whose brain processes combat faster than any normal human. His sword cut toward T’Challa’s throat. T’Challa leaned back, and the blade sliced the air an inch from his face. He countered with a strike that Deathstroke blocked, barely.
They fought through the jungle, two of the finest warriors in their worlds. Deathstroke was a tactical genius, predicting T’Challa’s moves and countering them before they finished. T’Challa was faster, stronger and enhanced by the heart-shaped herb, his senses picking up every shift in Deathstroke’s weight.
Deathstroke landed a sword strike on T’Challa’s chest. The vibranium suit absorbed it, and glowed violet.
The Turn
Deathstroke was a mercenary who adapted, and he noticed the glow. He switched to his pistols, firing bullet after bullet into T’Challa’s chest. Each one struck the vibranium and stopped, absorbed. The suit glowed brighter. Deathstroke frowned.
He realised what was happening too late. T’Challa smiled behind his mask, raised his hand and released every ounce of stored kinetic energy in a single blast. It threw Deathstroke across the clearing, through three trees and into the mud, his armour cracked, his sword broken.
Deathstroke rose, his healing factor already working. T’Challa walked toward him, calm. “Every strike you land makes me stronger,” he said. “Think carefully about your next one.”
The Finish
Deathstroke stopped striking the suit and started aiming for the gaps: the neck, the joints, the places vibranium could not cover. It was a brilliant adjustment, and he nearly landed a killing blow. But T’Challa had fought assassins all his life, and he knew exactly where the gaps were too.
He caught Deathstroke’s knife hand, twisted it, and drove his claws into the mercenary’s armour at the shoulder, pinning him to a tree. Deathstroke struggled, his healing factor fighting the wound, and could not break free.
“Who paid you?” T’Challa asked. Deathstroke told him. T’Challa nodded. “Go home, mercenary. Tell your client that Wakanda knows his name, and that he should be much more afraid of us than we are of him.” Deathstroke left. He returned the money. It was, he said later, the only contract he had ever refused to finish.
The verdict
Black Panther wins
Deathstroke is a tactical genius with enhanced reflexes and a healing factor, but Black Panther is faster and stronger, his vibranium suit turns Deathstroke’s attacks into a weapon, and he knows the terrain.
- Vibranium suitIt stores Deathstroke’s strikes and releases them.
- EnhancementThe heart-shaped herb makes T’Challa faster and stronger.
- Home territoryWakanda’s scouts track Deathstroke from the start.
How the rematch could go differently: A Deathstroke who aimed for the gaps from the first strike and never fed the suit could win.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Deathstroke and Black Panther?
Black Panther wins. Deathstroke is a tactical genius with enhanced reflexes and a healing factor, but Black Panther is faster and stronger, his vibranium suit turns Deathstroke’s attacks into a weapon, and he knows the terrain.