Anime all-stars · City to planet
Edward Elric vs Iron Man
A billion-dollar armour against a teenager who can turn metal into anything by clapping his hands.
Tale of the tape
| Fullmetal Alchemist | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Superhuman | Tier | City to planet |
| Alchemy without a circle: he claps and reshapes the ground into anything | Strength | Armour that adapts mid-fight, repulsors and a genius building upgrades on the fly |
| Short temper, especially about his height | Weakness | Arrogance and a habit of improvising |
| 1–1 | Record on Versus | 1–1 |
The Arena
Tony Stark’s portal experiment dumped him in a desert near the Amestris border, where a short young man with a long blond braid and a red coat was standing on a sand dune, staring at the Iron Man armour with the expression of someone looking at the most interesting thing in the world.
“Woah,” said Edward Elric. “What kind of alchemy is that?” Tony’s faceplate slid open. “It’s called engineering, kid. And I’m a little lost.” Ed grinned. “Alchemy’s better. Wanna bet?” Tony laughed. “Kid, I don’t think you know what you’re getting into.” Ed’s grin got wider. And then Tony called him short.
Edward Elric’s face turned red. “WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY LITTLE BEAN?!” He clapped his hands together.
Round One
Ed slapped his palms on the sand, and a giant stone hand burst out of the ground and swatted Iron Man out of the sky. Tony crashed into a dune, rolled up and fired repulsors. Ed dodged, clapped again, and a wall of stone rose to take the blasts. Tony was impressed. “Okay, that was cool.”
Tony switched to missiles, and Ed answered by transmuting his automail arm into a long blade and slicing two of them in half before they hit. The third exploded close enough to throw him across the desert. He landed on his feet, coughing sand.
Then he looked at the armour again, really looked at it, and smiled. “It’s metal,” he said. “It’s just metal.”
The Turn
Tony came in close for a punch, and Ed did not dodge. He let the blow knock him back, but in the moment of contact he had pressed both hands against Iron Man’s chest plate. Alchemy flashed blue. The plate rippled like water and twisted into a solid lump that locked one of the repulsor arms in place.
Tony’s display filled with alarms. “FRIDAY, what just happened?” FRIDAY answered calmly. “Sir, the atomic structure of the armour has been reorganised. I do not know how.” Tony stared at the boy in the red coat. “Did you just rewrite my suit with your hands?”
Ed wiped sand off his face. “Equivalent exchange,” he said. “You give me your armour, and I give you a lesson in alchemy.”
The Finish
Tony took to the sky, using his remaining repulsor to stay out of reach, and began rewriting his nanotech on the fly, the way he had beaten Lex Luthor. But Ed was a genius too, and he had already noticed that the suit was full of metal and needed a lot of it to fly. He clapped and sent a column of sand shooting into the air beneath Tony.
Tony dodged it, but the sand was a distraction. Ed had transmuted a long chain out of the ruins, and it wrapped around Iron Man’s leg and dragged him down. The moment the armour touched the ground, Ed slapped both hands against it, and the entire suit fused into a single shining statue of Iron Man with Tony inside.
Ed knocked on the faceplate. “I win.” Tony’s voice came out muffled. “Okay, fine. Can you let me out?” Ed considered it. “Say I’m tall.” A long pause. “You’re a very tall alchemist.” Ed grinned, clapped and set him free. They spent the night arguing about science versus alchemy around a campfire, and neither of them won that one.
The verdict
Edward Elric wins
Iron Man is far more powerful in raw firepower and flight, but his entire advantage is made of metal, and Edward Elric’s alchemy can reshape his armour with a single touch.
- AlchemyEd can transmute the armour’s structure on contact.
- TerrainThe desert gives Ed endless raw material for walls, hands and chains.
- Hard counterEvery one of Tony’s weapons depends on metal Ed can rewrite.
How the rematch could go differently: A Tony who never came within arm’s reach and fought from kilometres away could win before Ed ever touched the suit.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Edward Elric and Iron Man?
Edward Elric wins. Iron Man is far more powerful in raw firepower and flight, but his entire advantage is made of metal, and Edward Elric’s alchemy can reshape his armour with a single touch.