Marvel vs DC · Cosmic
The Spectre vs The Beyonder
The wrath of God meets a being from beyond the multiverse who has never heard of sin.
Tale of the tape
| DC | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic | Tier | Cosmic |
| The wrath of God, given a body: near-omnipotent power to punish the guilty | Strength | Near-unlimited reality warping from outside the multiverse |
| Must be bound to a human host to act | Weakness | Childlike curiosity and no real understanding of mortals |
| 2–1 | Record on Versus | 1–0 |
The Arena
The Beyonder was bored again. Years before, he had taken heroes and villains from Earth and made them fight on a planet he built, just to see what would happen. Now he wanted something bigger. He reached across into another multiverse and pulled out the most powerful being he could find: the Spectre.
The Spectre appeared on Battleworld, his green cloak billowing, his white eyes blazing with fury. “You have taken me from my duty,” he said. “That is a sin.” The Beyonder, who today looked like a curly-haired man in a white suit, tilted his head. “What is a sin?”
The Spectre stared at him. In all his existence, no one had ever asked him that.
Round One
The Spectre judged him, the way he judges all who sin, and reached out to punish him with the full wrath of the Presence. A storm of divine fury swept across Battleworld. The Beyonder watched it with interest, then waved his hand, and the storm turned into a flock of birds.
The Spectre grew to the size of a mountain and tried again: chains of judgment, a punishment designed to fit the crime. The Beyonder looked at the chains curiously, turned them into flowers, and smelled them. “These are nice,” he said. “What are they for?”
The Spectre realised that he was facing a being who did not understand guilt at all, and his power drew its strength from guilt.
The Turn
The Spectre is the wrath of God, and his power is immense, but it is not unlimited. It is focused on the guilty. And the Beyonder, for all he had done, was not guilty in any way the Spectre could judge. He was a child with infinite power, curious and innocent, and divine vengeance found almost nothing to grip.
Meanwhile, the Beyonder had begun to experiment. He rewrote the ground beneath the Spectre into nothing. He rewrote the sky into a mirror. He rewrote the concept of distance, so that the Spectre was simultaneously right in front of him and on the other side of the universe.
The Spectre, for the first time, felt powerless, because he was not facing a sinner. He was facing a question.
The Finish
At last the Beyonder simply reached out and held the Spectre in the palm of his hand, the way a child holds a beetle, and looked at him with curiosity. The Spectre struggled and could not break free. His power had nothing to punish.
“You are very angry,” the Beyonder said. “Why?” The Spectre was silent for a long time. “Because the guilty must be punished,” he said finally. The Beyonder considered this. “But who decides who is guilty?” The Spectre had no answer. He had only ever been the weapon, never the one who chose.
The Beyonder set him down and sent him home with a wave of his hand. Then he sat on a hill on Battleworld and thought about guilt for a very long time, and for the first time in his existence, he wondered whether he had ever done anything wrong. It was, he decided, a very uncomfortable thing to wonder about.
The verdict
The Beyonder wins
The Spectre carries the wrath of God, but his power is aimed at the guilty, and the Beyonder is an innocent with near-limitless reality warping who does not even understand what sin is.
- No guilt to judgeThe Spectre’s power finds almost nothing to punish.
- Reality warpingThe Beyonder rewrites every attack into something harmless.
- Power from beyondHe comes from outside the multiverse altogether.
How the rematch could go differently: A Beyonder who understood guilt, and had done something he regretted, would give the Spectre exactly what he needed to win.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between The Spectre and The Beyonder?
The Beyonder wins. The Spectre carries the wrath of God, but his power is aimed at the guilty, and the Beyonder is an innocent with near-limitless reality warping who does not even understand what sin is.