The Ogre’s gauntlet · Superhuman
Yujiro Hanma vs Captain America
The American government once signed a treaty with Yujiro Hanma. Now they want their super-soldier to tear it up.
Tale of the tape
| Baki | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Superhuman | Tier | Street level |
| Raw, terrifying strength and a back muscle that forms a demon’s face | Strength | Super-soldier body and an indestructible vibranium shield |
| Arrogance: he toys with every opponent | Weakness | Fights fair even when the other side won’t |
| 13–11–1 | Record on Versus | 3–3 |
The Arena
In Yujiro’s world, the United States had signed a friendship treaty with a single man, because it was cheaper than going to war with him. In another world, a general decided that was humiliating, and sent the only man he trusted to fix it. Steve Rogers walked onto the base in his uniform, his shield on his arm.
Yujiro was sitting on the hood of a tank, eating an apple. He looked at the man in the stars and stripes and grinned. “The American super-soldier. They sent their symbol to fight me.” Steve shook his head. “I’m not here because they sent me. I’m here because you broke a lot of people, and somebody has to stand up to that.”
Yujiro tossed the apple core aside and stood up. The tank creaked under his weight. “Then stand.”
Round One
Steve threw the shield first, and it hit Yujiro in the chest with a sound like a church bell. Yujiro staggered, one step, and laughed with surprise. He caught the shield on the rebound before Steve could recall it, examined it with interest, and threw it back. Steve caught it and slid twenty metres across the sand.
They fought across the base, Steve’s precise, disciplined combat against Yujiro’s raw, terrifying power. Steve was very good. He landed combinations that would have dropped any soldier on Earth, and he used the shield brilliantly, deflecting and striking in a single motion.
Yujiro took the hits and enjoyed them. “The serum made you strong,” he said, cracking his neck. “But I was made this way.”
The Turn
Yujiro threw a real punch, and Steve raised the shield to block it. Vibranium absorbs kinetic energy, and it absorbed this blow, the whole enormous force of it, without a dent. But Steve’s arm behind it was flesh and bone, and the shock ran up into his shoulder and dislocated it.
Steve stepped back, his arm hanging, and pushed it back into place with a grimace. He did not stop. He never stops. He came back in, one arm weaker, and kept fighting, ducking under Yujiro’s swings, striking where he could.
Yujiro’s grin faded into something closer to respect. “You do not run,” he said. Steve wiped blood from his lip. “I can do this all day.”
The Finish
He could not do it all day. Nobody can, against Yujiro Hanma. The Ogre hit him with a combination that cracked the shield’s straps, broke two of Steve’s ribs and laid him flat in the sand. Steve tried to rise, got to one knee, and fell again.
Yujiro stood over him, then did something no one on the base expected. He picked up the shield, wiped the sand off it with his hand, and laid it on Steve’s chest. “The soldiers your general sent before you ran,” he said. “You did not. That is worth more than winning.”
He walked off the base, past the tanks, past the frozen soldiers, out into the desert. When the general asked Steve what had happened, Steve said simply, “He let me keep my shield.” Nobody understood. Steve did. The treaty, as far as he was concerned, could stay exactly where it was.
The verdict
Yujiro Hanma wins
Captain America’s skill, shield and refusal to quit earn Yujiro’s respect, but the serum makes Steve a peak human, and Yujiro’s strength is far beyond that peak, enough to hurt Steve through vibranium.
- Strength gapYujiro hits hard enough to injure Steve through the shield.
- DurabilitySteve’s best combinations barely slow him.
- ExperienceYujiro has fought armies.
How the rematch could go differently: There is no rematch Steve wins by force, but he earned something rarer: the Ogre’s respect.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Yujiro Hanma and Captain America?
Yujiro Hanma wins. Captain America’s skill, shield and refusal to quit earn Yujiro’s respect, but the serum makes Steve a peak human, and Yujiro’s strength is far beyond that peak, enough to hurt Steve through vibranium.