Harry Dresden vs Captain America

[Tami]

Harry Dresden (As of Book 14. Can't use magic but has his Enchanted Duster, Staff, 44 and Winchester. Does have Stat Boost from being Winter Knight)

vs

Captain America (MCU)

Who wins?

[FaerieGodfather]

Why can't he use magic? He was certainly more than capable of it during Cold Days.

But answer's simple-- without spells, this one goes to Cap as a no-brainer. Dresden's Winter Knight buffs don't make him all that much stronger or faster than MCU Cap, and Cap is one of the best hand-to-hand fighters on Earth.

edit: Since we're talking MCU Cap here, he might even be stronger than Dresden.

[Tami]

Why can't he use magic? He was certainly more than capable of it during Cold Days.

But answer's simple-- without spells, this one goes to Cap as a no-brainer. Dresden's Winter Knight buffs don't make him all that much stronger or faster than MCU Cap, and Cap is one of the best hand-to-hand fighters on Earth.

edit: Since we're talking MCU Cap here, he might even be stronger than Dresden.

With Magic, I think it would be a curbstomp in Harry's favor.

[FaerieGodfather]

Yeah. At least Cap's mortal, so he'll survive.

[wjowski]

Take out the guns and Dresden gets his teeth knocked down his throat.

[Surtur]

With magic he kills Cap easily, without it I guess he could try shooting out his kneecaps or something.

[Kusanagi]

Dresden gets his ass kicked. While in full winter knight mode he was beastly, he didn't have the best control, and I don't recall him doing anything Cap couldn't handle.

[Surtur]

Dresden gets his ass kicked. While in full winter knight mode he was beastly, he didn't have the best control, and I don't recall him doing anything Cap couldn't handle.

I'm not sure what you mean about not having the best control. Sure he kind of got all rapey at certain times, but I don't think that will factor in here..and his control of his powers seemed to get better in the last book, not worse. I'm not saying that he could physically beat Cap, just that he would lose due to lack of power as opposed to lack of control.

[Yeoman]

Take out the guns and Dresden gets his teeth knocked down his throat.

How exactly would they help? Dresden isn't exactly a good shot, and Cap casually blocks shots from people who are.

I'm not sure what you mean about not having the best control. Sure he kind of got all rapey at certain times, but I don't think that will factor in here..and his control of his powers seemed to get better in the last book, not worse. I'm not saying that he could physically beat Cap, just that he would lose due to lack of power as opposed to lack of control.

Considering he can focus the gravitational pull of several square miles down onto a couple hundred feat, I think he's got more than enough juice to take Cap with his magic. And I'm also not seeing why he wouldn't have it. He's pretty clearly got it in Cold Days. It's altered a little by the Mantle, but that's it.

We could always ask Butcher about the magic on Twitter, I've seen him resolve sillier disputes.

[Surtur]

I assumed it wasn't being said he didn't have his magic in the books, but rather it was just a handicap for the fight. I can't imagine how anyone could read Cold Days and come away thinking he had no magic. One of his feats early in the book is killing an ogre with ice magic pretty casually.

Though I do suppose even if you said he can't use his own magic, his duster still more or less is durable enough to protect him from bullets(though a shield to the face is going to mess him up), and he could probably kill Cap with his staff. I think guns would only help if he can use his staff to knock cap off his feet and then shoot him. Then again, I would think Harry would need his powers in order to use his staff, since IIRC it's just a focus. Since it's not like any normal human can pick up a staff and use it. So if we are assuming he has no magic but the staff still functions, I think he can take it. He has some decent reaction time too.

[The Drunkard Kid]

As with all these types of fights, Khazan bloodlust will have to fight an uphill battle against a giant Marvel Comics Fanboy's desire to ask for an autograph.

Hey, I wonder if being the Winter Knight means his techbane property is neutralized. That was specifically a relatively new side effect of mortal magic, and the Faerie don't have any problems in that regard.

[big_adventure]

I assumed it wasn't being said he didn't have his magic in the books, but rather it was just a handicap for the fight. I can't imagine how anyone could read Cold Days and come away thinking he had no magic. One of his feats early in the book is killing an ogre with ice magic pretty casually.

Though I do suppose even if you said he can't use his own magic, his duster still more or less is durable enough to protect him from bullets(though a shield to the face is going to mess him up), and he could probably kill Cap with his staff. I think guns would only help if he can use his staff to knock cap off his feet and then shoot him. Then again, I would think Harry would need his powers in order to use his staff, since IIRC it's just a focus. Since it's not like any normal human can pick up a staff and use it. So if we are assuming he has no magic but the staff still functions, I think he can take it. He has some decent reaction time too.

Yeah, with no magic, the staff doesn't do anything - it's just a stick.

[Daenarys Stormborn]

Well, I not sure about who is faster, but I don't think the winner would be by much. I would say the same applies to strength (barring the Agents of Shield Statement) and durability. Actually, in the case of durability, Harry's duster could, more or less, soak more than Cap- blow for blow i mean. That's just the function of the Duster...although if that applies to non magic I can,t remember. Of course cap has the shield for soak himself. In the end most of that doesn't matter too much because Cap is vastly more skilled and agile. In this respect, it is just a matter of time until Harry goes down. In fact, Cap could probably win without his shield. It would just take reallllllllyyyyy long given Rage mode Harry basically forget he can feel pain.

[Iron_Twister]

Yeah, Dresden with his magic has a good number of options to take out Cap. Without it, I can somewhat see Dresden taking punishment (he's always been the kind to just take absurd amount of damage and just keeps on ticking) but lacks the ability to effectively counterattack. He's no expert marksman if I can recall and although he does have fighting skills, there are many characters in his verse that are just better in close up combat that I could say any of them can give Cap a good fight.

Meanwhile, Cap dismantles his foe with his much more superior hand to hand abilities and probably conks Harry out with a well placed shield blow at the end.

[wjowski]

How exactly would they help? Dresden isn't exactly a good shot, and Cap casually blocks shots from people who are.

Delaying the inevitable ass-kicking? At any rate my main point is that even with the Winter Knight upgrades Dresden's nowhere near Cap's league as a physical fighter.