Lois Lane vs Mary Jane Watson

[daBronzeBomma]

The true loves of Clark and Peter (and each publisher's greatest purely supporting characters) enter the Arena.

No super-powered versions of either characters.

Standard Rumbles settings.

[Dark Soul # 7]

I'm pretty sure most versions of Lois Lane in general have more combat training over most versions of Mary Jane (who generally has no combat training).

So in an actual fight I'd back Lois.

[Desmark]

Lois is a army brat and reporter who always is getting in and out of life threatening situations while MJ is a former socialite actress who dances her feet off mostly or something. No contest.

[Nine Crocodile]

Even if you go with the version of MJ that may have stunt training from being an actress, Lois is going to take this.

[Len Ikari145]

MJ has taken some self-defense classes in the comics, but that's nothing on Lois' years as an army brat. Lois takes her down.

[The MunchKING]

Also Lois is WAY more likely to run into random super powers/Power ups.

[daBronzeBomma]

To what does being a military brat entitle someone? An automatic yellow belt in Tae Kwan Do? Is there a stereotype of which I'm not aware (entirely possible)?

Does Lois actually have confirmed martial arts feats? I can't buy her as any kind of CBPH ...

[Powerboy]

To what does being a military brat entitle someone? An automatic yellow belt in Tae Kwan Do? Is there a stereotype of which I'm not aware (entirely possible)?

Does Lois actually have confirmed martial arts feats? I can't buy her as any kind of CBPH ...

Actually, Lois does have some feats of beating ordinary schmucks and a few low-rent bruisers so it's more than just having a yellow belt and some dojo practice never put to the test in a real situation. It's not a lot but, as far as I know, it's way more than Mary Jane's feats.

[wjowski]

Pretty sure I rememer MJ occasionally getting the drop on at least one of Spiderman's bad guys.

[GilGarciaJr]

I'm saying Lois too. Mary-Jane's had her moments of heroism and fighting back, and will probably get more with her current new series, but Lois made a career out of it even before she met Superman. Solo investigative reporter Lois Lane is badass.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Pretty sure I rememer MJ occasionally getting the drop on at least one of Spiderman's bad guys.

Oh, Mary Jane has a number of neat performances for a civilian character. Just off the top of my head.

- Beating up Chameleon with a baseball bat after not being fooled by his Peter disguise.
- Scaring off Styx and Stone by shooting wildly at the with a gun.
- Shooting Green Goblin (Norman) in the chest while he was duking it out with Spider-man.
- Scaring away a group of street thugs by glaring at them.
- Taking the lead in smashing up some demon possessed jewelry during the Inferno crossover.

Like, MJ will put up a fight and has grabbed a few victories over villains here and there when they're distracted or not good at fighting. But she isn't explicitly trained like Lois and has no real victories in terms up straight up fights.

[Star_Jammer]

To what does being a military brat entitle someone? An automatic yellow belt in Tae Kwan Do? Is there a stereotype of which I'm not aware (entirely possible)?

Does Lois actually have confirmed martial arts feats? I can't buy her as any kind of CBPH ...

I'm wondering this, too.

Like...OK...Lois has some training. What does that have to do with being a military brat?

[Powerboy]

I'm wondering this, too.

Like...OK...Lois has some training. What does that have to do with being a military brat?

Unfortunately, that part is in the same category as when people say things like, "Character A has been around and fighting for centuries while Character B is thirty years old therefore Character A has to be more skilled at fighting than Character B". It's a false argument but it's based on assumptions, namely that association equals similar abilities. An army brat might mean she spent all her time getting into trouble or playing D&D but the assumption is that she somehow gets the military training by association. I might add that it also assumes that all types of military training include significant hand to hand combat training.

In Lois's case, the training really is there, of course. I think she also demonstrated some significant skills with a rifle, also based on the "army brat" explanation. Really, they should just say she did one enlistment, maybe with a Journalism specialty, and then went on to civilian life.

[daBronzeBomma]

Oh, Mary Jane has a number of neat performances for a civilian character. Just off the top of my head.

- Beating up Chameleon with a baseball bat after not being fooled by his Peter disguise.
- Scaring off Styx and Stone by shooting wildly at the with a gun.
- Shooting Green Goblin (Norman) in the chest while he was duking it out with Spider-man.
- Scaring away a group of street thugs by glaring at them.
- Taking the lead in smashing up some demon possessed jewelry during the Inferno crossover.

Like, MJ will put up a fight and has grabbed a few victories over villains here and there when they're distracted or not good at fighting. But she isn't explicitly trained like Lois and has no real victories in terms up straight up fights.

Yes: that's exactly the kinds of feats that I'm looking for with Lois!

Can anyone list any similar feats for Ms. Lane?

[The Drunkard Kid]

For what it's worth, MJ's standard gear in Insomniac's Spider-Man game (where she's basically Lois Lane) includes a taser that can one shot bulky mercenaries.