The Great Mentor Contest

[The Watcher]

There are a number of heroes and villains who are formidable combatants. Martial artists with few peers thanks to natural talent, training and experience. But while there have been matches to determine who is the superior at fighting there has never been a contest to prove who is the best at passing on their skills. Till now.

Now each of these heroes and villains have been assigned the same pupil to control for variables such as physical attributes, natural aptitude and attitude. Each have been given one year to train a temporal duplicate of Daniel LaRusso before his fateful encounter with Mr. Miyagi. After that year has passed all the Daniels will face each other in Khazan Arena in a no holds barred unarmed martial arts battle for supremacy. The confict will continue till only one remains standing, thus proving that their trainer is the best mentor of all.

The Mentors:
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Captain America (Steve Rogers in his prime)
Lady Shiva
David Cain
Ra's al Ghul
Stick
Taskmaster
Shang Chi

Note that killing one's student is an automatic forfeit. And while maiming is not, it could defintely affect his effectiveness in the arena. So, which Daniel will emerge triumphant and prove his sensei's superiority as a mentor?

I, The Watcher, pose this question to you all,

What If Each Of These Fighters Trained A Karate Kid?

[Sharpandpointies]

The Mentors:
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Captain America (Steve Rogers in his prime)
Lady Shiva
David Cain
Ra's al Ghul
Stick
Taskmaster
Shang Chi

For starters, I'm going to note that none of these characters can train Daniel up to their own level. Certainly not in a year, and certainly not in a lifetime, given the limits of Daniel's universe (seemingly) versus the ability of comic book martial artist.

That said, they've all been proven at different times to be highly effective teachers (though I don't know about Ra's).

.....

Normally I'd toss Taskmaster out, as he isn't a normal 'learner' - he just knows stuff, so teaching would presumably be incredibly difficult for him. But he HAS taught people, and quite effectively, so.

.....

Given Daniel's distinct lack of capacity compared to any of the above, my guess would be the answer is 'too close to call'. Possibly with a nod *against* Shiva, due to her methods being somewhat more brutal than most. They tend to involve 'beating the other person until they get the point' which, in a setting where people don't have comic book level durability, might not be the greatest possible system. David Cain could be the same (assuming he gets the ridiculous idea that he could make Daniel 'perfect').

But motivation-wise, I'd probably give the nod to both Wayne and Rogers. Both of them have proven to be pretty good motivators for their students.

So...maybe small edge to the Daniels of those two?

[The Watcher]

For starters, I'm going to note that none of these characters can train Daniel up to their own level. Certainly not in a year, and certainly not in a lifetime, given the limits of Daniel's universe (seemingly) versus the ability of comic book martial artist.

How does the contest go if the assigned pupil was instead a native of a comicbook universe, such as Rick Jones or Jimmy Olsen?

[Sharpandpointies]

Probably a bit more easy to work out.

It's vaguely possible that some of the more rigorous or mystical characters can push the character past where the other people would leave them. For example, Stick or Shang Chi might be able to tack on some mystical elements - chi-amping in Shang's case, as an example. They wouldn't be able to do a very good job, because we're talking about a year, but it might give the character a touch of an edge over the other characters.

However, someone like David Cain specifically required having his student (Cass) from childhood in order to make her into what she was, so that kind of thing would be out of the question.

So right there, I see some contenders having a slight edge.

Batman and Captain America are likely better at actually motivating the person to train like crazy.

Shiva's rather brutal system seems to work quite well at improving people in a short time - that is to say, getting busted up until you understand the lesson can be a quicker path than 'teaching nicely'.

Shang Chi might be capable of imparting SOME kind of knowledge and possibly use of Chi (not a great deal in a year, I'm sure, but anything could give an edge).

I don't know about Stick.

But I'd narrow it down to that particular group. Noting that Shiva makes a lousy teacher for people who aren't supremely motivated to begin with (Black Canary and Tim Drake were pretty motivated to learn from her...Jimmy Olsen might not be up for the constant berating and beatings).

Mileage, as always, may vary, and I'd be curious on other opinions. :D

[Sharpandpointies]

I mean, if we were looking at a character who was already a comic-book capable fighter but not top-tier - say, the old Question, Silver Sable, or even someone going up to the level of Post Crisis Tim Drake, then I'd be looking more at the skill level of the teachers, what they have to offer. The student would already have a solid foundation in some pretty serious fighting techniques, and the capacity to deal with pretty harsh training. So it would be more a matter of 'who could impart more comic book skill that the student could pick up?'

At that point, we're getting into Shang Chi, Shiva, possibly Stick if normal people can learn the kind of stuff he teaches (I heard a couple of times that Elektra and Matt were kind of special, one-in-one-million students). I would see those three having the best chance of their students winning.

Here? If we're talking Jimmy Olsen, with minimal experience/skill in this kind of thing, it's going to be more about fundamentals/basics/experience fighting.

[Beadle]

Tasky actually has a track record of not only training some decent level guys, like US Agent, but also of basically operating like a production line, so presumably having limited time available. When the Avengers first encountered him he was basically running a school for comicbook henchmen; training guys for various crime syndicates, supervillains etc. Based on that, he's probably got a pretty clear idea of what you can achieve in a year, whereas the others might not.

He's almost certainly trained more people than any of the others, albeit not all of them to super-high levels.

Just a thunk.

[The Watcher]

So does the victor change if the time alloted to train their Daniel (or Rick Jones or Jimmy Olsen) is increased to a decade?

[Sharpandpointies]

At that point, it's even more likely to go to the people who can use qi or other weird, mystical things. After a decade of comic book level training, whomever is getting trained will be their Mentor-Lite (assuming we're talking Jimmy Olsen or Rick Jones...unless we're sporting Daniel the capacity to learn the weird stuff like a comic book character).

Shang Chi-lite beats everyone but Stick-lite. So I would give the nod to either Shang Chi or Stick (assuming what Stick can do can at least partly be taught to someone who isn't some kind of savant, like Murdock or Natchios).

Mileage may vary. :D