Freedom Fighters vs X-Factor

This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. Hi and welcome to the Dynamic Dual Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. 

I'm Marvelous Joe and I'm his twin brother Johnny DC. And in this episode, we're going to find out who would win in a fight between DC's Freedom Fighters and Marvel's X-Factor. It's a team duel, we're pitting seven characters from the Freedom Fighters against seven characters from X-Factor. For an all-out, no holds barred brawl. 

We're going to input all the character stats from simulations to find out who the superior group is. Yeah, this matchup was chosen by our executive producers in part because both teams have been government-based agencies. And with Independence Day coming up and July already being packed full of reviews, we definitely wanted to get this match in before then. 

Yeah, we'll find out which team wins later on this episode. Before that, we're going to break down the latest comic book movie news to come out this past week of which we finally got some news. There was the new trailer for the Superman movie announcing that tickets are on sale. There was the second trailer for Iron Heart. And DC Studios announced that they're making a Mr. Miracle animated series. 

As always, we list our segment times in our episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. Our artificially intelligent duel simulator, AJ9K, has a quick message for our listeners, so listen up. Why hello there. Do you want even more from this podcast? Then become a part of the Dynamic Duel Community on Patreon, where you can choose from three tiers. The Dynamic 2.0 tier gives you access to our Discord chat server. 

The Fantastic Four tier gives you two bonus episodes each month, and the X-Force tier makes you an executive producer of this show. Lastly, the Diner Mike podcast network tier lets you create your own podcast using this Monte Carlo simulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop your show, provide graphic support and consultation, and get you simulation results. Pitch the twins your ideas via email at dynamicduelpodcastatgmail.com. 

Check it out at patreon.com slash dynamicduel. Pip pip cheerio. Thanks AJ9K, and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Guys, be sure to tune in to the other shows in the Diner Mike podcast network this week, including the console combat podcast, where hosts John and Dean simulate battles between popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode, they pit the hero from Dragon Quest V versus Ichiban Kasuga from Like a Dragon. Over on the Max Destruction podcast, hosts Scotty and Gilly pit your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other. This week, the brothers are pitting Danny Phantom against Space Ghost. And on the Senjo World podcast, hosts Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. In his next episode, Zach's going to reveal who'd win between Power from Chainsaw Man versus Mariah Kuriyama from Beyond the Boundary. 

Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show notes to listen to all of the shows and the Diner Mike podcast network. But with that out of the way, quick to the no prize. A no prize is an award that Marvel used to give out to fans. 

Our version, the Dynamic Dual No Prize, is a digital award that we post on Instagram for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week we asked you guys, what Marvel or DC character that we haven't done a duel with yet, are you still hoping we get to by January? And this is coming off of the news that in January, Jonathan and I will have hit the 10 year anniversary for this podcast. We'll be turning 40 and we have decided that at that point, this podcast will no longer be a weekly show. We'll still do some review episodes when films come out, but this will be the last year for dual episodes. Yeah, we got quite a number of answers, but we're going to break down three honorable mentions before revealing this week's no prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Travis Bailey, who said, What's up, this Travis Bailey, shout out to my good twin. 

All right, so I'm not sure if y'all have done any, let me know. I'd like to see Saber II versus Slade Wilson, for sure. Let me get Gladiator versus Lobo. That could be the main card. That could be the main event. Jamie Madrox. 

Madrox and Gorilla Grodd, for sure. And where's Mephisto? Y'all done Mephisto yet? 

Y'all got to get Mephisto in there. All right. So there were a whole lot of options in this one. We've actually done a lot of these characters already. We did Deathstroke versus Deadpool. Saber Tooth, we put against Killer Croc. Lobo, we put against Carnage. Gorilla Grodd, we put against Scylocke. And Mephisto, we put against Sandman of the Enthalas. Yeah, but there are a number of characters he mentioned that we haven't done duels with, namely, Multiple Man and Gladiator. Yeah, Gladiator is the head of the Imperial Guard for the Shiar Alien race. 

He's basically just like Superman. With all the weeks planned out for the rest of the year, by us and the executive producer team, we won't be able to get to a Gladiator match, but we've done a lot of duels with Superman-like characters, such as Superman versus Dr. Doom, Ultraman versus Hyperion, Sentry versus Zod, things like that. And while we won't be getting to a Multiple Man individual duel, luckily Travis, he will feature in this duel episode, Freedom Fighters versus X Factor. Right, so look forward to that. Great answer, Travis. 

Our next honorable mention comes from Matt from Texas, who said, Hey guys, Matt from Texas here. I want to see the Crime Syndicate versus the Squadron Supreme. Crime Syndicate's Ultraman, Alman Superwoman, Johnny Quick, Power Ring, Dead Eye, and White Martian. Versus the Squadron Supreme's Hyperion, Night Hawk, Power Princess, Blurred Doctor Spectrum, Golden Archer, and Scrollion Skymaster. I think it'd be awesome to see two alternate versions of the Justice League fight each other. 

That would have been a great matchup. Essentially, it's Evil Justice League versus Marvel's version of the Justice League. But since they're both basically iterations of the Justice League, we can probably assume that the match would be close to 50-50, right? 

It's probably a coin toss. Although I'll say I really liked Matt's picks for each team. We have done individual duels with Ultraman versus Hyperion. Yeah, I think that episode is probably the closest we'll ever get to that match. Which hurts to say because I really love Squadron Supreme, but we have a lot of other great team duels coming down the pike. You know, teams like West Coast Avengers. The Inhumans, the Eternals, Legion of Superheroes, the Authority. 

So you still got a lot of great team duels coming your way. So great answer, Matt. Our final honorable mention goes to Alex Albro, who said, Hey guys, I think you should do a duel between Lois Lane and Mary Jane, our Superwoman versus Jackpot. They could fight with their powers and compete to write the best article for their respective dailies. I'd also like to see Kevin Feige versus James Gunn, if you have a chance, and then also the last duel that I think we all want to see is Johnny DC versus Marvelous Joe. 

Thanks guys. So actually the last matchup that you mentioned, Johnny DC versus Marvelous Joe, Johnny DC would totally win no contest. What are you talking about? I would stomp your goofy ass. Don't even try. Actually, we already ran these simulations for one of our patrons one time, and we did determine I would win because frankly, I just have more weapons than you. Yeah, I don't really own any weapons. So yeah, I would get my ass kicked. If it got into close range though, I'm like quicker than Jonathan, right? 

So I just give them like a throat strike and he just beat down for the count. What? No, you're not. 

I'm way faster than you. What are you talking about? You know it. 

I know it. As far as Lois Lane versus Mary Jane Watson, that was actually a duel that was pitched by Mickey Mathen-Gian, one of our executive producers. Although I think we determined that there were just more prominent super powered characters that we wanted to get to before them. Well, I mean, there are super powered versions of Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson. Mary Jane Watson is jackpot in the comic books and she gets a random power based on this like slot machine gadget that she has. I don't know if a random power would help you against the powers of superwoman, but if she rolls three sevens on her device, she gets like godlike power. 

It's a long shot though, you know, could be interesting, but we're also trying to get to characters like Abomination and Ocean Master and Jubilee and Guy Gardner and you know, some of these big time players that we just haven't got to yet. But great answer, Alex. We want to give a quick shout out to Coy and Liao, who also gave the suggestion of Lois Lane versus jackpot. Cyrus Moore, who said we should do a duel with L'Arfles, which we won't get to, but we will be doing other ring powered characters. Daniel Alonso suggested Armadillo, or as I like to call him, Armadildo, after the Modoc television show. Jetson Batty also said L'Arfles, Kat Stevenson said we should do a Hive versus Aime team duel, that'd be pretty cool. Although we have some Aime characters coming up in another team duel episode. Lorenzo Valdez said Lana Lang, who at one point was superwoman. 

Yeah, she was like an electric version. Okay. I really like Sheldon Moore's answer, who said we should do Superboy Prime versus Franklin Richards, because that would also tie into the upcoming reviews we're doing next month with the Superman and Fantastic Four films. I mean, Superboy Prime would just punch Franklin Richards' reality alterations really hard, just destroying them. You wish. 

And then Travis Herndon suggested three matchups, including Scandal Savage versus Daken, Scar versus Calabac, and Kid Devil versus Robbie Reyes. Great suggestions, but don't get greedy, guys. Don't get greedy. Otherwise, I mean, we'd be doing this forever, which may be what some people want. Who knows. But the winner of this week's No Prize is Brian Rochester, who said, Hi, I think you should do a DC Universe versus Marvel Universe universal war. Every character, every team. 

I know that's very far fetched, but I think it would be pretty awesome to see that. I love your show and sorry to see it go. Bye. Well, funny you should mention that, Brian, because we might have something similar to that planned for one of our final episodes. And I'll just leave it at that. All I could say is I can't wait. 

It's going to be epic. Great answer, Brian. Congrats for winning this week's No Prize. 

If you, the listener, want to shout out winning your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on this episode when we will be asking another question of the week. And now that that's done, on to the news. OK, with less than a month to go for the release of the Superman film in theaters, DC last week unveiled what I imagine is its final trailer for the film announcing that tickets are now on sale. Now, when this film was first announced by the head of DC Studios, James Gunn, who is also writing and directing this film, he said one of the inspirations for it was All Star Superman, which was a comic book series written by Grant Morrison that kind of showcased Superman's last days on Earth. And it was very episodic. He went up against various villains and various adventures. And of all the trailers to come out for this film, that very episodic nature of the All Star Superman story feels the most apparent in this trailer specifically. How so? 

I didn't get that vibe at all. There's just so much going on with all of the different characters that Superman is fighting like Lex Luthor, like an army, giant Kaiju monsters, portals opening up beneath Metropolis, giant eyeballs in the sky. There's just so much going on in this film. It seems like it's going to be the most epic Superman movie ever made. Now, there is a rumor that this film is not going to have like a typical three act structure. It's going to essentially be like a week in the life of Superman as it were. 

In fact, they even had like chapters for this film that would be like Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Now that was a rumor. I'm not exactly sure if it was true, but again, this trailer feels like it's kind of all over the place, but in a really good and epic way. 

I didn't feel like it was all over the place at all. There's a lot of different types of villains that he's fighting, but it doesn't seem like it's outside of an elaborate plan by Lex Luthor, who really seems to take the spotlight in this trailer. Yeah, I'm not sure Lex Luthor is responsible for the portal beneath Metropolis or even the Kaiju. 

I would be surprised if that was the case. I'm pretty sure that he will be the primary antagonist. But this is a very, very action packed trailer. That's probably one of the reasons I really like it because I love seeing Superman in action. Not only do we see him stop a series of toppling buildings, but we also see him zipping around the skies, battling Kaiju's and other flying super powered beings. A few of which I actually think might be Samson or Atlas from All Star Superman, just based on their hairdos, which are a little bit blurry. 

I think they're intentionally keeping some of the villains secret in the trailers, which is fine by me. I mean, there's one guy that he punches in the face. I hope that's just not a normal human who's wearing a suit of armor. I think if you get punched in the face by Superman and you're not super human, your head just explodes. This guy loses some teeth, but it makes me wonder if Superman pulls his punches in the same way that Spider-Man does when he's going up against normal people. Yeah, I'd like to think that these are some super powered individuals, because yeah, I don't like the idea of Superman just punching an ordinary human. 

But it is cool to see crypto get in on the action as well. As we see Superman fighting everyone, we also have this voiceover from Lex Luthor, who's talking about how he's essentially going to kill him and everyone he loves. It's not the best voiceover, but it does lend credence to the fact that he is the primary antagonist for this movie and yeah, probably has an elaborate plot to basically kill everyone. There's this wild shot of Superman holding a green baby while being wrapped up by this other like alien octopus creature. I have no idea what's going on in that scene, but it looks incredible. It's very different from I think anything we've seen before in a Superman film. 

Of course, we also get to see the supporting cast, everyone from Lois Lane, who pilots a high tech ship alongside Jimmy Olsen and Perry White, as well as the Justice League members Guy Gardner and Mr. Terrific. They look awesome. I'm assuming that ship belongs to Mr. Terrific. Maybe, you know, it's kind of round almost like one of his T-Spheres. That's a good guess, I would say. One of the final shots of the trailer, we see Mr. Terrific call down to Superman, who looks really beat up like he has two black eyes and he's facing down this portal beneath the city. Now, are those black eyes or has he just been using his heat vision and that's like heat scarring? I didn't get the impression. I would hope that using his heat vision would not give him scarring of any kind. I think it would temporarily if he did a big enough heat vision blast. I don't think I would like that personally. 

Who knows? Again, the scale of this movie just looks so massive. And I love the fact that James Gunn seems to be giving Superman these challenges that really only Superman can face. Because what are characters like the X-Men or Spider-Man gonna do when a massive black hole seems to open up beneath the city? What is Superman gonna do? 

I guess we'll find out. All I know is he's probably gonna save the day and I can't wait to find out how. Probably my favorite moment from this trailer is also near the end where we see Superman surrounded by these flying villains. And he's just blasting all of them with heat vision while spinning around super fast. 

It may be one of the coolest things I've ever seen Superman do on screen. And I can't wait to see it in theaters. This trailer totally sold me on getting tickets for the film. I bought mine. I hope you guys have too because it looks like it's gonna be epic, especially on a really big screen like IMAX. I'm gonna go see it on the smallest screen I can. 

Sucks to suck, I guess. But considering all of the cool stuff that we get to see Superman do in this trailer, that brings us to our question of the week. What has been your favorite Superman moment from past films or television series? And why? 

And this includes animated films and television shows that Superman has been a part of, going all the way back to the 1940s. Record your answer at dynamicdool.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a Dynamic Duel No Prize that we'll post to Instagram. 

Be sure to answer before June 21st. In way better news, this past week we got the official trailer number two for the upcoming Iron Heart television series that's going to be released on Disney Plus, starting on June 24th. Now Disney Plus is releasing three episodes of the six episode series all at once. 

So basically half the show starting on June 24th, and then I think the subsequent episodes will be released weekly. But this particular trailer is probably the most exciting look at the show that we've gotten yet, in that it introduces the concept of re-re-incorporating magic into her armor system. Which is pretty damn cool visually, because as we see her heads up display come up, we see like sigils and runes and things like that. It's a really cool concept that they briefly touched upon in the comic books, where we've seen her incorporate like the 10 rings into her armor. And I remember one time she fought alongside Dr. 

Strange, and she like accessed the Wellspring, I think it was called, and she was shooting out like magic repulsors. I'm pretty positive all this magic occult stuff ties into the primary villain of the show, who is the hood, who gets his powers via the demon Mephisto. Oh I thought Mephisto was going to be the primary villain. Do you think Riri like sells her soul to get these powers? I think she makes a deal with the hood, who is in turn powered by Mephisto. 

So it's going to be something like that. But it's interesting because this whole time we thought that the show was going to be this set it off style story where we see Riri steal in order to work on her armor designs. But it looks like she actually goes much further than simply stealing, but she in fact taps into dark magic. So we're definitely going to see her go down the rabbit hole as it were, and redeem herself by the end hopefully. Yeah I had no idea that she had a history of tapping into magical sources in the comics. That's interesting. Actually that's definitely the most interesting thing I've seen come out of all of these trailers. 

I would agree with you. Well I mean it's not something that she regularly does in the comic books, but there is precedent for including magic in this type of story. One of the other big reveals that we got in this trailer is that the show will be including her AI assistant named Natalie, and that she will be a 3D holographic projection, not just a voice within the armor, kind of like how Jarvis and Friday were with Tony Stark's armor. I thought in the comics that Tony Stark was her like AI assistant. No when he was dead for a time in the comic books his digital consciousness did serve as like a mentor figure early on, but no he wasn't her AI assistant like Natalie was. When Natalie was like who the hell else would it be, Bish? I was like Tony Stark? 

Yeah Tony Stark is the answer to that question. I didn't love that line at all. That was just horrible writing. You know who else I thought delivered terrible lines? 

Alden Ehrenreich. I'm still pretty confused as to what his role is going to be in this show. Well as I mentioned before he's playing Joe McGillicuddy who is an original character for this series. I think he's kind of serving as a Tony Stark stand-in taking on that mental role from the comic books. I agree it's not great dialogue. 

The whole taking things apart and putting it back together really gives off watchman vibes. And also I just don't like the idea of him being her mentor. Like where is Shuri? Why isn't she mentoring Riri? That's a great question. Yeah considering that Shuri helped facilitate her previous armor in Wakanda Forever you think she'd be keeping tabs on her or something like that. 

In the same way that the Dorya Milaje was keeping tabs on Bucky. Right right right and maybe they'll show up who knows. All I know is that I'm way more excited for this show than Superman. 

And all I know is you picked a hell of a week to stop sniffing glue. Going back to DC news recently it was announced that DC Studios is putting out its second animated series after Kichir Commandos in Mr. Miracle which is going to be based off of Tom King's Eisner award-winning mini series. We got our first look at the show in a single frame that looks like it was ripped right from the comics. And we also got a series description about how essentially Mr. Miracle will be battling Darkseid who attains the anti-life equation the result of which is fracturing Mr. 

Miracle's mind. Now the comic book series that this is based on dealt heavily with themes of like PTSD and depression. I'm not sure it's the best storyline to introduce the new gods. I especially don't love the idea of our introduction to Darkseid having him already attain the anti-life equation like that's something you should absolutely build up to. 

So while I love the idea that Mr. Miracle is finally getting his own show I don't love the storyline that they will be basing it off of. Well they might alter the storyline a little bit to accommodate the greater DCU that they're establishing. It could be more of like a personal story than touching on the larger plot behind that arc. I think the show has a lot of work cut out for it. Not only does it need to introduce us to Jack Kirby's fourth world and that whole cast of characters but it also needs to be a personal story set within a larger world that James Gunn is developing essentially. Well he did a good job with that in Creature Commanders. But that was a fairly self-contained story. When you're involving characters like Darkseid and things like the anti-life equation if that doesn't affect other DC projects I would feel like they would have made a mistake because really Darkseid and the anti-life equation should be a Justice League level threat not just Mr. 

Miracle and Big Barda. I guess it would be like saving Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet for an animated series as opposed to a whole saga of films. Exactly. I doubt they would do that and even if they do there's still plenty of other large scale DC threats out there for the films to touch on. Now there is a way in which they could keep this self-contained that would basically be to have Mr. Miracle contained within an Omega Sanction which is a trap essentially set by Darkseid in which Mr. 

Miracle would just relive countless lives over and over. We'll see if they go that route. They would almost need to. I think that would be pretty cool actually. We'll have to keep an eye on who they cast as the voice actors for these different characters because as James Gunn has said he wants there to be as much crossover between the animation voice actors and live action actors as possible. And here's hoping we get a live action new gods movie one day. 

I think most fans know that they try to get a live action new gods film off the ground in the DCEU days with a film directed by Ava DuVernay but that didn't come to fruition. It is nice to see this fourth world stuff finally get off the ground and hopefully it's done well. Yeah I hope so. We don't know what network this is going to be on. It may not be on HBO Max. 

I guess they're shopping it around so we'll see where it ends up and when it gets released. But that does it for all the news for this episode so let's go ahead and move into our main event where we find out who'd win in a fight between the two teams of the Freedom Fighters and X Factor. Alright Freedom Fighters versus X Factor as we mentioned earlier these are two teams that have been backed by the government going up against each other. That's kind of their thematic through line here although X Factor has definitely spent time on its own not being government sanctioned but I think the most prominent version of the X Factor team was spearheaded by government agent Valerie Cooper. 

Who's that? Yeah I guess that means nothing to you if you don't know the comic books but she had a lot of dealings with like the X-Men books putting together like Freedom Force. I go into it in our Mystique versus Madame Rouge episode. Wait Freedom Force why does that sound familiar? Because that was Mystique's team of mutants like the second iteration of the Brotherhood of Mutants that were working for the government. They were kind of like Marvel's version of the Suicide Squad for a while. 

I'm sorry the correct answer was because it's a ripoff of Freedom Fighters. Now the Freedom Fighters actually had their own animated movie of sorts I guess you could say they featured heavily in the Rey animated series which was set in the Arrowverse. Oh interesting Yeah X Factor hasn't had their own show or series or anything like that but a lot of the characters have already played roles within the live action X-Men films. Yeah characters like Havoc were in the X-Men first class movies. Polaris was in that one X-Men TV show I forget the name. Yeah the Gifted but Ice Man of course was in the movies. Multiple Man made an appearance in X-Men 3. Beast of course was in the films. A whole bunch of them. Maybe if things go well for the DCU one day we'll get a Freedom Fighters movie who knows. 

Oh that'd be cool. I'll say that there is an impressive roster of characters on that team and we'll discuss that soon but to explain the methodology behind our duels let's go to our sentient duel simulator Alfred Jarvis 9000. AJ9K tell our listeners how you go about determining a winner in our team duel matchups. 

Yes of course sir the way I determine a winner between the two teams is by running 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations between every character on each team using their statistics. A Monte Carlo simulation is a probabilistic model used to determine outcomes through random sampling. In this case I randomize the statistics along a normal distribution as a way to simulate the many variables that can occur during battle. The stat parameters are based on the official Marvel power grid from which the DC characters statistics are extrapolated. 

Additional stat categories are included such as range, damage potential, versatility and perception in order to create a more detailed and accurate simulation. The results of the 49,000 simulations provide a percentage of wins for each character on both teams. The team with the higher average win rate is declared the victor as they have a higher probability to win any given battle. In an equitable pairing neither team should win 100% of the matches. The comic book stories have shown that there's even a way for Batman to defeat Superman so the confidence rate of my method falls in line with the precedents that have been established in the source material. My mathematical simulations are without subjectivity or bias. Feats are not the sole consideration nor are fan votes tabulated for determination of the winner. 

Thanks A.J .9K. Before we run the simulations though we like to break down each team's histories and rosters before improvising a scenario on how we imagine one of the thousands of simulations would play out beat for beat. And it's my turn to go first with the DC team's backstory so let me tell you about the Freedom Fighters. Now the Freedom Fighters began as a group of American superheroes brought together during World War II by the mysterious patriotic figure known as Uncle Sam. More than a man Uncle Sam was the living embodiment of American ideals, a spiritual force that had taken form to protect the nation during times of crisis. 

You can of course learn more about Uncle Sam in our Uncle Sam vs Captain Burr in dual episode. As war erupted across the globe Uncle Sam foresaw grave danger ahead not just from the Nazis on earth but from a parallel world where the Axis powers had already won. That world was Earth X, a twisted mirror of earth where the Nazis won the war and were taking control of the entire planet. In an effort to prevent the same fate from befalling his own world, Uncle Sam assembled a team of heroes to travel to Earth X and resist its oppressive regime. 

His earliest group included lesser known heroes like Neon the Unknown, Magno, Miss America, and the Invisible Hood among others. They attempted to prevent the attack on Pearl Harbor but failed. Most of the team actually perished in the mission with seemingly only Uncle Sam surviving. Undeterred, Uncle Sam assembled a second team consisting of Black Condor, Dollman, the Human Bomb, the Ray, Phantom Lady, and the Red Bee. They joined Uncle Sam on Earth X where they continued to fight against the Nazi regime that had overrun the planet. Tragically, the Red Bee was killed during their first mission, rescuing the hero Our Man from a Nazi villain known as Baron Blitzkrieg. Eventually, the team liberated Earth X with the help of the Justice League from Earth One and the Justice Society from Earth Two. 

You could learn more about both teams in their team duels against the Avengers and Fantastic Four respectively. After their success, the Freedom Fighters became bored with peace and sought new challenges. They migrated to Earth One where a misunderstanding with authorities led them to be wrongfully accused of terrorism. Framed by a villain called the Silver Ghost, the team became fugitives, struggling to clear their names while fending off both supervillains and law enforcement. They set up a base in New York City's East Armory and continued operating as heroes while being hunted by the authorities. While the team faced many threats including alien war makers and demons like Kamulus, they briefly added new members like Firebrand and battled alongside Superman, eventually preventing a neo-Nazi plot to destroy American foundational documents. After that, they returned to Earth X. When the crisis on Infinite Earths destroyed Earth X and folded its history into a single continuity known as New Earth, the Freedom Fighters were retroactively made a part of the All-Star Squadron, a wartime superhero collective that included other teams like the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the Justice Society. With Uncle Sam having mysteriously vanished, the Freedom Fighters eventually faded into obscurity. 

In modern times, Uncle Sam re-emerged as the spirit of America, taking on a new form as the Patriot during an intergalactic conflict known as the Imperiax War. He gathered together a new team of Freedom Fighters including Damage, Iron Man Rowe, and new versions of Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and the Wray. They later worked with the Justice Society and operated as federal agents. This team eventually met disaster while investigating superhuman activity during another crisis event. Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and the Human Bomb were all killed by members of the Seeker Society of Supervillains. Damage was gravely injured and Wray was captured while Uncle Sam vanished once again. With their leader presumed dead and most of the team destroyed, the Freedom Fighters effectively ceased to exist. 

Uncle Sam returned years later, resurrected in the Mississippi River. With a new sense of purpose and warning of a corrupt government on the rise, he recruited a new generation of heroes. Among them were new versions of Firebrand, Dullman, Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, and the Wray. These new Freedom Fighters had previously served as agents of the shadowy government agency, Shade, led by the immortal Father Time. 

Uncle Sam opposed their brutal methods and convinced them to join his fight against tyranny. Operating from a surreal extra-dimensional base called the Heartland, the new team continued to add members, including a new Black Condor, Red Bee, and Invisible Hood. Their main enemy became Father Time himself, who was working to install a mechanical doppelganger of a U.S. 

Senator, Gonzo, the mechanical bastard, as President of the United States. Uncle Sam discovered the plot and tried to expose Gonzo, but was captured along with his team by a new Miss America, secretly one of Father Time's agents. The team was rescued by reinforcements that included the resurrected original Miss America, who defeated her imposter. 

With new allies like the Second Wray, who you can learn more about in our Wray vs. Havoc episode, the team regrouped and fought back. They exposed Gonzo's identity in a public press conference, just as he unleashed an army of mind-controlled metahumans. Father Time, betrayed by Gonzo, switched sides and helped trap the robotic tyrant inside a special containment device. Before vanishing into the time stream with brainwashed metas, Father Time revealed The president appointed the Freedom Fighters as directors of Shade, though some members, like the Rey, chose to return to civilian life. Their next battles were no less strange. They stopped a rogue nuclear launch orchestrated by the calculator and later dealt with the bizarre evolution of the Red Bee, who had been transformed into a human insect hybrid. 

Shade tried turning the team into media icons, but not everyone agreed with this direction. Several members, including Uncle Sam, Dullman, Human Bomb, and Firebrand, returned to the heartland in protest. Others remained and formed a new group called the Crusaders. The Red Bee's condition worsened and she eventually lost control to her insectoid instincts, enslaving the Crusaders and the Freedom Fighters through pheromones. A massive battle erupted between the brainwashed heroes culminating in the intervention of Linkford Tarrell, who had inherited the power of Nyand Yen-None. 

He cured Red Bee of the infestation and the team stopped an insectoid invasion. Despite the victory, however, the group dissolved again. Though Uncle Sam vowed they would return when needed. In post-Flashpoint continuity, the Freedom Fighters appeared in alternate forms across the multiverse. On Earth 10, they were reimagined as a resistance force fighting against a Nazi regime that had won World War II with the help from Overman, a Superman-like figure raised under fascism. 

The team's members were genetically engineered by Dr. Savanna to represent an inclusive, modern resistance movement. It included alternate versions of Rey, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and Dullman, and the destruction of a Justice League orbital station over Metropolis. On the main Earth, a Chinese version of the Freedom Fighters appeared, led by the flying Dragon General. Members included analogues of the original team, such as Sunbeam for the Rey, Blue Condor, Ghost Woman, Folding Paper Man, who was a version of Plastic Man, and Human Firecracker. These characters embodied nationalistic ideals tailored to China, reflecting how the legacy of the Freedom Fighters had spread beyond the United States. Recently, the original Freedom Fighters surviving members, including Uncle Sam and Phantom Lady, reappeared during a discussion between Mr. Trevick and Quiz Kid. 

There were shown mentoring, the time-lost Sidekicks Cherry Bomb, and Ladybug, young heroes who had once been associated with the original human bomb and Red Bee. And that's the Freedom Fighters history so far. Now, for my 7-person roster for the Freedom Fighters, I of course started with Uncle Sam, the leader of the team, and the one responsible for bringing various incarnations together. I'm also going with the original team members of Black Condor, capable of flight thanks to his wind control, and the Rey, a being composed of pure light energy, both of whom you can learn more about in our Black Condor vs. Warpath and Rey vs. Havoc episodes. Original members we haven't done duels with yet that are on my team include Phantom Lady, who can turn visible, intangible, and create holographic illusions, the human bomb, who possesses a powerful explosive touch, as well as superhuman durability, and Dollman, the 6-inch telekinetic. For the 7th and final member of my team, I decided to go with Plastic Man, a short-lived member of the team, yet hands down the most popular character from Quality Comics, where all of these characters originated prior to DC's acquisition of that company. And you of course can learn more about Plastic Man in his duel against Mr. 

Fantastic. So to reiterate, my team consists of Uncle Sam, Black Condor, Rey, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Dollman, and Plastic Man. Yeah, I really like that roster except for Dollman, who is probably the worst DC character ever. You say that about every DC character. 

That's true, but I really mean it this time. Dollman's basically just an action figure with telekinesis. And his name is Dollman. You should be ashamed. Hey, here's an acquisition, man. You came with the whole package. 

What are you gonna do? Well, I can guarantee you there's no one named Dollman on X Factor, although some members did have some pretty lame names like Strong Guy. Although Guido's power was pretty cool. Let me tell you all about X Factor. The five original X-Men, Cyclops, Gene Gray, Angel, Beast, and Iceman, reunited after Gene Gray was discovered alive after being thought dead and was temporarily replaced by the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force, an event you can learn more about in our Raven vs. Phoenix duel episode. The group, feeling out of place on a team now led by their old enemy, Magneto, formed X Factor Incorporated with Angel using his wealth to fund the operation. To the public, X Factor was a group of mutant hunters who captured dangerous individuals for pay. In truth, the team found and sheltered young mutants in an effort to help them control and develop their newfound abilities. While hunting the Alliance of Evil, they met Apocalypse, an ancient mutant who preached survival of the fittest. 

He vanished after testing their strength in their first encounter, promising to return. Soon, the villain Mr. Sinister's mutant henchmen known as the Marauders butchered a group of mutants called the Morlocks who were living in the sewers under Manhattan. Angel rushed in to help and the killers severely damaged his wings. Broken and bitter, he tried to attempt suicide but Apocalypse saved him and experimented on him, giving him metal wings and blue skin. Angel was transformed into Death, one of Apocalypse's agents known as the Four Horsemen. Angel later broke free of his mind to control, yet his new form and the name Archangel stayed with him. You can learn more about Archangel and Apocalypse in their respective duels against Zoriel and Black Adam. Apocalypse's horseman attacked Central Park, and X Factor saved thousands of civilians, many belonging to the same crowd that had cursed mutants in fear. 

With Apocalypse defeated, the team moved into his captured living starship, a base big enough for all their young students. Later, demons warped the mind of Cyclops' wife and Jean's clone named Madeleine Pryor, turning her into a possessed villain known as the Goblin Queen. She tried to sacrifice her and Cyclops' son Nathan on the Empire State Building, but X Factor and the X-Men teamed up to stop her. However, Apocalypse soon kidnapped Nathan and infected him with a techno-organic virus to kill him. 

Rebels from 2000 years into the future traveled to the present and took the baby forward in time to save him. He would return later as the hero Cable, whom you can learn more about in his dual episode against Booster Gold. After a final fight on Muir Island against the evil psychic entity Shadow King, the founding five X Factor members rejoined the X-Men and X Factor closed its first chapter. You can learn more about the X-Men in their team dual against the Titans. Federal agent Valerie Cooper believed the United States needed a public mutant team and asked Cyclops' brother Havoc to lead a government-backed X Factor. 

Cooper also brought aboard Lorna Dane, a magnetic-powered mutant called Polaris. When Lorna was a young teen, her parents argued mid-flight on a private plane. The stress triggered her hidden magnetism power, which tore the plane apart and turned her hair green. The mutant magneto sensed the magnetic pulse and rescued Lorna, later learning that she was his daughter. 

He left her with relatives to grow up safely and as an adult, she joined the X-Men and later joined Havoc as the second X Factor recruit. Valerie Cooper also contacted Jamie Madrox, the mutant known as Multiple Man. From the moment Jamie was born, when the doctor slapped his baby behind, the child split into a perfect duplicate. Born with the mutant power of kinetic duplication, Jamie wore a suit that absorbed his shocks so he would not keep dividing. 

Years later, after leaving his Kansas farm, the X-Men's leader Professor Xavier discovered and taught Jamie how to reabsorb his duplicates and keep their memories. As Multiple Man, he became the team's instant backup. Wolf Spain, a Scott's girl who could shift into a wolf, signed on next. Strong Guy, who stored impact energy as muscle and the speedster Quicksilver, rounded out the new squad. Together, they stopped Mr. Sinister, foiled extremists in the war-torn Middle East, and guarded witnesses from mutant killers like Cyber. On the island of Genosha, when one of Multiple Man's duplicates caught the lethal legacy virus and died, the team feared the original Multiple Man was lost. Strong Guy absorbed an alien bomb blast over Magipore and suffered a heart attack that put him in a coma. Havoc, quit in grief, and Forge, a mutant inventor who could build any device he imagined, became the team's new leader. Washington soon forced Mystique and the Feral Sabertooth onto the roster, but soon, funding dried up and the government squad dissolved. The original Multiple Man later resurfaced in New York's mutant town and opened X-Factor Investigations, a private detective agency. 

He hired Wolfsbane and the recovered Strong Guy, also welcoming Teresa Cassidy into the agency. Teresa, called Siren, could shatter steel with her sonic scream. Raised by her criminal uncle, Black Tom Cassidy, she once aided him in robberies, unaware that her real father was the heroic X-Men member Banshee, from whom she acquired her powers. After being caught stealing by Spider-Woman, Siren chose a better path with X-Factor Investigations. The mutants Monet, St. Croix, and Richter joined next, followed by Leila Miller, a team with hidden knowledge about the mass loss of mutant powers around the world caused by the Scarlet Witch, an event you can learn more about in her duel against Zatana. When the X-Factor detectives outsmarted the rival firm, Singularity Investigations, the anti-mute agency retaliated by firing a power-dampening dart into Siren's throat, temporarily stripping her upper power. Quicksilver later appeared with Tarogen crystals stolen from the Inhumans that could restore a mutant's lost powers, but also cripple the user. 

X-Factor exposed the risk and drove him off. You can learn more about this in our Flash vs. Quicksilver episode. Leila Miller later followed a multiple-man duplicate into a future where mutants were jailed, while the present multiple-man battled Cortex, who was a rogue duplicate who had become an evil murderer. 

The billionaire Cade bombed New York's mutant town, forcing the agency to move to Detroit. After Siren was impregnated by multiple-man, or perhaps one of his duplicates, she gave birth to a boy named Sean, named after her father. However, while holding the infant, multiple-man involuntary absorbed his child, who was born with the same powers, an act that devastated both parents. 

Later, when Polaris' mind unraveled after being tortured by Apocalypse, Siren bargained with the Celtic goddess Morrigan for power that healed Lorna, yet bound Siren to the deity's service. During these struggles, Jaime recruited Longshot to the agency, a genetically engineered rebel from the television ratings-obsessed dimension of Mojo World. Longshot had enhanced physiology, limited psychometry, throwing knives, and a subconscious gift to bent probability in his favor. After finding an interdimensional portal to Earth, he helped the X-Men repel an invasion by Mojo, his impossible luck earning him the moniker Longshot. When the agency dissolved, Polaris accepted an offer from several industries to lead a short-lived, corporate-backed X-Factor team with Gambit, Quicksilver, Danger, Cipher, and Warlock on the team. During this time, they rescued mutant hostages from the evil science organization AIM, retrieved stolen data from the Thieves Guild, and prevented a potential threat by the tech-narci, an artificially intelligent alien race. When Professor Xavier founded the island nation of Cracowa, the mutant North Star formed another X-Factor team. 

He drafted Polaris, his twin sister Aurora, Wolverine's son Daken, the power-mimicking prodigy, illusion-spotting i-boy, and the telepathic prestige. Their assigned task for their new nation was to confirm a mutant's death so that Cracowa's resurrection protocols would not create accidental duplicates. The team's first cases took them into Mojo World's lethal live streams, and later to Alberta, Canada, after Siren, who was still bound to Morrigan, repeatedly caused her own death in order to stall the Celtic Deity's mass sacrifice of every mutant on Cracowa. The mutant Shatterstar's dimension-cutting swords killed the goddess, freeing Siren from her control. X-Factor later investigated the mysterious death of the Scarlet Witch on Cracowa, though it was determined to be an elaborate ruse by her and Magneto. Their plan used Chaos Magic to establish on Cracowa a magic plane of existence called the Waiting Group, which allowed Cerebro to scan through time for mutants to use in Cracowa's resurrection protocols, ensuring that every mutant who had ever died, past or future, had a chance at resurrection. 

This plane, however, was destroyed during the fall of Cracowa. That's X-Factor's history. For the seven-person roster, I'm going with a mix of mutants from across the various iterations of the team. This includes the original members Beast and Iceman, who formed the first X-Factor alongside their original X-Men teammates, and both have their own individual duels. Also on my team are Havoc, Polaris, and multiple men who were founding members of the X-Factor's government team. 

Out of that group, only Havoc has his own duel. And for my final two, I'm going with members of the X-Factor Investigations Agency, Siren, and Longshot. So to reiterate, that's Beast, Iceman, Havoc, Polaris, multiple men, Siren, and Longshot. Yeah, this is a solid roster, and I'm actually surprised some of those members like Iceman and Beast haven't been in previous team duel episodes with other X-Men characters. I'm glad we finally get around with them. 

Yeah, for sure. Some of my favorite X-Men characters of all time are members of X-Factor. I'm a huge Jamie Madrox fan, multiple man, and while it's a shame we won't be doing an individual duel with him, I'm glad to at least be doing this team duel with the character. Yeah, he has one of the coolest powers in comics, I think. If I could have any super power, like my list of top five would definitely be multiple man's powers. 

Yeah, and his Madrox series and X-Factor written by Peter David rest in peace, he did a phenomenal job writing Jamie Madrox as a character. Now that we've got the teams, histories, and rosters out of the way, let's speculate on how one of the thousands of simulated matches will go. The winners determined by simulations, not our speculation, but it's fun to imagine how the fight could play out. AJ and IK, what are the rules of our speculation? Well, I should say there are no rules, other than the teams have no prior knowledge of the other going into the fight. All they are aware of starting out is that the other side is a threat that needs to be eliminated. For the speculation, the groups will begin approximately 50 meters apart in a nondescript environment that will have no bearing on the match itself, as no environmental statistics are considered in my simulations. 

The teams must earn victory on their own merit. All right, then let's get into it. Freedom fighters and X-Factor meet on the battlefield. Who goes first? 

I'm going to say Uncle Sam goes first, and he's going to start by growing about six stories tall right off the bat, and he's going to point to the X-Factor and say, I want you to die. And so he's going to leap towards them and land right on top of the group, just stopping them all into the ground with his giant feet. No, but Siren is going to shout out a sonic blast at Uncle Sam as he's trying to land on them. And the sonic force waves are going to make him fall short in his leap, and he's just going to fall on his ass instead. 

And then Havoc unloads a giant plasma blast in Freedom Fighters direction that for sure incinerates Uncle Sam, but also just disintegrates the rest of the team. For sure. No. Uncle Sam is basically invulnerable. So he may get burned, but he's not going to disintegrate. In fact, actually his body is going to act as a barrier between both teams, and he's going to protect his side from Havoc's energy. And from behind Uncle Sam, the ray is just going to zip right into the sky and rain lasers down upon X-Factor, which is going to provide cover for the rest of his team to emerge into the battle. Well, Polaris throws up an electromagnetic shield that'll protect X-Factor from the ray's lasers and also provide that team with cover to go out into the battle. And right away, Iceman rides over to Black Condor, and he's going to be like, let's clip those wings, and he's just going to perforate Black Condor's wings with the volley of icicles, just turning the wings into Swiss cheese. 

So now the dude can't even fly. No, I'm going to say Black Condor totally saw Iceman sliding toward him, because how could he not? And he's going to counter these icicles with a generated gust of wind that's strong enough to redirect them toward, let's say, beast. And it's going to attack him in his chest and in each of his limbs. 

Well, okay, so beast gets tagged with like one or two of these icicles, but the damage is minor at best. He also has quick enough reflexes to avoid the rest of the ice spikes by flipping into the air. And in fact, he catches one of the icicles, and he's going to land on Uncle Sam's giant head and probably make some quip about the sorry state of US politics before just jamming the icicle right into one of Uncle Sam's eyes. So now Uncle Sam has no depth perception for the rest of this match. 

Well, let's say Dull Man was on Uncle Sam when this happened, just kind of hiding out. And he's definitely too small for beast to notice. So before beast can even land on Uncle Sam, Dull Man is going to telekinetically stall beast in midair and then hurl him really hard right into long shots, sending both of them toppling across the ground. Except that with long shots, good luck power. He ducks out of the way just in time. So beast misses hitting long shot and instead he rolls into a ball that plows right into Phantom Lady, like a furry 300 pound bowling ball. 

Okay. And he just knocks her right the heck out. Except that Phantom Lady was invisible and intangible at the time. So no, actually he slams into multiple man. And that's just going to send new versions of multiple man scattered everywhere. Well, she's like an impact of that magnitude would probably create like 20 duplicates of multiple man instantaneously. And I'm going to say that all 20 of these dupes are going to run over to the human bomb and just start stomping his ass like they owe him money. Human bomb. You clearly know nothing about human bomb. 

You fucked up. I'm going to say as these multiple men are attacking the human bomb, he's going to pull off one of his gloves and just punch one of them right in the shin, generating this massive explosion that disrupts the entire environment. Everyone just goes flying away from the explosion and all of the multiple men themselves, including the original, capture the brunt of this explosion and get disintegrated. 

You can't do that. No, that was way too quick for multiple man. He didn't know what human bomb does. How was multiple man supposed to know? He's going to learn today. 

He just did. Okay, so multiple man's out and the battlefield is a shallow crater. Everyone's scattered. 

The dupes are dead and everyone on X Factor is probably like, oh, shit, we got to get rid of this human bomb guy. So I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that I think the human bomb suit is made out of metal. Oh, no, actually, it's a material called fibrowax. It's like this non-metallic heat resistant material. It's like the only thing he could touch that doesn't explode because it's chemically inert. 

Fucking course it is. Well, then Iceman freezes human bomb. So now he's just frozen in this big ice cube and Siren lets out a sonic cry that shatters the ice cube and human bomb to pieces. So he's out of this match now. 

No more threat from him. Meanwhile, Havoc fires a plasma wave at Plastic Man that just melts him into a plastic puddle. Okay, well, Plastic Man, of course, is going to be super extra about it. He's going to transform to look like the Wicked Witch of the West. He's going to be like, I'm melting. 

I'm melting. And that's going to get the attention of Black Condor, who is just going to dive bomb Havoc and knock him onto the ground, which is going to give Plastic Man just enough time to spring into the air and turn into this small house that lands on Havoc crushing his body with only his legs poking out from beneath the foundation. So Havoc's dead. Why all the Wizard of Oz references? I don't know. Plastic Man just watched the movie. 

It was tough to mine. Okay, well, Polaris would be upset by Havoc's death. She's angry and she's so angry that she emits a electromagnetic wave that fries all the tech on the battlefield. So that would include Phantom Lady's tech, right? And whoever else uses tech. And at the very least, I think the EMP would make Ray puke his guts or something. 

Oh, right. Because he's sensitive to electromagnetic energy. Maybe, maybe. But yeah, Phantom Lady really is the only one on the team who uses tech. It would disrupt her Black Light technology that gives her her powers. So, you know, she's probably not invisible or intangible anymore. 

Good. Because that's when Beast leaps over to her and lands like this 25 hit combo. Just like a cartwheel kick followed by like a breakdance windmill move and like a capoeira butterfly kick thing. Phantom Lady is just getting hit like, uh, and then, you know, she's dead. Wow. 

Okay. Meanwhile, Polaris, she's suddenly going to get wrapped up in a giant Plastic Man burrito. Like literally it's a giant tortilla with goggles. And in her panic while trying to get out, she's going to quickly use up all of her air and suffocate. 

So, she's out. A burrito is a weird way to go out. But I'm going to say this is a frozen burrito because Iceman just froze Plastic Man and Plastic Man's out of the match because Ice is his weakness. But Iceman grows into a giant form like an Ice Giant about the same size as Uncle Sam. And he's going to grab this frozen Plastic Man burrito and just slap it across the face of Uncle Sam. So Plastic Man shatters and Uncle Sam just got walloped in the face. 

Okay. So you literally awoke a sleeping giant. Bad move because while Iceman is distracted by treading blows with Uncle Sam, Rey is going to just bombard Iceman from above with heat waves. That's going to melt him and evaporate him simultaneously so that Iceman becomes non-existent, basically. 

Okay. But Beast, after beating the crap out of Phantom Lady, he used his ingenuity to get her Black Light technology working again because he studied it and he's smart like that. And he's going to use her Black Light technology to emit a Black Light hologram that he's going to shoot at the Rey, which is going to encase the Rey in darkness and just erase him from this match. Interesting. Okay. 

Science. That was a good move, actually. But suddenly, Uncle Sam's giant top hat is going to slam down over Beast and when he lifts it back up, Beast is gone because he was banished to the Heartland dimension by Uncle Sam, who used his hat like a portal. What is he? Some kind of stage magician? 

Sure. Instead of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, he puts a beast into it. But then all of a sudden, Uncle Sam's head explodes. What? And Dollman crawls out of it. Why? Because Siren used her hypnotizing Siren song to lure Dollman into going into Uncle Sam's head and then blowing it up with a mental blast. 

Dang. Well, with the death of Uncle Sam, the leader of the team, Black Condor is going to fly literal around Siren, trapping her in a tornado that's also going to suck the air away from her. And that's going to prevent her from using her sound powers while also simultaneously knocking her unconscious from the lack of oxygen. So Siren's out. But then all of a sudden, Black Condor falls out of the sky because he got a throwing blade to the face. And yeah, he's high up in the air, but Longshot threw the blade and Longshot's aim is lucky like that, which means that the battle is down to Longshot and Dollman. 

Oh, shit. OK, Dollman, he's a master of stealth operations. So he's just going to use the environment and like all of the bodies strewn about to hide from Longshot. And he's going to wait until Longshot just stumbles right over him. And that's when Dollman is going to do a leaping uppercut right to Longshot's abdomen, just knocking the wind out of him. And with Longshot on his knees, trying to breathe, that's when Dollman is going to deliver a knockout punch right to Longshot's temple, knocking him out. So Dollman is like leaping around doing all this punching. 

Yeah. OK. Well, when Dollman first makes contact when he knocks the wind out of Longshot, that's when Longshot got a glimpse of Dollman's future using his psychometry. So Longshot knows that the second blow to his head is coming while he's kneeling. So instead of landing that shot, Dollman just jumps into a knife that Longshot threw and the match is over. Nah, because Dollman, he's really agile for his size. And so as the knife is coming at him, Dollman's just going to freeze it midair, jump onto the blade like he's surfing it, and he's going to ride it as he telekinetically hurls it right into Longshot's own neck. Yeah, he meant to do that, but he mistimed everything and then got cleaved into by the knife. Caused, of course, by Longshot's probability manipulation. That's dumb. That's also probably a good place to leave the match. Either Dollman uses Longshot's own blade against him or Dollman just has bad luck and ends up getting cleaved into. Let's go ahead and put the team members statistics into our simulator, run the sims, and come back with the winner. A.J .9K, hit it! 

Inputting data, running calculations, processing results, simulations complete. What'd you think of this episode? I thought it was pretty fun. 

I liked the rosters on both teams. They're definitely really cool characters. Like I mentioned earlier that Multiple Man had a cool power set, but so does like the human bomb and Phantom Lady and Rey and really all of the members of the Freedom Fighters. Yeah, it was really fun to pair those characters against X Factor. In order to maintain like, a semblance of fairness between these rosters, we like to pair up each of the characters. So in this instance, we went with Rey and Iceman, Plastic Man and Multiple Man, Dollman and Longshot, Black Condor and Siren, Phantom Lady and Polaris, Human Bomb and Havoc, and Uncle Sam and Beast. I thought those were pretty damn good pairings. 

Yeah, a few of those would have made fantastic individual dual episodes. Inputting the team statistics, it looks like the biggest differences between the teams were in the categories of durability and perception, with the Freedom Fighters being way more durable, like shockingly more durable than X Factor. As compared to some of DC's characters like Plastic Man, Uncle Sam, Human Bomb, who all have increased durability. Yeah, the Rey can regenerate and stuff like that. My most durable character was Iceman, who could also regenerate. But we had decent evasiveness like Polaris has her force fields, Longshot has his probability manipulation, and Iceman also has shielding. We did say that the X Factor team was much more versatile. 

A lot of the Freedom Fighter members are kind of one-trick ponies. I think another category that sticks out is range. A lot of the X Factor guys have some sort of ranged attack, except for Beast. Now, I definitely had the most powerful character on both teams in the Rey, surprisingly. No, he wasn't the most powerful. He actually tied with Polaris, who was also very powerful and the most powerful on X Factor, stat-wise. But X Factor had the weakest members out of both teams in Siren and Havoc, which is shocking to say because they're both pretty powerful characters. So I think that just goes to show that both teams have really solid rosters. 

So with all of this said, Joseph, which team do you think came out on top? I think it's going to be X Factor. And Instagram agrees with me, because 61% of our followers who took part in our poll said that X Factor would win. 

And I think the win rate's going to be right around there. I feel like anytime you pit an X-Men team against any other team, people are going to vote for the X-Men team. They're just, yeah, more popular. As they should. But are they right? Let's find out. AJ9K, the results please. Hey, you are, sir. 

The winner in the team duel matchup between Freedom Fighters and X Factor is... Freedom Fighters! Bish! How the hell did that happen? By how much? Freedom Fighters won 56.2% of the simulated matches compared to X Factor's 43.8. So it was close, but not that close, I guess. 

You thought X Factor was going to beat Freedom Fighters by 61%. Yeah. What? Why not? Because they're not that good, bro. I was initially thinking about having Quicksilver on this team duel, and I wonder if maybe I should have replaced Longshot or Siren with Quicksilver, who may have been more statistically impressive. 

I was thinking about that when you were listing all the different characters that were on the team, and I was like, oh, Quicksilver, why was he not on this roster? Not that it would have made a difference. It probably wouldn't have made a difference. 

I think I still would have lost, because even Quicksilver is not that much statistically better than Longshot or Siren or Havoc. Freedom Fighters, I guess, is just a team composed of cheater characters who are way too powerful for their own good. Just vague and powerful. That's all DC has. I mean, they didn't even start on DC. They were quality comics characters that DC acquired. Well, they acquired them because the characters were vague and super powerful. And winners, unlike your team, of losers. Now, actually, the losers are a DC team as well. Oh, yeah, that's fair. 

That's true. But that does it for this duel. AJ9K help close us out. Thanks for listening to Dynamic Joule. Visit the show's website at dynamicjoule.com, and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Joule podcast. You can support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamicjoule and joining a tier that works for you, or by rating and reviewing Dynamic Joule on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, or on our website. 

Don't forget to listen to the other shows in the Dynamite podcast network, including Max Destruction, Senjo World, and Console Combat. In our next episode, in lead up to the Superman film, we will be doing another duel episode this time between the Green Lantern Guy Gardner against Gord the God Butcher. That'll be a fun one. Can't wait for Guy to get his ass kicked. 

But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers, John Strausky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, Maggie Mathen-Geehan, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatn, Austin Wieselowski, AJ Dunkerly, Nick Abanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spees, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, Josh Leiner, Mike Williams, Oscar Galvez, and Paul Graves for helping make this podcast possible. We'll talk to you guys next week. I'm up and away, true believers. But the real question is who would win between X Factor and the Masked Singer. Am I right?