Gypsy vs Shadowkat

This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. 

Alright guys, the clock is ticking, the holidays are just weeks away and if you still haven't finished your shopping, now's the time to act. So head to OldGlory.com where you'll find officially licensed Marvel and DC shirts, hoodies and gear, perfect for every fan on your list. They ship fast but time's running out to get your gifts before the holidays hit. So go now and use the promo code Duel at checkout to save 15% off your entire order. 

That's D-U-E-L at OldGlory.com because even superheroes can't stop the holiday countdown. Hi, welcome to the Dynamic Duel 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 Johnny DC. 

And I'm his twin brother, Marvelous Joe. And there are only six episodes of this podcast left. We're counting down to our 10th anniversary and final episode and in this one we are doing a duel between the characters of Gypsy and Shadowkat. One was a member of the Justice League during the Detroit era and one is a mainstay of the X-Men. Yeah, it's probably a crime that we've waited this long to get to a Kitty Pryde duel. 

But here we are and I cannot wait for Shadowkat to beat the shit out of this DC character that I've never even heard of. You've never heard of Gypsy before? I have never heard of Gypsy and I don't care to either. Well, I hate to tell you this, but you're gonna hear about her in this episode. Yeah, be grudgingly so though. I'm gonna laugh when not only she beats Shadowkat, Kitty Pryde, but also becomes like your new favorite DC character. 

That's asking for a lot. We're gonna find out who's gonna win later on in this episode. Before that, we're gonna break down the comic book movie news from the past week of which there is a doozy, probably one of the biggest news items to come out in the 10 years of this podcast and that is Netflix is set to buy Warner Brothers in an $87 billion deal. 

Shut up. Shut up. 

I don't want to hear it. As always, guys, 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. Guys, our artificially intelligent duel simulator, AJ9K has a quick message for our listeners, so listen up. 

Hello. These are the final episodes of Dynamic Duel's weekly podcast, leading up to our grand finale on January 20th. We hope you've enjoyed the past 10 years of Marvel and DC duels and reviews, and we'd love for you to stick with us as we count down these last episodes. We're inviting you, the listener, to help us close out the show by visiting dynamicduel.com over the next few weeks and clicking the red microphone button in the bottom right corner to leave us a voicemail that will play during the final episode. Tell us what first got you into DC or Marvel, how long you've been listening, a favorite episode or moment or anything else you want to share about what the podcast has meant to you. Your messages will be aired and responded to on the January 20th finale. Again, head to dynamicduel.com and leave your final message. We would love to hear from you. Pip pip cheerio. 

Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who takes the time to call in and leave a voicemail. Guys, be sure to tune into the other shows and the DynaMic Podcast Network this week, including the Konsole Kombat podcast, where hosts John and Dean simulate battles between popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode, they found out who'd win between the Arbiter, Thel Vadam from Halo and Commander Shepard from Mass Effect. Over on the Max Destruction podcast, hosts Scotty and Gilly pay your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other. On Thursday, the Macho Twins are learning who would win in a fight between Major Chip Hazard from small soldiers and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. And on the Senjoh World podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. In his next episode, Zac is revealing who would win between Shigio Kageyama, aka Mob from Mob Psycho 100 and Tatsumaki, the tornado of terror from One Punch Man. 

Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show notes to listen to all of the shows in the DynaMic 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 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 review episode of Dynamic Duel did you get the most out of? 

And that was coming off of the announcement that we had gotten through all the reviews that we were going to before the show's finale, at which point we're changing from a weekly podcast. We got three answers. So let's go ahead and run down our two honorable mentions as well as the No Prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes to CJ Craft, who said, Hey guys, it's CJ Craft. 

And I think my favorite review you guys have done has been Werewolf by Night. I remember watching it and thinking I can't wait to see what the Dynamic Dual guys have to say about this. And you guys for the most part felt the same way I did about it. Plus, it was just overall a good episode. So it's going to suck to see you guys go, but I'll be appreciative for any episodes we do again. 

Yeah, Werewolf by Night was interesting to review largely because it's one of the more unique pieces of media that Marvel Studios have put out. You know, it was a special presentation around Halloween a couple years ago. And it's always, I think, just more fun to review things that are unique and special. Yeah, honestly, I'm surprised Marvel hasn't done more with not only those characters, but that format, the short film format. I feel like they should be releasing a new special presentation at least twice a year, at least once a year. I would settle for that. 

I think you're right, though. They seem easier to produce. They're a great way to explore unexplored areas of the Marvel universe. And it's a great way to get creative and interesting with the continuity. I can't wait to see Werewolf by Night and Man Things show up again and Elsa Bloodstone and another piece of media. Hopefully they like show up in a midnight sun's movie or something like that. 

But who knows when that'll happen. Overall, I really loved that special presentation and I'm glad CJ Craft that you enjoyed what we said about it. And I'm glad that you felt the same way. Thanks CJ Craft. Our next honorable mention goes to Alex Albro, who said, OK, hear me out. 

The Batman and Robin review. For one, this is when the audio no prize answers were first announced. So all of us calling in get something out of this one. But I love this movie as a kid and had no idea it had any issues. I'd watch it multiple times a week and probably burned out the VHS. Robin's costume was sick. The black and silver costumes were sick. George Clooney is Batman for me. I guess my mid 20s, I can see your points on what's bad, but nostalgia hits hard. This is the best Batman movie in the first DC movie I've seen. 

All right, it looks like you got cut off there and I'm not going to lie. This was the last review I thought anyone would say was their favorite. We just trashed the film. Basically, I hadn't seen it in maybe decades prior, I think, before reviewing it. And well, it may have some nostalgic appeal. There's just way too many cod pieces. Yeah, Jonathan has a threshold for how many cod pieces he'll allow in a movie. I do. Yeah, I remember actually getting flack from a few listeners that we even reviewed Batman and Robin because they're like, we all know this movie sucks. 

Why are you wasting your time? And that was the first time I think I mentioned to listeners that the reason that Dynamic Duel started, its primary purpose was to review all the Marvel and DC films that had come out. And the whole dual speculation thing kind of came across as an afterthought of that, because we would always argue about the battles. And then we were like, oh, we could actually use math to kind of figure this out. But yeah, the goal was to review these films, whether they were good or bad. 

We were going to talk about them. And I'm surprised that considering when the movie came out and how old we were that we don't actually have nostalgic value for Batman and Robin, it was kind of like we just recognized it as pretty damn bad, even as children. Well, it wasn't the first Batman movie we saw. We grew up with the 89 Batman film on VHS. 

So comparing it to not only that, but also Batman Returns and Batman Forever. It was easy to see that this was just so different and just weird that. Yeah, it was it was easy to not appreciate it. 

I think for people our age. Yeah, it was when the critic version of Jonathan first manifested at 11 years old. Another cod piece, one star. Thanks for the answer, Alex. But the winner of this week's No Prize is Kev, who I think might be Kevin Odilon, a longtime listener, but I'm not quite sure. I could be wrong. But he said, hey, what's up, guys? 

This is Kev. The review that I enjoyed the most from you all was the Infinity War review. That's actually how I found you guys. I was looking for a review on a movie and I found you out. And that led me to listen to more of your backlog. 

And yeah. Yeah, I think Infinity War and Endgame really expanded the fan base a lot. It was just such a great period of excitement to be a Marvel Studios fan around that time that people were just craving that content. I think we saw pretty good growth in our listenership when those two films came out because they were fucking fantastic movies. We gave both of them five stars and it was a lot of fun to just basically just gush all over the movie in our review of it. Ew, you liked the movies, too. I distinctly remember walking out of the theater and like going up to Jonathan and being like, I think that's our first five star review. 

And he was like, damn it, you're right. I don't think it was our first five star review, but I do remember being like, yeah, this is like the Empire Strikes Back of superhero films. We have to give it five stars. Was the Dark Knight our first five star review? Yeah, I think so. 

That sounds about right. I'm not surprised that Infinity War or Endgame was an answer for this week's question of the week. I am surprised that no one called in with the Joker review, though, because if I'm not mistaken, that is our most listened to episode of all time. Surprisingly, I think it's a toss up between our Joker review and our Avengers Endgame review, but that's only for Apple podcasts. Honestly, I think your Joker review just confused a lot of people because everybody was like, oh, this movie is amazing. 

And you came out like, oh, this movie made me uncomfortable. It did. It did. 

How could it not? That was a fun one, though. That was a fun episode for sure. So congrats to Kev for winning this week's snow prize. In fact, that was the very last snow prize that we'll be handing out because for our last few episodes, we're really hoping that you guys call in and give us a farewell message that will air on our final episode. Just let us know how long you've been listening. 

You know, if you have a favorite episode or moment from the show or anything else that you want to share about dynamic duel and what it meant to you. And unlike the question of the week answers, we're not giving you 30 seconds to do it. We're giving you two whole minutes. And don't forget to leave your name when you call in by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen at dynamicduel.com. That'll prompt you to leave us a voicemail. 

Again, your message could be up to two minutes long, and we will play your voicemail on our final episode. But now that that's done on to the news. OK, last week, Netflix announced its intention to acquire Warner Brothers in a deal that was valued at approximately eighty seven billion dollars, making it the largest studio acquisition of all time. Like Disney didn't pay that much for Fox. 

So that's kind of cool in a way. Netflix, of course, bid out Comcast and Paramount, who had also expressed interest in acquiring Warner Brothers, but they just couldn't match the number that Netflix did. The deal, of course, is not finalized, and it's going to require at least a year of not only regulatory review, but also the division of Warner Brothers Studios from discoveries, televised content. But basically, what Netflix wants to do is absorb Warner Brothers film and television library, their major franchises and production capabilities into its streaming ecosystem. Early reporting is indicating that Netflix is primarily interested, of course, in Warner Brothers IP assets and content pipeline, rather than its physical operations, including DC Comics and its publishing divisions or ancillary business units. I don't think there's any doubt as to how that would radically reshape Hollywood's and the comic industry's landscape, because Netflix will be consolidating one of the oldest studios under what is currently the world's dominant streaming platform, which, of course, will raise significant questions about the future of theatrical releases, legacy media operations and divisions like DC Comics and Warner Brothers Games. Now, I think it's been reported recently that Netflix is, in fact, interested in including Warner Brothers Games as part of its acquisitions. But there's been little to no word about DC Comics. 

And I'm not going to lie, it has me really freaked out and pretty depressed. It's a fortunate timing that we're ending this podcast in a matter of weeks, because it seems like this is the end of DC Comics in general. Like Marvel just won, right, Jonathan? 

I mean, it kind of feels that way. I'm not going to lie, because Netflix only wants the DC intellectual property. It's characters and its stories, not the comics themselves, not the creators and not the legacy. Because Netflix is a industry disruptor, who's openly signaled that they don't want the whole Warner Brothers machine, including the loss making divisions that don't fit their business model and would be left on the transactional floor. Like Paramount was the only company that was actually interested in acquiring all of Warner Brothers assets. Can you explain what Netflix's business model is as you understand it and why that would not include DC Comics? So Netflix is a content algorithm, not a creative studio. And print comics wouldn't really survive in that business model. 

You know where Hollywood has artistic gatekeeping? Netflix just dumps content to keep subscribers engaged. Things like quality, tradition and legacy don't matter when the only metric is subscriber retention. So monthly comics, a niche, expensive medium would have no place in that system. 

Right. There's no way to put physical print comic books onto the Netflix digital platform. I guess there is in the form of digital comic books, but it's not clear at this time as to whether or not Netflix would be interested in actually putting digital comics on their streamer. 

They might. And that's the only way I think DC Comics survives in the medium of comics, whether that's digital or print. I could totally see Netflix wanting to put new kinds of digital content on their platform just to keep people subscribed or maybe even acquire subscribers at a higher rate if they're offering things like books or podcasts, maybe. But comic books are such a small industry like DC Comics is only a tiny fraction of Warner Brothers revenue. It may even be a money loser if you look at the purchasing transfer comics within the past 20, 30 years. And Netflix is not going to subsidize a dying medium. Warner Brothers kept comics alive to cultivate IP, but Netflix doesn't really need that. They have cheaper R &D through algorithmic data. And now AI comics have shrinking readership, shrinking orders, high costs. And I'm pretty sure Netflix's lawyers and accountants when they're finalizing this deal are just going to elect that and be like, absolutely not. 

That's my theory. In what scenarios do you see DC Comic Book surviving as a print medium if this deal goes through? I think superheroes like Batman and Superman will thrive in streaming and animation. But like paper comics, they're probably gone. Netflix, I imagine, would have no motive to maintain physical publishing. And digital only AI assisted comics are going to be far cheaper and easier to produce. So I think the DC stories will continue, but printed DC Comics likely won't. 

Unless, of course, Netflix does what they currently do with Miller World Comics, which they currently own, and that's license those characters to currently Dark Horse Comics. Previously, it was Image. That's right. Netflix licenses the Miller World Comic Books to Dark Horse, who then produces and then publishes those comic books. 

Right. But it's not exactly like Miller World is thriving under Netflix. Like Mark Miller still has to go to Kickstarter to get his comics funded. And the projects that actually turned into shows for Netflix, like Jupiter's Legacy, like Super Crooks, they only lasted one season. So that's terrifying. 

What do you think is the likelihood that Netflix will actually license the DC characters to Marvel publishing? Oh, fuck off. Fuck you. 

Who knows? That may be what they end up doing, which would freaking kill me. And I think all DC fans, who knows, maybe this means that these crossover comics that we've been getting between both publishers would be a more regular occurrence. But there's no denying at that point that Marvel will have, indeed, won the comic book wars. And you have to admit that I will admit nothing until the steal goes through and we see what happens. Because right now this is still a long way off and it may not even go through. There is a lot of politicians, a lot of industry people who are disparaging this acquisition. 

So that's good. I hope it doesn't go through. I was much more hoping that Comcast or Paramount would get Warner Brothers because legacy means nothing to Netflix. They don't care about fans. 

They care about subscribers. And I think even if you are a fan of DC Comics with high hopes for printed comics to continue, that sentiment is not going to save DC Comics. We've seen beloved institutions collapse like Wizard Magazine, newspapers. Marvel Comics almost died before being acquired by Disney. And believing DC Comics will survive forever ignores business reality. Netflix is ruthless and unsentimental and laser focused on what drives subscriptions. Print Comics are not a part of that future. 

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid I'm not. Print comics notwithstanding, I guess there still is potential for Netflix to produce some amazing television and film based off of the DC intellectual property. Like we've seen them produce Sandman, which you've rated five stars. Very true. 

Very true. It may just be that the primary medium for these characters is no longer comics, but their stories are told through television series or films, which would be pretty cool. I will always miss the comics if, in fact, they do go away. But what's interesting to me, though, is that Netflix really doesn't have experience with a cinematic universe. You know, they have seasons of television. Like I'm not familiar with any spinoff shows from Netflix. 

I could be wrong. Do you think James Gunn will want to work for Netflix? He may get a few projects funded through them. But ultimately, I know a lot of creators have come out against Netflix because they don't get paid residuals, because ultimately that content ends up on a streaming platform forever with little to no viewership data, or at least a data that's only proprietary to Netflix. 

A lot of people don't get to see that. So I know a lot of guilds will probably be upset by that, and they'll probably fight against this. If this deal does not go through, I'm really hoping that either Paramount or Universal follow up with another bid. 

But that may not happen because the rumors are currently that Paramount is interested in now acquiring Universal, so they'll have no need for Warner Brothers. How did we get here, man? How did DC Comics get here? 

Like, what has it been like to be a DC fan throughout the course of these past 10 years? Man, so when this podcast first started, Time owned Warner Brothers, like Time Magazine, the publishing division. So they actually cared about creating print published works like DC Comics. When AT &T bought them in order to promote their internet service, they really didn't know what they were getting into. And that showed with all of the mistakes that they made in handling the Hollywood studio. They sort of offloaded it onto David Zaslav, who promised that he could flip the studio. And I was hoping it was going to be to Universal because he used to work for them. And now that it's going to be Netflix, it just feels like so many things are going to change. And I hate change. 

This sucks. Ultimately, I blame the tech industry because that's what I see Netflix ultimately as. It's a tech giant in the same way that Amazon and Apple are. And they're also getting into the Hollywood game. It's just a weird time for movies, for sure. 

And since Warner Brothers owns DC Comics in the same way that Disney owns Marvel Comics, it's affecting that industry as well, which damn it. Jonathan, what do you say to people that think you're being doom and gloom about this? Are they right? Are you a little bit biased here? 

Or are you being a realist? I've always been biased for DC. I mean, it's not like I want this to happen. It's just somewhat predictable, knowing Netflix. Now, it could be surprised. Netflix's acquisition of Warner Brothers may not be the death knell of DC Comics. I actually hope it isn't, but only time will tell. 

And I don't think Netflix has really given us any reason to not be skeptical about what this acquisition means for the publisher. Well, we'll see how your conjecture pans out in, you know, a couple of years time. We'll report back at that time. No, we won't. This podcast will be over, but we'll see how it goes. I wish this happened after the podcast was over. 

So you wouldn't have to talk about it at all. Yeah, this sucks. This sucks big time. 

It literally keeps me up at night. Like we said earlier, there's no question of the week for this news item. Thank goodness. So let's go ahead and move on to the main event. We'll find out who is going to win between the Justice League, Detroit member Gypsy and the X-Men member Shadowkat. All right, Gypsy versus Shadowkat. These are two young female characters that are a part of larger teams. Gypsy being a part of the Justice League, Detroit era and Shadowkat Kitty Pryde being a part of the X-Men. The characters have similar power sets in that they're all about evasion, I guess you could say. 

Yeah, Shadowkat can render herself intangible in order to phase through solid matter, making her extremely difficult to hit. And Gypsy creates mental illusions or something like that. Well, specifically to turn herself invisible. She creates illusions that surround her so that she can't be seen by human senses, by electronics, by telepaths, anybody. 

What kind of offensive ability is that? Does she create these mental illusions in the same way that like Mastermind does in the X-Men books? Well, I would say they're as large scale as Masterminds because Masterminds could immerse someone completely in an illusion. Whereas Gypsy really just covers herself, though later on in the comics she was able to envelop like a vehicle that she was in as well or people surrounding her. So how is being really good at hide and seek a superpower? I feel like I could not fight crime with that ability. Well, you're going to learn later on what I break down the character just exactly how she uses this ability offensively. 

Yeah, I'm curious. I think a lot more people are familiar with Kitty Pryde, Shadowkat. She was in the first three X-Men films as well as X-Men Days of Future Past. She was played by Elliot Page for X-Men 3 and also in Days of Future Past. And Gypsy has been in nothing. I don't even think she's been in any of the cartoons. 

No, she's been in the cartoons and she was also a love interest of sorts for Cisco Ramon vibe in the Flash television series. You don't know shit. Apparently I don't. 

Well, at least you admit it. Now, to explain the methodology behind our duels, let's go to our sentient dual simulator, Alfred Jarvis 9000. AJ9K tell our listeners how you go about determining a winner in our dual matchups. 

Yes, of course, sir. The way I determine a winner between the contestants is by running one thousand Monte Carlo simulations using the characters 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 one thousand simulations provide a percentage of wins for each character. The contestant with the higher percentage is declared the victor as they have a higher probability to win any given battle. In an equitable pairing, neither character should win 100 percent 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 a fan vote is tabulated for determination of the winner. 

Thanks, AJ9K. Before we run the simulations, though, we like to break down each character's histories and abilities before improvising a scenario on how we imagine one of the one thousand simulations would play out beat for beat. And it's my turn to go first with the DC characters backstory. 

So let me tell you all about Gypsy. Cynthia Cindy Reynolds was born to Edward and June Reynolds in a quiet Midwestern suburb. For several years, her family life was stable, though after her younger brother was born, arguments arose between her parents escalating into a pattern of shouting, resentment, neglect, and eventually physical abuse against Cindy. During this period of stress, her metahuman abilities surfaced, telepathically rooted illusions that bent perception, allowing her to blend perfectly into her surroundings, shift her appearance or obscure her presence entirely. By age 14, Cindy decided to run away, buying a one-way ticket to Detroit. Alone in the inner city, Cindy used her powers for basic survival, slipping unseen through alleyways and storefronts, hiding from threats and stealing food when necessary. Word spread of a barefoot Bohemian girl who could vanish into the walls, and Cindy gradually adopted the street identity of Gypsy. 

Cameron Street became her informal territory, where she learned to refine her abilities through constant exposure to danger and remained hidden from both criminals and authorities. When the Justice League relocated to Detroit following the dissolution of the prior team, Gypsy infiltrated their new headquarters repeatedly, testing its defenses and slipping past visual detection, electronic systems, and even Martian Manhunter's telepathy. Her existence became undeniable only when she intervened during the league's confrontation with the Obermaster and his cadre. With her help, Obermaster was defeated, prompting the league to offer her official membership. You can learn more about the Justice League in our Justice League vs. Avengers Team Duel episode. Gypsy trained alongside Steel, Vibe, Vixen, Zatanna, and Martian Manhunter as part of the Detroit League's roster. 

She refined her agility, acrobatics, and combat skills, and grew more confident in using her illusion casting offensively. During a wilderness retreat intended to build teamwork, the royal flesh gang ambushed the league. While hiding, Gypsy was able to use her telepathy to project an astral form to track down the league. Before disappearing, emotionally devastated, Gypsy attempted reconciliation with her family. Eventually, the telepathed Disparo, who was hunting Justice League members, located Gypsy and murdered her parents. He would have killed her as well, if not for the intervention of Martian Manhunter, who arrived in time to drive Disparo off. 

You can learn more about Disparo and Martian Manhunter in their duels against the high evolutionary and vision, respectively. With her family gone, Gypsy accepted Boostergold's recruitment into the conglomerate, a corporate sponsored hero team. Though she contributed significantly to their missions, the emotional aftermath of her parents' deaths eventually pushed her to leave the group. Gypsy later joined the Justice League Task Force, where she developed a close partnership with Martian Manhunter. They worked together on missions requiring infiltration, psychological disruption, or precision stealth. 

Early in her Task Force career, Gypsy was nearly forced into combat with Lady Shiva during a tense operation, but avoided the confrontation. On another mission, she suffered catastrophic injuries and was believed dead, though Martian Manhunter invoked Khran Mir. The Martian got a fire and a transformation, successfully restoring Gypsy to life. As the Task Force restructured, Gypsy remained a central member, undertaking covert operations across multiple countries, until the team eventually disbanded. Gypsy continued working intermittently with Martian Manhunter and assisted the Justice League during major supernatural or large-scale threats, even participating in operations supporting Wonder Woman in battles against Cersei and her forces. After being recruited by Barbara Gordon, Gypsy next joined the Birds of Prey, which you can learn more about in their duel against A-Force. Oracle relied on her as an invisible operative capable of infiltrating spaces unseen by cameras, guards, or enhanced senses. Gypsy's powers had grown to allow her to extend illusions across wide areas, cloaking entire rooms, vehicles, or strike teams. 

During this period, she partnered with Vixen to resolve a long-running case involving Amos Fortune and helped rescue Stargirl when Fortune targeted Justice Society members. Gypsy was later abducted by the Clock King and forced to fight in the Dark Side Club's Gladiator Arena, where she was defeated early in the tournament, be freed once the arena was later dismantled. In post-Flashpoint continuity, a new Gypsy emerged, named Cynthia Mordeth, the daughter of Quell Mordeth, who ruled an extra-dimensional realm inhabited by nomadic travelers who moved between dimensions and absorbed multiversal energy. As Quell Mordeth's heir, Cynthia possessed innate illusion-casting powers, augmented by her ability to store and channel dimensional energy. 

Rejecting her father's oppressive role, Cynthia attempted to flee her native dimension, but became separated from her traveling family during a transit jump. She emerged alone on Earth, where Argus agents intercepted her. Mistaking her arrival for a precursor to invasion, they imprisoned her in a secure vault. 

She remained confined until rupture. Another traveler from her dimension and the brother of Cisco Ramone arrived on Earth. His incursion broke her containment, drawing Cynthia into conflict with her father's forces, operating covertly across dimensions. 

You can learn more about Cisco in our Vibe vs Miss America dual episode. Because this new Gypsy's powers incorporated both magical and extra-dimensional aspects, she could absorb and redirect dimensional energy to enhance her abilities or shield herself. She participated in several encounters involving Argus, rupture, and breaches between dimensions tied to her father's influence. When the defeat of the multiversal threat from the Batman who laughs led to the restructuring of the multiverse, the original Gypsy, Cindy Reynolds, was restored to continuity. 

And that's her history so far. Powers-wise, Gypsy casts illusions that bend perception, allowing her to render herself invisible against shifting backgrounds or project fear-based hallucinations into opponents' minds. She can disguise herself as individuals of similar size and can extend her cloaking to nearby allies, objects, or even moving vehicles. She possesses limited precognition and can project an astral form to observe from afar, and is a trained combatant, acrobat, and stealth operative. 

That's Gypsy. Okay, so she's less offensive and more of like a spy. She's like the ultimate spy. 

Yeah, you could say that. There was a time when she was a member of Justice League Task Force, where she wore like Romani armor and carried a scimitar, but it was very short-lived. Actually, there was a time when Shadowkat carried a Katana sword because she's trained in Kenjutsu. Or I guess it's not a Katana because that was a samurai weapon. 

It was like a ninjato or something. Interesting. Okay. Depending on how offensive Gypsy was, I was thinking about bringing Lockheed into this match largely because he almost always accompanies Kitty Pride. I'm sorry, did you let me have Skeets in the booster gold duel? I mean, there's nothing that Skeets could do that booster gold couldn't. Okay, if you're including Lockheed, how are we going to account for him in the stats though? 

By giving Kitty Pride an extra range boost. Okay. Yeah. Fuck off. 

You don't get him. Fine. All right, all right. But if I lose, I'm blaming you. I'm totally okay with that. 

Blame me for all of your losses. You know, Kitty Pride's gonna be able to hold her own though. Let me go ahead and get into her backstory. Catherine Kitty Pride was born in Deerfield, Illinois, where at age 13, her emerging mutant power caused intense headaches. 

However, she developed the ability to become intangible and pass through solid matter called phasing. Both Professor Charles Xavier and Emma Frost sought to recruit her to their respective schools. Though their meeting was cut short when Frost's armored mercenaries attacked, forcing Kitty to evade capture and contact the X-Men. Phoenix then altered Kitty's parents' memories so they would allow her to enroll at Xavier school. Kitty became the youngest X-Men and took the code name Sprite, forming close ties with Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus, while also befriending Magic. 

You can learn more about the X-Men in their duel against the Titans. Early in Kitty's time with the X-Men, her older self from an alternate future briefly possessed her body to prevent the assassination of an anti-muteant politician named Senator Robert Kelly, whose death would have led to a post-apocalyptic timeline called the Days of Future Past. Kitty went on to defeat Ingari demons, get abducted by the mutant Caliban, and narrowly survive a confrontation with Magneto that forced him to reconsider his increasingly violent methods. Kitty's parents later transferred her to Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy, where she became embroiled in Emma's attempt to infiltrate the X-Men before ultimately returning to Xavier school. 

You can learn more about Emma Frost in our Poison Ivy vs White Queen duel episode. During the X-Men's imprisonment by the parasitic alien race known as the Brood, Kitty encountered the small alien dragon Lockheed who followed her to Earth and became her loyal companion. Xavier attempted to place Kitty with the new mutants team, but after she fought off an alien threat with Lockheed's help, he reinstated her as an X-Man. 

You can learn more about the new mutants in their duel against the Legion of Superheroes. Kitty and Colossus developed a tentative romance, but their relationship ended when Colossus admitted he had fallen in love with another woman. Kitty then found comfort in her friendship with Cypher, though they never pursued a relationship. Visiting her father in Japan led to Kitty's capture by Ogun, who is Wolverine's former martial arts master and whose psychic conditioning forced her to believe she was his ninja apprentice. After Wolverine helped her break Ogun's influence through harsh training, Kitty defeated Ogan alongside Wolverine and returned to the X-Men, adopting the new code name Shadowkat. During the Marauder's massacre of a group of underground mutants known as Morlocks, Kitty was struck by an energy weapon that left her unable to regain full solidity. A joint effort by the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom restored Kitty to stability, though she needed concentration to remain tangible. While recovering, she and Nightcrawler saw televised footage of the X-Men apparently sacrificing themselves in a battle with the demon known as the adversary, prompting Kitty and Nightcrawler to help form the team Excalibur in London alongside Captain Britain. 

You can learn more about Captain Britain in his duel against Uncle Sam. With Excalibur, Kitty fought Mojo's war wolves, helped rescue Rachel Summers, and entered a relationship with her teammate Pete Wisdom. Kitty was later recruited by the International Intelligence Organization's Shield to repair the Helicarrier's malfunctioning computers. There, she discovered that Ogun's spirit had infiltrated the system, which she purged with Wolverine's help. Tensions eventually ended her relationship with Pete Wisdom, and after Excalibur disbanded, Kitty returned to the X-Men, who had returned. A visit to the mutant nation of Genotian profoundly affected Kitty, and after Colossus seemingly died curing the Legacy Virus, she saw a normal life studying at the University of Chicago. She became involved in conflicts with anti-mutant groups such as Purity, and helped repel a new wave of sentinels led by Nimrod, whom you can learn more about in our Amazo vs. Bastion duel. Kitty later joined Storm's Extreme X-Men squad, and confronted threats including William Striker and Lord Imperial, before accepting Cyclops's invitation to rejoin the main X-Men team at the Xavier Institute despite her uneasiness toward Emerfrost. On one of her first missions back, Kitty discovered that Colossus was alive, having been experimented on after his apparent death by an alien from Breakworld. 

The two reconciled and resumed their relationship. Later, Professor X's twin Cassandra Nova manipulated Kitty's mind, making her believe she had a child who had been taken captive, causing Kitty to free Cassandra Nova's consciousness from imprisonment. Afterward, the X-Men were abducted by the extraterrestrial intelligence agency, Sword, and they were taken to Breakworld. There, Kitty phased into a massive bullet that was fired at Earth, and unable to escape it, she phased the whole bullet through the planet, saving Earth, but remained stuck inside it as it hurtled through space. Magneto later tracked and redirected the bullet, pulling Kitty safely back to Earth, though she remained stuck in an intangible, speechless state. She was later fully restored after a Breakworld alien ritual revived her and stabilized her powers. Kitty then accompanied Colossus and Magic to the Crimson Cosmos, where Colossus became Cyttorak's new juggernaut, prompting Kitty to end their rekindled relationship. 

You can learn more about this in our Metal Man vs Colossus Duel. When Wolverine founded a new mutant school in opposition to Cyclops's militarization of the X-Men, Kitty joined him as Headmistress. There, she endured a brood infestation that masqueraded as a sudden pregnancy, but she was able to remove the alien parasite. She later mentored the time-displaced original X-Men brought to the present by Beast, but disagreements over how the teenagers should be handled led Kitty to leave Wolverine school and join Cyclops's Renegade team, where she worked closely with the young Jean Grey. During Jean's kidnapping by the Shiar Alien race, Kitty collaborated with the Guardians of the Galaxy, beginning a romance with Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord. Kitty traveled to space and rescued Quill from the Slaughter Lords, helping steal a cosmic artifact known as the Black Vortex. After the artifact changed hands repeatedly, Kitty submitted to its power so she could phase the entire planet's Spartax and its population from captivity. Star-Lord proposed to Kitty afterward, and she accepted. As Quill became the King of Spartax, Kitty struggled with his growing responsibilities and eventually took on the mantle of Star-Lord herself. Their relationship deteriorated until both were captured by the Collector and forced to confront their unresolved conflict, reconciling before returning to the Guardians. Kitty later fought the Kree accuser Hala, liberated prisoners on a Badoon world, and assisted Earth's heroes during a conflict between Iron Man and Captain Marvel, before choosing to separate from Quill and leave the Guardians of the Galaxy. 

You can learn more about that team in their duel against Doom Patrol. Back on Earth, Kitty settled briefly in Chicago before Storm convinced her to rejoin the X-Men as their leader. She moved the mansion to Central Park, oversaw a restructured team, and rekindled her relationship with Colossus, ultimately proposing to him. However, Kitty left Colossus at the altar, recognizing their volatile history was not a foundation for marriage. 

When the mutant nation of Krakoa formed, Kitty discovered she alone could not use its organic gateways. Displaced from mutant society, she adopted the name Kate and accepted Emma Frost's offer to serve as the Red Queen of the Hellfire Trading Company, taking to the high seas and leading the Marauders to liberate mutants worldwide. Sebastian Shaw, former leader of the Hellfire Club, was threatened by Kate's influence and arranged to have her drowned. Resurrection through Kakao proved unusually difficult in Kate's case, but with Emma's intervention, she returned, helped defeat and politically neutralize Shaw, and continued defending mutants. 

You can learn more about Sebastian Shaw in his duel against Vandal Savage. During a catastrophic attack on Krakoa, the anti-mutant organization Orchis sabotaged the island's systems and forced Professor Xavier to evacuate mutants through the Krakoa gateways, only for the population to vanish to a pocket reality due to Orchis' interference. Kate managed to avoid capture and rebranded herself as Shadowkat, Cat with a K. She conducted lethal covert operations against Orckis, later joining a small strike team that continued resisting until Orchis' eventual defeat. 

With the conflict over, she returned to Chicago, where a young mutant inspired her to re-embrace her cheerful nature and go back to her nickname Kitty instead of Kate. Powers-wise, Shadowkat, with a K, has the ability to phase through matter by rendering herself or any part of herself intangible. She can extend this intangibility to anyone or anything in her immediate proximity, allowing whatever she touches to phase as well. While phased inside solid matter, she is decoupled from gravity and inertia, allowing her to sink or rise through the matter freely. A limitation on her intangibility is that it is harder for her to phase through extremely dense matter, for example, phasing through adamantium makes her sick. She is also unable to phase through mystical energies or electromagnetic energy such as radiation, electricity, or microwaves. However, this allows her to disrupt electronic devices while phasing through them, as well as a person's nervous system, causing anything from shock to unconsciousness in her enemies. She can also partially phase, becoming just dense enough to affect a person's internal states. She can also phase out of sync with Earth's rotation, allowing her to travel due west at a rate of approximately 1000 miles per hour at the equator, down to around 500 miles per hour in the mainland United States. While tangible, her mind is immune to telepathy. She is also an expert in computer science and a Wait, she is immune to telepathy? 

When intangible, yes. I don't know how that is going to affect this particular battle, but I guess we will play it out and see how that goes. Well, Gypsy is a telepath, but her power affects all senses, not just telepathic ones. I mean, she simulates senses through the person's brain through telepathy, how I figure it works. I don't know how it works. I don't think it's that though. Okay, okay. Let's find out. 

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That's D U E L at oldglory.com, because even superheroes can't stop the holiday countdown. Well, now that we've got their histories and abilities out of the way, let's speculate on how one of the 1000 simulated matches will go. The winner is determined by simulations, not this speculation, but it's fun to imagine how this fight could play out. AJ9K, what are the rules of speculation? 

Well, I should say there are no rules other than the characters have no prior knowledge of the other going into the fight. All they are aware of starting out is that the other character is a threat that needs to be eliminated. For the speculation, the contestants 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 contestants must earn victory on their own merit. 

Alright, then let's get into it. Gypsy and Shadowkat meet on the battlefield. Who goes first? I say Shadowkat is gonna start first by phasing into the ground beneath her, so she's intangible. That means Gypsy can't see her and she can't also psychically influence her, so Gypsy can't do jack shit. Okay, well, what are Shadowkat's senses like underground? Uh, well, her vision is obscured and her hearing would be dulled, and her smell would also be dulled, and like she has to hold her breath while phased through solid matter because there's no oxygen there, and that limits the time that she can spend within solid matter. So not great. 

We'll say not great. Alright, I guess I'll just fucking wait for her to come back up to the surface then, because when she does, she's not gonna see Gypsy anywhere, because Gypsy goes invisible. Well, uh, like assuming Gypsy didn't move after Shadowkat went underground, Shadowkat leaps from out of the ground with a ninja kick that busts Gypsy right in the nose, blurring her vision. 

Ah, damn, sorry. Gypsy did in fact move because she's not an idiot, so Shadowkat literally kicks air and, you know, she awkwardly lands. That's when her legs are gonna get swept out from under her by Gypsy, still invisible, and Shadowkat is gonna land on her head, knocking her out. Sorry to tell you, only the soles of Shadowkat's feet were tangible as she landed. The rest of her was intangible, so when Gypsy tries to sweep the leg, she just gets nothing but air. And after that big ol' whiff, Shadowkat's able to detect Gypsy's invisible leg going through her, and therefore she's able to determine her location. So using that, Shadowkat leaps through Gypsy's body, disrupting the electrical signals in her nervous system, and causing her to become visible, and also barf her brains out. And like when Gypsy's bent over, puking, Shadowkat just punts her right in the throat. 

Dang. Okay, well that will cause puke to spray all over Shadowkat as Gypsy gets knocked away by the kick. No, no, no, the puke just goes right through Shadowkat, okay? And since Gypsy's still visible, Shadowkat's gonna follow up with this front flip drop heel kick. It's called a rolling thunder kick, and that's just gonna knock Gypsy the fuck out. 

Like, she's gonna be unconscious after a kick like that. Except that the Gypsy that Shadowkat attacked was an illusion. The real Gypsy, you know, got her bearings and rolled away to recover while leaving a decoy projection of herself, so Shadowkat just lands on the ground really hard. And since her body was fully tangible to lend weight to her attack, Shadowkat receives the full brunt of Gypsy's own running drop kick right as she lands. 

No, that foot would just go right through Shadowkat. Fuck you. No, it doesn't. Okay, let's say Gypsy does land a kick on Shadowkat. 

Big deal, it's not gonna happen again. Like, Gypsy would probably try to follow up with another hit, and that one would go right through Shadowkat. So Gypsy would be thrown off balance, and that would leave her open for Shadowkat to again, except this time she takes one of Gypsy's eyeballs with her, just phases it right out of her skull. Actually, before she could do that, Shadowkat is gonna stop short when she sees that Gypsy suddenly is like a fucking vampire zombie swamp monster, which is an illusion, of course, but Shadowkat's gonna get so freaked out by this, so shocked that she's gonna fault her and become tangible, giving Gypsy just enough time to do like a palm strike right to Shadowkat's solar plexus. Except the palm goes right through Shadowkat. You bitch. 

Okay, fine. Gypsy knocks the wind out of Shadowkat, so Shadowkat's gonna fall over, but she's just gonna fall into the ground again to recover. And then she's gonna launch out of the ground again with an uppercut that phases Gypsy's heart right out of her chest. Fatality. 

Match over, Shadowkat wins. No, no, no, because Gypsy has limited precognition. That actually helps her perfect her illusion casting ability in like chaotic environments. So Gypsy saw this coming, and she's just gonna step out of the way, grab Shadowkat's tangible fist, and just flip her back onto the ground in this really powerful slam, when strong enough that it straight up knocks Shadowkat out, giving Gypsy the win. Now, Shadowkat just phases into the ground again. 

I will cut you. This, this is exactly why we waited so long to do a kitty pride duel. Well, maybe instead of phasing into the ground, all of a sudden Shadowkat phases out of sync with the earth, so that all of a sudden Gypsy gets flung at like 500 miles per hour due west alongside kitty pride, and like just gets fucking thrown that way. Did you not hear me say she has precognition? I'm pretty sure I said that. That's fair. We could go ahead and leave the duel there. Either Shadowkat takes Gypsy out by phasing her heart out of her chest, or Gypsy sees this coming and slams her to the ground, knocking Shadowkat unconscious. Not gonna lie, one of those endings is a lot cooler than the other. We'll go ahead and input their stats, run the simulations, and come back with a winner. A G9K? Hit it! 

Alright, this was a very tricky speculation to do, largely because both of these characters are so defensive within their power set that we quickly, I feel like, ran out of ideas on how they could attack each other. This is one of the reasons why you should let me include Lockheed in this duel No, sorry, Lockheed is not Shadowkat. 

Shadowkat is Shadowkat. So she was the only one you got in this duel. I do think it would have spiced things up a little bit because Gypsy and Shadowkat weren't too impressive statistically when it came to things like damage level, or strength, or durability. 

They were hella evasive. Shadowkat is faster than Gypsy, but only when going due west. We said when they came to fighting skill, they were even, and also versatility, which is not surprising because they're both kind of one-trick ponies. I was surprised that Gypsy was as good of a fighter as Shadowkat. Dude, yeah, she trained under Bronze Tiger. Is that more impressive than training under Wolverine? Hell yeah, bro. 

Hell yeah. Now, in addition to speed, Shadowkat also got the edge when it came to intellect and evasiveness, but only because it's harder to hit someone who's intangible than someone who's invisible. But Gypsy got the edge when it came to perception, considering she's a telepath. And she also has limited precognition. And could observe things from afar with her astral projection, which is why she also got a slight range advantage, also considering that she could project her illusions to encompass like a room. So taking all of this into consideration, Joseph, who do you think came out on top in this match? 

Shadowkat, because I don't care how invisible Gypsy goes, she's not going to be able to touch Shadowkat. You think so, huh? Yeah. And Instagram agrees with me. 67%, literally two-thirds of our poll takers have cited with Shadowkat. And I got to say, it's about damn time that they sided with the Marvel character. And yet we all know this is because Shadowkat has been in the movies. And the Instagram poll is much more of a popularity contest, rather than an evaluation of the character's stats. 

Yeah, Shadowkat's been better represented in the media, and is just generally a better character overall, is what you're saying? Yes. The Instagram poll takers know this. But will that result in a win? Let's find out. AJ9K, the results, please. Here you are, sir. 

The winner of the matchup between Gypsy and Shadowkat is Shadowkat. Of course, I feel like I barely have to celebrate this. It was obvious from the start. It was not obvious. 

What are you talking about? I totally thought Gypsy was going to come ahead in this. Shadowkat won an even 560 out of the 1000 matches, or 56% of the time, compared to Gypsy, who only won 44%. 

Jonathan, Netflix bought DC and Gypsy lost this dual matchup. What are you doing next? I'm going to beat your ass is what I'm going to do. Drive over to your house right now, kicking your door. Thanks for the warning. I will set my alarm. 

Or I guess it would just make more sense just to call the cops. They'll be on my side for all the shit talking you do. Well, congrats to the Marvel fans. You guys did it again. Showed DC what's up. We all know that Marvel's better, especially nowadays. Cheers to you guys. Well, that does it for this shitty episode. AJ9K help close us out. 

Thanks for listening to Dynamic Dual. Visit the show's website at dynamicdual.com and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Dual podcast. 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, which hopefully will be better, I think it will be, it's going to be another duel this time between the Superman villain Parasite against Sauron of the Savage Land. Yeah, he's an X-Men villain primarily. 

He looks like a big green pterodactyl. So look forward to that next week. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers, John Sturrosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcomb, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Aitin, Austin Wazalowski, AJ Dunkerly, Nick Cabanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Speese, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, and Paul Graves for helping make this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up up and away, true believers.