Jonah Hex vs Deathlok

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Show your allegiance and save while you do it. 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 and 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 the cowboy character of Jonah Hex and the zombie cyborg character of Deathlock. 

Everybody knows you put a cowboy against anyone, the cowboy's coming out on top. Sure, except for zombie cyborgs, obviously. Dude, zombies are like the easiest things to kill except when they're cyborgs. Except when the cyborg has a zombie brain. No, he has a human brain, it's reanimated, and he also has a computer brain to go with it. 

Marvel needs to make up their mind. Is he a zombie? Is he a cyborg? 

What's going on? He's a winner is what he is. And we're going to find out later on this episode when he beats Jonah Hex. Before we get into that battle, we're going to break down the latest comic book movie news to come out this past week, of which we have a few news items, including the news that Brainiac has been confirmed as the villain for the Man of Tomorrow film. We got a couple surprise crossover comic books released by Marvel and DC, the publishing divisions. And we also learned there is a Jimmy Olsen spin-off television series in development. 

As always, we list our segment times in the episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. Our artificially intelligent dual 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 dual 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 Dynamite 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 dynamicdualpodcast at gmail.com. Check it out at patreon.com slash dynamic dual. Pip pip cheerio. 

Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Guys, be sure to tune into the other shows in the Dynamite 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 found out who would win between Tartarus from Halo and General Ramm from Gears of War. Over on the Max Destruction podcast, hosts Scotty and Gilly, pet your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other. The Macho Twins are taking a quick break, but they'll be back in December with some Christmas season duals. On the Central World podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. In his next episode, Zach is revealing who would win between Shigeyo Kagayama, 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 the shows in the Dynamite 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 movie or television show from 2025 has been your favorite and why? And this is coming off of the end of Peacemaker Season 2, which was the final show released by Marvel or DC for this year. 

There's nothing really else that they're putting out that's new. So we wanted to get your guys' opinions. Let's run down our honorable mentions as well as the No Prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Alex Albro, who 

said, Not to be a dead horse, but it's got to be Superman. You know, I was worried about this movie, but you could feel the excitement in the parking lot in line for concessions in the theater. Seeing him bleed in the opening moments was so abnormal and crazy. To me, you know, this was a big determining factor in whether or not I keep up with DC. And it sold me. Made me like a character I've historically disliked for a long time. Plus, you know, my wife liked it a lot too, which is great because she only goes to these movies because I ask her to. She's not a huge fan, but she really liked Superman. 

Yeah, one of the biggest criticisms against Superman is that he's too powerful. So for this movie to open the way it did with him losing his first battle and we get to see him bruised and bleeding, I'm sure it was a shock for a lot of people who make that criticism against the character. Yeah, I think James Gunn knows that a vulnerable Superman is an interesting Superman, whether that be emotionally vulnerable or physically vulnerable. I think that's one of the main reasons why this particular movie resonated with fans as much as it did this year. Great answer, Alex. Our next honorable mention goes to Colby Hinchus, 

who said, Hey, boys, Colby Hinchus, the best Marvel DC project of 2025 was Superman. That movie had no right being as good as it was. I've watched it probably 20 times since it's been on Max. It's everything I wanted DC movie to be. It's everything the Snyderverse wasn't, which makes it great. 

Yeah, James Gunn's approach to Superman, making him more human, is pretty much exactly the opposite of what Zack Snyder tried to do, which was essentially to deify the character. And whereas James Gunn's Superman was empathetic, even going so far as to save squirrels in Zack Snyder's universe, of course, you have pod can't questioning whether Clark Kent should even save a school bus full of children. They could not be more different. And I think the success of James Gunn's Superman goes to show how people expect the character of Superman to be. 

He nailed that. Do you think James Gunn's Superman film affects your star rating for the Man of Steel movie? I still like Man of Steel. I think it's an interesting Elseworlds tale. Like a sci-fi take on Superman, I think is really cool. But I do think that James Gunn nailed the character of Superman that I am more familiar with from the comics. Gotcha. 

I would say James Gunn is more of a comic fan, whereas Zack Snyder is probably more of like a philosophy and mythology fan, I suppose. Well, great answer to Colby. Our final honorable mention goes to by Dear Bangora. Who said? 

Oh, Daniel, I think the best show of 2020. To be the second only the second. We'll turn again. I think the pacing are better. The story telling was better. You can see that it was a bit different from there. And you can also see that the story and continues. And it seems like a continuation of the previous Daredevil series. So for me, it has to be the second half of Daredevil. One again. 

See, I'm the opposite. I actually liked the opening of Daredevil born again more than the closing. Well, the first episode was fantastic, right? Or at least the first part of the first episode. I enjoyed the show overall, and you could definitely listen to our review of that series while it didn't quite hold up to the Netflix series. I think it's still very much carried on the torch that the Netflix series started. The show runners didn't switch halfway through the season. So I guess I'm a little bit confused why by dear preferred the second half. 

But I will say that the series did kind of meander a little bit in the middle of the season and didn't quite pick back up until we got into the Muse story arc. Great answer by dear, but the winner of this week's No Prize is Travis Herndon. Who said? 

What's up, Dany Medus? Travis here. Shout out to Maevele Twin. So my answer would be your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man. I know like since the teaser trailer and pictures and stuff came out, everybody was bashing on it from the art style to it being quote unquote woke because of the great swaps and even you guys were a little bit against it. But after it came out, the show was really good. Love how the origins of certain heroes and villains and everything. And I really enjoyed the show and I can't wait for season two. So yeah. Yeah. 

The reason that Travis won this week's No Prize is largely because one, he gave an original answer, but also I have a lot to say about your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man. Now, quick disclaimer, I haven't finished the season yet. 

I've only on episode like four or five, I think. But I can see where people would enjoy it because the animation is fantastic. Done in the Steve Ditko art style, the way Spider-Man moves and like swings through the city is probably the most dynamic and visually spectacular the character has ever looked in animation. 

Obviously not more so than the Spider-Verse films, though. I was just about to say what? Yeah. The music is fantastic in the show. So it looks and sounds amazing. That being said, my gripes with the show still hold from my criticisms of when the show was being developed. It was initially marketed as being an animated version of the MCU. Peter Parker giving us a look at his early days of being Spider-Man during his freshman year. In fact, the show was called Spider-Man freshman year. They changed it to your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man, when it was clear it was no longer going to be an MCU Spidey, but rather a multiversal variant of Spidey. 

And the story is close enough to the MCU Spider-Man to kind of just piss you off because they make a whole bunch of changes that I feel like were unnecessary. Not in terms of like race bending or anything like that, but in terms of like having Peter go through experiences in his freshman year that we know that MCU Peter went through in his sophomore year, changing things like his crush from Liz to Pearl, changing things like his origin being magical in nature and that he was bitten by a spider that came through a mystical portal. As a matter of fact, Doctor Strange was there when Peter Parker got bit in this series, which kind of negates the whole introduction that they had where Peter Parker was like, oh, we're going by our made up names. So I'm Spider-Man, you know. So there's a lot that the series takes away from MCU Spidey. At the end of the day, I still really wanted this to be what it was initially marketed as, as Tom Holland's Spider-Man's origin story. It's clever, sure, and how it approaches its universe's characters and origins and things like that. But I've also seen that done really well in other animated Spider-Man shows, like Spectacular Spider-Man or the 90s Spider-Man. 

I mean, like I've said before, when I first heard that this was a multiverse story, I was like, yeah, I'm not going to watch that. Is it worth watching? Do you recommend it? 

I think if you're a Spider-Man fan who isn't sick of seeing his original story rehashed time and again, especially if you're a fan of the early Ditko comic books and stuff like that, I think it's worth checking out for sure. OK, so I should not watch it. Yeah, probably not. 

Yes. Well, great answer, Travis. I'm glad you like the show. Congrats on winning this week's No Prize. 

If you, the listener, want to shot at winning your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another question of the week. But now that that's done, on to the news. OK, the world's worst kept secret. It was revealed last week by Umberto Gonzalez of The Wrap that the main villain of the Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, is Brainiac. Now, we all suspected that this was going to be the case. James Gunn didn't necessarily even try to hide it going so far as to put an image of a brain on the script cover for Man of Tomorrow. But I do got to say with this news confirmed, I am super excited to see Brainiac in live action. He's the number one villain I've always wanted to see in a Superman movie. There's been a lot of depictions of him in a lot of other media, like the animated series, like the video games, like Injustice, or even like the My Adventures with Superman cartoon that came out last year. I think with the advent of AI in real life, this is a very timely villain. And I'm super stoked to see him go toe to toe up against both Superman and Lex Luthor. 

Oh, yeah, super timely. Although is Brainiac AI what you consider him? Sometimes he is. Sometimes he's more like an alien. What's your preferred version of Brainiac? 

Oh, that's a good question. I actually do prefer it when he is an AI who maybe kind of developed his own body. The Kaluan version is not my favorite version, though I wouldn't hate it if they went that direction. Brainiac, if you remember, in our Brainiac versus Ultron match is from the planet Colu, a alien race of super intelligent beings. And he was like the smartest one. I really liked the version that was in My Adventures with Superman season two. 

He was really unique in there. Of course, Brainiac has been in a few animated movies as well, including one from the 90s called Superman Brainiac attacks. And then I think he was also the main antagonist in Superman Unbound. 

Yes, that's correct. And he was also in Superman Red Sun. I'm super curious to see who they're going to cast in the role. I'm hoping they're going to make that announcement soon because this movie starts filming in April, surprisingly, which is awesome. Like remember when they used to make superhero movies back to back? Yeah, they would like release the movie and then the following year they would film the sequel so that the following year after that they would release the sequel. 

So we would get the sequels a couple years apart from each other as opposed to five, six, seven years apart looking at you, Shang-Chi. Yeah, this is the way to do it. Brainiac is the way to go. I am all aboard the hype train. Just be sure to check your expectations right out of the gate, Jonathan. You haven't even seen the Supergirl movie yet. Oh, I wonder if they'll have like an end credits teaser of Brainiac. That would be dope. 

Sure. And other DC Superman related news. We also learned that DC Studios is developing a Jimmy Olsen spin off TV series from the character that we saw in the Superman movie. 

It's from the American Vandal creators. If you're familiar with that show, it's on Netflix. It won a Peabody and I think it was nominated for an Emmy. It's a fantastic show. If you haven't seen it, hilarious. 

And I wonder if they're going to take the same kind of mockumentary approach with this Jimmy Olsen spin off show. Some people are calling it DC crime. I'm not sure why. I don't think James Gunn knows why either. But I'm all there for it because it looks like a lot of the Daily Planet stars are set to return. I mean, that's great because I would say that the Daily Planet cast was underutilized and largely pointless in the Superman movie, which was surprising considering the cast that they had for them, you know, like Beck Bennett, Wendell Pierce, McKayla Hoover and Christopher McDonald. They played Steve Lombard, Perry White, Kat Grant and Ron Troupe respectively. I also wonder if maybe David Cornswet and Rachel Brosnahan will return to their roles also as Clark and Lois. 

That would be cool. I'm not sure how excited people are about this, but I remember when they announced the powerless television show, people were bitching about that for some reason, because I found the premise quite interesting. And then the show came out and like you liked it, you watched it. You thought it was great, but it ended up getting canceled early, largely due to the lack of interest in it. I hope that doesn't happen with this. Yes, this is a television series that no one asked for. 

That doesn't mean it won't be good. I mean, I asked for this. I love this. I think if DC wants to get this off the ground, they should just title this spin off series The Daily Planet. 

Yeah, you got brand name recognition right there. I would also accept the adventures of Jimmy Olsen. No, no one's going to watch that. 

I would. And I hope he would get turtle powers. Apparently the show is going to revolve also around Gorilla Grodd, though. Maybe it's like Jimmy Olsen tracking Gorilla Grodd in Metropolis. 

And that sounds amazing. How are you not excited about this? Anyone who's not excited about this? 

Because you should be. I mean, throwing in Gorilla Grodd does sound a little bit ridiculous, but in the best way. OK, in other news, in comic book news, actually, in a follow up to the Deadpool, Batman, Marvel and DC crossover comic event from earlier this year, the publishers dropped two surprise web comics on DC Universe Infinite and Marvel Unlimited, a flash and fantastic for crossover story and a Shazam Thor crossover story. I think largely it was a means of promoting the other publishers' digital subscription content, because it was the weirdest thing. 

As a Marvel Unlimited subscriber, I suddenly got an email from Marvel with an offer to subscribe to DC Comics. It was so fucking disturbing. It's like hell is freezing over. Yeah. And I don't know, like, is that a good thing? 

What's happening? Is the science of like a consistent partnership and collaboration going forward? Maybe even potentially a merger down the line? Better not. Is all I'm saying. We got to keep these things separate. 

Otherwise, I'm not going to know who to root for. It would be like Star Wars and Star Trek promoting each other's content. Yeah, or like Pepsi and Coke joining forces to release a new drink together. 

Ew. Pepsi Coke. That sounds disgusting. I would spit that out. 

Same here. That being said, if Marvel and DC want to collaborate on a fighting video game, combining the two universes, I would be all for that. That is all I've ever wanted in life. I did read the Shazam Thor crossover comic book. I thought it was pretty good that you teamed up against Mr. Mind. 

I enjoyed it. But this crossover event brings us to our question of the week. Well, Marvel versus DC crossover, have you always wanted to see in the comics? 

And why? Out of all the crossovers we've gotten from the publishers, including, you know, the 90s DC versus Marvel crossover and even before that, like the original Superman versus Spider-Man and Hulk versus Batman. Later on in the 2000s, we got JLA Avengers. And then recently, of course, the various crossover events. 

Besides those, what two characters from Marvel and DC have you always wanted to read about teaming up or going up against each other? 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 dual no prize that will post to Instagram. Be sure to answer before November 22nd. 

But that doesn't for all the news this week. So let's go ahead and move into our main event for this episode, where we find out who would win in a fight between the DC character of Jonah Hex and the Marvel character of Deathlock. All right, Jonah Hex versus Deathlock. We've been trying to get both of these characters in a duel for years now. 

And the time has finally come. They're both semi popular, I think, within their respective universes. Jonah Hex even had a film adaptation and he was a prominent character in one of the seasons of Legends of Tomorrow. Yeah, he was also featured in an episode of the Batman animated series and had his own DC showcase short, which was pretty good. 

Yeah, I really liked that one. Deathlock hasn't been in as much media, I would say. There was a version of the character that was in the agents of shield television series, although it wasn't the version of the character that I'll be going with, which is the original Deathlock from the comic books named Luther Manning. Basically, the other versions of Deathlock would be way too damn powerful for Jonah Hex. So we went with the original and let's beefed up a version of Deathlock. Yeah, basically, the reason we and the executive producers decided to pit these two characters against each other is because we think they're awesome. And also because they have a lot of similarities in terms of like half of their face is missing and they're also really good marksmen with their guns. That's pretty much it. 

Yeah, you're right. I don't know much about Jonah Hex, so I'm interested in learning how accurate the movie adaptation was for the character. Well, I'm here to set the record straight about how sucky their interpretation of Jonah Hex was. But before that, 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 1000 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 1000 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% 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, 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 1000 simulations would play out beat for beat. And I believe it's my turn to go first with the Marvel characters backstory. 

So let me tell you all about Deathlock. Luther Manning was a Detroit, Michigan native from an alternate reality called Earth 7484 in the greater Marvel multiverse. He enlisted in the US Army and rose to the rank of Colonel before the political collapse of his reality. 

In his timeline, the Age of Heroes ended when the multinational corporation, RocksOn, used dimensional technology to eliminate Earth's superhumans. The aftermath triggered widespread war and devastation across the United States. Manning served through this turmoil, but during a training exercise, he was critically injured by a concussion bomb. Declared legally dead after failing to survive surgery, he was selected by Major Simon Riker for Project Alphamec, a covert initiative intended to produce cyborg soldiers. Manning's remains were rebuilt by Simon's brother Harlan, who transplanted Manning's brain, nervous system, and surviving organic tissue into a cybernetic body. 

After five years in stasis, Manning was reanimated as the cyborg Deathlock, named for his ability to be locked into a suspended death-like state. Riker oversaw his training and deployment, intending to use the cyborgs to seize global power, while Harlan pursued his own vision of replacing humanity entirely with cyborgs that he called Homo Ascendant. As Deathlock's human memories reemerged, he began resisting his program's directives and ultimately broke free of Riker's control. 

In discovering his new condition, he learned that he had been declared dead and that his wife had remarried his friend, Mike Travers. Unable to take his own life due to built-in fail safes, he instead dedicated himself to undermining Riker, who at overtime also become a cyborg through his brother Harlan's experiments. Riker attempted to merge with New York's Omni Computer to become the digital entity called Savier Machine, but Deathlock forced him out, leaving Riker mentally shattered. 

The CIA attempted to restore Luther's humanity by transferring his consciousness into a cloned human body, but the process only recreated his memories in the clone while leaving the cyborg unchanged. Deathlock continued operating for the agency, primarily targeting the threat of Harlan Riker, now operating as the cyborg Hellinger. During this period, Deathlock encountered a time-traveling Spider-Man from Earth 616, Marvel's primary timeline, as an early sign of the temporal disruptions that would repeatedly intersect with Luther's life. Deathlock soon encountered Godwolf, a former rocks-on operative turned rebel leader who sought to save what remained of America after the elimination of the world's superhumans plunged into chaos. To protect him from Hellinger's forces, Godwolf displaced Deathlock through time to Earth 616. There, Deathlock assisted the mystic hero Devil Slayer against a cult before an attempt to return him home was intercepted by the Fixer and Mintello. 

The villains implanted a control device in Luther and used the cyborg in an assassination plot against the US president, but their plan was stopped by the Fantastic Four and the Impossible Man. Freed from external control, Deathlock entered a catatonic state and was taken into shield custody. Agents of Earth 616's rocks-on later stole Deathlock's cyborg body and delivered it to their corporation facility, where this timeline's version of Harlan Riker examined it. 

Riker created a fully robotic Deathlock duplicate which was subsequently destroyed by the Thing and Quasar. Meanwhile, Luther's true body was reprogrammed by rocks-on for their efforts toward repeating the actions of Earth 7484 and eliminating the world's superhumans. In Luther's native reality, Godwolf sent a clone of Luther back in time to locate the original Deathlock. Luther killed the clone during the confrontation, but the dying duplicate's touch restored Deathlock's suppressed memories and freed him from rocks-on's programming. Deathlock returned to his timeline with Captain America and Godwolf's team called the Redeemers to stop Hellinger from deploying an army of doomsday mechs. Though Hellinger briefly took control of Deathlock's systems, Luther resisted long enough to kill him. 

Captain America's subsequent actions in Earth 616 prevented rocks-on from destroying his country, causing Marvel's reality to diverge from the timeline that produced Manning. Deathlock remained active in Earth 7484, assisting Godwolf against the foreign ruler Timestream after the Redeemers were killed in an An assault that triggered further global destruction. Disillusioned upon learning Godwolf had hidden crucial information from him, Deathlok abandoned the struggle. 

He later fought alongside the deviant Tantalus, though these battles did little to alter the ongoing collapse of his world. Upon learning that remnants of Roxxon had resumed their efforts to eliminate superhumans in Earth 616, Deathlok traveled back to that reality, only to be shut down and seized by SHIELD. Though repaired under the assumption he could be controlled, Deathlok rebooted autonomously, destroyed Roxxon's developing technology, and returned to his native timeline once again. 

By 2011, the computer core within Luther's body had deteriorated, leaving him operating in a severely degraded state and forced to survive on his own. TimeStream reappeared and recruited him with promises to rewrite the past so that he would never become Deathlok. The scheme drew the attention of the Time Variance Authority, who sent Godwolf to stop him. TimeStream recruited the human Luther Manning of Earth 616, while Godwolf enlisted Earth 616's version of Deathlok named Michael Collins. 

Luther eventually discovered TimeStream's true nature and cited with Michael Collins to end his plans. Regarding the Earth 616 version of Deathlok that I just mentioned, Michael Collins was a computer programmer and neuroscientist born in Philadelphia who earned advanced degrees in prosthetics. A pacifist devoted to ethical technological development, he joined CyberTech Systems, which was a Roxxon subsidiary, believing his work in neural prosthetics would benefit the disabled. Unaware of his company's secret Deathlok program, Collins only learned the truth when he discovered his research had been appropriated for weapons development. When he confronted his superior, Harlan Riker, Collins was shot with a sedative and his brain was transplanted into CyberTech's newest Deathlok cyborg. Upon awakening in the cyborg body, Michael Collins initially had no control over its actions and witnessed the machine killing soldiers during field testing. 

Gradually, he asserted his will, preventing the killing of a child and overriding the program's lethality protocols by imposing a strict no-killing parameter on the system. He learned that his original human body still existed and tracked Harlan Riker to a weapons deal, capturing him before turning him over to authorities. Michael's existence as Deathlok brought him into contact with SHIELD, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and other heroes. 

He participated in efforts ranging from preventing a nuclear strike on the United States to stopping the Sinister Six and assisting in the defeat of Carnage. During this period, he revealed his cyborg identity to his family, his wife Tracy, their children Nicholas and Tisha, and his extended relatives while continuing to search for a way to restore his original body. Michael was later abducted to a distant world by the cosmic scientist called The Stranger and lived there for years with other superhumans until their eventual escape. 

After the group's escape from the alien world, Michael found that he could revert to human form at will. However, once he arrived back on Earth, he was unable to transform back into Deathlok, ending his tenure as the hero. Meanwhile, Luther Manning, the original Deathlok, still resentful of Godwulf's manipulations, stole a time gauntlet and abandoned his native timeline, traveling permanently to Earth 616. 

There he lived in the sewers of Manhattan where he helped protect innocent residents of an underground community called the Tunnel Dwellers before departing them to contemplate his existence. There have been several other victims of the Deathlok program over the years, including Harlan Riker's own daughter, called Deathlokit. But that is the history of the two primary Deathloks. For this still, I'll be going with the original Luther Manning version of the character because Michael Collins is just way too strong and durable for it to be a fair fight against Jonah Hex. 

Powers-wise, Luther Manning's Deathlok has a reanimated body with cyborg enhancements. This gives him increased strength, able to lift 10 tons, and enhanced durability. His mind reacts and processes information at computer speeds and allows for tracking and targeting multiple subjects. He carries a helium neon laser pistol and a 9 inch throwing dagger that magnetically attaches to his calf. 

As a former US Army colonel, he is a trained hand combatant, marksman, and strategist. And that's Deathlok. I wanted to get into the backstory of both the primary Deathlok from Earth 74-84 and into the Earth 616 Deathlok, which was Michael Collins. They both have very different backstories. 

And actually, the Michael Collins version of the character was created by Dwayne McDuffie, who also created characters like Static and Icon for Milestone Comics. I'm legit surprised that we have not had a Deathlok movie. I mean, just listening to that backstory, it sounds like a 90s movie. Well, I mean, Robocop ripped it off wholesale. Deathlok came out in the 70s, Robocop came out in the 80s, but it's essentially the same exact story. Deathlok just looks a little bit more zombie cyborg. 

Henceforth, I will always watch Robocop thinking of it as a Deathlok movie in the same way that I watch Ghost thinking of it as a Deadman movie. The 80s, man. They were just ripping off comic book stories all the time. Well, if Robocop is essentially Deathlok, I do have to say that his movie is better than the Jonah Hex movie, but the Jonah Hex comic storyline would have made a better one. 

So let me get into his backstory from the comics. Jonah Hex was born in 1838 in Missouri to Woodson and Virginia Hex. His childhood was defined by Woodson's drinking and violent outbursts until Virginia fled, leaving Jonah behind. At 13, Jonah traveled west with Woodson during the Gold Rush. In need of safe passage, Woodson sold Jonah to an Apache tribe. Jonah lived as a slave until he saved their chief from a Puma, at which point he was adopted as a member of the tribe. 

He learned Apache methods of hunting and tracking, and he formed bonds with the chief's son, Notante, and a young woman named White Fawn. At age 16, Jonah and Notante undertook a rite of passage to steal Kiowa horses. During the raid, Notante betrayed Jonah, striking him unconscious and leaving him behind to claim White Fawn for himself. Taken prisoner, Jonah survived a US cavalry assault on the Kiowa, but was shot in the stomach when he tried to stop the soldiers from killing children. 

Left for dead, he was rescued by an old trapper. When Jonah later attempted to return to the Apache, they had relocated, forcing him to wander the frontier alone. As a young man, Jonah enlisted as a cavalry scout for the US Army, then joined the Confederacy when the Civil War began, believing he was defending his homeland. 

He rose to lieutenant in the 4th Calvary and fought alongside Jeb Turnbull. After learning of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jonah could no longer justify the cause and deserted to Fort Charlotte to surrender. He refused to reveal his unit's position, but a Union aide identified it from the clay on Jonah's horse's hooves. 

The Confederates were captured, and the Union commander staged a false escape tunnel so his starving men could kill the fleeing prisoners. Most of Jonah's comrades, including Jeb, were slaughtered. Jonah survived, killed the commander, and escaped. Labeled a traitor, Jonah was not allowed to return to the Confederate lines. 

He returned to the Apache instead, seeking acceptance and discovered that Notante had married White Fawn. Jonah accused him of betrayal, and the chief ordered a trial by combat. Notante sabotaged Jonah's tomahawk, and Jonah resorted to a knife, violating tribal law. 

He killed Notante, and it was branded across the right side of his face, the mark of a demon, before being exiled. Years later, when Jonah returned to the Apache tribe to rescue a White captive, he was captured Jonah broke free, killed the chief, and gunned down several warriors before fleeing permanently. Jonah wandered the frontier until the day he shot a man beating his wife in the street. The man was an outlaw named Lucas Mad Dog McGill, and the deputy who arrived recognized the bounty on his head. Realizing he could earn a living, killing men like McGill, Jonah became a bounty hunter. 

His first major hunt ended with rival manhunter Arby Stoneham taking his query and guns. Years later, after Jonah had become widely feared, he found Stoneham crippled and chose to leave the past behind. Jonah spent decades tracking outlaws, foiling land schemes, clashing with corrupt lawmen, and at times working with the US Secret Service, including disrupting an assassination attempt on President Grant. He tried to protect peaceful tribes, but often arrived too late. 

His survival of gunfights, while wounded, outnumbered, or temporarily blinded, cemented his reputation as one of the deadliest men alive. Jonah's path occasionally crossed with larger forces. He was abducted by the Lord of Time as one of the five warriors from forever, and turned against the Justice League and Justice Society before breaking free and returning to his era. 

He later rode with Western legends like Bat-Lash, Cinnamon, and Skellpunter when the league was thrown into the 19th century, and he fought Shadow Demon during the crisis on Infinite Earth. Jonah tried repeatedly to abandon violence. He married Mei Ling, who insisted he quit bounty hunting. After a fire destroyed their farm, Jonah secretly resumed the work to pay debts, and Mei Ling left him. Their son Jason later sought Jonah out as an adult, but the two failed to reconcile. Jonah formed an on-and-offigan partnership with Tallulah Black, a scarred gunfighter avenging her murdered family. He also encountered bizarre frontier threats, including zombies raised by a traveling surgeon, the subterranean autumn brothers, cannibal clans, and corrupt Wild West show promoters. In 1875, Jonah was abducted in a flash of light by Reinhold Borstyn, and taken to a post-apocalyptic 21st century Seattle. He escaped Borstyn's lab, allied briefly with a Road Reapers biker gang, donned a radiation-proof zone suit, and fought through mutants, mercenaries, and alien-backed warlords. 

He became entangled in Sven Tara's rebellion against the invading Exiggs. During his time in the future, Jonah discovered his own taxidermied corpse in a carnival exhibit, confirming his eventual return and death in his own era. Though the means are unknown, Jonah did return to the past. By the early 20th century, he lived with a woman named Talbird. In 1904, George Barrow murdered Jonah in a saloon, with Sheriff Hank Crawford shooting Barrow immediately. 

Showman L.B. Farmham stole Jonah's body, stuffed it in gaudy clothes, and exhibited it until Talbird reclaimed it. When the collector later attempted to seize the corpse, he was shot in the back by an unseen figure, implied to be a time-traveling Jonah himself. 

In post-Flashpoint continuity, Jonah's early life remained mostly unchanged. His Confederate service and the Fort Charlotte massacre again left him wandering the West as a bounty hunter with a strict moral code. In the 1880s, he traveled to Gotham at the request of Dr. Armadeus Arkham to hunt the Gotham Butcher. Jonah uncovered ties between the murderers and the religion of crime, drawing him into conflict with corrupt officials, industrialists, and secret societies. He fought through ambushes, machine gun traps, subterranean tunnels, and child labor rings beneath the city. He encountered the ancestors of the Wayne family, remnants of ancient tribes, and early agents of the Courts of Owls while dismantling the crime-bible network. Jonah resumed life on the trail with Tallulah Black until an encounter with Booster Gold displaced him in the 21st century. Mistaking for an unstable impersonator, he was committed to Arkham Asylum until Dr. Jeremiah Arkham confirmed his identity. 

Jonah adapted quickly, assisting modern heroes against criminals, monsters, and occult threats. He formed a relationship with a woman named Gina, and after a drunk driving accident left him comatose, surgeons repaired his scarred face. Booster eventually returned Jonah to the Old West, with Gina accompanying him, though she died crossing the desert. Jonah also learned that an imposter with a similar scar had committed crimes using his name. When Jonah killed him, he gave his name as George Barrow, in effect, faking his own death. During the rise of the Dark Multiverse, Jonah was resurrected by a black lantern ring and fought alongside Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman against the Batman who laughs. 

You can learn more about in our Batman Who Laughs vs. Cosmic Ghostwriter episode. When his undead body was destroyed, Jonah's spirit was bound to a cursed firearm, later inherited by his descendant, Ginny Hex, a member of Young Justice, which you can learn more about in our Young Justice vs. Young Avengers team duel. The powers-wise, Jonah Hex has no superhuman abilities, but is one of the most lethal marksmen of any era. He is a trained Apache warrior and hardened bounty hunter, capable of drawing and firing with exceptional speed and accuracy, even when injured or impaired. 

He is an expert tracker, able to follow faint signs across fast terrain, and he is a master with knives, tomahawks, sabers, and is a brutal hand-to-hand combatant. That's Jonah Hex. Didn't he have mystical powers in the movie, if I remember correctly? Yes, in the movie, he had a magic touch that could bring people back to life until he touched them again. 

That's weird. Yeah, unnecessary, I think. The character makes for a great Western cowboy without needing a superpower. He's just a badass, and that's all you need a cowboy to be. Do you think he has enough going for him to go up against Deathlock? 

He's gone up against worse, my friend. Yeah, there definitely seemed like an era where he was taken out of the whole Western genre and put more into like a post-apocalyptic pulp genre. Yeah, kind of like Deathlock. That's true. That's true. 

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Show your allegiance and save while you do it. Another we got there are 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 the speculation, but it's fun to imagine how the fight could play out. AJ9K, what are the rules of our 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. 

All right, then let's get into it. Jonah Hex and Deathlock meet on the battlefield. Who goes first? Don't answer that, actually. I already know. Jonah is literally the fastest draw in the West. So as they square off, staring each other down, Jonah is going to snap his gun forward, firing a shot that hits Deathlock, square between the eyes with his Colt 45 revolver. Blam! Square between Deathlock's eyes is actually flesh, because the cyborg part of his face doesn't extend directly in the middle, it's just on the left side of his face. 

Good. But Deathlock's computer implant grants him enhanced reaction time. So no matter how quick of a draw Jonah Hex is, Deathlock still has time to like somewhat at least turn his head so that the bullet actually hits the left side of his face, which is metal. So bullet ricochets and Deathlock is probably knocked to the ground from the impact. But from the ground, he's going to quickly pull out his laser pistol and just shoot Jonah Hex through the chest. 

Oh, you mean where he wears his bandolier of ammo? I guess Deathlock's shot also hits metal. I mean, I guess a laser pistol might trigger a round or two to go off, but those bullets are just going to graze Jonah's chest and he's going to shrug it off. So while Deathlock is still on the ground, Jonah is going to quick draw a second revolver. 

And so he's dual wielding. He's going to fire 10 rounds right into Deathlock, killing him in seconds. No, no, no, Deathlock, he's going to kick off the ground into a back hand spring while his computer scanner is going to be tracking Jonah Hex's arm position. And that's going to allow Deathlock to dodge the bullets. And like even the few that he wouldn't dodge, he'll just shoot out of the air with his laser gun because he's that accurate at targeting. 

And as he dodges to one side to avoid like the last of the bullets from the revolvers with his non shooting hand, Deathlock grabs and flings his dagger with perfect aim right into Jonah Hex's good eye. Good eye. I'm pretty sure both eyes are good, but doesn't he have a fucked up eye? 

Kind of. He can still shoot perfectly with it, so it can't be that bad. It's just his eyelid that's missing. Oh, so he can't blink. So he has dry eye. He works with it. He works with it somehow. 

I'm going to say lucky for him. By my count, Jonah still had one round left in the chamber, and he's also accurate enough to shoot the dagger off course. So once he does that without missing a beat, Jonah is going to charge at Deathlock using speed loaders that he got from the future to reload his revolver as he runs toward him, flicking the cylinders into place and cocking those hammers back. He's going to unload on Deathlock again. 

Dude is a fucking one trick pony with his pistols. OK, Deathlock, he's going to power slide to dodge the gunfire and he magnetically pulls his dagger back to him. And while Deathlock is moving to dodge the gunfire, you know, using his enhanced reaction time to help him, maybe he gets tagged once or twice by this new round of bullets. But that's fine because he can tank a few rounds at least, no problem. 

And he's so reflexive and agile, he can even dodge at close range. So he closes the distance between himself and Jonah Hex. And with his dagger, he just slices off Jonah Hex's fingers on his right hand. 

Well, OK. Well, Jonah's probably very pissed off by that. So he will pull out a tomahawk with his left hand and he's going to chop off Deathlock's arm with it. Deathlock's arm is metal. 

The only thing that would happen would be like the tomahawk would just wedge into his shoulder joint. OK, so you can't use it anymore. Gotcha. He's fine. But while Deathlock is realizing that that's when Jonah quickly reaches under his trench coat to grab a sawed off twin barreled shotgun that he keeps at the small of his back, he's going to fire it point blank at Deathlock's face. Good luck dodging that. Deathlock doesn't need to dodge that. He's going to block the shot with his mechanical hand, which covers the barrels. So the bullets ricochet and Jonah is going to catch some of that ricochet from his own shotgun shot. And then Deathlock punches him hard enough to like send him flying like 20 yards back. What? And Jonah Hex drops the shotgun, which Deathlock crushes in his hands. Dang it. 

OK. I'm going to say Jonah knows he's beat. So he's going to raise his hands and surrender and slowly walk toward Deathlock, admitting defeat. But just as Jonah gets within range, he's going to quickly scrape a match against the stubble on his jawline and quickly light a small bundle of dynamite he had hidden in this pocket. And he's going to hurl that thing right at Deathlock before just turning and running like hell, basically. 

So Deathlock's going to blow up. Jonah Hex wins. And in the aftermath, we'll say Jonah sells Deathlock cybernetic parts for scrap metal as a bounty. No, Jonah could try to kill Deathlock with dynamite. But to do that, he would have to throw it with perfect timing, right? So that it would explode right as it lands near Deathlock. 

Yeah. But in order to do that, he would have to like, you know, hold onto the bundle for at least a second before throwing it. Therefore, Deathlock uses his laser pistol to shoot the dynamite while Jonah Hex is holding onto it and it just explodes in his hands, killing him. 

Yeah, it was it was a short fuse. OK, like Jonah didn't need to hold onto it for very long at all. But he couldn't even throw the bundle that well, because he has buckshot in his gut from the ricochet from before. 

No, no, paint does not affect Jonah or his aim. Like he's probably had buckshot lodged in his body parts for years. He's like mostly made out of buckshot. 

He's like a cyborg in himself, like a really shitty cyborg. We'll go ahead and leave the match there. OK, either Jonah Hex manages to pull off exploding Deathlock with a bundle of dynamite or the dynamite gets shot while Jonah Hex is holding onto it and he blows himself up. We'll see which of those two scenarios happens when we input the character stats, run the thousand simulations and come back with a winner. A.J .9K. Hit it. 

Inputting data, running calculations, processing results, simulations complete. 

All right, I will say that neither of these guys are that impressive statistically, like especially compared with other superheroes. Yeah, both of these guys are kind of one trick ponies as well. Yeah, I mean, Deathlock has enhanced strength and durability, but otherwise he just has like a little laser gun and a knife. He should have a better arsenal and actually the Michael Collins version of Deathlock did. They were mostly tit for tat when it came to the stats. We gave Jonah Hex the edge when it came to damage level because I've seen him use dynamite before, essentially. But Deathlock came out ahead and a lot of the physical stats, like you mentioned, as well as perception. Yeah, but there are even when it came to like range and actually fighting, which surprised me, Jonah Hex is actually a better fighter than I guess I would have thought he was, given his backstory. I guess that makes sense. 

They had similar intellect and ebasin miss as well. Considering all of this, Jonathan, who's winning this match, who's your money on and how much money? If I was a betting man, I would put 100 large on the table. 100 large. Is that like a hundred thousand dollars or is that just a hundred dollars? 

No, no, I just mean a hundred dollars. Even though the odds are against me, according to our Instagram poll, 59 percent of the voters in that poll bet it in favor of Deathlock, essentially. Smart people. They look at a cowboy and then they look at a zombie cyborg and they're like, yeah, I'm going with the zombie cyborg on that one. And they know that the Jonah Hex movie sucks. 

So they know what they're doing. But let's get the actual results. AG9K, the results, please. 

Here you are, sir. All right, the winner between Jonah Hex and Joe Hex. Jonah Hex and Deathlock is Deathlock. 

Gosh dang it. The demolisher he won out of a thousand matches, 658 percent of the time, whereas Jonah Hex only won 34.2 percent of the time. In the end, it was Deathlock's enhanced strength and durability that won him out. Jonah Hex just couldn't compete with that. So I was afraid Deathlock was going to win. 

If he did, I did not think it was going to be by that much. He's essentially winning two thirds of the time, which sucks because like what does Deathlock have going for him? He has a gun and a knife. Jonah Hex has that and more. He has a cyborg body is what it comes down to. 

That's overrated. I guess this means that Jonah Hex couldn't beat Robocop either. Shoot him in the mouth. It's not that hard. My apologies to all of the Jonah Hex fans out there. 

This sucks. There are literally dozen of you. Now, there's more than that. Great job, Marvel fans. Like I said, in an earlier episode this month, we are going to take the month of November. We're coming back. We're going to close this gap. 

I scoffed at the idea at the time, but I am concerned now as you should be, as you should be. That does it for this duel, guys. 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. 

Our next episode is going to be another duel in which we find out who doing in a fight between Vandal Savage, the immortal DC villain versus Sebastian Shah, the not quite immortal, but long living and energy absorbing X-Men villain. Look forward to that next week. 

But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers, John Sterosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Belcombe, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatan, Austin Wazalowski, AJ Dunkerly, Nick Obonto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spees, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting and Paul Graves for helping make this podcast possible. We'll talk to you guys next week up up and away. True believers. 

The amalgam version of these two characters would be a cowboy zombie cyborg called Death Hex.