Today we have a very special matchup as we
pit the modern action hero John Wick against the classic action blockbuster hero of yesterday,
John Rambo. Both men are highly trained killers with body
counts that number in the hundreds- yet when put face to face in an ultimate death match,
who would come out on top? This is a battle of new school versus old
school, the talented rookie versus the crafty veteran, as today we find out once and for
all who would win in a battle to the death- John Wick or John Rambo. John Wick may be the new kid on the action
hero scene, but he's still a middle-aged assassin. In the comics, Wick is forced to fend for
himself from a young age, making his living as a thief in a poor Mexican village, until
his thievery drew the ire of a group of gunmen who decimated his small town. In the film series though, Wick is portrayed
as an orphan from Belarus who was taken under the wing of a top assassin and brought to
the US, where he was taught to take up his mentor’s trade. Whatever origin story you prefer, the next
phase of Wick's life involved a brief stint with the US Marine Corps, where he served
as an infantryman- though the lack of available information on Wick's service record indicates
he may have actually spent some time as a special forces operator. His time in the service didn't last long though,
and Wick left the corps to become a professional hitman, joining the Continental, a chain of
hotels that caters exclusively to criminals. Wick's expertise in hand to hand combat and
firearms both quickly drew the attention of top crime bosses, and soon Wick had developed
a close relationship with Russian mobster Viggo Tarasov, working as his top cleaner. One day though Wick met a woman, and after
falling in love with her asked to be released from his duties as a killer. Tarasov agreed- but only if Wick could accomplish
an impossible task: eliminate all of Tarasov's rivals in just one night. Much to Tarasov's surprise, Wick was able
to complete the seemingly impossible task and looked forward to spending his life with
his new wife. Sadly, she would soon die from cancer and
gift him a dog to help ease his grief. Wick and his dog would live happily ever after
and nothing horrible ever happened to that dog - Just kidding, you know perfectly well
what happened and what a mistake that was. Despite being on the slightly older end of
middle aged, Wick is still in peak physical condition, as is befitting a man of his skill. He is adept in multiple martial arts and is
a master marksman, fully versed in the operation of various firearms including pistols, rifles,
and shotguns. He is also a skilled sharpshooter, and is
as proficient with a long gun as he is any close-in weapon. If forced into hand-to-hand combat, Wick can
call upon a wide range of disciplines including Judo, Sambo, Jiu-jitsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
Aikjutsu, and Krav Maga. One of his greatest assets though is his incredible
mental fortitude, with the ability to suppress even extreme amounts of pain and maintain
his concentration. He is fluent in several languages, including
English, Russian, and Italian amongst others, and can even use the American Sign Language-
so even deaf criminals won't be spared from a final one-liner. Despite all of his killing skills this though,
Wick only uses violence as a last resort, and much prefers to intimidate or discourage
opponents from seeking out the violent alternative. He also makes it a point to ensure that innocent
people are not harmed during the course of his work, taking great pains to avoid any
collateral damage. Despite all of his strengths though, Wick
suffers from several key weaknesses. Wick's overbearing need for revenge and his
anger both often force him into inopportune situations, and can blind him into ceding
the tactical advantage to his enemy. Often Wick will prefer a brute-force approach
over a more carefully thought out strategy if the target he is pursuing is someone who
has offended him personally, and this can be used to manipulate Wick. In the other corner is John Rambo, the Cold-War
era action hero and all-around American bad ass. Born in Bowie, Arizona, Rambo had a tough
childhood and his mother died while he was still young. This left him working on his family's ranch,
with a father who was an alcoholic and often abusive. With no friends and no family life to speak
of, Rambo sought out the companionship of the Native American elders living nearby,
and they taught Rambo how to hunt and use their traditional weapon: the bow and arrow. They also taught Rambo tribal hand-to-hand
wrestling and striking techniques, forging the budding teenager into a formidable opponent. One day shortly before receiving his draft
notice for the Vietnam War, his drunk father attacked him with a knife, trying to kill
him. Rambo disarmed his father and shot him with
an arrow, almost killing him before running away. With no other options in life, Rambo enlisted
with the US Army. Rambo entered into infantry training but was
selected to become an airborne Ranger, graduating from Ranger school in May of 1966. His first deployment would be later that year
in September, as he accompanied the legendary 101st Airborne to South Vietnam. After two tours of duty, Rambo volunteered
for special forces training, and he returned to the US in December of 1967 to undergo special
forces training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Eventually Rambo would become a fabled Green
Beret, these 'snake eaters' as they are known are one of the most feared special units in
the world, and their very long history of operating deep behind enemy lines speaks to
their fearsome reputation. Rambo's service throughout the Vietnam War
would remain classified to this day, though it is known that he often operated so deep
behind enemy lines that extraction by foot was the only way home. At one point he and his team were captured
though, and all of the men endured extreme torture until most of them had died from their
wounds. Rambo bore his torture without ever spilling
his secrets, spending months living in a hole dug in the ground with feces and urine frequently
thrown on him by his captors. To escape Rambo purposefully gave himself
dysentery, and when his guard went to fetch help, Rambo made his escape, stumbling back
to friendly lines from deep in enemy-held jungle and burning with fever. Rambo would end his tour of service in Vietnam
with 59 confirmed kills, many more unconfirmed, two silver stars, four bronze stars, four
purple hearts, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Distinguished Service Cross. Rambo is a veteran of one of the nastiest
wars the United States has ever waged. He is an expert marksman, and is fond of using
a modern compound bow to achieve stealthy kills. He is very physically strong, able to fire
an M60 machine gun from the hip without suffering much lack of accuracy from recoil. Despite his huge size though, Rambo is incredibly
stealthy, as befits a man who for a decade made his living by haunting the deepest jungles
of Vietnam. He is a master of camouflage, able to conceal
himself from even thermal surveillance. Trained in Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo during
his time in the Army, Rambo is a formidable hand-to-hand fighter, and his superior strength
allows him to overpower even more technically skilled opponents. An extremely high pain tolerance also allows
Rambo to remain clear headed despite many painful wounds. Despite all this though, Rambo's greatest
strength is his very intelligent, tactical mind. A master of ambush, Rambo is extremely skilled
at setting up deadly surprises for his opponents, and rather than use brute force to overpower
an enemy, prefers to shock and awe them through a variety of distractions and surprise attacks. Rambo's weaknesses include a distaste for
civilian casualties, and he is known to back off an attack if innocents are threatened
by his actions. Suffering from extreme post traumatic stress
disorder, Rambo's psyche is also very fragile, and he has taken to living as a hermit isolated
from the world in order to deal with the very painful memories of his own past. Despite seeing them as necessary evils, Rambo
deeply regrets every kill he has ever committed, and seeks to redeem what he can of his soul
through using his talents for violence for good in his final years. So we have a modern urban assassin up against
the feared white ghost of Vietnam's jungles- who would come out on top? As in most fights, this confrontation would
very much rely on the environment. Rambo's extensive training in the wilderness
would give him an unparalleled advantage if fighting outside of a population center, where
the very environment can become a deadly foe. John Wick however is much more capable of
navigating the urban landscape, and in a battle between two trained killers seeking to remain
hidden from their quarry until the last possible moment- Rambo would stand out like a sore
thumb in a crowded urban metropolis. Both men are extremely skilled with firearms,
and yet neither show a preference for one type of weapon over another- except for Rambo's
use of bows for quiet kills. This means that both combatants are going
to be bringing the weapon best suited for the task at hand to the fight, and given their
experience in combat, they would both likely be choosing similar weapons. This leaves neither with an advantage or disadvantage
over the other, and at firefighting range, victory would go to the man who puts sights
on target accurately first. The two are so evenly matched in this category
that a winner would likely come down to dumb luck or a lucky shot. In hand to hand combat, John Wick is the superior
technical fighter, yet Rambo is by far physically stronger. In most hand to hand matchups, the win is
going to go to Rambo- as Bruce Lee famously said, in a fight between him and Muhammad
Ali, he believed Ali would win every time due to his far superior strength. While Rambo's strength may have weakened over
the years due to his age, in a fight between the two when at similar ages, Rambo would
win a melee more times than not. But who would win the overall fight? Well, in this case John Wick actually has
two glaring vulnerabilities that Rambo's keen strategic mind could easily capitalize on-
Wick's anger and his pressing need for revenge. As has been evidenced before, Wick will often
do dumb things, or at least forego strategic advantages in his all-consuming quest for
revenge. This would be easily exploited by Rambo, who
is a keen thinker and has a background in defeating his enemies psychologically before
doing so physically. Having learned how to set up ambushes and
manipulate his enemies in the deep jungles of Vietnam, Rambo could easily manipulate
Wick into a deadly ambush by perhaps, killing his new dog and taunting Wick into retaliating. Wick's headlong charge after Rambo would be
his undoing, and at the end of the day Rambo proves that age and experience, and keeping
a cool head in combat, always prevails over sheer aggression. Do you agree or disagree with our verdict? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments! And if you enjoyed this video check out one
of our other epic Who Would Win matchups, or check out our You Versus series as we pit
you, the average Joe against all sorts of bad guys and monsters! And as always, don't forget to like, Share,
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