In one corner is the galaxy's most feared
and prolific hunter, in the other is the man of steel: humanity's champion and son of Krypton. One seeks to hone its skills hunting the most
dangerous prey, testing its mettle against the strongest, smartest, and most cunning
creatures in the galaxy. The other stands for truth, justice, and freedom,
for helping the weak and protecting the helpless. But of the two, who would win in a fight? Welcome to a special episode of The Infographic's
Who Would Win- today we're pitting the master huntsman against the boyscout in blue in a
quest to figure out who would win, and the answer just might surprise you. At first glance, the odds seem to be firmly
stacked against our solo Predator. Superman is after all, well, Super. His strength is amongst the greatest in the
universe, and at times he's been shown to move entire planets. Needless to say, our Predator wouldn't want
to get into a punching match with Superman- but Superman's strength comes with a catch:
his strength and stamina both are fueled by the light of a yellow star. Deprive Superman of yellow sunlight and his
strength begins to diminish- not instantly of course, but over time. Superman is also extremely resistant to damage,
being nearly invulnerable to extreme trauma and temperature both. His molecular structure is so densely packed
together that it defies physics- literally- and makes his body extremely difficult to
damage. If that wasn't enough, Superman is also extremely
fast, as the famous saying goes he's “faster than a speeding bullet”, and his mental
acuity accelerates as he speeds up so he's still able to process sensory data even at
incredible speeds- which is nice for not running into walls, although we guess that doesn't
matter much for Superman. Super senses and flight round out the list
of powers that make Superman so super, and in the case of our Predator, a formidable
challenge indeed. Our Predator on the other hand lacks many
of Superman's natural abilities, although he is at least as strong as an olympic power
lifter even without any form of bio mechanical enhancements- which Predators often wear surreptitiously
underneath armor plating to protect the more vulnerable parts of their anatomy. They further enhance their strength with weapons
such as power fists which allow them to punch through a half foot of concrete with ease,
and their extra dense bones and muscles easily absorb the shock which would break a normal
human's arm. That incredible muscle and bone density also
makes Predators very resistant to trauma, and they can survive and even continue to
hunt after taking several large caliber gunshot wounds which would kill a normal human being. Predators are also natural fighters, each
Predator a master of a domestic form of martial arts that sees them fight with their hands
and feet as well as various melee weapons such as swords, spears, and throwing discs
with deadly efficiency. Preferring hand-to-hand weapons as they do,
Predators are not completely against using their superior technology against particularly
dangerous prey, and can use a shoulder-mounted plasma cannon to deliver obliterating blasts
of super-heated plasma at a temperature of several thousand degrees. They also will occasionally use electromagnetic
railgun rifles with can shoot projectiles at a small fraction of the speed of light,
impacting with incredible kinetic energy- although such weapons are dishonorable to
use in a hunt and reserved only for purely military engagements. So who would win in a fight between the galaxy's
deadliest hunter and the man of steel? First, there's one weapon that the Predator
brings to the fight that Superman will undoubtedly be unprepared for, and that's a keen intellect
and a very savage disposition. Predators are not dumb, mostly because their
society continuously weeds out the weak and unintelligent through a ritual of ever-more
dangerous hunts that juveniles are dispatched on before being allowed to become an adult. The nature of these hunts is such that only
the brightest and strongest survive to become adults, as even fully capable Predators are
often overcome by the dangerous prey they stalk. So what we're saying is that the Predator
coming after Superman is no dummy, and will have done his research and be prepared. For a fair matchup we're going to place the
combatants in a sealed arena though, denying the Predator the ability to stalk Superman
from afar and lay an ambush as would be its preferred method of killing. Immediately Superman is going to dash across
the arena to close the distance between himself and the Predator- Superman is no dummy himself,
but has been shown time and time again to prefer the brute-strength use of his powers
in a fight over tactical decision making. So in the first few seconds of our matchup,
Superman is already moving at supersonic speed to turn our poor Predator into wall gravy-
but hold on, because Superman may be fast, but the Predator's shoulder-mounted targeting
computer is even faster, able to track, target, and fire at near the speed of light as with
any electronics. As Superman dashes to close the distance between
himself and the Predator, he's going to get hit square in the chest with a Kryptonite-powered
laser. Because of its ability to disrupt the transfer
of solar energy across his body, Kryptonite in effect shuts down Superman's powers, or
at least severely weakens them, and while Superman may be fast, he isn't fast enough
to dodge a laser moving at the speed of light- at least not without some serious long-term
absorption and buildup of yellow solar energy. But getting hit by a kryptonite laser isn't
instant death for the man of steel, and Superman will quickly retaliate by shutting that laser
down using his heat vision, which has a range of several hundred feet and can become intense
enough to melt electronics. In our first exchange between our combatants,
the Predator has brought Superman to a screeching halt using a kryptonite laser, now disabled
thanks to Superman's heat vision. That's ok, because Predators have two shoulders,
which means two shoulder-mounted weapons. On his other shoulder, the Predator blasts
Superman with his plasma launcher, a high-tech portable cannon that fires blasts of superheated
ionized gas- but the fuel source for this plasma launcher is, you guessed it: kryptonite. By vaporizing kryptonite crystals and then
using magnetic induction, the plasma launcher is able to hurl deadly blasts of superheated
kryptonite gas in Superman's direction, and given his toxicity to the element, he doesn't
even have to be hit directly, as the rapidly cooling gas will dissipate throughout the
room and start to weaken Superman. Yet even a weak Superman is still, well a
superman. The plasma launcher isn't going to last long
against another blast from Superman's eye rays, but discharging his heat rays severely
depletes his solar energy reserve in a way that other uses of his powers don't. That's because the heat rays are nothing more
than stored solar radiation, and with his powers already weakening from the toxic kryptonite
he's been blasted with, Superman can't afford to expend much power and simply turn the Predator
into a well done roast. With Superman's abilities severely weakened,
it's time to close in for a fair fight. This is the Predator's biggest weakness, as
even facing off against a foe such as Superman will yield no honor if he is not defeated
in hand-to-hand combat. Our Predator could always hang back and simply
finish the job using any number of smart explosives laced with kryptonite, or perhaps an electromagnetic
railgun rifle, which the very weakened Superman will have trouble dodging in his current state. But a kill doesn't count if it isn't honorably
achieved, and Superman represents quite the honorable kill indeed. Superman is bringing his bare fists to the
fight, but the Predator is bringing a fighting knife and a hand claw- both of which are coated
with kryptonite. When your quarry has skin that is literally
unbreakable by anything without a kryptonite edge, it's not really cheating so much as
it's just being prudent to coat your weapons with the stuff. Weakened by exposure to kryptonite and the
aerosol-ed kryptonite lingering in the atmosphere, Superman's strength is still superior to the
Predator's, but each block and parry of the kryptonite weapons used against him will weaken
that strength even further. Superman can choose to disengage, perhaps
try to fly above the Predator and regain some of his strength- but the plasma launcher has
already spread vaporized kryptonite particles across our closed arena, and there's simply
no escaping their debilitating effect. Our end result comes down to one single mistake
made by one of our combatants: our Predator's honor code to kill his prey in hand-to-hand
combat. Had he taken more time to further weaken Superman
from afar with other ranged weapons or perhaps explosives, the Predator could have easily
achieved victory. Or perhaps if he'd simply allowed Superman
to further weaken before rushing into combat- but such is not the Predator way, and though
the use of kryptonite is excused as Superman is literally invulnerable without it, it is
still considered using a debilitating poison against prey, which dulls its reflexes and
saps its strength. Such a thing cannot be allowed to happen,
leveling the playing field is fine, but it is dishonorable to kill weakened prey. So while Superman may be weakened by his exposure
to kryptonite, he still retains the ability to maintain incredible amounts of solar energy
in reserve, using them only in the most dire of circumstances. Plus, despite all of his superpowers, Superman's
greatest strength actually comes from a very normal, human quality: his force of will. When faced with certain defeat, Superman refuses
to cave, and mentally pushes himself far past his natural limits. He's proven it time and time again, when the
chips are down, he always rises to the challenge. Unfortunately for our Predator, today's fight
is going to be close, but a loss. Yet Superman is himself honorable, and though
he wouldn't be thrilled to be considered prey, he won't outright kill our Predator, who'll
get a chance to lick his wounds and in time, who knows, maybe he'll be back in our arena
to fight against another of the galaxy's most dangerous prey. Who do you think would win in a fair fight
between the two? What if the Predator had the opportunity to
ambush Superman in the middle of the city? Let us know in the comments! And if you enjoyed this epic showdown, check
out our other series where we pit you the average joe against all kinds of foes! Bye!
