Bang's Blogs: Howard the Duck vs Detective Chimp

 

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“Lots of people talk to animals…not very many listen, though.” -Benjamin Hoff

Howard the Duck, the Cheap Ducktective of Marvel Comics. 

Detective Chimp, the Magnificent Finder of Tasty Grubs of DC Comics. 

Mysteries are what keep us guessing, making us wonder and discover. The universe has countless secrets to unravel, and who better to solve these mysteries then detectives…that also happen to be talking animals? Today we’re pitting two of the most intelligent cigar-smoking, item collecting animal detectives against each other in a duel that’ll rock the animal kingdom. Will the Duckson have the last quack, or can Bobo hang in there? No private eyes in this DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Start…

These are by far some of the wackiest characters Marvel and DC have to offer, and their misadventures have given them a variety of gear and weapons far more powerful then their hairy hands can handle. For history's-sake, we will be going over everything they’ve ever gotten, but we will obviously clarify anything that is non-standard, but due to how much forms and powers they’ve gotten, we’ll try and do something more creative with the verdict and implement some bonus rounds where we see fit, while also having a verdict that objectively analyzes who would win in the most fair and standard outcome.

Background

Howard the Duck

“K-Keep back! I'm warnin' ya…I know Quack-Fu!”

Earth-47920 is unlike any other Earth. In this world, humans are replaced by ducks after evolving from waterfowl and the Earth is called Duckworld. But in almost every other way, Duckworld was very similar to Earth, down to the duck's ability to speak English and function as a society. A very devoted Roman Catholic couple living in New Stork had a very gifted son, one that when hatched, would change Duckworld; Howard the Duck! While his brother Orville and sister Theresa pursued more theological passions, Howard spent his time in school, working hard to achieve the highest education, though he was often bullied for it a lot as a result. When getting to college, Howard decided to give up and leave school, seeing his intellect as a waste of time and school as limited, when in reality, he was wasting the talent he had. What more happened next in his early life, is somewhat up in the air. What we do know is that eventually, he would be taken from his home of Duckworld.

Thog, the Nether-Spawn would use his demonic powers to cause an interdimensional cosmic axis to shift, setting Howard adrift and far away from Duckworld, his whole universe even. Through the Nexus of All Realities, a place where dimensional travel is possible, Howard would find himself face planting into the worst place known to humanity…the Florida Everglades. Joining Korrek of Ktharta, Howard embarked on a journey to return home and fix this wrinkle in the cosmos. Together with guardian of the Nexus, the Man-Thing, Thog was defeated, being pushed off the Stepping Stones of Oblivion. But this wouldn’t be his last return to Earth-616, and he would soon return to Cleveland, Ohio, where he would meet even more fascinating creatures such as Garko, the Man-Frog and Bessie the Hell-Cow, one of his earliest foes. Despite impressively outwitting the blood-sucking vampire cow, he was denied a position in the Cleveland police department, and he didn’t know where to go from there, until he met Beverly Switzler, a young model who was kidnapped by Pro-Rata. Howard would save the girl, and the two would live together, maybe considering normal civilian life to not be so bad. But being a talking duck in a world of humans proved to be challenging, facing even more crazy interdimensional enemies such as Dr. Bong, and even being involved in running for President and an attempted assassination on his life? Whatever it was, Howard always managed to outwit the odds.

Much time had passed since Howard was on Duckworld. Despite the life he had built on Earth, he missed his home. Taking Beverly with him to Duckworld, things got pretty hectic pretty fast. Beverly was the freak of the pair, and it seems like the Duckworldians answered to Rev. Godfrey Gander, who had gained huge political power despite merely being a priest. When Howard denounced his ideals and encouraged his duck brethren to think for themselves, and another plot was conspired to get back at the dastardly Howard. Beverly and Howard appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Quackson. He reunited with his entire family; his parents, and brother and sister, who had become a nun and mortician respectively. The next guest was Dr. Ludwig von Cluck, who was a paid actor in disguise working for Rev. Gander. Armed with a Surrogate Sniffer super-vacuum, Cluck tried to expose Beverly as a robot. Which of course she wasn’t, and all of her clothes got ripped off instead of her skin. Naked and afraid, the couple ran off the set and away from the enemy, being followed by Truman Capoultry, who listened to Howard’s inspiring words and wanted to help them escape. They were brought to Ducktor Strange, Mallard of the Mystic Arts, who portaled the couple back to Earth-616 before Gander could gun down Howard. 

Unfortunately, his time with Beverly wouldn’t last long, and they eventually broke up, sending Howard adrift once again. He didn’t feel like anybody that existed, just another duck in a man’s world. He was forced to comply with the Superhuman Registration Act due to being an interdimensional being, until learning his name didn’t even exist under the U.S. government’s records. Howard felt like a nobody. Somebody that wanted comfort, but could only push others away. Nobody special, trapped in a world he never made. Every adventure felt like something he was dragged into, but over time, he realized that even if the world didn't make sense to him, he could still make sense of his place in it. Through sheer wit, resilience, and a knack for survival, Howard carved out his own path; one filled with strange allies, bizarre escapades, and a begrudging sense of purpose. He might not have been the hero anyone expected, but in a universe as absurd as his, that made him special in its own way.

Detective Chimp

“Just a Chimp with a magic sword, Lady. But you can count on me.”

Deep within the undisturbed jungles of Equatorial Africa in 1953, several American explorers did what they do best: Disturb. Fred Thorpe, an animal trainer on the trip, stumbled across a lone chimpanzee far enough away from his tribe to not notice one of their own being captured. Having been brought entirely overseas to America, Fred saw fit to stage the chimp as the star of his traveling sideshow grift. Henceforth, the nameless ape would now be known to the world as Bobo the Amazing Detective Chimp! Of course, any deductions he was purportedly capable of were nothing more than the tricks of a conman hoping to make a quick buck off of a wild animal’s trained responses. Despite being taken from his home, Bobo didn’t mind being pampered and free from the kill-or-be-killed world of the wilderness, leading to an odd, yet strong bond with the man. At different points in different eras, this would all change upon Thorpe’s sudden murder, where his final dying act was to free the primate from the traveling circus. With Bobo nonverbally working with a local sheriff to solve his caretaker’s mysterious death, he would then serve as the sheriff’s mascot in a variety of misadventures while displaying feats of intelligence once attributed to much earlier alien mental enhancements.

But, in all eras, his life would forever be changed during a stop in Florida where Bobo wandered off, alongside local hero Rex the Wonder Dog, to the mystical Fountain of Youth. Upon drinking from it, the ape’s mind expanded to illogically great heights as his intellect was massively heightened and his grasp on every language grew crystal clear. But, perhaps more importantly, the grub-eating gumshoe became ageless. After his life-changing sips, life grew bleak for the little guy, having opened up a detective agency to support himself. The problem? Well, without any legal standing as a US citizen or human rights at all, Bobo was left with no recourse against flaky clients that simply refused to pay him. During his struggles to keep his agency afloat, Mr. Chimp developed a crippling alcoholism over the course of several, isolated decades to drown his sorrows and self-loathing. Despite his vices and habits, his detective skills were world-renowned, eventually catching the attention of the Dark Knight himself, Batman, as they’d team up every now and then to solve crimes. Yet, the isolating existence of the sulking simian supergenius would lead to him finding refuge within the Oblivion Bar, an interdimensional, mystic-exclusive tavern accessible via special doors around the world.

After having been a regular for a while, likely accepted thanks to the magical properties of the Fountain, he came to witness the bar come under ownership of Jim Rook, the Nightmaster. Ever the natural tactician, they would come to initially butt heads but eventually respect each other greatly as friends after Bobo’s intellectual contributions to Shadowpact missions, a team of heroic magic users. Unfortunately, death seems to always follow the detectives, as Jim Rook would later valiantly face down and die fighting at the hands of the multiversal threat known as the Batman Who Laughs and his Dark Knights. Heavily shaken at the death of one of his closest friends, Bobo’s drinking and depression worsened as he was now left to inherit the Oblivion Bar and the legendary Sword of Night. Such a bestowal would mean that, by definition, he was now the Nightmaster. This was a title his imposter syndrome would wrestle with as he continued his usual work under a different magic team, the Justice League Dark. His despair over his existence as a joke to people around and his feelings of unworthiness to wield the responsibilities of his lost friend to guard Myrra, a dimension under the protection of the Nightmaster, would all come to a head during a drunken stupor. Inside a library of spellbooks in Myrra, a drunken, grieving chimp would botch a spell meant to resurrect Jim Rook, breaking the law of death in the realm and leaving the Justice League Dark to clean up after his mess.

Yet, when this dimension came under fire from powerful threats, the people living there who had jailed and planned to execute him for his screw-up would have their doubts put to rest. As Bobo and his team fought off their aggressors after a pep talk from Wonder Woman, he had once again started on the path to value his own immortal life not by trying to live up to Jim, but by using his mind to be a hero in his own way. After promising to try to find Jim’s son, the true heir to the Sword of Night, in the future, the ape would eventually seek the assistance of Batman for a special case. Matt Thorpe, the astray son of his caretaker Fred, had fallen into a reluctant life of crime after the death of his father. Yet, even after their eventual encounter led to Matt accidentally shooting Bobo, he knew his life came from a place of pain. He allowed Fred’s son to run, believing he could help him and that his life could be turned around, since he sincerely believed he didn’t deserve to be stuck in a cage. After Batman helped to get Bobo treated, he found himself touched by the chimp’s mercy and emotional maturity after hearing what he did. Bruce then let his friend know, seeing the plight of a fellow detective that knew loss, that he had truly never underestimated him nor has he ever felt embarrassed to be seen around him, something that a grateful Bobo had needed to hear after a long, exhausting life.

Experience & Skill

Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck is one of the smartest beings in his homeworld with much potential for more, and it shows in his many misadventures. He is a potentially brilliant scholar who felt restricted by school, and thus learned all he needed to from the streets and took every work he could find, building his own philosophy, later dropping out of graduate college at age 32 due to being bored with the strict nature of school. Still, he graduated four years earlier, if not four years smarter. Later, he learned from Uatu the Watcher that he was born the smartest being in his world, maybe ANY world, and compared to Reed Richards or Albert Einstein. Examples shown when he was younger. He learned intelligence was a curse young, so thus squandered any attempt at learning. He did let it atrophy, but actually managed to dust it off while flying through the air, running over mass/speed/inertia in his head in order to reverse it and survive by falling in a garbage can, albeit with a broken hip. Other super-geniuses such as Spider-Man consider Howard an intelligent being.

In battles, what Howard lacks in quacktastic physical prowess he easily makes up for with brains for bird. He’s a very clever tactician and detective, being able to strategize and deduce things on the fly mid-battle. When fighting Dr. Bong, he determined his powers worked via the pitch and frequency that he hit his bell with, then combining circuits in a few seconds to blow up Dr. Bong’s position. He’s figured out the mechanics of a slot machine like robot to stall him and quickly escape. He can defeat a plant monster by lighting him on fire with a cigar, and even figure out he was in an illusionary world created by Franklin Richards. 

Howard’s been doing these wacky shenanigans for a long time, traveling to many different worlds, though has only been on earth for roughly five years probably. He’s been through it all, from helping Santa Claus save Christmas more than once, fighting and killing a vampire cow, cliff-jumping without any equipment, and fighting Dr. Bong in a battle that took place across multiple months. Being as smart and deductive as Howard is has also let him team up with some of Marvel’s biggest stars, such as She-Hulk, Miles Morales, Mockingbird, and many others such as Spider-Man, Thor, and Iron Man during Secret Invasion.

Besides his skills in Quack-Fu (which we’ll elaborate more on later), Howard’s got some pretty nifty skills of his own. He’s been noted to have training in several magical/mystical arts, and has gone up against and knocked out huge wrestlers. He’s also pretty adaptable, being able to fight in a reality-bending area while quickly adapting to the makeup of it. He’s very good with making useless junk out of weapons, like when he used a plank and a garbage lid like a shield against a mutant frog in a bout of courage, or when he used another trash can lid to beat an armed man. He’s also good at using real weapons too, like when he used Wizard’s Anti-Grav discs to beat his ally after they were used by him right before. 

Detective Chimp

Detective Chimp has always been a highly intelligent chimp, especially after his trip to the Fountain of Youth. Even when he was four years old (10 years old in human years), he was capable of making himself understood due to his ability to understand humans, even if they could not understand him at first. Lots of this is attributed to his intelligence being arguably higher then most of the human population, possessing a photographic memory. He was able to communicate with a fox without speaking when he didn’t have his intelligence, can multi-task several procedures of a case at once, dexterously climb trees even in cumbersome disguises, learn skiing with ease despite never trying it, and play baseball. His intelligence was put to good use when it came to catching crooks. He was even called to be the star witness of an upcoming legal trial of Legs Dunne.

Where Bobo really shines however is his detective skills. As the self-proclaimed world's greatest detective, his mind is an unceasing engine of solution. He’s solved a murder case just by looking at the crime scene twice in fact, and reportedly solved Batman's secret identity ages ago and figured out a case just by hearing the description, linking the murder to flowers due to the victim being given a new office beforehand. He even found Batman's location by looking at his recent crime interventions and deduced the buildings and the very gargoyles he was standing on to find him. Batman himself has asked Detective Chimp for help on crime cases many times, proving even more that Detective Chimp is up there as one of DC’s best detectives. He’s solved many cases on his own, such as when he identified a magical manuscript plus its author and cracked the Voynich Manuscript a while back, and when he solved a conspiratorial murder for Wonder Woman and unravels a 300 year conspiracy without much difficulty. It’s no surprise, given she’s had confidence that Chimp was “one of the finest detectives this world has ever known” in the past. He can even solve the Riddler’s puzzles, something Batman himself has struggled with, and he memorized the exact number of times someone has made a poop throwing joke about him. Additionally, Bobo’s been able to tail a fellow ape detective, Sam Simeon, to the secret base of Mallah, one of Grodd’s former lackeys. Making all this more impressive, Bobo kept these skills hidden for years.

His detective work lends itself to Bobo’s immense knowledge of the occult and the supernatural, which has helped him be a vital part of Shadowpact and the Justice League Dark. For example, he demonstrated his knowledge that covens of vampires typically operate under a master. He once broke out of a nightmare that Mr. Mxyzptlk trapped him in by drawing a magic circle with his own blood, recognizing the runes in Mxyzptlk’s nightmare on tentacles were backwards, which helped him deduce and figure out it was Mxy’s trick despite him trying to mislead Bobo. In the events of DC Future State, Bobo has knowledge of Madame Xanadu’s tarot card meanings and uses it to deduce that Etrigan’s hellfire is needed to undo a glamour spell masking Doctor Fate as an old man. Chimp has even once figured out that Wonder Woman was replaced by a copy, something the other members of the Justice League Dark couldn’t see.

His mind is also sharp in battle, especially due to how long he’s been alive. Some time after drinking from the Fountain of Youth, Bobo developed drinking problems for 50 years, making him at least over half a century old, and he was in a nightmare made by Mr. Mxyzptlk possibly for weeks or months. He’s a primary tactician for Shadowpact’s missions and has employed many plans in places he falls short, especially against super powerful threats, such as when they dealt with the Spectre. Bobo had a more tactical plan to deal with the Spectre’s campaign against magic. Bobo can’t contribute to the plan to jump Eclipso with magic users, so he offers to work on a contingency with Nightshade for her teleportation. His backup plan involves contacting a mortal he claims is potentially more powerful than Spectre. Bobo recruited Black Alice, who he claims is the most powerful magical teenager in the multiverse, as a backup plan to the now-failed mobbing of Eclipso and Spectre. Bobo’s strategy with Black Alice, who normally lacks magic but can briefly steal magical powers for a few minutes, such as from Doctor Fate and stealing Zatanna’s backwards speaking spells to the point that she forgot how to do it, was partially advised to him by the Phantom Stranger. During the ambush, she successfully steals the Spectre’s power. Another time mid-battle after being told Eclipso’s weakness to sunlight by the Phantom Stranger, he quickly formulates a plan to immediately use Nightshade’s powers to defeat Eclipso by teleporting her to a perpetual, non-decaying orbit around the sun itself. Later on during an all-out ape villain and hero battle, Bobo deduces mid-fight that Mallah was the “Alpha” and that dealing with him could end the small villain team. Even against more low scale foes like cordyceps infected people, Bobo has shown the ability to come up with plans on the fly.

One such tactic Bobo uses is geniality, the art of appearing friendly and cheerful to approach his suspects and get them to slip-up in conversations. Criminals grew paranoid that Bobo could discover any means of fabrication of a piece of evidence they attempted, so they sent Circe to steal a version of the evidence in question. Bobo anticipated this and caught her in the act, having apparently had the Unbound Spectre on standby to retaliate and torture her soul if she tried to attack him until she talked. He couldn’t have him arrested on Circe’s sole testimony, so Superman was called in to deal with the criminal. Bobo's ramblings while at gunpoint once convinced a recent murderer he just deduced to lower his gun and turn himself in, which he attributes to "knowing people" better since he claims it's easier to understand beings that are different than him. Most impressively, Bobo tricked Mr. Mxyzptlk into opening a bottle full of a swarm of insects in the Oblivion Bar to break his concentration and free the Justice League Dark from his nightmares.

Make no mistake though, Bobo also knows how to brawl…sorta. In his earlier days, Bobo showed above average usage of weapons, such as using batons to disarm an armed criminal, and being able to aim when throwing objects at groups of people such as apples, books, coconuts, or light bulbs. This extends to items such as bows and arrows, which he once used to puncture the fuselage on an airplane from a distance, albeit to his own surprise. This marksmanship gets so absurd that he’s been able to jump onto a seesaw to launch and ricochet a globe off of a ceiling to strike a criminal that’s currently fleeing the room they’re in. On the flipside, Bobo has made use of pendulums to swing around and make himself a harder target for gunmen to hit him with bullets. He tried taking up boxing once, though he lost when he fought a kangaroo. Despite being very bad at using the Sword of The Night beforehand, he managed to crack the code on how to use it through a tomb of chaos and command the skeletons he summoned prior, although this use of the sword visibly damaged him. Later, he’s shown the ability to utilize the abilities of The Sword of The Night by sheer will. He’s able to get up after being shot, and although was clearly badly injured, he was able to stand up and walk on his own for a good while before needing Batman’s help. In fact, his natural dexterity as a chimpanzee saves him after getting flung off of a building by catching onto a ledge before hitting the ground.

Equipment

Howard the Duck

Firearms

Light on the webbed foot, Howard comes strapped with many firearms and ammunition to boot. He’s gotten his hands on all sorts of dangerous guns, including but not limited to:

• Revolver: Grabbed one from a fallen enemy to use against other enemies.

• Rifle: Had this given to him by a wizard, but it was actually a joke one like Joker’s.

• Machine Guns: Used multiple machine guns while in the Santa business to help fight Hydra. He also had one on a cover and in a later story.

• Bazooka: Had on the cover.

• Giant Machine Gun: Had in a story.

• Bomb Launchers: Had on the cover.

• Grenades: Had dozens on the cover.

• Anti-Grav Weapon: Stole this from guards while in Collector’s prison, which he can use to grab and fling you around.

• Handgun: Had on the cover.

• Laser Gun: Got from soldiers he was fighting to use.

Sword

Not only has Howard wielded a sword on the cover of his first issue, but he’s also wielded one while adventuring with Doop (though Doop could be making it up? His stories are weird).

Baseball Bat

He’s gonna hit ya, he’s gonna hit ya’, he’s gonna hit ya!

Taser

Stole this one from a guy earlier in the issue, very good for incapacitating foes.

Big Gun

On top of a bitchin’ outfit, Howard came equipped with this high-tech gun to battle Marvel Zombies. No idea what it does though.

Big Freakin’ Gun

As a reference to Doom and Quake, Howard has made use of a massive pistol, nearly the size of his entire body, which fires equally massive combustible rounds to blow you and zombies to smithereens. Although, it does run on a limited supply of ammo.

Dinosaur Helmet

Howard’s worn and made use of a large, retro helmet that allows him to control dinosaurs of any kind since birds descend from dinosaurs (and apparently Duckworldians are close enough to count). This helmet was used to pacify a Tyrannosaurus rex to save his pals from its wrath and on a Brachiosaurus to enjoy a sunset with his buds.

No-Thing/Ultimate Annihilator

Befitting his friendship with one of Marvel's Mightiest monsters; Man-Thing, Howard has potentially one of the strongest tools ever conceived. The No-Thing, dubbed the Ultimate Annihilator by Psycho Man, allows you to “destroy anything” should you control your fear. Though it was originally found in the Microverse, it originated in the Nexus, where Man-Thing gave it to Howard many years ago for safe-keeping. In Howard's hands, he used it to erase the FF Psycho Man pulled, and could use it when he wasn’t scared while Psycho Man himself could not. 

The device was noted as able to outright kill Man-Thing, and made Galactus run off due to him comparing it to the Ultimate Nullifier, his very own existence erasing weapons. It works off of bravery, unlike the Nullifier requiring Intelligence, and Howard became brave enough to use it by the end without issue. As for concerns on if the device is standard, Howard was noted to have been given it years ago through his bond with Man-Thing. Given the significance of it as a weapon and object of trust, and Howard keeping it once more due to Man-Thing's wishes, it should be considered standard for him. 

Detective Chimp

Revolver

While he’s not one for immediate violence, he keeps a loaded revolver in his pockets at all times in case the need ever arises. Once, he even dropped in on a fight with a loaded rifle.

Magnifying Glass

His most iconic piece of equipment is, of course, his funny little magnifying glass.

Anti-Vampire Equipment

Bobo comes equipped with wooden stakes and a mallet, should he ever run into a vampire.

Sealing Bottle

Bobo was given a special bottle by the Phantom Stranger that allowed him to capture one of the Seven Deadly Sin demons, namely Sloth, out of one of their hosts for him (albeit offscreen).

Comet the Horse

Initially a robot horse used by Nightwing, Bobo can easily ride Comet, speak with him, have him turn invisible, and have this granted to allies within the range of its invisibility wave as well.

Justice League ID Card

Believe it or not, it gives him free hot beignets!

The Oblivion Bar

The finest drinking establishment across the country! Acting as the base of operations for Shadowpact, this magical pocket dimension is an extradimensional bar that is only visible and accessible to those skilled in magic, along with a two drink minimum rule, previously owned by Jim Rook, but is now owned by Bobo. Its location is described as “somewhere beyond conventional reality”, repeatedly called interdimensional, and is “a tiny pocket dimension created by the overlap in a number of different universes”. It’s stated that the Oblivion Bar is difficult to find and isn’t on Earth, but it can be accessed by special doors around the world. The Oblivion Bar doors around the world are protected by magical wards and give off mystical energies, and it’s capable of repairing itself after being heavily damaged.

But, people have certainly tried to access this place. There’s entrances to “The Seam”, a magical black market dimension, that people that know about it can clip through a specific wall in the Oblivion Bar to access, but it’s not clear if Bobo is aware of this. The Oblivion Bar is connected to the DC multiverse and can be accessed via interdimensional travel, and powerful beings like Zatanna can access the Oblivion Bar via a book containing a short story about it, which will transport her to one of the doors connected to it after reciting a portion of it. 

Within the Oblivion Bar, much takes place. Among the drinking and brainstorming, magic runs rampant. The bartender apparently has the power to kick out and shunt a person out of the door they came from via the door’s portal pulling them out telekinetically, although it is possible that it’s a power this specific bartender has. Considering how dangerous the bar can get, Chimp has experience with creating molotov cocktails out of alcohol from the Oblivion Bar, and he’s set up mystical traps that can be activated all around the pub, such as a fire-trap that temporarily cages Man-Bat. Additionally, its shelves have certain bottles full of a swarm of insects instead of drinks. It's so magically powerful that Ragman, a fellow sorcerer, considered the Oblivion Bar as a place where Spectre wouldn’t be able to find them, which is where many magic users congregate. Various other magic users are hiding from the Spectre’s campaign against magic itself in the Oblivion Bar, further substantiating that it can hide from him. However, Bobo later suggests that the safe haven of the Oblivion Bar won’t last long because so many magic users are gathered in one spot.

The Sword Of The Night

The magical sword of Nightmaster that was passed down to Bobo after Jim Rook, the original Nightmaster, was killed by the Batman Who Laughs. Created by a Myrran magician Farben, the sword was granted a wide array of magical power, some of which are working by default, and the others require a better understanding of the sword to properly utilize. It is magically bound to Bobo, meaning nobody but him can use it, and early on it was said that only a descendant of the original Nightmaster Nacht can even lift it which strongly implies Nacth or someone in his family fucked a chimpanzee at some point.  Regardless, people like Etrigan and Batman who Laughs have lifted it before. The sword is extremely versatile and has many abilities, and most importantly, it can fight and act by itself to protect the wielder, which is certainly a big help, since originally, Bobo wasn’t very good at using it, though he’s gotten far better over time.

The sword also hums to warn the user of any danger, and is capable of dispelling illusions just by touching them. The sword can not just guide its bearer’s arm in duels and parry sneak attacks, but can protect them in more outlandish ways, such as positioning itself in the exact way to break Jim’s fall by catching onto two rocks. If that wasn’t enough, the sword can also give the user outright protective power, to the point where it could protect Jim Rook from a universe-rending beam of energy. The sword also has other fairly inexplicable powers, most of which are used purely intuitively or by the sword itself. The sword doesn’t just slow down the host’s aging, it actually makes them younger and brings them seemingly to their physical prime. It can create portals, which Bobo has used in combat, teleport allies and BFR foes without the use of a portal, cut through space itself, be materialized in the bearer’s hands by sheer thought, create explosions and powerful energy blasts that destroyed a whole army of the undead and has very powerful magic absorption, to the point where after being depowered by the destruction of Myrra, it restored its former self by absorbing enough magic in the Other Place to restore itself. In a bad future, it can even passively absorb its enemies’ power to weaken them.

The sword is weird. In a Swamp Thing run, it was said to symbolize air, truth and intelligence, and was one of the three magi gifts to the messiah-like child of Swamp Thing as he ascended to godhood. Upon achieving true knowledge of the sword, the owner opens to themselves powers they never knew. For instance, the guidance of the past nightmasters to help the current wielder, and its users have invulnerability against getting harmed by the sword itself. But most importantly, the sword can do or be whatever the wielder believes it to be, for instance, it can casually duplicate itself and return like a boomerang and do whatever random crap the owner wishes. These last few powers requires deep understanding of the sword, which Bobo explicitly didn’t have originally, but given he explicitly cracked the code to properly utilize its power and how adept Bobo is at magic in general, between understanding a magic tome Zatanna couldn’t, and using a spell that nearly destroyed all of Myrra, it is unlikely he hasn’t gotten to the level of the aptitude with the sword that Jim Rook has, Jim being a fairly reluctant hero not interested in the sword until he left for Myrra. The sword’s power itself is immense as well, being capable of hurting beings such as Etrigan, Eclipso, and Upside-Down Man.

Miscellaneous Equipment

• Bananas: Early on, Bobo has free access to as many bananas as he wants. He also generally likes to keep a banana handy on his person.

• Human Disguise: Bobo disguises himself as an old man with clothes, stilts, and a fake beard. In this disguise, he can still dexterously climb trees. 

• Boxing Gloves: Apparently, Bobo owns boxing gloves should the occasion ever deem it necessary to throw hands.

• Ski Equipment: Bobo wins some ski equipment in an auction for 50 cents, which he uses with ease in the snow.

• Diving Equipment: He’s owned and used some diving equipment to be able to swim in deeper waters for more extended periods of time.

• Bow & Arrow: Bobo owns a bow & arrow that he can sometimes use with precision, but he’s not too experienced with it.

• Air Rifle: While on the lookout for UFOs, Bobo bought an air rifle to prepare for aliens.

• Parachute: Bobo once used a parachute while dropping in on a fight in Gorilla City.

• Cigarettes: Sometimes, Bobo smokes.

• Whistle: Detective Chimp owns a whistle that’s absurdly loud.

• Bicycle: Bobo owns a bicycle that he uses to chase down criminals fleeing in their cars.

• Firetruck: In his younger days, Bobo built a small fire engine, complete with its own fire hose and ladder. It's even fast enough to outspeed an actual fire truck!

• Computer: Bobo has a computer that he uses to get freaky with furries. What.

Abilities

Howard the Duck

Duckworldian Physiology

Apparently, Duckworldians are a few thousand years of evolution ahead of birds. Despite this, however, Howard’s physiology is noted to be closer to man than duck. Though, he’s still obviously able to use his beak (teeth?) to chomp down on the limbs of giant cookie monsters or forcibly poke it into people’s faces. Howard’s also surprisingly agile, since he’s able to hop over the heads of several monsters from another dimension swiftly and with ease.

Quack-Fu

In order to defeat local brute and master of the deadly arts, Count Macho, Howard enrolled himself in a self-defense class taught by Master C’haaj through a special ritual. During his training, Howard achieved a lifetime of kung-fu training in 3 hours and 17 minutes, a ridiculous feat. There, he developed balance, physical poise and mastery with a staff, and postures in attack and defense, alongside honing his reflexes to perfection, moving faster than the eye can follow, and applying the strength of his will to break mental barriers. 

After using this to defeat and outskill Count Macho and his lackeys, Howard’s consistently been able to recall his training, which apparently involves summoning his “Chi”, in dire situations as a self-proclaimed master at Quack-Fu, such as attacking a mob with flying kicks, swiping held weapons, or catching thrown knives. His mastery of Quack-Fu makes him an incredibly formidable hand-to-hand fighter when he’s pissed off, although this is somewhat inconsistent to the point that he sometimes calls it a joke. However, despite only possessing the average strength of “a Duck who engages in exercise only when he feels like it” and not having any superhuman powers, his Quack-Fu makes him a surprisingly deadly fighter.

Accuracy/Marksmanship

Howard calls himself a crackshot, one who never misses. And, he’s not exactly exaggerating either, like when he once grabbed a revolver from a fallen enemy to use against other foes, where he was sure he hit a demon square in the heart. Another feat to substantiate his claim is when he flicked his cigar with “eagle-eyed precision” to burn through a rope and snatch a key. 

Willpower/Courage

Either because he’s always so angry or he has an inexplicable amount of courage, Howard the Duck has been noted to have an indomitable will by Dr. Strange himself. While fighting Garko, he’s been able to muster up bursts of courage he’s never had before and was brave enough to allow for the use of the No-Thing, which only allows someone currently feeling no fear to fire it. In fact, when Deadpool fused with him, Howard had a willpower battle with the Merc to try to control his own body, whose will he later managed to overpower outright.

Vehicular Mastery

Howard can drive pretty much everything you put in front of him, which includes piloting a car flying through an alien dimension.

4th Wall Breaking

Since Howard typically fills the niche of comedic relief character, he’s no stranger to occasionally breaking that pesky fourth wall even if it’s tamer stuff like simply referencing whose story it is, saying that he’s more social satire than superhero, or acknowledging that he’s in the marvel universe. Additionally, he’s also been able to directly talk to the reader and even finish the narrator’s sentences. And as you can see above, he’s been able to peel back comic pages before in order to tell the reader about himself.

Resistances

• Mind Control: Resisted a mind controlling washing machine thing.

• Fear Manipulation: Was unharmed touching Man-Thing until the thought of losing Beverly and faced him later in the issue.

Detective Chimp

Magical Chimpanzee Physiology

Ever since his exposure to the Fountain of Youth, Bobo’s not only been blessed with immortality and intelligence, but his physiology has been significantly heightened like no other monkey. He is now entirely made of magic and carries a large amount of its energy. His magical physiology is so extreme that his own blood can be used to draw a magic circle able to break him out of a nightmare trap and a similarly magically-induced trance by Mr. Mxyzptlk. All of this isn’t to say he doesn’t retain the typical aspects of a regular Chimpanzee, he’s incredibly agile, capable of swinging on ceiling lights and running on power lines.

Enhanced Intellect 

There have been two main backstories centered around how Bobo got his supernatural intelligence told throughout the years. The first of which comes from two aliens named Y-Nad and K-Ram altering and enlarging Bobo’s mind via experimental equipment by flying into his body. This helps Bobo draw and communicate clues about a missing explorer in Africa as well as enabling him to form full thoughts, but not speech. Instead, he nonverbally communicates about his cases and ultimately solves them throughout the story before drinking from the Fountain of Youth much later, since the first version has him and Rex simply become younger from drinking it early on. 

The modern (and not retconned) version simply has him drinking from the Fountain of Youth’s mystical waters, gaining immortality and linguistic powers. This literally magically opened his eyes and allowed his awareness to expand to the point where he can now communicate with any animal in their own language and no longer age. This imbued him with magic, standard human intellect, and further investigative insight to a much greater degree.

Enhanced Senses

Due to his nature as a Chimpanzee, and a magical one at that, Bobo has quite the intuition through his physical senses. He can see culprits leaving when no one else is able to, smell the scent of a pen and remember it well enough to recall it as the smell of gorilla poison and he has a gut feeling regarding the danger of objects he’s never seen before such as dynamite. This gut feeling of his extends to other scenarios as well, such as intuitively suspecting a vampire attack was likely sent by someone and grabbing a suspicious cat that ended up belonging to Klarion the Witch Boy, unbeknownst to them. All of these attributes only further his crime solving abilities, letting him consistently solve crimes just by looking at the crime scene. Bobo's sense of smell can even detect if other people have been in areas he's in and for how long. And, he can tell when there's an off smell, like how the "tinny" smell of car exhaust meant something was off since it was obfuscating the scent of blood. His acute sense of smell is able to sense a smell strong enough to detect the odd scent of the ink in a pen, which he later recalls in order to deduce where the poison used to kill that aforementioned gorilla is from.

Omnilingualism

Even before he developed his extreme intellect, Chimp could figure out a whole conversation with a fox out of what was actually communicated through smells, gestures and sounds. Now, with his new found mind, he can talk to animals and just about any magical creature for that matter. He can talk to dogs and horses, the Phantom Stranger after he was turned into a mouse, Superman’s dog, Krypto. And, his ability to directly communicate with these creatures was able to break through Nightshade’s spell of making sure no one notices them, implying it is, in of itself, magical in some way.

Vehicular Mastery

Detective Chimp has quite the mechanical aptitude. He’s been called a genius at souping-up engines, and knows more mechanics then someone who went to school about it for two years, which made him able to fix up his go-kart in mere moments and still catch up/win a race, and later rig the kart to blow up after driving for a while to stop the crooks from using it as a getaway car. Cars aren’t the only thing this chimp’s well adapted in using, he was also able to ride a horse to safety despite having no experience with riding a horse before. In fact, this is a consistent skill, such as when he rode Nightwing’s robot horse with similar ease much later. He can even pilot around bathyspheres and submarines to the best of his ability.

Resistances

• Soul Manipulation: Resisted having his soul being taken because he is not human.

Non-Standard Stuff

Howard the Duck

Iron Duck

While preparing for his upcoming confrontation with the nefarious Dr. Bong, Howard had Iron Duck armor constructed for him in a garage, by a delusional veteran who thought he was Tony Stark’s uncle, so he wouldn’t immediately get killed. In addition to obviously providing his body with some protection, it came equipped with flamethrower hands, spring boots, a radio to speak with others, a searchlight, and a diamond-drill on his butt that can burrow through the floor. It can bust through walls on its own, although strong enough hits can cause it to come apart.

Nexus Monster Mutation

After Man-Thing’s warping of the Nexus near his body affected Howard and his pals, they were mutated into monstrous, alternate reality versions of themselves. Howard, in particular, was turned into “Howard the Dinosaur”, who dual-wielded two large guns, but thankfully he managed to maintain his sanity and sentience whilst the others were losing their minds.

Dr. Strange

Once Strange was knocked out while in the presence of Howard, his astral form guided the Duck to help him save the others. He guided Howard’s mind and hand telepathically, while his spirit was the will that guided the spells. Later, he also transferred some of his arcane knowhow to Howard before he was taken out. He has a natural aptitude for mystical arts, having the weapons and magic skill of Doctor Strange. Some spells he used include:

• Vapors of Valtorr: Used these to BFR foes in a gust of smoke.

• Shield of the Seraphim: Used to redirect an attack.

• Transmutation/Energy Manipulation: Turned that same shield into spider-webs. Mentioned elsewhere he would turn people into kumquats if he was Dr. Strange.

• Cloak of Levitation: Used to wrap someone up for him to deck in the schnoz.

Black Armor

Made from real weapons that a huntress ally of Kraven the Hunter collected, Howard’s been able to make powerful use of an advanced black armor that comes equipped with numerous weapons. This arsenal includes a mace that can block energy blasts, an energy ring that fires energy blasts, and some heat vision that fires burning lasers from his eyes.

Abundant Glove

The Abundant Glove is an artifact that is somewhat opposite to the Infinity Gauntlet, being powered by Abundant Gems such as…Dance and Respect? While the full extent of this weapons’ capabilities are known, it is able to face powerful superhumans like the Human Torch, as well as several heralds with it, demonstrating the ability to make energy constructs. Howard stole it at the end and used it to set things right. And, it bonded to his mind and soul apparently, and with just the Compassion Gem it could make a portal across dimensions. He himself was able to use it, though he didn’t like using it due to not liking magic.

Hellstrom Possession

Got possessed by Daimon’s second soul and his demonic self to get some new garb, gaining many demonic abilities the Son of Satan possesses such as:

Soulfire: Daimon noted this was at his command, which he blasted through a pitchfork.

• Trident: Howard, in this state, used one as a weapon, and it was naturally very hot due to being a Hell weapon. He also honed in on Beverly’s psychic wavelength with it to find her in Ohio, made a ring of fire around him, and its fire, which can be blasted from it, potentially acts like a Penance Stare.

• Flight: Self-explanatory.

• Soul-Devour: Claims he can devour Daimon’s soul.

Voodoo Magic

After learning through what was basically a “Voodoo Book for Dummies” and a few artifacts, Howard was able to wield voodoo magic while again being told that he has great potential in the mystic arts, harkening back to Dr. Strange’s appraisal of him. Although, he gives this up later since he’s not too power or magic-hungry. When he did have it, however, he had tons of voodoo weapons and an aptitude for magic, such as owning a classic Voodoo Doll. This can be used to harm people fighting him by sticking the doll with a needle, but he has to dress it up in a tiny costume to resemble his target first. There’s also a summoning spell that he happened to activate by luckily quacking in just the right way to invoke a small army of zombie ducks (and some zombie geese) to peck at and swoop in against a swarm of undead he was facing.

Duckpool

After some misclicks with Deadpool’s teleporter, Deadpool and Howard merged into a single being, both sharing the consciousness of one body. While he still had the Merc’s iconic swords and guns, they were constantly fighting for control of this body, and it didn’t help that Howard’s body was decidedly, not very assassin-like, so he was much weaker. Still, he was able to hold his own while in control, attributing it to Deadpool’s metabolism and muscle memory.

Silver Surfer

In one of Howard’s stories, he became a wielder of the Power Cosmic, taking the appearance of Silver Surfer. Silver Surfer made a Power Cosmic Barrier around him should they be separated, which made him this. It did run out after a bit, but enabled him to square off with the Collector for a while. Some abilities he has include:

• Flight: Bro can fly.

• Surfboard: Norrin’s board, apparently “way faster” than the Guardians ship. It apparently took a liking to Howard, and shielded him from attacks.

• Enhanced Senses: Howard can talk to and hear people in space.

• Buffing: Used the Power Cosmic to refuel and steer a ship and boosted its speed.

• Energy Blasts: Was going to use energy blasts against the Collector and did so later.

Nexus of All Realities

One time, Howard accidentally bonded to the Nexus of All Realities and it became him. The Nexus of All Realities is a cross dimensional gateway that can access any reality as some sort of intersection. Through that, he acts as a gateway to places in this universe and to others. He can think of a place and others can travel there, or they can override his thoughts with their own of a destination. The Stranger, an abstract being, said Howard could make an entire universe with this power due to having so much residual energy. Galactus himself even saw Howard with the Nexus as valuable, saying he would use him to leave this universe. In fact, Howard used this power to send away the Collector to who knows where. Apparently, he had a psychic bond with it, and could use it to go wherever he wants, including to other dimensions.

Phoenix Force

Howard was briefly an avatar of the Phoenix during the Phoenix Force Tournament as a potential candidate to be its host…before getting immediately killed by Red Widow before he could do anything aside from generate flames and float.

Detective Chimp

Helm of Fate

After Doctor Fate’s Helmet came literally flying back through space at the “velocity of god” through the universe, something that theoretically gets up to 1 decillion times faster than light if treated as quantifiable, it bonked Bobo right on the head and chose him to be its next wielder. While spending a day as Doctor Fate, it granted Detective Chimp quite a few typical superpowers, such as flight, telekinesis, and activated intangibility. However, its main amplifications and boons involved granting Bobo an enormity of history and awareness, such as learning the Helm’s entire history of usage, how to perform magic, knowing several secret herbs and spices, and realizing the fact that stars are sentient and can dream. Not only that, but it gave the chimp global clairvoyance, which allowed him to innately know people’s names before they tell him, know if they’ve contracted diseases, see hyper specific scenarios about a person’s past, and perceive currently present scenarios that specific people around the world, like in Africa and China, are in.

Additionally, he’s claimed that the Helm allows him to imbue his Shadowpact teammates with “god-level powers”, cure demonic possession, cure birth defects, and end all disease. Plus, it lets him make himself a little Doctor Fate costume so long as he’s wearing the helmet. However, this does come with some drawbacks, such as the wealth of knowledge causing him to freeze up for a while until he focuses on a case he was already working on, since that amount of information is antithetical to his detective mind. After about a day or less of usage, he kicked the Helm away to find a new host, since he states that continuing to wear it would eventually erode his mental identity until only Fate was left in his place. But, while the abilities were instantly gone, the residual knowledge from the helmet stuck with him for an entire week, so he solved as many cases as he could before that faded away.

Etrigan the Demon

In this alternate future timeline from the main continuity, a part of the Future State run, Bobo was the host for Etrigan after Jason Blood was forcibly separated from him by Merlin. Here, Bobo can summon him at will whenever he wants or vice versa, and Zatanna suggests he would have been a great asset when they fought against Merlin. This timeline’s Etrigan has a sinner’s soul on-hand that he used to empower Ragman’s suit so it could fight Merlin’s hunters. As he’s active, Detective Chimp can still speak to Etrigan in his mind. In fact, after a harsh truth bomb, Etrigan chokeslams Bobo after an implied unrelenting fight in the mind, but Bobo points out that he can’t be destroyed since they’re “tethered”. Etrigan’s flaming breath was also later able to undo a particular glamour spell set up by Doctor Fate on himself, which was specifically meant to be unraveled by this attack.

Red Tornado

In one of the Dark Multiverse Elseworld continuities, Bobo is much older, literally wearing the sentient Red Tornado over himself, and is busy unlocking Red Tornado’s secrets. His age here didn’t seem to dampen his senses, since he was able to notice that Dick Grayson was followed by Duke Thomas. Red Tornado can also perform calculated odds of their team winning a fight based on what he knows. Bobo is also able to use Red Tornado’s air elemental tornado powers to fly and he can direct the winds that Red Tornado produces.

During his time preparing for the battle against the corrupted Justice League members, Bobo picked up Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth, which he was able to use to expertly wrangle the Barbatos-corrupted, gorgon Wonder Woman. Curiously, this is actually consistent with an early story where Bobo was a fan of westerns. Back then, he practiced lassoing tree trunks and an ostrich. However, he also seemingly needs Red Tornado’s help to reel Diana in, suggesting Red Tornado can lend his physical strength when needed. Bobo claims that in this state, Red Tornado and his own souls are bonded and “made of metal”. By getting in close, he was able to kill Hydra Diana and themselves with a self-destruct move.

Primate Legion Bobo

In the possible future timeline Elseworld of DC One Million, Detective Chimp is instead a Batman stand-in, fighting crime with enhanced mental abilities and accelerated reflexes due to illegal genetic testing in the Primal Legion, their ape-themed galaxy’s version of the Justice League of America. There, Bobo understands the intricacies of folding planar space and estimates the time of collision between their galaxy and the Justice League's home galaxy.

Feats

Howard the Duck

Overall

• Saved Spider-Man and was willing to sacrifice himself to do so

• Merged with Deadpool

• Has saved the universe many times

• Helped Santa Claus save Christmas twice

• Was a potential candidate for the Phoenix Force

• Defeated Dr. Bong, Bessie the Hellcow, and Garko the Man-Frog

• Really good at heroic speeches for some reason

• Founded Howard T. Duck Private Investigations

Power

• Used a sword to shatter a lance.

• Choked an old hag.

• Rammed and knocked out a huge wrestler.

• Smashed a chair against a guys back.

• Killed a giant fly with a guitar.

• Helped Santa pull his sleigh up a hill.

• Dove through Man-Thing’s body.

• Knocked a giant burly guy out with his own rock weapon.

• Whacked two guys with a statue and beat them up.

• Kicked a door off its hinges.

• Implied to have beat up Frog Man and the Vile Tapeworm.

• Whacked back some monster with a street sign that was going to attack Spider-Man.

• Pinned down some lady who was beating Gwenpool with a table.

• Restrained Deadpool’s arm and kicked him back in a compilation type thing.

• Punched and appeared to be beating Beetle.

• Smashed Dr. Bong in the face with a shovel to activate his BFR tech.

Speed

• Dodged a blast from Turnip-Man.

• Dodged/evaded gunfire.

• Blocked gunfire using a trash can lid.

• Evaded a gator's chomp.

• Piloted a car flying through an alien dimension.

• Ran away from an energy blast.

• Dodged swings from Alphonse de Manger Beaucoup Ducanard.

• He later fought alternate Howard’s with Avenger powers.

• Possibly dodged gunfire from Gwenpool.

• Fought several zombies alongside Miles and Mockingbird.

• Dodged a feral Rocket leaping at him and his gunfire.

• Dodged a laser pointer.

• Dodged gunfire from Rocket Racoon

Durability

• Punted through a window by a vampire cow.

• Got choked and thrown against a wall.

• Tanked a small explosion.

• Got blasted by the mind powers of a pissed off Turnip-Man.

• Turnip-Man caught and lifted a bus with his telekinesis. 

• Got smacked by Man-Thing.

• Caught in a lab explosion.

• Shrugged off getting hit to kick a car door by Frankenstein.

• Got punched by a daytime werewolf while solving a case.

• Got punched by Wizard. 

• Choked by Black Cat.

• Was tossed into a guard to knock him out by Gwenpool.

• Was struck by a meteorite that happened to be a (G)hostess Fruit Pie snack.

• Got knocked out by Aunt May Skrull with a gun. (FRAUD???)

Detective Chimp

Overall

• Regarded as one of, if not the best, detective in the DC universe

• Figured out Batman’s secret identity before ever meeting him in person.

• Became an employee of the Bureau of Amplified Animals 

• Defeated Sin, the Spectre, and the Upside-Down Man 

• Briefly bonded with the Helm of Fate and defeated the Trickster

• Alongside Batman, saved Christmas by locating the missing Rudolph and giving him back to Santa.

• Worked under both Shadowpact and the Justice League Dark

• Became the protector of Myrra.

Power

• Broke out of being tied up and then beat the hell out of his kidnapper, who claimed that chimpanzees are “many times stronger” than the strongest normal human.

• Knocks out a man in one hit by flinging a book at his head.

• Throws a light bulb of a lamp post at another man to knock him out in one shot.

• Knocks out yet another man out in one hit with a well-aimed coconut toss.

• Pushes a large stone off a cliff to smash a passing boat.

• Knocks out a man with the butt of a rifle in one hit.

• In a flashback, Bobo is shown fighting clay creatures in a flashback.

• Stabs some vampires with a wooden stake.

• Briefly holds open a school bus's doors.

• Subdued a thief wanted by the FBI.

• Briefly disrupted Grodd’s concentration by leaping on his head and punching him before getting easily subdued by a psychic net from him.

• Bobo helps fight cordyceps-infected people.

• Hits a man while proclaiming that he is seven times more powerful than a normal human. (420 joules, street level)

• Busts down a metal door. (1.8 Megajoules)

• When wearing the Helm of Fate, Chimp becomes strong enough to bust through brick walls. (42.5 Megajoules)  

• Sword of Night: Using the Night Sword, Bobo briefly bisected the Upside Down Man, who’s purportedly made of living magic.

Speed

• Bobo outspeeds the human explorers chasing him.

• Bobo ducks to avoid a criminal’s punch.

• Bobo intercepts a spear from a harpoon gun before it hits him.

• Dodged bullets that nearly hit his feet.

• Bobo leaps onto an escaping ostrich, which characters stated could sprint at 60 mph.

• Caught up to a speeding car while running along power lines.

• His acrobatics made it so he looked like he was in 2 places at once.

• Bobo is shot at by a rifle, which he dodges out of the way from twice after the man starts firing “suddenly”. Although, it’s unclear if the shots are simply missing.

• Chimp dodges a strike from a drug-enhanced Man-Bat.

• Titano attacks Bobo and his ape allies, but Bobo dodges one of his swings.

Durability

• Decked in the face by a thief.

• Boxes with a kangaroo, but takes numerous blows.

• Left unharmed from a head-on collision with a car while on a flying saucer, although the saucer absorbed the brunt of the crash.

• Gets swatted away by a weird skeleton god creature.

• Although it did knock him out for a time, he still got struck by Dr. Fate's helmet.

• Got shot, and, although he was clearly badly injured, got back up on his feet.

• Slapped across the face by a mischievous Mr. Mxyzptlk.

• Bobo is struck by Jackanapes, who could damage Monkey Prince like Silverback did.

• Chimp is shown to have (somehow) survived a large tower's explosion after the Omega Knight used its energy to blast it apart. (0.084 Tons of TNT, Small Building Level)

Scaling

Howard the Duck

Dr. Bong

A frequent enemy of Howard the Duck, and one of his earliest. These two have squared off many times, and Howard should be comparable to his main rival. 

• Dr. Bong smashes through the floor.

• Smashed into concrete by Rocket Raccoon with one of his guns.

• Dr. Bong could level the hospital.

Man Thing (Non-Standard Form Scaling)

Being connected to the Nexus means he shares some comparability with the Man Thing in power, the main guardian of the interdimensional phenomenon, and should be comparable to many of his feats, especially those feats where the Nexus is used to amp others.

• Can lift 1,000 pounds.

• Man-Thing fully maxed out with fear would cause reality to collapse in on itself.

• Called both a “swamp god” and “all but a god” whose powers could “burn the world”.

• Fought evenly with Classic Savage Hulk. This version of Hulk can:

• Destroy Nightcrawler’s universe with a thunderclap

• The Hulk's anger was measured as infinite by the Beyonder

• While punching an opponent in the Crossroads, the concussive force of his strike traveled to infinite dimensions via the gateways present there

• Fought on par with Odinforce Thor as Starship Hulk

• A fragment of the Nexus could suck an entire planet into Devil Slayer’s dream.

• An opening in the Nexus would destabilize the interdimensional balance and could suck Citrusville, the Earth, and eventually spell the end of all creation.

• Screwing up the repair of the Nexus could destroy all of creation.

Misc. Phoenix Force Users  (Non-Standard Form Scaling)

Though it was brief, Howard having the Phoenix Force means he should be comparable to some of their users, who have also had brief usages of the power. 

• During the Phoenix Force tournament, Man-Thing fought with Black Panther while they were both amplified by the Phoenix Force.

• Moon Knight punched Khonshu so hard, he sent him flying into two Moons and back to Earth

• Odin and Lady Phoenix were going to rebuild Creaton if the Celestials destroyed it

• The magic of Scarlet Witch is the direct opposite to the Phoenix

• Giraud could cauterize a wound in Multi-Eternity

• The Phoenix Gun, which has a small portion of the Phoenix Force, could still blow up entire planets

• Maya and Firehair were able to survive being drowned in the omniversal flood, which was going to erase all of creation (including the afterlives) and was capable of destroying their mind, body, and soul.

Detective Chimp

Rex the Wonder Dog

Chimp’s oldest companion, and one of DC’s more underrated animal superstars! They’ve shared many adventures in the wild, and Rex certainly has more feats then he might seem.

• Rex the Wonder Dog takes down and kills a small pterodactyl.

• One time, Rex swung himself to tackle a grizzly bear and knocked them over.

• Rex is swallowed by a tornado and flung out of it onto the ground, but isn’t too bothered by the impact.

• Rex the Wonder Dog possibly dodges a lightning bolt?

• Rex beats up an eagle.

• Managed to fight both a crocodile and lion in quick succession.

• Rex could stagger a large crocodile and briefly outswim it.

• Rex dodges numerous revolver shots with ‘dazzling agility’.

The Jungle League

The all-ape superhero team, including Detective Chimp himself. Bobo should be somewhat comparable to some of his team members in terms of physical stats due to obvious resemblances.

• Apes like Jackanapes and Silverback were following Mallah's orders and were explicitly amplified in physical dexterity, size, and strength by black magic via monkey's paws. The apes working for Mallah didn't take kindly to this and beat him down together.

• Monkey Prince survived a beatdown from numerous clones of his own arm.

• Jackanape has physically brutalized a cop and tore off his arm.

Shadowpact (Non-Standard Form Scaling)

Wielding the Sword of The Night is no easy feat, and certainly goes recognized by masters of magic he is surrounded by, including teammates and enemies alike, thus Chimp with the Sword should be comparable to other members of Shadowpact.

• Ragman mentions he adjusts his physical strength by using different amounts of souls.

• Jim rook uses the sword to one-shot Lord Meh, who captured and restrained the rest of the Shadowpact

• Enchantress acted as a mystical conduit by granting some of her magic and gathering other volunteered magic across the world, such as from Alan Scott, Zatanna, Phantom Stranger, and more, for Captain Marvel to amplify him enough to be able to beat down the Spectre during their fight, who was previously draining his magic.

• Enchantress got overwhelmed by the magical conduit she acted as and was corrupted by that volunteered power, unleashing a blast directly on Jim Rook.

• Note: The Spectre in this Shadowpact run is unbound from any host.

• Black Alice, who normally lacks magic but can steal magical powers for a few minutes, such as from Doctor Fate and stealing Zatanna’s backwards speaking spells to the point that she forgot how to do it, successfully ambushed and stole the Spectre’s powers.

• Nightshade lands attacks on Eclipso and the Spectre before getting smacked away.

Misc. Magic Users (Sword of The Night Scaling)

Chimp has also served on the Justice League Dark, and the Sword’s involvement is moreso in these stories, against extremely powerful magic and cosmic deities. This section will offer more direct scaling based on who the Sword has harmed.

• The Sword of The Night harmed Eclipso, via his own admittance. Eclipso can:

• Eclipso could handle being struck by Black Alice, who had briefly stolen the full breadth of Spectre’s unbound powers and strength.

• Eclipso used Jean Loring as a host to blast apart a building in Arkham Asylum.

• Eclipso once took control of both Jim Corrigan's soul and the Unbound Spectre, who was then fought off by a combination of Etrigan, Zatanna, and Doctor Fate before the Spectre defeated him later upon Jim reclaiming his powers.

• Upside Down Man was briefly sliced in half by the Sword of Night being wielded by Bobo himself before regenerating. The Upside Down Man can:

• Swamp Thing and the Green overpowered and buried the Upside Down Man while inside of his own realm before he explosively broke out shortly afterwards.

• The Upside Down Man threatened magic itself, which would take down all of reality if it was destroyed.

• Jim Rook used the Night Sword to block a magical blast from a corrupted Enchantress, who was amplified by a portion of the same powerful volunteered magic she gathered to allow Captain Marvel to fight on par with the Unbound Spectre. The Spectre can:

• The Spectre killed 700 sorcerers and Enchantress claims Blackbriar Thorn “will” die as he fights the Spectre, so she and Ragman retreat.

• Magical characters claim that Madame Xanadu, Doctor Fate, and Phantom Stranger are the only ones able to contend with Spectre

• Spectre and Shazam are locked in combat, with Shazam claiming that he’s “breaking” magic, as in, breaking it down to its initial wild form before spells, wards, and contaminants could tame it. However, Spectre eventually absorbs the magic there and claims he’ll never be fully drained unless all magic is gone.

• The Spectre absorbed the magic from and killed Shazam. Then, he disintegrated the Rock of Eternity, causing it to blip across many dimensions before exploding over Gotham, with magical debris falling globally and freeing the 7 Deadly Sins.

Weaknesses

Howard the Duck

Despite being very impressive for his size and stature, Howard isn’t without his shortcomings. He is not the most physically impressive combatant, and can still be put down by very mortal means, be it a knife stab or just being knocked unconscious. He’s also shown frequent vulnerability to various gases and hypnotic abilities, such as Dr. Bong’s paralyzing powers, or being knocked out by a gas that “cleans all consciousness from the brain”.

Detective Chimp

Bobo is also very much still a chimpanzee. A magical one sure, but he’s no soldier, and is still vulnerable to injuries such as a gunshot, or a whack in the head. He’s also shown vulnerability to mental attacks, such as when he got accidentally mentally paralyzed by the Enchantress. Additionally, despite being made up of magic, Bobo’s been magically transformed back into a regular, simple chimpanzee before and horrifically, magically melted into a chimp puddle by the Upside Down Man. This even extends to getting stuck in mental illusions which allowed him to fall under the thrall of Starro, although he could theoretically escape it like he did with Mxyzptlk’s nightmares if these weren’t so raw and cruel about letting him have a posthumous conversation with the illusory “Jim Rook”. More worrisome than that however is Bobo’s severe alcoholism. Very often can he be found drinking his problems away in the Oblivion Bar due to the terrifying supernatural things he has encountered, seeing drinking and smoking as a means to dull the pain or forget it altogether.

Secondly, for as powerful of a weapon the Sword of The Night is, there are some notable drawbacks. The big issue is Bobo admits he really doesn’t know how to fight or use the Sword of The Night. It's also implied that the Sword of The Night will not work for him on occasion, and its source of power is tied to Myrra and would become just a regular sword if Myrra is destroyed. It has also failed to work on high tier magical beings such as the Spectre who was, at the time, a memory, lingering afterimage, and “empty spirit”, who would eventually fade into nothingness in this state, implying he was in a near non-existent state beyond the spiritual.

Before the Verdicts…

(Credit to French for images) 

Does Howard the Duck Scale to Street Tiers?

Understandably, somebody like Howard the Duck matching a super-soldier like Captain America feels… wrong. There is plenty of conversation to be had about whether or not it is, so, let’s get cracking! 

Starting off with why he would not scale to street tiers, Howard has his fair share of antifeats and attributes notably weaker than other superhuman characters in Marvel. Guidebooks frequently note that he possesses no superhuman strength, and even go so far as to say he doesn’t even exercise much. That is a stark contrast from the super-soldiers or masters of physical combat like Captain America, Deadpool, Cyclops, Moon Knight, or any of the other heroes that actually possess these sorts of feats. This is also further emphasized with what Howard is to begin with; social satire. He’s always been a very different breed of hero compared to virtually all of Marvel’s crowd of spandex, because he was never really meant to be one to begin with. Howard himself has said his physique is “decidedly not assassin” in relation to Deadpool the Duck performing all sorts of crazy shenanigans. 

Going further into that, when Howard merged with Deadpool, he noted that all of the skilled feats he got up to were attributed to Deadpool’s metabolism and muscle memory (more on that later). Even beyond these examples, Howard has his fair share of fraud showings that further cause doubt on actually scaling to superhuman people, like being knocked out in one strike by a Skrull posing as Aunt May (lol, lmao even). So, narratively, logically, and statistically, Howard is clearly not on the same exact level as these sorts of feats… usually.

Moving on to why he would scale to street tiers, even though he’s noted as average in strength, he’s still had his fair share of times where he was objectively damn near matching street-tiers. For one thing, he has multiple means to compare to Deadpool and Rocket, who are no slouch in general standing. He restrained Deadpool’s arm and kicked him back in a compilation of other characters doing the same, and there’s also the matter of Deadpool the Duck. Earlier, we noted that it was his muscle memory and metabolism that enabled Howard to fight as well as he did, but the point of their fusion is that it is both parties combined into one. It is still more akin to Howard’s body than it is to Deadpool’s, and while plenty of his training carried over to this new amalgamation, it wasn’t exactly entirely his doing.

At numerous times during this event, it was usually referred to as more of Howard’s body than Deadpool’s meaning you can generally use it as a sort of physical comparison. Obviously, Wade’s transferred skills are important, but Howard very clearly put in SOME of the work. To support this, at one point Dr. Bong fought Deadpool the Duck on even footing. Once unfused, Howard proceeded to knock out Dr. Bong with a shovel smash, when again, his Deadpool self earlier was fighting him evenly. More notably, early in his career, Howard fought and killed Bessie the Hellcow, where he dodged her attacks and stabbed her through weaponry. This matters because in more recent comics (which also recount this battle as more in Howard’s favor) Hellcow fought alongside Deadpool directly in both strength and speed terms. 

As for Rocket, not only has Howard dodged both his weaponry and his physical attack on him, but another important matter is the time both Howard and Rocket were cloned by the Collector. For those unaware, their clones, Linda the Duck and Shocket Raccoon, were gender-swapped duplicates made to repopulate their species (side note, stay away from Collector’s internet history). Genetically, they are exactly the same in terms of physicality, which is important because Linda obviously worked with Shocket in combat for decades thanks to a very long story involving time travel. She’s also piloted spaceships as well, and again, she is a clone of Howard, who works with a clone of Rocket. 

Beyond those examples, there’s still more we can pull from where Howard can hit above his normal ballpark, such as when he fought and appeared to be beating Beetle (this current version explicitly has a suit with super-strength making her able to lift one ton which also boosts her defense). It should also be brought up that knowing Quack-Fu is consistently stated to make Howard quite the formidable fighter, almost as a substitute for lacking true superhuman attributes that still allows him to fight without it.

So, is Howard street-tier or not? While both cases can be made, it seems more falls in line with Howard downscaling their level than anything else. Narratively it may seem a bit odd, but that same narrative also has him slug it out with people similar to Deadpool (Hellcow and Dr. Bong), compare to master mercenaries like Rocket Raccoon, and explicitly describe him as a deadly fighter despite a lack of superhuman ability thanks to Quack-Fu. A major point of Howard’s adventures across the board is his cowardice vs his desire to do good, with the former often causing him to not try his hardest in fear of getting hurt. When he actually gives it his all, he’s legitimately proven at the least similar to these characters, and downscaling should be acceptable thanks to that.

Does Detective Chimp Scale to Street Tiers?

Okay, now it’s Bobo’s turn to put his feats under a magnifying glass, so to speak. This scaling will mostly be referring to his power and durability, since Howard and Bobo are both consistently more along the lines of bullet timers. So, it should go without saying that nothing ever presented for Chimp on his own suggests that he’s able to, say, deal blows or take attacks that can stagger Batman at his peak. This is especially showcased with how Bobo usually hides and acts as a tactician during team fights, rather than actually physically contributing without his sword. If anything, these Street Tier arguments are about scaling him to the low ends of the best superhumans that DC has to offer at that level. With that out of the way though, let’s discuss the avenues that are actually somewhat Batman and Robin-adjacent.

During the incredibly-named Ape-ril Special, Bobo and a few primate heroes, one of them being Monkey Prince, went up against a group of primate villains, such as Jackanapes and Silverback. Now, Bobo wasn’t actually doing any or much fighting here, but he was struck by Jackanapes once in the story, and one of Joker’s lackeys that ended up smacking around Monkey Prince. In Monkey Prince’s own series, he ended up getting struck by both Batman and Damian Wayne, the latter of which he actually managed to fight evenly with Monkey Prince rather blatantly. Additionally, the villain apes during the story were explicitly physically amplified by black magic, although Jackanapes himself was only said to have his speed boosted. So, would Bobo chain scale to all of this? It’s pretty inelegant, admittedly. He was only ever struck by Jackanapes once, and Monkey Prince’s wackier, detachable body part abilities and adventures make it easier for Prince specifically to scale to Damian Wayne. In context, if Bobo was truly that confident in his physical capabilities, he could have been assisting in the fight more than he actually did too since he lacked his usual OP sword.

There’s also an instance where Detective Chimp was climbing a tower that he goaded an Omega Knight into blasting, the explosion that followed was so powerful that it blew Nightwing back from far away. Yet, Bobo inexplicably survives without so much as a scratch later. There’s no explanation given to how he didn’t get annihilated, however, and he lacks any burnt clothes to indicate he took the full force of the blast. But, to be fair, Nightwing did cry out assuming our chimp had died and he was directly on top of the tower as it was blown up. It’s an incredibly odd feat, but there’s nothing really concrete or conclusive one way or the other for Street Tier scaling quite yet.

However, there are some supporting direct statements and feats that suggest Bobo isn’t just some regular chimpanzee, strength-wise. For one, he’s claimed that chimpanzees are “many times stronger than the strongest normal human”. And, he’s explicitly said that would make normal chimps 5 times stronger, meanwhile he’d be around 7 times stronger comparatively. To back this up, our little gumshoe has busted down metal doors on his own, and his body could withstand the force of his Helm of Fate self busting through brick walls too. Of course, we don’t actually know how far “strongest normal human” would take him in terms of DC Street Tier power levels. He has managed to stab and subdue vampires that were threatening and giving Zatanna trouble, who sometimes falls in line with these tiers physically. Plus, in terms of his magic, his mystical traps in the Oblivion Bar, on their own, can trap a mutated, aggro’d Man-Bat.

So, with everything we’ve just listed in mind, we’re left in a rather awkward place for these arguments. All the pieces are potentially there to argue for Street Tier placement, but it’s mostly rather detached and more inelegant than can be reliably leaned on to make Bobo able to physically content with the usual superhumans in this kind of strength placement. With how he’s usually presented in most stories, Bobo isn’t going to be boxing with characters like Batman or Deathstroke using just his physicality, certainly. Especially when, at his physical peak, our pal Bruce Wayne tanked that infamous, Town Level explosion that left an enormous crater and even damaged some members of the Justice League, which is “leagues” above even the tower explosion we discussed for Bobo and it’s much more visibly reliable. But, given leeway, there’s arguments both sides can make with similar debatability to sort of make this a low-end Street Tier fight, which we’ll get into later in the discussion about stats. But, for the most part, this level of power isn’t something we’re going to lean on too much for our primate pal, but it’s something we’ll keep in mind.

Why did we mention Non-Canon Forms for Detective Chimp?

The simple answer is for fun! We are completely aware that these are not only non-standard, but not even Chimp to begin with in some cases, being alternate futures and entirely different worlds where Chimp is different. But Howard has so many forms documented, and we thought it would be fun to do the same for Chimp, which led some of the researchers to go above and beyond and look at things like Future State, Elseworlds, and DCeased. We understand lots of people have felt fatigue from the rehashed street tier calculations and the herald blogs have felt dry on what more could be explored, so we wanted this blog to stand out as much as possible as a fun breath of fresh air. It’ll have no bearing on the outcome of this debate in terms of what is standard, but we’ll still talk about these forms in the Verdicts. 

Track

Enjoy another special fanmade track, Ducky C, Ducky Do (Howard the Duck vs Detective Chimp), made by Frenchhoaxwide!

Verdicts

This is a very unique fight, and we’re going to talk about this fight from two angles; base vs base, and everything vs everything. Base vs base is simply their more standard arsenals, with the inclusion of two important weapons; the Sword of The Night, and the No-Thing, due to multiple inferences that these items are standard to these two characters. Everything vs everything is exactly what it sounds like! We say fuck it, and give them all of their non-standard weapons and forms as a fun bonus round. The actual verdict will be dictated only from the first round though.

Round 1: Base vs Base

Team Howard the Duck

Stats

As with most comic vs comic matches these days, things do tend to even out. We discussed this more earlier, but neither Howard nor Chimp are likely outright street tier, and instead downscale to certain degrees. This leaves their speed about even from a downscaling perspective (both Marvel and DC have similar ends of light-timing and even greater) while strength is likely closer, but would potentially lean Chimp. Without these scaling chains, which plenty of you may disagree with anyway, both have various sorts of superhuman feats, like dodging bullets and smashing around objects much bigger than they are. In both of those cases, they would be generally even, but Howard should ultimately have the greater reaction speed. 

His bullet timing examples are more emphasized than Chimp’s are, and even when comparing arguments of actually scaling to superhuman heroes or assassins in their respective street-crowds, Howard simply has more examples of actively challenging people like that. Furthering this, Quack-Fu was stated to hone his reflexes to perfection, and have repeatedly been stated to make him an extremely deadly fighter. His sheer skill and growth in this category would always result in his having higher speed, so while their regular stats are somewhat even, Howard will consistently be faster.

Arsenal/Abilities

Since neither are really that reliant on physical combat, the bigger focus will be the weapons they use. In this category, Howard has a clear edge. Both have access to firearms, but not only does Howard have more that he has greater experience in, but his more varied tools like anti-gravity guns or tasers are much more useful than stored bananas or bows and arrows. Dodging bazookas or shots from the BFG are inherently much harder than mere bullets, let alone all the massive machine guns and bombs Howard has used in events like Marvel Zombies. This is especially dangerous when, dipping into skill and mindset for a moment, one considers Howard’s sheer accuracy and methodology of going straight for the kill whenever he can. Playing into both, his first ever fight had him pick up a gun to use on a zombie frame 1, which he landed a heart shot on no less.

Howard’s accuracy has been noted by several sources, and is clearly much better than Chimp’s. Since we have established Howard takes things much more realistically than simply drawing it out, the moment he gets a good shot, he’s taking it. When paired with the accuracy to land a shot to one's vital organs in seconds, the large AOE of pretty much all his ranged weapons, and Howard’s own advantage in close-quarters should things go there, he is already in a much better position. With their more spread-out gear though, things change somewhat. Chimp has a few tools that could very easily spell trouble for Howard, through the Oblivion Bar, Invisible Horse, and Sword of the Night. For a refresher on each, the Oblivion Bar is a pocket dimension only visible and accessible to those skilled in magic, which Bobo could potentially use to BFR Howard there via something like the Sword. His horse can turn itself, Bobo, or other objects invisible at will, while the Sword is another beast.

Not only has the Sword obviously harmed people far above Howard’s paygrade, but it has been argued to have many abilities that would passively protect Chimp from pretty much anything used against him. It can apparently fight and act on its own to protect the wielder of it, hum to warn the user of danger, guide its users arm to parry sneak attacks, enhance physicality, create portals to BFR people, and launch large energy blasts.

This is obviously very impressive, but all of it relies on major assumptions that would not apply to Chimp in any meaningful capacity, if at all. The Oblivion Bar could be useful, but Chimp has never trapped people there purposely to begin with, nor thought to, so that’s immediately out. Potential invisibility is a neat trick, but hardly something Chimp ever relies on, nor something that would protect him from Howard given his intelligence and the fact that any launched attacks like bullets or blasts would be visible. Moving to the actual abilities of the Sword, while impressive, none can and should apply to Chimp.

Going to all of these abilities, let’s discuss them one by one.

1. The Sword can fight and act by itself to protect its wielder, like in a scenario Howard has a good shot, or to parry sneak attacks. 

2. The Sword hums to warn the user of danger, which could further the original ability of aiding Chimp in combat akin to precognition.

3. The Sword can guide Chimp’s movements to instinctively make the best call, therefore blocking everything Howard can do.

4. The Sword can increase Chimp’s defense to survive much stronger attacks to begin with, even on the scale of universal levels of power.

Starting with acting to protect the wielded and simply blocking attacks, this argument doesn’t hold any real water. The user of the sword at the time actually being discussed actively could not fight. In the example listed, he outright had to give the Sword total control and said blatantly none of it was his doing. “Protecting the user” doesn’t translate to automatically acting as a safety net for someone like Chimp actively trained in using the Sword, as opposed to someone who needs that protection to not die in 2 seconds. The Precognition argument only warned the user of the danger present, not specifically what he had to do to escape it. If Chimp can’t counter Howard’s play on his own merit, it won’t serve much purpose. Guiding his movements and blocking sneak attacks were, again, for a guy who couldn’t fence for shit. The argument goes that since Bobo progressed from a newbie to his currently much more skilled self, all of these abilities would automatically apply to him and act as passive safety nets from any and everything Howard does. The problem? None of these have ever been used by Chimp with the current Sword.

One can obviously argue the Sword can still do this, but that’s really not an issue. What is an issue would be that the Sword has not done it for Chimp even when he was a newbie, and certainly not when he could actively hold his own on a serious playing field. All of those examples that could act as safety nets were for a guy who, frankly, sucked at his job, therefore making that extra protection necessary. Even with that guiding his movements, it still relied on the user’s ability to fight back first and foremost, and even something like tiring the user out made him acknowledge he would die despite the sword literally doing everything for him against a more skilled combatant with a Sword. The Sword’s soft precognition only warns about danger in general, and not anything specific, so Howard can easily work around this with duo attacks or any other plays he’s sure to make given his track record of exploiting enemy powers to turn their weapons against them, like when he turned Wizard’s Gravity Disks against his allies in mere seconds.

Some of you may still be saying “but he still has the ability, why aren’t you considering it?” Once again, it has never once been used like that for Chimp. I actively went through several of his fights with the sword, and it’s always just Bobo doing his own thing rather than having the Sword act like a crutch, which is explicitly what is needed to protect him against Howard’s arsenal. There have been multiple times where Chimp is flatout caught off guard by attacks with no indication whatsoever that the Sword protected him or guided him to block or any of that sort of thing, such as when he was caught by the Upside-Down Man. So, any and all arguments to have these abilities apply to Chimp were only ever used on a character who sucked at his job and required protection, have never been used on Chimp himself, and frankly, are doubtful to even apply in the same way to begin with. 

One important facet to note about the Sword of the Night is that, while it protects its user by, say, making them able to fight against a more skilled opponent, the way that it works is that the previous user of the Sword inherits it as a spirit to act as this protection. In essence, every time the Sword does something for one wielder, it is by a different person and therefore making the Sword itself not exactly the same object in terms of methodology. Jim Rook was guided by a previous user of the Sword, and Chimp is now guided by Jim Rook; NOT the spirit who actually did these things for Jim. So, now, let me put into perspective how this sounds: “Chimp will passively be protected several times over from multiple types of attacks by abilities never used on him, only used on a newbie multiple decades ago. Also, it's not even the same spirit inhabiting the sword, so the argument is based on two different peoples' usage of the Sword.”

That is… quite the massive list of assumptions and no limits fallacy on an ability list that, again, have never been used on Chimp. That in of itself would already be a MAJOR red flag, but the issue is if one of these abilities does not work, let alone apply to begin with, Howard automatically wins again. If the Sword doesn't act on its own, like to guide from sneak attacks or block shots, Howard will simply utilize his accuracy to shoot a vital organ by putting Chimp on the back foot, or utilize weapons like his Anti-Gravity tool to potentially just steal the Sword entirely. If the Sword’s warning Chimp doesn't work, Howard could still bypass his potential protection from earlier with the AOE of his weapons. If the Sword doesn’t automatically guide his movements then Howard will take advantage of it given higher skill and the multitude of weapons he has. Finally, in regards to buffing his durability? Never been used on him, so all of Howard's weapons will be fatal when paired with his accuracy. 

Granted, the sword has other useful abilities, like creating portals and BFRing people, or its large AOE methods of explosions and energy attacks. Sadly for Chimp, neither of these are applicable counter arguments. Both of the portal examples given were not in combat situations, so he's not going to be making portals to disperse machine gun fire or anything. His BFR example was on an army due to the threat they posed, and he has no example of trying this on one person he's fighting. Even AOE arguments fall flat, because neither are traditional Area of Effect blasts. The first explosion was from actively impacting a cave ceiling, akin to a thrown bomb, and Chimp has never done that even then. The army killing spell was not only a multi-second ritual that would be wholly unreliable, but also not even an explosion to begin with; it just killed the zombies thanks to the spell itself destroying them individually. 

In short, all of these options brought up ignore context, take ability showings that would not directly apply to Chimp and haven't even been used by him, assume the best possible scenario that all of them would be passive all at once, or all of the above. This also doesn't even go into how Chimp doesn't even fight like this. In the issues given to me by another Chimp researcher while writing this, I only ever saw him using the sword like an actual blade instead of spamming any hax options, which he hasn’t even used as argued. 

All of this has just been talking about the information argued for Chimp and why it doesn't work, but how does this benefit Howard exactly? The weapon is still plenty powerful and capable of one-shotting him, and Detective Chimp could eventually use these abilities to his benefit. However, it doesn't change that Howard's win-conditions will always be easier and more in-character. Remember, all of the counter options to, say, enhancing Chimp's physicality or auto-parrying attacks, should not apply to him for many, many reasons. This makes any of Howard's ranged weapons fatal given either power or his accuracy, and since the Sword hasn't been used for ranged attacks by Chimp, he has to get close to actually damage Howard given his reliance on the Sword as opposed to other objects. 

This isn't a good choice at all, since not only does Howard have SEVERAL ranged tools with greater AOE, but we already established that Quack-Fu makes him much more skilled as a fighter, so Howard is better off from both ranges. With so many options for killing Chimp that are actually in-character and things he has done before, Howard will always be the better pick in efficiency of combat and actual consistent win-conditions. For example, without the Sword, Howard takes every advantage in up-close combat and ranged versatility, and Chimp has no good options for ending the fight. Even with it, proposed counter options to Howard simply shooting him fall flat, and even if all of it were true and Howard couldn't kill him with normal weapons? Cool, let's just turn

Ro the abnormal in the No-Thing. 

For context on what it is, this baby is effectively Howard’s own Ultimate Nullifier. It was directly compared to it by Galactus, who ran away at the sight of it, and he MADE the Nullifier, so that should speak volumes. Even outside that, it wholly erased multiple characters regardless of durability on the spot, even with insane immortality like Ghost Rider. It was also repeatedly established as capable of killing Man-Thing, so there is no way Chimp can tank or stop this kind of attack. Any possible argument, like portaling away the blast, is something he has never once done, and he has no methods of escaping it given the large radius of the blast and due to it being ranged in general. Think back to something like Dragonzord vs Mechagodzilla; if both have instant win-conditions, the ranged one will always be easier to argue for. 

An argument could be made that it isn't in character for Howard to resort to this all the time given he hasn't done so plenty of times, but this is exactly why he would win thanks to it. In a no-holds barred bloodlusted scenario where all weapons are available to the character in question, they are taken into consideration, even if they haven't been used much. Obviously Howard's personality is another factor, like how arguing someone such as Discord not taking things seriously is a legitimate flaw, but even someone like the Doctor gains access to the D-Mat for a perfect counter to Rick Sanchez, despite his not using the tool very much. Even if you wanted to attack Howard's personality, he would be in favor of ending things quickly instead of saving his best weapon for last when it's all laid out. 

Even as early as his first time picking up a gun we see, Howard aimed straight for vitals without a second thought. While merged with Deadpool who was using a Sword, Howard simply asked “why aren't you using a gun?” Every time he outsmarts people to use their weapons, he does it instantly and doesn't allow room for error. Howard takes things very seriously due to a more realistic common sense, and he's always gone for the kill as soon as he can without quips or drawn out plays. If given access to the No-Thing, Howard would certainly use it to his betterment here. It also does not help Chimp if you argue this standard, since he himself hasn't used any of the abilities argued as counters and has never relied on something like BFR to win a straight-up duel. Even if you restrict both back to their bare-bones showings, Howard still has better ranged gear, consistent methodology in ending things quickly, a solid advantage up-close, and a final counter in the No-Thing that Chimp can not possibly stop. 

Howard the Duck solidly triumphs in abilities and arsenal.

Tertiary Factors

Finally, we reach tertiary factors, which is more divisive than it may seem. 

First, let's talk about experience. Both have faced all manner of supernatural monsters and skilled fighters, so the variety of that experience is about even. In quantity, it's more unclear. Chimp is likely older (at least 50 years old) but don't know how much of this was actually spent in terms applicable to experience. Technically speaking, Howard also received “a lifetime” of training in Quack-Fu/Kung-Fu, so these waters are more muddied, but don't ultimately matter much given all the wacky adventures they have been on. 

For skill, it's obviously Howard's advantage. Quack-Fu and his mastery of it speaks for itself, compared to Chimp's lack of martial skill and reliance on other tools. Even compared to training with the Sword of the Night, Howard's also been trained in mystical arts and is naturally gifted using them, so nothing done by Chimp could very well surprise him. As mentioned earlier, his sheer accuracy is also greater by comparison, and always applied to combat terms more related to debate, like in firearm examples. 

As for intelligence, this is more tricky. Both are far smarter than would first appear, like how they have been complimented by super geniuses like Spider-Man and Batman. Chimp's detective skills are obviously better, but not really an advantage in a fight. Comparing general traits applicable to a fight, once again, it's debatable. Chimp is noted as an expert tactician like for Shadowpact, employed various countermeasures in plans he fails in, formulated near-instant plans to counter specific powers, coerced people into making mistakes, and tricked people like Mr. Mxyzptlk. 

On Howard's side, dusting off his status as “the smartest being in any world” allowed him to survive a fatal fall through running over mass/speed/inertia in his head in order to reverse it and survive by falling in a garbage can, albeit with a broken hip. He's frequently countered enemy abilities as soon as he figures them out, like countering Dr. Bong's helmet powers, deducing the mechanics of a slot machine to escape, or lighting a plant monster on fire via cigar to kill it without throwing a punch. Other examples include adapting to a reality-warping area to use it to his advantage, beating wrestlers much bigger and stronger than him, disarming people with weapons with just a trash can lid, or instantly using Wizard’s Anti-Grav discs to beat his ally after they were used by him right before. 

In comparison, they are roughly even, but Howard is generally better off. While Bobo has more examples of tactical plays, most if not all of these are general plays in army terms against foes he has knowledge of beforehand, not a one-on-one where he knows nothing about Howard's skills and resources. Both have employed near-instant countermeasures of enemy powers, but Howard has many more examples of this, and in better stock for instant combat despite advantages like better weaponry or versatility. Howard can't very well be tricked either, considering his anger issues are all but a thing of the past, and never really detrimental in the way claimed fatal to him.

All in all, experience is roughly even, skill clearly goes to Howard, and intelligence is debatable but should ultimately go to Howard. 

Conclusion

“Aw, clam up, bud! You don't even know the meaning of the word! Finding yourself in a world of talking hairless apes--now that's absurdity!”

Advantages:

• Consistently equal in strength and superior in speed by examples

• Far more versatile in ranged options, and his accuracy means he will always get his kill off first

• Much more impressive AOE on top of his ranged advantage to ensure Bobo can't possibly dodge or counter it

• Much more likely to aim for better and quicker victory options given his mentality

• Chimp has no counter to the No-Thing 

• Just as experienced, much more skilled, and matches in intelligence while having better combat examples

• Would dominate in close-quarters thanks to Quack-Fu, and has far more combat examples

• All of Chimp’s hax options or ability arguments for the Sword are things he's never employed, so Howard won't have to worry about them

• Greater examples of combat intelligence and his anger is unable to be exploited

• Howard the Duck (1986)

Disadvantages:

• Potentially weaker physically depending on interpretation

• Can't endure attacks from Chimp's Sword

• Some potential applications of the Sword’s powers could prove tricky

• Possibly vulnerable to invisibility and the Oblivion Bar

• Not as good of a detective

• Howard the Duck (1986)

• Duck <<<<< Chimpanzee (irl)

At the end of the day, Howard is simply the more reliable pick. He matches in strength and is consistently faster by example and success, meaning he will always win a quick draw or an up-close duel. Furthering both are his much more impressive hand-to-hand skill and greater ranged versatility, as well as matching Bobo in traits like intelligence and experience while having greater combat examples of both. The many powers proposed for the Sword are simply inapplicable to him under any reasonable standard, and for any of the hax he has utilized, none of it has been in single duels for the sorts of methods he would need to counter Howard’s range. 

Thanks to his accuracy and many firearms, Howard will always prevail before Chimp can get close with the sword, as he has no reliable ranged options outside of it. Howard is also more inclined to end things quickly, so he will always get his kill shots first through variety and accuracy. Bobo has no counter to the No-Thing and it's AOE, and all other comparisons like other weapons lean Howard. Chimp monkeying around left him out of luck, as any detective should see he's no match for Howard the Duck. 

The winner… is Howard the Duck. 

Team Detective Chimp

Stats

Now, in terms of overall stats, both Bobo and Howard have explicit feats that show them generally being along the lines of bullet timers - with more direct statements such as Bobo claiming he is “seven times more powerful than the average human”, and [just] naturally knocking out people with a single hit through many instances. In Howard’s case, he’s impressively shown to be able to contend with normal humans - being able to throw around massive wrestlers with little to no effort - he’s even shown to be able to deal with foes like Dr. Bong, who’s demonstrated he's able to level an entire hospital—despite all of these impressive feats of strength - Bobo is no slouch by comparison. In addition to his claim about being seven times stronger than humans, he’s claimed normally chimpanzees are only five times stronger and that he’s “many times” stronger than the strongest normal human on a separate occasion. This is backed up by how he’s constantly knocking out grown men out by throwing random objects at their heads.

Between Bobo and Howard, they’ve actually both managed to survive similar things and showcase familiar aspects of their physicalities. Both of them have been struck and knocked out by “meteorites” that happened to be unexpected, funny little items: the Helm of Fate for Bobo and a Hostess Fruit Pie for Howard. And, they’ve kicked doors entirely off their hinges, though Bobo’s was metallic compared to the wooden door for Howard. The Ducktective has been in a number of explosions, like a fake exploding baby and a lab explosion, and our simian sleuth managed to somehow survive that massive tower being blown up with him on it. Although, to be fair here, the numerous weird angles, lack of visible burns or damage on Bobo, and zero explanation for how he survived it when Nightwing thought it for sure killed him makes this feat odd to try and quantify.

Overall though, both characters tend to be portrayed as weaker than your typical Batman or Captain America, oftentimes accompanied by direct statements that Howard isn’t superhuman and that Bobo is “no soldier” during big fights. However, there still exists theoretical avenues that could get them to at least the very lowest ends of those typical comic Street Tiers. For example, Howard’s damaged Dr. Bong, Bessie the Hellcow, and Beetle, who allow for potential scaling chains or direct levels of power that would put him above his own paygrade, in a sense. But, with similar leeway, Chimp has taken hits from characters that could hurt Monkey Prince, threaten Zatanna, and has that aforementioned explosion that actually blew back Nightwing and dusted the Omega Knight’s arm. Accompanied by his statements about being several times stronger than the strongest human, and there’s a case you could make for Bobo as well. Overall, you could probably say neither has a distinct or notable stat advantage over the other, although you could maybe argue Chimp’s travel speed has been demonstrated as reliably faster on foot and that he potentially could be overall stronger. Meanwhile, Howard’s reflexes could hypothetically be higher through his Quack-Fu training.

Switching scales a bit, the stat debate between their most powerful gear is similarly close as well as both the Sword of Night and the No-Thing have allowed their users to compare with similarly powerful beings such as Eclipso and The Upside Down Man for Bobo, and Man-Thing for Howard.

Ultimately, no matter if you’re looking at their physical base or their strongest standard gear; these two’s statistics are very close across the board with only slight advantages between them such as Howard’s superior reactions thanks to Quack-Fu or Bobo’s greater mobility and travel speed.

Arsenal/Abilities

Starting us off, there’s quite a few things that both characters have that are obviously not going to do much here given their stories primarily focus on detective work and postmodern parodies. The Dinosaur Helmet won’t see much use, and Bobo’s magnifying glass and omnilingualism isn’t too relevant here. Howard has never used the fourth wall breaks in a way that’s combat applicable, and his physiology basically amounts to being a duck-man with a beak that can poke people. Although, on this topic, Bobo being a chimpanzee would naturally lend himself to be more acrobatic and agile in a more innate way. This makes his maneuverability around potential environments hypothetically helpful if he needs to play keep away, and every one of his four limbs can grasp onto something extra if needed. This has proven helpful on several occasions in his early adventures, where almost every bad guy had a gun that he was either dodging or expertly avoiding by making himself a harder target to hit. What this would essentially mean, alongside Howard’s many showings of doing the same or even deflecting bullets, is that it’s incredibly unlikely for gunfire to end up being what takes either character down, especially with both characters being marksmen and having precise shots when flinging items.

Now, Howard does have combustible rounds from his BFG and machine guns, something that’s more reliably his compared to weapons he only possesses on covers or ones he’s stolen from other characters. However, ordinarily speaking, Bobo can close the distance with his travel speed and experience against gunmen, and neither character can reliably win a quickdraw. But, more importantly, he has numerous ways around just getting blasted by a gun, such as having Comet turn him invisible, flinging one of his miscellaneous items to disarm or clock Howard to create an opening like he’s done in the past which could prove useful for some of the smaller guns, or using one of the many applications of the Sword of Night as it’s current Nightmaster. He could, say, teleport to the Oblivion Bar to freely give himself all the time in the world to plan around Howard, something easy for a genius tactician who could plan against the Spectre of all things. Then, he could simply return in a human disguise, return invisible with Comet again, come back with a molotov cocktail or jar full of insects, or simply use the teleportation to bring Howard with him to the Oblivion Bar where he’d have battlefield control and traps. Or, better yet, simply ditch Howard in Myrra where he can’t escape, unlike the Bar. Though, admittedly, Bobo’s never BFR’d anyone to Myrra like that. But, of course, he could always just portal or teleport closer to Howard in general to avoid the range issue altogether and get in close where he’d have the advantage.

With such a powerful sword up close, objects like other, weaker swords, tasers, and bats would hardly matter anymore if Bobo can simply cut through both them and Howard like butter in one cleaving hit, eliminating even the potential danger Quack-Fu would pose up close. Now, previous abilities that the Sword of Night has shown while under the use of other Nightmasters are somewhat debatable to apply here. Most of the time, Bobo’s used AOE blasts and its transporting functions, alongside slicing things of course. It’s also been stated that the previous spirits of Nightmasters helps guide the current user to block attacks as well, so an argument could be made that those old, more esoteric powers like its protective aura and independent movement might still happen. In addition to this, it’s been stated that the Sword of Night has worked the same way for every Nightmaster, so arguments for the sword not applying these properties for Bobo just because he’s a more skilled fighter than Rook wouldn’t apply. If anything, it would help Bobo as the sword’s powers have been said to get stronger the more the user understands it, and he’s studied the sword thoroughly and cracked its codes before. So, the sword’s latent abilities should be much more effective under his control. But, even without the old hax like the glowing Danger Sense it had, Bobo’s still generally intelligent enough and capable of understanding and recognizing occult and cosmic sources of trouble alongside his tangible gut feelings as a genius detective. This is important because of how odd and deceptively harmless-looking the No-Thing, Howard’s ace in the hole, comes off to most of his normal opponents.

Even considering the friendship-layered context of his initial incapability to use it against his buddy Man-Thing, Howard still managed to be courageous enough to use it in an enormous, all-encompassing blast in front of him against several incoming threats, something easily replicable with his consistent displays of courage and willpower. And, considering it’s another version of the Ultimate Nullifier, there’s no coming back from its eradication or blocking it. Thankfully for Bobo, we believe the Sword of Night not only matches this, but even surpasses the Ultimate Annihilator in terms of its versatility. Once again, transporting himself into close range is a surefire way of managing an easier time to land a hit, but also the fact that the sword can be summoned into his hands with a thought instead of needing to be quickdraw from his pocket is helpful if it really comes down to using his herald weapon first. And, while throwing objects to disorient his opponents or disarm them is very much a tactic from his earliest possible days, Bobo knocking it out of his hand or simply slicing through any larger guns is a tactic he’s smart enough to realize so long as he recognizes the danger. And, it’s not as if Howard can summon it back to himself like Bobo can either if it’s taken away.

Given his propensity for using his geniality and words to aggro criminals like a little Columbo, Bobo should have no issue setting Howard off and creating an opening for himself too if he slips up once. The sword does happen to have AOE blasts, but, being fair, Bobo’s instance required a magic circle being drawn first and he’s not as likely to go for this first unless the Sword does it for him. Additionally, Bobo simply has way more experience using the Sword of the Night than Howard has with the No-Thing as it’s essentially been his main combat tool ever since he’s received it in addition to having studied it’s functionality while Howard only used the No-Thing in a single story, It’s still an incredible powerful weapon don’t get me wrong; it’s just that Bobo is far more likely to immediately go for his herald weapon.

It should also be noted that while the No-Thing itself is unassuming, Bobo doesn’t actually necessarily have to have the Sword of Night visibly on him the entire time. Considering how it only needs to be materialized into his hands with a thought, Chimp could play the part of the unassuming monkey and not have Howard necessarily feel the need to play keepaway. Should the duck get close enough, it’s always possible and a smart tactic to simply manifest the Sword in his hands at the last second to land a fatal blow when it’s too late for Howard to back off. In fact, he wouldn’t necessarily feel the need to have his absurdly powerful Sword at the ready against a random Ducktective right away either, Additionally, Bobo consistently has used the Sword to both close the distance to enemies, like he did this with Merlin via a torn open portal, or save his own skin, like when he was falling off a building and he panic-used it to transport himself and break his fall more safely. In fact, he doesn’t even need to resort to portals, as simple teleportation that can encompass as many nearby people as he wants will do. Also, both are vehicular masters, so that’d naturally cancel out if either one of them got into a car at any point. But, just imagine a chimp and a duck having a car chase. It’s incredible imagery. Anyway, Bobo’s got tons of versatility on his side in just one weapon, one location, and on his own, so let’s move on.

Tertiary Factors

On a surface level, one would think Bobo would take the tertiary factors over Howard. Yet it remains an interesting category. Bobo has definitely been around a lot longer than Howard, as he’s over 50 years old and counting. However in terms of general experience, it’s a bit more even. Both have fought all manner of cosmic and street level threats with the wackiest equipment imaginable. Where our detective really shines is in intelligence. He’s been able to solve cases just by looking at the crime scene, figure out Batman’s identity and easily unravel a 300 year conspiracy. Howard is no idiot, but he definitely squandered his potential as a Reed Richards level mind by not going to school. You could argue that matters less in a general fight though, so let’s go into battle intelligence. You’d think Howard would have the edge, as he’s been consistently able to figure out opponents quickly and formulate plans during a fight. But looking into it, Bobo is no different. He’s been able to formulate plans on the fly just as successfully, figure out tactics by the likes of Mxyzptlk and is the team tactician for Shadowpact against divine foes like the Spectre. Howard has been able to figure out tactics of foes like Franklin Richards, but Chimp performs far more and better feats of absurd intellect. This should be even more useful considering Bobo is generally much more level headed in a fight compared to Howard’s temper and would fall victim to the detective’s tactic of intentionally irritating foes.

Last but not least, there’s the skill in hand to hand and marksmanship, which we will concede should go to Howard but Bobo certainly puts up a fight. Howard’s mastery of techniques like Quack-Fu give him superior knowledge in hand to hand combat, though the Sword Of Night makes this a bit of a non issue for us. Marksmanship should be around even with the advantage ultimately going to Howard as while they’ve shown similar skill, Howard just has more ranged options to showcase that skill with. A worthy thing to note however is that Bobo has shown the skill to disarm guns before and made himself a harder target to hit purposefully, and could easily just dodge gunfire. Ultimately, given Bobo’s superior intelligence in both crucial areas, you could even argue he’d be able to theoretically disarm equipment like the No-Thing. So even with this disadvantage, we believe the final category should go to Detective Chimp.

Conclusion

“I can't imagine the smell of sweaty monkey is helpin' anyone's concentration, so lemme make the introductions quick.”

Advantages:

• Superior travel speed

• Generally more intelligent as a detective and a tactician

• The Sword of Night wins the fight in one hit up close and is a better weapon than anything Howard possesses

• Teleportation and portals close the distance and allows Bobo to escape to safety

• Invisibility via Comet the Horse

• Oblivion Bar acts as a safe haven and gives free prep time mid-combat

• Taking the fight to the Oblivion Bar gives Bobo battlefield control and traps

• More naturally agile as a chimp

• More experienced with his own herald weapon

• The Sword of Night can be summoned quicker than the No-Thing can be quickdrawn

• Able to ragebait Howard to give himself more openings if Howard slips up

• Experienced in avoiding gunfire

• Far more levelheaded

• Could BFR and ditch Howard in Myrra…

• Sabrina Carpenter said so

• Chimpanzee >>>>> Duck (irl)

Disadvantages:

• Worse at hand-to-hand combat

• Slower reflexes

• The No-Thing wins the fight in one hit and has more range, and is less obvious as a weapon

• Way less guns

• Explosive rounds are harder to physically dodge

• Howard can easily leave the Oblivion Bar out a door to a random place on Earth

• Less experience physically participating in fights

• …but he’s never BFR’d someone there as a strategy before

• His scrapped Injustice 2 design

• His alcoholism

While this is one of the wackiest Marvel vs DC fights to ever exist, one that’s not necessarily an easy call either, ultimately only one detective can sleuth out a winning strategy here. Howard’s hand-to-hand skill in Quack-Fu and vast arsenal of guns certainly comes across as more deadly at a glance, Detective Chimp has avoided tons of firepower in his days and has more than enough ways to slip through the cracks that the Ducktective will leave behind. While they’re relatively even in stats, with potential arguments for whoever has better reflexes, travel speed, power, and survivability, all of that is rendered moot when it comes to the array of options that Bobo has at his disposal. With greater coordination and agility that comes naturally to him as a chimpanzee paired with his absurdly enhanced intellect and detective mind, Bobo’s aptitude as one of the premier tacticians of his magically-inclined teams even in high stress situations proves he can think his way out of far more dangerous situations.

With an entire interdimensional bar accessible to him, Detective Chimp warping away to think up a plan, something that’s allowed him to thwart far more ancient and horrific threats, or bring Howard onto his booby-trapped home turf offers him many ways to sway the fight in his favor. On top of this, the many ways he can simply go invisible, study up magic in Myrra, make or bring weapons over from behind the bar means he’ll have many more tricks up his sleeve. Compare this to a duck with self-admitted anger problems, and it’s clear that Bobo would have a clearer mindset, one that’d allow him to close the gap between them or behind Howard before the ever-present danger or blast of the No-Thing can eradicate him. With the Sword of Night, something he’s gotten far better at using as the current Nightmaster, just one swing can end the fight up close with a single thought to summon it in his hands, cutting through any melee weapons or martials arts that might come his way. With his decades upon decades of life, Howard certainly isn’t the worst foe he’s come to face, and his greater experience with his own overpowered weapon provides just the angle he needs to come out on top. While it certainly wouldn’t be easy, the monkey C and the monkey do come out on top against the ducky. The winner is Detective Chimp.

Howard the Duck (2)- Round 1 Fight, Frenchhoaxwide

Detective Chimp (11)- Bang, Lunge, iceking, Saul, Yerm, 08, Sifu, Garf, Sr-Fish, Tario, Spycrab, Aggravating_Floorgor, SpaceJellO, Sabrina Carpenter

Cocaine Bear (1)- door-kun (she wasn’t even on the blog)

Mahito- Yuix (EIGHT FREE PIZZAS!)

Round 2: GIVE THEM EVERYTHING!

Just a reminder, this is nothing more then a fun bonus round and will have no bearing on the actual debate, but we took a lot of time documenting their non-standard stuff so we thought, what if we just said “fuck it” and gave them everything at once? Strap in, this ones a lot. 

When accounting for everything, things get shaken up drastically, especially due to both of them having so many forms from very notable Marvel and DC heroes. Howard has Iron Duck, Black Armor, Nexus Monster, Duckpool, Hellstrom, Dr. Strange, Power Cosmic, Nexus to All Realities, the Abundant Glove, and the Phoenix Force, on top of having the No-Thing. Chimp on the other hand has the Helm of Fate, a Batman form, Red Tornado, and Etrigan the Demon! Quite a lot of things stack upon each other in this match, and as far as overall power goes, things get crazy fast. Howard with the Nexus has the power to create entire universes, and with the Phoenix Force, reaches omniversal levels of power due to scaling to other Phoenix Force users performing feats that threaten Marvel’s Creation itself such as the omniversal wave. Meanwhile, Chimp with the Helm of Fate and the ability to become Etrigan the Demon would similarly reach higher tiers of power, though more magical power. Etrigan, even in Future State, was a very powerful foe, being considered a vital asset to fight against Merlin, who at the time, took “all of magic” as his own, causing the Tower of Fate to fall and leaving the Fate Helm in need of fixing, and drain Zatanna, Constantine, and Dr. Fate of their magical power. Dr. Fate and the Lords of Order could destroy the Sphere of Gods, further suggesting he reaches power levels that eclipse DC’s omniverse as well. So in overall power, you can definitely make some chains to high tier entities such as the Spectre and Multi-Eternity, and at that point, they’d be similar in most regards. 

But as we see, stats are hardly the biggest talking point for DC vs Marvel fights. So what will be the most useful here? Lots of things sadly get outclassed off the bat. While the Iron Duck, Black Armor, Duckpool, and Primate Legion forms offer some good weapon versatility, lots of it is ultimately useless and quickly shut down by the higher tier magic that the Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate forms have to offer. The voodoo magic could offer some numbers with zombie ducks of course, but ultimately, most of its spells and applications are more useless when compared to magic from Fate or Etrigan. Similarly though, the Primate Legion does next to nothing here, leaving Chimp with three forms left and the sword already. However, Howard still has a lot more forms to go through by comparison. 

We’ve mentioned Dr. Strange magic a lot, but what about Hellstrom magic? Hellstrom is a very underrated magic user, especially in his ability to manipulate souls. We do know that Chimp resisted having his soul taken by Zauriel due to not being a human soul, so is it likely he can resist his soul being taken or devoured? Possibly. He should be able to resist soulfire attacks innately, especially as Etrigan, but having his soul devoured is an entirely other thing, though Howard only threatened it at most and never showed it. There’s a lot of what-ifs for this one, but ultimately this ability should cancel out since Etrigan’s hellfire innately affects the soul. On top of that, the Helm of Fate’s ability to cure demonic possession, and his sealing bottles could take away the possession, rendering the Hellstrom form to be useless, taking away another useful form of Howard. 

So now, we’re left with the Power Cosmic, Nexus, Dr. Strange, Abundant Glove, No-Thing, and Phoenix Force vs Helm of Fate, Etrigan the Demon, Red Tornado, and Sword of The Night. These are by far the most useful abilities that don’t get no-diffed immediately, so let’s draw some comparisons between these top tier forms:

Red Tornado vs Power Cosmic: Obviously, the Power Cosmic powers granted to Howard here are far more useful than Red Tornado’s more simplistic moveset. At most, Bobo can calculate the odds of him winning a fight, and use wind manipulation to fly and cause high winds to send people back. Howard also has enhanced senses and cosmic awareness to match, and his energy blasts and ability to buff his stats is way more useful here. The Lasso of Truth can disperse energy and grab upon the soul, so this could potentially counter Howard’s main firepower. If you decide to take these forms at face value and give them both every power the other guy has, both would have really high tier regeneration, but obviously Howard would massively overwhelm in versatility in hax. If you just stick with their showings, Chimp has more defensive counters and could use the Lasso to win this interaction.

Nexus of All Realities vs Red Tornado: The Nexus grants Howard insane reality warping abilities, being able to create entire universes and travel to any universe or dimension on a whim, and BFR beings as powerful as the Collector. The reality warping and mobility options this grants Howard stacks upon the Power Cosmic to make it a lot harder to be hit or wrangled with the Lasso, and the counter to the Oblivion Bar BFR is now in play, being able to simply leave it and portal back to the fight on a whim. With this alone, or with the Power Cosmic, Howard should be much better suited to shut down the Red Tornado bonded with Detective Chimp.

Dr. Strange vs Etrigan the Demon: With Dr. Strange’s powers, Howard shows off his mystical prowess. He can turn foes into a gust of smoke, redirect attacks, restrain people with his cape, and cause transmutation spells. Etrigan the Demon grants Bobo the ability to turn into a demon that can spew soul-burning hellfire, and use magic to some degree, being able to break Dr. Fate out of a glamour spell. The Nexus would provide Howard with the necessary counters to the Oblivion Bar’s potential BFR, as Howard can now simply leave it on a whim if he desires. There is a possibility to prevent Etrigan from being transformed into however, since he still needs to be turned into with an incantation, and Strange’s magic abilities could possibly prevent this, especially the Cloak of Levitation spell. They can both dispel magic attacks, it's very debatable if Etrigan can resist transmutation, or at least the kind Strange can do, or being BFR’d into smoke.

Dr. Strange vs Dr. Fate: What about Dr. Fate? For what Chimp has shown with the Helm of Fate, he is granted planetary scale clairvoyance, stat amplification, telekinesis, intangibility, and flight. Compared to Strange’s powers, Fate’s are…not as useful here, at least for what is shown for both of them. If you wanna know who would win if you assume they know everything…I don’t know, ask us to do Strange vs Fate 2. Anyways, Strange’s transmutation and magic dispelling abilities will be more useful in trying to subdue Bobo’s connection to the helm, or just constantly put him on the backfoot with his more offensive spells. Furthermore, it's worth noting Strange entrusted Howard with the powers due to his mystical powers, while the Helm of Fate would continue to erode Bobo’s mentality the more he used it, so if the fight went on for any longer, it would take a toll on Bobo.

Finally, we’re left with one big problem. One of the avian variety; the Phoenix Force. How useful is it here though? Howard had it for a very brief time, losing it to Red Widow immediately. Can he do much here? If you argue yes, then the Phoenix Force’s more innate base abilities would still be really effective. Being able to spew cosmic flames that atomically deconstruct people is still a very useful ability, no matter if it's the Helm of Fate or Etrigan the Demon, especially if you assume they don’t go the full distance with every ability and resistance. If you argue that the Phoenix Force isn’t really useful here, then Howard still has more miscellaneous advantages. Energy blasts and constructs with the Abundant Glove, numbers advantage with silly little zombie ducks, and of course, the No-Thing is still useful here, though so is the Sword of The Night. However, Howard’s versatility means he can be just as, if not more mobile then Bobo with the Nexus, restrain Bobo with the cloak, or simply burn away Etrigan as his last line of defense to use the No-Thing on him and end the fight then and there. Bobo’s best chance at winning is arguing the Lasso of Truth uses similar soul abilities to subdue Howard, but with all the abilities in play, it's far more likely for Howard to kill Bobo before he could be lasso’d up, even if Hellstrom is benched from the fight.

Howard the Duck

Advantages:

• Strange’s spells like transmutation are stuff Bobo can’t really resist 

• Cloak of Levitation can prevent Etrigan the Demon from coming out, or stop Chimp from using the Sword of The Night

• Nexus form grants a direct counter to the Oblivion Bar, and makes Howard even tougher to hit potentially

• Overall has more raw firepower and versatility across his many forms

• No-Thing becomes far easier to use thanks to the Nexus

• Similar array of soul abilities…

• The Phoenix Force’s hax aren’t really counterable by Bobo

Disadvantages:

• Most forms such as Iron Duck or Black Armor offer no advantages

• Voodoo magic gets outclassed by Fate or Etrigan magic

• …Until Hellstrom possession gets countered by Helm of Fate and sealing bottles

Detective Chimp

Advantages:

• Helm of Fate and Etrigan the Demon match in raw firepower and magic skill with Dr. Strange

• Lasso of Truth could dispel Power Cosmic attacks and possibly affect Howard’s soul…

• Helm of Fate and sealing bottles counter Hellstrom possession

Disadvantages:

• Primate Legion offers nothing in this fight

• Has far less versatile spells or powers due to having less forms by default

• BFR no longer acts as a wincon due to the Nexus

• Has no counter to the No-Thing or the Phoenix Force obliterating Bobo or at worst, peeling away Etrigan the Demon

• Etrigan the Demon form incantation can possibly be prevented by Cloak of Levitation

When using all of their crazy forms, Howard should solidly dominate. He has way more forms, which means way more versatility, and way more opportunities to counter and kill Bobo, compared to Bobo’s only one possible option. The Nexus allows Howard to be more mobile, as does Silver Surfer’s surfboard, the Phoenix Force and No-Thing are solid kill options, Strange’s magic can match the likes of Fate and Etrigan, and his spells allow for better defense and in turn, ways to deal with Bobo’s own defenses. In the battle of everything, Howard the Duck quacks another day. Going off the standard votes though, Chimp still wins the blog overall.

Next Time…