u/Ashconwell7

I'm currently trying to get more into Black Panther comics and so Killmonger (2018) was on my list. And given I'm a Black Widow comic fan (and she makes an appearance in this run) as well as just generally a fan of assassin/mercenary/spy fiction, this mini-run was at the top of my list. But whenever I finish reading a comic, I usually go look for reviews for it or any online convo around it. However, I surprisingly can barely find any reviews or conversations on this run. Anyone who's read it wants to share their thoughts?

I’m a big fan of characters who use martial arts and close-combat fighting styles, whether armed or unarmed, and League has a ton of characters who specialize in this. But earlier when I was looking through Caitlyn’s investigation notes from 2XKO, her files on herself described her as "adept at Noxian martial arts" which is such a vague description, and made me realize she isn’t the only Champion in League with a fighting style that is left unnamed and has little to no details tied to it. I’d love to see Runeterra's martial arts expanded on for this very reason.

Runeterra’s worldbuilding would only benefit from actually developing its martial arts. Instead of just saying a character knows “[insert region name] martial arts". I’d love to see those styles named, with their own history, philosophies, techniques, origins, and being shown/told what irl martial arts they pull from.

For example, Vi’s boxing-inspired fighting style which Vander taught her could be given its own name and be expanded on. Maybe it like, started as a Zaunite fighting tradition developed by workers for sport/entertainment, and later was used for self-defense to survive the Undercity’s streets. It would add so much more to her character and Zaun’s culture.

I’d also love to learn more about the "Way of the Blade" practiced by the Du Couteau assassins. From what we’ve seen, it’s a very acrobatic and graceful dagger-based fighting style (assuming Katarina is not mixing in some other style's techniques in her fight scenes), but I’d like to see/learn more of the unarmed techniques Katarina uses in her comic and see them pull from some cool real martial art (the static comic panel art doesn't show any actual discernibly distinct martial art movement compared to how cinematics could with choreography).

The Sentinels of Light also seem like they’d have their own fighting style. Maybe one that combines techniques from martial arts all across Runeterra and that they only teach among their own members.

Fiora’s fencing-inspired style could also have an in-universe name and history behind how Demacian nobles developed that form of dueling.

Even Wuju Style, one of the few martial arts that has gotten a little lore attention, could still be explored more imo. And so on, and so on. You get the point.

Overall, I just think it would be way more interesting if League actually elaborated on Runeterra's martial arts and gave these fighting styles names, identities, and histories. It would be cool to know that, let's just say for example, that Darius mastered X fighting style among others and then we could go read more about how X fighting style is a martial art focused more on on unarmed grappling, groundwork and submissions, with its origins in the ancient Shuriman empire among royal enforcers or something. Little details like that would make the world and characters feel so much richer.

The anime artstyle and cartoony, expressive animations that Darkstalkers is known for would translate 1000000% better with that cel shaded look than with the photorealistic one.

I constantly see debates on here and all around the internet where people say "X character is a supersoldier, so they’re stronger and automatically win" when this repeated argument treats all supersoldiers like they’re a monolith and as if they all have Captain America’s exact physical abilities when that couldn’t be further from the truth. In the comics, supersoldier characters range from having specific traits enhanced but no superhuman strength, to having reality warping & interdimensional powers, like Sentry & Man Thing.

I understand that that all the supersoldiers in the MCU (for the exception of the Hulk-related characters) are portrayed as if they're all close to each other in terms of strength and enhancements, but please leave that assumption out of comic discussions.

*Also I'm using the term "Supersoldier" here to refer to characters who were given the Erskine's SUPERSOLDIER serum or biochemical enhancements that were a variant or attempt at recreating Erskine's supersoldier serum. So this isn't based on random soldier-type characters with miscellaneous unrelated enhancements that y'all choose to arbitrarily label "Supersoldiers".

Note - I try to specify how much weight each character can lift in the pictures above using Marvel’s official data, which give a general idea of where the characters are meant to scale. Don’t come for me with some obscure high-end outlier feats to argue that your favourite character here actually has class 50 strength and can lift way more than what is listed.

I constantly see debates on here and all around the internet where people say "X character is a supersoldier, so they’re stronger and automatically win" when this repeated argument treats all supersoldiers like they’re a monolith and as if they all have Captain America’s exact physical abilities when that couldn’t be further from the truth. In the comics, supersoldier characters range from having specific traits enhanced but no superhuman strength, to having reality warping & interdimensional powers, like Sentry & Man Thing.

I understand that that all the supersoldiers in the MCU (for the exception of the Hulk-related characters) are portrayed as if they're all close to each other in terms of strength and enhancements, but please leave that assumption out of comic discussions.

*Also I'm using the term "Supersoldier" here to refer to characters who were given the Erskine's SUPERSOLDIER serum or biochemical enhancements that were a variant or attempt at recreating Erskine's supersoldier serum. So this isn't based on random soldier-type characters with miscellaneous unrelated enhancements that y'all choose to arbitrarily label "Supersoldiers".

Note - I try to specify how much weight each character can lift in the pictures above using Marvel’s official data, which give a general idea of where the characters are meant to scale. Don’t come for me with some obscure high-end outlier feats to argue that your favourite character here actually has class 50 strength and can lift way more than what is listed.

10. Luke Cage (Vanguard)
Luke would be a melee fighter with powerful punch and kick combos. He could have a defensive stance to shield allies that makes him take extremely reduced damage at the cost of not being able to attack/moving slower, a chain to grab and pull or knock back enemies, and his ult could make him completely invulnerable to all damage while buffing all nearby allies' defense while he can run around to grab foes to perform brutal takedowns on them which creates shockwaves that damage other nearby enemies (and so you can just rinse & repeat the takedowns on the same enemy or on others for the entire duration of the ult).

9. Gamora (Duelist)
Gamora would have a some kind of firearm for an ability but would primarily be a melee fighter with multiple swords she can switch between such as Godslayer and the Infinity Blade. She could have nerve strikes that temporarily paralyze enemies or force their abilities on cooldown. And like Wolverine she could gain bonus health + rapid regeneration to represent her healing factor. Her ult could implement the Infinity Cape in some way.

8. Sam Wilson/Captain America (Duelist)
Sam's primary could let him fire wing blades, with an ability to mark foes with these wing blades so Redwing can be sent to target and attack them for follow-up damage even through walls (for example, an enemy could have ran away from you due to having barely any health left but you marked them and so as they're hiding in a building, you can see them and quickly summon Redwing for a follow-up attack to finish them off). He would have constant flight but some melee shield combat, and his ult would cause a large AoE swarm of attacking birds.

7. Bullseye (Duelist)
His kit would be pretty simple. He would be armed with a sniper rifle or some kind of precision shot firearm as his primary weapon, but his abilities would grant him the option to also use different objects to throw with varying projectile properties. Like poisonous darts that prevent healing for a time, ricocheting knives that bounce off enemies and walls, wide-range spread of playing cards, some kinds of explosives that stick to enemies, etc. His ult could have him throw a long-distance paper airplane that he can remotely control across the map, leaving himself exposed, but if it lands on an enemy it would oneshot them.

6. Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat (Strategist)
Kitty's primary could have Lockheed shooting fire or her using a short sword. She could switch between a solid mode and an intangible mode that lets her walk through walls with no cooldown when you switch but to attack, she would have to turn solid, leaving herself vulnerable to damage. She would have a an animated takedown ability (kinda like Emma Frost's chokeslam) that phases foes into the ground & briefly traps them for a couple seconds, leaving them still vulnerable to attacks while they can't move. Maybe she would even get an airstep for mobility. She could also heal herself over time while intangible & heal allies when phasing through them, with her ult extending this ability to all nearby allies, making them shortly intangible and completely healing them.

5. Dr. Voodoo (Strategist)
Dr. Voodoo's abilities could have him tap into the powers of different vodou lwa spirits with different uses. His primary would tap into the serene powers of cool Lwa which would let him fire water/mist blasts that can heal allies and damage foes. One of his abilities would let him summon the spirit of his dead brother to possess a foe, causing damage over time for its duration and either allowing Dr. Voodoo to control the direction in which they walk (from side to side as they're walking forward) or making them automatically attack their own teammates. He would have another ability to mark allies with death Lwa so that they can be automatically resurrected with buffs if they die (kind of like Rocket's auto-revive ability). His ult could let him tap into the powers of hot Lwa to affect all allies on his team for a short duration and make any attack they are hit by heal them while the damage reflects back onto the enemy as explosive burns.

4. Shuri (Duelist)
In a world where T'Challa's kit was closer to his comic abilities (so he would use energy daggers), Shuri could have her primary allow her to throw magical spears. One of her abilities could make her turn into a cloud of incorporeal magical crows while enteirng free-flight (kind of like Wanda's free-flight move), she could harden her skin into stone for a temporary durability & attack boost, and have an ult where she fires huge electric blasts from arm-mounted cannons that inflict slow on foes as well as damaging them. Overall her kit would be a mix of her Black Panther skills, Griot magic, and technology.

3. Elektra (Duelist)
Elektra would be a quick and acrobatic melee fighter with quick stabbing attacks. She could run on walls. Have an ability that briefly turns her invisible while leaving behind an illusionary clone that explode shortly after or when hit. She could have one ability that lets her swing her sais so fast it creates a field of afterimages that deflect any projectiles back at foes and damages any that try to get close. And her ult would be an AoE Silent Scream that stuns or oneshots foes based on their health threshold.

2. Yelena Belova (Duelist/Vanguard hybrid)
Yelena's kit could start with typical Black Widow abilities: so maybe an assault riffle, hand to hand attacks, and some poisonous gadgets (to contrast with Black Widow's electric gadgets—if they EVER rework Widow and let her use her electric Widow Bites). Then once the ability/her ult is charged, she could turn into her larger, monstrous Adaptoid form which can fly, has stronger melee claw attacks, tanks more damage, and can copy one ability from a targeted enemy like Rogue.

1. Sersi (Strategist)
Sersi's powers in the comics do let her heal or regenerate so she's perfect as a strategist. Her primary could have her use her matter transmutation to fire cosmic blasts that "transmute" allies into healthier states. She could have the ability to create zones in which enemy projectiles are transmuted to have healing properties if you're standing within them. Standing still for a couple seconds would allow her to heal herself over time. Her ult could allow her to temporarily turn all nearby foes into pigs, making them unable to use any abilities and greatly reducing their mobility for its duration, making them easier targets (kind of like Hecate's curse move in the game Hades 2).

So I feel like there's a high chance that the OoT remake adds new content to the game, expands on the story, we'll get cutscenes and even some voice acting. And so I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion but I would really like for it to show Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa & Nabooru use powers that reflect the respective elements they represent in their sagehood. Like in the same way the Champions from Breath of the Wild had cool cutscenes where we got to see them use their powers.

The original Ocarina of Time never touched on it at all, but as a kid when I played it, I always assumed that the characters were chosen as Sages of their respective elements for a reason. Either because they already possessed those elemental powers beforehand, or they gained them by becoming Sages. So if this remake ends up actually confirming this, it would fulfill a childhood fantasy/headcanon of mine.

Perhaps they could even bring back the idea from the beta of having the sage medallions give Link different spells he can use in combat and for other utilities. Or have the sages as like optional training bosses you can fight in the sacred realm or spar with throughout the game, with their own moveset that implements their elemental powers.

Like the stuff Ingrid describes from her meeting with the Darkstalkers doesn't fit with the series continuity btw. Like why would Felicia be in Makai, why is Pyron still alive (also in Makai), etc.? Yeah it can be excused with the "this was an alternate universe" excuse but this seems like part of a broader pattern where Capcom has shown to not care about what Darkstalkers developers had written for the series previously and I fear could be indicative of future retcons for the series if Capcom ever chooses to do anything with it (whether a new game or just canon crossover appearances).

Like imagine:

-Fire medallion: Link can smash the ground to cause fire and magma to burst out and burn nearby enemies, causing damage over time.

-Water medallion: Link can summon a large tidal wave that causes a bit of damage and pushes enemies away. Would be great for crowd control and to help you breath if you're getting overwhelmed by enemies.

-Forest medallion: Link can create a verdant area that slowly heals his health.

-Light medallion: Link can shoot a high powered, high-speed light beam that pierces through enemies.

-Shadow medallion: When sneaking up on enemies, if they haven't caught Link but he's still a considerable distance away, he can close the gap by emerging from their shadow and dealing a sneak attack critical strike.

-Spirit medallion: Link can shortly stun all enemies surrounding him with an explosion that forces their spirit out of their body and leaves them stuck in place.

And to specify here, I'm using assassin to mean a contract killer, as in a person who assassinate human targets for political, monetary or ideological reasons and does so (or used to do so) as an occupation/career.