It’s An Old, Old, Question

 

“Who is the better superhero?”

 

“Who would win in a fight between Captain Marvel and Gold Star? Between Plastic Man and The Blue Beetle? Between Phantom Lady and Black Cat?”

 

People like to see superheroes fight. It’s an extension of mankind’s natural drive for competition. It’s sports teams, politics, and “my dad can beat your dad.” For proof, at the topic’s popularity just look at the success of shows like Super Battle which simulates fights against various superhumans. It never fails to get the noosphere buzzing like a hive, especially when the simulation is controversial. I kept hearing the kids in the lunchroom argue over whether they “got right” Black Cat vs Phantom Lady (they had Black Cat win, by the way). And don’t forget the Japanese cartoon Fighter Tournament E. The E stands for eternal, as in the characters are forced by a bunch of cosmic gods to fight a bunch of people from throughout the multiverse including one that looks like a bald Mr. Stranger. This tournament scheme repeats season after season with different cosmic gods that make slightly different rules. I don’t get it, I was into John Ford films when I was their age.

 

So there’s a demand for superheroes to fight. And superheroes like to oblige their adoring public.So how do superheroes fight? How can they fight? Obviously, no one wants a real brawl between superheroes, but sparring does have its benefits. Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens the face of his neighbor (proverbs 27:17, in case you’ve ever wondered where that saying comes from). And it makes for great entertainment. There’s a long and storied tradition of superheroes having boxing matches and races for charity. 

 

So how can superheroes fight? What are the rules?

 

A lot of rule systems have been proposed over the years–a lot. But the rules we use for our annual  CER (competitive emergency response–which is a fancy way to say “superhero fights”) games with Ishinomori School are called  Liber rules and we use them because they test students in elements of superheroing beyond brawling. They test superteam management, battlefield discretion, tactics, and strategy. It’s still focused primarily on beating up the other team–but there are a few wrinkles we and Ishinomori like as superhero educators.

 

Lieber Rules

 

The ruleset our matches with Ishinomori use is called the Lieber rules, named for superhero publicist and fight promoter Stanley “Stalwart Stan” Lieber. We’ve been using Lieber rules for years because they test a lot of different aspects of the emergency response experience, not just combat.

 

Each side is composed of 8 member teams, 8 being slightly above-average for the number of members on a superteam. The average in the United States is 7, but when international teams are factored in, the average drops to 5. Japan in particular has a lot of 5 and 2 man teams. We use 8 per side because we want to have as many students participate without the contest becoming too long or unwieldy.

 

These teams have been balanced through a variety of methods over the years, usually borrowing from one of the many, many different superhuman ranking systems Ishinomori uses. Their hyper-detailed, multivariate ranking systems are, at least in theory, better at producing balanced teams than our own broader classification systems. This year, we’re using brand-new ranks, and Ishinomori is willing to do the heavy lifting for the calculations. We come up with a team and then they’ll build their own team to match our ranks.

 

Does being the ones behind the ranking systems benefit Ishinomori? Probably, but let’s keep things into perspective. I’m tired of hearing “Ishinomori cheats” in the lounge. It’s just how things are. Culturally, Japan has always stressed superhuman ranks more than we have. “Japan ranks, America classifies” as the saying goes. So naturally, being more familiar with how power ranks work, they’re able to optimize things for their side. I mean come on, their Resonancers compose one of the largest and oldest superhuman legacies on Earth. There’s been 46 Resonancer teams and they’re all based on top-down rank based team optimization. Japan knows their power ranks, while traditionally American superteams have followed a “get everyone together, find what they can do.” approach. When the Order of Tomorrow formed, no one cared that Space Savage, who was raised by star-swallowing leviathans, stood side-by-side with the Red Cardinal, who’s best trick was leaping across buildings.

 

So come on. Enough with the “Ishinomori cheats,” okay? Maybe their familiarity with power ranks has allowed them to get slightly more wins than us in these games. But let’s not take away from the accomplishments of their kids and our own by calling them cheaters.

 

After each school submits their proposed teams, a review board composed of personnel from both schools goes back and forth vetoing members and adjusting teams as the equations shift. It’s been likened to jury selection.

 

Students can be of any power level, though teams most not only meet a power rank total (all members, for instance, must have their ranks add up to 30) but a power rank average. You can’t have one student at rank 23 and all his teammates at rank 1. Both schools want to field teams of diverse power ranks. We want diverse power ranks because culturally and historically, American superteams have featured a wide range of power ranks, and while Japanese superteams tend to have members with similar ranks, they want their kids to have the experience of fighting opponents more powerful than themselves and aiding lesser-powered teammates. Resonancers may all be at the same power rank, but sometimes they find themselves fighting alone against a stronger foe without the help of their teammates, and sometimes a teammate is weakened by an enemy attack and needs to be covered. Ishinomori believes that no one should expect to always fight against monsters on their level or to always fight alongside teammates on their level–and we agree.

 

Once the teams have been finalized, an arena is selected. Given that it’s a big spectacle it’s got to be somewhere open and comfortable for the audience. Typically, we’ve held our matches out in the harbor. It’s hard to beat Joyous Harbor’s beach and boardwalk for cozy accommodations, and the snack vendors appreciate the extra business we direct their way. Be sure to stop by Johnny Winter’s and pick up their CERtain Victory Combo Meal!

 

The area is managed by CRS staff from both schools. Basically, we set up a little CRS on the water. The kids we pick for these matches are responsible enough so that we can afford to be a little lax with the safety protocols. We just need a few big-leaguer teachers to put up forcefields. Combat is handled under the “aura system” we use in ERC. Everyone is protected by a forcefield. Blows never hurt more than a jab to the face. When one of the four referees (two from us, two from them) detects a move would have incapacitated a student, their aura turns red and they’re considered defeated. Attacking or doing anything to assist your team while red is a foul, and depending on the precise nature of the foul can result in a warning, penalty (which varies. Sometimes it takes the form of a team’s draft being chosen by the other school, sometimes it takes the form of a ban on a certain tactic or power), or disqualification for the teammate they were trying to help. 

 

If it is determined that a student used too much force in subduing an opponent, then their opponent takes a pink aura indicating a wound or serious injury and they’re disqualified. This is a superhero contest, not a supersoldier contest, and though Japanese and American heroes may disagree on the degree of restraint a superhero should use (Lifeman and Skull Savior didn’t leave rogues galleries, they left bodies), it is universally agreed that restraint is something all superheroes should have.

 

One CER strategy is to deliberately pit weaker against stronger opponents in the hopes that the stronger opponents will disqualify themselves by using too much force. This has been criticized because it’s not realistic in the context of simulating superheroics. Well, it isn’t. In the real world, people don’t go “Quick, rank 2 superhero! Go throw yourself in front of Killshot so he can blast you really hard and disqualify himself!” But there’s no clear solution to the problem. What are we supposed to do, ban students of a lower rank from fighting students of a higher rank? We might as well throw out using diverse power ranks altogether at that point and just make all entrants rank 5 or something. How are we supposed to judge the intent of a team’s composition? Maybe one side is fielding a rank 2 and rank 1 against a rank 6 and rank 7 because they think they have some great strategy. Maybe they think Sparkler Kid can beat Cosmic Energy Kids because Cosmic Energy Kid has a weakness to bright lights, like Neiros? Maybe one side is just making a really bad tactical decision? Maybe one side is sacrificing their weaker members to soften up the other side for their heavy hitters? There’s no way to tell when a team is trying to “pink” theri opponents.

 

If you’ve ever wondered if they sometimes think “Martin’s cheats” like we think “Ishinomori cheats,” the answer is yes they do and they think we do it through “pinking.” You see, because our teams tend to feature a wider range of power ranks compared to theirs which cluster more around an average, we tend to field more lower ranked students, which means we tend to be the ones who have lower ranked students disqualifying higher ranked students because they got hit too hard. 

 

And lets be real, sometimes the kids are trying to pink the other team, and sometimes we encourage them to do so, unintentionally or otherwise. A coach nodding their head is enough of a tell.

 

The first round is fought on neutral territory, meaning without any CRS terrain, just pure saltwater. For each round, the teams draft two-person teams commonly called drafts of “dynamic duos” to differentiate these mini-teams from the larger whole team. The school that won last year, meaning Ishinomir, starts things off by announcing their first pick for their draft. Then our team picks the first member of their draft. Then Ishinomori picks their second and we pick our second. 

 

Then both teams fight and everyone cheers their heads off. 

 

When someone is redded out, they aren’t necessarily out of the game. If their partner reds out the other team, they’re “rescued” and stay in the game. But their partner doesn’t have to fight 1 against 2. As soon as your partner is redded out, you are allowed to attempt to escape the battle. This is done by crossing over the end of the arena. Your partner is out of the game, but you aren’t.

 

This teaches kids discretion. Sometimes, you got to get help. No one wants to leave their friend behind, but losing completely is worse than losing partially. Kids need to learn how to mitigate defeats–because there’s not a single superhero worth a damn that hasn’t known some kind of defeat. A team that knows that losing the battle doesn’t mean losing the war is going to have an advantage over a team whose members are too pigheaded to run.

 

After the first round of combat, the victorious team becomes the “supervillains” for the next round and the defeated team the “superheroes.” Supervillains have the advantage of picking an arena simulation from the CRS library we and Ishinomori share. But supervillains have the disadvantage of having to announce their draft. This represents roughly how supervillains act in the real world. They have the advantage of picking where a fight is going to take place, of luring superheroes into their deathtraps and secret bases. But they always play their hands first and that gives superheroes the ability to select the right members to take them down. The group that wins the second round becomes the supervillains for the next and so on and so on until the game ends with either a team forfeiting, which is rare or all their members being eliminated.

 

Two things to note–1, if a team loses twice in a row, they may opt to become the supervillains or to make the round a neutral round like the first round. 2, teams may agree to hold a neutral round during any round, but they must be in agreement.

 

One last thing to note–coaching is forbidden. All decisions, including how teams are organized (Who is the leader? Who becomes the leader if the leader is eliminated?) get decided on by the kids themselves. 

 

And yeah, they say “Martin’s totally coaches their kids” just like we say “Ishinomori totally coaches their kids.”

 

Let’s not give anyone a reason to think that this year, shall we? Let’s just have a good, clean, fun match.