Capeworld Comics

The FORBIDDEN Prediction Blog Episode 1

 

Prediction 1

 

Danny Phantom vs Jake Long

 

Ah man. Not Danny vs Gentleman Ghost? Oh well.

 

First of all, a HUGE thank you to AngusMcFifePT for letting me use his awesome art of Danny and Jake fighting. Dig that Castlevania in the back! Is Danny going to take on Dracula after he’s done with Jake?

 

Oops. Spoilers.

 

Going into this has been interesting. Danny Phantom and American Dragon are giant blindspots in my pop culture knowledge. I can’t say I’m a fan of either shows. The action+comedy formula just doesn’t click with me. But I can get why people are fans. For a lot of guys I’m sure Jake and Danny were their first exposure to superheroes. Thousands of guys look back on Jake and Danny as fondly as I do Super Friends and Fox’s Spider-Man.

 

So it’s a good thing there’s more Danny fans than Jake fans, because Danny is going to do to Jake what Bard did to Smaug.

 

Let’s review.

 

Danny

 

–Intangibility. Can impart this intangibility to other things ala’ Shadowcat.

 

–Invisibility. This invisibility can be defeated by infrared vision, which is an interesting take on how cold spots feature into traditional ghost lore. So point for Butch Hartman. However, it should be that Danny gets detected by the absence of heat, not the presence of heat, so I got to take the point away. Rules are rules.

 

–Can possess others, called “overshadowing” in the show. This even works on other ghosts.

 

–Ice powers. Because ya know, cold spots.

 

–Powerful Ghostly Wail attack, though he reverts to human form after using it. He was able to fire off multiple Ghostly Wails in the series finale Phantom Planet, but it’s unclear if Death Battle will allow it.

 

–Can create clones. This does not drain his energy.

 

–Telekinesis 

 

–Limited healing factor due to being made of ectoplasm.

 

–Can transform into an ectoplasmic body granting flight, enhanced physicality, and the ability to shoot ecto-blasts. Sometimes, he can be knocked out of this back into his human form. 

 

Jake

 

–Can transform into a dragon body granting flight, enhanced physicality, and the ability to breathe fire. Sometimes, he can be knocked out of this back into his human form

 

–Can create clones, though each clone drains some of his chi energy. This can be ameliorated by re-absorbing clones to re-absorb the energy that created them

 

–Enhanced visual and auditory senses called “eyes of the dragon” and “ears of the dragon”

 

What powers get canceled out?

 

Going by the above rundown, that’s a lot of powers in favor of Danny! But maybe Jake’s powers cancel some of them out?

 

It’s pretty unanimous on the internet that because Jake is able to tough ghosts in his show that he’d be able to punch Danny. It’s debatable whether that’s valid though. Butch Hartman found Jesus and retconned Danny Phantom ghosts from being spirits into being weird extradimensional creatures. Jake can touch ghosts in his show because they’re magic and he’s the sheriff of magic New York (Jake vs Bigby Wolf when?). But Danny isn’t magical, not one bit.

 

Still, let’s give Jake the ability to punch Danny. Because oh boy is this a bloodbath if he can’t even touch Danny, and because the retcon was lame. But that doesn’t fully protect him from Danny’s intangibility. They aren’t in a G-rated cartoon anymore, and that means Danny can do nasty stuff with his Shadowcat powers. Anyone remember when Shadowcat fused Thor into the ground? Thor 428? Think that. Or Danny phases a hunk of debris into Jake’s head ala’ Miracle Man. Jake also won’t be protected from possession. Ghosts in Danny’s show can touch Danny, that doesn’t stop him from overshadowing them.

 

What about Jake’s senses? Would they help him bust Danny’s invisibility? The eyes of the dragon wouldn’t. You need infrared vision to see Danny, and that’s not what the eyes of the dragon grant. They grant visual acuity, telescopic vision, and the ability to see in the dark. That’s not infrared. Jake isn’t a Yautja.

 

In Dungeons and Dragons terms, Jake has darkvision, but to beat Danny’s invisibility he needs ultravision.

Ears of the dragon would help Jake with the invisibility to an extent since Danny makes a sort of whooshing sound when he moves and moves through things, but they’re also a huge liability. Remember how Spidey 2099 vs Batman Beyond went? Or Daredevil vs Nightwing? Danny’s trump card is his ghostly wail sonic attack, and Jake has sensitive hearing. One ghostly wail and his head explodes like in Scanners. Danny reverts after using it, but he only needs to use it once.

 

Speaking of the ghostly wail, Jake has a weak spot behind his left ear, which is weird, but when is dragon physiology not weird? They breathe fire. If you press it hard enough, he dies. With the wail, Danny won’t have to know about this point or bulls-eye it. Jake’s entire head is going to vibrate. It’s very likely his killswitch will get flipped.

 

Something I haven’t heard people talk about concerning Danny’s powers

 

In the show, Danny’s ghost half is kinda-sorta it’s own thing. In an alternate timeline, Danny loses his parents and comes under the care of his arch-enemy Vlad Plasmius, who has similar powers to Danny. Vlad extracts Danny’s ghost-half, which was a bad idea because his ghost half is evil. The ghost half then kills Danny’s human half and absorbs Vlad to become Dark Danny, who is to Danny what Maestro is to the Hulk.

 

So let’s say that Jake somehow knocks Danny back to human form and kills him. Wouldn’t that mean that Jake would still have to deal with Danny’s ghost half?

 

It’s not that Danny needs another advantage, but if he can pull a Sekiro on Jake it’s yet another nail in the dragon-shaped coffin.

 

What are their win-conditions?

 

Jake: Beat Danny to death.

 

Danny: Beat Jake to death. Overshadow him.Use AHHHHHHHH to blow up his head. Phase him into an object. Phase an object into him. Remind Jake that Danny Phantom got three seasons to American Dragon’s two.

 

Ouch. Poor Jake.

 

They’re both going to go ghost

 

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, Jake is slightly stronger and faster. Just about everyone on the internet says he isn’t, but for the sake of argument let’s say that he is.

 

He still loses.

 

Danny is a semi-amorphous pseudo-ghost super-hero with phasing, clones and invisibility powers. He can control the tempo of the fight. Say Jake pulls off the upset and starts winning. Danny turns invisible, throws out some clones, and phases through the ground. Now he gets to use some of that limited healing factor, plan his next move, and choose when and how to attack. He can pick when to disengage. He can pick when and how to engage. Jake will have to play his game, and for a guy that’s already going to be on the defensive because of all of Danny’s powers, that’s too much of a disadvantage to overcome.