Contest of Champions 005 (Feb. 2016)
SPOILERS AHEAD! YE BE WARNED!
“After the events of Secret Wars, the last remnants of various alternate worlds exist in Battlerealm, a brokenr eality at the edge of spacetime. In this place, two immortal being, the Collector and the Grandmaster, pit the villains of those worlds – and the heroes of our own – against each other. The prize is Iso-8, a rare and powerful substance formed from the fires of universal rebirth. This is no game. This is the Contest of Champions!”
Welcome back to the Contest of Champions. Here are the rules:
- Teams made up of 5 Main Contestants — with Ringers for Support — battle in a random arena within the Battlerealm.
- Battle continues until all members of one team are defeated or killed.
- Should all 5 Main Contestants die, the Contest is forfeit. All prizes gained thus far are forfeit.
- If The Collector looses, you die.
Before we delve into the plot, let’s check out the teams:
| Team Collector | Team Grandmaster |
| Summoner: Maestro | Summoner: Punisher 2099 |
| Main: Ares, Outlaw, Stick, and Guillotine | Main: Joe Fixit, Venom, Sentry, Bullseye (Electra Natchios) |
| Support:Night Thrasher and ??? | Support:Madame Hydra and ??? |
Eliminated
- Gamora
- Hulk, Rick Jones
- Iron Man
- Moon Boy, Agent of Hydra
- Devil Hydrasaur
005
Night Thrasher was all ready to die alongside his teammates in the New Warriors battleing a bad guy. Before he could join his friends, the Collector grabbed him and welcomed him to the Contest of Champions. Night Thrasher added a new name to his list.
Meanwhile, at Grandmaster HQ, Jake Gallows (aka Punisher 2099) is getting ready for the next battle where the Grandmaster has instructed Punisher to kill every member of the Collector’s team in order to win it all. The Grandmaster’s team is not really on board with murder and threaten to kill Punisher instead, since the Summoners will also be on the battlefield.
Today’s battlefield is the Deadlands. Maestro sees the other team and decides, with Night Thrasher’s help (after Outlaw stops having a fangirl moment) will surround the enemy and attack hard. Maestro tosses Ares as a distraction. (Literally.) The projectile God of War slices off Joe Fixit’s head as he lands. The team ambushes the villains and a fight breaks out. The only one not wanting to fight is Sentry, who super orders everyone to stop with a concussive blast and becomes the Void. Stick pulls him out and reminds him of the plan. What plan?
Stick and Sentry teamed up in the last battle and created an escape plan. Punisher 2099 catches Stick and Sentry as they reveal their plan and vaporizes them on the spot. All of them. Maestro comes in and we learn HE had an escape plan with Punisher 2099. Talk about your many alliances. TO BE CONTINUED…
In the next issue we are promised the origin of the contest and an event that will change everything. The battles were fun, but now it is getting convoluted. Why blast everyone when the plan was to escape? Couldn’t everyone come along? Plus, with Maestro and Punisher 2099 still standing the battle is still on. One will have to kill or drop the other before they can escape. Of course, had they used Stick’s idea of combining their powers and creating a portal they all might have made it. Except Joe Fixit. He wasn’t going anywhere. Until next time!
