Elongated Man vs Medusa

Listen to the DynaMic Podcast Network at http://dynamicpodcasts.com
Join our community at https://patreon.com/dynamicduel
• 0:00:00 - Introduction 
• 0:03:34 - No-Prize Time 
• 0:14:13 - The End of Dynamic Duel? 
• 0:17:44 - Question of the Week 
• 0:18:30 - Elongated Man vs Medusa intro 
• 0:22:39 - Elongated Man history and powers 
• 0:31:36 - Medusa history and powers 
• 0:39:48 - Fight speculation 
• 0:46:08 - Duel results 
• 0:51:24 - Sign off 
Website: https://dynamicduel.com
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Executive producers: John Starosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustyn Balcom, Miggy Matanguihan, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wesolowski, AJ Dunkerley, Nic Abanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Speas, Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kersting, Josh Liner, Mike Williams, Oscar Galvez, and Paul Graves
"Take a Chance" "Clash Defiant" "Blip Stream" "Nowhere Land" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
#ElongatedMan #Medusa #MarvelVsDC


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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. Hi and welcometo the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we

(00:27):
review superhero films and debate thesuperiority between Marvel and DC by comparing
their characters in stat-based battlesimulations. I'm Marvelous Joe and I'm his twin
brother Johnny DC. And in this episode we're goingto find out who would win in a fight between
Elongated Man versus Medusa. Now Elongated Man isa stretchy DC character with the most perverted

(00:49):
name and existence against Medusa who has norelation to the Greek mythological character
except for, you know, they both have interestingthings going on with their hair. Yeah, Elongated
Man is a fairly popular character in DC so I'msurprised that it's taken us this long to get to a
dual episode with him and the same kind of goes forMedusa I feel. Yeah, so far we've only done one

(01:12):
inhuman unless you count Miss Marvel Kamala Khan,but yeah, that was Black Bolt in our Shazam vs.
Black Bolt episode and, you know, that's a mistakebecause I love the inhumans and I'm really excited
to get back into those characters with this duel.But before we find out who wins between these two
characters, we're going to break down the latestcomic book movie news this past week of which there
was none. So we're not going to do that. Yeah, we aregoing to give you guys a special update on the

(01:37):
podcast though so stay tuned for that. As always,we list our segment times in our episode
description so feel free to check out the shownotes if you want to skip ahead to a particular
topic. Our artificially intelligent dualsimulator AJ9K has a quick message for our
listeners so listen up. Want to know more aboutthis podcast? Then become a part of the dynamic

(01:58):
dual community on Patreon where you can choosefrom three tiers. The dynamic 2.0 tier gives you
access to our Discord chat server. The FantasticFour tier gives you two bonus episodes each month
and the X-Force tier makes you an executiveproducer of this show. Lastly, the DynaMic
podcast network tier lets you create your ownpodcast using this Monte Carlo simulator. Johnny

(02:19):
and Joe will help you develop your show, providegraphic support and consultation, and get you
simulation results. Pitch the twins your ideasvia email at dynamicdualpodcast.com. Check it
out at patreon.com .pippip. Thanks AJ9K andthanks to everyone who supports the podcast.
Guys, be sure to tune into the other shows and theDynaMic podcast network this week including

(02:43):
the Konsole Kombat podcast where hosts Jon andDean simulate battles between popular video game
characters. In yesterday's episode, theyreviewed The Last of Us season 2. Over on the Max
Destruction podcast hosts Scotty and Gilly pityour favorite action heroes from film and
television against each other. This week, thebrothers are returning to kick off a new season by

(03:04):
pitting Ben 10 against Aang from Avatar The LastAirbender. On the Senjoh World podcast hosts
Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fanfavorite anime and manga characters. In his next
episode, Zach is going to reveal who would winbetween Makka Al Barn from Soul Eater versus Ryuku
Matoi from Kill La Kill. Visitdynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show

(03:29):
notes to listen to all the shows in the DynaMicpodcast network. But with that out of the way,
quick to the no prize! A no prize is an award thatMarvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the
Dynamic Dual No Prize, is a digital award that wepost on Instagram for the person that we feel gave
the best answer to our question of the week. Lastweek, we asked you guys, what's your favorite

(03:52):
theory as to why Victor Von Doom would look likeTony Stark? Right, this is coming off the news that
Avengers Doomsday has been pushed back here.We've all been eagerly anticipating the film, but
we're going to have to wait until December of 2026to see it. In the meantime, we thought it would be
interesting to get your ideas on why, God, whywould they cast Robert Dunney Jr. as Dr. Doom and

(04:17):
how could that best be rationalized? We actuallygot quite a number of answers, but quite a few of you
guys repeated your answers. So we still have onlythree honorable mentions and one no prize winner.
Our first honorable mention goes to by DearBangura and Jutson Batty. Who said? Hello Dynamic
Dual, I think that a good theory would be thatVictor Von Doom implanted his brain inside Tony

(04:42):
Stark's body. Very similar to SuperiusSpider-Man with Doc Oub. I think he was trying to
make him a superior Iron Man. Maybe Marvel willfollow that storyline and kind of blend in with
this one and give us the best version of Tony Starkpossible. Thank you. Hi guys, Jutson Batty here. I
think that my favorite theory as to why Doom lookslike Stark in Avengers Doom is that in his reality,

(05:10):
it was a play on the superior Spider-Man story.Instead of it being Doc Ock and Spider-Man, it was
Doom and Stark being that Doom gets some form ofcancer that would kill him somehow and capacitate
Iron Man. It takes his body and Iron Man diesinstead. Alright, so they both gave the same
answer, essentially theorizing that the Dr. DoomIron Man relationship is going to be similar to the

(05:34):
superior Spider-Man relationship between Dr.Ock to Puss and Spider-Man in that comic book
storyline. Which is a theory that I haven't heardbefore. I think it's a pretty interesting one.
Essentially, they're saying that an alternatereality, Dr. Doom, is going to somehow
telepathically or otherwise implant his mindinto an alternate reality, Tony Stark's body, and
then come into the main 616 universe. Which is aninteresting idea, but it's not necessarily an

(06:00):
idea that I love because I can't come up with anykind of justification for why Doom would take over
Tony Stark's body when he could easily justprobably create a clone of his former body. Like
there's no advantage to having Tony Stark's bodyunless you don't want a functioning heart. Well,
one could say that the motivation would bedeception. Dr. Doom puts his mind in alternate

(06:23):
reality, Tony Stark's body, who comes to Earthpretending to be Tony Stark. I'd rather have
Doom's face hidden the entire time behind a dopemetallic mask. I don't need that kind of level of
deception. Maybe Doom's plan does, we'll see.Great answer by Deer and Judson, our next
honorable mention goes to Lorenzo Valdez. Whosaid? This is Lorenzo Valdez calling in once

(06:47):
again. What I keep going back to with RDJ as Dr. Doomis the Superboy TV show, where at the beginning of
season 2, Lex Luthor gets plastic surgery to looklike another character, Warren Eckworth. And I'm
wondering whether Dr. Doom has done somethingsimilar, and whether he's perhaps trying to pose
as Tony Stark, or revive Tony Stark, to infiltratethe Avengers. Clon of forever and always,

(07:12):
buh-bye. Yeah, this is a similar type of situationas the previous answer, except instead of being an
alternate reality, Dr. Doom inserting his mindinto an alternate reality, Tony Stark's body, it
is Dr. Doom getting plastic surgery to look likethe deceased Tony Stark. So face off,
essentially. Yeah, yeah. The reason I find thisparticular theory unsatisfying, and same thing

(07:34):
with the Superior Spider-Man theory, is that itdoesn't give enough space for the character of
Victor Von Doom to be his own character prior tothis deceptive plan. So in that case, we will never
really get a good sense of who this guy is, what helooks like, before we dive in head first into, oh,
this appears to be Tony Stark, and like acts likeTony Stark, and all this stuff. And it just bothers

(07:57):
me because Victor Von Doom is such an interestingcharacter in the comic books, and really truly has
not been done justice in the films, and deserves tobe. Right, at least even in the movie Face Off, in
the first act, you got a sense of who the characterswere before they switched faces. Exactly,
exactly. Great answer, Lorenzo. Our finalhonorable mention goes to Alex Albro, who said,

(08:21):
Hey guys, I think it plays out similar to the MCUwith a few twists. Instead of getting stranded in
Afghanistan, he gets stranded in Laveria, usesthe Ten Rings to help him take over the country,
still feels the need for a suit of armor around theworld, builds Ultron, which turns into the
Doombots. And since he can't save his mother inthis universe, as the universe's collapsed, he
trails the Fantastic Four to the 616, back in timeto save his mother from the Winter Soldier, and

(08:44):
he's been here all along. So yeah, this is the typeof scenario that I'm really hoping that Marvel
does not actually go down. What he poses is that analternate reality, Tony Stark, named Victor Von
Doom, goes through the same essential arc of beinga weapons designer who gets captured and taken to
Laveria, instead of Afghanistan like Tony Starkdid in the first Iron Man movie. And then takes over

(09:09):
the country, proposes the Ultron program, whichturns into Doombots, and then comes into our
reality to stop his mom from dying by the hands ofthe Winter Soldier. So that's what I don't want to
happen. I don't want the character of Victor VonDoom to essentially be Tony Stark, because Victor
Von Doom's actual origin story from the comicbooks is much more interesting than just being an

(09:30):
alternate reality rehash of the MCU's Tony Stark.Yeah, it may sound petty, but I think Victor Von
Doom should be done more justice than just being aTony Stark variant. Right, exactly. Yeah. That's
what I don't want. I don't want him to be a Tony Starkvariant, necessarily. I mean, there's one theory
that was not called in as an answer that I'lldiscuss in a minute here, but for the most part,

(09:53):
yeah, I would not like Dr. Doom to be a variant. Thatsaid, if Victor Von Doom was going to be a variant of
Tony Stark, that was a very creative way of goingabout that. So still, great answer, Alex. But the
winner, or should I say winners of this week's NoPrize are Travis Herndon and Cyrus Moore. Who
said? Well, so the name of the dude's Travis here,shut up to my twin. So my theory is that what if RDJ is

(10:19):
a red herring? Like they actually hired someoneelse to play Victor and they're keeping it hush
hush. So when at the end of Doomsday, we actuallyget the true reveal of the actual actor who's
playing Doom, Marvel would then pretty much pullthe biggest, got y'all, fuck all of you guys that
were doubting us moment in MCU history if that wasthe case. Hey guys, Cyrus Moore here. So my

(10:44):
ultimate theory is that Tony Stark is coming backas Victor Von Doom is actually just an illusion.
It's just a mass effect. Marvel's actually goingto have Tony Stark come back and be Iron Man, and
they will cast somebody else as Von Doom. Becauseyou know the only character to stay dead is Uncle
Ben. So yeah, I think Iron Man's coming back.Alright, this may be wishful thinking on my part

(11:10):
and probably most fans who don't like the idea ofRobert Downey Jr. being Iron Man, but it would be
pretty impressive if Marvel was playing this kindof long con where they announced Robert Downey Jr.
as being cast as Victor Von Doom. And then it turnsout that it was all just a scam and that he's

(11:31):
actually coming back as Iron Man and the characterof Doctor Doom is played by a different actor. I
don't think that's likely. I think it would be farmore likely that maybe Robert Downey Jr. plays
Doctor Doom for like the first movie at which pointat the end he gets reverted to his true form and then
we see another actor like pull away the disguise asa were and show us who the real Doctor Doom is. I

(11:54):
think that is still potentially a possibility,but Marvel pulling off something like that I think
would be exciting and would be something that Iwould actually love to see. Yeah, one thing about
the Marvel fandom is that they're always trying tofigure out all of the secrets that Marvel may or may
not have. Like when it came to, you know,Spider-Man No Way Home. Like everyone knew what

(12:18):
the spoiler for that film was going to be before weeven saw it. It was still exciting when we learned
that Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be inthe movie, but I think it would be cooler if
sometimes we didn't know all the secrets orcouldn't figure out all the secrets ahead of time.
If Marvel is really just punking all the fans, Iwould actually love that. I'm so sick of all of the

(12:41):
Marvel speculation and rumors. I don't give a shitabout it because, well, one, I'm a DC guy, but also
two, like there's no way you're going to know untilyou see the actual movie. So just stop. Right. I
mean, speculation is fun, but there's a limit towhat I can tolerate even as a Marvel fan. I think
essentially lying to fans is probably the bestmeans at this point of actually retaining some

(13:04):
sort of surprise, as they did with Spider-Man NoWay Home. They basically lied and said these guys
weren't in the movie, but then it turned out theywere. But the lie just has to be maintained and
believable. We'll end up seeing what happens. Inregards to my statement that there was another
theory out there that I liked. I think we talkedabout it on this podcast before. But if Victor Von
Doom is going to be a Tony Stark variant in thiscinematic multiverse, then I also want Chris

(13:29):
Evans and Scarlett Johansson to come back as evilvariant versions of their characters. So like
Hydra Cap along with Superior Iron Man version ofDoctor Doom and maybe Scar Joe as like Madamask or
something like that. That's the only way I can seethis working if it's not just Robert Downey Jr.
coming back, but other original Avengers actorscoming back as variants of their former roles.

(13:54):
Something like that I think could be pretty cool.And that's probably the only way I'll accept Doom
being a variant of Tony Stark. But thanks toeveryone who called in and congrats to Travis
Herndon and Cyrus Moore for winning this week's NoPrize. If you the listener want a shot at winning
your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on thisepisode when we'll be asking another question of
the week. And now that that's done, on to the news.Alright, in one of the biggest announcements for

(14:22):
this podcast, we want to let you guys know likeseven months in advance that in mid January on the
10th anniversary of this podcast, Jonathan and Iwill be ending Dynamic Duel as we all know it. That
doesn't mean that we're going away forever. Itjust means that Dynamic Duel will no longer be
putting out a weekly show. By the time that midJanuary comes around, Jonathan and I will be

(14:47):
turning 40. And as many of you listeners may know,we started this podcast on our 30th birthday. And
we feel that 10 years is a long time to exhaust anysingle topic, especially one like Marvel vs DC.
Yeah, it was interesting. We started this podcastbecause DC that year was releasing Batman v

(15:09):
Superman and essentially kicking off their veryown shared cinematic universe to compete with the
MCU. And that was a big ol' failure. Apparently.But I thought it was kind of fitting that we would
kind of end the podcast once that journey was overand as DC is kicking off a new universe. So we

(15:30):
started the show with the birth of one DC universeand we're ending it with the birth of another. Now
the weekly format will be going away for the show,but we will still be doing film reviews of the
upcoming Marvel and DC theatrical projects. Andmaybe some television shows as well. I'm not quite
sure. Right. We're still going to be on RonTomatoes. We're still going to be here just not

(15:52):
every week for you guys. Yeah. And to that end, theexecutive producers have determined the
remaining dual episodes that we'll be doingthroughout the rest of this calendar year into
next January. So the main reason we're announcingthis now is because if there are any potential
executive producers out there, and I had to tellPaul Graves this, who is our newest executive

(16:14):
producer, basically the role of the executiveproducer was to determine the content calendar of
this show and pitch dual ideas and things likethat. All the duels are figured out for the rest of
the show. And so the main role of the executiveproducer now is to determine in what order those
duels will be coming out. So I don't want todiscourage anyone from supporting this podcast,

(16:39):
but if you do become an executive producer fromhere on out, just know that the responsibility of
that role has kind of shifted. Yeah. If you've beena supporter of this podcast, you've known about
this news for a while and it's kind of bittersweet.But we're all really looking forward to the
upcoming schedule we have for the remainder ofthis year. And the final episodes in particular

(17:00):
are just going to be amazing. I almost can't waitfor them. Yeah. In some ways next year can't come
soon enough. And in other ways, it'll be hard tostop doing a weekly show, you know, something that
we've done for literally a decade consistently.We've never missed a drop date, even while sick.
Even while at the hospital having a kid. Yeah, Iguess I did miss that episode for sure. But I did

(17:23):
not. Hopefully this doesn't come as like a sadannouncement to a lot of our listeners out there.
Hopefully you guys understand that doing this for10 years is a long time. And we still love doing the
show, though, and we can't wait to continueputting out more episodes for you guys. Finally,
solving this Marvel vs DC debate and shutting mytwin brother up once and for all. Yes, those exact

(17:43):
words. But regarding this announcement, thatbrings us to our question of the week. How did you
find Dynamic Duel and how long have you beenlistening to the show? Yes, sometimes our
questions are more market research than lookingfor editorials from you guys. But with the news
that the show will be ending as it currentlyexists, we would just love to hear from some of our

(18:07):
listeners. Record your answer atdynamicduel.com by clicking on the red
microphone button in the bottom right hand cornerof the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a
voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 secondslong, and don't forget to leave your name in case we
include you on the podcast. We'll pick ourfavorite answer and award that person a Dynamic
Duel No Prize that we'll post to Instagram. Be sureto answer before June 7th. But I think that does it

(18:38):
for the news portion of this episode, so let's goahead and move into our main event. Where we find
out who would win in a fight between elongated manand the inhuman Medusa. All right, elongated man

(19:05):
versus Medusa. The primary reason we are doingthis duel, not only because these characters can
stretch, but also they're going to lead intofuture team duels that we have planned in the
coming months, including the Justice LeagueInternational versus the West Coast Avengers and
Wildcats versus the Inhumans. Of course,elongated man was a member of the Justice League

(19:27):
and Medusa is a member of the Inhumans, and wewanted to make sure to touch on these characters
specifically before their team duels because wefeel they're interesting and important enough
characters to delve deeper into. I don't know iflisteners have noticed yet, but Jonathan and I are
just plowing through the team duels in essencetrying to get through as many characters as
possible before this upcoming January. Yeah,doing one team duel a month was going to be the only

(19:53):
way we could get through all of the team battlesthat we were hoping to get through before moving on
from the current iteration of this show. Now, ifyou're an avid fan of the Flash television series
on the CW, you are familiar with elongated man. Hewas a member of the Flash's superhero team
essentially in the later seasons of the show, andyou may also remember Medusa from a really, really

(20:20):
shitty Inhumans live action series. It was so bad,which is such a shame. I really wanted to like the
Inhumans series because it was being released inIMAX and everything like that. And Jonathan and I
even went to our local IMAX theater to see theInhumans pilot episode essentially, and we were
severely disappointed. We actually did a reviewof it on this podcast when it came out. And I thought

(20:41):
Serendis Swan, the actress who played Medusa, waspretty well cast. A lot of the cast was actually
pretty good, but everything else in the showreally sucked. It's probably the worst thing
Marvel television has ever put out, and that's ashame because the Inhumans deserve better. Yeah,
I've always thought that Inhumans were prettycool. I would agree with that. Before we get into
this dual matchup to explain the methodologybehind our duels, let's go to our sentient dual

(21:05):
simulator, Alfred Jarvis 9000. AJ and IK tell ourlisteners how you go about determining a winner in
our dual matchups. Yes, of course, sir. The way Idetermine a winner between the contestants is by
running 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations using thecharacters statistics. A Monte Carlo simulation
is a probabilistic model used to determineoutcomes through random sampling. In this case, I

(21:28):
randomize the statistics along a normaldistribution as a way to simulate the many
variables that can occur during battle. The statparameters are based on the official Marvel power
grid from which the DC characters statistics areextrapolated. Additional stat categories are
included such as range, damage potential,versatility and perception in order to create a
more detailed and accurate simulation. Theresults of the 1,000 simulations provide a

(21:53):
percentage of wins for each character. Thecontestant with the higher percentage is
declared the victor as they have a higherprobability to win any given battle. In an
equitable pairing, neither character should win100% of the matches. The comic book stories have
shown that there's even a way for Batman to defeatSuperman, so the confidence rate of my method
falls in line with the precedents that have beenestablished in the source material. My

(22:16):
mathematical simulations are withoutsubjectivity or bias. Feats are not the sole
consideration, nor are fan votes tabulated fordetermination of the winner. Thanks, AJ9K.
Before we run the simulations though, we like tobreak down each character's histories and
abilities before improvising a scenario on how weimagine one of the 1,000 simulations would play

(22:37):
out, beat for beat. It is my turn to go first with theDC characters backstory, so let me tell you all
about Elongated Dan. Randolph Relf Dibney wasborn in Waymore, Nebraska to a modest and
unassuming family. From a young age, Relf wascaptivated by carnival side shows featuring
contortionists who seemingly impossible featsof flexibility ignited his imagination.

(23:03):
Determined to uncover their secrets, Relfdiscovered that many of these performers drank a
soda called Gin Gold, which was flavored withextract from a rare fruit known as Jingo, which
only grew in the remote jungles of the YucatanPeninsula in Mexico. As it turned out, most people
were allergic to Jingo in its raw concentratedform, as it possessed unusual biochemical

(23:27):
properties that interacted with the humannervous system. Fascinated, Relf studied
chemistry and eventually traveled to the Yucatanto collect Jingo fruit samples. He isolated and
refined the active compound into a highlyconcentrated extract, which upon ingesting
radically transformed Relf's body, triggeringwithin it a latent metagene that granted him

(23:50):
superhuman elasticity. He found he couldstretch, twist, and reshape himself into almost
any form imaginable. Inspired by the flash inCentral City and determined to use his newfound
gifts for good, Relf adopted the heroic identityof Elongated Man. You can learn more about Flash in
our Flash vs. Quicksilver duel episode. Uniqueamong superheroes, Relf never concealed his

(24:15):
identity and instead embraced fame as a celebritydetective. Early in his heroic journey, he met
Su-Dirban, a spirited and wealthy socialite. Thetwo married and quickly became one of the most
beloved and enduring couples in the superherocommunity. As a close ally of the Flash, Relf
became an honored member of the Justice League ofAmerica. Known for his trademark nose twitch

(24:41):
whenever something seemed to miss, Relf relishedsolving mysteries and earned a reputation as one
of the world's greatest detectives. Hislighthearted nature, keen intellect, and
unwavering devotion to Su made him a respectedfigure among both heroes and civilians. While
joining the Justice League on countless missionstogether, Relf and Su traveled the globe solving

(25:03):
bizarre, supernatural, and otherworldlymysteries. Though not the most physically
imposing hero, Relf's flexibility and deductivegenius often made him the key to resolving crises
that others couldn't. The couple becamemainstays in the Justice League Europe and later
joined the offbeat Super Buddies team formed byMaxwell Lord. In addition to his work with

(25:26):
superhero teams, Relf became a liaison betweenthe mystical and scientific community. He
consulted on arcane-related investigations anddeveloped a working knowledge of magical
phenomena, which aided in several casesinvolving cursed artifacts and
extra-dimensional incursions. His ability tocombine scientific reasoning with open-minded

(25:47):
intuition set him apart for more rigiddetectives. He and Su also developed a rapport
with many of their fellow heroes, forging closeties with members of the Justice Society and newer
heroes alike. They were frequently called uponfor both mystery-solving expertise and moral
support, becoming regarded as a stabilizingpresence in the heroic community. Relf's humor

(26:10):
and Su's charm made them a welcome addition tonearly any gathering. Their joyful partnership
came to a tragic end, however, when Su was foundmurdered in their home. Investigations revealed
that years earlier, Ralph was shattered by theloss. His grief consumed him, and he turned to

(26:58):
mysticism in a desperate attempt to resurrectSue. After finding Sue's tombstone defaced with a
Kryptonian symbol for resurrection, Ralphtracked down the vandals and learned of the Cult of
Connor, an organization attempting to bring therecently deceased Superboy back to life. You can
learn more about Superboy in his duel againstRogue. The Cult planned to test the resurrection

(27:20):
technique by first attempting to bring back Sue.Ralph, lost without his wife, joined their cause
and brought four other heroes to the ceremony.Midway through, however, Ralph deduced it was an
elaborate hoax and tried to stop the ritual. As theceremonial building burned, the straw effigy of
Sue, now a flame, crawled toward him and whisperedhis name. Devastated, Ralph believed he had

(27:46):
destroyed his only chance at reunion. Ralphrelocated to Marseille under the alias Alvin
Bergson, where he was eventually found byDetective Chimp, who sought his deductive
expertise. You can learn more about DetectiveChimp in his duel against Howard the Duck. Ralph
joined Detective Chimp and his magical ShadowPact team in Egypt, where the Helmet of Nubu began

(28:08):
to speak to Ralph. Eventually, Ralph performed aresurrection ritual in the Tower of Fate using the
Helmet of Nubu. After donning the helmet andfiring an enchanted gun at it, the illusion
shattered, revealing that the supervillainFelix Faust had posed as Nubu, manipulating Ralph
with the intention to trade his soul to the demonlord, Nieron. Ralph revealed, however, that he

(28:32):
had known the truth all along and that the ritual hehad performed was actually a binding spell.
Nieron appeared and killed Ralph, unaware thespell would imprison both him and Faust in the
Tower. Reunited with his wife in the afterlife,Ralph and Sue remained on the mortal plane as ghost
detectives, solving paranormal cases frombeyond the grave. In post-Flashpoint

(28:56):
continuity, Ralph was alive once again,portrayed as a private investigator
specializing in metahuman cases, and who hadwithdrawn from the public eye after Sue's
apparent death in a metahuman-related accident.Isolated and emotionally fractured, he was also
physically unstable. His body's elasticitydeteriorated from exposure to corrupted

(29:18):
synthetic gingold used in unauthorizedexperiments. Ralph's condition worsened until
he was found by Batman and the Flash who brought himto Star Labs. There, a Medigine Regeneration
Chamber stabilized his molecules and restoredhis powers. Grateful for his second chance, Ralph
resumed his role as elongated man. Operatingunder the alias Big Shot, he infiltrated the

(29:44):
Seeker Six under the direction of the Riddler whowas manipulating the team under the codename
Mockingbird. Sue, who supposed death had beenfabricated as part of Ralph's cover story, was
later revealed to be alive. Upon reuniting, thecouple reconciled and resumed their
crime-solving partnership, continuing theiradventures together. Powers-wise, elongated

(30:06):
man possesses an elastic body which allows him tostretch and reshape his physical form,
contorting into nearly any shape withextraordinary precision. His elasticity also
provides him with enhanced durability andresistance to physical trauma. He can flatten
himself, elongate his limbs, slip through narrowspaces, and rebound from impacts that would

(30:29):
incapacitate normal humans. His flexibility ismatched by his brilliant deductive mind. He is a
world-class detective whose keen instincts andanalytical skills rival the best investigators
on earth. And that's elongated man. Elongated manis probably, I think, an underrated character,
but with the worst damn origin story in existence.He basically drank fruit juice and became

(30:56):
stretchy. Hey man, it was the Silver Age! What areyou gonna do? Silver Age doesn't cut it. Like, that
sounds more like a Golden Age-type origin story.So even saying it's the Silver Age is just sad. Out
of all the origin stories we've discussed on thispodcast, that's the worst one. And probably will
remain the worst one. At the very least, it'sunique, alright? Fruit juice? Come on! Inhuman

(31:18):
origins? Way better, you know? The wholebackstory with the Kree experimentation on early
humans, special genes that give them powers whenthey're exposed to an alien element. That's how
you do a Silver Age origin story right there. Butyou know what's more realistic? Fruit juice! Let
me get into Medusa's backstory. In the hidden cityof Adelene, Medusa-Litha-Melaquin was born into

(31:42):
the Inhuman Royal Family, the daughter of Quillenand Ember, and sister to Crystal. When she was an
infant, her parents exposed her to the TarogenMist, the mutagenic vapor that unlocks late
in-inhuman traits, which granted her prehensilecrimson hair able to lift great weights,
lash-like whips, and move with the dexterity ofadded limbs. You can learn more about Tarogenesis

(32:03):
and the history of the Inhumans in our Shazam vsBlackbolt dual episode. During adolescence,
Medusa regularly visited her distant cousinBlackbolt, who was confined in an isolation
chamber because a whisper from his voice couldlevel mountains. They invented a private sign
language, shared secret conversations throughthe glass, and fell in love. Soon after

(32:24):
Blackbolt's 18th birthday, his parents wereaccidentally killed when his voice destroyed
their spacecraft. The tragedy placed the youngman on the throne, with Medusa publicly
acknowledged as his betrothed. Early inBlackbolt's reign, the Alpha Primitives,
Adelene's genetically engineered labor cast,rebelled. Maximus, Blackbolt's unstable
younger brother, exposed three Alpha Primitivesto experimental Tarogen energy, mutating them

(32:48):
into monstrous beings called the Tricon. Medusabattled the trio from a sky sled, but the craft
crashed, and the impact left her an amnesiacwanderer. She drifted through Europe, where she
was discovered by the villain, Wizard, whorecruited Medusa into his frightful four team.
Wizard's mind-altering devices kept herobedient while she fought the Fantastic Four on

(33:09):
several occasions. Eventually, Medusa'scousin, the Inhuman Warrior Gorgon, arrived on
Earth to retrieve her. Medusa was returned toAdelene, where the shock of familiar
surroundings restored her memory. During herabsence, Maximus had seized the throne and
declared Medusa his future queen. He sealed thecity inside an energy dome generated from

(33:29):
negative zone particles. Blackbolt used hisdevastating voice to shatter the barrier,
freeing the Inhumans but leveling large portionsof their capital. With Adelene's secrets now
exposed, the royal family undertook a diplomaticmission among humans. In New York, Medusa was
manipulated into battling Spiderman, and theWizard briefly recaptured her before she escaped

(33:49):
again. Medusa soon forged friendlier ties withhumanity. When Susan Richards left the Fantastic
Four, Medusa filled her vacancy, fightingthreats on Earth and in deep space attending
Crystal's marriage to the speedsterQuicksilver. You can learn more about the
Fantastic Four in their duel against the JusticeSociety and more about Quicksilver in his duel
against the Flash. After Susan Richards returnedto the Fantastic Four, Medusa rejoined Blackbolt

(34:12):
and guided Adelene through environmentalcrises. Earth's pollution threatened in human
biology, so the city was relocated to theoxygen-rich blue area on the moon. There,
Blackbolt and Medusa married, formalizing herposition as queen consort and royal interpreter.
A new conflict flared when Medusa becamepregnant. The genetics council ruled the fetus

(34:33):
too dangerous, fearing it might combineMaximus's madness with Blackbolt's power and
ordered termination. Defying them, Medusa fledto Earth's deserts and gave birth in secrecy to
Ahura. Returning under truce, she surrenderedthe infant for study, unaware the council planned
to trade him to human scientists for Earthtechnology. The transport crashed, Ahura

(34:54):
vanished and Medusa sank into depression. Yearslater, the boy, aged rapidly by his genetics, was
recovered, declared unstable, and imprisoned insolitary confinement, much as his father once had
been. Public outrage over the council'sduplicity forced both council and royal family to
advocate Adelene, but political chaos soondemanded the royals resume their leadership,

(35:16):
still headquartered on the moon. When most of theEarth's mutants were stripped of their powers by
the Scarlet Witch's magic, Crystal's ex-husbandQuicksilver, stripped of his mutant speed,
sought asylum in Adelene. Medusa granted refugebefore bait him from entering the Tarjan
Chambers. Quicksilver defied her, stole Tarjancrystals, and fled. In the ensuing turmoil,

(35:36):
Blackbolt snapped at Medusa for misinterpretinghis silent orders before the council, and Maximus
exploited their marital strain by psychicallydarkening Medusa's thoughts. Confused, she
visited Maximus in a cell, and under hisinfluence, they shared a single kiss that
Blackbolt witnessed in anguish. Not long afterthe royal family learned Blackbolt had been
replaced by a scroll, a shapeshifting alieninfiltrator. Medusa led an assault into galactic

(36:01):
territory controlled by the Kree Empire,bargaining her sister Crystal's hand in marriage
to the Kree leader Ronin in exchange for aid,rescuing Blackbolt and Ahura. You can learn more
about Ronin in his dual episode against Big Barda.Upon their return, Maximus had fortified Adelene
and converted the city into a starship. TheInhumans launched a campaign that routed the

(36:21):
scrolls, and, after fierce clashes with the ShiarEmpire, left Blackbolt and the Shiar ruler
apparently dead in a doomsday blast. Medusa,weeping yet resolute, declared victory against
the Shiar, and assumed sole rule of both Inhumansand the newly conquered Kree. As queen, she
quelled riots incited by outside agitators andsecretly staged a faux rebellion engineered by

(36:45):
Maximus to prove the royal family's necessity,defeating it publicly to consolidate authority.
During this period, she represented the Inhumanson the Illuminati, a clandestine council of
Earth's foremost strategists. Despite thosesuccesses, disaster struck when Blackbolt
detonated a pterogen device while repelling anattack on Adelene by Thanos. The Inhuman City was

(37:07):
obliterated and a miscarrying pterogenparticles drifted across Earth, awakening
dormant Inhuman genes amongst some humans,creating new humans. Medusa established new
Adelene at the mouth of the Hudson River, welcomedthe royal family's newly empowered subjects, and
defeated rogue new human factions. She assistedBlackbolt in saving their son Ahura from the

(37:27):
time-manipulator Kang the Conqueror and guidedhim home. You can learn more about Kang in his duel
against Professor Zoom. Elsewhere, scientistsdiscovered that lingering pterogen clouds were
poisonous to mutants, igniting global tension.Medusa pursued diplomacy, but hostilities
escalated. Confronted with the loomingextinction of mutants, she chose to destroy the

(37:48):
last pterogen cloud. The decision sacrificed herpeople's future ability to undergo
pterogenesis, but it averted worldwidedisaster. Medusa abdicated the throne and
appointed the engineer Iso to guide Adelene undera more democratic charter. No longer monarchs,
Medusa and Blackbolt led an exploratory missionto the ruined alien Kree world of Hala. Their outer

(38:09):
space expedition led them to an ancient substancecalled Primogen, the source of all pterogen
guarded by the cosmic gardeners known as theprogenitors. During the voyage, Medusa and
Blackbolt reconciled emotionally, agreeing tostand as partners, but not lovers. The pair
eventually returned to Adelene, their longsevered bond rekindled once more, as I said about

(38:29):
rebuilding their people's future yet again. Andthat's Medusa's backstory powers-wise. Medusa
has the enhanced physiology of an inhuman grantedto her through pterogenesis. This includes
greater strength, speed, and durability than anynormal human. She also has trichokinesis, or the
ability to psionically control every strand ofher hair, each one having tensile strength and

(38:51):
durability of an iron wire. With her hair, she canlift over one and a half tons and she can move it in
any manner imaginable from performing delicatetasks like threading a needle, creating powerful
whips, or ensnaring opponents. She cannot detectpain through her hair, but she can feel sensations
through her psionic connection to its strands.Finally, Medusa is a skilled diplomat and an

(39:14):
experienced fighter. And that's Medusa. I have tosay, elongated man may have kind of a silly origin,
but at least the guy did not marry his cousin. Ohdang, what is this, Game of Thrones? Kinda. I mean,
they're distant cousins, alright? I don't knowhow far removed they are, but uh, yeah, that

(39:35):
thing's kind of common I guess within royalty.That's a pretty good description though. At their
best, the inhumans kind of feel like a sci-fi Gameof Thrones. That inhuman show should have been so
much better. So much better, I know, right? But nowthat we've got the characters' histories and

(40:44):
abilities out of the way, let's speculate on howone of the 1000 simulated matches will go. The
winners determined by our simulations not ourspeculation, but it's fun to imagine how the fight
could play out. AGA9K, what are the rules of ourspeculation? Alright, then let's get into it.

(41:26):
Elongated man and Medusa meet on the battlefield?Who goes first? I'm gonna say that elongated man
starts with his nose twitching, probably, as hetries to make sense of this new foe before him.
Okay, while elongated man is busy twitching hisnose, Medusa extends her hair downward and uses

(41:47):
her hair like legs to race toward elongated manmoving across the floor, kind of like a Mustang or
something, and she uses some of her hair to wrap himup and crush him in her hair grasp. She tries at
least because elongated man, he's gonna inflatehis body like a balloon to escape her grasp and he's
gonna quickly contract his body, then stretch hislegs to double kick her right in the gut. Well,

(42:12):
Medusa blocks the double kick because she's gonnaform some of her hair into a shield, right, and her
hair is super durable, so the hair blocks theattack and then her hair grabs his legs and she also
grabs his arms with other strands of hair and she'sgonna stretch elongated man out just like Taffy
until he snaps. Alright, well as she continues tostretch him and find out that his limit is really

(42:35):
long, that's when he's gonna shoot his headforward, you know, stretching his neck to
headbutt her right in the face and just blindingher from the pain. That was a pretty good move.
Okay, so that's probably gonna hurt her, she dropshis legs and arms, but she's durable, you know,
she's an inhuman, but she's also royally pissed,okay, so she forms some of her hair into a sharp like

(42:57):
spearhead and kind of like a scorpion tail, shestrikes forward with it and stabs through
elongated man's chest. Damn, okay, wellelongated man, he's essentially immune to blunt
physical force, but he can be pierced or stabbed bysharpen of objects, but not this time. I'm gonna
say as soon as he feels the initial poke, he's gonnastretch his chest backward to compensate. And

(43:21):
while she's trying to stab essentially putty,elongated man is gonna stretch himself really
wide covering Medusa and all of her hair in like agiant tarp essentially made of his body. And
that's gonna suffocate her beneath him. Couldn'tshe just stab him repeatedly with her hair from

(43:42):
under that tarp with like a thousand hair needles?That's just acupuncture, you know. If anything,
you know, she blocks his chi or some shit. Allright, okay, well then she turns her hair into like
spinning fan blades, which I started doing thecomics once. So she fills this elongated man tarp

(44:03):
with air, which is gonna cause him to rise and liftoff of her like a sheet in the wind. And he doesn't
want to get blown away, so he shrinks back down tonormal size. And at that point, Medusa lashes him
with hundreds of hair whips, just like loudcracking all over his body, like just like
firecrackers. And he gets whipped to deathbasically. Oh, damn. Okay, well, he's going to

(44:28):
expand the size of one of his hands to act as abarrier between his body and her whips. And sure,
that probably means he's whinsing by how much hishand hurts, but he'll live. And it's going to give
him enough time to grow his other hand to giant sizeand have it reach over his barrier to slam down on

(44:50):
top of Medusa, squashing her into the ground likewhack a mole. All right, okay, so she's like in a
hole in the ground, but she's going to come out ofthe hole unscathed because at the very last
second, she used her hair to wrap around her entirebody and form like a hair armor, like a hair suit of
armor type thing. And as she comes out, she lassosout a strand that wraps around elongated man's

(45:14):
neck and she tightens it just grotting him todeath, like either causing him to die from
strangulation, or like even if he can stretch hisneck and trachea thin enough to still breathe,
she's going to tighten it even more just to take hishead completely off. Match over. Dude, elongated
man, as he's being grotted, I'm going to say hequickly stretches his fingers down and around

(45:38):
Medusa. So they approach her from behind out of herline of sight, and the fingers are going to plunge
into her ears, making their way past her skull toher brain, and it's just going to squeeze it to
death essentially. So she dies before he getsstrangled and now the match is really over. All
right, well, that seems like a good place to end thematch. So either elongated man gets garotted by

(46:02):
Medusa's hair, or he squeezes her brain byentering her skull through the ear canal. Let's go
ahead and run the simulations and find out which ofthese two scenarios ends up happening by coming
back with a winner. AG9K, hit it! Inputting data,running calculations, processing results,
simulations complete. All right, I liked thismatchup. I wasn't quite sure how it would go. I was

(46:27):
hoping it wouldn't be too much like our Plastic Manvs. Mr. Fantastic dual episode, but I thought this
would be neat because it's really a stretchy guyversus a woman who makes her hair stretch, and I was
wondering how that would affect the stats, right?Because in some ways, Medusa stretching her hair
gives her an advantage, because it's not reallyher making herself vulnerable, it's just her

(46:49):
hair, right? So she has pretty damn goodevasiveness, although elongated man, of course,
is really damn evasive himself. Right, we did saythat elongated man is faster than Medusa, just
because of the nature of his powers, and he's anally of Flash who he's been able to keep up with.
Yeah, he can stretch his legs like hundreds of feetand make huge strides, whereas Medusa can't

(47:13):
quite, it doesn't really do that to the sameeffect. We also said that elongated man was more
durable considering how malleable his body is.Yeah, Medusa is durable if she gets hit, but she
herself is not malleable, it's her hair. So interms of using her hair defensively, we put those
types of moves in the evasiveness category asopposed to durability. And the only other stat

(47:35):
category where elongated man came out on top wasintellect, considering he's an incredibly
intelligent and deductive thinker, but Medusawas not only more versatile, but also had a greater
damage potential, surprisingly. Oh yeah, herhair is really strong, I've seen her knock around
characters like Thing and Iron Man with her hair.We also interestingly said that Medusa had

(47:56):
greater perception because of her connection toher hair. Yeah, she has psionic feelers with her
hair essentially. So taking all of these statsinto consideration, Joseph, who do you think came
out on top? I don't know, I'm gonna say Medusa, Ithink it's gonna be close though. Big surprise,
biased. Is it though? Is it a surprise that I wouldguess the Marvel character? Because I don't think

(48:20):
so. What is a surprise is how many of our Instagramfollowers that voted in our poll that we put up
chose elongated man as the likely winner, becausehe got 63% of the votes. Now both of these
characters, I would say are pretty obscure,potentially, though Medusa is probably more

(48:41):
obscure than elongated man, and that's why I thinkhe got the edge in the poll. I wouldn't know how to
quantify that, but maybe we just did. Well, let'sfind out who won. AJ9K, the results please.
Alright, the winner between elongated man andMedusa is Medusa. Yes, but it was so close. Medusa

(49:08):
won 514 of the 1000 matches, or 51.4%, compared toelongated man, who only won 486 of his matches.
It's a coin toss, pretty much. I wonder what putMedusa over the edge, I bet you it was probably her
inhuman physiology. Well, actually it was herdamage. Okay, so her inhuman powers then. Which

(49:30):
makes sense, I mean like her hair can perform a lotof the same feats that elongated man stretching
can, but I think her hair is a whole lot more durableand strong than elongated man's body. Well,
considering it's like iron fibers, yeah, youcould probably make that argument. But that
particular stat being that much higher thanelongated man doesn't surprise me, considering
her ranking within the inhuman royal family. Likethe royal family tends to be amongst the most

(49:57):
powerful inhumans. That's true. So for her to bequeen means that she could basically take on
almost any other inhuman, right? Blackbolt isjust insanely powerful, so I don't know. I mean,
she's shut him up a few times with her hair, so it'shard to say. It all depends on, you know, how the
story's being written. We could run the stats, whoknows. Wait, you're saying she's blocked his

(50:20):
speech with her hair? She kept his jaw closed so hecouldn't speak. Gotcha. Okay. Wow. Well, I gotta
say, I'm not surprised that this match was thisclose. I assumed it was going to be this close. It's
always nice when the matches are close like this,because it means it was just a good pairing. And
when I lose, I think it just means that Jonathan hasto respect the Marvel character even more when

(50:41):
it's close. That being said, I don't have torespect any DC character, Marvel wins. So
elongated man could take his dumb nose twitching,ginkgo biloba, take an ass, and get the hell out of
here. Well, you know what? At the end of the day,elongated man gets to go home to a beautiful wife
who I'm sure is very satisfied by him in multipleways. And therefore he's the true winner. I was

(51:04):
wondering when you were going to go for the dickjoke. Elongated man is just, it's just the worst
name, the character with the worst name and theworst origin. There's actually a panel in the
comics where elongated man is like, I love my wifebecause she's been around guys like Superman, it
still loves me. And I'm like, we all know why. Thatdoes it for this dual guys. AJ and IK help close this

(51:26):
out. Max Destruction, Senjoh World, and ConsoleCombat. In our next episode, we are doing another

(52:00):
dual this time between the insanely powerfulcharacters, Mr. Mxyz Spitalik, and Impossible
Man. But that does it for this episode. We want togive a big thanks to our executive producers, John
Staroski, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom,Mickey Mathen-Gian, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi
Yatyn, Austin Wazalowski, AJ Dunkerly, NickObanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Speese,

(52:23):
Dean Moleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, JoshLeiner, Mike Williams, Oscar Galvez, and Paul
Graves for helping make this podcast possible.And we'll talk to you guys next week. A popin' away,
true believers.