== The Comic Book Rumbles Board == is a message board currently located on the Comic Book Resources discussion board. Its purpose is the debate of battles between fictional characters (with a strong comic book slant). Originally located on the ElectricFerret site, it has since moved to the Comic Book Resources messageboard.

Posters of the board refer to it has having gone through seperate 'Ages', currently it is in the 4th Age.

History

The Ages

The First Age

The Second Age

The Third Age

The Fourth Age

Fifth Age?

Rules of Rumbling

In most cases, the poster who originally set up the versus fight determines the conditions of the fight itself. However, in the cases where the original poster did not set down any contraints or conditions for the fight, then the match would default to the standard rules below.

01. Prep time: Neither side receives any notable prep time before the starting bell. Neither side may take any offensive or defensive actions before the starting bell. Planning is allowed and powers that are automatic or 'always on' can be up, but actions such as setting up forcefields, taking flight, or consciously activating powers is not. For example, Batman cannot shove together an 'anti-Avengers ray' before the fight.

02. Standard Equipment: Each side starts out with the equipment that they normally and have been shown to consistently carry on them. For example, Daredevil would have his billy-club, but Reed Richards would not have the Ultimate Nullifier.

In a scenario fight, the contestants in whose city/reality the fight takes place are allowed access to any material resources they usually have there or of any team they're active members of, as long as they can reasonably get to them. For example, in a scenario set in the DCU, Green Lantern would have access to equipment in the JLA Watchtower, but not the Titans headquarters.

03. Basic knowledge: Each side receives basic knowledge of the other. A good measure of this would be what the general population of the character's homeworld knows. For example, that Superman has a weakness to Kryptonite is general knowledge, but that he's Clark Kent is not.

04. Bloodlust: It is assumed that each contestant in the arena will fight to his/her best ability. That means they will use any powers at their disposal. For example, even though The Flash doesn't clock each of his own opponents in the first picosecond in his own comic, it is assumed that is a viable tactic on this board since it is a proven fact that he possesses that level of speed.

It is also assumed that the characters fight at their optimum levels of ability - not explicitly weakened or unusually powered up for those who have variable power levels.

05. Setting: The default battle area is the Arena of Khazan, a colossal arena that looks somewhat like a Roman Amphitheatre. It is typically a 250 feet by 200 feet ellipse, though the size is adjustable in accordance to the size of the contestants; the opposing sides start out about 100 feet from one another. The Arena of Khazan is itself next to completely indestructable. The audience are protected from stray energy blasts/debis/body parts by a godly powered forcefield. The ground of the arena itself does not have this protection, nor is the skydome covered by it. Somewhere in the arena is located a commentators box (location seems to vary).

06. No outside help: Unless specified otherwise, no contestant may call for outside assistance, even in scenario matches. For example, Captain America cannot call in the Avengers during a fight with Batman.

07. Leaving the field: Combatants who leave the field of combat on purpose forfeit the match. If they are removed from the arena against their will (being punched, thrown, teleported, etc.) and can make it back under their own power, then they are still in the fight. Obviously, if a combatant leaves the field and cannot return under their own power, then they have lost.

PIS/CIS/SMvsFL

What is PIS?

Plot Induced Stupidity, or PIS, is when characters don't use their abilities or skills to the fullest extent as shown before, even within their personality ranges, for the sake of the story plotline. It makes lesser powered characters an actual challenge against higher powered characters in the comics. Examples of PIS include Flash stories lasting longer than three panels, or Toy Man as a threat to Superman. Standard CBR fights exempt the contestants from PIS unless otherwise specified.

What is CIS?

Character Induced Stupidity, or CIS, refers to any natural mental limitations that characters impose upon themselves and reduce their ability to use their own skills and powers effectively. Unlike PIS, CIS does not occur because the plot requires it, but because the character is genuinely that dumb. Examples of the CIS-afflicted include characters such as Rhino or Jar Jar Binks. Standard CBR fights do not exempt the contestants from CIS.

Spider-man versus Firelord Exemption

Spider-Man vs. Firelord, or SvFL, is shorthand that refers to any time when a character performs a feat that their powers and skills should be blatantly insufficient for, and is not repeated or is rarely repeated again relative to the character's overall established career, as well as the character's opponents' established showings. In statistical terms, it is an outlier, something that is radically beyond the character's established capabilities. For example, Spiderman defeating a Herald of Galactus is a case of the SvFL exemption; however, Batman being able to sneak up on Superman is not because he has done so frequently under different writers.

For standard CBR fights, feats considered to fall under the SvFL exemption are not valid. Likewise, examples of writing which go against firmly set canon are also ignored. For example, in Larry Hama's run of Batman and Mike Grell's run of Iron Man, both characters were out of character and did things very much against established canon; therefore those runs are disregarded.

Controversy of the Spider-man versus Firelord Exemption

In the history of the Comic Book Rumbles board, several posters have attempted to challenge the title case of Spider-man versus Firelord being a case of a character's established past showings being contracted. As of this moment, none of these challenges were successful, and it is doubtful any will be in the future.

A popular arguement tactic for this challenge is bringing up times when Spiderman has beaten stronger oponents, absolutely none of which are anywhere close to comparable to a Herald of Galactus, which is where this idiot tactic falls down.

Notable Posts

X character in Sunnydale

Posts than ask the question of what happens when a character or group of characters from a series is dropped into the setting of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Eventually, such threads involve the result of the Hellmouth being locked and barred... from the inside.

Anime Related Posts

Ranma versus Kenshin

This megathread is again from the Third Age. Not quite as big as the others, it ended in what was considered a 'draw.'

Other

Sit and Talk Posts

The sit and talk posts involve at least two characters doing nothing but sitting down and talking with each other. (IE: Superman sits and talks with Captain America). Usually these are done to see how characters would interact with each other normally and what they would think of one another, and are done for humorous reasons. A popular Sit & Talk character is Deadpool, due to his humorous nature.

Regarding Dragonball Z

Several threads depicting scenarios between characters of the long-running Shounen manga/anime series Dragonball Z and characters of other universes have run on, hardly ever achieving a conclusive answer to the conflict and usually requiring moderator intervention to end. This is due to the rules of CBR which require users to present feats of characters of evidence. Unfortunately the canon of Dragonball Z does not contain much more than what one sees on the page - which isn't quantitatively narrated, thus many arguments are based on assumption - and this erupts into aggressive flame wars between the sides. Infamous threads such as Goku vs Superman, which in itself is a long standing debate across internet factions, run wild because of both parties have inconsistent showings and incarnations. It is especially difficult to assess Dragonball Z because the series runs on a simple logic of "A>B>C" across character conflicts, and thus cannot really be gauged on a relative scale from its own universe.

Trolls

Trolls aren't uncommon to the Rumbles Board or to the internet in general, unfortunately. It would be very nice if the racist jackasses such as the one currently plaguing this entry were to suddenly grow brains and stop acting like they were afraid people would know they needed a microscope and a pair of tweezers to take a piss.