5 Marvel Characters That Master Chief Could Defeat (& 5 He Couldn’t)

Though the Halo franchise has been a fan favorite since the original Halo: Combat Evolved launched for the Xbox in 2001, many fans don’t know much about the Master Chief. Raised from a young age to be a soldier and genetically augmented at fourteen, John, his AI companion Cortana, and his Mjolnir power armor have fought countless alien threats as part of the UNSC Special Naval Warfare Command.

With superhuman physical attributes and a diverse, futuristic armory of weapons, John has a lot in common with several popular Marvel heroes and villains. It’s an interesting thought experiment to consider which superhumans Master Chief could take down in a fight, though fans will never know the answers for sure.

Master Chief Can Defeat

Captain America

Captain America, the very first Avenger, is notable for his star-spangled suit and unyielding sense of righteousness, but Steve Rogers wouldn’t stand much of a chance in a one-on-one fight against the Master Chief.

Captain America’s super-soldier serum and John’s genetic augmentations place them on a fairly similar level physically, but Cap doesn’t really have a way to do any damage to the Master Chief. Cap’s vibranium alloy shield may be nearly indestructible, but it wouldn’t be able to penetrate Chief’s regenerating shields and 1000 lbs. of armor.

Green Goblin

There are several powerful variants of Green Goblin, but even regular Norman Osborn has a few tricks up his sleeve that would make a fight against John-117 closer than anyone might expect. While Chief’s Mjolnir armor can take direct hits from powerful weaponry, it’s also shown susceptibility to repeated explosions that don’t give his shielding time to regenerate.

Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs would likely disorient Chief (if not wound him) and allow Goblin to perform a glider ram. Unfortunately for Norman, Mjolnir’s Armor Lock ability makes it almost immobile, and the glider would suffer more damage from the collision than Chief would.

War Machine

James Rhodes is one of the few people with Tony’s permission to wield his own Stark Tech suit, and War Machine trades some of Iron Man’s maneuverability and advanced tech for unprecedented levels of firepower. Mjolnir and the War Machine armor may be fairly similar, and both combatants have access to heave weaponry, but Master Chief has one tool that War Machine can’t compete with: Cortana.

If Chief could close enough distance to make physical contact, Cortana can infiltrate and shut down the computer and mechanical systems. This would lock War Machine’s suit and weapons and render him immobile and unable to fight.

Venom

Venom and Master Chief have wildly different combat styles, and a fight between the two would likely come down to which version of the symbiote was present. Venom can absorb or heal from all of John’s conventional firearms, and the Master Chief would be able to absorb most of Venom’s physical attacks with his Mjolnir armor.

Venom may try to infiltrate the suit, but it’s sealed off well enough to let John survive in outer space. Venom has several strengths and weaknesses, and Master Chief could win the fight by taking advantage of his vulnerability to sound. The Hard Sound Rifle uses concentrated sound waves to scramble internal organs.

Taskmaster

Some fans may think that Taskmaster could put up a decent fight against Spartan 117, but the result would likely be a decisive win for the Master Chief. Taskmaster can perfectly mimic anything that he sees, but he is still limited by the body that he possesses.

John was genetically engineered as a child to be bigger, stronger, and faster than any other human being alive, and there’s simply no way that Anthony Masters could copy his moves with the same level of power of finesse. Additionally, Taskmaster’s sword and shield would be incapable of doing much against Master Chief’s armor and shielding.

Master Chief Can’t Defeat

Iron Man

Iron Man and Master Chief have several similarities, and the most obvious connection is that they both fight inside of strong power-armor suits that are frequently upgraded to meet new threats. While John-117 may be able to stand toe-to-toe with some of Tony’s older suits, he just doesn’t have the tech to deal with the speed and versatility of newer nanotech models.

Cortana has shown the ability to overtake computer systems, but she was not designed to overtake other AIs like Halo Infinite‘s Weapon. Iron Man may even be able to use his nanotech to take over Mjolnir armor and render Chief immobile.

Wolverine

Wolverine has a reputation for being the best there is at what he does, and, unfortunately for Master Chief, Logan would likely be able to win a fight between the two. Since Wolverine depends on melee attacks, John would likely be able to do some severe damage from afar.

However, Wolverine has one of the best healing factors in comics, and there isn’t anything in the UNSC arsenal stronger than what he’s already come back from. The fight may come down to a long cycle of damage and regeneration, but eventually, Wolverine’s claws would slide Mjolnir for the victory.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is usually grouped together with other street-level heroes like Daredevil, but Peter Parker is far more powerful than many fans may give him credit for. He may not seem particularly strong when he’s fighting some of the best Spider-Foes, but the Marvel website describes Peter as able to lift up to 10 tons- many multiples more than Master Chief can manage.

Peter’s spider-sense has frequently allowed him to dodge bullets and prevent sneak attacks, his webbing is strong enough to immobilize Chief temporarily, and he’s strong enough to punch holes through Mjolnir when he isn’t holding back.

Ant-Man

Ant-Man lacks the strength, speed, and arsenal of Master Chief, but this would likely be a more exciting fight than many may think. Ant-Man does have the ability to shrink and has could potentially get inside of Mjolnir to disrupt it, but Chief’s regenerative shielding would have to be taken down first.

Ant-Man would want to start small to avoid fire while approaching John, then rapidly grow to tower over him. While the Scott Lang version of the character doesn’t do much growing, Hank Pym has been shown to reach hundreds of feet tall in the comics without much downside. A few stomps would take Chief out.

Jean Grey

The Master Chief can survive harsh conditions and powerful kinetic blasts with the help of his Mjolnir armor, but he wouldn’t stand a chance against Jean Grey of the X-Men. Jean is an Omega level telepath, which means that she possesses the highest possible level of telekinesis in the Marvel Universe.

John does not have any defense against psychic movement or disruption, and he would be largely helpless as Jean Grey threw him around or flung him from the battlefield. Even if Master Chief did get some shots off, no ammunition would get through Jean’s powerful telekinetic deflections.

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