Fantastic 4 VS. The X-men?
ALL of them?
Obviously the X-men win.
Individually? Well, I'm sure I could pick a team of four who could topple the FF, just as I could pick a team of four who would get stomped.
But to make things simple, just about any X-man with telepathy would put down the entire FF in one shot. Invisible Woman included. She can NOT block telepathy.
It took me awhile to find the issue, but I found it. This is the issue that caused the belief that IW can block telepathy in the first place. It's the issue where Jean is located by the Avengers and FF. She goes crazy, thinking they're skrulls because they're acting different than she remembers (because it's been years since she's been awake), and because Sue calls herself Invisible Woman instead of Invisible Girl. So she lashes out at the whole group, leaving them spinning in the air. Sue then uses her powers to stop and contain Jean. Jean expressed shock because she couldn't sense Sue sneaking up on her. Sue didn't know what she was talking about.
That was the issue referenced. I imagine the assumption on this board was that because Jean didn't sense Sue coming, it was because Sue masked her presence with her shield.
In fact, it was because Jean LOST her telepathy. It was revealed at the end of the issue that she had no telepathic power. That was why she didn't sense Sue coming, and that was why she didn't telepathically attack anybody.
So unless someone can produce an actual example of Sue blocking a telepath, any X-men team with a telepath win this with amazing ease.
Why wouldn't she wipe out the F4 on her own? They don't have any natural phychic defense. It wouldn't be any harder than psychically shutting down any four random people. Jean has strong telekinetic shields. The only member of the Four who could get around it would be Sue, but that would be a battle of wills. She couldn't do it quickdraw. Without a quickdraw option that was faster than the speed of thought, Jean takes all four of them out immediately. Or Emma. Or Charles. Or even Psylocke.
I think removing the telepathic option would make for a more interesting battle, though.
Reed? How would he be the difference maker in a no-prep situation? Especially against a psionic.
Sue would have to put down Jean faster than Jean could shut down the entire team. A telepathic attack seems like it would be faster than forming an invisible object and attacking with it. So I'm not sure Sue could stop Jean in time. I guess it depends entirely on who acts first. Either way, I don't see it as a mismatch in favor of the Four. It's fairly even with psionic on the team, and X-men have lots of psionics. You still see it as a mismatch?
Except the X-men are stacked to high heaven with psions. It's a pretty significant factor. Having one psion makes it even because Sue may take the psion out before the psion takes them out. Having two or more on the team makes it impossible...
But I think this isn't a fair thread. X-men supporters are at the advantage because they can choose from among dozens of X-men for all kinds of dominating effects. I preferred the older threads where there were four specific X-men pitted against the Four.
The X-men have this. Not every X-man, but almost any four could take them if they used their powers correctly.
I believe, in my opinion, that Iceman could take or at the very least tie Human Torch in a fight. If you think about their powers correctly, they negate each other really. And I know that HT can go Nova, but IM has been incredible lately himself. He pretty much can't die when he's in his ice form. So I'd so those two would be in a stalemate.
Colossus can handle Thing. I don't dare start arguing that Colossus could easily take thing, because I don't want this to turn into the "Colossus vs. Thing" thread. I personally think Colossus would win in an epic battle. But let's just say they fight each other, shall we?
Jean can take Invisible woman. In fact, Jean would beat IW.
And that just leaves Mr. Fantastic. Hm...he's a unique one he is. One could choose from countless X-men to take him.
Maybe Nightcrawler? I think he could do it. Or...hm...Quicksilver perhaps. Yea, that makes sense. Shadowcat could do it, too. There are several people who could take Mr. Fantastic.
And that's what I think. X-men win in an epic battle.