Anakin Skywalker (RotS) runs the dueling gauntlet

Well DMB and Kurk, I find that the fight with Anakin and Dooku in Episode 3 was rather telling in how far he'd come since the end of TCW. Notice Dooku is willign to liberally apply his force powers in combat.... against Obi-Wan, yet not Anakin as he does in TCW. That indicates to me that either Anakin grew enough to outright resist Dooku flinging him as he did Obi-Wan, and Dooku was using the Force as he COULD knowing this, or it would have been so... taxing, marginal, etc... that it would have left him far too open. That, combined with Anakin's display of Sabers skill against him and the Count's eventual tiring/weakness to high-strength, kinetic attacks, lands my opinion where it is. Considering vader is > Anakin, that speaks for itself.

About Bane and Zannah. Bane would give Anakin a good fight, however not enough to wholly distract from Zannah and allow Zannah to use her sorcery with impunity. Given he's facing off against two opponents I find it far more likely Anakin would go to the "Zone" in order to compensate much quicker than normal and then throw Zannah off-balance, who is not an offensive fighter by any means to begin with, before finishing Bane.

It's not like Anakin can just go into the 'zone' whenever he pleases.

Its also not like Bane is any serious threat as lightsaber duelist and Zannah adds anything at all

Originally posted by |King Joker|
It's not like Anakin can just go into the 'zone' whenever he pleases.

No, but being outnumbered will pressure him more. The mental fact is still present even without knowing the skill of your opponents. With Bane being enough to definitely give him pause, the real possibility of death and the Sith's no-doubt demeanor and preaching of the Dark Side I feel would make Anakin begin to become more "serious" and anger him.

Anakin doesn't have a long personal rivalry with Bane or Zannah like he did with Dooku, and they won't be attempting to unbalance him with taunts about the dark side. Not really their style. They don't know shit about him and they have no agenda like Dooku did. You can't just assume Anakin will turn into the crazy Dooku destroying monster just because he'll be pressured more.

Originally posted by |King Joker|
Anakin doesn't have a long personal rivalry with Bane or Zannah like he did with Dooku, and they won't be attempting to unbalance him with taunts about the dark side. Not really their style. They don't know shit about him and they have no agenda like Dooku did. You can't just assume Anakin will turn into the crazy Dooku destroying monster just because he'll be pressured more.

Pressure begets more effort and even without being enraged, a more serious-minded Anakin is > Bane. Not at all a stomp in Anakin's favor. However, Anakin is superior in Bane's own power-oriented style. Without her sorcery, and being a defensive fighter and ACCUSTOMED to such fighting due to her training with bane, Zannah is wholly capable of stepping in and aiding her master, ably I might add, in relieving the pressure of Anakin's assault. However, Zannah with pure sabers, is minimally versed in offensive capabilities. (Were she as offensive-minded as she is defensive, Zannah and bane would sweep) Thus whenever Bane begins, due to her aid, to push back. She would ultimately just end up committing very little to the return assault without her sorcery or powers to call on. Then we've a back and forth of Anakin and Bane trading "control" with Bane regaining control through Zannah's aid whenever Anakin begins to push back. Now it is entirely plausible Anakin slips up at this point and loses, not saying it is not. However, it's far MORE likely that someone with Anakin's mindset would get frustrated and angry, thereby drawing on the Dark side as he did with Dooku (Though as you said, not in the exact same capacity most likely due to that lack of rivalry) enough to ultimately either kill Bane or even Zannah before Zannah can fully aid her master in repelling Skywalker's assault. Bane and Zannah do have potential to win here, and would also sweep were force powers available to them. However, given the circumstances, I find this more likely.

Also, thanks for giving me something to do Joker. Hope your night/day is more... eventful (in a good way) than mine is.

Anakin would need to focus all of his attention on Bane or else he would die very quickly. And that's the thing, he can't focus all of his attention on him. Bane is absolutely skilled / overwhelming enough to kill a distracted Anakin and thus Anakin can't afford to divert attention to Zannah. While Zannah doesn't have a wide array of offensive options she isn't incapable of going on the offensive and she is an expert in exploiting openings, and she herself is extremely fast. I honestly don't even see Anakin lasting long enough for him to enter any 'zone' state (even if that was an option on the table).

Basically, Bane vs. Anakin is a good fight on its own and Zannah is extremely capable of finding an opening while Anakin duels Bane. Conversely, Anakin would need to put all of his effort into breaking Zannah's Soresu defense in a timely manner, and he simply can't divert focus away from Bane. If he did, he'd be destroyed. He just can't defend against / press Bane without getting skewered by Zannah.

Anakin's dismantling of Dooku in the latter portion of their fight was very much in part to their personal history, Dooku's taunting, etc., two factors that are not present in Anakin vs. Bane and Zannah.

Originally posted by Kurk
When he tapped into his full potential for that brief "dark" moment near the end sure I can see that.

Dooku just effed up tactic wise by pissing him the F off and not intervening with force earlier in the fight.

I think you're all forgetting the text states that Sidious reaches out and encourages Anakin's rage. It's when he gives in to it when he's beating Dooku but when he's trying to suppress it Dooku gains the upper hand.

Stops at Yoda