who is the toughest of them all
this is a list of badass tough guys. its not about who is stronger or more durable with the best damage soak. this is a qeustion of who is the ultimate tough guy that eats nails for breakfast and shits bricks clint eastwood style.
Wolverine
Judge Dredd
Punisher
Wildcat
Cable
Originally posted by Khazra Reborn
Punisher and Wildcat are pretty much tied IMO, for two humans with no powers the amount of damage they've taken is borderline retarded. Extra props to Ted for wearing no armor too, and being old as shit.
That is what tips the scales for Wildcat, IMO. Wasn't he fighting in WW 2? Not only is he super old, but he can take as much punishment as someone like Frank.
Wildcat has mystically decelerated aging though, so he's only "old" in the same sense that someone like Captain America is (not quite the same obviously but close enough - he's been around for years but his physical body is that of a far younger man).
Dredd genuinely ages in real time and has no decelerated aging (although average life spans are slightly higher in the Dredd-verse thanks to medical tech). He's in his early 70s now and has all of the negatives that carries with it (his physical speed and strength are explicitly drastically lower than they used to be; he's even been diagnosed with arthritis and a form of cancer). Despite that, he's still vastly more active on a day-to-day basis than any of the others on the list (even bog-standard Judges routinely work the streets for 20 hours a day or more, 365 days a year - and Dredd routinely goes way beyond that).
In terms of physical toughness, Dredd's damage soak feats are superior to Castle's IMHO based on an extensive reading of both, although both are ridiculous. He's walked off having all of his skin and most of his flesh burnt off, nose completely gone, the works (and unlike Wolverine, he doesn't have accelerated healing to deal with that kind of injury). Shrugged off being crucified for days and shot twice point blank in the gut during the crucifixion etc.
In terms of mental toughness, I always think back to 2000AD #863, which had a guy steal "a handful" of Dredd's memories and artificially implant them into his own brain. That small sample of the things Dredd had experienced caused the guy's head to quite literally explode. He's also far less prone to mental/emotional breakdowns than Castle or Wolverine. He is also much cooler under pressure than either of those two IMHO (not in the sense that he functions better necessarily, just in the sense that he is far more emotionally understated than either, colder, more calculating - he doesn't succumb to rage or guilt or whatever, he is just about always 100% logical/rational to an almost robotic extent).
Cheers.
Yeah I would tend to assume it is non-canon, although after the reveal that the other IDW-published crossover is confirmed 2000AD Dredd-verse canon who knows?
Interestingly, the Mars Attacks/Dredd crossover was written by a guy who was one of the lead authors of 2000AD Dredd at the time, who had never written the IDW version previously. I'm not sure if he (or anyone else involved) ever commented directly on the canon status of the book, but it did seem to be somewhat distinct from the core IDW title.
If it was set in the 2000AD Dredd-verse though, it would have to have been set many years ago - at one point we are shown East Meg One as a functioning city, which would obviously necessitate it being pre-Apocalypse War.
Cheers.
I totally agree with everything you guys have said about Dredd.
But I still think Frank Castle is tougher. I think it's all to do with his backstory, and the pain. Dredd is as hard as nails, no question, but Frank's suffering - and when he's well-written, you see the suffering even when he's most full of rage - is on a sort of mythical level, like he's purging his agony by inflicting it on others.
I don't know much about Wildcat as I 've not read many comics with him in. Same with Cable.
As for Logan, he gets so horribly, horribly hurt so regularly but just keeps on going, he must be up there for top spot too.