Pillow Biter
Senior Member
Rating this fight in terms of how it is likely to be portrayed in a comic, the Xmen appear to have have a raw power edge at first glance.
Classic Juggernaut
God Cable
Exodus
Magneto (classic)
Xman
Are all elite-top tier level powerhouses. That's 5 for the Xmen.
The JLA only has 4:
Superman
Wonder Woman
Martian Manhunter
Green Lantern
However, this is somewhat evened out by the fact that Flash and Aquaman are both much more formidable than Storm.
The key factors seem to be:
1) Juggernaut: Just how invulnerable will he be portrayed as?
2) Superman: How much higher than elite top tier level will the writer let Superman ascend to, if at all, when or if he starts dropping the gloves?
3) Hal Jordan: What level will Hal be portrayed at? I'd say that over the last 15 years, GLs--even the elite ones--have seemed to drop in stock slowly but steadily, and often seemed to be borderline elite top tier at best. However, right now Hal is kicking serious ass in the GL books and has been for a while. They have even explained his superior performance explicitly. However, the key test of a powerup becoming accepted is for it to start showing up in other books than their own. Thus far, I haven't seen much evidence for more formidable GLs, or a more formidable Hal, in other DC books.
In general, I think this will follow typical comic book conventions. Certain power types tend to be unrealistically prioritized over others (strength over speed, etc.), and power set matchup-based advantages that should result in easy, one-sided wins will not be exploited at all, or will at best be allowed to provide a minor edge. I doubt speed nor TP would be allowed to decide the match. Comic fights are biased towards raw, tangible power: strength, durability, raw energy blasts, etc. over more realistic but exotic power uses.
In the above vein, Flash would likely perform as the high mid-tier that he normally is shown to be as. Aquaman would be in the same category, though he is much more formidable than he used to be.
I'm on the fence as to which side I would choose. The Xmen may have a bit more raw power, unless Superman gets frisky; but the Superman factor is somewhat balanced by the fact that Juggernaut could be written as truly invulnerable, and BFR is not always used right away. In fact, BFR isn't used that often in comics, despite it typically being a very effective tactic. However, a truly-invulnerable Juggernaut tends to force a writers hand at some point on this score, resulting in a much greater chance BFR will be used against him.
In the end, I might still lean JLA because of teamwork, experience, grit and a higher ceiling. Superman is very dynamic in power. GLs also seem to be innately dynamic given their power is based on will, which can fluctuate and spike more than physical muscles can. Additionally, the Flash often plays out of his typical mid-tier level and plays with and defeats the big boys. Finally, Aquaman has gotten a lot of push over the last few years and with his Trident, is also able to throw down with the big boys from time to time.
Non the abovementioned increased or higher performance levels are necessarily the norm for those characters, but they are all fairly frequent occurrences.
