A Certain Scientific Railgun Vs. Static Shock! Teens with shocking abilties, they're masters of electromagnetics and heroes in their own rights. In a high-voltage duel, who will short-circuit first?
Intro[]
Wiz: Electricity, for as long as man has been aware of its existence, has been revered and feared for its power, uncontrollable nature and shocking after-effects.
Boomstick: Hold on buster, puns are my forte here.
Wiz: Just like electricity is the specialty of these electro-masters!
Boomstick: Representing Academy City, Misaka Mikoto, the Railgun.
Wiz: And representing Dakota City, Static, the shocking hero from DC.
Boomstick: He’s Wiz and I’m Boomstick.
Wiz: And it’s our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win… a Death Battle.
Misaka Mikoto[]
Wiz: Imagine this. A place where your grandest dreams can come true, where scientific possibilities can even be compared to magic. And most importantly, where innate powers are unlocked, cultivating a one-of-a-kind society dedicated to the research and development of Esper abilities.
Boomstick: Sounds like my kinda place! I’d take super-power high school over the boring regular one any day.
Wiz: Well, don’t get it too twisted. It’s not like Academy City’s youth are all that different from your typical teenagers. Step into even the most prestigious middle school, Tokiwadai, and you’ll find your usual trouble makers, cliques, and gossip-seekers.
Boomstick: But you’ll also find one of the most powerful espers in the entire city, the Railgun, Tokiwadai’s Ace: Misaka Mikoto.
Wiz: Mikoto is one of only seven known Level 5 espers in the world, making her one of the few beings capable of functioning as a one-person army. But while some Level 5’s train all their lives in a laboratory to reach their full potential, or are simply born incredibly powerful, Mikoto stands as one of the only espers to work their way up from a Level 1 to Level 5 naturally.
Boomstick: While some guys are able to wipe out an entire army as a kid, Mikoto wasn’t like that at all.
Wiz: But she was a prodigy, and eventually proved both her power and genius in less than half a decade. See, being a Level 5 isn’t just about blowing up cities or being an unkillable mass of dark matter –
Boomstick: Wait, what?
Wiz: Don’t worry about it. Anyway, the distinction of ‘Level 5’ actually references both an Esper’s handling of their personal reality and their usefulness to Academy City. For the latter, Mikoto proved invaluable in the city’s secret plot to forcibly create the world’s first Level 6, and to do so, they manipulated Mikoto into giving up her DNA at a young age. Thus, creating a massive clone army based on Mikoto herself.
Boomstick: That’s messed up.
Wiz: Uhh, maybe… but I certainly would be interested in seeing exactly how they managed to clone someone as powerful as Mikoto. In fact, I just so happen to have been working on a prototype cloning module myself! Now if I remember correctly…
Boomstick: Oh no, no no no no NO! You’re not using me as a guinea pig again! Not after the last time…
Wiz: Again…? Oh, you must be referring to the tests Boomstick 11300 was subjected to.
Boomstick: Boomstick 11300?
Wiz: Uh, don’t worry about it! Anyway, moving on…
Boomstick: So, Mikoto’s family is pretty huge, and once she figured out the city was doing all sorts of messed up shit, she decided to put a stop to it all, fighting back against the crazy scientist dudes.
Wiz: And she did so with her Esper power as an Electromaster, perfectly suiting her newfound vigilante work.
Boomstick: She’s got full control of electricity! She can shoot it from her body, has a constant electromagnetic field around her, and she can even stick to walls like a Spider-Girl.
Wiz: Mikoto’s power derives from her understanding of her Personal Reality. In short, all epsers must learn to do this, and the most powerful espers are the ones who succeed at this in spades. In other words, espers are essentially warping reality in order to make their powers possible in the first place, and to top it all off, every exertion of power requires precise calculations.
Boomstick: Wait, what? You telling me I can’t just point at you with my hand and blast you to pieces? I GOTTA DO MATH???
Wiz: Well, yes. After all, if you can’t even calculate the voltage of a lightning bolt, can you really will your reality to create it?
Boomstick: Way to suck the fun out of superpowers.
Wiz: Mikoto can theoretically do any number of things with her mastery of electricity. For example, she can hack into anything that uses electricity to function, including entire servers filled with classified and encrypted information.
Boomstick: She can use her electricity to pull metal toward her, like a certain Master of Magnetism, or she can even zap places she needs to go, then pull herself toward it, swinging through the city like a… well, a Spider-Girl.
Wiz: Perhaps her most versatile trump card is her control of iron, or more specifically, iron sand, thanks to her electromagnetic waves. With this, Mikoto can create constructs of almost anything, as long as she has the imagination and resources to do it.
Boomstick: Like a chainsaw sword, or a whip, or even a GIANT IRON SAND KAIJU.
Wiz: The iron sand even makes for a valuable protective field, granting her some much needed defense, since she is otherwise pretty vulnerable.
Boomstick: But when things get serious, there’s only one special move she can really rely on. Only… her Railgun.
Mikoto: A super electromagnetic gun. It’s an application of Fleming’s Kinetic momentum theory. You use it to launch projectiles with a little extra oomph. (Resume A New World)
Boomstick: Or in English, she can blast things with electricity so hard, they shoot off like a high-speed military grade bullet.
Wiz: Greater than that, actually. Mikoto typically uses arcade coins for her projectiles, as she tends to have many on hand at any given time. With just these small pieces of ammunition, Mikoto can fire them at speeds three times the speed of sound, but she’s hardly restricted to just coins.
Boomstick: She can even use YOU as a projectile if she gets her hands on you. Or, you know, she can also just punch buildings really hard and send them flying.
Wiz: Mikoto is capable of outputting a maximum of 1 billion volts, and she can even view electromagnetic fields with her eyes. In fact, she also has a sort of sixth-sense. While she may not always be entirely aware of everything around her visually, her tie to the electromagnetic spectrum allows her to ‘see’ or feel things moving through it, essentially giving her some limited precognition.
Boomstick: SORT OF LIKE A SPIDER-GIRL. I'm starting to think we got the wrong opponent for her here.
Wiz: That’s honestly not even the half of all the ways her powers can be used. Her constant electromagnetic field passively protects her from mind control, as well as allows her to read the memories of others using a connecting circuit shock. And although she’s inexperienced in it, Mikoto is also fully capable of manipulating her own bioelectricity, making her somewhat immune to toxin-induced paralysis and outside interference. Thanks to Junko Hokaze, Mikoto even learned how to manipulate her own body to peak human levels by tweaking her internal electrical signals.
Boomstick: Oh, and she can fly using… water?
Wiz: Well, she does require substantial moisture to do so, but yes. Much in the same way she can manipulate iron sand, Mikoto can forcibly create an electrolysis chain in order to create makeshift wings.
Boomstick: And get this, her CLONES have even shown more stuff that Mikoto can do, since they have her powers too, but a lot weaker.
Wiz: Misaka Worst, the only Level 4 clone of Mikoto, demonstrated the ability to ignite oxygen in order to achieve inceased mobility and attack potency. Even the Sisters, whose power is less than 2% of Mikoto's, can turn oxygen into ozone like their big sister can do casually.
Boomstick: Needless to say, there’s a hell of a lot of stuff you can do with electricity. Here I thought it was all about blowing stuff up with finger zaps!
Wiz: It’s an easy misconception, given some of the most popular media portrayals of it are exactly that. Still, Misaka Mikoto’s powers aren’t just complex. The numbers back up her status and then some.
Boomstick: She was able to dodge Meltdowner’s lasers, and wasn’t just dodging their aim!
Wiz: She might have – no, she likely did use her electromagnetic sense to become aware of the attack, but she certainly still dodged a point-blank blast after they fired.
Boomstick: Which has to be really dang fast, but then she went and stopped this scientist from shooting himself in front of a little girl – which is seriously messed up, by the way – by amping herself with her own electricity.
Wiz: Considering the distance between Mikoto and the bullet, she must have moved at Mach 24 to intercept the pistol before the bullet reached its target, but even that’s not as fast as she could possibly be. See, Mikoto’s lightning attacks are constantly described as being faster than light, and she was capable of surviving one-hundred and eighty moves against Accelerator.
Boomstick: Long story short, Accelerator can basically reflect anything you send at him, and she would only be able to survive that long if she could dodge her own attacks. Because, well, you know, that’s literally how he fought against her.
Wiz: Accelerator is easily capable of increasing the speed of objects he reflects, but let’s just assume the Tree Diagram accounted for Accelerator only sending Mikoto’s attacks back as fast as they came. Logically, Mikoto would have to be able to dodge attacks moving well past light speed.
Boomstick: And I don’t think the Tree Diagram was wrong, because this thing was capable of predicting the weather down to the second!
Wiz: The Tree Diagram is a supercomputer commissioned by Academy City. In just a single month, it routinely evaluates the movement of particles all over the planet and accurately calculates a months’ worth of weather. So, it should be correct when it calculated that Mikoto could last exactly one-hundred and eighty-five moves against Accelerator. The only reason this didn’t actually happen was because Mikoto was aware of the calculation to begin with, and actively tried to prove it wrong.
Boomstick: But if you think about it, it makes sense Mikoto would have to be able to react to her own lightning anyway. Like, imagine figuring out you can shoot lightning from the sky and blasting yourself on the spot.
Wiz: Speaking of, Mikoto can’t just generate her own electricity of which she can last days on end without rest, but she can also manipulate the charge of the weather to hurl actual bolts of lightning from the clouds.
Boomstick: In her “fight” with Kamijou Touma, she was able to channel a bolt powerful enough to cause a city-wide blackout.
Wiz: Notice how, in this shot, we can see the entire city appears to be covered in Mikoto’s storm clouds. Not only do they cover the entire visible viewing distance, but they also appear to be layered, indicating a cumulonimbus origin. In order to achieve a feat like this, as well as the subsequent blast of lightning, Mikoto must have been outputting over 5 megatons of TNT.
Boomstick; Damn! But wait, if Mikoto is strong enough to almost destroy a small city, how come she, y’know… didn’t?
Wiz: Well, that’s pretty simple, actually. She was shocked –
Boomstick: Ha!
Wiz: - to find someone like Touma, who was seemingly impervious to all of her attacks. Once it was made pretty clear that he could nullify all of her powers, she likely knew it was safe to go all out.
Boomstick: And get this, Mikoto being this powerful isn’t actually that far-fetched! Even Kihara Gensei, the scientist who set up the plan to turn Accelerator into a Level 6, said that Mikoto would be able to wipe Academy City off the map while she was in the middle of levelling up.
Wiz: Specifically, Gensei forcefully induced massive power into Mikoto, artificially accelerating the process to become a Level 6. At just 2% of her Level 6 power, she could perform a large devastating blast against the Windowless Building. Even though this form was far out of Mikoto’s control and certainly not something she can just tap into, the fact that merely a 2% increase in her power could reach this level of destructive capability supports the notion that she was already just below this kind of energy output, supporting her storm cloud feat against Touma.
Boomstick: Still not convinced? Well, there’s also proof that Mikoto may even be well above her cloud feat according to Gensei. He said she was dozens of times more powerful at 2% than she normally is. I'm no mathematician, but if that giant lightning blast is dozens of times stronger than her base power, her base must still be really friggin' strong!
Wiz: As for her signature Railgun attack, she was once able to use it on a giant mech in order to intercept a satellite-launched missile. According to one of the scientists, said satellite was thirty-five thousand kilometers from the Earth’s atmosphere, placing it well into the thermosphere.
Boomstick: And all she had to do was Falcon Punch it with her math powers! You know, maybe math isn’t so bad after all.
Wiz: Though as powerful and skilled as she is, Mikoto is hardly perfect. For starters, she's fairly hot-headed and incredibly emotionally invested in the well-being of her Sisters.
Boomstick: Yeah, I can't really blame her though. I mean, imagine if YOU had to deal with your biological siblings being blown up from the inside, right in front of you!
Wiz: Put that way, it's pretty reasonable, if unfortunate, that she seems to have extremely low self-worth. She was even willing to kill herself if it meant saving the rest of her Sisters.
Boomstick: Not to mention she’s got a reckless and stubborn streak in her, and once she’s committed to something, she can almost work herself to death. Literally!
Wiz: Like the time she systematically took down nine different research facilities in three days, stopping not once to sleep.
Boomstick: And she obviously relies heavily on her electricity, considering it’s her primary power. Even her Iron Sand constructs rely on it, after all.
Wiz: Mikoto has shown some workarounds to this, though. Her aforementioned physical enhancements via electrical signals at least provide her with some physical strength, and it helps that she’s naturally athletic as well.
Boomstick: Plus, she was once fighting this abomination of science and it was completely immune to her electricity. But not heat, so she figured out she could just keep blasting its shields until she roasted it from the outside!
Wiz: Finally, while Mikoto is the third-ranked Level 5, she isn't nearly as filled with ambition for power as some of her peers.
Boomstick: Yeah, like, Accelerator, Kakine and Mugino are all clearly focused on combat, and actively try to get stronger all the time. But Mikoto is actually, uh, sane. So she doesn't really have a problem taking things with her powers as they come.
Wiz: Still, her lack of ambition and contentness with her current powers isn't necessarily a bad thing. She is still learning new tricks, even if she isn't exactly developing any stronger.
Boomstick: Either way, this is one bug-zapper you don’t wanna mess with.
Static[]
Wiz: There is a lot that can be said about the DC universe. From the Justice League to the Teen Titans, there are no shortage of heroes with fantastic abilities.
Boomstick: But most of ‘em have nothing on the most underrated hero of them all: Static!
Wiz: Virgil Hawkins, born and raised in Dakota City, was not all that different from your usual teenager. He enjoyed videogames, reading, and other similar hobbies.
Boomstick: Only, this was written in the 90’s, and you know what that means! Your classic, stereotypical bully, needing nothing in life but the raw energy sustenance of beating up wimpy nerds.
Wiz: Which is frankly a ridiculous trope. Thankfully, it’s more or less been lost to time.
Boomstick: The only thing ridiculous is how hard I’m gonna deck you!
(Boomstick punches Wiz, knocking him out. He turns around and pulls out a locker, stuffing Wiz’s unconscious body into it halfway.)
Boomstick: *Ahem* Where was I? Oh right. Virgil had barely had any friends, just like he barely had any shot at his crush, Frieda. Who, get this, what DATING his best friend Larry! Hmm, this actually sounds kinda familiar.
(Insert scene of Harry Osborn and Mary Jane from Spider-Man 3)
Boomstick: So what do you get when you have one loser with no shot at friends or girls, with a bully problem bigger than Wiz’s bruise right about now? An accident, that’s what!
Wiz: uugh. Where am- (Wiz inside the locker squeezes out and falls on the floor, before standing back up)
Wiz: Uh, did you already do the rundown?
Boomstick: No, we’re at the part where Virgil got caught up in a gang war, and realized he wasn’t having any of that!
Wiz: Right. Fed up by his consistent bullying, and trying to stand up for Frieda, Virgil recklessly got himself involved in a plot to murder his aggravator in the middle of a gang operation.
Boomstick: Luckily, or unluckily, the cops arrived! But instead of, y’know arresting them, they used a BIOLOGICAL WEAPON against them.
Wiz: Instead of just using tear gas, the police were instead equipped with a prototype chemical called Quantum Juice, that could ‘tag’ the gang members in case they escaped. Sort of like how some breed of wasps tag their prey with special liquids that later alert the rest, so they can regroup and take it down.
Boomstick: Well, they took them down alright! Most of them outright died – even the cops!
Wiz: This tragic event would become known as the “Big Bang”, but not just because it resulted in enough deaths to be considered a genocide.
Boomstick: It was also a big bang of superpowered individuals, including, you guessed it – Virgil!
Wiz: Virgil miraculously survived the deadly attack, and immediately gained electromagnetic powers, with which he used to escape the scene.
Boomstick: Luckily for Virgil, he wasn’t just gifted powers, he already knew ALL about superheroes, and easily slipped into the role.
Wiz: With his new name, and his new powers, Virgil started a new chapter in his life as the electric superhero Static.
Boomstick: Wait, I thought his name was Static Shock? I totally remember him saying that.
Wiz: Not exactly. Static Shock is the name of his animated TV show, but since his introduction in 1993, Virgil’s alias has always been just ‘Static’.
Boomstick: Lame. You’d think he could come up with a cooler name, with all those comics he read!
Wiz: Maybe, but there’s no doubt how fitting the name is. As a superhero, Static has full control of the electromagnetic spectrum, and he can augment it in a number of ways.
Boomstick: He can, of course, do your usual stuff, like zapping things with electricity, blowing stuff up, the works.
Wiz: But by utilizing the electromagnetic field, he can also control all forms of metal, or even create a force field for all-purpose protection.
Boomstick: I think he’s a bit young for ‘all-purpose protection’, Wiz.
Wiz: No, not- not that kind. Static essentially creates a barrier from the electromagnetic field to dispel objects outside. In essence, he’s constantly repelling outside forces, including gravity, when he flies.
Boomstick: Oh, yeah, he can do that, too, with the use of his trusty Static Saucer. He even made a staff and collapsible axe, both of which he can break off into pieces and hurl at his enemies when he isn’t close enough to whack ‘em with it.
Wiz: Virgil is actually incredibly intelligent, which I suppose makes sense, given all the complex science associated with his power. He was even the one who made Kid Flash’s suit, designed to realign his molecules to keep him stable while using his powers.
Boomstick: His own suit has a bunch of neat gadgets, like access to a bunch of databases, a map, radio-receiver, a Stealth Mode, and he’s even got Wi-Fi in there!
Wiz: Static excels at utilizing his knowledge of the sciences to take down powerful opponents. Like when he was grappled underwater by two beings made of insulated rubber.
Boomstick: Usually, that would be a death sentence against a guy who, y’know, shoots electricity. But nope! Static figured out how to do some science-y stuff and burnt them up instead! Smart and brutal, two words I never thought I’d say together.
Wiz: With his electricity, Static can melt giant mountains of ice, can contend with the blasts of a notably much weaker version of Green Lantern, and can do so while firing attacks at the “speed of lightning”.
Boomstick: But come on, we all know he can do a lot more than that! You remember when he threw those lockers into space, right? He threw those things at Mach 2,000, and he zapped ‘em after he chucked them too!
Wiz: Static was able to both react to and redirect lightspeed lasers, turn oxygen into ozone, and even absorbed 94 megawatts at once.
Boomstick: Oh yeah, he can do that, too. As long as there’s electricity, Virgil can eat it up to amp himself even higher. Heck, he even found out he could re-attach limbs with enough electricity!
Wiz: That’s not all. Static can also manipulate electrons, and apply them in ways such as spreading them out for a shocking reunification, or to neuter certain abilities. In general, Static has no issue altering bioelectricity, and can use his electromagnetic control to magnetize objects, or de-magnetize them as well.
Boomstick: How about how he can see outside the light spectrum, or how he can literally use radio waves to make phone calls without a phone?
Wiz: Static’s abilities are without a doubt some of the most versatile ever put to page. So, it’s no wonder he can achieve things such as escape velocity, or survive massive explosions and lift hundreds of tons with ease.
Boomstick: He even beat up this guy who was going to town on the Teen Titans, including Raven and Superboy, and was able to keep up with DC's own Black Lightning! Again with the terrible, terrible names. But with all his power, you’d think teams would be lining up to get this guy on deck. But why isn’t he like, a mainstay?
Wiz: Static has been many things. A Teen Titan, a member of the Young Justice, and even the Justice League. But Static never sticks around for long, possibly because of his unexplainable gravitation for other “Big Bang Babies”.
Boomstick: Remember how the cops dropped that Quantum Juice? Well, Static wasn’t the only one to get out with superpowers. There were actually just enough to make a fittingly-sized cast of villains for a TV show, or a comic book story!
Wiz: Speaking of Big Bang Babies and villains, that leads to one particularly strange weakness of Static’s. See, while Static can normally absorb electricity just fine, he is vulnerable to those whose powers are as great as his. For instance, when he was oneshotted by Alkalie, his clone. And it should go without saying that insulation is still a major weakness of his, even if he can work around it.
Boomstick: What’s with these electric people having clones?
Wiz: The pursuit of science is halted only by a lack of creativity. I for one am ecstatic to see so many fascinating specimens spawned from such powerful beings.
Boomstick: You say that, but I’m starting to think clones are pretty uncreative.
Boomstick 11300: The lab is ready for further experimentation, so says Boomstick 1130, hoping for recognition.
(Wiz and Prime Boomstick stare at the cloned Boomstick)
Boomstick: Wiz, tell me that’s not a clone of me.
Wiz: Uh, I won’t tell you then! Back to work, 11300! (Wiz pushes the clone off-screen)
Boomstick: I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t see any of that.
Wiz: Right, haha! Well, Static is one of the greatest of his kind, rightfully an inspiration to countless people. If you’re a criminal, beware: Static will be there to put a shock to your system.
Static: I gotta say. Playin’ hero? It’s starting to feel pretty sweet!
Interlude[]
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set, and we've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: It's time for a DEATH BATTLE!!! Electric fight!
FIGHT![]
Virgil Hawkins is casually flying on a circular disk, lifted by his electromagnetic powers. As he moves past congested streets of cars and people below, he feels a sudden twitch of electricity. He stops, turns and feels the presence of someone with an abnormal bio-electricity nearby. He switches his sight to view the electromagnetic spectrum, and sees a young girl walking among the crowded sidewalk. Her chestnut brown hair barely reaches her shoulders, and her otherwise mundane school uniform is highlighted by a strange pair of goggles resting around her neck.
As Virgil focuses in more, he realizes her power is hardly dangerous, and if the content black cat resting in her arms is any indication, she doesn’t seem like a bad person. He shrugs, and continues forward on his weekend patrol.
[Later]
Virgil: Whew, good days’ worth of work there. I need a break…
Static muses to himself, having just defeated some insignificant criminals. He flies himself toward a nearby park, noticing a drink dispenser with his senses.
As he lands, he notices a brown-haired girl, donning a light-beige-and-white uniform. She appeared to have inserted some money into the vending machine, but, evidently, is less than satisfied with the results.
Mikoto: This damn fossil of a machine again…!
Mikoto frustratingly mashes the button for her drink, but to no avail. Virgil watches as her attempts grow more frantic by the second, before she finally steps back in silence.
Virgil: Hey, uh, do you need some help?
Mikoto turns, and raises her arm to the back of her head.
Mikoto: No, I know how to cheat this thing. I just promised to at least try working with it first this time.
The Tokiwadai student turns her focus back to the vending machine, and begins to hop in place briefly, as though psyching herself up. Then, she rotates in place, lifting her right leg mid-rotation. Her diagonal kick slams into the tired soda dispenser, chucking out a green can shortly thereafter.
At that moment, Static notices a small spark fly off the girl. He taps into his bioelectric sense, and notices an incredible surge of power being emitted from her.
Virgil: You know, you looked a lot like this other girl I saw earlier, but she didn’t have nearly as much juice as you.
Mikoto’s hand pauses in its’ reaching for the can.
Mikoto: Other girl…?
Virgil: Yeah, she looked just like you, come to think of it, same hair and outfit and everyth-
Before he could finish, Virgil was interrupted by a quick streak of electricity flying off Mikoto’s head. In fact, her entire body began to cackle in the low hum of a battery ready to burst.
Mikoto: You better not have laid a finger on her!
Mikoto yells, her entire body enveloped in electricity. She throws her arms forward, channeling and firing off a bolt of electricity toward Virgil, whose electromagnetic force-field activates just in time to block the strike.
Virgil: What makes you think I did???
Mikoto dashes forward, a trail of electricity following the streak of her movement. As she approaches the stationary force-field, Mikoto swipes up and down at the costumed vigilante, her blows crackling with the energy of her electricity. Virgil’s shield holds strong, only slightly pushed back by the attack.
Virgil: Okay, you gotta chill!
Still behind his protective field, Static thrusts his palms to the ground, sending a wave of electromagnetic pulses out. The nearby vending machine short-circuits, as do various nearby electronics. However, as the pulse reaches Mikoto, she doesn’t appear fazed, bar a small circuit fuse from her pocket.
Mikoto reaches into her pocket and pulls out her limited-edition phone, a ghastly green, molded in the image of a cartoon frog designed for children.
Mikoto: You’re gonna pay for that! That was LIMITED EDITION!!!
Virgil: How was I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT??
Misaka Mikoto begins to extend her electromagnetic field as well, lifting up a variety of benches, trash cans, and steel scrap from nearby. As Virgil watches the shower of steel approach, he raises his palms, sending forward his own metallic masses.
As the metal flies, Static leaps up, sliding his trademark saucer beneath his feet. As he lands, he’s lifted into the air by his magnetized ride. Mikoto evades the oncoming barrage of metallic objects, approaching the now airborne Static. Swiping with her arm, Mikoto hurls a short-range bolt of electricity, but Virgil’s newfound mobility evades the attack easily.
Static begins to lift the ground, having magnetized the concrete flooring ahead of time. Mikoto’s feet begin to fall backward as Virgil folds the concrete paneling as though it were a rug, and hurls it across the park and into a nearby street.
The concrete shatters on impact, but Mikoto lands on her feet – and arms – safely. Static’s saucer comes flying toward Mikoto as fast as a bullet, but the Electromaster casually swipes it away. Before it can shatter on the road, Static’s magnetic field regains control and brings it back to the hero.
Mikoto stomps her foot on the ground, suddenly summoning a bolt of lightning to crash down from the heavens, just in front of Static as he rushes toward her. The sudden strike catches him off-guard, and he leaps onto the ground before running into the lingering voltage. When he regains his bearings, he notices the Level 5 esper flipping a coin into the air.
Mikoto: Hey, ever heard of a railgun?
Virgil: Yeah, but I don’t see how –
Static is cut-off by Mikoto’s attack. As the coin lands onto her outstretched arm, her positioned fingers channel a sudden flash of energy into the arcade token, injecting a massive amount of kinetic energy into it. As quickly as it reached her hand, the coin blasts off faster than sound, narrowly missing Virgil’s head by mere inches. Following the orange-streaked Railgun is a cloud of dust and gravel hurled upward by the sudden outburst of energy.
Virgil: Okay, neat trick. But here’s one of mine!
Virgil flies upward, his palms entrenched in rings of electricity. As Mikoto watches the costumed boy blast an energy wave near here, she realizes the nature of the attack. Virgil had emitted an electromagnetic pulse, hoping to strip her ions away from her thin-barrier-like energy field. However, she merely ignores the attack, and leaps upward to strike Static’s force-field with another electric-boosted strike.
Virgil: Wait, what?
The Dakota City champion floats higher, and begins to search the database inside his suit. Images of electricity and associated physics scroll by, until the screen inside his goggles is suddenly warped and distorted, until he can no longer view the information.
Mikoto: You should get better connection!
Mikoto smugly proclaims, her outreached palm firing off small sparks.
Virgil: Hey, that ain’t cool! I have to pay for that you know!
With that, Static encases himself in his field once more, swooping down and barreling into Mikoto head-on. Caught on the front of the magnetic shield, like a bug on a window, Mikoto grabs onto the barrier tightly.
Mikoto: That still won’t cover the phone you owe me!
The Level 5 leaps off Static’s force field, landing again in the streets. She notices a nearby building, with a sign reading “GRAND OPENING SOON”. She raises her arm, trembling with electricity, and smashes her fist into the brick wall. Virgil turns around, suddenly greeted by a building hurtling toward him at hundreds of times the speed of sound. If his barrier wasn’t already active, Static would surely have been crushed by the immense weight and speed of the building. Instead, he is launched backwards into the street, smashing into the ground as the building collapses around him.
Virgil: Seriously? We playing like that? Okay then!
Sending out another electromagnetic pulse, Static begins to collect an array of empty vehicles, buildings and large bodies of metal, surrounding himself in a humanoid-like mech of sorts. Mikoto watches this, the backs of her palms resting on her hips.
Mikoto: Two can play that game!
As she spreads her arms out, a frenzy of black sand begins to twist around her body, as though she were creating a hurricane from iron fillings. Soon, the mass of iron sand grows so massive, a giant monster-esque being composed entirely of the ebony metal towers over Static. From within his metal mech, Virgil punches forward, but the sky-scraper sized beast barely registers the blow from the small-building sized construct.
In exchange, Mikoto, from within the makeshift ‘cockpit’ of her creation, crushes downward with the weight of her iron sand, shredding Static’s defenses. From Virgil’s point of view, it’s as though countless tiny bits of iron filling are being shot through layers and layers of enforced steel.
Realizing his position, Virgil thrusts outward in a reverse-crescent motion, dispelling his armor and blowing a hole through the iron sand kaiju. With another electromagnetic pulse, Static grins as the structure of the kaiju begins to collapse, momentarily losing its’ magnetic connection.
However, Mikoto uses the downward momentum to leap toward the now-open Static, a vibrating iron-sand chainsaw in her grasp. Cutting through the air, Mikoto’s iron sand blade slices into Static’s shield, before helplessly falling to the ground, de-magnetized.
Virgil: You got anymore party tricks, girl?
Mikoto: Yeah, a few!
The Railgun recreates her sword as quickly as Static removes it, and prompts the Dakota City champion to reveal his own battle-axe, striking a similar design to his saucer. The two trade blows, Mikoto’s iron sand slicing into Static’s metal axe with each consecutive strike. A vertical swing of his axe, countered by the Iron Sand blade, vibrating fast enough to shear the metal blade in half. Mikoto attempts to follow-up on her assault, but Virgil unleashes a short-range electrical blast, creating distance in the nick of time. For good measure, he de-magnetizes her iron sand once more, prompting the Level 5 to dash forward bare-handed.
Mikoto throws another punch with her right hand, but Static catches it. With her arm and his hand now locked, Mikoto unleashes a massive discharge of electricity, shattering the ground beneath them. Virgil feels his mind short-circuit briefly, as the sheer amount of volts enter his body before he can begin to absorb it.
Virgil snaps out of the blast, and throws the first punch, purple electricity following his fist. Mikoto leaps back, before hurling a car at Virgil from behind. Of course, his electromagnetic field halts the vehicle in the air, and Static returns the favor two-fold with two buildings.
Virgil: See how you like being smacked by a building!
He slams his arms together, the magnetically-attracted buildings following the same motion. In the middle of their meeting is Mikoto, whose crossed arms narrowly beckon a sliver of iron sand to her aid. The collision shatters into a storm of fractured brick and mortar, shards of glass sprinkled about the hodgepodge of debris. From inside the destruction, Mikoto dashes out, rolling onto the gravel.
Static begins to charge another blast, before Mikoto suddenly appears in front of him, a trail of electricity flickering in a straight line behind her. Before he can react, Mikoto delivers a twisting-kick to his ribs, backed by the ear-rupturing explosion created by what Virgil can only assume is the detonation of oxygen.
Tumbling further down the street, Virgil’s shields recover from the surprise attack and halt his momentum. Mikoto begins to charge her own electricity.
Virgil: (To self) C’mon, think Virgil, think! Wait, how about….
With a sudden realization, the Teen Titan smirks, flying up a nearby skyscraper. Mikoto fires her bolt of electricity, but it harmlessly travels through the expanse of air with no target in sight. Virgil Hawkins is quickly scaling the tower, and he glances back down to see if his theory is correct.
Seeing her opponent fleeing, Mikoto launches a whip-like stream of volts, magnetically connecting herself to the structure. She begins to hurl her magnetic rope higher, scaling the skyscraper not dissimilar to a rock climber. Of course, Static, now resting at the top of the building, has accounted for this. He places his hands on the plane, de-magnetizing the entire skyscraper instantly. Mikoto’s electrical connection suddenly fails to attract to the steel hide of the tower, and she begins to fall.
Mikoto glances to her left, and notices a close-enough structure to bail her out. Hurling another bolt of electricity, the makeshift magnet zaps onto an unaltered building. The Tokiwadai Ace zip-lines to her escape, landing on a window-cleaning platform. She begins to grit her teeth, and sparks fly from her head. The sky begins to darken, clouds obstructing the once-clear day in a matter of seconds.
Static hops off his perch, his saucer carrying him to his distant adversary. As he approaches, a deafening THOOOMMMMMM echoes throughout the city, an azure flash signaling the begin of Mikoto’s next assault. Virgil begins to accelerate as giant bolts of lightning narrowly crack and crash beside him.
Virgil: Nice light show! Wanna take a closer look?
With his snark launched, Virgil charges into Mikoto, his electromagnetic shield smashing into the Level 5, carrying her up the skyscraper and into the sky. Struggling to break free of his driving force, Mikoto attempts to pull out a coin, but the electromagnetic field wielded by Virgil quickly de-magnetizes it before the Railgun can activate.
Static continues to carry Mikoto atop his shield, the pair entering a sea of clouds, no sight of the city or the stars visible.
Virgil: Now then, I’ll be taking those zaps of yours, courtesy of a little electron management.
Virgil attempts to dispel Mikoto’s electrons, hoping to draw out her powers. However, the bright-blue blast of electricity merely bounces off her extremely aggravated face, and she begins to smirk in return.
Virgil: Seriously??? What kind of shields do you have?
Mikoto: Not telling. Now, my turn!
As quickly as Virgil’s attack fails, Mikoto unleashes a quick burst of electricity, blasting herself off Virgil’s shield and into the expansive, empty air. She begins to ripple with sparks across her body, before an electromagnetic pulse escapes her body. The neighboring clouds begin to blacken immediately, and an internal storm of cacophonous thunder begins to ring out. Before Virgil can even react, a titanic bolt of lightning smashes into his shield, hurling him meters away on impact. He begins to stabilize his movement on his saucer, continuing to chase after Mikoto, whose free-fall takes her back down the sea of clouds.
Virgil’s body begins to glow briefly, before his palms emit the full-charge of his internal charge, his maximum electrical blast ripping through the air fast enough to escape the atmosphere.
To his shock, Mikoto twists her body in response, the electricity flying around her body, falling to strike his target. On Mikoto’s command, another lightning bolt collapses onto Static’s shield.
And another. Soon, the entire surrounding clouds are pouring their charge onto Virgil’s electromagnetic barrier, garnering a painful frunt from the young hero.
Virgil: Shield can’t take much more… gotta… take it all… in….
Static drops his shield, the raw, condensed lightning bolts snapping into his body instantly. As his body begins to absorb the volts, Mikoto takes the opportunity to grab his saucer, Virgil being too focused on his absorption to counter her magnetic pull.
Virgil: I… did it…!
With a sigh of relief, Virgil’s body begins to emit a blue aura, his physical form super-charged by the immense energy.
However, no more than a second passes before Virgil’s body is impaled from behind, ripped in half by his very own saucer. Mikoto’s hand is held forward, the smoking railgun still pointed at Virgil’s body, her trademark technique accelerating the metal disk faster than the sound of its’ own bloody impact.
Static’s body, ruptured by the Railgun, explodes, no longer able to contain the energy of dozens of Mikoto’s lightning bolts. Mikoto, skin worn a dusty gray by the electrical blasts, latches her magnetic whip onto a building as she approaches the earth, safely sliding down until reaching the ground. As she lands, hunching over in exhaustion, Virgil’s bodily remains plummet nearby.
Mikoto: I think… I might’ve gone a bit far with that.
Verdict[]
Boomstick: Woah! I thought for sure Virgil had this one in the bag!
Wiz: There was a lot going on here, so let’s break this down into categories and take a look in-depth at each field side-by-side.
Boomstick: Strap in ladies and gentlemen, this is a long one! Starting with speed!
Wiz: There are generally three types of speed that need to be factored in a fight. First, is combat speed-
Boomstick: Which is how fast you can, well, y’know, fight.
Wiz: Reaction speed-
Boomstick: How quickly you can dodge things!
Wiz: And lastly, movement or travel speed.
Boomstick: That’s when you’re going all out as fast as you can to get somewhere.
Wiz: When looking at these three areas of speed, Mikoto and Virgil were actually extremely close overall. For starters, both Mikoto and Virgil had verified light-speed reaction time, given that Static could easily block and dodge lasers confirmed to be light-speed, and Mikoto’s own attacks were described as such, and she could last 185 moves against Accelerator, whose primary power involves reflecting attacks back.
Popup: “That distance was too great for Kamijou to reach her in one step, but it was well within the range of Mikoto’s electrical attacks that moved at the speed of light." - Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 3, Chapter 3
Boomstick: Don’t forget Mikoto also did basically the same thing as Static to Mugino’s Meltdowner lasers!
Wiz: Mikoto and Virgil seemed to have the same reaction speed, then, but combat speed easily went to Mikoto.
Boomstick: Static’s attacks were described as “fast as lightning” in his fight against Rose Wilson, which would probably be around mach 286. That’s really fast, but it’s got nothing on the speed of light.
Wiz: We could also look at Mikoto’s space Railgun and Static’s locker feat, since both involved launching large bodies of steel into space. Given the distance between the satellite missile in the thermosphere, and Mikoto’s own position in the stratosphere, as well as the information that the missile was moving mach 20, then judging from the time it took for her to get there, and the distance the mech covered after she activated her Railgun on it, she must have sent it flying at speeds well over mach 4… billion.
Boomstick: Which is, again, way faster than Static throwing those lockers at mach 2 thousand. No matter how you look at it, Mikoto definitely had the edge here.
Popup: Both the Locker feat and the Space Railgun come from sources that are not the primary source material. By giving Static access to the cartoon for feats in the first place, Mikoto's anime-original feats are fair game. Without them, Mikoto still dominates with lightspeed attacks over Static's lightning speed attacks.
Wiz: But we’re not quite done with speed yet. When it came to travel speed, and just mobility in general, Static clearly had that in his favor.
Boomstick: Mikoto doesn’t tend to use metal to fly like Static does, and while she could easily survive a fall from the atmosphere on her own with her powers, Static practically lives on his saucer, and would definitely hold the mobility advantage.
Popup: While Mikoto doesn't tend to use metal to fly exactly like Static, it's not like she never has before. She briefly demonstrated a similar use of her powers as Static's flight in the Jailbreaker Arc, and has plenty of ways to combat Static in the air via climbing into the air with iron sand. Static's advantage in mobility is notable, but far from dominating.
Wiz: We can back this up. Looking back at Mikoto intercepting the point-blank pistol, she must have moved at mach 24 to cover the room before the bullet could escape the chamber. On the other hand, Static could reach escape velocity, around mach 35.
Boomstick: Mikoto wasn’t TOTALLY outclassed, but this was definitely Static’s area to take. So, wait… if they tie in reaction speed, but Mikoto takes combat and Static takes travel speed, who’s faster?
Wiz: For the purposes of a Death Battle, they may as well be roughly equal, although Mikoto’s combat speed dwarfs Static far more than his travel speed outclasses hers, so she likely has a small advantage overall.
Boomstick: Then there’s destructive capability, how hard you can blow things up!
Wiz: Frankly, Mikoto easily took this in spades. But first, let’s acknowledge Static’s best showings, the locker throw as well as his stand-off with Superboy.
Boomstick: Who knew that would be so important?
Wiz: Since we know the time it took for the lockers to reach orbit, we also know the force needed to achieve such a feat would be almost 4 kilotons of TNT, which is considerably greater than the maximum electrical output we’ve seen him achieve, at 180 tons of TNT on the ice.
Boomstick: On the other hand, Mikoto could make a 5 megaton lightning bolt casually! And that’s not even her most powerful!
Wiz: According to Kihara Gensei, her Level 6 Shift feat was “dozens of times” more powerful than her base form. Taking a look at her attack directed toward the Windowless Building, it must come out to around 2 gigatons of TNT. If we take Gensei's statements literally, then Mikoto’s base energy output could be anywhere around 41 megatons of TNT, further cementing her advantage in destructive capability.
Boomstick: And that’s assuming he meant four dozen times weaker, even increasing that by another four times would still be way more than anything Static has ever done.
Wiz: Let’s also address some scaling for both Static and Mikoto. Virgil fought Holocaust, and was on-par with Icon, who was once compared to Superman. On the other hand, Mikoto fought Brunhild, and is comparable to other Level 5s like Gunha, who could rival Mikoto in her Level 6 Shift form.
Popup: Gunha, despite being the lowest-ranked Level 5, is actually possibly the strongest Level 5 of all. With his vague powerset, he was able to convince himself he was able to contend with and even overpower Level 5.4 Mikoto, who had demonstrated 2 gigatons of TNT before even reaching 5.4. Gunha would later admit in a side-story that base Mikoto would likely defeat him in a straight fight.
Boomstick: Superboy's palace lifting feat is insane, but Mikoto has fought Brunhild to a stand-still, so she can't be far behind, if at all.
Wiz: In terms of durability, neither Virgil nor Mikoto exactly thrived off getting hit directly. Hence, their respective electromagnetic fields for protection. However, we can approximate based on what their shields have directly taken.
Boomstick: Static was able to take giant building-sized explosions, but Mikoto took multiple direct blasts from Meltdowner, which could slice giant ships in half.
Wiz: Both Mikoto and Static could use their shields to take blows from massively powerful opponents, so they were likely similar overall. That said, Static would have an edge with his regeneration, which he theorized could even reach Superman's tier.
Boomstick: Wait, if Static is on Superman’s level, how did he lose?
Wiz: The answer is simple: he isn’t. Static may have beaten Icon, and said villain may have been compared to the Man of Steel, but that doesn’t instantly make him capable of all the same feats, especially when he hasn’t come close to any of Clark’s frankly ridiculous achievements.
Popup: Static has technically compared himself to Superman, but not as a direct equal. After learning he could re-attach his limbs with electricity, he theorized he could potentially gain invulnerability like the Man of Steel, but this is unproven. Given time, he might continue to develop even more powerful abilities, but his New 52 reboot was cancelled and Static has not reappeared since, leaving this inconclusive and unreliable.
Boomstick: So, I guess Icon’s a dead-end. What about Holocaust?
Wiz: That’s hard to say conclusively as well. He was beating the Teen Titans, but just because he was winning doesn’t mean he was physically overpowering each and every one. For example, he didn’t actually defeat Raven – that was an accidental team-attack that incapacitated her. And at this point, characters like Superboy hadn’t yet achieved their higher-end feats, making it very unlikely he was taking their best.
Boomstick: On the other hand, Mikoto pretty clearly fought Brunhild to a stand-still, and the Saints are capable of fighting Gabriel, who could flatten mountains. Even if Static's defenses could hold off Superboy, Mikoto's could defend against mountain-level baddies.
Popup: “That blue point of light had swung that giant wing solely to blow away that formation of unmanned fighters. However, the giant wing disintegrated partway through breaking it in half. The severed half flew on and created a gigantic explosion near the horizon where it landed. An enormous mass of dirt flew up into the air. An entire mountain had been blown away.” – Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 21, Chapter 6: The True Darkness Unfolds up the Castle
Wiz: Overall, both of their shields seemed to be comparable, though Mikoto's likely held the advantage. Which leaves us: Intelligence and experience, and the interactions of their respective powers.
Boomstick: Starting with smarts ‘n skills, which was also incredibly close. Both of them were top students, and practically geniuses as a requirement to use their powers in the first place. Still think that’s a bit lame, but hey.
Wiz: Virgil and Mikoto both thrive on referencing scientific fact and formulas during combat, and based on how they’ve both adapted to similarly insulated enemies, they likely are comparable in all fields of intelligence, given they’re also both honor students.
Boomstick: Experience is a different story though. Static may eventually have joined the Justice League, but the actual core timeline Static has only been superhero-ing for a few years at max, if that.
Wiz: All espers in Academy City undergo a program and evaluation to identify and hone their abilities. Mikoto was born as a Level 1, and worked her way all the way up to Level 5. She may be younger than Virgil, but she’s been honing her powers for much, much longer, and has experienced similarly powered beings just as long.
Boomstick: Also, Mikoto’s powers aren’t just from a radioactive gas canister. I doubt Static would be able to figure out she’s literally warping reality to make her electricity.
Wiz: Right. In the Index universe, esper powers aren’t like Mutant powers in say, Marvel or DC. They’re the result of AIM Diffusion fields and Personal Reality, which as you stated, are essentially limited reality-warping to make their AIM diffusion fields exert their innate, dormant power. Even if he could figure this out, Mikoto's AIM Field protects her from the likes of Shokuho Misaki, whose mind control is powerful enough to control an entire city's worth of people, by way of tapping into their bioelectricity, but not Mikoto.
Boomstick: So, Mikoto probably has a small advantage there, but make no mistake, neither of these kids are dumb in the slightest. Mikoto’s just got a slight edge in experience, and her powers might throw Static off with how different they are in origin to his.
Wiz: Finally, we answer the question: How would their seemingly equivalent powers and control of the electromagnetic spectrum interact? On paper, it may seem like they’d just cancel each other out, but there’s a lot more to it than that.
Boomstick: In other words, could they even damage each other with electricity?
Wiz: Mikoto has completely ignored things like tasers before, but that’s hardly comparable to the amount of voltage at Static’s control, so Virgil probably could harm her with his top energy output. However, Static is a different story.
Popup: Mikoto has no-sold tasers before, but she may have also endured her own electricity being reflected back at her during her fight with Shundan Kimi. Kimi was even able to emulate Mikoto's Railgun, which she adapted to. It's very unlikely she would struggle with Static, whose power output is far below hers, even if he could harm her with other means of attack.
Boomstick: Alkalie, his twin clone, took Static out with just a single blast. Sure, Big Bang baby stuff, but I doubt Static is totally immune to all electricity except someone as strong as him.
Wiz: He isn’t, and we have proof. Enter: Prometheus.
Boomstick: In Static’s 35th issue back when he was part of Milestone, he fought this guy with a bad case of 'discount Electro', and couldn’t just absorb his electricity! He even had to flee, before figuring out he could overload him with electricity.
Popup: Prometheus didn’t just harm Static, but he also demonstrated the ability to completely drain Virgil of his powers. While Mikoto doesn’t tend to absorb energy, this further shows Virgil’s vulnerability to other electric users on or above his level.
Wiz: We know for a fact that Mikoto can exert 1 billion volts. On the other hand, Static nearly exploded, in his own words, from absorbing 94 megawatts. The difference is clear: Mikoto could absolutely damage and overload Static’s absorption of her electricity.
Boomstick: Honestly, I barely even understand half of what you said.
Wiz: Basically, Virgil and Mikoto were even in a lot of crucial areas, and at first glance, this could have gone either way, but Mikoto’s vastly superior power ultimately swung the scales in her favor.
Boomstick: Virgil put up the fight of his life, but I guess this time -
(Boomstick 11300 enters the scene once again)
Boomstick 11300: Static ended up suffering a shocking loss, says Boomstick 1130, smugly stealing his big brothers’ spotlight.
Boomstick: WIZZZ!!!!!!!
Wiz: The, uh, winner is Misaka Mikoto.
Bonuses[]
Connections:
- Mikoto and Virgil share electricity manipulation, but use it in similar ways that go beyond blowing things up. In this way, they're two of the best users of the power, showcasing all of the ways it can be scientifically applied.
- Both Mikoto and Virgil are honors students, being incredibly intelligent even before gaining their powers, but especially afterwards, in order to calculate and comprehend their abilities to begin with.
- Mikoto and Static are close in age, compared to other potential opponents for them like Cole MacGrath, Electro, and so on.
- Virgil is a vigilante superhero, and Mikoto also had a stint as a vigilante when working to dismantle the research facilities responsible for Project Radio Noise.
