Author's note: This battle and all others I post here are transfers from my DeviantArt page where I already have them written up. I am formatting them according to wiki guidelines to share them here as well.
Pre-Fight Prelude[]
Mind control. We see it all the time in fiction, whether it is done on a large scale, with a single person or small group of people, and can be enacted out via magic, science, technology or some other means. These two have mastered mind control and made it into an art:
Like Martin Li, the Spider-Man villain with a split personality known as Mister Negative.
And Sin Tzu, the warlord of Asia who challenged the Batman.
Mister Negative[]
Real name: Unknown (“Martin Li” is the name taken from a trafficked slave)
Alias: Mister Negative
Height: 5’11
Weight: 180 lbs,
First appearance: “Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man” issue no. 1 (May 2007)
Bio[]
The man who would one day become known as Mister Negative began as a member of a Chinese gang known as the Snakeheads, a group of human traffickers. Working under the crime boss known as Silver Fang, the man was a crew member aboard the ship called the Golden Mountain, which was used to smuggle Chinese immigrants into the United States. Shortly before the ship crashed into the New York shores, the man took on the alias “Martin Li”, borrowing the name from one of the slaves that perished in the crash. Attempting to reunite with the other Snakeheads after the ship crash, Martin found that they were killed and he was soon captured by the Maggia crime boss Silvermane. Li’s captor delivered him to the criminal chemist Simon Marshall, who was testing a drug called “D-Lite” (made to be a cheaper substitute for heroin) on runaway teenagers and illegal immigrants, often with fatal results.
However, Martin Li is one of the only three known survivors of these tests (the other two being Cloak and Dagger). Thanks to his unique biology, Li ended up gaining the ability to draw upon the energies of Darkforce and Lightforce and developed a split personality as a result: the kind-hearted Martin Li persona, who would found and run the FEAST shelters to aid New York’s homeless population; and Mister Negative, forming a new gang called the Inner Demons and becoming the biggest crime boss in Chinatown.
Powers and abilities[]
Thanks to his exposure to and survival of the effects of the D-Lite drug, Mister Negative is capable of harnessing Darkforce and Lightforce energy for a variety of uses-
-Limited shapeshifting: The combination of these two energies allows him to shift between his Martin Li and Mister Negative personas. The latter possesses an undefined level of superhuman physical capabilities. He’s demonstrated enough strength to send Spider-Man flying through two buildings with a single blow. He showed incredible reflexes during his fight against the supervillain known as The Hood (a man who wears the cloak of a dead demon and gained its power and also borrowed power at different times from Dormammu and Loki), dodging bullets and reacting quick enough to cut them with his sword.
-Object empowerment: Mister Negative can enhance any weapon he carries with Darkforce energy, which he typically does to his sword, dagger and other blades. An object powered by the Darkforce takes on a black photo-negative glow.
-Person Empowerment/Healing touch/Corrupting touch: This power’s effect varies depending on which persona uses it. As Martin Li, he used this power to cure Eddie Brock’s cancer and also supercharged the remnants of the Venom symbiote within Brock’s body, resulting in the creation of the Anti-Venom symbiote. In addition, any homeless people who stayed at the FEAST shelters ended up rapidly recovering from any illnesses or injuries they obtained before going in.
As for the Mister Negative persona, he has his corrupting touch when in control. This touch can change people’s personalities and temperaments to make them serve Mister Negative’s interests. A corrupted person’s clothes change in appearance to photo-negative form, and inverts the morals and personalities of the victim. In other words, the more good a person was prior to corruption, the more effective it is. However, this obviously means it doesn’t work on everyone. When it comes to bad guys or people who were already evil, it has proven to be less effective. For example, a villain and Chinatown rival gangster named White Dragon was corrupted, he gained vastly increased stamina and endurance, but was still killed as easily as anyone else after being sent back to fight his former boss. When Mister Negative attempted to use his corrupting touch on The Hood, it did nothing at all since the Hood’s soul was already bound to Dormammu, who is obviously far more powerful than Mister Negative.
Sin Tzu[]
Name: Unknown
Alias: Sin Tzu
Height: 6’1
Weight: 275 lbs.
First appearance: “Batman: The Rise of Sin Tzu” (2003) (all of his information and feats are based on this game; while he has made an appearance in the New 52 comics working under the League of Assassins and Leviathan, he didn’t really do anything in canon, so there’s nothing I can pull from with the comics for him)
Bio[]
Born in Southeast Asia and abandoned as a child, the man who would become known to the world as Sin Tzu was adopted by an offshoot of the Indian Thuggee cult, getting trained in their philosophy and combat skills. Once when the cult was being pursued by police, they hid in the caves of Chulan, a location that housed scrolls containing the military and mystic knowledge of ancient warlords. By studying these scrolls, Sin Tzu mastered his two primary fields: strategy and the ancient martial art of Mehta-Sua. This particular form of combat teaches users to channel mental energy into physical energy to enhances one’s own physical power and to control the minds of others.
With his newfound powers, Sin Tzu built himself a dedicated army from collections of scattered thugs and began his ambitious military campaigns, becoming known as the Warlord of Asia. Acting through puppet politicians, Sin Tzu conquered three Southeast Asian countries known as Cynna, Unglong and Vet Nak. However, Sin Tzu was a warrior first more than he was an actual ruler, often moving on from his conquests and cared little about the chaos that rose in the nations he conquered after he left them.
Sin Tzu soon grew obsessed with conquering seemingly unbeatable foes. Hearing tales of Gotham City and its guardian-the Batman-Sin Tzu decided to turn his attention there. Arranging to let himself get “caught” by the US government and locked into Arkham Asylum in secret, he put his plan into action. Sin Tzu orchestrated a mass breakout from Stonegate Penitentiary and let them cause chaos in the streets with the intent to recruit them into an army. He also took over Arkham and brainwashed Scarecrow, Clayface and Bane into acting as generals for this army. Unfortunately his plan was not to last, as Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin (Tim Drake) soon made their way to Arkham Asylum and confronted him. Sin Tzu proved himself one of the Dark Knight’s most challenging foes, but ultimately lost and got captured.
Powers and abilities[]
Sin Tzu is a master strategist, always carefully studying his adversaries and devising thought-out plans before acting. As one of the world’s deadliest martial artists, Sin Tzu put himself through a training regimen to rival Batman’s and is extremely skillful.
Sin Tzu’s primary martial art/superpower is the obscure form known as Mehta-Sua. This art allows him to distort the perceptions of his enemies and control the minds of others. He also mastered a form known as Yanjin, which enhances his physical and mental strength. Sin Tzu has demonstrated the ability to move faster than the human eye can perceive when he attacks, able to dash short distances when he makes use of physical attacks such as palm strikes and kicks. He can generate a small energy shield around himself and simultaneously unleash three omnidirectional bursts of energy to knock his opponents backwards. He can throw short projectile bursts of energy from his hands. Sin Tzu has also shown an ability to heal himself in battle via a form of meditation.
Battle[]
Location: Warehouse in Chinatown, New York City, nighttime
Mister Negative swung his sword to cut down the last of a group of enemy gangsters who were dressed in samurai armor and fought with hand-to-hand combat. The Inner Demons had been consistently challenged over the last few days by a sudden army-sized union of rival criminals-Wilson Fisk’s men, Maggia, other local Chinatown hoods-groups that would normally be attacking each other seemed to be answering to someone new in town. Whoever he was, Li planned to take him out.
“So it ends as all great battles must. Two enemies left standing on the battlefield,” echoed a man’s voice. Li couldn’t place the man’s exact accent, but he was clearly also from the continent of Asia. Soon enough, Li looked around and saw his golden-skinned foe. Li had only heard of him: Sin Tzu, a known warlord in the region. The corrupted yin-yang symbol on Sin Tzu’s head began to spin, golden energy enveloping and flowing into his body before the warlord got into a fighting stance. Li held up his sword, responding in kind.
FIGHT!
Martin leaped forward to attempt a spinning sword attack, only for Sin Tzu to dash several feet to Martin’s right. Immediately after the dodge, Sin Tzu rushed forward from across the room with a strong palm strike that knocked Martin back. Landing on his feet, Martin then dodged a gold fireball headed his way and charged forward. Sin Tzu attempted to move but Martin held him against a wall and the latter touched his opponent with his free hand. He would soon be Martin’s to command...or so he thought. Martin realized his opponent’s powers were likely supernatural, something Martin couldn’t overcome.
Sin Tzu soon knocked Martin backwards with a side kick and then enveloped himself with a force field. At that same moment, three waves of golden energy rushed forward in all directions, but Martin backed out of the range of this attack. When Sin Tzu’s shield dropped, Martin was able to avoid a dashing palm strike as the two charged towards each other. Martin punched Sin Tzu in a powerful hit that sent the golden man flying through the warehouse wall and making a hole in it.
Sin Tzu flew backwards two buildings away in another part of the warehouse location until he hit another wall with his back before landing on his hand and knees. Mister Negative was stronger than Sin Tzu realized. The warlord soon stood up and noticed he was feeling heavy pain. Sin Tzu enveloped himself with Mehta-Sua energy, closing his eyes in a meditative trance. Slowly, he felt his pain starting to heal from his foe’s strike.
Minutes later, Mister Negative arrived with his sword drawn again. Sin Tzu exited his meditation and threw a fireball at Mister Negative’s hand, disarming him of the weapon. The two leaped close to each other again, with Martin attempting hand-to-hand. Sin Tzu effortlessly knocked aside or outmaneuvered Martin’s punches and kicks, until Martin grabbed Sin Tzu by the neck and slammed the golden warlord on the pavement with enough force to crack it. Standing over him, Martin drew a hidden dagger from his sleeve and charged it with Darkforce before thrusting it into the heart of Sin Tzu. No one was going to encroach on his control of Chinatown again.
KO!
Post-Battle Analysis[]
Safe to say that outcome wasn't a positive one for Sin Tzu.
This was a unique battle that I figured I would do because of how thematically similar these characters are in terms of their abilities. But considerable thought and analysis of both characters showed me that Mister Negative had more overall advantages compared to the Warlord of Asia. Mister Negative was clearly stronger, given his feat of effortlessly knocking Spider-Man through two buildings in a single hit. Conversely, Sin Tzu presents more of a challenge to gauge in strength and the limits of that strength due to his near-obscurity and his only notable opponents being Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and Robin (Tim Drake) and the lack of depictions of him fighting anyone else in the DC universe.
While Sin Tzu is the better martial artist and was well-trained enough to rival Batman and had a better chance of resisting Li’s corrupting touch due to the supernatural nature of his own powers (Li failed to corrupt the Hood, a man who sold his soul to Dormmamu and this seems to suggest his touch doesn’t work on individuals with supernatural abilities), the upper limits of his powers and strength aren’t truly known since the character never really stretched out in popularity or use by DC beyond one old video game. Sin Tzu’s only known comic appearance in the New 52 continuity was little more than a cameo. Simply put, if there was more information to go on with Sin Tzu, I would have found ways he could circumvent Mister Negative’s abilities and superior strength. But in the end, Mister Negative had the mind to outsmart the Warlord of Asia.
The winner is Mister Negative.