That’s pretty much what happens in the Claremont/Byrne story I mentioned: Danny, who knows he has no chance against Ororo, was repeatedly manhandling Wolverine and Nightcrawler with no problem, but (a) eventually needed to fire up the iron fist for enough concussive force to knock Colossus around, and (b) simply ran away rather than fight Storm; a screeching Banshee made the mistake of swooping in after him, and got kayoed for his trouble – whereupon Storm swept the kung-fu kid up with swirling winds (carrying him right into the arms of Colossus for a win-by-grapple).
Ororo’s the real game-changer here. Except for the Big Three, she can force any of the Legion to the ground. Very hard to dodge, even for Val and Brin. Has two basic moods: unearthly calm and Old Testament rage.
She’ll still lose in the end, but the Legioonaires will know they were in a fight.
What are these references to “Strange Girl”? Is that a mistake or have they ret-conned Marvel Girl’s name?
Darn, my bad, she was called Strange Girl in the French version (don’t ask).
So who’s ready for some Angel/Dawnstar fanfics? I bet they’d have really cute kids…
It was common for the Legion to split into squads instead of sending the whole team, so I’m going to assume the LSH has sent a team to deal with this unknown threat.
Saturn Girl, as one of the original members, leads the squad. Joining her are Shrinking Violet, Chameleon Boy, Element Lad, Sun Boy and Phantom Girl.
Saturn Girl is no match for Professor X, but she does tie him up long enough for Element Lad to turn the air around Xavier into nitrogen. Xavier can’t breathe and blacks out. Saturn Girl is stunned by the mental combat and of no further use.
Sun Boy effortlessly incapacitates Iceman, but has to maintain the heat or risk Iceman getting back into the battle. There’s little more he can do in the fight without severely injuring someone. He does fire occasional blasts at Angels wings. He never manages a direct hit, but Angel is kept busy weaving and dodging.
That leaves Cham, Vi, Element Lad and Phantom Girl against Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Beast.
Cham transforms into a Lallorian space gorilla and battles Beast to a standstill, while Phantom Girl and Marvel Girl square off.
While Element Lad tries to think of a fast-acting strategy that doesn’t involve turning his opponents into glass statues, Cyc slams him into unconsciousness with an eyebeam. Meanwhile, Vi shrinks to microscopic size _ vanishing for all practical purposes. She has realized Cyclops’ visor is mechanical, so she enters it and disables it. Cyclops blasts Beast before he can shut his eyes. That gives Cham the opening he needs: He transforms into a Naltorian space electric eel and zaps Beast into unconsciousness.
Vi, taking advantage of a blind Cyclops, quickly lands a couple of space karate chops she learned in Science Police combat training and puts him out. Angel, exhausted and clumsy from battling Sun Boy, manages to dive into the now full-size Vi. It knocks her out, and him as well.
Marvel Girl focuses on the most powerful Legionnaire left: Chameleon Boy. She uses her TK to hold him at bay and pound him until he’s ready to drop. But she takes her eye off Phantom Girl, who dives into the ground. Phantom emerges seconds later directly beneath Marvel Girl. She passes through Marvel Girl, disorienting her, and then finishes her off with a bit of Bgztlian space judo.
In the end, all the X-Men are down. Saturn Girl, Element Lad and Shrinking Violet are down on the LSH side, but Sun Boy, Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy are left standing. Then they report to Mon-El, who laughs and laughs and laughs at the puny little “battle.”
I just realized that Element Lad was possibly the most powerful member of the LSH. Against Supes, he can turn everything around him into kryptonite. Against Mon-El, he can turn everything around him into lead. That’s the whole ball game right there.
Element Lad didn’t need to turn stuff to kryptonite. He could affect flesh. And Mon-El was always too nice to ever laugh at others.
I always thought Timber Wolf was under-rated. His strength was just below a Kryptonian and unlike Superboy and Mon-El, he could fight. He was the second best HtH combatant on the team. Plus he is close to as fast as Quicksilver and at least as nimble and agile as Nightcrawler. Plus he had no issues hurting people.
I always thought Chemical King was under-rated: his powers were interesting and useful, but AFAICT the writers hated coming up with stuff for him to do.
Element Lad has the DC disease: vast cosmic powers, very little imagination in how to use them. (See also Superman or the Flash (especially the Silver-age Flash)). The only Marvel character I can think of who has the same problem is Dr. Strange.
Molecule Man. He could control all matter and energy and yet he was, at best, a second-rate villain/antihero.
Don’t underestimate Dream Girl’s contributions to the fight. IIRC, she was the second best martial artist on the team and a precog.
Yeah, but Molecule Man got his head straightened out in Secret Wars and is arguably the hero of Secret Wars II, and if he wants to retire quietly to some Denver suburb with his meaty/hottie girlfriend, let him.
At least that’s where I last saw him. The summaries of later stories involving him that I find on his wiki page don’t sound promising.
Dream Girl vs. Emma Frost in an oiled-up cage match, without powers… Why, it practically writes itself…
Oddly, the Silver Age LSH costumes are actually more risque than anything Emma has come up with at her worst. Saturn Girl and Dream Girl are in swimwear with go-go boots, and Dawnstar… well, Brainy must’ve come up with some sort of superscience taping to keep her puppies in that outfit.
Even Emma’s “reverse-X cutout” costume is outdone by Cos’ bustier. Thank Og that Greg Land never did a LSH comic, says I.
Timber Wolf was second, as established in a solo adventure following KK’s death. Dream Girl and Shadow Lass were both also highly proficient in hand-to-hand, just ahead of Shrinking Violet. Mon-El (and Brainiac 5) blew off training. Ultra Boy is a skilled brawler from his gang days. The Supes spent their down time in their home century. I think Colossal Boy had basic science police training, but the only time it would matter was when Validus was kicking his arse all over the place.
I’d forgotten about that! The pink chiffon modesty panel that was his late Silver Age costume was kind of embarrassing, but the Frankenfurter look was unspeakable.
I don’t remember his strength and speed being so formidable. I would have said he was comparable to Spider-Man. Have you read something that ranked his strength so highly?
Timber Wolf, at least in the Silver Age, was always said to be “nearly as strong as Ultra Boy,” though he was rarely shown tossing around tanks and such as Ultra Boy clearly could.
I suspect Colossal Boy was an extremely proficient hand-to-hand fighter, given the smiple fact that he SURVIVED those fights with Validus. Even at his largest sizes CB was not at a Kryptonian/Daximite’s level, and it was always clear that Validus was much stronger than any of the Big Three. I can recall multiple instances of Validus knocking Superboy, Mon-El, or Ultra Boy around with ease; it took all three working in concert to overpower him.
Not a ‘definitive’ source, but from the official DC Heroes Role Playing Game, Legion of Superheroes supplement. Wish I could find the books now. They might be in a box in a closet somewhere, or my brother has them in a box in his closet somewhere.