This is a Dynamike Network podcast.
And welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate
the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations.
I'm Marvelous Joe. And I'm his twin brother, Johnny DC. And we are kicking off Spooky October.
We've never called it Spooky October before now, but I'm just going to call it Spooky October
because we're coming at you guys with non-stop Halloween-related duels and reviews all October
long. culminating in what is sure to be a much anticipated episode for our fans on Halloween
day, October 31st. I don't wanna give away the surprise just yet, but it's gonna be awesome.
This episode is also gonna be awesome. We're gonna find out who'd win in a fight between
Andrew Bennett from the comic book, I, Vampire, which I think is like the Apple version of
a regular vampire against fucking Dracula. Like who's this Andrew Bennett guy compared to Dracula?
He's nobody, that's who. You're gonna learn today. All right. I honestly can't wait for
this matchup. I think it's gonna be pretty cool. No, no, no. Okay, every time you wanna use
the word cool for the month of October, just replace it with spooky. So say that again.
I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be spooky. Before we find out who'd win in a fight between
these two characters, guys, we're gonna break down the latest comic book movie news to come
out from the past week, including some threads from James Gunn confirming. new DCU canon info.
And that's basically it, kind of a slow news week, but we're hoping for more content as
the writer's strike and hopefully the actor's strike soon become resolved. As always, we
list our segment times in our episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if
you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. As our listeners may know, our duel simulator
is so advanced that it's gained sentience, and has named itself the Artificial Lifeform for
running extensive duels. just a rather very intelligent simulator 9000 or Alfred Jarvis
9000. He has a quick message for our listeners so listen up. Why hello there. Do you love
listening and chatting about Marvel and DC? Then become a part of the dynamic dual community
on Patreon where you can choose from three tiers. The dynamic 2-0 tier lets you listen to this
podcast without ads and gives you access to its Discord chat group where you can chat with
Johnny DC and Marvelous Joe. The fantastic 4 tier gives you that and more with two bonus
episodes each month including bloopers and top 10 shows where Johnny and Joe count down your
favourite Marvel and DC subjects. The X-Force tier makes you an executive producer of Dynamic
Dual. where every month you help the host choose what to review and who to fight against each
other. And finally, the Dynamite Podcast Network tier allows aspiring podcasters to create their
own battle-focused show using this Monte Carlo simulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop
your show, provide graphic support and consultation, and get you simulation results to announce
on your show. Pitch the twins your show via email at dynamicduelpodcast.gmail.com or by
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your Pip Cheerio. Thanks AJ 9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast, including
our newest executive producer of the show, Andrew Shunk. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Andrew,
please, if we're not, reach out to us and let us know because we're gonna be saying your
name a lot, especially at the end of every episode. So Andrew Shunk is our latest member of X-Force
and is now part of helping Jonathan and I come up with the content for this podcast. Also,
I just wanna point out that he's a DC. Loyalist which makes him extra special. Yeah, I'm not
happy about it. We're taking over. We're taking over but thanks to all of our patrons and Guys,
be sure to tune into the max destruction podcast, which is part of the dynamike podcast network
where Dustin and Ken are dropping bonus episodes these couple of weeks where they rant about
things that grind their gears. It should be funny, they're both hilarious dudes. Also tune
into Senjou World this Thursday to find out who would win between Yoko Karama from Yu Haka
Show and Sesshu Maru from Inuyasha. Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show notes to listen
to all the shows in the Dynamite Podcast Network. But with that out of the way, quick to the
no prize. A no prize is an award Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic
Dual No Prize, is a digital award we post on Instagram and in our email newsletter for the
person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week's question
was, what has been the most underrated Marvel or DC TV show in your opinion and why? And
that was coming off of the final trailer for the last half of Doom Patrol Season 4, which
Jonathan and I view as a highly underrated show. You guys reached out with your opinions, let's
go ahead and run down our honorable mentions as well as the no prize winner. Our first honorable
mention goes to Travis Bailey who said, Travis Bailey, I love the Travis Bailey, shout out
to my good twin. Marvel all day, could have won with MoDoc, could have won with Lucky Man
on Shutter, check it out. But I'm going with Black Panther, the animated series, limited
run, like six episodes on BET, had everything. You had X-Men. Young T'Challa meeting Storm,
The Fall of Wakanda. It's a beautiful show. Yeah, y'all should check it out. Yeah, Travis
Bailey was kind enough to let us know that we miscited one of the answers from last week
that was actually given by Travis Herndon. And we said Travis Bailey. Sorry to Travis Herndon
for that. But apparently you and Travis Bailey are now twins. And we will address you as such.
But no, the Black Panther. Animated show that came out on BET was an adaptation of the first
arc of the Black Panther series that was written by Famous Hollywood writer and director Reginald
Hudlin. It was essentially a motion comic The animation wasn't quite that robust, but it
was a fantastic story You know Reginald did so much for the lore of Wakanda and the character
of Black Panther a lot of which was actually used in the Black Panther movie such as the
contest between Wakandans over who gets to be the Black Panther. A lot of great stuff there.
Yeah, I'd never heard of this series before. I didn't know this existed, but it's really
cool to hear how influential it was on the character. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely a quintessential
classic Black Panther arc. Great answer, Travis. Our next honorable mention goes to Jacob Bell,
who said, Hey, what's up, guys? This is Jacob. Um, I think the most underrated show that I
have seen is probably Gotham. I think Gotham's a really good show. I don't know why. It got
all the hate. I think it's a fun idea, fun concept, and the lead, the guy who plays Jim Gordon
is really good, and the kid who played Bruce Wayne is also really good. So yeah, Gotham.
I think it's great. I think it's a really good show. Yeah, I guess you could consider Gotham
underrated. It's kind of hard to justify that maybe considering that it was a network show
that I think was mostly popular, even though Jacob's right, it did get shit upon quite frequently
on the internet. I didn't actually watch the entire series. But what I did see, I thought
was fairly well done. Just seeing these iconic Batman villains in like their proto forms,
like for the Penguin, for the Riddler, for the Joker, all these different characters, it was
just exciting to see. I don't know, I saw some episodes too and the acting didn't look that
great. Maybe for like the main characters, but I mean it's a CW, so it's a step up from soap
opera acting, right? This wasn't a CW, this was Fox. What? Yeah. Oh, total mind blow. Statement
still applies. It was a WB produced show, so, you know. I don't know, I mean, I guess you
could say some of the characters got kind of hammy, but it's not like it was fucking the
60s Batman series or anything like that. It was decent. Production value was good. Thanks,
Jacob Bell, for the answer. Our final honorable mention goes to Peter Troll, who said. Hey
guys, it's Peter Troll. I just want to say the most underrated Marvel TV show. Might have
to be Spider-Man the new animated series. It gets so much hate because of how goofy it looks,
but if you can get past the way it looks, it's got a great story and it rides the coattails
of the Sam Raimi trilogy, and it's just got a lot of great details and stuff that were
made for adults, and it's just a good watch overall and deserves to be watched more often.
Thanks guys. Yeah, thanks Peter Troll. The Spider-Man the new animated series is an often overlooked
animated series. because it only had one season. It ran in the summer of 2003, which is actually
in between the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie and Spider-Man 2. And it kind of branched off
from the story of the first film in its own alternate universe type situation is how it
could be perceived today because it definitely doesn't lead into the events of Spider-Man
2. But it was cool for its time, you know, it was on MTV. Jonathan and I definitely watched
this as kids. You know, it may date us. The fact that we watched the shit out of the show
as it came out. Yeah, I liked Neil Patrick Harris in the role. I thought the show was cool. Yeah,
and it had pretty interesting takes on characters like the lizard. And I remember Michael Clarke
Duncan did the voice for the kingpin. Right. And he had just got off of his role as the
kingpin in the 2003 Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck. So it almost felt like a crossover,
like a bridge between the Spider-Man movies and the Daredevil film, which was pretty cool.
Yeah, it was like a cinematic universe before a cinematic universe was a thing. You're right,
exactly. I bet you if I were to revisit this show now though, it would look horrible. Probably.
I remember the animation being pretty stiff back in the day, so it would look extra weird
now. But great answer, Peter. We wanna give a quick shout out to Scott Camacho and Mitchell
Smoothie. for taking the time to visit our website and record an answer. But the winner of this
week's No Prize is... Eric Jones, who said... What up, what up, what up, it's Eric Jones
and I think the most underrated DC Marvel TV show is The Big Green Hero and I'm not talking
about Arrow, I'm talking about M.F.N. Swamp Thing. The show had everything that I think
you could want in a Swamp Thing based material show. It had horror. comic book action, it
had different heroes from the Justice League Dark, it set up perfectly for a season 2 and
or Justice League Dark show, and it got taken away from us way too soon. Swamp Thing's the
way. The Swamp Thing show is so damn good, it did not deserve to be canceled the way it was
before the first season even wrapped its final episode. It was done so dirty for as good as
it was. Not only were the special effects really good, But just like the horror elements that
they introduced and the writing and the acting, all top notch. Plus you got Easter eggs from
characters like Blue Devil and Madame Xanadu. It was such a cool show to watch. Not enough
people have seen it. And it's actually really hard to see today. It's not on any streaming
service that I'm aware of. If you want to see it, you actually have to buy it, like digitally.
Yeah, the series debuted on the DC Universe app back when that was a thing. Right. And
I know that they... ran the shows on the CW network that were like toned down. But I've
always been interested in watching this show. I'm really upset that we did a review at the
time that it came out because we weren't doing shows back then until we quickly realized,
hey, you know, DC Marvel are actually putting out great shows on these platforms. We should
start reviewing them. Yeah, this was definitely one of the shows that inspired us to start
reviewing streaming content. And one of these days, maybe we will revisit Swamp Thing and
review season one. I would love that. I mean, that would be like the least listened to episode
of all time because no one's going to be able to watch it, but I would still love to do it.
So great answer, Eric Jones. Congrats on winning this week's no prize. If you the listener want
a shot at winning your own no prize, stay tuned to later on this episode when we'll be asking
another question of the week. And now that that's done, on to the news.
Okay, so many people, especially DC fans, have been kind of confused when it comes to the
new cinematic universe that James Gunn is setting up, primarily because of how the Flash movie
ended. Initially, since that film was set up sort of like Flashpoint in the comics, which
rebooted DC's continuity, everyone, including myself, thought that- the Flash was going to
lead into James Gunn's new universe. But in scheduling DC's movies for this year, Blue
Beetle and Aquaman ended up coming out after the Flash. So it's always been kind of a question
as to when James Gunn's DC universe is going to start. Well, we learned last Wednesday from
James Gunn on Threads, right after the Rider Strike ended, that DCU continuity will start
with the max animated series. Creature Commandos that comes out next year. Gunn described Creature
Commandos as an aperitif or an appetizer to the real meat of canon that really begins with
Superman Legacy scheduled to be released in 2025. So for a lot of fans like myself who
were kind of confused by James Gunn's early statement saying that, you know, Blue Beetle
was the DCU's first character, but Superman Legacy is the DCU's first film, now we know.
when the DCU actually starts. We also learned from James Gunn on threads that Sholo Mariduena,
John Cena, and Viola Davis would be reprising their roles in the DCU. The dude needs to make
up his mind. Like first he's like, oh yeah, Blue Beetle's the first DCU character. And
it turns out that, yeah, that might be the case, but is it like an alternate universe version
of Blue Beetle that's gonna be played by the same actor? What's going on here? I mean, technically
you could say that Viola Davis's Amanda Waller is the first DCU character since she was the
first one to be cast way back when. Right, in Suicide Squad, which came out in 2016. So this
is all still confusing as hell. And James Gunn is not clearing up anything. And he kind of
wrote off fan confusion as like, oh, I understand that people want to understand what's going
on. But you know. It'll all be made clear. I honestly don't think it'll all be made clear.
I think fans are honestly gonna have to kind of figure shit out for themselves, wherein
it's determined that the DCU is just an alternate universe of the DCEU. Where basically things
are pretty much the same except, you know, Superman is younger and looks different and Batman too.
I don't know if I would consider this like a alternate universe of the DCEU. I don't know
what to make of it, honestly. But I mean, James Gunn does tell me that it's okay to be confused
on what's happening in the DCU since no one has seen anything from the DCU yet. To that,
I just have to reply, well, you said that Sholo Mariduña is returning as Blue Beetle. So, I
mean, I feel like I have seen something from the DCU in Blue Beetle, in Peacemaker, in the
Suicide Squad. I am confused. It's very confusing. I don't think it's okay to be confused. I think
confusion does not breed. brand loyalty, which is really what DC needs at this point. I think
instead of saying it's okay to be confused, he should have said, it's like, okay to be
patient. Cause I don't mind being patient. I know a lot of the internet is not like everyone
wants everything all at once, but yeah, I'll wait for answers. I just hope that those answers
are freaking amazing, but it's hard to feel like they're going to be considering that I
sort of feel this was the worst approach to take with the new cinematic universe. Like
either, continue what was there before or freaking burn it all to the ground and start from scratch.
That's much more easily digestible for audiences and fans than what we're getting. Like I feel
really bad for Jason Momoa because there was not a single mention of Aquaman in James Gunn's
thread, tweets, threads, whatever you want to call them. And it kind of feeds into the naysayers
that maybe the Aquaman sequel isn't too important to watch. Man, it must suck to be a DC I'm
so glad that I'm not one of those. I just kind of want this year to be over so that we could
get the Joker sequel. Because I know that's going to be good. Yeah, yeah. Hopefully. It
is a musical, so we'll see. Oh, you're one of those people, huh? OK. But considering the
fact that James Gunn has confirmed that at least some prior actors are returning to this universe,
hopefully some storylines are also making the jump. And that brings us to our question of
the week.
Which prior DC film or television series would you most hope remained in James Gunn's DCU
continuity, and why? And this is besides projects like Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, and the Suicide
Squad which are already confirmed by Gunn to be making that leap in transition to the DCU.
Record your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom
right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message
could be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on
the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a dynamic dual no prize
that we'll post to Instagram and our email newsletter. Be sure to answer before October 7th.
But I think that does it for all the news for this week, so let's go ahead and get into the
main event of this episode, which is going to be a spooky fun fight between the vampires
of Andrew Bennett and Dracula.
All right, Andrew Bennett versus Dracula. As I said before, they're both vampires. Andrew
Bennett is just some guy with a random ass name that you can meet on the sidewalk anywhere
you went. He's just Andrew Bennett going up against fucking Dracula, who is, you know,
the lord of all vampires. He's freaking jacket. Everybody knows who Dracula is. No one knows
who Andrew Bennett is. You know why no one knows who Andrew Bennett is? Why? Because he's freaking
super secretive. All right. He's also the lord of vampires. Just, you're not supposed to know
who he is, because he's sneaky. Allegedly, Andrew Bennett's series called I Vampire has a super
popular following, and Andrew Bennett is one of the most powerful and premier vampires in
the DC universe. I'm calling bullshit. I'm saying show me the receipts to those statements, because
I am horribly naive when it comes to DC. Oh, you're gonna get those receipts, and you're
gonna ruin your words. You're going to ruin the day you ever talked about Andrew Bennett.
We're getting highly dramatic here, but vampires themselves are quite dramatic characters. Oh,
yeah. I mean, the whole story of I vampire and Andrew Bennett is full of drama. He's not a
superhero character. It's very much a romantic gothic horror. Well, I almost fell asleep when
you were explaining that. Oh, wow. I think this backstory is going to be super interesting.
I know everybody will stay awake for the Dracula backstory, though. Oh yeah, I'm sure Marvel's
version is so much better than Bram Stoker's Dracula. Like what the hell does Marvel even
think they're doing? Like taking a classic character and just trying to make it their own. No, it's
gonna be the same thing that DC did with Frankenstein. Did we not do a duel between Frankenstein and
Bloodstone? Fuck you. Exactly.
I'm not gonna dignify that with the response. Let's move on to AlfredJervis9000 who is going
to explain the methodology behind our duels. AJ9K, tell our listeners how you go about determining
a winner in our duel matchups. Yes, of course, sir. The way I determine a winner between the
contestants is by running 1000 Monte Carlo simulations using the characters statistics. A Monte Carlo
simulation is a probabilistic model used to determine outcomes through random sampling.
In this case, I randomize the statistics along a normal distribution. as a way to simulate
the many variables that can occur during battle. The stat parameters are based on the official
Marvel power grid from which the DC characters' statistics are extrapolated. Additional stat
categories are included such as range, damage potential, versatility and perception in order
to create a more detailed and accurate simulation. The results of the 1000 simulations provide
a percentage of wins for each character. The contestant with the higher percentage is declared
the victor. as they have a higher probability to win any given battle. In an equitable pairing,
neither character should win 100% of the matches. The comic book stories have shown that there's
even a way for Batman to defeat Superman, so the confidence rate of my method falls in line
with the precedents that have been established in the source material. My mathematical simulations
are without subjectivity or bias. Feats are not the sole consideration, nor are fan votes
tabulated for determination of the winner. Thanks AJ9K, before we run the simulations though,
we'd like to break down each character's histories and abilities before improvising a scenario
on how we imagined one of the 1000 simulations would play out beat for beat. And it's my turn
to go first with the DC character's backstory, so let me tell you all about Andrew Bennett.
In 16th century England, Lord Andrew Bennett was a young English nobleman and war hero who
served in the court of Queen Elizabeth. Where he fell in love with one of the Queen's handmaidens,
Mary Seward, who loved Andrew in return. On the eve of one of Andrew's business travels,
Mary begged Andrew not to leave, as she felt that it was too dangerous for him to travel
so late in the day. Laughing Mary off, Andrew embarked on his trip, and sure enough that
night, Andrew was attacked and bitten by a vampire. Though Andrew was able to kill the vampire,
Andrew died as well. arising three days later with a thirst for blood. Distraught over his
vampirism, Andrew hid, feeding on the blood of animals until he was eventually discovered
in his bedroom by Mary. Realizing what he had become, Mary begged Andrew to transform her
into a vampire as well so that they could be together for eternity. Andrew reluctantly agreed,
and fed on Mary, killing her. When she returned from the dead, she was a vampire. though now
completely changed and devoid of her prior humanity, corrupted and possessing sadistic joy in feeding
on others. Mary left Andrew and developed a reputation for herself as Mary, Queen of Blood,
forming a secret society known as the Cult of the Blood Red Moon with intentions of taking
over the world. Horrified and guilt-stricken by what Mary had become and by her actions,
Andrew dedicated his immortal life to the to tracking Mary across the world knowing that
he would be forced to kill his beloved Mary once again in order to save the human race.
Andrew gained and lost numerous allies over the centuries in his pursuit of Mary. In the
early 1900s, Andrew nearly caught her after she had just killed the parents of a young
boy named Dmitri Mishkin. Andrew rescued Dmitri instead and raised him to become a formidable
vampire hunter. In the late 1960s, Andrew confronted Mary at Woodstock, only for Mary to threaten
the life of a beautiful young woman named Deborah Dancer. Forced to save Deborah rather than
pursue Mary, Andrew confessed to Deborah his life story and mission. Deborah joined Andrew
and Dimitri in their crusade to kill Mary and stop her cult, eventually encountering a vampire
that turned out to be Dimitri's mother, Dunya Mishkin, to Dimitri's despair. Not long after,
the trio were attacked by human agents of the Cult of the Blood Red Moon and trapped in a
cave-in. Andrew nearly succumbed to his bloodlust and fed on Deborah while she was sleeping,
only for her to wake up at the last minute. Andrew kissed her instead, realizing he was
developing romantic feelings for someone other than Mary for the first time in hundreds of
years. Andrew abandoned Deborah and Dimitri to hunt Mary on his own and protect his loved
ones from further danger. After Andrew chased Mary on his own for some time, an old ally
of Andrew's named Edward Thrain returned seemingly from the dead as a vampire and kidnapped Andrew
and Deborah. Andrew was able to escape and save Deborah, however, making him realize how much
his friends meant to him. Andrew decided to find Dmitri and, with Deborah's help, managed
to follow him to Russia, only to learn that Dmitri was tracking his mother, Dunya Mishkin.
and had been transformed into a vampire himself. Deborah attempted to kill Dunya, but accidentally
killed Dimitri instead, who killed his mother with the last of his strength. While in Russia,
Andrew discovered an experimental formula and supposed a cure for vampirism, which he took,
allowing him to enjoy the pleasures of being a man once again. After spending the night
with Deborah, his body succumbed to rigor mortis, allowing the cult of the blood red moon to
capture him as his body began to slowly decay. Mary forced Andrew to watch as she transformed
Deborah into a vampire. Deborah, having taken the formula as well, emerged as a vampire without
any typical vampire weaknesses, and the two women fought to the death, culminating with
Deborah dragging Mary into the sunlight where Mary burst into flames and died. Deborah returned
to Andrew, who peacefully died in her arms. Decades later, Andrew's body was resurrected
and now also purged of any innate vampire weaknesses. Realizing after several suicide attempts that
he was incapable of death even by standard vampire killing methods, Andrew became apathetic, now
tired of living. After being sent to hell alongside other demonic heroes and villains to partake
in a war between the demon Neron and Satanus, Andrew was later resurrected back on Earth
by the new cult of the blood red moon. now controlled by Deborah. In post-Flashpoint continuity,
Andrew's past was rewritten so that in the 16th century he was the young aristocratic son of
a British lord. Mary was now a servant girl who worked in the Bennett estate, and she and
Andrew fell in love. Andrew's father, however, disapproved of their relationship as he felt
Mary's social class made her unfit for marriage to his son. Upon learning this, that same night,
the heartbroken Andrew
His coach was damaged and his coachman was killed in the accident. Emerging from the wreckage,
Andrew encountered the biblical Cain, who shared his story of how he was forced to wander the
earth after killing his brother Abel, cursed by God with vampirism. Cain eventually found
a woman, Lilith, Adam's first wife who had been cast out of Eden prior to Eve's creation.
only for her to return to life, now sharing in Cain's curse. Cain and Lilith became lovers
and had many children who terrorized the planet. Eventually, Cain and his family were attacked
by Etrigan the Demon and other sorcerers in an attempt to steal his power. Cain survived,
but Lilith and their family did not, and a new curse was placed upon Cain that if he ever
fed on an innocent soul, he would be imprisoned for eternity. Smelling the love for Mary within
Andrew and confusing it for lust, Kane attacked him, only to realize upon biting him that Andrew
was indeed innocent. Kane's spirit was sucked into Andrew's body, which became a prison known
as a demon lock. Cursed with vampirism, Andrew was afraid to return home in fear of harming
Mary or his family, leaving Mary to feel abandoned, while forced to submit to the sexual abuse
of Andrew's father. After gaining control over his bloodlust by feeding on animal blood, Andrew
returned home after a year with the intention of making Mary his eternal bride. Mary agreed,
and after being turned, she admitted her disdain for him, promising to use her new power to
get revenge on him and all who wronged her, leaving Andrew to find that she had murdered
his father just before Andrew had returned. After decades of attempting to stop Mary's
war on humanity, Andrew and Mary came to a truce that lasted for centuries up until the present
day. After a romantic night together, Mary sent hundreds of vampires to attack Andrew, forcing
him to kill all of them and be labeled a traitor, ending their truce. With help from a vampire
hunter named Professor John Truffton, a young female vampire named Tig Rafelson, John Constantine,
and Batman, the latter two of whom you can learn more about in their respective dual episodes,
Andrew tracked Mary to Gotham City, where Batman stopped Andrew from killing Mary, only for
Andrew to then be beheaded by Tig, who thought that by killing Andrew, Mary would also die.
From Andrew's body, the spirit of Cain re-emerged after centuries, who then summoned all vampires
to Gotham City. While the Justice League Dark protected Gotham citizens, Constantine and
Deadman traveled to the afterlife and found Andrew. You can learn more about the Justice
League Dark in their team duel episode against the Midnight Suns. With help from Madame Xanadu,
Andrew returned to the world of the living tethered to Kane's power, and now his equal. After executing
Kane and absorbing his full power, Andrew gained full control over all vampires, including Mary,
and was able to erase the memory of vampires from everyone in the city. After helping the
Justice League Dark obtain a map to the Books of Magic, Andrew resettled all vampires on
a compound in Utah. After an army of vampire hunters, known as the Order of Van Helsing's,
learned about the compound, they attacked and killed 60% of the vampires there, while also
unleashing evil magic that turned dead vampires into uncontrollable zombie vampires.
The same way that he contained Cain's spirit, Andrew absorbed the evil magic and all vampires'
souls, curing the remaining vampires on the planet of their vampirism, including Mary,
and turning himself evil in the process. After turning Tig back into a vampire and taking
her as his queen, Andrew attempted to destroy creation by merging heaven and hell. Tig betrayed
him, however, decapitating Mary and promising to kill Andrew as well. With Cain emerging
from a portal to hell, he pulled all of the vampire souls from Andrew in an effort to find
his ancient bride Lilith, whose spirit he projected into Tig. Purged from the evil influence of
the vampire souls, Andrew stopped his own plan to destroy creation with the help of Mary's
spirit, now an agent of God. With help from the fallen angel Lucifer, Andrew and Mary managed
to defeat Cain and Lilith by trapping them in the house of mystery and hell. With her mission
complete, Mary gave Andrew a loving goodbye before departing the mortal plane. Andrew remained,
known to all now, as the Lord of Vampires, charged with keeping the vampire population in check
in order to maintain peace with humanity. Powers-wise, Andrew Bennett is the planet's most powerful
vampire, imbued with the power of the very first vampire, Cain. Andrew has enhanced superhuman
senses and physicality. In addition, to regeneration and mental powers, including telekinesis, clairvoyance,
and hypnosis. Andrew is also able to transform his body into other forms, including a wolf,
a bat, or a half-man hybrid of either of those, allowing him to grow wings or fangs if needed.
He could also transform into a swarm of bats or rats, or a mist that grants him intangibility.
In post-Flashpoint vampire lore, Vampires do not die from sunlight exposure, but are merely
weakened and robbed of any supernatural abilities. Andrew himself is not vulnerable to many typical
vampire weaknesses, though he can be affected by holy magic-imbued artifacts or elements.
He's also capable of conjuring various weapons, often bladed, such as swords, daggers, and
even wooden stakes. And that's Andrew Bennett. I still can't get over why he's called Andrew
Bennett. Why don't they just call him... Dracula if he's the lord of the vampires. Because there
was a real Dracula, like Vlad Dracul the second or something like that. I think that was his
name. Yeah. He's not that character. Well, does Dracula exist in the DC universe? I'm sure
he does. I don't think I've come across him, but you know, he's not a part of Andrew Bennett's
story. Why does the name Andrew Bennett offend you? Because it's lame. Apologies to any actual
Andrew Bennets that are out there. Which I'm sure there are at least several dozen listening
to this right now, because it's a common ass fucking name and certainly does not belong
as the name of a vampire. OK, vampire name expert over here. Holy shit. That was a pretty good
backstory. Of course, it can't compete with the one and only Dracula. So let me go ahead
and get into that. Vlad Tepes Dracula was born in 1430 in Shostberg, Transylvania in what
would later become present day Romania. His father. Vlad Dracul was a noble lord who was
named Prince of Wallachia by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund II. As a young adult, Vlad
Tepes Dracula was named the new Prince of Wallachia when his father was murdered by his most trusted
advisors, and he quickly developed a ruthless reputation when he sentenced all those involved
to death by impalement. Vlad waged a bloodthirsty campaign in a war against the Ottoman Empire
but was mortally wounded on the battlefield by En-Sabah Nur, an ancient mutant who later
became known as Apocalypse that you can learn more about in his duel against Black Adam.
Vlad was taken to a Romani healer named Leanda who was ordered to use her magic to prevent
him from dying. Unbeknownst to Vlad, however, Leanda was a vampire guided by the ancient
commands of the very first vampire, Varney, who knew of Vlad's vicious nature. Leanda bit
Vlad. drinking his blood until his human form perished and he was reborn in darkness, becoming
Varnay's successor as the Lord of Vampires. From Castle Dracula in Transylvania, Vlad,
now known as Dracula, turned a bevy of women into his vampire brides and spawned a number
of children, almost all of whom would grow to hate him. His brutality spread across Europe,
leading to numerous assassination attempts, all of which failed and grew his evil reputation.
A man named Hans Van Helsing died in his efforts to kill Dracula, and his wife, Rachel, swore
that the Van Helsing line would not rest until Dracula was destroyed. Nearly a century later,
the first man to ever successfully kill Dracula was a Puritan vanquisher of evil named Solomon
Kane, who staked the vampire through the heart with an ornate cross, turning him into an ancient
skeleton. Shortly after, however, a band of thieves raided the castle and removed the valuable
which revived him. Dracula later learned of a dark magic book known as the Darkhold, and
a spell within it called the Montesi formula, which was capable of destroying all vampires.
Though Dracula tried to retrieve the tome from the Vatican, a sorcerer named Cogliostro managed
to steal it first. In revenge, Dracula turned the sorcerer's wife, adding her to his collection
of brides. In the late 19th century, Dracula summoned an estate agent to discuss purchasing
land in England, and he became obsessed with an image of Jonathan Harker's wife, named Mina
Murray. Holding Harker captive with his brides, Dracula traveled to England where he turned
Mina Murray's friend Lucy and began to seduce her. Jonathan Harker managed to escape the
castle, however, and with the help of Abraham Van Helsing, they staked and beheaded Dracula,
seemingly killing him for good. Though Dracula survived due to Harker's and Van Helsing's
blades, not being made out of silver or wood. The events involving Mina Marie and Jonathan
Harker were later adapted into a book by novelist Bram Stoker. As revenge against England for
this repulsion, Dracula turned a British noble named John Falsworth into a vampire and set
him loose in Britain around the time of World War I, dubbing his latest minion as Baron Blood,
who would go on to become a recurring villain for many of Marvel's heroes. During World War
II, Dracula returned to his castle to find it occupied by Nazi soldiers, and he turned the
commander, forcing him to kill his own troops. In modern times, Dracula fought and killed
one of the most prolific vampire hunters of the late 20th century, a man named Jamal Afari.
Because of this, Afari's pupil, named Blade, swore vengeance against the Lord of Vampires.
Teaming up with other vampire hunters, Blade and the group managed to stake Dracula through
the heart, killing him. though Blade was the only survivor. You can learn more about Blade
in his duel against Azrael. A descendant of Dracula's, a man by the name of Frank Drake,
inherited Castle Dracula, and in his inspection of the castle, came across Dracula's coffin
containing his staked skeleton. Frank Drake removed the stake, unknowing what it was, and
in doing so revived Dracula. Ashamed by his actions, Frank Drake used his wealth to finance
other vampire hunters, teaming up with the likes of Blade. a vampire named Hannibal King, Quincy
Harker, who was the son of Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker, and the descendant of Abraham Van Helsing
named Rachel Van Helsing. Many of these hunters would go on to form the vampire hunting group
known as the Nightstalkers under the direction of the hero sorcerer Doctor Strange. Eventually,
Doctor Strange himself would cast the Darkhold spell of the Montessi formula, eradicating
Dracula and all vampires on Earth. For a long time, Dracula, it seemed, was finally and fully
dead. But, many years later, an elder demon of hell named Asmodeus drew upon Dracula's
spirit and reconstructed his body in Castle Dracula using the souls of 666 victims. Dracula
would go on to work alongside the monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone against a clan of vampire-like
creatures called the Nosferati, who had plotted to infect Dracula and all vampires with a virus
that would turn them into a blood supply for the creatures. Not long after, one of Dracula's
sons, named Xeris, staged a coup to usurp the Lord of Vampires title by uniting the Nosferati,
the Atlantean, and the Charneyputra vampire sects against his father. Xeris staked Dracula,
decapitating him, and had the various sects distribute his remains so as not to be joined
again. Under Xeris' rule, the vampires waged war on humans and mutants alike, going to battle
with the X-Men. Although Xerath managed to bite and turn the former mutant hero Jubilee, the
X-Men managed to resurrect Dracula, who in turn ripped his son Xerath's head off. To save Jubilee
from Dracula's hold over her, Wolverine traveled to Castle Dracula, where he teamed up with
the supernatural fighting force called the Howling Commandos. Although Wolverine managed to decapitate
Dracula and have his head launched into the sun, he Dracula's head eventually grew back
since the killing was not ceremoniously performed with wood or silver. Determining he would start
his vampire nation anew, Dracula ordered the genocide of his own kind in order to weed out
the weak. Then in revenge against Wolverine, Dracula lured him to Paris where his vampire
soldiers stole a sample of his blood which was then transferred into Dracula where the healing
effects made him now able to survive in sunlight. And that's Dracula's backstory. Dracula is
the most powerful vampire in existence as the Lord of Vampires. He has a wide array of abilities
ranging from the physical, to the psychic, to the mystical. First off, he has razor sharp
fangs that can transfer the curse of vampirism to his victims upon biting them. He also has
razor sharp claws, as well as enhanced strength, able to lift around 4 tons, enhanced speed,
agility, and senses including a mystical sense. He is immortal. unaging with a regenerative
healing factor, capable of repairing all but a very specifically administered set of wounds,
and he can even resurrect under proper conditions, such as placing his ashes in a coffin filled
with soil from his homeland, being touched by the tears of a virgin, or by removing the stake
if he is staked through the heart. Dracula has psionic abilities able to mentally control
not just other vampires, but other people via hypnosis through eye contact. He can mentally
control the weather. on par with heroes such as Storm or Thor, and he can summon or shapeshift
his form into a mist, a collective of bats, a pack of rats, a clutter of spiders, a pack
of wolves, or turn into a larger humanoid, wolf, or bat-like form. Dracula is a powerful dark
magician and able to cast spells such as summoning golems or undead vampires or zombies around
him. He's an adept strategist with centuries of experience and knowledge, and is an expert
and he often carries a sword with him, a long blade with serrated edges. Weakness-wise, Dracula
has a lot. He is repelled by crosses and other religious icons and locations, such as churches.
Holy water burns him. He is especially vulnerable to silver and wood weapons, such as stakes,
spears, or bullets. He dies if he's staked through the heart, though he comes back if the stake
is removed. Garlic and wolf's pain are also effective at repelling him. He does have to
make contact with his native Transylvanian soil once a day, and he has to consume blood to
maintain his strength or he'll become weak with thirst. He used to be weak to sunlight as I
mentioned, but since acquiring Wolverine's healing factor that is no longer an issue. And that's
Dracula. So essentially these characters are pretty much the same, except Dracula has more
weaknesses. Except Dracula has a better name. But yeah, I mean if I had to put my money on
who's a more badass vampire between Cain and Dracula, I'd- put my money on Kane and Andrew
bad the site isn't with Kane so who gives a shit but like Andrew Bennett is essentially
Kane's successor you know who cares Dracula's Varney successor big deal yeah but like Dracula
was turned into a vampire by some peasant woman whereas Andrew Bennett was transformed by the
vampire of all vampires yeah after the flashpoint and we all know that retcon was retconned because
DC don't do continuity well for all we know the Pre-flashpoint was also Kane. So you don't
know. You don't know either.
And now that we got their histories and abilities out of the way, let's speculate on how one
of the 1000 simulated matches will go. The winner is determined by simulations, not the speculation,
but it's fun to imagine how the fight could play out. Alfred Jarvis 9000, what are the
rules of our speculation? Well, I should say there are no rules, other than the characters
have no prior knowledge of the other going into the fight. All they are aware of starting out
is that the other character is a threat that needs to be eliminated. For the speculation...
contestants will begin approximately 50 meters apart in a nondescript environment that will
have no bearing on the match itself as no environmental statistics are considered in my simulations
the contestants must earn victory on their own merit. Alright then let's get into it. Andrew
Bennett and Dracula meet on the battlefield who goes first? I'm just gonna say it ain't
no way Dracula is gonna let some lame-ass named Andrew Bennett go first. I hope someone actually
named Andrew Bennett like finds you on the street and just beats your ass
I mean, it's a good name. It's just not it's not good for a vampire. Uh, so Dracula goes
first, the Lord of the vampires. Uh, he's going to start off by, he's going to raise his sword
up and he's going to summon a cloak of dark clouds that just cover the entire sky with
some flashes of lightning, but like everything's dark. And then Dracula is going to transform
just bursting into this flock of bats that just disappear into the darkness surrounding them.
Okay, well, I mean, Andrew definitely knows now that he's up against a vampire, clearly.
So he does kind of conjure up a pair of wooden stakes in his hands. And, you know, he's just
going to peer into that darkness and grow a pair of giant bat wings. And he's just going
to take to the air to stake those bats. OK, so the bats are swirling around, flying through
the air. And old Andy's trying to stake him. But all of a sudden, in this like shadowy blur,
Dracula is gonna emerge from the flock of bats midair and he's gonna use a sword to just slice
Those wooden stakes in half and then just as quickly and then just as quickly Dracula is
gonna become a flock of bats again Flying into the clouds above mr. Bennett, and he's gonna
send down a lightning bolt that knocks him out of the sky That's Lord Bennett to you punk
ass Before the lightning strikes, I'm gonna say that Andrew transforms into a mist that
makes him intangible to that lightning bolt. After which, he's just going to flow up into
the dark clouds and he's just going to let those bats fly right into his mist form, at which
point Andrew's going to transform into a pack of rats that attack the bats midair and cause
them to crash down to the ground. So it's just raining bats and rats like a horrible plague
or something. Well, as each bat hits the ground, it's going to. burst into this like small cloud
of black mist. And the mist is gonna all gather together and reform into the form of Dracula.
At which point Dracula is gonna like raise his hand and summon a horde of zombies all around
him across the environment. And those zombies are just gonna beat the shit out of these rats.
Damn. Ha ha ha. Geez. Except that like the rats, they're gonna group together and reform into
Andrew. Now in this terrifying like werewolf form, right? And he straight up just rips right
through these slow ass zombies slashing a path right to Dracula whose head he just tears right
the hell off. You mean he tries to tear off Dracula's head, but Dracula is just gonna stand
there staring at him, smiling with his eyes glowing red, and uh, Andre Benson, he's gonna
be frozen in place under Dracula's hypnotic control. I mean that's not gonna work on a
vampire as powerful as Andrew Bennett. So that smile turns upside down real quick. But why
won't this work? Dude, would you say that Andrew Bennett could hypnotize Dracula? Fuck no. Exactly.
You say that, but like Dracula was able to exert some influence against even the queen of monsters
in the Marvel comics. So like Dracula may not be able to control Anders mind, but he at least
forces him to revert into his humanoid form. You know. mid slash as he tries to take off
his head. So instead of decapitating Dracula, Mr. Beckett just slaps him. And that was a
mistake. Cause Dracula is gonna grab him by the wrist and twist it, causing Anton to flip
onto his back on the ground where Dracula just stakes him through the heart with his sword.
Boom, telekinetic shield. That sword just bounces right off of it. And Andrew Bennett, he's gonna
follow up with a telekinetic blast from the ground. That's just gonna send Dracula on his
ass. Uh, at which point, Andrew gets on his feet, and in like this wicked fast flurry,
he's going to pin Dracula's hands and feet to the ground with silver daggers, like crucifixion
style. And while Dracula is like writhing in pain, Andrew's just gonna look down on him
with like another silver dagger in his hand, and he's gonna be like, my name is Andrew Bennett,
bitch, before stinking him right through the heart and killing him. Okay, uh, yeah, Dracula
is in pain from the silver daggers in his hands and feet, but right as, uh, Drew Barrymore
tries to stake him in the heart, the silver dagger just goes through a cluster of spiders,
because Dracula turns into spiders and these spiders crawl up and around Mr. Bentley's arm
and into his mouth when suddenly a sword erupts from out of his chest, slicing up and around
as Dracula emerges from inside. Ashton's now sliced in half body. Andrew Bennett, it's Andrew
Bennett. It's not worth remembering, he's dead. Jeez. Dude, I'm pretty sure Dracula wouldn't
be able to use his powers if he was positioned in the shape of a cruciform with silver in
his body. Well, what do you know? You don't know. Dude, I know what you told me. Yeah,
but it's like, you know, it's fiction. So... Oh my gosh. Let's go ahead and leave the match
there. Either Andrew Bennett stakes Dracula to the ground in the shape of a cross and then
stakes his heart, or Dracula turns into spiders, goes into Andrew Bennett's body, and stakes
him through the heart from the inside while cutting his body in half. Pretty violent, but
they're vampires, so it makes sense. All right, let's enter the stats and find out who's gonna
come out on top. AG9K, hit it. Inputting data, running calculations, processing results. Simulations
complete. All right, that was pretty fun. Despite having a horrible name, I will say that Andrew
Bennett came out almost identical to Dracula. Yeah, their stats are fairly close, you know,
in terms of movement speed, evasiveness, strength, even fighting skill and range, they're pretty
much equal. We did say that Dracula was less durable. than Andrew Bennett because Dracula
has more weaknesses. Although he did overcome his weakness to sunlight, he's still affected
by a lot more things than Andrew Bennett's character. Plus, Andrew Bennett is able to produce some
of those weaknesses, just conjure them in his hands. So Dracula lost a point in durability
for that reason as well. When it came to intelligence, we did say that Dracula was smarter, not only
because he lived longer, but also he has more experience as a leader of vampires than Andrew.
Perception wise though, we gave Andrew the edge because he is clairvoyant. Versatility wise,
both of these guys are highly versatile as the Lord of the vampires of the respective universes.
They do a bunch of stuff. Yeah, I totally thought Dracula would have Andrew Bennett in the versatility
department considering all the different powers that he has, but unfortunately Andrew Bennett
can do just as much, pretty much. The real difference we found there was that Dracula is able to
control the weather, whereas Andrew Bennett has telekinetic abilities. And can summon weapons.
Yeah. So taking all of these stats into consideration, Joseph, who do you think came out on top? Not
some loser like Andrew Bennett. I would hate to give the win to Andrew Bennett. You know,
fucking Dracula. It's a vampire match, of course Dracula. And our Instagram poll takers. agree
with me. Of course they do. Largely probably because they don't have no fucking clue who
Andrew Bennett is. 80% of them think that Dracula is going to take this. Yeah, but I mean, by
the time we figured out what duel we were doing for this episode because we weren't sure it
was kind of a last minute decision, this poll has not been up for 24 hours yet. So there's
still time for people to vote for Andrew Bennett. Like you never know. Andrew Bennett could take
the win in this poll. He's not gonna. He's just some random dude. He's cool, I swear. You guys
heard it. You know he's cool now. But let's find out who won. AJ9K, the results please.
Hey Yuasa. All right, the winner of the dual matchup between Andrew Bennett and Dracula
is Dracula. Of course it is, but barely. By 53.2% or 532 of the 1000 matches. Andrew Bennett
won 468. Of course he would lose. He's literally nobody. One of these days I hope they make
a comic book character named Joseph Garcia. So I can talk about what a fucking loser that
character is and how lame they are just because their name is Joseph Garcia. All comic book
characters have to have a name. Why is Andrew Bennett like apparently the worst one? Is it
any worse than Steve Rogers? No, but Steve Rogers is also Captain America. Andrew Bennett is
a tax accountant that works down the street at the H&R block in the local shopping center.
Not the freaking Lord of vampires like Dracula. Let me tell you that there's going to be an
Andrew Bennett who actually works at an H&R block listening to this episode. He was like,
oh, I feel seen.
We do see you, Andrew. We see you. Yeah, you're a badass. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Badass name. fucking vampire, lord of the vampires. But that does it for this duel guys, let us
know what you thought about the results by writing to us at dynamicduelpodcasts.gmail.com or by
visiting us on Instagram or X. You can find links to all of our accounts by checking out
our show notes or visiting our website at dynamicduel.com. And on our site you could also find a link
to our Patreon page where you can join our Dynamic 2.0 tier and chat with us and fellow listeners,
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Podcast Network. If you can't join Patreon, you can still support the show by signing up
for our e-newsletter also at dynamicduel.com so you'll never miss an episode. Or you can
also rate the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, or on our website. Now that we got
the calendar for October all figured out, we know that our next episode next week is going
to be a review. Tying into this episode, we're going to discuss the 2004 film Blade Trinity.
We've already talked about the first Blade and Blade 2, so this will round out the trilogy
by talking about this shit show of a film. Oh my god, it's so bad. Yeah, Dracula's in the
movie and he sucks. So at the end of the day, Marvel's Dracula really is. a big fucking loser.
That does it for this episode, we want to give a big thanks to our executive producers Ken
Johnson, John Snorosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, Miggy Mathengian, Brandon Estregard,
Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Nick Ibbonto, Austin Wasylowski, AJ Dunkerley, Scott Camacho,
Adam Spies, and Andrew Shunk for helping make this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you
guys next week. Up up and away, true believers.