Izzy Fisher Bathes in DEATH BATTLE’s Blood!

         

Izzy Fisher, the Dark Horse of Bloodbath

Blackwidow Apocalypse was created by CRUSH it can be read on DeviantArt, Webtoon, Twitter, and Manga Plus

Welcome back to the blog! And whew, five blogs in one month. I think I was able to achieve it because Mortalia and Just a Goblin were much shorter series to cover. I was reading/collecting feats from Silent Sillies since February and it didn't have a complex plot to summarize. Paranatural was a big task to reread, but the wiki greatly helped make the process more efficient. But then there's this blog, where once I got to the third chapter of Blackwidow Apocalypse, I absolutely knew I wanted to cover a character from it. I got so engrossed that I completely binged the series in a few days. I'm reeeeeally excited to talk about this one. While there is another BA character I reeeeeally wanna make a blog on, I settled with Izzy since she has some matchup options I'm very interested in discussing. I'd highly recommend checking out this series for yourself, as I'm gonna be covering some BIG SPOILERS from here on out.

Background

"SHUT UP. I got nothin' to say to you, dirtbag. Except that I'm gonna cut you and half - and go home - and sleep like a fuckin' baby."

Welcome to St. Jumpkick, California, the worst fucking city in America! Founded by drunks in 1918, it's been in a steady decline in population ever since due to how frequently its residents are murdered.

The city has become a battleground for killers of all walks of life. What they all have in common though is that they're participants in the long-running fight tournament called Bloodbath. Despite having over eight million people registered, it's somehow kept under wraps by the ones running it. It's based on the principle that anyone can join the tournament if they kill someone that's already participating, taking their place. Each fight is overseen by a referee, and their outcomes are determined if the loser is killed or disqualified after exiting the battle's bounds. In the case of disqualification, the loser is slaughtered by the head referee Nathan Discord.

What the contestants aren't aware of is that the higher ups don't give a shit about the tournament, as it's a front for something far more nefarious. Helmed by the mysterious Orchestrator, the souls of everyone that died are used to fuel an enigmatic eldritch abomination.

Bloodbath attracts three types of people: people that pursue strength, people that seek fortune, and merciless killers. One of the most recent additions to the Bloodbath is a shocking standout compared to the rest, and that contestant is the ill-tempered punk Isabel Erin Fisher.

Izzy is all kinds of fucked up. She was a student at St. Jumpkick High School, which sought to mold its students into loyal lapdogs to serve its retired warmonger principal Hendrick Bastardsword. Izzy was a delinquent who frequently got into trouble with her best friend/girlfriend. However, things went horribly wrong after Izzy gifted her a pendant. The pendant was discovered by the school and was viewed as a dress code violation. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and she was subjected to an intensive program that's used as a last resort to fix troublemakers: the Six Program. Izzy experienced the traumatic program shortly after her girlfriend. While it left Izzy partially brainwashed, her lover was essentially executed.

Izzy left her school after that, as her will to attest Bastardsword was literally removed from her brain. After that, she lived her life as a traumatized woman, living in a shitty apartment and frequently dodging to pay rent. Although the program should've erased all traces of sentimentality within her, she kept her lover's pendant, which was a constant reminder of what she lost. She may not remember her love's name anymore, but she retained her love for punk, her extreme edge, and her burning rage.

Everything changed when a woman fell from the sky. Ingrid, a witch that's been in Bloodbath since she was six, was just disqualified from the tournament and was about to be killed by her opponent. Izzy jumped into the fray and easily killed him. Of course, that meant she was automatically registered into the tournament. Izzy wanted absolutely no part of it, but that thought was put in the back of her mind when she learned who her next scheduled opponent was: Hendrick Bastardsword.

Hearing his name alone was enough to motivate her to invade the campus. She massacred his defenses and murdered her way to the top floor. Fighting Bastardsword proved difficult due to the Six Program's effects that kept her from hitting him, and his constant berating of her. However, she found a loophole where she could land attacks on him with her eyes closed. She reminded Bastardsword of when a fight actually meant something, when he wasn't jaded by how unbeatable was compared to everyone else. It was a real-ass fight. Before his death, he left her with the advice that Bloodbath will be her end. It'll wear her down until only hate remains, like it has done to him. Even though she killed him and burned her school to the ground, she doesn't feel any less furious and nothing's changed. She tries to quit the game, having settled her score with Bastardsword, but the referee claims that's irrelevant and disappears.

Ingrid followed her around more as Izzy killed more contestants. Not just out of obligation for saving her, but because she actually knew Izzy's brother Rudeboy. When she went missing after going through the Six Program, he entered Bloodbath to find answers of her whereabouts. Like Ingrid's father, Rudeboy was killed by Nathan Discord after being disqualified. His dying request to Ingrid was to find his sister. Sadly, Izzy didn't remember him thanks to the program, along with other fuzzy memories. Learning about Ingrid's disturbed past motivates her even more to put an end to Bloodbath - especially after an encounter with Nathan himself. He came to claim Ingrid's life, but Izzy helped her weaken him enough to make him flee.

With Nathan out of commission, the Orchestrator decides to cull the remaining competition to start anew, as the cycle has happened many times before. She chooses a new vessel for the Bloodbath's grim reaper, the Undying Slaughter, to start killing the competition while Izzy chops foes down.

Back to our main gal, Izzy and Ingrid form a close bond, where Ingrid helps Izzy win her matches while Izzy aids her in ending Bloodbath. She plowed through more fights, becoming an unstoppable killing machine. The monotony of it made her hungry for a real challenge, and her wish was granted when she was paired against Ninetynine. Ninetynine was a cutesy and bubbly Angel of Death that decimated heaven and its angels after she was created by them oppose the Devil. Ninetynine was impossibly strong. Her first punch sent Izzy bulldozing through city blocks, she completely bodied Ingrid in one hit, and despite Izzy's efforts she couldn't match her. Before she could lay waste on Izzy once again, Ninetynine's head sputtered as she lost control of herself. But as she regained composure, she remembered everything. Izzy recalled her true name.

As it turns out, Ninetynine was actually her girlfriend Mallory, who after her death, was experimented on and reborn by heaven's angels with a wiped memory. Filled with infinite power she's too scared to use against others ever again, she flies out of town, disqualifying her. While shocked by this revelation and sadened after Mallory fled, she rushed to Ingrid to check on her. But uh oh, Nathan's possessing her now and she can't fight him if she wants to keep Ingird alive. He makes a bet that she'll lose the Bloodbath tournament. But if she wins, she'll have a shot at saving Ingrid. As Nathan disappears, Bastardsword's words of wisdom ring in her head.

All that remained was hate.

Week after week, Izzy slaughtered everyone in her way in a despair-fueled killing spree. However, someone decided to put an end to her endless massacre. Ren-Anji Schiffer, Bastardsword's top student who was thought to have been slain by Izzy, survived and dedicated the rest of his time training to defeat her. He didn't seek vengeance for killing his principal, far from it. Not only did she kill all his friends, but to him, she's on her way to becoming the very man she set to destroy.

Both soon realize that they are literally incapable of killing each other until they reach their goals. As they call truce, a cyborg angel she defeated before named Deadhead returned. It was revealed that Deadhead was actually the fusion of the angelic horsemen that performed the horrific experiments on Mallory. Not only that, but it was infused with Bastardsword's severed arm, so now both share its conscience. Enraged that in spite of losing everything, Bastardsword is still around, she charges at him with hot fury. While Bastardsword/Deadhead have startlingly overpowered new abilities, Izzy and Ren-Anji able to outlast their wrath. Thankfully Mallory returns in the nick of time to make sure Izzy never has to see either of them again.

After apologizing and gaining confidence to use her overwhelming strength to protect others, Mallory joins Izzy and Ren-Anji to put an end to the very root of every trauma they've faced in their lives: Bloodbath.

The trio is then visited by Nathan, who tells them there's one dude in Bloodbath left for Izzy to fight. But because they're so eager to beat him to a pulp, Nathan sicks the Undying Slaughter on them. Ninetynine and Ren-Anji deal with him while Izzy chases after Nathan, fully prepared to stick her chainsaw down his throat. During her fight with him, she is rescued by and reunited with the remnants of Rudeboy's powers, teaming up with her to take down the ref.

During the final moments of the fight, Ingrid finally expunges Nathan from her body and finishes him off once and for all. All seems well, as their shared main rival is finally killed. This would be a perfectly happy ending for Izzy and the gang…

Only, it isn't.

Now that Izzy knows Ingrid is safe, she succumbs to her wounds, leaving her friends to finish the war she could not.

Equipment

Pipe

The weapon she starts out with is a straight pipe. But don't lower your guard because of her odd choice for a weapon. It's so strong she can decapitate a giant with it.

Maxx Damage's Arm

The arm of the first warrior she killed in Bloodbath. Its spike ball for a hand can be released with a lengthy chain attached to it. She can use it as a long ranged weapon or for scaling buildings. The max length of the chain is really long, able to reach near the top of tall buildings

Deadhead's Arm

For the rest of the series, her primary weapon is the chainsaw appendage of the murderous amalgam angel Deadhead. The chainsaw is a holy weapon, which makes it significantly stronger than typical weapons and indestructible against other holy weapons. It's also the only type of weapon that's able to harm holy beings. The only weapons able to withstand it are those with exceedingly talented craftsmanship that it rivals godhood.

Baseball Bat

She used this bat in a baseball game against a giant mecha that murderizes baseball teams

Abilities

Dimensional Storage

Blackwidow Apocalypse is full of unexplainable bullshit, and you just gotta roll with it. One of its many anomalies is Izzy's dimensional storage powers. She has access to a pocket dimension somewhere close to her body she can store one item at a time. She can't store any items larger than she is. Izzy's never questioned how this power works, and it's as easy at breathing for her.

Enhanced Senses

Not only is she highly perceptive, but she's able to fight exceptionally well with her eyes shut.

Berserk Mode

If something hits a particular nerve that REALLY pisses her off (like touching her friend’s pendant, hurting Ingrid, or comparing her to the man who ruined her life) she enters an enraged state that boosts her power and speed. Her rage mode bypasses the work done by the Six Program, letting her kill anyone in her way.

Holy Manipulation

Her chainsaw is filled with heavenly energy, allowing it to harm other holy beings like angels.

Regeneration (Mid, likely way higher)

Her killing intent is so fervent that she's able to completely reattach severed limbs. This brings me to…

Immortality (Type 8) and Will Empowerment

Her will to end Bloodbath and rescue Ingrid is so strong, that she's literally unable to die unless she accomplishes her goals. It's quite literally what kept her kicking up until her apparent death. That's why she's able to reattach her own body parts. It's currently unknown to what extent she can fully regenerate from. But given these abilities, her type of regeneration is likely higher. This isn't like some sort of analogy or metaphor, it's deadass a plot point. In Ren-Anji's fight with the Undying Slaughter—Bloodbath's very own grim reaper—he's unable to kill Ren-Anji at first because he has the his own goals that keep him from dying. When the Undying Slaughter learns of this, he's able to murder him by granting him permission to die. In short, Izzy is literally too angry to die. It's bullshit. I love it.

Techniques

Parry

Like it says: PARRY THAT SHIT!

Feats

Overall

• Killed the fighter Maxx Damage with a pipe
• She survived the Six Program many years ago, a last resort correctional procedure to correct the most disruptive students at St. Jumpkick High School
• Her list of charges for being chosen for Six Program is vandalism of school property, disruptions in class, threats of violence against faculty, multiple dress code violations, and even more
• Killed G+G, the guards of St. Jumpkick High School
• She broke into her high school by using Maxx’s arm to reach the 3rd floor
• Annihilated all of Hendrick Bastardsword’s defenses, consisting of faculty cyborgs, Bastardsword’s elite students who went through special training, and other expendable students
• Defeated Ren-Anji Schiffer, student council president and strongest warrior in high school, in three strikes. This was before his training to hone his technique to kill Izzy
• She figured out a loophole to fight Principle Bastardsword: fighting him with her eyes closed. Even with her eyes shut, she’s still hella impressive
• Killed Principle Bastardsword, an unmatched behemoth who murdered the entire nation of England, and his flawless streak continued. She was the first to give him a real fight in over 400 years.
• Defeated the cyborg angel Deadhead, even after he sawed through her torso with a chainsaw
• Participated in the Bloodbath Chef Challenge and won through cheating all 32 rounds except the last. In the end she killed the Guy Fieri-looking-ass  fake referee holding the tournament, K.G.D.
• Killed Luther Lotus, whose reality warping powers responded to her rage and gave her a really hard time. She was able to best him by using Ingrid, an emotionless husk of a woman, as a distraction, while she killed him from behind
• Killed Roboyarou the cyborg yokozuna, who's the brother of Mack the cyborg-hunting trucker
• Destroyed Striker Billion, a Russian robot built during the Cold War that’s been murderizing a bunch of baseball teams. She was able to pay off her rent by selling his scrap
• Killed ninja master Double Zero and several unnamed combatants in a montage
• Fought Mallory while she had a broken leg, and wound up restoring her memories. Granted she had to basically be revived by Ingrid after the first punch, but she seriously held her own after that
• Went on a massive killing spree after her fight with Mallory
• Fought well against the fusion of Hendrick Bastardsword and Deadhead, despite their new acasuality powers
• Out of 8,388,608 participants, she made it to the end of Bloodbath. Now she only has one opponent left.
• Was the first Bloodbath combatant to land a 300 hit combo on the head ref Nathan Discord

Strength

• Killed Maxx Damage, who caused this small explosion with his flail arm
• Deflected a missile, causing a small explosion behind her
• Strong enough to wield Maxx's arm, which has a spiked ball almost as big as herself
• Killed Principle Bastardsword, who’s so unstoppable he slaughtered the entire nation of England. He outgrew the school, which was pretty fucking big to begin with. She was able to slice his arm clean off and eventually decapitate him
• In her berserk mode, she held Principal Bastardsword’s severed arm and used it to punch him
• By the end of her fight with Bastardsword, the campus area was reduced to this (use the St. Jumpkick map for size reference)
• Fought Deadhead, who busted through a wall
• Caused a small explosion by kicking a rocket
• Killed Luther Lotus, a low scale psychic who can warp reality to create an entire beach in a city block sized range that he has complete control over. (This counts more as a hax feat than an AP one, but it's still good to mention. Also, St. Jumpkick map for size reference)
• She was able to hit Striker Billion’s nuclear fastball twice, a giant baseball that normally completely destroys baseball fields. She was able to eventually hit Striker Billion with their own ball, exploding them. Here is a link to a calc for the strike (credit to G-Toasty)
• Fought Double Zero, who caused a building-sized explosion
• Before throwing her and causing a city block-sized explosion, Izzy was able to dismember Ninetynine, who can completely shrug off attacks that shatter mountains, crack the moon, and create explosions that span an entire continent. While these are super impressive, I wouldn't say she fully scales to Ninetynine, as she MASSIVELY outscales nearly every character in the webcomic
• For reference, Mallory's casual strength is multi-city block level. But then there's her peak power. While she's stated to have infinite strength, Mallory's strongest feats are as follows: weaponizing a creature the size of a universe/reality and punching Deadhead/Bastardsword so far they broke through the end of the universe and never stopped moving
• Here is a calc for the continent-destroying feat
• Here is a calc for the moon-cracking feat (multi-cont)
• She toppled over a building just by jumping onto it
• Scales to Ingrid, who punched Nathan through the side of a building

Speed

• She quickly dashed ahead across a bridge, kicking up loads of dust at the start
• Deflected lots of bullets, then immediately reflected a missile
• Fought Principle Bastardsword, who could make afterimages with his fists
• Able to move as a blur and precisely hop across giant structures, even with her eyes shut
• Blocked a missile with her hand, then kicked it back at Deadhead
• Fought Roboyarou, who leapt across St. Jumpkick from a tree to a far away bridge to slam her
• She matched blows with Ninetynine so she should scale to her combat and reaction speeds. Ninetynine fought Shinryu, who could move at mach 5 speed (hypersonic) and quickly travel to the moon and back (sub-rela)
• For reference, her peak speed feat is the forever punch mentioned before. For the fun of it, here's a calc for the feat's speed (MFTL+). Now I'm kinda wishing I made a blog on Mallory instead lmao, oh well, maybe another day TwT

Durability

• Bastardsword punched her into a wall, causing a small explosion
• Was punched into the ground by him
• Was punched through three stories
• She was punched by Bastardsword after he grew to the size of a building
• Was punched out of a building
• She was impaled in the gut
• She survived a MCB-level punch from Ninetynine
• She was punched through a building. After flying out of it, her body scraped across the side of another building
• She reattached her own head after she was decapitated
• She was punched into a water tower

Weaknesses

• She has serious trouble monitoring her rage. While her anger often carries her fights, opponents that can capitalize on her emotions can use that against her
• She’s extremely powerful and fast in her own right, but she lacks technique. Her usual strategy is just to go in, hit hard, and walk out alive. There’s been some fights where that hasn’t worked out for her, and she either had to outsmart them or need the help of others to get through it
• She’s banned from the world of professional sports because the body modifications from the Six Program are considered a form of doping
• Izzy has amazing stamina, having fought in Bloodbath for so long without as much as breaking a sweat. But during her fight with Bastardsword/Deadhead, all those days of fighting without much of a break caught up to her and she couldn't move. Thankfully that wound up being temporary, as she was back to kicking ass after Mallory swept in to help her, so long as she doesn't immediately continue pushing herself again

Matchup Potential

Izzy Fisher vs Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

Connections are as follows: Fucked up loser punks living in crappy apartments in cities known for attracting the world's craziest killers. They unknowingly get themselves involved in a gruesome tournament with organized fights where anyone can take their spot if they are killed, while working their way up until they're ranked #1. Both center around the theme of "killing the past," where both are reminded of the reasons that motivate them to kill and find the conviction to fight these representations of their past. Both sought and claimed vengeance for the deaths of their best friends. Both eventually go on to try and put an end to the cycle of violence they've become entangled in.

I really like the sound of this idea compared to most of Travis' other options. The connections combine the bloody deathmatch tournament, punk-ass loser personalities and lifestyles, buried trauma, and "Kill the Past" aspects of Travis really well that I don't see many other matchups do. While I'm way more partial towards Travis vs Jack more on Jack later as my most wanted matchup, this may actually be my favorite alt for Travis.

But compared to Travis' plenty of other matchups, what does this offer dynamically that others don't? To put it simply, I feel like Travis vs Izzy takes a lot of cool aspects of some of Travis' other options and combines them into one really fun package.

First of all, the setup is easy. It could be staged as Travis entering the Bloodbath tournament and being paired against Izzy. I don't see Izzy willingly signing up for the UAA and Travis could've easily murdered some rando that happened to be a Bloodbath contestant to be registered in the tourney. Izzy could break into his hotel room like many others have in the past to challenge him in the middle of him taking a pee break.

Like Travis vs Jack, the fight could have shifting colors and visuals. Blackwidow Apocalypse mostly uses three colors in its series: black, white, and the color that's most relevant to the character in focus. If it goes the black and white route, the primary colors that it could switch between would be pink and red (or both at the same time, with pink in Izzy's hair and red in Travis' jacket). For especially cool scenes, a character that's performing a really cool attack could have their color dominate the scene in different shades. Of course fully colored scenes could be included too, as all that'd need to be done to make Izzy blend in is using her canon skin tone. Maybe the fight starts out in color, but when Travis performs a wrestling move and hurls her through the door, that's when the black & white visuals kick in and the soundtrack dramatically changes. Whatever the case, there's so much potential for the stylization with colors, and that's not even mentioning the cool No More Heroes aesthetics that could be used throughout the battle! Coupled with the stylized art styles and over-the-top combat both series have, the fight could feel really sleek and high octane.

The banter would be comparable to something like Travis vs Ryuko more on Ryuko later given Izzy's angry and tough personality. It could really play up her "too angry to die" energy and Travis would just eat it up. He'd want her to give him everything she's got and unleash all her rage so he can have a serious fight. Meanwhile Izzy just couldn't give less of a shit about Travis' nerd-outs or nuanced monologues. She just wants him dead and to get on with her day. Given the dark comedy both series are known for, there could also be a lot of that utilized in the fight.

While Izzy doesn't scale high enough to the heavy hitters in her verse, she's definitely able to match whatever scale of combat Travis is in. She can fight at close range with her numerous weapons, speed around him and destroying whatever structures are in her way, and even fight Travis' henshin transformation and Glastonbury mech one-on-one. Her against Travis' Full Armor and Green Mode could really demonstrate their speeds as they dash around each other, with Izzy deflecting his missiles and evading his laser blasts. If Glastonbury is included, you could have a scene like Izzy vs Bastardsword or the Metal Gear EXCELSUS boss fight where she takes off one of its arms to use against his mech's giant fucking beam katana. And of course her berserker mode could be cool to include towards the end to really increase the destructive potential of the fight.

Even Travis' tiger form could be included since she's figuratively portrayed as a tiger in her fight against Ren-Anji. That means there could quite literally be a tiger fight randomly inserted into the battle.

Admittedly she doesn't have many interesting abilities that could clash with Travis' Death Glove powers in particularly unique ways, but Izzy has fought against many haxxy characters before so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. And let's be real, if Travis did appear on Death Battle, he'd likely just have the Death Glove moves from No More Heroes 3 and a couple or-so cool chips from Travis Strikes Again. In terms of the ones he has from NMH3, I can definitely see each one leading to some cool interactions. Izzy could telegraph the Death Kick after being hit by it once and counter it. She could deflect the projectiles from Death Rain in a cool blurry motion, then use Maxx Damage's arm in retort to send him flying into a building in a tracking shot. Death Slow could be utilized to have a comedic moment where Izzy gets caught in it, and she has a funny slowed down reaction to Travis slicing her back. And Death Force could just be a cool way for Travis to counter one of Izzy's moves. If I had to choose what TSA chips I'd like to see in Travis vs Izzy, definitely the NBMB, Strike Freedom and Dendrobium Chips.

Seeing as Blackwidow Apocalypse is a webcomic, the bulk of the track's inspiration would come from No More Heroes 3. I could see it integrating the futuristic vibe TSA & NMH3's soundtracks have while including lots of punk rock influences.

The fight could absolutely be made in 3D. Izzy's design would be easy to make a cool rigged model for, which they team has proven they're capable of.

Of course the death would have to end with a killscreen from the winners' series, since every ranked fight ends with those. If Travis wins it would certainly be a hyperviolent finisher that uses the quicktime event visuals and sound effects when finishing off his opponent. I'd imagine he could bisect her straight through the middle as black blood gushes from her, but turns red as color is fully restored. Then he's greeted by Sylvia, who approaches from behind him with only her legs visible, welcoming himback into the Garden of Madness. But if Izzy wins, have it be a fakeout where Travis decapitates her, but in a callback to the Skelter Helter boss fight, she puts her head back on, decapitates him, and slices his entire body into chunks

But you wanna know what the coolest part of this all is?

The author of Blackwidow Apocalypse is on board with this

I really dig the fight's energy portrayed in their sketch. So if they can see the potential for Travis vs Izzy, then maybe we're on to something.

Don't worry they made up

BUT IF ONE WERE TO DIE—

Deciding who would win is really dependent on how far you scale Izzy to Mallory. Mallory is exceptionally overpowered and is portrayed as above nearly everyone in the story. You could argue Izzy scaling from as low as MCB to as high as multi-cont or moon, because there's no way Izzy can remotely scale to her universe-level bullcrap. Either way, Travis would have an advantage in AP. Same goes for having an edge in speed, so he'd have a better chance of landing his haxxy moves. Thankfully, neither are too much of a gap that it's actually a stomp (at least if you consider Izzy's peak to be moon or multi-cont). While Izzy is able to bulldoze through most of Travis' haxxes with her sheer killing intent alone, he still has a wider variety that would really impede her. Travis may have those advantages, but there's the whole situational immortality Travis has to get past, which I'm uncertain he even can. Yes, he has negated characters' regeneration before, but type 8 immortality is a whole other ballpark. The only way he'd be able to get past it is if he has death manipulation, and I doubt his life-draining chips like the Unicorn Chip would even count for that. Apparently he has some form of soul manipulation with skill chips, but I couldn't find anything on that. And don't get me started on Travis' own resurrection bullshit. Honestly, this matchup could very well be one of Travis' more debatable options. Siding with Travis is probably a safer option, but I wouldn't be surprised if Izzy winds up fully scaling to Mallory later down the line.

Izzy Fisher vs Ryuko Matoi (Kill La Kill)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

The connections are essentially the trash-talking, hotheaded protagonists of hyperviolent series who were experimented on. Both go on a rage-fueled revenge quest to avenge the deaths of loved ones thanks to a minor villain. After deaths of their loved ones, they kept an object close to them that was left by them (Scissor Blade and Mallory's pendant). Both would gain a companion at the start of the series that didn't start out as friends, but they grew much closer as the story went on (Mako and Ingrid). Both have siblings they had no clue existed, which becomes more relevant in their journeys later on. Both have a Berserk Mode and can regenerate.

I don't know enough about Kill La Kill to discuss this too in depth, but it seems to be carried a lot by their general vibes and banter potential. From what I've seen of her, Ryuko has a similarly abrasive loudmouthed personality that could lead to a lot of trash talk between the two. I'd imagine it could be a fun fight, as Blackwidow Apocalypse could match KLK's scale and absurd violence. To my knowledge Ryuko isn't super haxxy either, so the fight could be pulled off easily. In terms of who wins, this one also depends on how far you'd scale Izzy to Mallory. After learning more about Ryuko's stats, I'm more willing to side with Izzy on this one than with Travis.

Izzy Fisher vs Jack Cayman (MadWorld)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

Given it's a matchup between two chainsaw-wielding violent death game participants from series with predominantly black and white visuals, this one vibes hard with what can be done with the art direction. Of course the fight would have to be done in black and white, with the only other colors present being pink and red. Red would often be used for the blood, or having the background change to that color when Jack has the upper hand. Although Jack expectedly loses, the dynamic can work well since Izzy has a smaller toolkit. It could also give Jack an opportunity to really weaponize the environment to his advantage, using everything he can find as a weapon. What Izzy would bring is an increased scale to the combat and a faster pace.

I'd imagine Izzy could invade DeathWatch to fight Jack, killing loads of participants in her way to get to the real challenger. With how Jack is so calm and collected while Izzy is a raging jackass, that could lead to a lot of fun banter exchanges. Maybe even add Howard and Kreese commentating over the fight to add to the comedy.

I'd imagine the soundtrack would sound like nu metal, as it'd be a fusion of punk rock and the aggressive hip-hop MadWorld is known for.

Izzy Fisher vs Hank Wimbleton (Madness Combat)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

Connections are the following: mass killers constantly hunted down by a nefarious shadowy organization constantly sending people to kill them but to no avail thanks to their insane skills and inhuman tenacity. They would gain access to angel powers due to connecting to an angelic object making them a much bigger threat to their enemies, especially the dark shapeshifting observer that monitors their bloodbath.

Shoutout to Sentry for making the connections list that I totally didn't steal shhh. It's a lot more specific than I expected, and I think it can make for a fun fight. Neither banter too much when fighting their opponents, so I could see it not having much dialog. I'd prefer if Hank was in his more realistic appearance rather than his usually toonier one, but there could be a point in the fight where the art style could shift to that as a gag. Seeing as the Madness OST goes insanely hard, this has some really fun soundtrack potential. There could also be a scene calling back to the crowded fight scenes both series have where they gotta take out a bunch of goons while fighting each other.

I'm a little iffy when it comes to Madness Combat scaling so I'm not totally sure where to place Hank, but from what I've heard Izzy might win?

Izzy Fisher vs Yuki (The Dishwasher)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

From the research that I did, there isn't too much of a narrative throughline between Izzy and Yuki. The core theme is basically the rage-fueled chainsaw wielding traumatized protagonists of hyperviolent black and white series with minimal uses of other colors, who are pursued by their brothers after they go missing, along with seeking vengeance on the people that ruined their lives and frequently send loads of people to kill them.

Much like Jack, the sort of visual style the matchup has really carries this matchup, main difference is that Yuki's art style aligns a lot more with Izzy's. The Dishwasher really meshes well with the brutality and violence of Blackwidow Apocalypse, and Yuki has access to lots of weapons like swords and gatling guns, so she could add more variety to the combat.

While I do consider this one the weakest out of Izzy's options, what it has over all her other matchups is that all her other opponents have way more popular opponent options. So if she were to fight Yuki, there's not much competition to raise objections and mention better alts.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it