Who Can Beat Alex Mercer?

[artanis_neravar]

I have figured it out....Kenny McCormick, even when he dies he just wakes up in bed the next day with no one remembering his death

 

[CptJackRabbit]

Mr. Rogers... in a blood stained sweater.

Actually, the first person that came to mind was Apocalypse, since his entirety until you get to the core where little En Sabah Nur actually is, is all inorganic. Nothing to consume. Apocalypse would merely get Mercer into some type of deep sleep, and send his ass into the sun, so that he burns to less than a cell, and is incapable of regeneration. Not too mention, even if it was possible, he would be destroyed faster than he could regenerate in space anyway, so even if he managed to keep enough of himself, in would be a feudal eternity anyway.

 

[teebeeohh]

technically alex mercer is dead. He died before we ever had the chance to control him in prototype. What you probably mean is the virus that for some dubious reason decided to make a bloody mass of organic matter look like alex mercer.
That would be someone who sneaks up on him and tucks his shirt in.

 

[Gustof26]

Lets see, I'll over my top three possibly most obscure comic versions and one from video games.

First of is the Saint of all killers from Preacher. You just can't kill it. Alex was hit by a Nuclear Bomb and was left as a puddle, Saint of all killers was hit by a bomb and didn't even get a scratch. I mean the Saint in the end of it all kills [spoiler onwards] God himself, just puts one in the good lords head. [spoilers done]. You can't kill the Saint of all Killers.

Pretty much all of the endless, from the award winning graphic novel Sandman. Dream can pretty much bend reality, thought does Alex even sleep. You have Desire you could pretty much just get the Alex to kill himself. Destiny already knows how Alex is going to die so he can just sit around and wait for it or make it happen a bit quicker. Finally, I don't think Alex would be able to kill Death of the Endless, she's death after all.

Finally, are the Reapers from Mass effect. They are the janitors of the universe. Coming by every now and then to just wipe out all life. Fun guys. You spend most of the first game leading up to fighting one of them only to find out there just a fleet of the damn things waiting for the right time.

 

[A Curious Fellow]

One of the fundamental laws of physics is that Goku always wins, no matter who is fighting who.

So, Goku.

EDIT: Ohshit, gotta be honest, I didn't read the OP you have that law covered. Sorry, dude.

Oh hey, you've gone active again.

On topic: No one really. Even if Alex couldn't win, he wouldn't lose either. There isn't a single biological thing he can't assimilate, and if you evolve his powers to their logical extreme, he'll sooner or later be able to assimilate inorganic matter as well. Shit, the guy can shapeshift on the molecular fucking level, according to whatever he wills himself to be. So yeah, maybe he couldn't kill Wolverine or Superman or whatever, but he wouldn't have to. He'd just infect them and eventually his genetic structure and consciousness would subsume theirs.

So that's how he'd win, but here's how he can't lose:

If he can shapeshift to such a degree, then it follows that he could craft a second Alex Mercer if he so chose. It would be a simple matter of copying and building a replica of his own brain and then separating a lump of his own biomass for it to inhabit. QED: If you killed an Alex Mercer, and totally fucking erased all traces of the body, there's still another one out there. And presumably he could just duplicate himself all day.

And all this is before we even consider that Alex Mercer is a high functioning sociopath with no real understanding or care for moral philosophy.

Re-cap: Alex Mercer has the mental capacity to exist and manipulate matter on the nanoscopic scale, the physical capacity to self-clone ad infinitum, but lacks the emotional capacity for his clones to develop individually outside of a hive mind.

Mercer is the fucking Omega Singularity. The end and the summation of all things.

I don't know... you make a lot of good points, but let's actually look seriously at Goku for a second.

The guy has defeated enemies that can regenerate from single cells multiple times. He incinerates them on a cellular level. And at his most powerful in the series (let's just say Super Saiyan 3 because goodgodGTisawful) he could completely destroy an entire planet without breaking a sweat.

Even if the planet was full of Mercers, does he understand rocket science? Can he get off world?

Hmm.... interesting question.

Consider the modus operandi of a global apocalypse with Alex Mercer as the instigating pathogen: As I put forward, his powers don't have much by way of defined limits. If it has a stable molecular, or even atomic, structure, Mercer can incorporate it. Thus, if left alone, Alex Mercer could subsume Earth itself.

So now we pit Goku, his powers all put forth and described, against a planet sized shapeshifter who at this point treats self-subdivision as a natural chemical process no different from the digestion of foods. Mercer's actions and personality paint him as an individual with no qualms about running away and making self preservation an uncompromisable first priority. Confronted with Goku bent on Mercer's annihilation, I would argue that Mercer would simply fragment himself explosively, propelling bits of himself away in all directions of three dimensional space at the highest speed possible without warping his own genetic material in the process. Even Goku at his best must adhere to some law of mathematics and physics. It would be possible for a planet sized Mercer to split off into enough fragments for some of them to escape and eventually come into contact with new matter to metabolize.

I noticed that someone mentioned that the word of god had said that electricity and cold stop Mercer. I put forward that the natural development of Mercer's abilities will have, by this point, eliminated those weaknesses.

Goku would eventually hunt his pieces down because of the fact that he can sense energy levels even on a low scale, but it seems like every time he'd find another piece, Mercer would just spread further...


... Christ... and thus the Flood were born.

EDIT: People are also bringing up Doctor Manhattan. I think that he's the only one that'd truly stand a chance.

Aye, indeed. This is what I meant by Omega Singularity, which, now that I think of it, I am not sure is a scientific term or not. It's just something I pulled out of my ass.

See, I don't think the game designers meant to do it, but the character they created is imbued with a superpower that could be cultivated to the point where he could eventually reshape all coherent matter in the universe to reflect his own image. I really don't think defeat is even a hypothetical possibility for Alex... unless he totally broke character and DIDN'T do any of the things I mentioned he would logically do.

On Doctor Manhattan....

Hey now. A character who is very pointedly NOT made of coherent matter with a stable and defined molecular structure. I think we have a contender!

Only problem is, would Doctor Manhattan consider an all-Alex-all-the-time universe to be functionally different from the universe as it is today? The end of Watchmen has Manhattan leaving humanity to pursue experiments with creating life, looking for an existence as a benevolent creator. He desires to escape his all-knowing nature by crafting a thing that may just surprise him. He has the powers of a god, and now wishes to do what any god would: find something new, even create it if he has to.

I think, in that light, Alex would have to be a credible threat to Manhattan's creations before he would bother intervening. And even then, if he saw Mercer coming, those interventions would be too subtle to perceive. If he didn't see Mercer coming, then Mercer has surprised him, removing the very need that Manhattan was satisfying by becoming a creator in the first place, in which case, what has Mercer done to provoke retaliation? Nothing, that's what. Mercer will have supplanted Manhattan's creations.

Thus, no. Manhattan would not defeat Alex, either because no one would have the capacity to actually see the situation from a meaningful perspective, or because Manhattan would not want to.

 

[Venereus]

Chuck Norris? LOL i dunno maybe....
Alex's evil.....well....more evil twin Xela? LOL

Got it, middle of second page. Can't believe Chuck didn't come up sooner. Was it being purposely avoided because it's an old meme?

 

[LordZutaki]

It's impossible, since alex can regenerate so long as a single cell still exists and there is no way to completely destroy matter, alex is god of invincibility. 'nuff said

You can't destroy matter, but matter can be split up quite a bit smaller than a cell.

We just need some sort of ray gun that separates carbons out from everything else. BAM not more organic matter.

but the matter still exists, and remember he doesn't just shapeshift, he creates matter implying it could be possible for him to reform without it

 

[BFEL]

Ok all Chuck Norris jokes aside while Alex Blacklight Mercer can regen from the smallest form of matter and matter is impossible(with currently known physics)to destroy, you could convert it into energy thus making his regeneration useless. Einstein trumps Mercer.

EDIT: as for the poster above me-WRONG!!! Alex DOES NOT "create" matter he just changes it.

 

[Dr. wonderful]

Aaron Carter.

He beaten Shaq.

 

[Mar451]

Slenderman

 

[Dfskelleton]

If this guy can single handedly blow up hell (AND YES, I MEAN LITERALLY BLOW THE ENTIRE DIMENSION UP), then Alex Mercer should be a minor threat. Alex is too fast you say?
You don't need to be accurate when you have a gun that fires balls of energy that kill almost anything within 10 feet of it.
And he does it all with a gaping hole in his armor exposing his abdominal muscles. That's just how manly he is.
I don't see Alex Mercer (or any protagonist besides him) blowing up entire dimensions wearing short sleeved shirts that completely expose you abs.

 

[brinvixen]

Cole McGrath! Wasn't this battle already fought? Yahtzee made the two of them put on women's underwear for god's sakes, and Cole still came out on top! Plus, Cole in Infamous 2 looks pretty bad ass, so my money's on Cole.

However, I think I'll buy Prototype now. Clearly there is lots of fun to be had with Mr. Alex Mercer as well!

 

[Therumancer]

Alex Mercer is the all powerful being in the world of Prototype, but is there anybody from any other universe that can actually beat him?

I would have to say Goku, Gohan, or Vegeta.

Go wild...

I'm guessing this is a joke, but to answer it seriously, Alex Mercer is at best a mid-powered character overall, perhaps even low powered in the overall scheme of video games.

The guy is basically strong, fast, has great damage resistance, and the abillity to morph his body into a variety of very destructive forms. However in the scheme of video games, we have characters floating around who are basically able to destroy all of creation (as in all dimensions, all realities), you typically wind up fighting against something like that at the end of a lot of RPGs, at the end of some stories of that sort you might see the protaganists gaining access to similar levels of power OR absorbing those very same powers and then using them benevolently.

I say he might be low end, because when I look at characters who are right in the middle of the spectrum, like your typical cast of JRPG characters, Alex isn't anything really special. I mean any of the major Final Fantasy characters could fight him to a standstill without getting into any kind of godlike ascension. While stereotypical picks the various Final Fantasy VII characters, Cloud, Zack, Sepiroth all have enhanced physical abillities, jump through the air at crazy levels or fly (paticularly in cinematics), and are capable of using magic which is at least as good as what Alex can do with Biomorphing. I'm not saying that those characters would beat him down, mainly that it's a level where it could go either way and there is a lot of parity.

I think of scenes like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5oOL4dJzX4

Decent Nightwish song, though what the guy did to it (apparently intentionally) with an audio distorter to deepen the voices is an aquired taste. Mostly pointing to the cinematic.

While this took place in a simulator (which they almost wreck by getting out of hand trying to kill each other) you'll notice fire control (magic), semi-invulnerability, and sword blows capable of slicing builings, along with ridiculously enhanced physical abillities, and flight. That's sufficient to give Alex a run for his money, especially seeing as having played the game a bit, relatively ordinary stuff is capable of taking him out. Enough bullets, rockets, etc... and he does die, and a lot of the monsters that can kill him are pretty just straightforward ugly "urrrgh me strong!" things. Think of all the way the character can die in the course of the story causing you to restart/reload. Sure he gets an over the top and belief defying happy ending in his reformation in the ending, but we have to give some credit to other characters being just as ridiculous, after all Sepiroth gets lobbed into a Mako reactor and lives, Genesis is probably worse when you plot his apparent deaths and returns through games, and Zack (who isn't involved here) probably has one of the more ridiculous (but still fairly awesome) death scenes where despite being nearly dead it pretty much takes the entire ultra-tech army of Shinra beating on him for like 45 minutes straight to finally get him to give up the ghost.


Of course then there are plenty of low end characters who wouldn't even come close to even entering Alex's power level. Crime game protaganists, tough cops, your average survival horror hero, adventure game protaganists (Leisure Suit Larry Vs. Alex Mercer!), I mean he's not low end by any means.

Of course without getting into the "omniponent" level mentioned above there are plenty of high end characters that would reduce him to an oily stain on the floor as well. I mean we've had characters like The Sentry (via the DS version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2), The Silver Surfer, Thor, Spawn (whose only real limit early on was that by using his power he brought himself closer to being sent back to hell where he faced either eternal torment or agreeing to lead Hell's armies, he overcame this eventually and let's just say his rogues gallery basically consists of the forces holding reality together), Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, and well people have already mentioned the Dragonball Z cast and characters like Superman.

As I said, Alex is pretty comfortable in the low-middle of the pack with most Final Fantasy characters and guys like that in terms of power level. I say low because there are some characters that fall short of being high powered like oh say Goku or The Sentry, yet are substantially stronger than the Final Fantasy/Alex Mercer power level. Characters like some of those from the Shin Megami Tensei franchises. "The Demi-Fiend" (hero of Nocturne), and the hero from the Devil Summoner games (the name eludes me) on the merits of what he can summon and control along with the ridiculous personal combat abillity that pretty much everyone in this power range posseses. He basically is capable of commanding things far more powerful than him, and a lot of the characters on this list, and fighting alongside them. Your typical player character pokemon trainer falls just short of this, because those characters are just kids and while their minions might be strong, they are relatively vulnerable (similar type of concept, Devil Summoner being a sort of variant on Pokemon except for more mature audiences when you get down to it).

 

[ninetails593]

Kirby eats some blacklight gunk... Kirby eats the universe.

KAHBEE

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Kratos.

He'll rip off his spine and then some.

Yup. Dying only makes him angrier.

 

[Fidelias]

Revan beats all. He can drain the Force from others, which is basically like draining your soul. It's not his/her usual tactic, but it would easily work on Mercer.

 

[ZeroMachine]

One of the fundamental laws of physics is that Goku always wins, no matter who is fighting who.

So, Goku.

EDIT: Ohshit, gotta be honest, I didn't read the OP you have that law covered. Sorry, dude.

Oh hey, you've gone active again.

On topic: No one really. Even if Alex couldn't win, he wouldn't lose either. There isn't a single biological thing he can't assimilate, and if you evolve his powers to their logical extreme, he'll sooner or later be able to assimilate inorganic matter as well. Shit, the guy can shapeshift on the molecular fucking level, according to whatever he wills himself to be. So yeah, maybe he couldn't kill Wolverine or Superman or whatever, but he wouldn't have to. He'd just infect them and eventually his genetic structure and consciousness would subsume theirs.

So that's how he'd win, but here's how he can't lose:

If he can shapeshift to such a degree, then it follows that he could craft a second Alex Mercer if he so chose. It would be a simple matter of copying and building a replica of his own brain and then separating a lump of his own biomass for it to inhabit. QED: If you killed an Alex Mercer, and totally fucking erased all traces of the body, there's still another one out there. And presumably he could just duplicate himself all day.

And all this is before we even consider that Alex Mercer is a high functioning sociopath with no real understanding or care for moral philosophy.

Re-cap: Alex Mercer has the mental capacity to exist and manipulate matter on the nanoscopic scale, the physical capacity to self-clone ad infinitum, but lacks the emotional capacity for his clones to develop individually outside of a hive mind.

Mercer is the fucking Omega Singularity. The end and the summation of all things.

I don't know... you make a lot of good points, but let's actually look seriously at Goku for a second.

The guy has defeated enemies that can regenerate from single cells multiple times. He incinerates them on a cellular level. And at his most powerful in the series (let's just say Super Saiyan 3 because goodgodGTisawful) he could completely destroy an entire planet without breaking a sweat.

Even if the planet was full of Mercers, does he understand rocket science? Can he get off world?

Hmm.... interesting question.

Consider the modus operandi of a global apocalypse with Alex Mercer as the instigating pathogen: As I put forward, his powers don't have much by way of defined limits. If it has a stable molecular, or even atomic, structure, Mercer can incorporate it. Thus, if left alone, Alex Mercer could subsume Earth itself.

So now we pit Goku, his powers all put forth and described, against a planet sized shapeshifter who at this point treats self-subdivision as a natural chemical process no different from the digestion of foods. Mercer's actions and personality paint him as an individual with no qualms about running away and making self preservation an uncompromisable first priority. Confronted with Goku bent on Mercer's annihilation, I would argue that Mercer would simply fragment himself explosively, propelling bits of himself away in all directions of three dimensional space at the highest speed possible without warping his own genetic material in the process. Even Goku at his best must adhere to some law of mathematics and physics. It would be possible for a planet sized Mercer to split off into enough fragments for some of them to escape and eventually come into contact with new matter to metabolize.

I noticed that someone mentioned that the word of god had said that electricity and cold stop Mercer. I put forward that the natural development of Mercer's abilities will have, by this point, eliminated those weaknesses.

Goku would eventually hunt his pieces down because of the fact that he can sense energy levels even on a low scale, but it seems like every time he'd find another piece, Mercer would just spread further...


... Christ... and thus the Flood were born.

EDIT: People are also bringing up Doctor Manhattan. I think that he's the only one that'd truly stand a chance.

Aye, indeed. This is what I meant by Omega Singularity, which, now that I think of it, I am not sure is a scientific term or not. It's just something I pulled out of my ass.

See, I don't think the game designers meant to do it, but the character they created is imbued with a superpower that could be cultivated to the point where he could eventually reshape all coherent matter in the universe to reflect his own image. I really don't think defeat is even a hypothetical possibility for Alex... unless he totally broke character and DIDN'T do any of the things I mentioned he would logically do.

On Doctor Manhattan....

Hey now. A character who is very pointedly NOT made of coherent matter with a stable and defined molecular structure. I think we have a contender!

Only problem is, would Doctor Manhattan consider an all-Alex-all-the-time universe to be functionally different from the universe as it is today? The end of Watchmen has Manhattan leaving humanity to pursue experiments with creating life, looking for an existence as a benevolent creator. He desires to escape his all-knowing nature by crafting a thing that may just surprise him. He has the powers of a god, and now wishes to do what any god would: find something new, even create it if he has to.

I think, in that light, Alex would have to be a credible threat to Manhattan's creations before he would bother intervening. And even then, if he saw Mercer coming, those interventions would be too subtle to perceive. If he didn't see Mercer coming, then Mercer has surprised him, removing the very need that Manhattan was satisfying by becoming a creator in the first place, in which case, what has Mercer done to provoke retaliation? Nothing, that's what. Mercer will have supplanted Manhattan's creations.

Thus, no. Manhattan would not defeat Alex, either because no one would have the capacity to actually see the situation from a meaningful perspective, or because Manhattan would not want to.

You have to remember, though, Manhattan does have a bit of humanity left in him. His outburst at the reporters, his obviously jealousy over the Silk Spectre, the fact that he kills Rorschach, the fact that I can actually debate something about a comic b... wait, scratch that last part... anyways, it's possible that, when noticing humanity being royally fucked, he goes back to save the day.

... Then again, we should probably stop this train of thought before someone creates a crossover... or worse... a fanfiction!

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN.

... Kidding, by all means, continue. I love dis shit.

 

[buggy65]

Katamari Damacy
Naaaa na na na na na na naaaaaa!

 

[Dfskelleton]

Slenderman

He said fictional characters. Heck, I see slenderman all the time... standing outside my window... even though I'm on the second floor...(cries self to sleep in corner)

 

[buggy65]

Katamari Damacy
Naaaa na na na na na na naaaaaa!