Conan vrs Tarzan
- Thread starter Zero
- Start date
CarlManvers2019
Writers Blocked Douchebag
I've mainly only read the Robert E Howard version and the Marvel Comics Version, but even then I'm not sure how to quantify Conan
Have only read Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series and even that's halfway, haven't read much of ERB's other works
That said, what does Tarzan have?
Because to me, most Pulp Heroes have almost all the same stats by being physically powerful yet intelligent fighters without specialisation due to instead being experienced generalists
REH's Conan was strong enough to wrestle an intelligent ape and kill him. He even fought and killed an extra dimensional horror in 1v1 combat, forgot the exact details there.
Does Tarzan wear armour? Because book Conan wears armour
Have only read Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series and even that's halfway, haven't read much of ERB's other works
That said, what does Tarzan have?
Because to me, most Pulp Heroes have almost all the same stats by being physically powerful yet intelligent fighters without specialisation due to instead being experienced generalists
REH's Conan was strong enough to wrestle an intelligent ape and kill him. He even fought and killed an extra dimensional horror in 1v1 combat, forgot the exact details there.
Does Tarzan wear armour? Because book Conan wears armour
CarlManvers2019
Writers Blocked Douchebag
So is Conan, but it’d be easier if there was a wiki for both’s stats and skills
Does Tarzan know formal martial arts? Conan I think learned CQC via a combination of some training and mostly experience
Tarzan is undoubtedly superhuman. He can swing from trees and vines like an ape and has wrestled... unarmed or armored, all sorts of creatures including tigers and lions and obviously gorillas and the like.
Conan of course is also very strong. He's clearly one of the strongest humans of that world period and has shown impressive feats of strength in regards to fighting monsters and beasts and even giants IIRC.
Overall though I think Tarzan is actually stronger... and obviously more agile and maybe even in combat speed. Using nerdy comic book logic, Tarzan is low superhuman and Conan is merely "peak human." I don't recall Tarzan ever getting ambushed by Humans, but Conan has been taken by surprise by Pictish warriors before. Conan can kill enemies by the score that try to overwhelm him but he has been overwhelmed by skilled and strong armed Humans before even in small numbers. I think Tarzan could fight more evenly some of the monsters that Conan has matched in strength to be honest.
With all that said in a straight fight, I think Conan would win. He typically carries a sword with him and is very good with it. Tarzan doesn't and Tarzan might be superhuman but he's not swordproof... or arrow proof (though it wouldn't surprise me if he couldn't snatch an arrow out of the air) or otherwise weapon proof. Tarzan is better but outside of the jungle can he actually get the the surprise on Conan... who is really hard to surprise? I doubt it. And Conan... has faced human(oids) stronger then himself before.
Conan... in a straight fight or "arena" style match, I feel could win because of his weapon mastery since Tarzan typically doesn't go around carrying a weapon on his adventures. But if it was something more organic... like they're hunting each other in a jungle or some sort of tropical climate, Tarzan would have the advantage... and that advantage would degrade the more it occurs in a climate or terrain farther removed from where Tarzan grew up and Conan is more familiar with (and has clearer lines of sight). But overall... I'd give the nod to Conan in most matchups because of his superior weapon skills.
EDIT:
*reads the one line OP*
Oh... oops... Tarzan wins I feel if there's no weapons.
Conan of course is also very strong. He's clearly one of the strongest humans of that world period and has shown impressive feats of strength in regards to fighting monsters and beasts and even giants IIRC.
Overall though I think Tarzan is actually stronger... and obviously more agile and maybe even in combat speed. Using nerdy comic book logic, Tarzan is low superhuman and Conan is merely "peak human." I don't recall Tarzan ever getting ambushed by Humans, but Conan has been taken by surprise by Pictish warriors before. Conan can kill enemies by the score that try to overwhelm him but he has been overwhelmed by skilled and strong armed Humans before even in small numbers. I think Tarzan could fight more evenly some of the monsters that Conan has matched in strength to be honest.
With all that said in a straight fight, I think Conan would win. He typically carries a sword with him and is very good with it. Tarzan doesn't and Tarzan might be superhuman but he's not swordproof... or arrow proof (though it wouldn't surprise me if he couldn't snatch an arrow out of the air) or otherwise weapon proof. Tarzan is better but outside of the jungle can he actually get the the surprise on Conan... who is really hard to surprise? I doubt it. And Conan... has faced human(oids) stronger then himself before.
Conan... in a straight fight or "arena" style match, I feel could win because of his weapon mastery since Tarzan typically doesn't go around carrying a weapon on his adventures. But if it was something more organic... like they're hunting each other in a jungle or some sort of tropical climate, Tarzan would have the advantage... and that advantage would degrade the more it occurs in a climate or terrain farther removed from where Tarzan grew up and Conan is more familiar with (and has clearer lines of sight). But overall... I'd give the nod to Conan in most matchups because of his superior weapon skills.
EDIT:
*reads the one line OP*
Oh... oops... Tarzan wins I feel if there's no weapons.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
This kind of thread, dealing with two public domain characters, needs some clarification as to which one since they both have multiple book, movie, and comic incarnations.
Tarzan Respect Thread on Reddit
Conan Respect Thread on Reddit
The big thing that stands out to me here is that while they both have some immense strength feats, Tarzan also has a number of stealth and detection feats and appears to prefer to kill his enemies by stealth and ambush when he can. This suggests that at the least, Tarzan is likely to land the first strike since Conan is not nearly as good at stealth (Tarzan can smell as well as a bloodhound which precludes Conan managing to lay an ambush). Given even a remotely reasonable matchup in physical abilities, that will be enough to give Tarzan a decisive advantage.
Tarzan Respect Thread on Reddit
Conan Respect Thread on Reddit
The big thing that stands out to me here is that while they both have some immense strength feats, Tarzan also has a number of stealth and detection feats and appears to prefer to kill his enemies by stealth and ambush when he can. This suggests that at the least, Tarzan is likely to land the first strike since Conan is not nearly as good at stealth (Tarzan can smell as well as a bloodhound which precludes Conan managing to lay an ambush). Given even a remotely reasonable matchup in physical abilities, that will be enough to give Tarzan a decisive advantage.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Well then, Tarzan stomps if you use his novel version.
Novel Tarzan is immortal. Yup, he gains immortality for himself and Jane at the end of Tarzan's Quest.
Hasn't Conan defeat immortals before?
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Conan actually doesn't get up to that much in his books. There's around 20 short stories* and one novel. He spends more time as a pirate than anything else but his Barbarian look is the iconic one people remember. The rest of Conan's adventures are mostly fanworks or adaptations.
Of events Howard wrote about, Thog was probably immortal, being some kind of flesh-stealing eldritch horror, but Conan didn't kill Thog, he just barely survived him (with the help of a healing potion) and knocked Thog down a well. Yag-Kosha survives being killed but Conan was only able to do that because Yag-Kosha wanted to die and was giving Conan step-by-step instructions on how to kill it every step of the way.
*Depends slightly on if you count the unpublished and half-finished works Howard left when he committed suicide.
Marvel's Conan has fought fuckers like Captain America, Daredevil and even Shang Chi (A dude who can punch apart Doombots and Chi blast Asgardian Trolls), he's stalemated Murdock, Gatotsu's Rogers to a fucking wall and survived fighting Shang which is more than any incarnation of Tarzan can do....He even took a Chi amped punch to the face IIRC.
Then there's whatever the fuck he's currently doing with Namor and Frank Castle...
Tarzan ain't doing a damn thing to that version of Conan.
Jesus Red Sonja even manages to man handle Parker at one point IIRC...Marvel makes a huge point of placing Hyborean heroes above even the A list street level guys...Guys who do things like drop buildings on spiderman's head...No sell a full powered kick to the back by a dude who could leg press armored limos..etc.
In comics "street level" means..something very different (InB4 that preposterous MUH INTENDED PORTRAYAL bullshit from SB gets thrown around)..its like saying Kenshin Himura is "just a guy with a sword".
Then it's closer...Arguably Conan's damage soak allows him to win.
Then there's whatever the fuck he's currently doing with Namor and Frank Castle...
Tarzan ain't doing a damn thing to that version of Conan.
Jesus Red Sonja even manages to man handle Parker at one point IIRC...Marvel makes a huge point of placing Hyborean heroes above even the A list street level guys...Guys who do things like drop buildings on spiderman's head...No sell a full powered kick to the back by a dude who could leg press armored limos..etc.
In comics "street level" means..something very different (InB4 that preposterous MUH INTENDED PORTRAYAL bullshit from SB gets thrown around)..its like saying Kenshin Himura is "just a guy with a sword".
Then it's closer...Arguably Conan's damage soak allows him to win.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Tarzan is no slouch in the comics department either. He's shown to be dramatically superior to Batman in both combat, strength, mental abilities, and was able to both see through Batman's disguise and to detect an ambush that Batman wasn't able to. He also has a few impressive feats...
Moreover most of Tarzan's comic adventures (aside from the ones with Batman and Yautja obviously) are actually taken from his novels where he did some absurd stuff. Return of Tarzan Tarzan is hit three times in the head with a heavy stick in chapter 5. He doesn't so much as flinch. He's then shot twice in chapter 7, and nobody's able to tell he's wounded at first because he again doesn't even blink or slow down after two bullets through the body and is able to move and talk just as freely as if he was whole.
CarlManvers2019
Writers Blocked Douchebag
Honestly whenever I hear “street level” I think of a bunch of douchebag fans trying to act like a bunch of pseudo intellectuals trying to take a piss on DBZ and go on about being “more human”
Nevermind if said “street level heroes” fight guys who can easily terrorize a city and throw cars around and take tank shots easily
Even said “street level” supervillains hang around and fight alongside those who operate on “larger scale”
Really depends on the dudes making the argument. Street level usually refers to heroes who mainly work the streets and sweat the comparatively small stuff. It's used to differentiate from guys who fight aliens and help stop intergalactic wars or planetary threats.
There's overlap sometimes, guys like Frank Castle for example despite being weaker than Spiderman, has repeatedly been classified on SHIELD databases as a threat on the same level as Magneto, Doom and the Hulk...That might seem like wank until you realize Castle has legitimately destroyed cities to accomplish his objectives in prior issues.
The dude is also what I would call a Supervillain more than a hero - less because he kills people mind ye and more because since the 90's, writers have shown Castle to be a complete fanatic whose willing to mow down anything or anyone that gets in the way of his "work". He's got more in common with Los Pepes than he does Batman.
But I digress..usually Street level is an indicator of power by virtue of employment and station rather than ability.
Also keep in mind Kenshin Himura, Spiderman and Iron Fist are probably top of the top tier for SL guys (Danny verges into something else), Cassandra Cain for the Bat clan would be a good DC counterpart (Batman himself is something else entirely, when your batbelt includes singularity bombs as standard equipment fuck the concept of you being a street fighter). All of those dudes would get smoked like a finely rolled cigars by anyone in the "mid tier" who was serious.
So its a good demarcation point, because the sheer disparity between "the low tier" guys and the "mid tier" guys in comics and manga tends to be as vast a disparity as it is between the top dogs.
Tarzan is no slouch in the comics department either. He's shown to be dramatically superior to Batman in both combat, strength, mental abilities, and was able to both see through Batman's disguise and to detect an ambush that Batman wasn't able to. He also has a few impressive feats...
Moreover most of Tarzan's comic adventures (aside from the ones with Batman and Yautja obviously) are actually taken from his novels where he did some absurd stuff. Return of Tarzan Tarzan is hit three times in the head with a heavy stick in chapter 5. He doesn't so much as flinch. He's then shot twice in chapter 7, and nobody's able to tell he's wounded at first because he again doesn't even blink or slow down after two bullets through the body and is able to move and talk just as freely as if he was whole.
God the predator crossovers in the 90's were fucking amazing..weren't they?
HAHAHA POT ROASSTTT!! And this one...
I avoided Tarzans crossovers because Crossovers between companies are usually not legitimate forms of evidence (Venom beat the shit out of Superman which is one of the most retarded things put to print being a great example of why). For Conan...he was owned by marvel during most of those..is currently owned by marvel IIRC and has always been an established part of Marvel's cosmology.
To the point where Set the serpent god plays a huuuggee roll in the development of mutant kind...and one of the biggest reasons Thanos tried to seal off the Earth Gods during the IG saga was that he feared an alliance between Set, Vishnu and Odin might have been enough to overwhelm him.
Plus Demons originate from Set..
So at least there's precedent there.
The gun breaking is pretty damn awesome...I'm not denying Tarzan has amazing feats in his comics either, if we included the Batman one it would be a solid 50-50...Which either of us could argue either way though.