Skeletor vs. Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living

[Kevin Scrivner]

It's '80s cartoon nostalgia time!

Both sorcerors are the main opponent of their respective cartoons' heroes. Both are sneaky opportunists and master manipulators who rely heavily on a rotating cast of underlings and mercenary allies. Both exist on worlds that combine magic with advanced technology. Both hatch their endless schemes in oddly shaped headquarters. Both lust for a magical artifact of immense power currently possessed by the heroes.

Skeletor, actually the unscrupulous uncle of Prince Adam of Eternia, wants to steal He-Man's mystic sword in order to gain the powers of Castle Greyskull, enabling him to conquer the planet. He's a bully, braggart, and coward who sports a bone-themed suit of armor, hence his moniker.

Mumm-Ra is an undead Thundarrian warlord banished by that world's white magicians eons ago. Resurrected by and beholden to the Ancient Spirits of Evil, he seeks the sacred gem, the Eye of Thundarra, now installed in the Sword of Omens in the care of Lion-O. Mumm-Ra is a shrivelled, bandage-wrapped cat-like figure but can transform for short periods into his former brawny warrior self.

In a contest of swords, sorcery, and sinister scheming, who would win?

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Kevin Scrivner
It's '80s cartoon nostalgia time!

Both sorcerors are the main opponent of their respective cartoons' heroes. Both are sneaky opportunists and master manipulators who rely heavily on a rotating cast of underlings and mercenary allies. Both exist on worlds that combine magic with advanced technology. Both hatch their endless schemes in oddly shaped headquarters. Both lust for a magical artifact of immense power currently possessed by the heroes.

Skeletor, actually the unscrupulous uncle of Prince Adam of Eternia, wants to steal He-Man's mystic sword in order to gain the powers of Castle Greyskull, enabling him to conquer the planet. He's a bully, braggart, and coward who sports a bone-themed suit of armor, hence his moniker.

Mumm-Ra is an undead Thundarrian warlord banished by that world's white magicians eons ago. Resurrected by and beholden to the Ancient Spirits of Evil, he seeks the sacred gem, the Eye of Thundarra, now installed in the Sword of Omens in the care of Lion-O. Mumm-Ra is a shrivelled, bandage-wrapped cat-like figure but can transform for short periods into his former brawny warrior self.

In a contest of swords, sorcery, and sinister scheming, who would win? Mumm-Ra's need to transform makes me give this one to Skeletor.

[Hermit]

It would be close, but I give it to Skeletor.

Oh, and Serpentor couldn't scare smurfs, even if he did steal their theme song...
"Cobra Lalalalala!"

[farik]

I was going to vote Serpentor but I decided I Mumm-Ra was actually superior since the other two both exhibited cowardice where as Mumm-ra was usually stopped by his inability to leave the pyramid for prolonged periods of time but ultimately he was everliving so the battle would seem like a draw but eventually Mumm-Ra would still be around after the other two were dead.

[Vondy]

I went with serpentor, but if I had to choose between the mummies I would have gone with mumm-ra.

[Solomon]

Skeletor wins.

Now, suppose your enemy was the strongest man in the universe. A guy so strong, he could punch through six-feet thick stone walls and throw stuff in orbit. Would you have the nerve to take him on every week? You see, Skeletor was no coward. ;)

[Kevin Scrivner]

Despite his very real physical limitations, I have to give the nod to Mumm-Ra. He's the cleverest and most resourceful of the two, a master of disguise and misdirection. Skeletor would never know what hit him.

He-Man, on the other hand, would grab Mumm-Ra by one bony leg and beat him into mummy dust (can they DO that on Cartoon Network?).

Bear in mind that while Skeletor is pretty much focused on one opponent, Mumm-Ra has to keep a whole super team at bay as well as a rival team of villains, the Lunataks.

[freakboy6117]

what about the masters of the universe if there not a very large super team i dont knwo what is mind you skeletor has a super team of his own vastly superior to mum ras forces i reckon beastmnan and evilynn could probably defeat most of mum ras forces, leving teh rest to stomp mum ra into a fien poweder.
skeletor wouldnt even have to get his hands dirty.

[Enforcer84]

I gave it to Skeletor since Mumm-Ra is merely an imitator. Besides, Skeletor is funny.


Serpantor would NEVER win because he can't train his soldiers to keep shooting when the enemy comes.
That was my favorite "duh" moments from GI Joe, two armies with the finest technology available and once the fighting starts they drop their guns and try to punch the snot out of eachother.
I could just see the leaders of COBRA every day trying to rally the troops...

"And I don't care if he does punch you. DO NOT STOP SHOOTING!"

[Eyendasky80]

Skeletor. Mumm-Ra's a wuss.

[Twilight]

Originally posted by Eyendasky80
Skeletor. Mumm-Ra's a wuss.

No, Skeletor's the wuss. Mumm-Ra is the superior villain and he could whup Skeletor and his minions all by himself.

[AnotherSkip]

Cobra, His villians were Better drawn and more Creative than either of those two moronic fools.

Besides I have more of his stuff.

He also out numbers his Sinister opponents and_without_ falling back on "Magic" takes on the guys every day of the week. Besides what could be scarier than a modern day terrrorist using the latest in weapons tech trying to take over the worl......

Say did Bush watch this show as a kid?

[proditor]

Urg...I voted for Serpentor and only realized afterwards that I had the comic book version stuck in my noggin. The cartoon version would get wrecked, but the comic version....aye, now there's a decent villain.

So...I guess Mumm-ra for the ever-living bit. No revenge is sweater than outliving your enemies.

[Eyendasky80]

I stand by my earlier statement of Mumm-Ra's wussiness.

[sbarron]

I went with Mumm-Ra. He at least seemed able to pull off his schemes every now and again. Plus, he scared me. Skeletor was (is?) completely incompotent and just silly sounding.

[Twilight]

Originally posted by sbarron
I went with Mumm-Ra. He at least seemed able to pull off his schemes every now and again. Plus, he scared me. Skeletor was (is?) completely incompotent and just silly sounding.

Also, Mumm-Ra is far more versatile then Skeletor ever was. Even now Skeletor is just an EB with a forcefield. In the 80's he was just a weak EB with hypnotism. Plus, he and his minions are generally dead stupid, with Evil Lynn being the only one who possessed any sort of intelligence at all.

Mumm-Ra has EBs and Force Fields plus shapeshifting, summons and mind control for starters. Skeletor has difficulty maintaining his hypnotic control over normals, Mumm-ra easily took control of several members of the Thundercats on several occasions and at one point sent them against each other with only a few mental illusions in thier sleep.

Sure, there was that weakness to the horror of his own reflection but that was neccesary because without it he could've killed the Thundercats. In many episodes that's the only thing that kept him from succeeding.

[Kevin Scrivner]

Originally posted by AnotherSkip
Cobra, His villians were Better drawn and more Creative than either of those two moronic fools.

Besides what could be scarier than a modern day terrrorist using the latest in weapons tech trying to take over the world......



But all Cobra weaponry has a design flaw. Guns can't actually hit noble-hearted opponents (although they can cause masonry to collapse upon the good guys) -- and heavy weapons can destroy opposing armored vehicles only after the crew has had a chance to bail out and flee.

Skeletor and Mumm-Ra have never evidenced any such concern about minimizing loss of life.

[Eyendasky80]

He hasn't done it in a while, but Skeletor has exhibited amazing agility and martial skill. He's also called "The Overlord of Evil" and that's pretty neat. I suspect Skeletor has other abilities that he hasn't shown yet, he was a world class threat before he became Skeletor.

[CraterMaker]

Guilty secret #134 - I really love the He-Man movie..
Does anyone know off hand who played Skeletor in it?

-CraterMaker

[Twilight]

Originally posted by CraterMaker
Guilty secret #134 - I really love the He-Man movie..
Does anyone know off hand who played Skeletor in it?

-CraterMaker

Frank Langella

[Agent X]

Originally posted by CraterMaker
Guilty secret #134 - I really love the He-Man movie..
Does anyone know off hand who played Skeletor in it?

-CraterMaker Frank Langella who was also the corrupt rich guy in Swayze's movie, Roadhouse.

[Matthew Martin]

Skeletor was played with Frank Langella, with stunt work by Anthony deLongis (Blade in the same movie).

Matthew L. Martin

[Agent X]

Are we sure about that? :p

[Badger]

Skeletor is more powerful, but Mumm-Ra wins because well that whole Ever-Living thing. All Mumm-Ra has to really do is wait. Evetually Skeletor would die (though maybe not for years and years). And the same can be said for the Thundercats eventually the Thundercats (in theory) would find themselves with a weak ruler (what nation hasnt) and that is when his opportunity will come. You gotta love tenacity. When you are immortal whats a couple thousand years?

[Eyendasky80]

Can Mumm-Ra be killed? If he can, then maybe before a weak ruler the Thundercats will have a ruler willing to put the mummy down once and for all.

[Twilight]

Originally posted by Eyendasky80
Can Mumm-Ra be killed? If he can, then maybe before a weak ruler the Thundercats will have a ruler willing to put the mummy down once and for all.

He cannot, hence Mumm-Ra the Ever Living. Lion-O came closest to getting the job done when he smashed Mumm-Ra's sarcophagus in his final trial to become Lord of the Thundercats, however the sarcophagus reformed itself and Mumm-Ra returned, none the worse for wear.

It's like his tagline says: "As long as evil exsists, MUMM-RA LIVES!!"

[Kevin Scrivner]

Mumm-Ra has got to have one of the best tag lines in television cartoons:

"Ancient (cough) Spirits of Evil (wheeze), transform this decayed flesh into (voice echos, deepens) MUMM-RA, THE EVER-LIVING! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Skeletor tosses out a cute one-liner now and then but he doesn't get dialogue like that!

[CrosshairCollie]

Hmmmm ...

My money's on Mumm-Ra. The 'new' Skeletor from the newer MOTU cartoon is far better than the old Skeletor from the Filmation version, I think, but still ... Mumm-Ra was a lot more versatile and powerful than ol' Bonehead. Only Lion-O reflecting his ugly mug in the Sword of Omens saved their bacon ... and Mumm-Ra was smart enough to try to work around that on multiple occassions.

Random Note: Above, someone mentioned that only Evil-Lyn was competent in Skeletor's forces ... that was also a common theme in GI JOE, where only the female agents (on both sides), who were mistresses of disguise, ever got anything really useful done. :)

[Nightfire]

Remember Mumm-Ra only transforms so that he can more effectively engage in direct physical combat, and the only thing that he recoils from is his own reflection, but in one episode he rectifies that with a simple pair or goggles, an only the eye of Thundera is more powerful than him.

Skeletor has a tendency to give up to easily and Serpentor is an outright coward. True all of them inhabit universes where evl must always loose, but Mumm-Ra has far more near wins than the other two, exhibiting more power while doing so.

[Badger]

Yeah and lets be honest. Mumm-Ra lost a couple of times only because the show was nearly over and the writer's said "Crap we forgot to put in a Thundercat victory, so we got to think of some lame for them to win (i.e. Mumm-Ra's machine mysteriously blows up or what have you). Even as an 8-year old I suspected cheating somewhere on those occasions. Dont get me started on Lion-o's sword. That thing was god-moding at its worst. And decent GM would have thrown that thing out.:D.

[Space Cadet]

Originally posted by Agent X
Frank Langella who was also the corrupt rich guy in Swayze's movie, Roadhouse.

Sorry, Agent X, but it was Ben Gazzara who played the corrupt
rich guy in Road House, not Frank Langella.

Space Cadet :cool: