History ComicBook / ContestOfChampions

* BackFromTheDead: Comicbook/{{Ares}} makes his return after having been killed by the Sentry during ''Comicbook/{{Siege}}''.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: The Maestro declines to kidnap any SHIELD agents, or Inhumans, on the grounds that someone would likely notice and find out about them.

** The video game is outside of Marvel canon, and as such has a mixture of current outfits/identities (such as Carol Danvers as [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Captain Marvel]]) and classic ones (such as Comicbook/{{Venom}} being Eddie Brock instead of Flash Thompson). In order to make sense of this in the comic (which takes place in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and is explicitly canon), Al Ewing made it so that one team largely consists of AlternateUniverse characters instead of the current, mainline Marvel characters. Thus, we get the modern versions of Iron Man and [[ComicBook/TheFalcon Captain America]] fighting alongside the classic versions of other heroes and villains without any resulting {{Continuity Snarl}}s.

* LetsYouAndHimFight

** The video game is outside of Marvel canon, and as such has a mixture of current outfits/identities (such as Carol Danvers as [[MsMarvel Captain Marvel]]) and classic ones (such as Comicbook/{{Venom}} being Eddie Brock instead of Flash Thompson). In order to make sense of this in the comic (which takes place in the MarvelUniverse and is explicitly canon), Al Ewing made it so that one team largely consists of AlternateUniverse characters instead of the current, mainline Marvel characters. Thus, we get the modern versions of Iron Man and [[TheFalcon Captain America]] fighting alongside the classic versions of other heroes and villains without any resulting {{Continuity Snarl}}s.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Death]] kept her identity secret until the last issue, though fans of the AdamWarlock series might have recognized her earlier.

!Tropes used in ''Contest of Champions III'':

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

''Contest of Champions'' is the name of two Creator/MarvelComics MiniSeries that featured superheroes being forced to fight against each other.

* CanonImmigrant: ''Contest of Champions'' marks the official debut of White Fox, a heroine from South Korea. She made her first appearance in ''Avengers: Electric Rain'', a Korean-only [[WebComic web manhwa]] launched to promote the South Korean release of ''Film/TheAvengersAgeOfUltron''.

* RecursiveAdaptation: It's a comic adaptation of a game that was already based off a comic.

** The video game is outside of Marvel canon, and as such has a mixture of current outfits/identities (such as Carol Danvers as [[MsMarvel Captain Marvel]]) and classic ones (such as Comicbook/{{Venom}} being Eddie Brock instead of Flash Thompson). In order to make sense of this in the comic (which takes place in the MarvelUniverse and is explicitly canon), Al Ewing made it so that one team largely consists of AlternateUniverse characters instead of the current, mainline Marvel heroes. Thus, we get the modern versions of Iron Man and [[TheFalcon Captain America]] fighting alongside the classic versions of other heroes without any resulting {{Continuity Snarl}}s.

** The video game is outside of Marvel canon, and as such has a mixture of current outfits/identities (such as Carol Danvers as [[MsMarvel Captain Marvel) and classic ones (such as Comicbook/{{Venom}} being Eddie Brock instead of Flash Thompson). In order to make sense of this in the comic (which takes place in the MarvelUniverse and is explicitly canon), Al Ewing made it so that one team largely consists of AlternateUniverse characters instead of the current, mainline Marvel heroes. Thus, we get the modern versions of Iron Man and [[TheFalcon Captain America]] fighting alongside the classic versions of other heroes without any resulting {{Continuity Snarl}}s.

* AdaptationExpansion

* CanonImmigrant: ''Contest of Champions'' marks the official debut of White Fox, a heroine from South Korea. She made her first appearance in ''Avengers: Electric Rain'', a Korean-only [[WebComic web manhwa]] released to promote the South Korean release of ''Film/TheAvengersAgeOfUltron''.

** In order to justify certain characters sporting their "classic" appearances rather than their current ones (such as Comicbook/{{Venom}} being Eddie Brock instead of Flash Thompson), the comic has one team largely consisting of AlternateUniverse characters. Thus, we get the modern versions of Iron Man and [[TheFalcon Captain America]] fighting alongside the classic versions of other heroes without any resulting {{Continuity Snarl}}s.

* AdaptationDistillation: Some characters like Comicbook/IronMan have their new designs, while others like Comicbook/{{Venom}} sport their classic looks.

* OriginalGeneration: The comic introduces a French heroine named Guillotine, as well as Outlaw, the British version of Comicbook/ThePunisher.

* {{Battleworld}}: The comic takes place on Battlerealm, a world where the Collector sends the captive heroes and villains to fight.

A third series called Contest of Champions, which is a tie-in to the video game VideoGame/ContestOfChampions, will launch as part of ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel in 2015.

* MultinationalTeam: The playing teams can be seen as this, though the American heroes outnumbered the non-American ones. The later were:

In ''Contest of Champions II'', Earth's heroes are abducted by aliens who organize a friendly tournament, or so they say. In fact, they have the surrounding areas full of nanites that cause the violent tendences to rise, leaving only Iron Man (due to sealing his armor) and Shadowcat (due to her intangibility) with a clear mind. Eventually, the aliens reveal themselves to be the Brood, who use the tournament as a way to pick the better hosts among the heroes. The Brood Queen uses Rogue's powers against herself to possess her body, and then takes the powers of the tournament champions. Some of the losing heroes oppose her until she loses most powers, and then Warbird confronts the queen-in-Rogue's-body ([[SarcasmMode her two favourite persons]]) until the queen leaves Rogue's body. Then the heroes return to Earth.

*** Wolverine is from Canada, but most of the time works in the United States with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}.
*** Also in the X-Men, Storm grew up in Africa but was born in New York.

* FridgeBrilliance: The places where the fights took place (the Arctic, a wild west ghost town, the tomb of a Chinese emperor and the Amazon jungle) were all devoid of human life. This might have been a subtle clue to the identity of Grandmaster's challenger.
* FridgeLogic: If ''everyone'' on Earth was paralyzed during the game, shouldn't there have been ''millions'' of accidents as a result? Perhaps the players arranged it so they would not happen.
** Also, if only 24 heroes were needed, why gather *all of them?* Perhaps so they would not interfere with the contest?

*** [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]] is also an American raised in a [[ShamgriLa Chinese mystical land]], but now lives in America.

''Contest of Champions'' is the name of two MarvelComics MiniSeries that featured superheroes being forced to fight against each other.

The first series (published in 1982) was the first limited series produced by the company as well as the precursor to the concept of the CrisisCrossover. It was originally conceived as a tie-in to the next OlympicGames. Although the deal fell through, Marvel still published the story without any sports-related material. It was written by MarkGruenwald, who included pages describing the various heroes in each issue, which began the concept of the "superhero encyclopedia" that would later be expanded into the OfficialHandbookOfTheMarvelUniverse.

The story was adapted as an episode of the animated series WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes, but using only characters from that series.

In Contest of Champions II, Earth's heroes are abducted by aliens who organize a friendly tournament, or so they say. In fact, they have the surrounding areas full of nanites that cause the violent tendences to rise, leaving only Iron Man (due to sealing his armor) and Shadowcat (due to her intangibility) with a clear mind. Eventually, the aliens reveal to be the Brood, who use the tournament as a way to pick the better hosts among the heroes. The Brood Queen uses Rogue's powers against herself to possess her body, and then takes the powers of the tournament champions. Some of the losing heroes opposse her until she loses most powers, and then Warbird confronts the queen-in-Rogue's-body ([[SarcasmMode her two favourite persons]]) until the queen leaves Rogue's body. Then the heroes return to Earth.

Contest of Champions II was written by Creator/ChrisClaremont, with issues 1 to 3 penciled by OscarJimenez and inked by Eduardo Alpuente, issue 4 penciled by MichaelRyan and issue 5 penciled by Jimenez and inked by Ryan.

!Tropes used in Contest Of Champions I:
* AHouseDivided: None of the heroes worked together, not even with their own teammates. This may have been just so they would be free to fight their rivals one-on-one.
** Some of the ethnic heroes refused to work together because of their national conflicts eg. the Egyptian Arabian Knight and the Israeli Sabra.

* BlatantLies: The Grandmaster promises Earth's heroes that he would never use them as pawns again if they won for him. He (or more likely the writers) seems to have forgotten about this since.

* TheChessmaster: The Grandmaster. Not so much for his acts here, but rather for the later revelations of his true plan. (See ThanatosGambit below).

* ExcusePlot: It was all a means to show off Marvel's International Superheroes (for once.)

** also, if only 24 heroes were needed, why gather *all of them?* Perhaps so they would not interfere with the contest?

** {{Daredevil}} vs [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]]
** SheHulk vs Sabra

** {{Wolverine}} vs ComicBook/BlackPanther (with the former trying to *kill* the later!)

** {{Storm}} vs Blitzkrieg
** CaptainAmerica vs Shamrock

** Blitzkrieg (Germany), Collective Man (China), Defensor (Argentina, though erroneously indicated to be from Brazil), Peregrine (France), Shamrock (Ireland), Talisman (Australia), Sunfire (Japan), Darkstar ([[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp The Soviet Union]]), Vanguard (also Soviet), Sabra (Israel), Arabian Knight (Egypt) and Sasquatch (Canada).
*** Wolverine is from Canada but most of the time works in America with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}.

*** [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]] is also an American raised in a [[ShamgriLa Chinese mystical land]] but now lives in America.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The unknown rival tried to entice her team by offering to extend the existence of Earth's sun by a million years if they won. Unfortunately the sun has still about a ''billion'' years left so a million would be an insignificant addition. Not to mention that humanity might not even exist by the time it winks out.
* SeriesContinuityError: The plot only got resolved because the writer forgot ''who was on whose team'': [[http://bullyscomics.blogspot.sg/2010/10/whoops.html it would have resulted in a draw otherwise]].
* ThanatosGambit: It was later revealed (perhaps [[RetCon retconned]]) in an issue of ComicBook/TheAvengers that The Grandmaster [[spoiler:knew what the price for reviving his brother was all along: in fact, ''that'' was his true plan- to die so he could be allowed into Death's realm- to take it over]]! Then its inverted. After being defeated by The Avengers, [[spoiler:Death exiled him from her realm forever, thus gaining him what he ''really'' wanted from the start- ''true'' immortality]].