Warning: contains spoilers for Dracula: Blood Hunt #1!

Blade and Dracula have tangled numerous times over the past 50-plus years, but now Marvel has definitively settled who is more powerful–and it is not even close. Earth’s vampires are on the move in the publisher’s new Blood Hunt event, but for once, Dracula is not at the helm. His search for answers plays out in Dracula: Blood Hunt, and in issue one, he establishes himself as one of Marvel’s best fighters.

Dracula: Blood Hunt #1 is written by Danny Lore and drawn by Vincenzo Carratu. The vampire cult known as the Structure have plunged Earth into darkness, using the chaos to take over. From his stronghold in the Vampire Nation, Dracula learns that Blade’s daughter Brielle might be key in finding the answers he seeks. Dracula travels to America, finding Brielle overrun by a horde of vampires.

Dracula then fights his way through the vampires.

Dracula leaves Brielle in awe of his fighting ability, and she concedes that while her dad may be a great fighter, Dracula is the most powerful.

Blade Is One of Marvel’s Best Fighters

Blade’s Vampire Side Makes Him The Ideal Fighter

Blade and Dracula have a long history of violence and tragedy. Although Dracula was not responsible for turning Blade’s mother during her pregnancy, the Lord of the Vampires has been his number one target. In Blade’s recently-concluded miniseries, the two adversaries call a temporary truce. Dracula showed Blade how to take advantage of the powers his vampire side affords him, such as the ability to shape-shift into mist. Even more shocking, Blade is revealed to be the architect of Blood Hunt. Whether this has anything to do with his recent meeting with Dracula remains to be seen.

Brielle’s assessment of her father’s fighting ability is not off-base. Prior to his training with Dracula, Blade had already taken advantage of the super-strength and endurance granted him by his vampiric nature. Blade is versed in many forms of hand-to-hand combat and is a master of a virtual arsenal of weapons. Blade’s fighting skills, when combined with his vampiric enhancements, make him one of Marvel’s deadliest fighters. Blade has shown his fighting prowess many times. There is very little doubt in the other heroes’ eyes that Blade is the superior fighter.

Blade May Be a Great Fighter, But Dracula Has One Advantage Over Him

Both Blade and Dracula Are Absolutely Ruthless

And yet, as seen in Dracula: Blood Hunt #1, Brielle’s assessment of Dracula is also true: he really is a better fighter than Blade. Writer Danny Lore and artist Vincenzo Carratu continually emphasize this throughout the issue. Dracula hacks and slashes his way through the renegade vampires as if they were nothing. He shares Blade’s ruthless streak, and it is on display in Dracula: Blood Hunt #1. However, Dracula is centuries older than Blade, which has given him time to sharpen his fighting skills beyond those of the Daywalker, making him the better fighter.

Dracula: Blood Hunt #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!