Very well put Lionheart. I've read all the original novels, so I know the actual scenarios you're trying to explain by analogy, and I think you did an excellent job. MC is definitely more than "Cap + Power Armor", but it's hard to explain to a crowd who only knows "Master Chief" in the context of Halo Multiplayer Matchmaking. In that shallow world, the true gravitas of the S2 history and 'reality' is completely lost.

: Okay, the following post is completely without bias, because I love Captain
: America's personality/character. He's arguably my favorite Marvel guy, in
: terms of personality.

: Captain America, on his best of days, versus MCPO John-117 in Mark 6 MJOLNIR
: PAA with the experience he had as of 2552, has only one ending: a very
: quick and abrupt end for the good Captain. No lengthy engagement, no
: struggle, no play-by-play, just defeat. And he probably wouldn't even see
: or hear it coming.

: Of course, these two personalities would likely never have reason to fight,
: and would be far more likely to enjoy the pleasures of diplomatic
: resolution, but since this scenario isn't supposed to make sense anyway,
: we're discarding all that.

: Someone else said Chief is basically Cap in PAA. That's a great point, but
: even that falls woefully short of the truth. I've tried using comic book
: lore to explain SPARTAN-IIs to comic book fans before, and this is the
: best I've come up with so far: Going off the novels here, John is (kinda)
: like if Steve Rogers were BORN with the genetics present in his
: super-soldier-serum form, but then bitten by the spider that bit
: Spider-Man (he can't sling webs or climb walls, but everything else...
: yeah pretty much! O_o).

: But that's not all! Oh, no! No no no...

: At age 6, this freak of nature was then kidnapped and forced to fulfill the
: utmost of his cognitive and physiological potential by none other than the
: most brilliant human being ever born (while their personal passions for
: science were fully fanned into flame, no less!), and someone analogous to
: Batman. What were they being trained to become? Assault guys? No. They
: were basically being trained to be Batman.

: For ~8 years, these two people trained this freak of nature alongside the
: only other 74 people in existence (the best 74 out of a population of
: around 39 billion) who could hope to hold a candle to John (they
: themselves being similar freaks of nature).

: By the time their training was done, they had been developed into the
: ultimate ninjas: not a hammer, but a laser-fine scalpel. Even the analogue
: to Batman himself could not outthink them, outwit them, or even control
: the circumstances under which they were tested ("I don't know where
: they got that black clothing from..."). They were far less
: "soldiers" than they were "operators." Able to wage
: war openly, but designed so they wouldn't have to.

: The survivors of the surgeries they endured after those 8 years of training
: lived every moment of every day (for the rest of their lives) in
: slow-motion. Spider-Man experiences reality in slow motion during
: "adrenaline" moments -- S2s live like that incessantly. And then
: during adrenaline moments, they experience "SPARTAN-time." They
: also gained something analogous to Wolverine's unbreakable skeleton. Oh,
: and their already-a-freak-of-nature bodies gained even MORE strength,
: stamina, recovery speed, and potential.

: Now, after those surgeries, they received MJOLNIR. I used to compare this to
: a flightless, energy-projectile-less suit of Iron Man's armor, but I've
: come to realize that it's far more accurate to compare it to Colossus'
: mutant ability to grow organic metal around himself. MJOLNIR isn't a
: "suit of armor" to S2s, it's their second skin. Later on, of
: course, this second skin gained fully regenerative full-body energy
: shielding, which was a massive tactical advantage.

: Now when you give these hyper-intelligent, ultra-speed, trans-human, cyborg
: ninja operators access to the tools of their trade (UNSC and Covenant
: guns, grenades, point defense gauntlets, armor abilities, and equipment)
: it becomes a little bit more clear as to just how one-sided this
: engagement would be for the good Captain with his pistol and shield.

: This is a great example of why I feel like it's near impossible to do S2s
: justice via a live-action depiction: no mere actor can actually move the
: way that they move. It's gotta be a Gollum-surpassing CG.

: Anywho. That's my two cents on the subject. :p