Death Battle

IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLE!!!!!


Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armors and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle.

The Nerd Spin-Off of Deadliest Warrior!
—Youtube commentary

Death Battle is a special hosted by Screwattack.com and is presented by "Wiz" (Ben Singer) and "Boomstick" (Chad James), and as of episode 20, animated by ShortFactor (Jordan Lange). The point of the show is to take two similar characters and pit them against each other, analyzing their respective strengths and weaknesses to see who would win.

There are so far 21 videos. The first 18 episodes were/are featured on ScrewAttack's YouTube account, and starting with episode 19 the series is now exclusive to the redesigned screwattack.com.

  • The fights so far, in order of airing are:

Season 1:

  1. Boba Fett vs. Samus Aran
  2. Akuma vs. Shang Tsung
  3. Rogue vs. Wonder Woman
  4. Goomba vs. Koopa
  5. Mike Haggar vs. Zangief
  6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Battle Royale
  7. Leonardo vs. Zits
  8. Yoshi vs. Riptor
  9. Felicia vs. Taokaka
  10. Kratos vs. Spawn
  11. White Bomberman vs. Dig Dug
  12. Vegeta vs. Shadow
  13. Mario vs. Sonic
  14. Justin Bieber vs. Rebecca Black
  15. Luke Skywalker vs. Harry Potter
  16. Chun-Li vs. Mai Shiranui
  17. Starscream vs. Rainbow Dash
  18. Master Chief vs. Doomguy
  19. Doctor Eggman vs. Doctor Wily
  20. Princess Peach vs. Princess Zelda
  21. Raiden vs. Thor
  22. Cloud Strife vs. Link

But to see who wins, you'll have to watch them kicking the bejeezuz out of each other! Because that's what happens in a DEATH BATTLE!!!!!

Tropes used in Death Battle include:
  • Acceptable Breaks From Canon: Done for the sake of fairness: since all battles must end with a death, any reservations a combatant may have about killing are ignored. Also, fighters may be strengthened or weakened slightly to avoid a total Curb Stomp Battle. (Though this hasn't prevented a few fights from ended up like this.)
  • Action Girl: About a quarter of the fighters fall into this category. Also, this is probably the one case in history where Rebecca Black qualifies.
  • Actor Allusion: Team Four Star voiced Shadow and Vegeta in their battle, when Shadow sends Vegeta to the moon, the Space Duck is behind him.
  • Actually a Doombot: Briefly played by Dr. Wily in his battle against Dr. Eggman.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: After getting infected by Roboenza, Metal Sonic goes rogue and kills everyone in the battle between Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily.
  • Angrish: Starscream lets out an enraged "GYYYYAGH!!" during his fight with Rainbow Dash.
  • Animation Bump: Wiz and Boomstick commisioned Mr. Lange aka ShortFactor to animate the battles for episode 20, and for thirty more episodes. (Zelda vs Peach was a test run)
  • Ascended Extra: During the Haggar VS. Zangief fight, Princess Peach was launched out a window in a skyscraper the two combatants were duking it out in. Peach then fights Princess Zelda about 15 episodes later.
  • Ascended Meme: They're aware of the people suggesting Superman vs Goku all the time. In the Q&A episode, Boomstick decides to put an end to the whole thing. Unfortunately, he runs out of time, so the episode ends.
    • In Q&A #2, they claim they will do the fight...eventually...
    • The remark of the Starscream and Rainbow Dash has them list Dash as being "20% cooler" than Starscream.
      • Aside from the Derpy Hooves cameo, at one point in the battle, when Starscream is being his usual treacherous self and trying to get Rainbow Dash to lower her guard, two really great ones pops up. First, Starscream claims "I'll join the herd!" This is quickly followed by Rainbow Dash saying how she should "Love and tolerate."
    • Doomguy's chainsaw is referred to as "the great communicator" which can "rip and tear" through anything.
    • Memetic lines in general are used once once or twice in fights that contain dialogue.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: Luke invokes this by exploiting Harry's scar as a shatterpoint.
  • Author Appeal: Wiz and Boomstick are huge fans of Haggar. Too bad he lost against Zangief.
  • Berserk Button: Boomstick has a BIG hatred for teen popstars, especially Justin Beiber.
    • On that note, one Death Battle involved Bieber and Rebecca Black. Guess how it ended.
    • Wiz really doesn't think highly of Michelangelo, so no points for guessing who ends up dying first in the Turtles' battle royale. They pretty much acknowledged that one before the fight.

Boomstick: Mikey's not gonna win this one, is he?
Wiz: He'd better not!

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Rainbow Dash only attacks Starscream when he threatens to kill her, then delivers a thorough beating. Then, she eats his Spark! Yeah, Starscream really shouldn't have antagonized her.
    • Yoshi is described in the intro as a "cute, happy dinosaur". The fight ends with him throwing Riptor over a cliff, after drenching the latter's face in his own acid.
    • Princess Peach, the somewhat ditzy, happy-go-lucky girl who can't take ten steps without getting kidnapped, kicks Zelda's face so hard her head explodes.
  • Bond One-Liner:

Peach after killing Zelda: Did I win?
Thor after killing Raiden: Farewell

  • Book Ends: Mario VS Sonic and Starscream VS Rainbow Dash both start in one place, travel through other areas (a mountain and lake for Mario VS Sonic, the sky for Starscream VS Rainbow Dash) and then end back at the same place they started.
  • The Cameo: Derpy Hooves can be seen during the Rainbow Dash vs. Starscream fight.
  • Chainsaw Good: One of doomguys weapons Suprisingly, it was never used during the actual fight
  • Chekhov's Gun / Chekhov's Skill: If it's mentioned during the rundown of the combatants, there's a good chance it'll be used during the fight.
  • Colony Drop: Vegeta does his best Donkey Kong impression during his fight with Shadow by punching the moon towards Earth, forcing Shadow to use up his remaining energy to restore it with Chaos Control.
  • Completely Missing the Point: Wiz might sound the saner of the two but that's just superficial...

Wiz: Yoshi has a large arsenal of eggs to use as lightweight projectiles and can even create a giant egg-shell to use as an all-encompassing shield.
Boomstick: What is it with creatures from the Mario universe usin' their babies as weapons? Is it that effective? I'm gonna have to test this out, maybe some sort of baby-launcher...
Wiz: Boomstick! That's a terrible idea! Any time you'd want to reload you'd have to wait nine months!

  • Crack Fic: On occasion, the matches depicted in "Death Battle" can wind up like this in a BIG way, such as Rainbow Dash vs Starscream.

Wiz: Television has been used to market toys to boys and girls for generations. Ranging from G.I. Joe to Barbie, and Transformers to My Little Pony.
Boomstick: Are we really doin' this?
Wiz: Yes. Yes we are.

  • Crippling Overspecialization: Likely the main reason why the third, tenth, sixteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first Death Battles turned out the way they did. [1].
    • Also shows up with the Starscream vs Rainbow Dash fight. Starscream's Null Ray is specifically designed to work on machines, Rainbow Dash is organic, and thus it had little effect on her.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Usually averted, with one major exception: Rainbow Dash Vs. Starscream. Poor Screamer never had a chance.
    • To be fair it was more balanced than you might think. Dash only takes two hits over the course of the battle, one from Starscream's massive hand (but she has been known to smash into cliffs with no injury, so she can easily survive that) and one from his Null Ray which has no effect on living beings. But when you think about it, had she been hit by any other part of his arsenal (his gun, or his missiles) it would have been the end of her on the spot.
    • Also, Yoshi vs Riptor, until Yoshi fought back.
    • Wonder Woman at least until Rogue absorbed her powers.
    • Metal Sonic is a match for every one of Wily's Robot Masters combined. A Power-Up or two is all he needs to kill nearly all of them. And then Wily has the bright idea of using his Roboenza virus to defeat him, which turns robots into violent traitorous killing machines. Metal Sonic destroys and absorbs Eggman's entire Egg Fleet, transforms into Metal Overlord, and kills everybody left on the field - Bass, Eggman, Wily; everyone - along with the entire city, and possibly the world.
  • Curb Stomp Cushion: Happens often. Screwattack has made battles that looked very close or even, when in reality the research proved the fight was much more one-sided than the fight itself shows. Case in point.
    • Starscream VS Rainbow Dash. Starscream managed to inflict two blows on Rainbow Dash, both of which seemed to have done some damage to her, tricked her into giving an opening, and Dashy actually needed to avoid some of Screamer's attack in order to survive. The research showed that it wasn't really necessary, that Starscream was too slow to even touch her, and Rainbow Dash could've easily smashed Starscream to bits by herself.
    • Vegeta VS Shadow. Despite Vegeta far surpassing Shadow in terms of raw power, the Ultimate Life Form still manages to get the slip on the Prince of all Saiyans. Super Shadow managed to blitz and overpower Vegeta in hand-to-hand combat thanks to his superior speed, was able to knock Super Saiyan Vegeta around like a rag-doll, and teleported him away every time Vegeta attempts to kill him. At the end of the fight, it took Vegeta punching the moon out of orbit for Shadow to give an Oh Crap reaction, and even then Shadow was able to return the moon back into its rightful orbit by using Chaos Control. Finally, when Vegeta returns to the planet to finish his score with Super Shadow, Super Shadow charges up a Chaos Blast powerful enough to actually make Vegeta attempt to block... and then promptly reverted to normal before he can inflict the final blow. Only then, Vegeta managed to successfully kill Shadow with his Final Flash. The hosts specifically noted that Shadow's Golden Super Mode was the only real option he had to beat Vegeta, and it wasn't enough to overcome the latter's durability and sheer stubbornness.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Both Wiz and Boomstick have a fair ammount of snark in them.
    • Vegeta had a couple good ones; for example, his response after shadow goes super?

Vegeta: Wow... what a ripoff.

Wiz: When it comes to fighting, combatants come in all shapes and sizes!
Boomstick: And I'm likin' the shapes and sizes on these two!

    • And...

Wiz: [Mai] wears it for kunoichi, a female ninja method of sensually distracting the foe before striking.
Boomstick: ...I'm sorry, what? I was distracted.

  • Double Entendre: Episode 20. It starts with Vibe Scepter and goes on from there. Boomstick is...amused.
  • Downer Ending: Eggman vs Wily. Metal Sonic conquers the world.
  • Driven to Suicide: Played for Laughs when Boomstick decided he couldn't go after hearing about Justin Bieber's popularity. He felt better after hearing Bieber could be rather aggressive and seeing a clip of a character of his getting shot to death.
  • Drop the Hammer: The Mighty Thor. It rips Raiden in half.
  • Early Installment Weirdness: The first two Death Battles included health bars for the combatants. Boomstick's voice wasn't as distinct either.
  • Expy: The show is basically Celebrity Deathmatch for pop culture, right down to the colour commentary and death of the loser at the end of the match.
  • Evil vs. Evil: A few of the battles pit two villains against one another.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Starscream is the only character that has survived losing, however he is probably a sewing machine by now.
  • Five-Bad Band: The two doctors and their robots make two bands.
  • Flat What: Boomstick will give one to the more incredulous factoids.
  • Flight, Strength, Heart: From Episode 21, Thor's powers are listed as being able to lift over one million tons, move at supersonic speeds, never feel exhaustion, survive the vacuum of space, and talk with frogs.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Inevitable. These are fictional characters who are from completely different worlds that operate on completely different rules, and in some cases the problem stems from the worlds they come from. For example, technically just tapping the shoulder of a bad guy for Mario OR Sonic would mean instant death in game play, unless of course you're playing one of their later games and this element is never incorporated into story lines for obvious reasons.
    • In Halo you cannot throw grenades through your own bubble shield, a fact which is glossed over to Master Chief's advantage in his battle with Doomguy.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: At one point in Starscream vs Rainbow Dash, Derpy Hooves can be seen hidden in the clouds.
  • Half the Man He Used To Be: How Raiden is defeated by Thor
    • Zitz and Felicia were also fatally cut in half by Leonardo and Taokaka respectively.
  • Hidden Depths: Boomstick possesses a surprising amount of knowledge about raptors. It stems from his childhood when he wanted one as a pet named Barney after learning what irony was.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Bomberman.
    • Starscream also managed to blow himself up.
    • A two-way example. In Eggman vs Wily, Wily uses Roboenza on Metal Sonic. However, this leads to not ONLY Eggman's defeat, but Wily's as well.
  • Hurl It Into the Sun: How Thor disposes of Raiden.
  • I Surrender, Suckers: Starscream pretends to surrender to Rainbow Dash, to stall while he arms his missiles. This backfires when she leads Starscream's own missiles back into him, blowing him to smithereens.
    • Wily to Eggman. Wily's robot is destroyed and begs his surrender to Eggman. Eggman in his giant Death Egg Robot stomps on Wily and crushes him to death. But Eggman realizes that the person he crushed was a robotic dummy. The real Wily reappears in a new robot and surprises Eggman.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This is how Donatello, Raphael, Kratos, and Harry Potter die.
    • Miley Cyrus also gets impaled by a falling sword in the Justin Beiber vs Rebecca Black battle, the falling sword in question was from said fight, and was sent flying after Rebecca's friend's car explodes, eventually landing in Mileys cranium, killing her.
  • Joke Character: Eggman's army has Scratch and Grounder, Wily's army has Sheep Man. Sheep Man beats them both by being an actual threat with his electricity powers. However, all three are killed by Silver Sonic.
  • Kill'Em All: Three fights so far have ended in a draw.
    • Goomba Vs. Koopa Troopa: a goomba tried to kick the withdrawn koopa troopa into a pit of lava. But the lava pit was too small to fit and the koopa shell ricocheted back, taking down the goomba and his brethren and ultimately falling into a bigger lava pit, killing the koopa troopa inside.
    • Justin Bieber Vs. Rebecca Black: The final death toll includes Bieber, Black, Black's friend, the Jonas Brothers, who simply walked into the scene after the first three died, & Miley Cyrus while she was about to sing the U.S. National Anthem for a stadium.
    • Metal Sonic had very few restraints in dealing with enemies - and Wily's Roboenza virus erased all of them. Both he and Eggman subsequently paid the price. To quote Boomstick, "Well, that world's fucked."
  • Killer Rabbit: Rainbow Dash. Arrogant by nature or no, Starscream can hardly be blamed for thinking a small winged pony wouldn't put up much of a fight.
  • Kneel Before Zod:

Metal Sonic: Kneel before your master.

Boomstick: ...Thaaaat seemed a bit overkill......I liked it!

  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: Eggman V.S. Wily. Neo Metal Sonic destroys Wily's first machine, popping Wily out of it's remains. Wily begs for his life and Dr. Eggman denies his request by stomping on him with the Death Egg Robot's foot... only to realize it's a dummy. The real Wily was right behind him in a new machine.
  • Not So Above It All: While Wiz is the straight guy to Boomstick, he's not totally sane himself. For example, he's mentioned doing something with genetically enhanced hamsters, dissected an unwilling Goomba and only discounts Boomstick's baby cannon idea on the grounds of acquiring ammunition.
  • Oh Crap: In the Master Chief/Doomguy fight, when Doomguy realizes too late that he has a Plasma Grenade stuck on him.
    • Also, in Bomberman vs Dig Dug after Bomberman realizes that he dropped a bomb in front of himself.
    • And in Mario vs. Sonic, both combatants are spooked when they realize that they are inside a mountain with a large amount of Bob-ombs that are about to explode. However, both Mario and Sonic survive the experience thanks to Power Ups.
      • Mario had this reaction again when his Mega Mario power up ran out.
    • There was also Vegeta vs. Shadow, when Shadow came back to normal.
    • This was pretty much everyone's reaction when Metal Sonic went rogue and became Metal Overlord in Eggman VS Wily.
    • This was Starscream's reaction When Rainbow Dash leads his own missiles straight at him.
  • Off with His Head: Samus Aran finishes off Boba Fett by blasting his head clean off with a fully charged shot.
    • Michelangelo also gets his head sliced off by Leonardo shortly after he sliced off his right arm.
  • One-Winged Angel: Metal Sonic absorbing the Egg Fleet and turning into Metal Overlord...then proceeding to obliterate Eggman, Dr. Wily, all the remaining fighters on both sides, the city they're fighting in, and possibly the world.
  • Power-Up: Used interestingly in the judgment of the fights. Twice now, they have had a fighter who collected all kinds of power-ups go against someone who had just about all of their abilities from the start. And in both cases they have chosen the latter to be the victor.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Boomstick and Wiz, respectively.
  • Rule of Cool: In the second Q&A, Wiz specifically states the fights are not representative of who actually wins the Death Battle; the winner is decided well beforehand through research into the combatants. The fights are purely for entertainment purposes.
  • Shock and Awe: The entire battle between Thor and Raiden.
  • Shown Their Work: Before every fight, Wiz & Boomstick look through the history, abilities, arsenal, & weaknesses as presented in the canon of each fighters in great detail to determine who would win. Regardless of what one thinks of the results, they can't be accused of not doing their homework.
  • Take a Third Option: Wily uses his Roboenza on Metal Sonic, which sends Metal Sonic on a rampage, killing Eggman, which would normally be a win for Wily. But since Metal Sonic was Eggman's robot and kills Wily directly afterwards, Wiz and Boomstick can't decide who wins. So they just declare Metal Sonic victor.
  • The Remake: The Starscream/Rainbow Dash battle was remade including new information and better effects in the battle.
    • About 24 hours after Thor vs Raiden was released, Shortfactor (the animator) improved the visuals of the final phase of the battle, and was subsequently updated with the video.
  • Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
  • Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: The Haggar Vs. Zangief fight was described in the commercial break as "the unstoppable force meets the immovable mayor". The unstoppable Zangief overrode the immovable Haggar.
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment: Boomstick jokes that this is where Mai Shiranui stores her weapons. To his surprise, this is actually true.
  • Where's the Kaboom?: After Starscream shot out an armoury's worth of missiles towards Rainbow Dash who flew into the clouds he stands there waiting for an explosion for a few seconds only for Rainbow Dash to lead his missiles to him.
  • Your Head Asplode: Peach ruptures Zelda's skull with her Mega Strike: Empress Peach.
  1. ↑ Wonder Woman and Chun Li are formally trained fighters, making them poor matchups for their respective opponents, as Wondie would eventually hit Rogue's uncovered face, causing a power absorption, and Mai's ninja training made her too unpredictable. While Kratos wasn't held back by his training, his weaponry was forged by Olympians, which the video noted wasn't a different plane of existence like heaven, and wouldn't necessarily be able to kill Spawn. Zelda is extremely powerful and experienced, but it is specifically noted that her power and experience are almost entirely in areas unrelated to combat, leading to her defeat by the less magically potent but more athletic Peach. Boomstick noted that Raiden's main method of attack, electricity, is useless against Thor
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