History WebVideo / EpicRapBattlesOFHistory

* AerithAndBob: Invoked by Pablo Picasso, referring to himself as "[[OverlyLongName Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso]]" and Bob Ross as "Bob"
* AGlassOfChianti: Naturally mentioned in "Jack the Ripper vs Hannibal Lecter", by the latter:
-->''And catch what the iller serial killer can deliver \\
Rhymes finer than the Chianti I would pair with your liver''
* AGodAmI:
** Implied by Chuck Norris. Who was, y'know, 100 feet tall and glowing at the time, which may have lent some credence to his claim.
** Kim Jong-Il calls himself one.
** Cleopatra claims to be [[DownplayedTrope descended from the gods]]. {{Justified|Trope}} here in that the Egyptians really did believe the Pharaohs were incarnations of the gods.
** Bill Gates calls himself one too because he owns Xbox.
** {{Justified|Trope}} with Zeus and Thor, who really ''are'' gods.
** Ivan the Terrible describes himself as "Heaven-sent, divine and holy".
** Alexander the Great claims immortality, which was associated with the Gods in Ancient Greece, so he's indirectly calling himself one.

* ADickInName: Invoked by Joan Rivers, who asks if she can nickname Richard Pryor "Dick" and suggests that might be what his fifth wife called him when he remarried his previous wife.

* AerithAndBob: Invoked by Pablo Picasso, referring to himself as "[[OverlyLongName Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso]]" and [=Bob Ross=] as "Bob"

** da Vinci's mellow tones never waver even as he threatens to turn ninja turtles into mincemeat.

** Edward Kenway appears in the background all through Capone's last verse, and is busy dispatching Blackbeard's crew when his name is dropped.
** During the Donald Trump vs. Ebenezer Scrooge battle, look at Scrooge's background, more precisely at his clock. During his verses it moves forward by a hour each, and the ghosts (JP Morgan, Kanye West and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come) appear when it strikes 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
** During Zeus vs Thor, Odin can clearly be seen in the back of the Asgard scenes, [[OrcusOnHisThrone but he does nothing]] [[TheUnfought despite being mentioned early on.]]

** Mother Teresa calls herself a "one woman [[Music/RunDMC Nun–D.M.C.]]"

--->'''Donald Trump:''' For the last eight years, this country's been run by [[CurseCutShort ni-]]\\

* FunWithAcronyms: Karl Marx ends his rap by claiming that Henry Ford will fulfill the F.O.R.D acronym -- '''''F'''ound '''O'''n '''R'''oadside '''D'''ead''.

* AirGuitar: Done by [[Film/BillAndTed Bill and Ted]], naturally. Lewis and Clark even claimed that they inspired it.

You can find the first season on Nice Peter's [=YouTube=] channel [[https://www.youtube.com/user/nicepeter here]], and the subsequent seasons on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/ERB?feature=watch the official channel]] for the show. You can also watch any episode as well as check out character bios and official voting results on the official website listed above.

Now has a [[Recap/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory Recap]] page which is currently under construction.

* DisproportionateRetribution Josef Stalin.
--> "You got off easy when they pickled that moose cock; I'd leave your neck in a noose in a trench and shot, ''your whole family:'' shot, ''all your wizard friends:'' shot, '''anyone who sold you pierogi: shot!'''"

* TheDogBitesBack: At some point during each of their verses Spielberg, Hitchcock, Tarantino and Kubrick disparage Michael Bay, only for him to turn up a minute from the end and cheerfully tear them all to shreds.

-->''Holy smokes, what a place to go! You'd need a submarine for a blow that low!''

--->'''Wolverine:''' You're a pedophile from the Midwest; [[TakeThat at least R. Kelly could sing!]]

* TheReveal: The Narrator is a {{bear|sAreBadNews}}, apparently… That is, until he was next revealed to be a hippopotamus. Or a Giraffe. Or a snake.

** Beethoven claims this is why [[TakeThat he can't assault Bieber.]]
** Lincoln apparently won't hit women, as at the end of ''Trump Vs. Hillary'' he slaps Trump twice instead of hitting both candidates like he did in ''Obama Vs. Romney.'' Though he did move like he was about to hit Hillary afterward, causing her to flinch. This was a very deliberate decision on Peter's characterization of Lincoln: He wasn't going to strike her, and wasn't going to show him any respect.

* WritersCannotDoMath: If Einstein is "as dope as two rappers" then he would be "MC doubled," not squared. What makes this especially jarring is that the real Einstein was...well, you know. [[RuleOfCool Then again, the correct version just wouldn't be as punny.]]
* WritingAroundTrademarks: Unavoidable with "Ronald [=McDonald=] vs Burger King" - the M on Ronald's suit is replaced with an E for ERB (though it also looks like a sideways M anyway), and what appeared to be golden arches in his background are really just yellow circles, while Burger King's outfit was just a generic Henry VIII-styled royal robe that only looks like the real one from a distance.

-->'''Mr. T:''' Hello? It's for you! Creator/BillCosby wants his sweater!

-->'''Elon''': You acted so robotic, ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Star Trek]]''[='=]s like, "We need Lieutenant Data back!"

-->'''Freddy''': [[Music/AFlockOfSeagulls Flock of Seagulls]] called, they want their hairstyle returned!

* NoodleImplements: We actually can't really tell what it is Gordon Ramsay and Julia Child are cooking. The former, after calling in the blue team, is making something that involves carrots and noodles, and apparently made beef wellington offscreen earlier; the latter starts off with what's apparently a fish recipe, then later dumps a bunch of chopped onions into a pan, sprinkles on some pepper, and then goes to work on a chicken.

** "Ivan the Terrible vs Alexander the Great" has a similar scene, where the five Russian rappers (and LetsPlay/PewDiePie as Baryshnikov) reappear around Ivan:

** One aversion is the "Eastern Philosophers vs. Western Philosophers" - both teams were just squabbling with each other to the point where the narrator [[BigShutUp yells at them]] so that he can do his ending spiel.

** Steven Spielberg calls Creator/MichaelBay a "schlep" with no Oscars, Alfred Hitchcock comments on the clunky acting in {{Film/Transformers}}, [[spoiler: Quentin Tarantino]] calls Bay a "sell-out", and [[spoiler:Stanley Kubrick]] calls Bay's [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014 Ninja Turtles]] movie a "waste of potential". [[spoiler: [[SpeakOfTheDevil Guess who shows up for the last verse?]]]]

--->'''Lincoln:''' I got my face on the side of a mountain; you voted for John [=McCain=]!
** Dr. Seuss gets pissed off when Shakespeare claims that he probably wrote the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' books in addition to his own works.
** Mitt Romney says that UsefulNotes/BarackObama married "[[UsefulNotes/MichelleObama the female version]] of Patrick Ewing.

** Picasso calls Bob Ross "the PBS version of [[Music/NickelBack Nickelback]]."

** In "Blackbeard vs. Al Capone", Capone brags that he's ruining pirates faster than Creator/JohnnyDepp [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean did]].
** The "Spielberg vs. Hitchcock" is ''filled'' with this toward Michael Bay, with every one of the [[spoiler: four]] opposing battlers reproaching him at some point or another in their raps. Spielberg himself has executive-produced Bay's ''Transformers'' movies and was the one who demanded Creator/MeganFox be fired from the third film after her disparaging comments toward Bay.

** Given "Franchise/RoboCop vs. Franchise/{{Terminator}}", you can imagine [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines which]] [[Film/RoboCop3 films]] are given this treatment here...

** According to one of Deadpool's voices, Boba Fett is like ''Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial'' -- full of bad choices.
** J. R. R. Tolkien gets in a rant about people who think that TrueArtIsAngsty [[invoked]] or TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin is an inherently bad trope:

** Leonidas claims Master Chief's fans are sweaty nerds that give themselves "first-person shooters". In return, Master Chief showed Leonidas' wife his "plasma cannon".
** Michael Jackson "hee-hee"-ed Elvis's daughter.

** Steve Jobs makes the "GUI" (gooey) that Bill Gates's wife "uses."

** Barack Obama threatens to smack Mitt Romney with his "stimulus package."

** The Incredible Hulk's best known CatchPhrase gets turned into one.

** In the rematch between the creators, [=EpicLloyd=] tells Nice Peter that "your whole name means 'dick'!"
** Lara Croft refers to Indiana Jones' sexual relationship with Marion Ravenwood as "raid[ing] her bones."
* ViewersAreGeniuses: Even with a concept so simple as "take two or more historical figures/characters/celebrities", it's surprising just how many allusions to various events and traits of the characters in question can be found under the surface of the lyrics. Fittingly enough, the users of ''Rap Genius'' go [[http://rapgenius.com/albums/Nice-peter-epiclloyd/Epic-rap-battles-of-history-season-one into]] [[http://rapgenius.com/albums/Nice-peter-epiclloyd/Epic-rap-battles-of-history-season-two depth]] with these, as do members of the ''[[http://epicrapbattlesofhistory.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Rap_Meanings Epic Rap Battles of History]]'' Wiki.

** Alfred Hitchcock dances the robot while claiming that Steven Spielberg is "more horrible than Megan Fox's acting in ''Film/{{Transformers}}''". Doubles as a StealthInsult when you consider what the movie is ''about''.

* VomitIndiscretionShot: "Gordon Ramsey vs Julia Child" references Ramsey's habit of deliberately horking up whatever doesn't agree with him, ''[[{{Squick}} fourfold.]]''

* WeAREStrugglingTogether: Both the Eastern and Western Philosophers start out as three-man teams, but by their respective final verses they're squabbling with each other. In the West's case, it was because of a clever BatmanGambit by Sun Tzu - the East's was self-inflicted after one too many {{Ice Cream Koan}}s.

** "I'm sorry Bill, I'm afraid I can't do that." [[spoiler:HAL's intro.]]

** "Donald Trump vs Ebenezer Scrooge" has Zach Sherwin play a character who dies in the original timeline but survives in an alternate timeline. The same is true for [[Film/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]], who was also portrayed by Sherwin. It's also true, in a way, for Sherlock, who died in the planned final installment for the Sherlock Holmes book series, but when the series became a FranchiseZombie, the first of these new books revealed that Sherlock had been alive all along.

** Dracula claims that Vlad the Impaler has "less taste than an Creator/AnneRice cake" and is "losing so bad, [he] should [[Franchise/{{Twilight}} join Team Jacob]]".

** Dracula claims that Vlad the Impaler has "less taste than an Creator/AnneRice cake" and is "losing so bad, [he] should [[Literature/{{Twilight}} join Team Jacob]]".

*** Jackson accuses Elvis of stealing rock and roll from black people. Elvis owns up to it and turns it back on Michael to mock his racial identity, saying "I stole from ''black'' culture -- [[NoTrueScotsman why are]] ''[[NoTrueScotsman you]]'' [[NoTrueScotsman offended?]]" Jackson's next verse, where he goes from a black child to an adult with white skin, opens with him stating, "I didn't lose any chocolate, I just added vanilla."

*** Finally when George pokes fun at Scotland for being "only famous for golf and haggis", Wallace replies with this line:

** Zeus boasts about "getting bitches." Thor thinks it makes him a "rapist." Even more awesomely, Thor defies this trope: he claims that the only reason why he won't spit in Zeus's face is because, thanks to his aforementioned sex obsession, he'd like it.

** Rasputin brags about being well-endowed and threatens to seduce Stalin's wife; at the start of his first verse, Stalin makes a point of how little he cares about his wife by openly boasting about how abusively he treated his son.

* ISurrenderSuckers: Ivan the Terrible admits defeat when faced with Alexander the Great's rapping skills, and shares with him a drink... [[spoiler:that just so happens to be poisoned]]. He then tries the same thing with [[spoiler:Frederick the Great]], who dies before he can make good on the opportunity. He does so a third time when [[spoiler: Catherine the Great shows up. [[NoSell But she doesn't take the bait]].]]

* NoTrueScotsman: When Michael Jackson claims that Elvis "stole" rock-and-roll from black culture, Elvis directly owns up to it and questions why Michael, with his shifting racial identity, would identify with that culture.

* TeensAreShort:
** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in Napoleon vs Napoleon, where 6'0" Peter plays a teenager while 5'6" Lloyd plays an adult. Most likely intentional, as the adult was the original [[TheNapoleon Napoleon]].
** Played straight in "Batman vs. Sherlock", where Peter plays Batman while [[spoiler: Lloyd plays Robin.]]
** Also played straight in Lewis and Clark vs Bill and Ted. Lloyd and Peter respectively play Bill and Ted, while Lewis and Clark are respectively portrayed by guest duo Rhett and Link from Good Mythical Morning. Link is 6'0 like Peter, while Rhett is an absolute giant at 6'7".

* OedipusComplex: When rapping about Sigmund Freud, Mother Teresa claims she's here to crack the mind behind the mom-sex complex.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Even with a concept so simple as "take two or more historical figures/characters/celebrities", it's surprising just how many allusions to various events and traits of the characters in question can be found under the surface of the lyrics. Fittingly enough, the users of ''Rap Genius'' go [[http://rapgenius.com/albums/Nice-peter-epiclloyd/Epic-rap-battles-of-history-season-one into]] [[http://rapgenius.com/albums/Nice-peter-epiclloyd/Epic-rap-battles-of-history-season-two depth]] with these, as do members of the ''[[http://epicrapbattlesofhistory.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Rap_Meanings Epic Rap Battles of History]]'' [[TheWikiRule Wiki]].

* MrFanservice: Leonidas and John Rambo. [[WalkingShirtlessScene Neither wears anything to cover their well built torsos]].

* MusicalWorldHypothesis: The high amount of impossibility between the matchups would imply Alternate Universe of some sort. However, the instrumentals appear to be diagetic, as in these instances:

** After the beat abruptly stops in the rematch between Hitler and Vader, Hitler's visibly confused and asks "where is the DJ?"

--> My name is [[Creator/PabloPicasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso!]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Back. To. You.]] ''[[Creator/BobRoss Bob]]''.
---> CAUSE I'M [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche N-I-E-T-Z-S-C-H-E]] [[BadassBoast AND I'LL END ANY MOTHERFUCKER LIKE]] [[SpellMyNameWithAnS MY NAME IN A SPELLING BEE!]]
---> First name is [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton Hillary]], middle name Rodham, last name is Clinton, and lyrics I got 'em.
---> Here we go, it's Creator/GeorgeCarlin, I'm a mad dog snarlin'...
---> I am ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, and I crush tracks like tesseracts in my palm.
---> I AM [[Creator/ChuckNorris CHUCK FUCKING NORRIS!]]

** "Freddy Krueger vs Wolverine" features Freddy Krueger, the undead serial child killer from ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' up against Wolverine from Marvel Comics. Krueger boasts his invulnerability and fear factor, while Wolverine mocks Krueger for being an ineffective villain and for not being a challenging foe.

** Wendy doesn't have much room to mock Burger King for being “always second fiddle”.

** Invoked by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, in reference to the fact that its creation prevented a protracted land war against Japan, which was almost certain to be an even bloodier outcome.

** Robocop, a ByTheBookCop whose highest goal is to serve the public trust, vs. the Terminator, an unstoppable KillerRobot with no concept of love nor honour.

** "Terminator vs Robocop" features Robocop from the [[Film/{{Robocop}} film of the same name]] against the T-800 from ''Film/TheTerminator''. Robocop attacks the Terminator's villainy and lack of humanity, while the Terminator gloats about its strength and Robocop's physical and mental inferiority.

** Robocop (noble) vs Terminator (roguish)

*** Terminator (red) vs Robocop (blue)

** Given "Franchise/{{Robocop}} vs. Franchise/{{Terminator}}", you can imagine [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines which]] [[Film/RoboCop3 films]] are given this treatment here...
--->'''Robocop''': And I didn't think I had any feelings left inside me / but my heart was surely broken after ''Terminator 3''!\\

** Gandhi has raps so hot, he spits [[VideoGame/StreetFighter yoga fire.]]

** Beethoven is a good example: in RealLife he was a [[DisabledSnarker caustic]], DelicateAndSickly [[ElegantClassicalMusician musician]] but with [[HeroicResolve strong opinions]]. In ERB? [[RatedMForManly Manly as hell]].

--->'''Stalin:''' "You got off easy when they pickled that moose cock! I'd leave your neck in a noose in a trench and shot! Your whole family -- shot! All your wizard friends -- shot! Anyone who ever sold you pierogi -- shot!"

--->'''Stalin:''' "You got off easy when they pickled that moose cock! I'd leave your neck in a noose in a trench and shot! Your whole family -- shot! All your wizard friends -- shot! Anyone who sold you pierogi -- shot!"

** Bill Gates calls himself one too because he owns Xbox. {{Justified|Trope}} with Zeus and Thor, who really ''are'' gods.

* {{Justified|Trope}} via TimeyWimeyBall in "Doc Brown vs. Doctor Who", which begins and ends with The Doctor saying "Actually, if you don't mind, it's just The Doctor".

** Also, in "James Bond vs Austin Powers", James Bond calls [[spoiler: Sean Connery's James Bond]] an old one, right before promising to beat up "the man who does your stunts"