History YMMV / DeathBattle

** Goku VS Superman is known to be ''the'' most disputed HypotheticalFightDebate of all time. Wiz and Boomstick's claim to have settled the question was bound to cause massive controversy. Notwithstanding, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment that's all we'll say about it here]].
** Ben 10 VS Green Lantern managed to ''exceed'' Goku VS Superman in objective controversy, at least in pure like/dislike ratio (it barely has over 50% likes by an even closer margin). The problems that plagued it were an uncreative and bizarre animation and the rundown glossing over all the intricacies of the fight. Once again, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment that's all we'll say about it here]].

* [[SpecialEffectFailure/DeathBattle Special Effects Failure]]
* [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome/DeathBattle Visual Effects Of Awesome]]

!!YMMV Tropes

* AcceptableTargets: Furries, with Jocelyn even [[InUniverseFactoidFailure incorrectly stating]] Sonic is to blame for creating them due to their [[{{Squick}} weird pictures on the internet.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Shortly after Goku VS Superman came out, [[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods two]] [[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF new]] DBZ movies were released, giving Goku a substantial power boost. Wiz and Boomstick commissioned the second-ever rematch after their remake of Boba Fett VS Samus Aran to explain why Goku still loses. They also tried to smooth things over with upset fans by having the fighters respect each other during the match, [[spoiler:especially at the end when [[ApologeticAttacker Superman apologizes]] for lobotomizing Goku and gently catches his body before it hits the ground.]] The post-battle analysis also reminds viewers why these characters are so well loved by what they represent and believe. Goku is a man who can break any limit and overcome any challenge with strength, determination, and his "never give up" attitude. Superman represents wisdom, goodwill, restraint with power, and idealism about truth and justice all should seek.
** In the earlier seasons, many fans disliked the show's habit of revealing only one combatant while withholding their opponent's identity to plug their social media instead. After showing ComicBook/GreenArrow would appear next, Chad shows ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} as his opponent, clearly aware of their obvious choice. They also revealed Charizard's fight against Agumon after that fight, along with a hype-inducing video package with both of them in top form. As the last such preview was when Iron Man fought Lex Luthor, it was a welcome surprise. The show took a hiatus from doing that until Meta and Carolina's fight revealed the match between Cammy and Sonya with an additional preview of the animation. Starting with Natsu's fight with Ace in Season 4, showing both fighters has become standard.
** In Thor's first appearance, Wiz [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer incorrectly claims]] Mjolnir comes from a dying star's material. When Thor returns, Wiz clarifies how Mjolnir is a magic-sensitive metal called Uru merely ''forged in'' a dying star.
** Yang defeating Tifa has always been controversial among the fandom. Many people believe she only won because Creator/RoosterTeeth owns both this show and ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. In Season 8's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QJ_mvCQp mid-season Q&A]], Ben admitted how based on their current rules, Tifa would almost certainly win a rematch if they ever did one.
** As of Season 6, Wiz no longer says, "Let's end this debate once and for all!" Instead, he now says, "We've run the data through all possibilities." Instead of implying they're the gospel for VS debating, the current wording merely proclaims their careful judgment.
** Green Lantern defeating Ben 10 is ''the'' objectively most controversial result in the show's history, possessing barely over 50% likes. Most of the flak came from the lackluster, uncreative animation and the ''extremely'' poorly written analysis, where Wiz and Boomstick come off as biased for dismissing all of Ben's options. To remedy the criticism, the hosts made an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQujpsgd428 hour-long Q&A]] where they addressed everything they neglected to mention in the episode.
** Season 7 got some heavy flak for having ''thirteen'' characters from Creator/DCComics and Creator/MarvelComics characters. Season 8 cut the number down to six, introduced plenty of new series to the show, and had several ''highly'' requested matchups rather than simply shoehorning in another comic superhero.

** At one point in ''Thanos VS Darkseid'', Darkseid throws a helicopter with Thanos' name at his opponent. While it refers to [[https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-01cd612706f6a307b9fff954fb72142f-lq this moment]] in the comics, it doesn't make sense in the context of the fight itself.

** The ending to Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly qualifies. [[spoiler:After killing Steven, Star stands alone on a burning beach littered with bloody corpses. [[MoodWhiplash Suddenly]] she's awarded first place for the sandcastle building contest that started the fight in the first place. Star celebrates [[{{Bathos}} as if there aren't any dead bodies around her]], which is followed by a ''Steven Universe''-esque IrisOut.]]

** The very concept of some fights cross the line twice by default, like ''Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie '' and ''Smokey Bear VS [=McGruff=] the Crime Dog''.
** The "TMNT Battle Royale" was, in Ben's mind, the one that went too far. It wasn't that the turtles were killing each other brutally; it was how the people saw it as too remorseless. They weren't acting like the TMNT they grew up seeing. It didn't help that at the end of the fight [[spoiler:Leonardo sits in a pool of blood filled water with a horrified look, knowing he just killed his brothers]].

** Thanks to liberal amounts of FridgeHorror, the outcome of Guts VS Nightmare. [[spoiler:The ending depicts the heroic Guts slaying the evil demon Inferno and tearing Soul Edge asunder forever. All is well and good until you realize that Guts is almost certainly going to die/be malfested by Soul Edge's corruption very soon and painfully thanks to his wounds and his cursed armor; Soul Edge will get reforged after being broken several times; Inferno's resurrected himself before, although it took quite some time; and all those combined could easily lead to Guts becoming the next incarnation of Nightmare, more potent than the last.]]

** There's one with ''WebVideo/SuperPowerBeatDown''. Both have different ways of determining the winner: DB uses research while SPBD uses fan votes. Notwithstanding, Aaron Schoenke from SPBD claims he loves Death Battle, is interested in the facts they give him, and his series doesn't insult Death Battle.

* GeniusBonus: In the results for ''Balrog VS TJ Combo'', in the boxing fighting method triangle, [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] is used as a swarmer-type boxer. Those who have both played ''Punch Out'' and know their fair share about boxing can say that's not far from the truth. ''[[labelnote:Explanation]] The swarmer's fighting style has them stay up close to their enemy, wait for an opening while taking hits, and throw windmill punches. That's the entirety of the gameplay of Punch Out. [[/labelnote]]''

* InferredHolocaust: Here's a fun drinking game if you're binge-watching. Take a shot for every time a battle has or will result in the death of innocent people due to the combatants. Unless you have some immunity that rivals gods, ''you will die''.

** Shadow the Hedgehog has it rough even compared to other ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' characters. His first two appearances, which pit him against Vegeta and Mewtwo, ended with him losing. Although his third showing aganist Ryūko had him dish out a CurbStompBattle to her, this didn't do much to rescue his reputation. Not only did people see the fight as a "pity win" with an easily-predicted outcome, he had to kill his waifu to get it.
* MisBlamed: The disappointment at best and anger at worst to Mewtwo VS Shadow's short length were a case. The fight was short and underwhelming, but not because the writers were lazy. It was mediocre due to Donimation not wanting to make animations anymore. Chad and Ben had recorded many unused lines and planned to show more powers as the fight progressed.

** The whole Captain America/Batman fight. [[spoiler:Steve had a major upper hand for the entirety of the fight due to his superhuman abilities. He curb-stomps Batman for a while, not realizing that Batman is studying his opponent. Once Batman figures out the situation, he delivers quite possibly the swiftest beatdown Cap will ever receive before using his Batclaw to ''snap Captain America's neck''!]]

** The Terminator[=/=]Robocop: a run and gun battle through the city that wouldn't feel out of place from a climax in their movies. Since they're both {{Killer Robot}}s, [[ImplacableMan they all continue to walk off increasing levels of damage]] [[ImmuneToBullets from bullets]] [[EnergyWeapon to lasers]] [[StuffBlowingUp to explosions]]. [[spoiler:At the end of the battle, Robocop straps what's left of The Terminator to his jetpack and launches him into the sky to explode - but The Terminator still gets one last one-liner by yelling "[[DefiantToTheEnd I'll be back!!]]"]]

* SpiritualLicensee: In 2010, Website/ChannelAwesome tried out a pilot for [[https://thatguywiththeglasses.fandom.com/wiki/Deadliest_Character "Deadliest Character"]] (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being the Franchise/PowerRangers piloting the [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Dino Megazord]] VS [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Mecha-Godzilla]]). Later that year, Screw Attack created Death Battle (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] VS [[Franchise/StarWars Boba Fett]]). According to Creator/NoahAntwiler, ''Deadliest Character'' was never meant to be the start of an ongoing series; it was just a one-off parody of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior''. It's also very different from Death Battle in that none of the "research" presented factored into the decision. The end of the fight is an interference to parody the unlikely victories and faulty research of ''Deadliest Warrior''. Noah states plainly in his commentaries if he thinks the fight would have gone the other way and ended the way it did just for the joke.

** [[DiscussedTrope Boomstick himself]] doesn't know whether to be [[FetishRetardant turned on or grossed-out]] by Bayonetta's hair clothes. He disgusts himself by imagining her firing the guns on her feet with weird, misplaced thumbs.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: At an early point during the ninth season, Boomstick began a mini-series on social media called Death Battle Feats, which usually is about fun facts about the combatants in an episode, similar to the old series Desk of Death Battle. It's odd considering that it's usually Boomstick narrating for this rather than Jocelyn. It's not that much of an issue anymore, as Desk of Death Battle returned with Jocelyn for 2022's summer.

** A minor one with Natsu VS Ace: before the episode's release, Ben's teaser showed the setting almost the same as the previous Fairy Tail VS One Piece fight; Zoro VS Erza. It led many people to assume that the fight would start due to [[spoiler:Natsu going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for Erza's death]]. Instead Erza doesn't get so much as a mention, and the fight starts because Ace stole food.

** The Season 3 premiere episode featured a gorgeous 3D animation of Dante VS Bayonetta. Immediately after that fight, the pilot episode of the new SpinOff called DBX premiered with Dante and Bayonetta's partners Trish and Jeanne fighting, with a completely different animator. The shift is downright jarring, especially since Jeanne and Trish were also fighting in the premiere, only for their match to resolve in a much lower quality.

** When Torrian stepped down as lead 3D animator, fans voiced concerns about the quality of future battles without him at the helm. Should the positive reception to Optimus Prime VS Gundam not lie, they're pretty good.

** While many fans requested ''Manga/OnePiece'' characters over the years, the fact that the manga has yet to finish had almost everyone dismissing them for a long while. Then came Roronoa Zoro's announcement, which caught many people by surprise. Almost nobody expected him (or any ''One Piece'' character for the matter) to appear this early. It also applies to Erza Scarlet to a lesser extent, as ''Manga/FairyTail'' hadn't finished its final arc yet.

** WesternAnimation/Ben10 VS ComicBook/GreenLantern caught many off-guard. While both have their requests, it was more common to pit Ben against someone like WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom and Green Lantern against ComicBook/{{Nova}}. The former is from a youth-oriented action animated series, while the latter is from a cosmic comic book series with a wide mythos aimed primarily at adults. While thematically they make sense, it was a fight few would even ''think of'', let alone request.

** Yoda (of ''Franchise/StarWars'') and King Mickey (of ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'') were both very unexpected characters due to the unlikely odds of having either in the show. For the former, Ben Singer mentioned that he disliked Yoda's fighting style in the prequels and couldn't deal with focusing on it to make an episode. For the latter, it's because Disney is notorious for suing people over the use of Mickey Mouse. As such, having ''both'' characters fight each other in the debut battle of Season 8 was quite a surprise, especially to those who thought it could never happen.

** [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} Goliath]], his opponent, is no slouch in the sadness department. He lost most of his clan to a bunch of [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful bastards]] they were supposed to protect. The remnants of this family were cursed only wake when the castle they slept on flew above the clouds. A stroke of luck made it fly, but Goliath and the last of his clan now had to adjust to a foreign land.

** Poor Volnutt was given no mercy. Being outclassed by all the other Mega Men in the fight, [[spoiler:Volnutt was quickly determined to have no chance of winning, as his power, while impressive, was nothing compared to even Mega Man Classic's. In the end, he was ignored like a nuisance by all the other Mega Men and went down with little fanfare.]]

** Some of the voices can come off as a bit awkward. [[Anime/{{MobileSuitGundamWing}} Zechs]] in particular is quite nasal in the delivery of his lines. His scream of [[spoiler:"For Nooooooin!" moments before finishing off Tommy and the Tigerzord sounds a lot like the voice actor was trying to keep his voice down.]]
** Sam telling Anna that he lost the data during his fight sounds surprisingly whiny.
** Scorpion [[spoiler:as a skeleton]]. The way it happens at the climax of the fight doesn't do it any favors. [[spoiler:The EvilLaugh makes it worse]].
** In Pokémon VS Digimon, [[spoiler:Tai beats up Red.]] It's supposed to show how Digimon tamers are more accustomed to jumping into fights themselves than Pokémon trainers, but in the animation, [[spoiler:Tai is only 11 years old, while Red is 16.]] Not to mention Tai's line (no offense to Creator/ToddHaberkorn) sounds less like an impassioned plea and more like a little boy throwing a tantrum.

** Just before the climax of ''Flash VS Quicksilver'', after Quicksilver boasts that he's stronger and brainier, Flash tells him [[BringIt to prove it.]] Less than four seconds (and two attacks) later, Flash announces (in a tone that makes him sound bored) that [[IAmNotLeftHanded "this is getting dumb."]] He then runs off in a burst of speed. Superficially, there's nothing wrong with the voiceover work for those lines. The scene where Flash starts treating the fight with some level of seriousness is a highlight of the fight animation. However, the pacing makes it a bit hard to take seriously.
** A lot of the voice acting in Mewtwo VS Shadow is laughable. [[WordOfGod The hosts later revealed it was]] [[StylisticSuck intentionally done]] as a homage to Shadow's less-than-stellar voice acting in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''.
--->'''Shadow''': Maria... Wait, where am I!? ''OH MY GOD, I'M GLOWING!'' '''''WHY AM I GLOWING!?'''''\\
'''Mewtwo''': [[PreMortemOneLiner Sayonara.]]\\
'''Shadow''': Screw yoooooouuuuuu...!

** Doctor Fate's sprite has an unfortunate design flaw. Certain angles make the Golden Helmet of Fate looks like a giant banana with eyes, made all the worse by his yellow cape and gloves.
** The ending of Carnage VS Lucy has [[spoiler:Carnage, pinned down by Lucy's vectors and facing nukes, looking up with an expression that looks more like [[ThisIsGonnaSuck annoyance]] than [[OhCrap terror]]. He whines, "...I hate you..." like an angry teenage girl]]. The attempt at comedy feels unfitting with the dark, gory fight.
** The killing blow in ''Nightwing VS Daredevil'' has a good setup, but the execution leaves much to be desired. [[spoiler:After leaving Daredevil helpless via sensory overload with his ultrasonic Wingdings, Nightwing activates the shock function on his gauntlets and... [[BoringButPractical punches Daredevil once across the face]] while sporting an over-the-top SlasherSmile, killing him instantly.]]
** The final blows of ''Aquaman VS Namor'' are preceded by a quick conversation that is interesting in concept (Namor requesting to test his strength against Aquaman, to which Aquaman agrees). An awkwardly long {{beat}} doesn't help the scene.
** Ben's voice actor tried to make his performance sound similar to Creator/YuriLowenthal's for Ben 10 VS Green Lantern. It wouldn't be a problem, except Ben's sprite in the episode uses his 10-year-old appearance who Creator/TaraStrong voices, resulting in an odd case of VocalDissonance.
** While many agree the characterization in Yoda VS King Mickey is spectacular... Some see it as ''too'' accurate, particularly for Mickey. The serious setup of the fight doesn't mix well with Mickey's cartoonish expressions and voice.
** "Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar" has a TearJerker of an ending, with Tanjiro, after being incapacitated by Jonathan's Sunlight Yellow Overdrive, revealing that Nezuko is his sister. Jonathan then has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction, which is made much less emotional by how he is ''instantly'' brought to tears with no build-up. His crying showing up as cartoony waves under his eyes doesn't help matters.

* AccidentalInnuendo: Wiz discussing Peach's "Vibe Scepter" Boomstick makes Boomstick laugh uncontrollably.

** Likewise, Ben and Chad believe Goku is a [[TheBerserker mad berserker]] BloodKnight who will sacrifice planets and billions of innocents to sate his lust for battle. ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' somewhat validates this with the Tournament of Power hasn't helped matters.

** Crosses over into TrollingCreator: In the post-match video following the Yang VS Tifa match, Yang's voice actress Barbara Dunkelman said that what happened at the end would ''never'' happen in''RWBY''. [[spoiler:Episode 6 of Volume 3, which has Yang provoked into shooting a weakened Mercury in the leg and the implications that Pyrrha might have to take a life to save another, proves otherwise. The 12th episode would prove that no matter what happens, she could have said that even with Yang's loss.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwAfgsZimu8 Link's reveal trailer]] starts with a joke that Cloud would be facing [[spoiler:Aerith]]. Then it cuts to the "fight"'s death scene, which is [[spoiler:Aerith's infamous PlotlineDeath]].

** Smokey Bear VS [=McGruff=] the Crime Dog was announced on the same day as [[http://www.cinemablend.com/television/1700179/jack-keil-creator-and-voice-of-mcgruff-the-crime-dog-has-died the passing of Jack Keil, the creator and original voice actor of McGruff.]] [[https://twitter.com/BenBSinger/status/906250212720640002 Also, as Ben pointed out]], a wildfire breakout occurred around when they announced the fight.

* SpiritualLicensee: In 2010, Website/ChannelAwesome tried out a pilot for [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.wikia.com/wiki/Deadliest_Character "Deadliest Character"]] (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being the Franchise/PowerRangers piloting the [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Dino Megazord]] VS [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Mecha-Godzilla]]). Later that year, Screw Attack created Death Battle (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] VS [[Franchise/StarWars Boba Fett]]). According to Creator/NoahAntwiler, ''Deadliest Character'' was never meant to be the start of an ongoing series; it was just a one-off parody of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior''. It's also very different from Death Battle in that none of the "research" presented factored into the decision. The end of the fight is an interference to parody the unlikely victories and faulty research of ''Deadliest Warrior''. Noah states plainly in his commentaries if he thinks the fight would have gone the other way and ended the way it did just for the joke.

** The Ruby Rose VS Ragna the Bloodedge DBX got a ''ton'' of backlash for this. It started with a ''[=RWBY=]'' trailer, prominently featured the main character, had a score with its music, and [[TakeThat the series only ever mentions Ragna to mock him]]. On top of Creator/RoosterTeeth owning the show, everyone knew the DBX would be a CurbStompBattle in favor of [[CreatorsPet Ruby]] before it even began.

* SpiritualLicensee:
** In 2010, Website/ChannelAwesome tried out a pilot for [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.wikia.com/wiki/Deadliest_Character "Deadliest Character"]] (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being the Franchise/PowerRangers piloting the [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Dino Megazord]] VS [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Mecha-Godzilla]]). Later that year, Screw Attack created Death Battle (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] VS [[Franchise/StarWars Boba Fett]]). According to Creator/NoahAntwiler, ''Deadliest Character'' was never meant to be the start of an ongoing series; it was just a one-off parody of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior''. It's also very different from Death Battle in that none of the "research" presented factored into the decision. The end of the fight is an interference to parody the unlikely victories and faulty research of ''Deadliest Warrior''. Noah states plainly in his commentaries if he thinks the fight would have gone the other way and ended the way it did just for the joke.

* [[HilariousInHindsight/DeathBattle Hilarious in Hindsight]].

* [[SpecialEffectFailure/DeathBattle Special Effects Failure]].

[[index]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Enough to have [[HilariousInHindsight/DeathBattle a subpage]].
* MemeticMutation: Enough to have [[Memes/DeathBattle a subpage]].
* SpecialEffectFailure: Enough to have [[SpecialEffectFailure/DeathBattle a subpage]].
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Enough to have [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome/DeathBattle a subpage]].

'''Do not add details about any battle to this page before it goes public on Website/YouTube. We laud your support for the show, but it spoils the surprise for those who don't pay and watch this page.'''

'''Also, we don't advise any bias or complaining in this section.'''

'''Do not add details about the actual battle to this page before the corresponding battle is able for view by the general public. While it is admirable you are supporting the show, it spoils the surprise for those who don't and have this page on their watchlist.'''

!!Audience Reactions with their own pages
* HilariousInHindsight: Enough to have its [[HilariousInHindsight/DeathBattle own page]].
* MemeticMutation: Enough to have its [[Memes/DeathBattle own page]].
* SpecialEffectFailure: Has its [[SpecialEffectFailure/DeathBattle own page]] now.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Has its [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome/DeathBattle own page]].
!!General subjective

* AcceptableTargets: Furries, with Jocelyn even [[CriticalResearchFailure incorrectly stating]] Sonic is to blame for creating them due to their [[{{Squick}} weird pictures in the internet.]]
* AccidentalInnuendo: When Wiz is discussing Peach's "Vibe Scepter", Boomstick begins laughing uncontrollably. Not that he can be blamed.
* AlasPoorScrappy: Slippy might be hated by a large part of the ''Franchise/StarFox'' fanbase, but he's still one of Fox's closest friends, and when Bucky kills him, Fox clearly takes it ''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge extremely]]'' hard.
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** They believe that Taizo Hori AKA Dig Dug, is a murderous psychopath who uses [[PopGoesTheHuman one of the most horrible ways possible]] to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath kill his enemies]].
** They believe Michelangelo is a stoner/was dropped on his head as a kid.
** Wiz believes Dr. Eggman has a unique personality disorder explaining his various [[CompositeCharacter "phases"]].

** Boomstick believes Superman is a superpowered hippie due to his reliance on solar power, plus the innuendo that "he gets stronger the [[DoubleEntendre higher]] he gets".
** Likewise, Ben and Chad seem to somehow feel that Goku is a [[TheBerserker mad berserker]] BloodKnight that will sacrifice whole planets and billions of innocent people if it sates his thirst for a good battle. The actual [[Anime/DragonBallSuper anime]] itself going on to somewhat validate this with the Tournament of Power hasn't helped matters anyway.

** Kirby's introduction in the Majin Buu vs Kirby fight makes him sound like a monster, and the citizens of Dreamland caught between Buu and Kirby are equally afraid of both.
** Boomstick is convinced that Bayonetta is a monkey, due to being covered in her own hair and being able to fire guns with her feet.
** The hosts note that [=McGruff=] rarely, if ever, gets directly involved in preventing crime himself. Even when he's presenting a crime in progress, he doesn't even try to help the victim. The fight actually begins with Smokey getting mad that he didn't do enough to prevent a wildfire, and [=McGruff=] would probably have tried to flee from the battle if it weren't for [[AnthropicPrinciple the very premise of the show.]]
** They conjecture that Master Roshi doesn't know how to [[FlyingBrick fly]] due to the technique being created by the Crane School, the rival dojo to Kame House. This has never been said outright in any source material.

** Shortly after the Goku vs. Superman Death Battle, [[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods two]] [[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF new]] DBZ movies were released, giving Goku a substantial power boost. This resulted in the first ever Death Battle rematch.
** One of the complaints of said battle is that Superman was too passive, which caused [[spoiler:the Earth to explode]]. The rematch [[spoiler:shows what happens when [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Supes goes all-out and doesn't restrain his own power]], and he takes down Goku with little effort]].
** The Death Battle episode itself tried to smooth things over with fans upset by the first Superman Vs. Goku episode by having both Superman and Goku show a greater deal of respect to each other during the match [[spoiler:especially at the end when Superman apologizes for what he must do to end it, respectfully preserves Goku's body by only destroying his brain, and gently catching his body before it hits the ground so it isn't damaged.]] The post-battle analysis also reminds viewers why both of these characters are so well loved by what they represent and what they believe in. That Goku is a man who can break any limit and overcome any challenge with strength, determination, and his "never give up" attitude, while Superman represents wisdom, good will, restraint with power and an idealism about truth and justice that all should strive for.
** WebAnimation/OneMinuteMelee's Bowser vs. Eggman [[spoiler:is this to the Mario fanbase to some extent, being the first time a Mario character beats a Sonic character, even if Mario characters, such as Yoshi, have won on the show before.]]
** A lot of fans are angry about the show's habit of revealing only one combatant while withholding their opponent's identity to get more subscribers and followers for their social media sites. Ben and Chad have wisened up to this: after revealing that ComicBook/GreenArrow would appear next, they are about to plug their sites again... before Chad reveals the other fighter to be ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}, clearly aware of [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt their very obvious choice.]] They also did a full reveal of ''Charizard vs. Greymon'' after the above-mentioned fight, along with a hype-inducing video package that shows the both of them in top form, the first reveal of its type since ''Iron Man vs. Lex Luthor'' was announced.
** Many were angry at some episodes having the opposite results of the research team. Thankfully, both the hosts and the research team agreed that [[spoiler: Ratchet and Clank would come out on top against Jak and Daxter.]]
** Vegeta vs Shadow has been widely criticized for being a massive CurbStompBattle in Vegeta's favor. Shadow would later be pitted against Mewtwo, a character more or less around his power level, [[spoiler:or so people thought, as Mewtwo ended up winning by about the same margin.]]
** For what it was worth, following the controversial Meta vs. Carolina fight was a full reveal of the next fight between Cammy and Sonya with an additional preview at the animation. Also, the latter will air a week earlier than expected.
** The show has since reverted back to revealing both combatants for the next episode, beginning with Natsu vs. Ace in Season 4.
** While they don't necessarily focus on the fact, come the return of Marvel's Thor to Death Battle Wiz goes into detail about the actual composition of his legendary hammer, Mjolnir. In short, he explains that it is made of a magic-sensitive metal called Uru forged in a dying star, as opposed to claiming the hammer was made ''from'' a dying star, as he had mistakenly claimed in the Thor vs Raiden.
** Ryu returns to fight Jin in Season 5, who people found more similar and close in power to him than his first opponent, Scorpion.
** Season 6's Weiss vs. Mitsuru episode led to people fearing the former would win simply because Death Battle was under the Rooster Teeth brand, and that they didn't want to kill off a character from one of their company's webseries. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Mitsuru's victory proved that they aren't as ''biased'' as many would believe.]]
** As of Season 6, "Let’s end this debate once and for all" has been replaced with "We’ve run the data through all possibilities", likely to prevent them from implying that they’re the gospel for VS debating.
** "Weiss vs. Mitsuru" was controversial due to [[spoiler:Weiss' death not being gory at all, especially by the show's standards]], leading to accusations of bias towards ''RWBY'' characters. In the ''DBX'' episode "Blake vs. Inuyasha", Blake was killed in a much more gruesome fashion after losing the fan vote, as if to challenge these accusations.
** The ''DBX'' episode "Saitama vs. Kenshiro" was widely panned on release due its ugly animation and Genos being the one who fought Kenshiro through most of it. It ending in a draw was also divisive. The later ''DBX'' episode "Superman vs. Saitama" is seen as an in improvement in every regard. The animation is far more polished and much crisper, Saitama does all the fighting, and there is a decisive victor this time.
** One of the biggest criticisms directed at Season 7 was the overabundance of Creator/DCComics and Creator/MarvelComics characters, with the season having a total of ''thirteen'' characters coming from one of the two, some of which faced characters who had far more popular match ups. Season 8 cut the number down to six, while also introducing plenty of new series to the show along with having several ''highly'' requested match ups rather than simply shoehorning in another comic superhero.
* AwesomeEgo:
** Iron Man vs Lex Luthor; both characters are known for this and deliver in full.
** Ultron’s an insane egomaniac to the extreme and his character throughout the fight is boasting about how he deserves everything and anyone existing below him. [[spoiler: His victory in the end with both the Ultron drones and Maverick army declaring their loyalty certainly serve to make it all the more justified.]]
** Thanos and Darkseid. The only thing larger than their PowerLevels are their egos, which they're more than capable of backing up.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: In general, any character who wins a Death Battle will either get loved or hated by the fandom. Superman, Agumon and Tai, and Yang Xiao Long are three important examples of this.
** The overrepresentation of Batman characters compared to other DC fighters is a rather controversial. Currently, 4 out of the 12 DC unique fighters are either Batman or his supporting cast with Batman himself appeared in a total of three episodes as a fighter, more than any other returning character[[note]]And that's not even including his supporting role in Batman Beyond vs Spider-Man 2099 or his cameo in Venom vs Bane[[/note]]. Fans either enjoy their presence or are sick of their constant appearances, with some accusing Batman characters of becoming a SpotlightStealingSquad. In all fairness to the Death Battle crew, not all Batman characters win their battles [[spoiler:with Batman himself losing 2 out of 3 battles]], so nobody can accuse Batman and his associated cast of becoming a CreatorsPet or the team letting their pro-Batman bias skew the results.

** Superman vs Goku 2 features the two [[spoiler:crashing the SGC building, and two cosplayers continue the fight before they run off and the video resumes]]. This isn't brought up later in the fight. The [=YouTube=] version doesn't include this.
** When covering certain fighters, the series will frequently call attention to Big Lipped Alligator Moments from said character's source material, such as Donkey Kong's singing from the Donkey Kong Country TV show.
** Captain America shows up at the start of Flash vs Quicksilver, complete with a dramatic flash of his name... and then he proceeds to do nothing and vanishes from the episode entirely.
** At one point in ''Thanos vs. Darkseid'', Darkseid throws a helicopter with Thanos' name at his opponent. While it's meant to be a reference to [[https://ozbot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4e3753ef0120a75c0d07970b-600wi this moment]] in the comics, it doesn't really make any sense in the context of the fight itself.
* BizarroEpisode: Episodes of ''DBX'' that pit one character against 100 of another are wildly different from anything else, either from the main show, ''WebAnimation/OneMinuteMelee'', or other ''DBX'' fights, serving as less of a DuelToTheDeath and more of an exhibition of the ConservationOfNinjutsu, with the one character effortlessly massacring the horde in hilariously over-the-top ways.

** Goku vs. Superman is known to be ''the'' most debated HypotheticalFightDebate of all time, so obviously ''Death Battle'' claiming to have put the question to rest was bound to cause massive controversy:
*** On ''Dragon Ball'''s side, fans were angry over the treatment of Goku, saying that his power and feats weren't accurately represented and that ''Death Battle'' sold him short. The fact that the second round came out during the very beginning of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' gave birth to the argument that Goku was going to become even more powerful anyway, necessitating a third round. Further angering fans was ''Death Battle's'' hammering in of the fact that no matter how many new forms Goku got or how many limits he broke, he would never win against Superman, which these fans felt to be markedly untrue. These fans pointed out that several characters in the DC canon have proven to be stronger than Supes ([[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman Doomsday]], {{ComicBook/Shazam}}, {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}, etc.) and that [[WordOfGod the Ultimate Guide to Superman]] stated that Superman had, has and will have limits and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ5czwMg8ck many of Superman's supposed feats were either being taken out of context or were fake.]]
*** On ''Superman'''s side, fans pointed out that ''Death Battle's'' interpretation of Superman is that he has no limits and that someone who is limitless can easily take out somebody with limits, no matter how strong they are. To prove this point, they have pointed out the feats Superman has pulled that prove he is limitless (lifting a book with infinite pages, sneezing away a solar system, etc.) Comic fans have added that all interpretations of those feats made by anime fans solely to debunk ''Death Battle'' don't understand the text, and that only reasonable reading of those feats would necessitate them as working exactly like ''Death Battle'' gave for them to make any sense in what the authors were trying to say.
** Ben 10 vs. Green Lantern managed to rival Goku vs. Superman in terms of how controversial it was. The problems the Ben 10 fanbase brings up are that Ben didn't show enough versatility and aliens that may have made a difference are left out. Of the six aliens in the fight, three contribute nothing to the overall fight and ''five'' are from the Original Series. However, another side of the argument counters that the only alien that would have made a difference was Alien X and as such it did not matter what aliens were used in the fight (especially considering the "fight does not determine the outcome". However, the biggest point of contention is Alien X's power, which isn't helped by the form's lack of demonstrated limits in the show. One side claims "Alien X can do anything" as stated by multiple characters in the show and the form should've been treated as such. However, this is rebuked by the fact that the [[WordOfGod creators of the show]] seemingly [[FlipFlopOfGod not having any consistent idea]] as to ''what'' a Celestialsapien's level of power actually is, ranging from multiverse level to universe to unable to survive the destruction of a timeline without help. The characters in question not having enough experience with Celestialsapiens to determine whether the "can do anything" statements are to be taken literally or as hyperbole as well as the fact that Hal has fought beings that have demonstrated greater feats than Alien X has (i.e. Mandrakk and the Anti-Monitor) to which the Ben 10 side of the argument argues that Hal needed help in his fights against higher beings. The argument ultimately boils down to how lenient you want to be with the characters' statements and feats. Alien X's one universe creation feat and multiple "can do anything" statements vs. Hal's scaling to other Green Lanterns and greater dimensional threats like Mandrakk.
** Wiz and Boomstick becoming animated characters either spices up the final parts of the episode or just leaves to some ugly and unecessary animation, especially after a resdesign in season 7.
** "Flash VS Sonic" was highly debated ever since it was announced, and the discussion has not gotten any less intense since then. Because Archie Sonic and Wally West both have [[BeyondTheImpossible very loosely defined limits]], fans of both characters contest ''Death Battle'''s claim that The Flash would win in a very close fight. However, while a large portion of the fanbase believes that the fight should have been described as a CurbStompBattle, there is much disagreement about who should have won. Fans of Sonic claim that he was lowballed, as he's a high-level RealityWarper who should be able to delete his opponent from existence on a whim, while The Flash's supporters point out that ''Death Battle'' itself states that he can NoSell anything Sonic can throw at him, making his victory a ForegoneConclusion. That's on top of those who do agree with the episode's analysis, and those who are mainly upset at the episode continuing Creator/DCComics' win streak against non-{{Creator/Marvel|Comics}} franchises.
* CanonDefilement:
** Superman's portrayal in the series hasn't gone over well with many in the comic book community. Mostly because ''Death Battle'' claimed that Superman has no limits, which goes against [[WordOfGod DC's]] view on the character. In the official databook, it is noted that while Superman is extremely powerful, he does have limits. There are people out there who are stronger, faster, and smarter than him. So the reasoning that Superman is basically unstoppable is flawed on its face. Fans are also not pleased that ''Death Battle's'' Superman is a composite of New 52's Superman and Post-Crisis Superman, who are two completely different characters with different feats.
** Because a Death Battle has to end with a death, this basically happens to every character in it who isn't already a psychotic killer. Characters in a Death Battle are not only willing to violate any ThouShallNotKill trait they might have in canon, but are willing to [[DisproportionateRetribution murder someone for the most trivial of reasons]] (For example, Yang killing a Bartender for trying to kick her out of her bar for causing trouble, Toph wanting to fight Gaara on his sacred ground when he asked her to leave, or Kenshiro challenging Jotaro to a duel to the death for no apparent reason). Characters will also show a complete disregard for collateral damage in order to have them use their full potential and avoid a "he would've won if he wasn't holding back" situation (For example: Superman destroying Earth just to kill Goku). Basically [[AdaptationalVillainy everyone is far more callous, brutal and bloodthirsty, independent of what their character is actually like in canon]]. [[BrokenBase This won't go well for some, while others are okay with it.]]
* CaptainObviousReveal: Death Battle's tendency of showing one opponent and hinting at who their opponent could be. While it ''does'' work as a surprise for some (e.g. Fulgore, Yang, Wolverine, Donkey Kong) it can also be so hilariously obvious [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt who they'd have to fight since the two are constantly paired up as fighters.]] (e.g. Solid Snake, Ratchet and Clank, Flash) They even lampshaded this after Mega Man vs Astro Boy, revealing Green Arrow while hiding his opponent... before immediately revealing the obvious choice for his opponent.
** The Ruby Rose vs Ragna the Bloodedge DBX got a ''ton'' of backlash for this. Considering that it started with a ''[=RWBY=]'' trailer, prominently featured the main character of the series, was scored entirely with music from ''[=RWBY=]'', and Ruby's opponent was a character that [[TakeThat the series only ever brings up to make fun of]] -- on top of ''Death Battle'' being owned by Creator/RoosterTeeth -- the episode was immediately (and correctly) guessed to be [[CurbStompBattle an utter stomp]] in favour of [[CreatorsPet the company's golden goose]] before it even began. Even more so when in the fight itself, Ragna was nerfed even ''further'' -- by not using any of his powers and abilities beyond his basic scythe-wielding -- and put up practically no resistance to Ruby.
* CatharsisFactor:
** Whether you're a Brony or not, seeing a bastard like Starscream get his ass handed to him by Rainbow Dash (very much poetic - if ironic justice) is certainly pleasurable.
** In general, seeing characters one dislikes meet their demise at the hands of their opponent.
** Having a character/character from a series you like end up winning, ''especially'' after a years-long losing streak (most notably [[spoiler:Ryu's victory over Jin]] for Street Fighter fans), can be very satisfying.
** Considering just how [[Monster/SpiderMan monstrously vile]] Carnage is, seeing Lucy repeatedly tear into him with her Vectors before [[spoiler:utterly ''annihilating'' the bastard with a massive explosion]] is ''quite'' satisfying.
** After all of the horrific things he did to [[spoiler: X and Zero, especially in X3, X4, and X5]], it's pretty satisfying for ''Mega Man X'' players to see [[spoiler: Ultron slowly assimilate Sigma and erase his mind; much as [[KarmicDeath the latter himself had done to countless Reploids to attain his Maverick armies]]]].
** In Darkseid vs. Thanos, [[spoiler:Darkseid trapping Thanos forever in the Omega Sanction: though it's the [[EvilerThanThou more evil villain]] dealing the killing blow, it's still satisfying to see a typically near-unbeatable mass murderer like the Mad Titan get his comeuppance.]]
** [[spoiler:Namor's brutal death]] in Aquaman VS Namor could be this depending how strongly the viewer feels about [[spoiler: Namor's MoralEventHorizon's in ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' and in ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman'']].
** With Widowmaker's laundry list of crimes including the assassination of Mondatta (which had ''massive'' repercussions for the world of ''Overwatch'') and coldly mocking Tracer for failing to stop her, the sight of Black Widow [[spoiler:garroting the life out of her before slicing her head off]] is quite the satisfying one.
** Considering how beyond evil Homelander is, watching him get brutally [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]] by Omni-Man, causing him to slowly go from cocky into a screaming VillainousBreakdown before [[spoiler:Omni-Man kills him in one of the show's most gruesome deaths to date]] is beyond satisfying.
%%* CreepyAwesome: The Joker, Venom, The Meta, and Carnage.

** The ending to ''Steven Universe vs. Star Butterfly'': [[spoiler:after killing Steven, Star is left standing alone in a burning beach littered with bloody corpses, when [[MoodWhiplash suddenly]] she's awarded first place for the sandcastle building contest that started the fight in the first place. Star celebrates [[{{Bathos}} as if there aren't any dead bodies around her]], which is followed by a ''Steven Universe''-esque IrisOut.]]
** One example:
-->'''Boomstick:''' Things were looking up for Guts...and then Griffith summoned a horde of demons, transformed into a bat monster and murdered the entire Band of the Hawk. If ''that'' wasn't traumatic enough, Griffith then raped his girlfriend in a pool of his friends' blood as Guts watched, pinned down with his eye gouged out and forced to cut off his own arm.
-->'''Wiz:''' Definitely not his best day!
** Note that Boomstick cracks up around the part where he describes Casca getting raped, as if his description of the sheer amount of bullshit Guts went through is starting to turn into an [[TheAristocrats Aristocrats]] joke.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwAfgsZimu8 Link's reveal trailer]] starts off with a joke that Cloud would be facing [[spoiler:Aerith]]. Then it cuts to the "fight"'s death scene, which is actually [[spoiler:Aerith's infamous PlotlineDeath]].
** From Amy vs Ramona, [[spoiler: Ramona's bloody corpse with Scott in tears. Ramona [[MoneySpider explodes into coins]] and is shown in a spirit form with Scott still in tears kneeling at the coins.]]
** ''Balrog vs. TJ Combo:'' [[spoiler: Balrog's severed head? Horrifying and {{squick}}-y. Balrog's severed head breaking the camera, ending the broadcast, and making the announcer sick? Hilarious.]]
** The very concept of some Death Battles cross the line twice by default, like ''Pinkie Pie vs. Deadpool'' and ''Smokey Bear vs. [=McGruff=] the Crime Dog''.
** The "TMNT Battle Royale" was, in Ben's mind, the one that went too far. It wasn't the fact that the turtles were killing each other brutally, that was to be expected, it was the people saw it as too remorselessness, they weren't acting like the TMNT they grew up with, it didn't help that in the end of the fight [[spoiler: Leonardo is left sitting in a pool of blood filled water with a horrified look, knowing he just killed his brothers]].

** The DBX episode of Cuphead vs. Bendy. [[spoiler: Bendy ripping off Cuphead’s-ahem- cup head? Brutal. Drinking out of it to kill him and ending with a Cuphead-style "Game Over"? Priceless.]]
** Green Lantern [[spoiler: killing Ben by crushing him is cruel. Doing so with a giant light boot loops around to being hilarious. Doing so by taunting him with the quip the kid told him before and doing it before he could ever say it in the first place loops around twice to being just wrong in the best way. And Hal briefly shooting the breeze with his past self and leaving him confused makes it even better, in an even worse way.]]
** Optimus in Death Race [[spoiler: killing himself for having won through brutality and carnage]] isn’t funny. Him doing so by [[spoiler:turning into a truck and backing up off the track to fall to his death is absolutely so]].
** Goro vs. Machamp has [[spoiler:the finishing blow. Goro getting punched so hard by Machamp that he explodes into LudicrousGibs? Gruesome. Goro's gibs flying off into orbit? Hilarious]].
* DiscreditedMeme: Long story short, saying that ''Death Battle'' or [=ScrewAttack=] is biased against anime is going to get you more snark than support.
* EpilepticTrees: One theory about the mysterious "Adam Park" who voices Ichigo in his fight with Naruto is that it is actually Creator/JohnnyYongBosch under a pseudonym - in this case, his character from ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''. To support this:
** The show had credited "Park" as Ichigo; had they simply re-purposed voice clips from the show or other Bleach media, it was highly likely that they would not have credited anyone at all for it. For example, Doomsday and Lucario were not given proper voice credits as they recycled voice clips from certain games, while their opponents Hulk and Renamon had voice actors who were credited.
** Bosch himself likely could not be properly credited as Ichigo due to legal repercussions over reprising the role outside of any official Bleach-affiliated media. This was the same reason why Chris Rager could not reprise his role as Hercule despite wanting to. However, their noted interest in Nathan Vetterlein, who offered to reprise the voice of the Scout but could not because of being late to the casting process, has shown that they have at least given some thought to the idea, and finally implemented it with Bosch by hiding his identity and leaving behind an obvious hint.
* EsotericHappyEnding:
** Thanks to liberal amounts of FridgeHorror, the outcome of Guts vs. Nightmare. [[spoiler:The ending depicts the heroic Guts slaying the evil demon Inferno and tearing Soul Edge asunder forever. All well and good, until you realize that Guts is almost certainly going to die/be malfested by Soul Edge's corruption very soon and painfully thanks to his wounds and his cursed armor; Soul Edge has been reforged after being broken several times; Inferno's resurrected himself before, although it took quite some time; and all those combined could easily lead to Guts becoming the next incarnation of Nightmare, more powerful than the last.]] [[Fridge/DeathBattle The Fridge Horror tab explores this in more detail.]]
** From Dante vs Bayonetta, Dante was tasked in collecting the Left Eye [[spoiler:which he fails to do, since he kills Bayonetta who literally ''is'' the Left Eye. In addition, if we are to take the events of DBX as canon, this also means during the end of his fight, his demon slaying partner, Trish, was being killed by Bayonetta's best friend, Jeanne. Plus, [[DarkIsNotEvil Bayonetta]] is doomed to an eternity of torment in Inferno as per her series' lore, although with Jeanne alive it's possible [[VideoGame/Bayonetta2 Jeanne can rescue her like Bayonetta did to her in her second game]]... provided a pissed-off devil slayer who is capable of killing Umbra Witches doesn't find her first.]]
* FandomRivalry: Perhaps to be expected, considering the premise of the show, and the nature of the internet.
** Mega Man vs. Astro Boy sparked one with another VS debate series called Fatal Fiction as a result of both shows having the aforementioned matchup, but with different rules and different results. The Fatal Fiction came out 2 years before the Death Battle and when the latter debuted, Death Battle fans swarmed the comment section of the former telling Fatal Fiction they were wrong [[WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings because Death Battle said so]]... Not to mention [[spoiler:the angry Mega Man fans swarming to the Fatal Fiction episode and declaring their result as the real one]].
** This happens with every ''Death Battle''. Some fans take their favorite character losing and being killed very poorly indeed. [[spoiler:''Dragon Ball Z'' fans after Goku vs. Superman are one of the most unabashed examples of this in the whole series, even though there is legitimate criticisms to the outcome and their logic given.]]
** A rivalry with another series, Cartoon Fight Club is scathing between fans, with many arguing about accuracy and quality with both. Conflicting results with similar fights don't exactly help matters.
** There's one with crossover battle series is ''WebVideo/SuperPowerBeatDown''. Both have different ways of determining the winner, Death Battle uses research while [=SPBD=] uses fan votes. Both series are hated for several victors being completely out of hand or not what fans like, such as Superman beating Goku twice from Death Battle and Captain America beating Master Chief from Super Power Beat Down. Needless to say, Aaron Schoenke, from Super Power Beat Down, claims he loves Death Battle and is interested in every facts they give to him and his series is not meant to insult Death Battle.
** After years of being FriendlyFandoms with each other, Yang VS Tifa has caused a rift among [=ScrewAttack=] fans who declare the match foul and rigged in favor of a Creator/RoosterTeeth character. People have now joked that Ben and Chad will from now on allow [=RoosterTeeth=] characters to win automatically against whatever opponent they face against, which in turn caused a lot of people to hate [=RoosterTeeth=] and believe their crew are rigging some of the matches.
** The rivalry between the ''Overwatch'' and ''Team Fortress 2'' fandoms was noticeably heated already, but the outcome of Tracer VS Scout has managed to make the existing friction between them [[FromBadToWorse even worse]].
** ''Anime/OnePiece'' and ''Anime/FairyTail'' fans have never been on ideal terms with each other initially, but after the Zoro VS Erza battle was released, things got even more heated. It stands to only get even moreso with the Ace VS Natsu battle.

** With the copious amounts of FridgeHorror that a show like ''Death Battle'' provides, it's not hard to let one's imagination run wild. What happens when the villains of two particular works meet each other? Will a fallen fighter's friends and family attempt to hunt down the person who killed them and exact revenge, and if so, what consequences will that cause? When several of the heroes and villains of a given franchise are killed over the course of several episodes, what does that mean for their universe?
* FanMyopia: Because of the nearly endless amount of characters in fiction on to choose from, many people will have different ideas on who they want most to fight and will be baffled if the hosts will have never heard of their character, or are using a character they've never heard of in spite of the popularity of the character or work of fiction that character is from. This will result in confusion on the character and hoping for their character to be used some day at best and blasting the fight with complaints for how "obscure" the character or work is at worst.

* FridgeBrilliance: Overlapping with GeniusBonus:
** In the wild, there have been several documented cases of [[spoiler: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRQaCvCZeTo spiders]] [[http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/16/17339831-bat-eating-spiders-are-everywhere-study-finds?lite eating]] [[http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/bat-eating-spiders/ bats]]]]. This makes the result of [[spoiler: Batman vs. Spider-Man]] poignant.
** In a similar fashion, it's common knowledge that [[spoiler:hares are preyed upon by foxes]], which lends some idea as to the outcome of [[spoiler:Fox [=McCloud=] vs. Bucky O'Hare]].
* FriendlyFandoms: With Creator/{{Funimation}}, mainly because Website/ScrewAttack crew is based in Dallas, Texas; the fact that many voice actors who worked with Funimation appeared in a few Death Battle episodes; and the fact that Chad James (the voice of Boomstick) is the co-host in Funimation's Dubble Talk.
* GeniusBonus: While the hosts will usually explain the more technical stuff, there are some subtle jokes that would take a bit of research on your own to get. For example, in the results for ''Balrog vs. TJ Combo'', in the boxing fighting method triangle, [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] is used as a swarmer-type boxer. Those who have both played ''Punch Out'' and know their fair share about boxing can say that that's actually not far from the truth. ''[[labelnote:Explanation]] The swarmer's fighting style has them stay up close to their enemy, wait for an opening while possibly taking a few hits in the process, and wail on them with windmill punches until they're done or their opponent gets out of the way. Basically the entirety of the gameplay of Punch Out. [[/labelnote]]''

** The series improved when it dropped the fighting game style lifebars, making the fights less predictable, and when Wiz and Boomstick started to get their comedic quirks down.
** The fights received a notable AnimationBump in the middle of Season 1, and they have sustained the same level of improvement ever since.
** Death Battle has also seen an evolution of its fight animations over the years. First starting off with just sprite animations, by Link VS Cloud in Season 1, 3D animations were introduced, and for the next three seasons, it would alternate between sprite and 3D battles while further improving upon them side-by-side. Then Smokey VS [=McGruff=] in Season 4 introduced hand-drawn animations from scratch, which further expanded the potential scope of cartoon-based battles and eliminated the restrictions of pre-made assets entirely. And finally, by Season 5, Nightwing VS Daredevil introduced live-action battles with real actors. Currently, Death Battle has four different methods of animations to choose from, which goes to show how far the show has come since its debut in 2010.
** There's also the quality of voice actors to choose from given their close ties to the Texas anime dubbing community. The likes of Creator/ChuckHuber, Creator/ChristopherSabat, Creator/ToddHaberkorn, Creator/KiraBuckland, Creator/JeannieTirado and more - while even getting Creator/JohnnyYongBosch to actually reprise his role as Ichigo, the first time a character was voiced by a VA that had officially worked as them in the past - gives their voiced fights a lot of personality, and can even be a place to show off younger talent before they become more famous elsewhere, like Creator/XanderMobus and Creator/EricaMendez.
** After a rough start, DBX animations became more well-received by the fans, with the first season culminating in an awesome 3D fight in Prophet vs. Predator. Since then, Season 2 has produced more of these treats: Genji vs. Raiden amazed as the (as of this writing) sole 3D battle, and the likes of Guile vs. Paul, Broly vs. Doomsday, Aigis vs. Noel and Cloud vs. Guts blowing out fights from the main show and even ''One Minute Melee'' out of the water.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** In the [[ProductPlacement pre-battle ad]] in Luke Skywalker vs. Harry Potter, Wizard mentions that eventually one's computer could face disaster, and the product in the advertisement was designed to help avoid file loss. Three years later, Wiz's voice actor, who also edits the show, had a terminal hard drive failure that resulted in the loss of the non-battle segments of the Godzilla vs. Gamera battle mere days before the episode was to be revealed at the 2014 Screwattack Gaming Convention, resulting in [[ScheduleSlip a several week delay before the full episode was published and requiring the Tigerzord vs. Gundam Epyon battle, announced following the SGC reveal, to be pushed back until after the less intensive Batman vs. Captain America fight]].
** Crosses over into TrollingCreator: In the post-match video following the Yang vs. Tifa match, Yang's voice actress Barbara Dunkelman said that what happened at the end would ''never'' happen in''RWBY''. [[spoiler:Episode 6 of Volume 3, which has Yang provoked into shooting a weakened Mercury in the leg and the implications that Pyrrha might have to take a life to save another, proves otherwise. The 12th episode would prove that no matter what happens she could have said that even with Yang's loss.]]
** All the talk about Goku being able to trump Superman was finally given a canonical reason why he ''shouldn't'' in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' when [[spoiler:his reckless usage of the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan combined with the Kaioken x10 in his battle with Hit causes him to suffer from Delayed Onset Ki Syndrome, which damages his way of using Ki and too much reckless usage can make that permanent.]]
** Smokey Bear vs. [=McGruff=] the Crime Dog was announced on the same day as [[http://www.cinemablend.com/television/1700179/jack-keil-creator-and-voice-of-mcgruff-the-crime-dog-has-died the passing of Jack Keil, the creator and original voice actor of McGruff.]] [[https://twitter.com/BenBSinger/status/906250212720640002 Also as Ben pointed out]], a wildfire breakout occurred about the same time as the fight was announced.
** Sam Fisher's appearance in ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' has a surprisingly sad ShoutOut to the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' franchise, where Fisher hears that an old stealth expert who wore a bandana and served in the army finally hung up his boots, a reference to Konami's mishandling of ''Splinter Cell'''s old rival. He remarks with a mixture of fear and sadness that it's only him now, the last of the old guard of stealth-action games. [[spoiler: It makes his death at Snake's hands in Death Battle almost look like an outcome he'd prefer.]]
** Batman's outcomes in ''Death Battle'' seems to be reversed in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar.'' [[spoiler: At the end of the movie, Spider-Man and Black Panther are among half of the universe's population that were wiped out by Thanos, while Captain America survives.]]
** On the topic of ''Infinity War'', [[spoiler:Strange's fate in his battle against Doctor Fate is eerily reminiscent of how he dies in the movie. In both cases, he's disintegrated, turned to dust, and essentially wiped from existence shortly after losing a battle against a physically more powerful foe. Given the relatively short time between the release of both works, it's unlikely that this was intentional.]]
** In [[Recap/DeathBattleS02E21IronManVsLexLuthor Iron Man vs. Lex Luthor]], Boomstick misinterprets one of Wiz's statements and [[MistakenForPedophile briefly thinks Luthor is a child molester]]. Creator/KevinSpacey, who [[Film/SupermanReturns once played Luthor]], would later be accused of sexually assaulting multiple underage boys.
** In Season 5, when Wiz remarks that [[DisappearedDad Boomstick]] would know all about Ultron's problems with his father figure, Boomstick flips Wiz off and says "Screw ''you'', Wiz! ''You'll'' never understand!" Season 6's preview for Mechagodzilla confirms that Wiz ''does'' understand Boomstick's problems because his own father has died and Wiz is desperately trying to revive him with cyber-necromancy.
* IAmNotShazam: Sweet Tooth isn't the name of the serial killer with the flaming head. The man is called Needles Kane and Sweet Tooth is the name of his truck. [[ZigZaggedTrope However]], Needles has been referred to as Sweet Tooth in his home series before, and goes by that moniker in ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale''. The hosts even call Needles by his name and call his truck Sweet Tooth, meaning they at least ''do'' know which is named what.
* InferredHolocaust: Here's a fun drinking game if you're binge watching; take a shot for every time a battle has or will result in the death of innocent people due to the actions of the combatants. Unless you have some kind of immunity that rivals gods, ''you will die''.

** "She-Ra VS Wonder Woman" has been criticized for being the third episode to feature Wonder Woman, and for her portion of the analysis being very similar to the one in her previous appearance, "Thor VS Wonder Woman". Even the ending analysis was similar, with both episodes giving the win to Wonder Woman in large part due to her feat of blocking the Shattered God's fragments proving that she's massively faster than her opponents. Some people questioned what the point of the episode was, if it ended up giving Wonder Woman yet another victory with pretty much the same reasoning as her previous showing.
** "Batgirl VS Spider-Gwen" is one of Season 7's less loved episodes. Part of the reason for this is that it's basically a rehash of "Batman VS Spider-Man", including a similar outcome.
* ItWasHisSled:

** Lex Luthor. Granted, he's a megalomaniacal scoundrel of a man, but when he was a boy, his parents abused and neglected him throughout his childhood. His father even went so far as to threaten him with death should he ever speak up. Even after freeing himself from his parents' hold and founding a powerful company, he still remains within the shadow of Superman, whom he desperately wants to be, but won't admit it. What's more, he's not far off when he claims that humanity will become a weaker race due to their reliance on Superman, yet nobody believes him because they adore the Man of Steel. For all of his flaws, Luthor, in his own way, truly does believe that mankind can stand up for themselves.
** Shadow may be a cocky dick, [[spoiler:but the poor guy ''cannot'' seem to win a single Death Battle, having suffered two humiliating defeats at the hands of both Vegeta and Mewtwo.]]
%%** [[Franchise/BlazBlue Ragna the Bloodedge]] [[CosmicPlaything and]] [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]]. '''Period.'''
** To quote Boomstick, life just decided to shit all over Eddie Brock. Not only did he spend his life trying to earn the approval of a father who hated him, but when he came across his one big break in the form of a chance to expose the identity of a serial killer for the Daily Bugle, it turned out he was wrong and Spider-Man exposed the real killer. This resulted in him being publicly humiliated and fired. Then his father disowned him, his wife divorced him, he found out that he had cancer, and he wound up being bonded with a murderous symbiote who just so happens to hate Spidey as much as he does. All this happened in one day.
** Brock's opponent, Bane, didn't have a much better life-- to quote Boomstick again, "Bane's life was screwed from the start." He was born and raised in a hellhole of a prison, and the catalyst that resulted in him becoming the nightmare he is today was a fall from several floors up that nearly killed him when he just a boy. The experiment that introduced him to Venom (the drug) was supposed to kill him on the operating table, and he wound up addicted to the drug. It's hard not to feel a little bad for him... but he also became a mass-murdering gang lord after he broke out of prison, so he's not exactly a sympathetic figure.
* JustHereForGodzilla:
** Some viewers don't even care about the research or who wins. They just want to see two similar characters DuelToTheDeath...or just watch the fireworks in the comment sections as the fans of the loser and winner get into shouting matches.

** It should be mentioned that the animation proceeding the research is completely scripted and written well ''after'' a winner has been decided based on feats and statistics, basically the animation is just for fun and does not have any impact whatsoever on who actually comes out victorious. Despite this though, the animation will often be the first thing detractors will use as evidence if they disagree with the overall outcome, pointing out flaws or out of character moments to make their point.
** The first season finale episode of ''The Industry'' actually gives a TakeThatAudience to these very fans, claiming all that Death Battle watchers care about is being told who wins and who's fighting next, and are completely thankless to all the actual hard work and research involved in making an episode.
** Now taken literally with the battle featuring the Big G himself.
** In a more Meta way, the vast majority of traffic to Website/ScrewAttack's [=YouTube=] page is for Death Battle. All non-Death Battle videos (the majority of [=ScrewAttack=] content) get bombarded with people posting suggestions for Battles, asking where the next episode is or ''demanding'' the next episode, threatening to unsubscribe if it's not posted, etc.
** This was taken to its logical extreme when it was revealed that the next battle after Yang vs. Tifa would be announced during the season finale of ''The Industry''. Many commenters took to spoiling the announcement under the video and proclaiming that it was unnecessary to watch from there. Though, that being said, the TakeThatAudience mentioned above likely played a factor in how the fans reacted.

* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/DeadpoolWadeWilson Deadpool]], real name Wade Wilson, is a frequent combatant on ''Death Battle'', with his FourthWallObserver powers making him aware of the existence of co-hosts Wiz and Boomstick, thus beginning a long campaign of Deadpool annoying them and the hosts trying to make him shut up. Deadpool's fight with Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} has him utilizing bizarre techniques, dancing mid-fight to overcome Deathstroke's skills, while nullifying Deathstroke's healing ability with his Carbonadium sword. Later, Deadpool befriends [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie Pie]] after recognizing her as a fellow fourth-wall breaker with the two of them managing to defy the creators by messing with their past videos and ending on a death-less ''Death Battle''. When Wiz and Boomstick try to kill Deadpool off using ComicBook/TheMask, Deadpool tries to level the playing field using the Continuity Gem, and when realizing he is outmatched dies content, before tricking the co-hosts into resurrecting him back to life.

** Chuck Norris vs. Segata Sanshiro pits two of the biggest ones in history against each other and the result is nothing short of spectacular.
** Rainbow Dash, [[spoiler:the only combatant whose fight was shown as a complete CurbStompBattle]].
** The other two ponies have been getting this reputation as of late, due to Pinkie Pie [[spoiler:befriending Deadpool and them breaking the rules together]], and Twilight Sparkle [[spoiler:putting up a good fight against Raven despite it being a losing battle, and also [[AmbiguousSituation having been implied to have survived her fight]]]].
** Kirby, [[spoiler:for managing to beat ''Majin Buu'', one of Dragon Ball's most powerful villains. This would even lead fans to either jokingly or genuinely suggest he fight characters like Doomsday or Thanos.]]
** The hosts consider Archie Comics Sonic to be one, and for good reason. Not least of which include him outrunning time, blowing up black holes by running around them, surviving the destruction of a universe, and canonically defeating fellow MemeticBadass Segata Sanshiro.
** While he still most likely dies in the end and the fight itself received incredible flack due to its lackluster appearance, [[spoiler:Kenshiro managing to ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu kill]]'' Saitama in his DBX fight with him undoubtedly earns him a spot as this -- especially considering [[WebAnimation/OneMinuteMelee neither Superman nor Goku even came close to doing so in their respective fights with him.]]]]
** Even as controversial as the franchise is to Death Battle fans,[[spoiler:out of the top 5 most used franchise in Death Battle, DC Universe have the best win-loss ratio out of all of them with an impressive 68% of winning, Nintendo being close behind with a 66%[[note]] These percentages were based off wins-loss from fights against other franchise like Marvel vs DC, and not against themselves like the Mario Series vs Kirby Series [[/note]]]].
* MemeticLoser: Franchises whose characters lose a lot of matches tend to become the target of mockery from the ''Death Battle'' fanbase, even from people who are otherwise fans of them. This especially applies to the following:
** The Franchise/PowerRangers are many viewers' childhood heroes, but for years, they were also considered a laughingstock in the ''Death Battle'' fandom due to losing three battles in a row: "Tigerzord VS Gundam Epyon", "Power Rangers Vs Voltron", and "Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla". It wasn't until Jason managed to defeat [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Leonardo]] in Season 7 that they managed to shake off this reputation, and even then, many watchers were dubious about his chances prior to the episode's release.
** Following Season 7's "Flash VS Sonic", jokes at the expense of Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog started becoming more and more common, as watchers started realizing that the last time a ''Sonic'' character had won a battle was in "Amy Rose VS Ramona Flowers", back in Season 3. Making this worse, one of Sonic's losses was in his rematch with Mario, which means that one of his prior victories was retroactively undone. The ending of the "Flash VS Sonic" fight also plays a role in this, as it ends with Sonic being hit so hard that he becomes RetGone, leading to ''Death Battle'' fans jokingly treating him as an UnPerson. This is despite the fact that "Flash VS Sonic" was described as an extremely close match between two of the most powerful combatants to ever appear on the show, with Sonic simply having the bad luck of being matched up with one of the very few characters that stands a chance against him.
** Shadow the Hedgehog has it rough even compared to other ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' characters. His first two appearances, which pit him against Vegeta and Mewtwo respectively, both ended up being humiliating [[CurbStompBattle Curb-Stomp Battles]] with him on the receiving end. Although his third showing, "Shadow VS Ryūko", flipped the script and had him be the one dishing out the curb-stomping, this didn't do much to rescue his reputation (or that of the ''Sonic'' series as a whole) as the fight was viewed as a "pity win" with an easily-predicted outcome.
* MisBlamed: The negative reactions (disappointment at best and anger at worst) to Mewtwo vs Shadow's short length became this when it was revealed that the fight ended up being short and underwhelming was not because the writers were lazy, but ended up being mediocre due to Donimation not wanting to make Vs animations anymore, as Chad and Ben had recorded many unused lines and planned to show more powers as the fight progressed.
* MyRealDaddy: The research team is often seen as the ones who decide the truly correct results of fights, and people often take umbrage when the fight's results aren't the same as the research team's. The people who work on the team have had to clarify that they're not perfect either, and just as prone to error as the hosts.

** Some of the voice acted episodes can come off as a bit awkward. [[Anime/{{MobileSuitGundamWing}} Zechs]] in particular is quite nasal in his delivery of his lines. His scream of [[spoiler: "For Nooooooin!" moments before finishing off Tommy and the Tigerzord sounds a lot like the voice actor was trying to not raise his voice too high.]]

** In Pokémon VS Digimon, [[spoiler:Tai beats up Red.]] It's supposed to show how Digimon tamers are more accustomed to jumping into fights themselves than Pokémon trainers, but in the animation, [[spoiler:Tai is only 11 years old, while Red is 16.]] Not to mention Tai's line (no offense to Creator/ToddHaberkorn) sounds less like a impassioned plea and more like a little boy throwing a tantrum.
** Ganondorf turning into Ganon. It ''should'' be cool in theory, but since they use Ganon's sprites from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', it looks just looks silly to some people. The fact he gets ''smaller'' doesn't help.
** Just before the climax of ''Flash vs. Quicksilver'', after Quicksilver boasts that he's stronger and smarter than his opponent, Flash tells him [[BringIt to prove it.]] Less than four seconds (and exactly two attacks) later, Flash announces (in a tone that makes him sound bored) that [[IAmNotLeftHanded "this is getting dumb"]] and runs off in a burst of speed. There's nothing wrong with the voiceover work for those lines, and the scene where Flash starts treating the fight with some level of seriousness is a highlight of the fight animation, but the pacing makes it a bit hard to take seriously.
** A lot of the voice acting in ''Shadow vs. Mewtwo'' is truly, truly laughable. [[WordOfGod It was later revealed that this was]] [[StylisticSuck intentionally done]] as a homage to Shadow's less-than-stellar voice acting in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''.
--->'''Shadow''': Maria... Wait, where am I!? ''OH MY GOD I'M GLOWING!'' '''''WHY AM I GLOWING!?'''''\\

** Thor going into his [[UnstoppableRage Warrior's Madness]] is very threatening, but the line "I'll kill you! I'll kill you dead!" makes things a little silly. ''Especially'' because that quote was originally made by Superboy-Prime.
** Doctor Fate's sprite has an unfortunate design flaw-- certain angles make the Golden Helmet of Fate looks like a giant banana with eyes, made all the more worse by Fate's yellow cape and gloves.
** The ending of Carnage vs. Lucy has [[spoiler:Carnage, pinned down by Lucy's vectors and about to get vaporized in nuclear fire, looking up with an expression that looks more like [[ThisIsGonnaSuck annoyance]] than [[OhCrap terror]] while whining "...I hate you..." like an angry teenage girl]]. The attempt at comedy feels unfitting with the dark, gory, and serious fight.
** The killing blow in ''Nightwing vs. Daredevil'' has a really great buildup, but unfortunately the execution of the attack itself leaves a lot to be desired. [[spoiler:After leaving Daredevil helpless via sensory overload with his ultrasonic Wingdings, Nightwing activates the shock function on his gauntlets and... [[BoringButPractical simply punches Daredevil once across the face]] while sporting an over-the-top SlasherSmile, which kills him instantly.]]
** The final blows of ''Aquaman vs. Namor'' are preceded by a quick conversation which is cool in concept (Namor requesting to test his strength against Aquaman, to which Aquaman agrees to), but marred by an awkwardly long {{Beat}}.
** Ben's voice actor tried to make his performance sound similar to Creator/YuriLowenthal's for Ben 10 vs. Green Lantern. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but Ben's sprite in the episode is based on his 10-year old appearance, who's voiced by Creator/TaraStrong, resulting in an odd case of VocalDissonance.
** While many agree the characterization in Yoda Vs King Mickey is spectacular... Some see it as ''too'' accurate, particularly for Mickey's characterization as a result of a similar result from Kingdom Hearts, with the serious setup of the fight offset by the rather cartoony Mickey's expressions and voice. Though for some Kingdom Hearts fans, this can easily cross over to NarmCharm as well.
** "Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar" has a TearJerker of an ending, with Tanjiro, after being incapacitated by Jonathan's Sunlight Yellow Overdrive, revealing that Nezuko is his sister. Jonathan then has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction, which is made much less emotional by how he is ''instantly'' brought to tears with no build-up, and his crying being represented by cartoony waves under his eyes.
* NarmCharm:
** The closeups used in Cammy vs Sonya. Sure, they look absolutely ridiculous, but it only helps give the fight a feeling of a classic fighting game.
** Venom is so over-the-top psychotic in Venom vs. Bane that he becomes simultaneously hilarious and horrifying to watch.
** Darkseid holding his arms behind his back while Thanos throws everything at him and everything explodes with a completely nonplussed expression is a silly, but effective way of showing just how powerful he is and a hint of how little of a chance Thanos is going to stand.
* OlderThanTheyThink:
** Many have complained that Inferno's sprite in Guts vs. Nightmare looks nothing like Inferno does in the ''Soul'' series (A given, since it belongs to [[VideoGame/KillerInstinct Cinder]]). While this might be true for newer models, the sprite used for Inferno is actually [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/soulcalibur/images/4/42/Inferno3D.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091210084743 quite similar]] to his appearance in Videogame/SoulCalibur.
** A somewhat forgivable example in ''Joker vs Sweet Tooth''. Many have complained that [[spoiler: Needles has never shown any pickiness in how he kills his victims and wouldn't have stepped out of Sweet Tooth. While Needles doesn't ''usually'' do so, ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal2012'' has shown him killing everyone in a hospital with his machete because he found it more satisfying and wanting to watch Sophie die by his own machete because of his strong hatred for her. Since the Joker had pretty much been a thorn in Needle's side through the fight, it makes sense that he could've been goaded into giving the Clown Prince of Crime the same treatment.]]
** Some people thought Venom in ''Venom vs Bane'' acted a little ''too'' AxCrazy and LaughingMad during the fight animation, comparing him more to ComicBook/{{Carnage}} than the actual Venom. What some of them might not have realized was that early in his run [[EnsembleDarkhorse before his popularity skyrocketed]] Venom was just as insane, if not more so, than Carnage, and his shift to the [[AntiHero Lethal Protector]] most know him as today was directly influenced by [[BreakoutVillain his growing popularity]] (as was Carnage's creation).
** Many found that the new format of episodes per season to be too short compared to the first two. [[JustifiedTrope True,]] [[https://roosterteeth.com/post/51815564 but Ben later revealed this was always meant to be how it went,]] they just didn't expect the series to blow up so much.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
** Even the hosts claim [=RoboCop=]'s jetpack gave him the power to [[JumpingTheShark jump the shark]], but its inclusion in the actual battle took away all the silliness from it and made it awesome as well as practical.
** Godzilla's... unique style of flight. He uses it to throw Gamera off balance a little while Gamera pushes him into orbit, uses it again to slow his decent into the water after escaping Gamera's SuplexFinisher, and helps determine the sheer force of the atomic breath, almost ''a trillion tons'' of force.
** After Pokemon vs. Digimon, many people began to see Ash Ketchum in a more positive light. [[spoiler: This is due to Red's loss being attributed to him treating Charizard as a pet/slave, while Ash has gone out of his way to show he treats his Pokémon as friends and tries to keep them out of their Pokéballs as much as possible, and how Red is a complete wuss when it comes to actual fighting when he's the receiver of a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Tai, while Ash actually ''has'' jumped into a fight and thrown a punch if the need arises, making him seem surprisingly more competent. Also, there's the fact that Ash's Pokémon ''are'' well capable of thinking and reacting for themselves during a battle.]]

** Creator/EricaMendez, who is well-known for playing [[Anime/KillLaKill Ryuko Matoi]] and [[Manga/HunterXHunter Gon Freecss]], previously played Rainbow Dash in her fight against Starscream.
** Creator/XanderMobus was a recurring voice actor around the time he nabbed the role of [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Master Hand]].
* RonTheDeathEater:
** Superman after Goku vs Superman. [[spoiler:He's treated as a monster by some because his battle with Goku caused the Earth's destruction, ignoring the fact that Goku both instigated the fight and escalated it; Superman was ''minding his own business'' and tried to talk Goku out of fighting ''twice''.]]
** Tai gets a lot of crap from the Death Battle fanbase for assaulting Red during the Pokémon vs. Digimon match, with many considering it dishonorable and uncalled for. Many seem to forget that ''Red'' was the one who started the fight by trying to capture Agumon and that ''Red'' was the one who kept escalating the fight even though there were plently of times Red could've backed down, either through realizing he was outmatched or that Agumon already had a partner. Not to mention that Tai has canonically attacked people many times before for intentionally trying to hurt his friends and that it isn't uncommon for the ''heroes'' of the Pokémon franchise to attack the ''human'' villainous trainers (How many times has Ash ordered Pikachu to thundershock Team Rocket?).
** A meta example. Yang's portrayal was not well received for her trigger happiness, love of fighting, and relaxed disposition being cranked up several notches to the point of sociopathy. While many will point out she'd never act like this in canon, some actually consider it an accurate representation for how she is on WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}. Despite Barb saying this ''isn't'' something she would do in canon.
* RootingForTheEmpire: Lampshaded by Wiz and Boomstick during their liveshow at the convention they showed "Godzilla vs Gamera", where most of the viewers in the audience were rooting for Godzilla even though the fight clearly showed him in a villainous role where he was rampaging through a city.
** In-Universe; in the Meta vs Carolina episode, [[Machinima/RedvsBlue Grif]] was rooting for the Meta to win for the whole episode.
* SeasonalRot: Season 3 is so far considered the weakest season the show has, even by hardcore fans. While the fight animations are still well done, and the show has been subject to controversy ever since it began, Season 3 to many started off weak, with ''Dante vs Bayonetta'' and ''Bowser vs Ganon'' having controversial outcomes, and many of the season's battles (especially ''Flash vs. Quicksilver'' being criticized for being massive {{Curbstomp Battle}}s[[note]]Of Season 3's 14-episode run, only four were widely deemed to have been close fights, and one of them was between characters of the same series. Many of these fights (with ''Flash vs. Quicksilver'' being the most infamous example) drew groans upon being announced because of how poorly balanced the matchups were with even a cursory glace at each fighter's abilities, which many fans feels sucked a lot of hype out of the speculation between episodes. There were, thankfully, some exceptions, with the hosts stating that ''Hulk vs. Doomsday'' in particular was one of their closest yet.[[/note]] (ironically, Season 5 would eventually have an even higher number of curbstomps, but generally avoided most of the panning that Season 3 received due to most of the matchups being heavily requested). Several episodes were also controversial even by ''Death Battle'' standards[[note]]''Joker vs. Sweet Tooth'' had a controversial ending due to one of the deciding factors being considered spectulation, ''Mewtwo vs. Shadow'' was blasted for its lacking animation, the aforementioned controversy surrounding ''The Meta vs Carolina'' (along with minor criticism directed towards the outcome); ''Tracer vs. Scout'', which was bashed for its mediocre fight scene, and for how certain parts of the fanbase believed that [[spoiler:Scout]] was unfairly represented in said fight; and ''Cammy vs. Sonya'', due to accusations of Cammy's strength being heavily downplayed and them ignoring all but two of her feats from the first UDON series while greatly exaggerating Sonya's strength by using the Test Your Might mini-game from the first Mortal Kombat, despite previous episodes featuring MK characters never using Test Your Might to gauge their strength[[/note]] Some theorize that [=ScrewAttack's=] joint venture with Rooster Teeth played a heavy hand in the season's decline in quality (with ''Carolina vs. the Meta'' being pointed as an example, especially with what [[http://forums.screwattack.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=30054&start=180 Ben]] had to say in response to the fandom's general disinterest for the episode's release), but that's an entire other can of worms. However, the later episodes (''Ken vs Terry'', ''Amy vs Ramona'', ''Hulk vs Doomsday'' and ''Zoro vs Erza'') as well as the relatively early ''Ratchet and Clank vs. Jak and Daxter'' were much more well-received by the fans, especially in the forums and the wikis. Other people, however, think that the jump in the season's quality came too late to absolve the season's rocky start.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Back then, Link vs Cloud blew everyone away with Death Battle using 3D Animation. Nowadays, well... let's just say it's used to show how much ''Death Battle'' has improved with 3D animation since then.
* ShockingMoments: Almost every episode has several potential moment for this:
** Eggman vs. Wily, especially after [[spoiler:Metal Sonic decimates both of them]].

** Superman vs. Son Goku; even the hosts can't contain themselves.

** The ending of the Goku Vs Superman fight is either this or a TearJerker. [[spoiler:The planet explodes]].
** Some of He-Man's more impossible feats (such as burrowing to the center of Eternia with the point of a stalactite) get a "The fuck!?" and a "The ''double'' fuck!?" from Boomstick.

** Blastoise [[spoiler: ripping off Charizard's wings.]]
** Godzilla [[spoiler:[[NoSell Tanking]] Gamera's Mana Cannon.]] It is also said that Gamara [[spoiler:getting his arm ripped off caused this reaction in a live audience.]]

** Link [[spoiler:using Z-Targetting to block Cloud's Omnislash then slashing him mid-air during the final move.]] Anyone watching that for the first can very easily miss what's going on there. It happens so incredibly fast which is canon to what both of them can do.
** The Terminator[=/=]Robocop: a run and gun battle through the city that wouldn't feel out of place from a climax in either of their movies. Since they're both {{Killer Robot}}s, [[ImplacableMan they all continue to walk off increasing levels of damage]] [[ImmuneToBullets from bullets]] [[EnergyWeapon to lasers]] [[StuffBlowingUp to explosions]]. [[spoiler: At the end of the battle, Robocop straps what's left of The Terminator to his jetpack, and launches him into the sky to explode - but The Terminator still gets one last one-liner by yelling "[[DefiantToTheEnd I'll be back!!]]"]]
** Deadpool vs. Deathstroke was a long requested battle, and the final product lives up to expectations. Two insanely talented assassins with a metric crap-ton of weaponry each, a mutual HealingFactor, and an entire city as their playground. It only gets better when the battlefield shifts to the roofs of cars in rush-hour traffic, and even more so after [[spoiler: Deathstroke shoots out the tires of one of the buses, causing a wicked nasty traffic accident that both fighters utilize to their advantage, even while some of the cars are still flying through the air.]] The result is something that would fit in wonderfully as the climax of an action movie.
** Kirby [[spoiler: inhales a blast powerful enough to annihilate planets without a scratch and shooting it back at Kid Buu, launching him into the sun for the kill.]]

** Raiden [[spoiler: slicing off Wolverine's head, dicing it up, and kicking it into a gory mess.]]

** Chuck Norris vs. Segata Sanshiro escalated from showcasing their badassery on Earth, to [[spoiler:the Earth getting cleaved in two alongside several planets, to Chuck Norris destroying the Sun, causing a massive black hole]]. The fight ends in [[spoiler:the two colliding in the middle of it, destroying the space-time continuum in the process]].

** Hulk vs Doomsday is a blast of pure rage and violence from start to finish. The climax stands out as the two beating up each other with undying rage until something finally dies, [[spoiler: which eventually results in Doomsday ripping off Hulk's head after stabbing him enough to leave him in a pool of radioactive blood.]]

** Deadpool and Pinkie Pie [[spoiler:destroy the rules of Death Battle - intervening in past matches and eventual confront the hosts of the Death Battle Cast before calling it a draw and having a party.]]
** Megazord vs Voltron was a '''''long''''' time coming, and they made sure to pull out all the stops, apparent with just a few words in the climax.

** Sub-Zero vs Glacius features Glacius [[spoiler: melting off]] Sub-Zero's hand and then [[spoiler: consuming/melting him.]] [[spoiler: Only for it to be revealed it was an Ice Klone, letting Sub-Zero ''rip Glacius' spine out''.]]
** Sephiroth [[spoiler: unleashing the Supernova on Vergil, burning him up with an exploding sun to the face. Vergil manages to escape and survive...for about 10 seconds before being impaled from behind and split in two.]]
** In Raven vs Twilight Sparkle, [[spoiler: Twilight manages to turn Raven into a flower pot and escape from Raven's soul self. At this point, it looks like it might be another Yoshi vs Riptor scenario. Then, right as she's about to smash the flowerpot, Raven's Soul Self slams into her at Mach 36, leaving an ImpactSilhouette. Game over.]]
** Thanos vs. Darkseid makes sure not to undersell the full power both combatants possess, with levels not seen since the likes of Goku vs. Superman or even Chuck Norris vs. Segata Sanshiro when near the climax, [[spoiler: '''''the two cause a second Big Bang.''''']]
** The climax of ''Johnny Cage vs. Captain Falcon'' has [[spoiler:Cage land a wicked high-speed combo on Falcon courtesy of the boost pads on the racetrack, before a clearly badly injured Falcon calls in the [[CoolCar Blue Falcon]] and rams the actor at speeds likely greater than ''1500 KM/H''[[note]]994 MPH, and well over Mach 1[[/note]]. Johnny manages to not only survive the impact, but get a few good punches in on the windshield... only for Captain Falcon to activate Boost Fire, horrifically shredding Johnny Cage with the friction against the race track and the centrifugal force of the Boost Fire's spin, before [[LudicrousGibs blasting him to giblets]] with a Falcon Punch in a homage to the famous [[Anime/FZeroLegendOfFalcon Falcon Punch that killed Black Shadow in the anime]].]]
* SpiritualLicensee:
** In 2010, Website/ChannelAwesome tried out a pilot for [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.wikia.com/wiki/Deadliest_Character "Deadliest Character"]] (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being the Franchise/PowerRangers piloting the [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Dino Megazord]] Vs. [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Mecha-Godzilla]]). Later that year, Screw Attack created Death Battle (a Deadliest Warrior knockoff pitting fictional characters against each other, with the first being [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] Vs. [[Franchise/StarWars Boba Fett]]). Note that according to Creator/NoahAntwiler, ''Deadliest Character'' was never really meant to be the start of an ongoing series; it was just a one-off parody of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior''. It's also very different from Death Battle in that wasn't at all meant to be taken seriously and none of the "research" presented actually factored into the decision at all, with the end of the fight being the result of an out of no-where interference specifically to parody the unlikely victories and faulty research of ''Deadliest Warrior''; Noah states plainly in his commentary of the video that he thinks the fight definitely would have gone the other way and ended the way it did just for the joke.
** Now that ''WebAnimation/OneMinuteMelee'' is no longer a part of Screw Attack, DBX is looking to take its place as another show that pits fighters against each other without research.
* SpoiledByTheFormat: A general rule known to fans is, whoever uses their strongest power or weapon first in the fight is going to lose. Because the purpose of the fight is to showcase all of both fighters' abilities and weapons, the first fighter to make use of their "X-factor" has essentially cleared out their own list of moves to show off, and leaves the floor open for their opponent to use their own "X-factor" for a comeback victory. "Wario vs. King Dedede" averts by having both combatants go all out in the beginning, then get stripped to their bare essentials later on.

** [[DiscussedTrope Boomstick himself]] doesn't know whether to be [[FetishRetardant turned on or grossed out]] by Bayonetta's hair clothes, and disgusts himself by imagining her firing the guns on her feet with weird, misplaced thumbs.
** Early on in Roshi vs Jiraiya, Jiraiya transports himself and Roshi inside a toad. Roshi's feet get stuck to the squishy, red, fleshy floor of the toad's throat, which stretch upward as he tries to pull himself out. The squishy noises don't help.
** Wario lets out a [[{{Fartillery}} WAFT]] when his ass is stuck in King Dedede's mouth. That definitely would ''not'' taste good at all, and after the explosion Dedede is seen coughing out some of the gas.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The first few notes of “Kings of the Sea” sound strikingly similar to the first few notes of All Star by Music/SmashMouth. This was apparently intentional.
* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''Link vs Cloud'''s animation is... choppy, to say the least. ''Goku vs Superman'' is a definite improvement in terms of animation.
** Season 2 is considered this compared to Season 1, having much better graphics and effects for the fights.
** After Mewtwo VS Shadow and Tracer VS Scout got a lot of hate because of their disappointing action, Cammy VS Sonya Blade and Ken VS Terry are considered much better by comparison.
* TakeThatScrappy: Slippy Toad, a character infamous for his tendency to be in need of rescue, is quickly killed by Bucky O'Hare (who mistakes Slippy for a soldier of the Toad Empire). Boomstick comments on this, stating how much he loves his job after getting to "croak the worst toad of all time."

** Some old-school fans are not happy to see Death Battle's opening theme (Invader) changed into a newer opening theme as of Season 5, since they see the original theme as an iconic piece of the show that has been around for seven years, and demand [=ScrewAttack=] to change it back for the sake of the show's image.
** Similarly, Death Battle's use of original music instead of iconic tracks from each combatants' franchises starting from Season 4 onward did not go well with some fans, as they felt the charm the show originally had is now lost.
** Some felt that removing the “FIGHT” before matches Season 6 onward removed some of the fun, especially in some cases where it could easily be inserted without interruption.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: At an early point during the ninth season, Death Battle began a mini-series on social media accounts called Death Battle Feats, which usually is about fun facts about the combatants in an episode, similar to the old series Desk of Death Battle... Which is quite odd considering that it's usually Boomstick narrating for this rather than Jocelyn who, while she does appear more frequently now in the show, would have been perfect for the job. Though this seems to have been addressed as Desk of Death Battle is returning along with Jocelyn for the Summer of 2022.

** In Eggman vs. Wily.
*** [[spoiler:Mecha Knuckles gets even less done than ''[[JokeCharacter Scratch and Grounder]]'', getting barely ''two seconds'' of screen time before he's destroyed by Guts Man.]]
*** Mecha Sonic never gets to use his [[spoiler:GoldenSuperMode]].
*** [[spoiler:Bass' SuperMode is only used in a futile attempt to stop Metal Sonic from going OneWingedAngel, when he was the only Robot Master strong enough to take him on.]]
** In Shadow vs. Vegeta.
*** [[spoiler: Super Shadow spent most of his time teleporting Super Saiyan Vegeta around via Chaos Control, which ultimately led to his undoing.]]
*** Shadow never gets to use Chaos Blast, only a failed attempt at using it just before his energy runs out.
** Paralysis is brought up when listing Pikachu's moves and abilities, but it never makes an appearance in the actual fight. In an odd inversion of WereStillRelevantDammit, electrical types (Like what Bianca would qualify as) have been immune to paralysis since Pokémon generation Six, which debuted ''after'' the episode.
** Luigi's Negative Zone had loads of potential, but its "unreliability" (of the eight possible effects, between zero and three effects are distributed at random) lead to none of the seriously debilitating effects making an appearance and affecting Tails; the random effects appeared to be "uncontrollable tripping" and "timeslow from the Stopwatch item", the former of which is negated entirely by jumping/flying, Tails' forte.
** When fighting Kirby, Buu directly turns into Kid Buu while skipping Super Buu form, who is without a doubt the smartest of the Buus. Conversely, Kirby's ability to create Helpers and many of his Copy Abilities like Rock, Ultra Sword, and Crash aren't used at all. Granted, researching and animating all of Buu's fighting forms and Kirby's abilities would've taken too much time as the episode was already delayed.
** During the rundown of Tommy Oliver's and the Tigerzord, it was determined that Tommy could call on the Zords of the other rangers (as they had done so before on the show) which he uses to form the [=MegaTigerzord=]. However, since he could call ''any'' of the other rangers' Zords, there was nothing stopping him from calling the Red Dragon Zord or the Tor Carrier Zord to form the [=ThunderUltrazord=]. [[spoiler:Granted ... while Tor alone could tank a melee attack from Serpentara, the [=ThunderUltrazord=] was notoriously slow, and it's final attack (flying up and landing on the enemy) would have been near impossible to land on the very quick Epyon, so it likely would have made little to no difference anyway.]]
** Hawkeye Vs. Green Arrow: While we get to see Hawkeye's 25 megaton arrow and the massive destruction that it brings, we don't get to see Green Arrow's warhead arrow.
** Charizard vs. Greymon: [=SkullGreymon=] and [=MetalGreymon=] are mentioned in the character summations, but don't make an appearance in the battle itself, [[spoiler:although Agumon didn't need those forms to win the battle.]]
** In Dante vs Bayonetta, both Trish and Jeanne step in to assist their partners. At one point Dante and Trish attack together, however Bayonetta and Jeanne don't get the same opportunity, even though combined they have been able to summon a PhysicalGod to fight on their behalf. Whether or not Queen Sheba may have any sort of impact on the battle is unknown, but it does seem odd with the two together there was not even an attempt at a combined summoning. Although considering that Trish and Jeanne's inclusions would count as outside help, it most likely that Queen Sheba's use wouldn't be allowed anyway.
** Bowser wasn't given a whole lot; Giga Bowser, Meowser, the magic staves/wands, the Double Cherry, and the Safety Ring in particular were not considered. [[spoiler:The community consensus agrees that those last three would be a viable counter for Ganon's killing magic and could possibly circumvent his holy weapons no-limits fallacy.]]
** On the other hand, Ganondorf's weapons and extensive magical abilities are mentioned but all-but completely ignored sans his trident (and only in Ganon form) and light balls, which sort of rounds out with Bowser's single hammer and tennis racket. He largely fights using hand-to-hand while only using his magical blasts occassionally, which can leave a sour taste in those who dislike his portrayal in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' who almost exclusively fights bare-handed.
** Neither Clank nor Daxter were given their SuperMode (Giant/Alpha Clank and Dark Daxter) and Ratchet wasn't given any of his higher-tier armor or gadget boots.
** Similar to Shadow vs. Vegeta, Shadow and Mewtwo hardly demonstrated much of their abilities during their Death Battle, [[spoiler:mostly due to Mewtwo not screwing around and getting right to the point by mind-wiping Shadow]]. Unlike the first time though, Shadow does get to use Chaos Blast.
** One of the many complaints of Tracer vs Scout is that Scout was not given his full arsenal, or at the very least, not given more of his iconic weapons like the Mad Milk, the Sandman, and the Flying Guillotine. And while the Force-A-Nature and the Soda Popper where mentioned in the analysis, they were never actually used in the fight. On top of that, Scout's double jump ability and running speed were never put to good use. In addition, some people also complained that Scout should've gained access to his Mann vs Machine upgrades like the canteens and the magic spells from Halloween mode.
** During Amy Rose vs Ramona Flowers, Ramona pulls Amy into her subspace bag to fight her [[MesACrowd emotional clones]]. What could have been one of the most interesting and fast paced sequences of the season is quickly thrown out the window and Amy defeats them all within five seconds off-screen.
** A minor one with Natsu VS Ace but prior to the episode's release, Ben revealed a teaser for the episode, showing the setting to be almost exactly the same as the previous Fairy Tail VS One Piece fight; Zoro VS Erza. This lead many people to assume that the fight would start due to [[spoiler: Natsu going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for Erza's death]]. Instead Erza doesn't get so much as a mention and the fight starts because Ace stole food.
** A minor one with ''DBX''[='s=] Vegeta vs. Zod fight -- while they loved the fight, after hearing Lanipator's angry roars as Vegeta pummels Zod over kidnapping Trunks, many fans wished that they used ''Bulma'' instead, just so they could hear Lani's take on Vegeta's famous "[[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods THAT'S MY BULMA!]]" line.
** The fight music for Jotaro VS Kenshiro was called 'Bizarre Stars'. While the music was overall well received, a majority of fans were disappointed that the song was not called 'Fist of the Joestar'.

** A minor complaint, but some fans are disappointed that Leon Kennedy VS Frank West wasn't saved for October for an appropriate Halloween-themed Death Battle, since both combatants have experience in fighting the undead. There's even a segment mid-way through the fight where both combatants fight hordes of zombies in-between, making the episode an ironic twist of wasted opportunity for such an occasion. From the same fight, we sadly don't get to see more of Frank's ability to [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman dress up as other Capcom characters and imitate their weapons and powers]] beyond a single [[Franchise/MegaMan Mega Buster]] shot, which is especially unfortunate as one of them is based on one of Leon's fellow Resident Evil characters, Jill Valentine.
** Jin Kazama has his voice lines from his ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' voice actor Creator/BradSwaile. Brad did do a decent job, but due to the main ''Tekken'' games having characters speak their native languages, most would have preferred that Screwattack re-used voice lines from his Japanese Seiyuu, Creator/IsshinChiba.
** Ben 10 appearing as a character meant this was inevitable, but some felt a few select aliens would have been interesting for Hal to engage. In particular were Feedback and Chromostone due to their EnergyAbsorption powers and Upgrade possibly hacking into the Power Ring. Other popular choices were fan favorites that could have made the fight more entertaining, namely [[LargeHam Rath.]] In fact, all the aliens used were from the Original Series ([=XLR8=], Four Arms, Heatblast, Grey Matter and Way Big) with the exception of Alien X.
** A lot of fans wanted Mitsuru to use the infamous Marin Karin during the fight, because of how absolutely hilarious it could have been to see Weiss charmed by Mitsuru.[[note]]Not to mention the... [[GirlOnGirlIsHot implications.]][[/note]] Unfortunately, Marin Karin was never even mentioned by name, and was only part of Mitsuru's background screen... though it is said how much she uses it.
* ToughActToFollow:
** Being the most requested, longest, most extensive and most viewed video of the series to date, it's pretty obvious that the first Goku VS Superman casts a heavy shadow over Death Battle in terms of production and scale. Not so much that the rest is not enjoyable, but just OvershadowedByAwesome. As of Season 5, that status seems to have been shifted to Thanos VS Darkseid.
** Many felt that the Season 2 finale, Pokémon vs Digimon, failed to live up to the hype that comes with a season finale. Not helped by the fact that Goku vs Superman 2 was treated as a regular episode earlier in the season.
** The Season 3 premier episode featured a gorgeous 3D animation of Bayonetta vs Dante (arguably one of the best ever so far). Immediately after that Death Battle, the pilot episode of the new SpinOff called DBX premiered with Dante and Bayonetta's partners Trish and Jeanne fighting, with a completely different animator. The shift is downright jarring, especially since Jeanne and Trish were also fighting in the actual Death Battle only for their match to resolved in a much lower quality.
** Season 3 in general is considered the worst season overall for the amount of controversy behind them, and coming right after Season 2 (which many consider had the most consistent results and fight scenes), and even before that, Season 1 (to the more nostalgic fans).
** DBX was not well-received in comparison to One Minute Melee when it first began in 2016. A common complaint leveled at the show in its first season was that many of the fights felt slow and stiff in comparison to OMM (largely owing to using less experienced animators), though individual episodes like ''Ryu vs. Lucario'', ''Bruce Lee vs The World'', ''Jotaro vs Yu'' and ''Predator vs. Prophet'', were generally well-liked, and even "joke" episodes like ''Ronald [=McDonald=] vs Colonel Sanders'' and ''Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton'' were well-received. [[GrowingTheBeard Overall, it's generally agreed that the show improved significantly during its second season, with most fights gaining much more praise.]]
** With Torrian stepping down as lead 3D animator, concerns have been voiced about the quality of future battles without him at the helm. If the positive reception to the new team's first animation (''Optimus Prime vs. Gundam'') is any indication, it can at least be said that they are going off on a good start.
* UnintentionalUncannyValley:
** Donkey Kong's sprites may be this for some. His body is disturbingly realistic, what with the overly muscly build and Popeye-tier arms that seem too long for the body, and his head looks like it could pop off from it at any second. Borders onto NightmareFuel thanks to some of DK's deranged expressions, which makes him look less like a cartoonish and friendly gorilla and more like a feral and rabid creature.

* UnconventionalLearningExperience: Not only do we get a generous handful of math, science, and history lessons throughout the series; but many viewers also gain an interest on the more obscure combatants and their series. Oftentimes, the more obscure combatant of the battle typically draws more interest by fans who go on to learn about them, Bucky O'Hare and Gamera being big examples.

** While ''Manga/OnePiece'' characters were commonly requested for Death Battle over the years, the fact that the manga has yet to be finished had almost everyone dismissing them for a long while to come. Then came Roronoa Zoro's announcement, which caught a lot of people by surprise. Almost nobody expected him (or any ''One Piece'' character for the matter) to appear this early. The same could also be said for [[Manga/FairyTail Erza Scarlet]] to a lesser extent, because like ''One Piece'', the ''Fairy Tail'' manga was still ongoing at the time of release, albeit in its final arc.
** When [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge [=McDuck=]]] was announced, nearly everyone expected his opponent to be either [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Wario]] or [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Mr. Krabs]], given that both of these characters share similar traits to Scrooge like greed, obsession with wealth, and treasure hunting. Almost nobody expected VideoGame/ShovelKnight. Similarly, Scrooge himself was an unexpected choice to appear in Death Battle as a combatant, because nearly everyone thought he was either unfit, too obscure, or just unlikely.
** When ComicBook/{{Carnage}} was announced for a Death Battle, no one could have possibly called his opponent: Lucy from ''Manga/ElfenLied''. Though they're both incredibly similar in abilities and personality, Elfen Lied is a CultClassic, with Lucy not having nearly the amount of requests or popularity as Carnage would.
** Though ComicBook/{{Ultron}} was requested to appear in the series, most fans expected him to be pitted against ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} rather than [[VideoGame/MegaManX Sigma.]] It's also HilariousInHindsight after the two joined forces as a BigBadDuumvirate and [[FusionDance merged]] in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'' - in fact, Ultron-Sigma's existence itself was cited as a reason why ''Ultron vs. Sigma'' grew in popularity over time.
** While thematic, Black Widow and Widowmaker had their fair share of alternate requested opponents before their match-up was announced. The latter in particular was expected to continue the ''Overwatch''/''Team Fortress 2'' rivalry against the Sniper, or even just fight another sniper like ComicBook/{{Deadshot}}. The former, meanwhile, was expected to face off against someone like ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}.
** WesternAnimation/Ben10 vs. ComicBook/GreenLantern caught many offguard. While both have been requested, it was more common to pit Ben against someone like WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom and Green Lantern against ComicBook/{{Nova}}. The former is from a youth-oriented action animated series, the latter is from a cosmic comic book series with a wide mythos aimed primarily at adults. While thematically they make sense, it was a matchup few would even ''think of'', let alone request.
** Weiss vs. Mitsuru is a downplayed example. While many have been asking for a ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'' character to appear for a while, many expected either Joker, Yu, or Aigis over a supporting party member like Mitsuru. Downplayed, though, since given Death Battle's general hesitance to include RPG characters (citing the genre's emphasis on player-influence and choice introducing too many variables to really get a sense of what the character is canonically capable of accomplishing), it makes more sense for them to include a character like Mitsuru, who has a more concrete powerset as well as a greater focus in spinoff games like ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', making her a better fit than one of the more customizable Wild Card characters.
** Yoda (of ''Franchise/StarWars'') and King Mickey (of ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'') were both very unexpected characters due to the unlikely odds of having either in the show. For the former, Ben Singer mentioned that he disliked Yoda's fighting style in the prequels and couldn't deal with focusing on it to make an episode. For the latter, it's because Disney is notorious for suing people over the use of Mickey Mouse. As such, having ''both'' characters fight each other in the debut battle of Season 8 was quite the huge surprise, especially to those who thought it could never happen.
** Season 6 of DBX features an RunningGag with Ringmaster alienating his co-workers when he invites them to be ''his'' guest announcers, only for them to steal the spotlight because they don't do exactly what he says. After exhausting Wiz, Boomstick, and DUMMI, Ringmaster brings in Perfect Cell from Creator/TeamFourStar and [=DevilArtemis=]'s ''Cell Vs.'' series. He comes completely out of left field and ends up humiliating Ringmaster because dressing up and acting like [[Franchise/TheMuppets Kermit the Frog]] was part of ''his own'' contract for appearing.

* ValuesDissonance: Possibly part of the massive backlash from ''Goku Vs. Superman.'' Superman is portrayed as rather arrogant and somewhat disrespectful of Goku as well as being cocky and angered by Goku's challenge. These are all traits shared by DBZ villains, thus subconsciously side with Goku. What isn't considered here is the fact that Superman is usually a pretty chill and reasonable person outside of the Death Battle and his attitude here is probably because he doesn't like to fight and Goku is forcing him to.
* VocalMinority: There may be episodes with their fair share of detractors, some more extreme than others, but for every person who hates the fight or thinks it's wrong, there's probably five more who don't care, agree, or just want to see another one.

** For many, ''Ratchet and Clank vs. Jak and Daxter'' saved Season 3 after the previous two battles went down in infamy for multiple reasons.
** When ''The Meta vs. Agent Carolina'' was announced, many expressed disappointment at the fact it was two characters from the same series ''and'' being a [[{{Crossover}} collab with RoosterTeeth]]. When the actual fight came, some of those people were brought around both through the unique nature of the fight (with the Reds and Blues taking part in the analysis with all the HilarityEnsues that implies) and the quality of the animation, plus the humor. [[BrokenBase Not everyone]], especially those who already hated Yang vs Tifa (see Fan Hater above), but many.
** ''Ken VS Terry'' is shaping up to be the most well-received 2D fight of Season 3 thus far, and is considered by quite a few to be a return to form for the series as a whole. Most definitely helping this; it came right after ''Tracer VS Scout'', one of the most poorly-received episodes of the season, if not the whole show.
** It seems Season 4 as a whole is doing this, what with the fights being much closer and the winners being much less controversial than the previous season. (Not to mention featuring Power Rangers vs Voltron, one of the most requested fights in the show's history). Although, it is still receiving some flak for its more "[[ForegoneConclusion lopsided]]" match-ups (Scrooge [=McDuck=] vs Shovel Knight, Venom vs Bane, and Android 18 vs Captain Marvel comes to mind).
** Like Season 4, Season 2 of DBX is agreed to be much better than the previous one. The jump in quality is so big that some fans says that DBX has surpassed his direct competitor, One Minute Melee. This is due to the less experimentation, the experience the new animators have been gaining, and the internal problems Hyun Dojo have to retain their animators, who returned to Screwattack.
** To a lesser extent, the announcement of ''Balrog vs. TJ Combo'' received derision from fans of the series, many of whom thought it was a decision that no one asked for. Pre-episode announcements like the fight being animated by Torrian and being presented as an actual boxing match quelled some of the matchup's critics, and when the episode was finally released, it received critical acclaim, considered by many to be the best fight of Season 4, if not the entire show.
** After ''Deadpool vs. Pinkie Pie'' was considered anticlimactic as a finale for the third season, the fourth season finale ''Vergil vs. Sephiroth'' was praised as more fitting and epic upon announcement.
* TheWoobie:
** Luigi and Tails are probably the two most pitiable combatants in Death Battle to date. Luigi is in a perpetual state of fear and never has his accomplishments recognized, while Tails had his parents killed mere minutes after his birth. Putting the two of them in a fight to the death feels horribly wrong. [[spoiler: In particular, Luigi's last scream is chilling, and there's a [[WildMassGuessing Wild Mass Guess]] that he's doing this out of grief-induced madness over his brother's death. Not only that, but Tails must now live with the fact that he had to kill a man at such a young age in order to survive.]]
** Zechs Merquise could count as well after the events of Epyon vs Tigerzord. [[spoiler: Ocular Gushers or not, it's still sad to see him pitifully crying over his dead girlfriend among the ruins of her Gundam.]]
** Guts has had more shit heaped on him than the previous three characters combined. He started out as an infant birthed from a corpse and things somehow went downhill for him from there. [[spoiler:And considering the entries on the EsotericHappyEnding, FridgeHorror and NightmareFuel sections, he's not going to have a good fate even after destroying Nightmare and Soul Edge.]]
** Hank [=McCoy=], AKA [[ComicBook/XMen The Beast]], was rejected by his hometown and even his own parents when it became apparent he was a mutant. He was so distraught that he tried to use his scientific knowledge to "cure" his mutation, but ended up looking even more inhuman than before.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} Goliath]], his opponent, is no slouch in the sadness department. He lost most of his clan to a bunch of [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful bastards]] they were supposed to protect, and the remnants of this family were cursed to never awaken again until the castle they slept on flew above the clouds. By a stroke of luck, it did, but Goliath and the last of his clan were now confronted with the challenge of adjusting to a land they knew nothing about.
** It's hard not to feel sorry for Dan Hibiki. Nothing the guy tries ever goes his way, he's a natural klutz who always botches his chances at looking awesome and upon [[spoiler: making it to the afterlife, his father shuns him in disappointment.]] [[ThrowTheDogABone His opponent in contrast, actually manages to score an actual victory.]]
** He's only a Woobie in the actual Death Battle, but [[spoiler: Red really got it bad. Sure, he tried to capture Agumon, but getting the crap kicked out of him by Tai, having his legs broken by Charizard being thrown at him, and being burned alive along with his Pokémon by Wargreymon's Terra Force ranks among one of the most disturbing fates a Death Battle combatant has suffered, especially since he's only '''16 years old'''.]]
** [[spoiler: Red]] also stands out as unique among combatants in that he never seemed to realize, at any point during the fight, that it was a fight to the death.
** If you're at all familiar with ''Friendship is Magic'', then you'd know Twilight Sparkle's had a lot of BreakTheCutie moments, ''and'' the poor thing can become a NervousWreck whose actions sometimes [[NiceJobBreakingItHero end up making a situation worse]]. [[spoiler:The fight proper ends up with her having to fight for her life against a royally pissed off Raven due to an accident, end up inadvertently making the situation worse with the Want It Need It spell, have all her emotions drained by her Soul-Self, and then get rammed into the ground by said Soul-Self at Mach 36. At the very least, it's [[AmbiguousEnding ambiguous]] as to whether she perished from the impact, but then that leaves a MortonsFork: are you okay with her being dead and watching as all of Equestria is forced to move on without their beloved princess, or do you want her to survive and see [[BrokenPedestal a disillusioned Raven]]?]]
** Spyro ends up becoming this, even more than in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'' trilogy: [[spoiler:despite the fact that he won, he watched his adoptive brother get squished by Crash before the battle began and is now stuck as [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Spyro]] due to Cynder being nowhere in sight.]]
** Poor Volnutt was given no mercy. Being outclassed by all the other Mega Men in the fight, [[spoiler: Volnutt was quickly determined to have no chance of winning, as his own power, while impressive, was nothing compared to even Mega Man Classic's. In the end, he was ignored like a nuisance by all the other Mega Men and went down with little fanfare.]]
** Steven ends up getting it BRUTAL, especially if one had watched ''Steven Universe Future'' prior to watching Steven Universe Vs Star Butterfly. [[spoiler:The kid had already gone through a crapload of hardships in his life in his series and outright got trauma as a result of it. And now, here he is with the (unaware) Star accidentally starting a fight with him that leads to her unintentionally triggering said traumas and activating his Pink Steven form as he yells at her to leave him alone. The result of the battle? Steven getting murdered harshly. It doesn't help that the episode portrays him as a really nice guy too prior to his transformation, with him requesting Star to stop attacking, and even pausing in the fight to tend to some Watermelon Stevens.]]
** Jonathan Joestar and Tanjiro get this hard in their fight, [[spoiler:especially at the end. After a brutal fight over Nezuko, Jonathan lands a killing blow on Tanjiro, prompting Tanjiro to weakly tell Jonathan that Nezuko is his sister. Jonathan is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone devastated about this]] and promises to protect her in Tanjiro's stead, except when he reaches his hand out to her, she appears to be nervous to take it. All this over a misunderstanding.]]

* UncannyValley:

TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: At an early point during the ninth season, Death Battle began a mini-series on social media accounts called Death Battle Feats, which usually is about fun facts about the combatants in an episode, similar to the old series Desk of Death Battle... Which is quite odd considering that it's usually Boomstick narrating for this rather than Jocelyn who, while she does appear more frequently now in the show, would have been perfect for the job. Though this seems to have been addressed as Desk of Death Battle is returning along with Jocelyn for the Summer of 2022.

** The Ruby Rose vs Ragna the Bloodedge DBX got a ''ton'' of backlash for this. Considering that it started with a ''[=RWBY=]'' trailer, prominently featured the main character of the series, was scored entirely with music from ''[=RWBY=]'', and Ruby's opponent was a character that [[TakeThat the series only ever brings up to make fun of]] -- on top of ''Death Battle'' being owned by Creator/RoosterTeeth -- the episode was immediately (and correctly) guessed to be [[CurbStompBattle an utter stomp]] in favour of [[CreatorsPet the company's golden goose]] before it even began. Even more so when in the fight itself, Ragna was nerfed even ''further'' -- by [[AdaptationalWimp not using any of his powers and abilities beyond his basic scythe-wielding]] -- and put up practically no resistance to Ruby.

* UnconventionalLearningExperience: Not only do we get a generous handful of math, science, and history lessons throughout the series; but many viewers also gain an interest on the more obscure combatants and their series. Oftentimes, the more obscure combatant of the battle typically draws more interest by fans who go on to learn about them, Bucky O'Hare and Gamera being big examples.

%% Critical Research Failure is for things ''anyone'' would know is wrong, not just dedicated fans. Please do not add specific examples.

** [[spoiler:Namor's brutal death]] in Aquaman VS Namor could be this depending how strongly the viewer feels about [[spoiler: Namor's MoralEventHorizon's in ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' and in ''Comicbook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'']].

** Both Johnathan Joestar and Tanjiro get this hard in their fight, [[spoiler:especially at the end. After a brutal fight over Nezuko, Johnathan lands a killing blow on Tanjiro, prompting Tanjiro to weakly tell Johnathan that Nezuko is his sister. Johnathan is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone devastated about this]] and promises to protect her in Tanjiro's stead, except when he reaches his hand out to her, she appears to be nervous to take it. All this over a misunderstanding.]]

** A rivalry with another series, Cartoon Fight Club is scathing between fans, with many arguing about accuracy and quality with both. Conflicting results with similar fights don't exactly help matters, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that will be said on the matter.]]

* SeasonalRot: Season 3 is so far considered the weakest season the show has, even by hardcore fans. While the fight animations are still well done, and the show has been subject to controversy ever since it began, Season 3 to many started off weak, with ''Dante vs Bayonetta'' and ''Bowser vs Ganon'' having controversial outcomes, and many of the season's battles (especially ''Flash vs. Quicksilver'' being criticized for being massive {{Curbstomp Battle}}s[[note]]Of Season 3's 14-episode run, only four were widely deemed to have been close fights, and one of them was between characters of the same series. Many of these fights (with ''Flash vs. Quicksilver'' being the most infamous example) drew groans upon being announced because of how poorly balanced the matchups were with even a cursory glace at each fighter's abilities, which many fans feels sucked a lot of hype out of the speculation between episodes. There were, thankfully, some exceptions, with the hosts stating that ''Hulk vs. Doomsday'' in particular was one of their closest yet.[[/note]] (ironically, Season 5 would eventually have an even higher number of curbstomps, but generally avoided most of the panning that Season 3 received due to most of the matchups being heavily requested). Several episodes were also controversial even by ''Death Battle'' standards[[note]]''Joker vs. Sweet Tooth'' had a controversial ending due to one of the deciding factors being considered spectulation, ''Mewtwo vs. Shadow'' was blasted for its lacking animation, the aforementioned controversy surrounding ''The Meta vs Carolina'' (along with minor criticism directed towards the outcome); ''Tracer vs. Scout'', which was bashed for its mediocre fight scene, and for how certain parts of the fanbase believed that [[spoiler:Scout]] was unfairly represented in said fight; and ''Cammy vs. Sonya'', due to accusations of Cammy's strength being heavily downplayed and them ignoring all but two of her feats from the first UDON series while greatly exaggerating Sonya's strength by using the Test Your Might mini-game from the first Mortal Kombat, despite previous episodes featuring MK characters never using Test Your Might to gauge their strength[[/note]] Some theorize that [=ScrewAttack's=] joint venture with Rooster Teeth played a heavy hand in the season's decline in quality (with ''Carolina vs. the Meta'' being pointed as an example, especially with what [[http://forums.screwattack.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=30054&start=180 Ben]] had to say in response to the fandom's general disinterest for the episode's release), [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment but that's an entire other can of worms]]. However, the later episodes (''Ken vs Terry'', ''Amy vs Ramona'', ''Hulk vs Doomsday'' and ''Zoro vs Erza'') as well as the relatively early ''Ratchet and Clank vs. Jak and Daxter'' were much more well-received by the fans, especially in the forums and the wikis. Other people, however, think that the jump in the season's quality came too late to absolve the season's rocky start.

* UnexpectedCharacter: Season 6 of DBX features an RunningGag with Ringmaster alienating his co-workers when he invites them to be ''his'' guest announcers, only for them to steal the spotlight because they don't do exactly what he says. After exhausting Wiz, Boomstick, and DUMMI, Ringmaster brings in Perfect Cell from Creator/TeamFourStar and [=DevilArtemis=]'s ''Cell Vs.'' series. He comes completely out of left field and ends up humiliating Ringmaster because dressing up and acting like [[Franchise/TheMuppets Kermit the Frog]] was part of ''his own'' contract for appearing.