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1!!Fridge pages are Administrivia/SpoilersOff by default, so all spoilers were removed and all entries folderized. Proceed with caution. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
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3[[foldercontrol]]
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5!FridgeBrilliance
6[[folder:General/Multiple]]
7* Most rappers have a distinct style that fits the character that the public knows them as (Mr. Rogers talks softly and gently, Mr. T yells a lot, Skrillex uses the "stutter" technique that's popular in dubstep during his vocals, etc.). Two things that stand out are Sherlock Holmes and Shakespeare's raps. They both make very good use of multis (multisyllabic rhymes-- i.e., "Deuce stain," "Bruce Wayne." The two phrases rhyme, as opposed to just one word rhyming with another), and they rhyme on the same line impressively ("No gonads, egads, it's so sad"). This could be because Sherlock Holmes is always portrayed as an amazingly quick thinker who can formulate brilliance in almost no time at all, and Shakespeare because, obviously, he's a literary genius. Their rhymes seem to stand out from the other rappers', most of whom use basic rhymes, and sometimes words that don't rhyme at all.
8** Any time there's a composer involved (such as Mozart, Beethoven, etc), his music is worked into the hip-hop while he's rapping.
9[[/folder]]
10
11[[folder:Season 1]]
12[[AC: Music/JohnLennon vs. Bill O'Reilly]]
13* Why does Lennon hate Bill O'Reilly so much? Well Lennon was a leftwing activist. If he was alive today, he ''would'' hate O'Reilly and his ilk.
14
15[[AC: [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] vs. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler 1]]
16* Hitler hating Darth Vader makes a lot of sense when you consider that a lot of the cast of Star Wars is Jewish (Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/FrankOz, etc.).
17** And Darth Vader himself was voiced by a black actor, Creator/JamesEarlJones.
18* Hitler says that he prefers the [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} "Rick Moranis version"]] of Darth Vader. Creator/RickMoranis is Jewish. Either he doesn't know about Moranis's ethnicity, or he hates Vader more than he hates the Jews. Either way, it's hilarious.
19* "Little known fact, also dope on the mic" - Not just about the rap battle thing, but referencing how Hitler motivated Germany with his renowned speeches.
20* Hitler claimed he went BACK in time to mess with Vader in the prequel. The Star Wars movies were set a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.
21** Also why Vader claims he's the one who invented everything that Hitler did.
22** Or maybe it's because it's the ''prequel.'' It took place ''before'' the original trilogy.
23* Why does Vader claim Hitler's stormtroopers look like “someone took a piece of shit and cloned it”? Hitler's soldiers often wore black or brown, the color of, well, Skrillexcrement, while Vader's stormtroopers wear white. In terms of quality, they're also much more technologically advanced and managed to invade an entire galaxy.
24* Hitler saying Vader is "not even a real person" seems to be a reference to the fact that Vader is a fictional character. However, Vader is also severely disabled, which in Hitler's view would make him not qualify as human. Additionally, Vader's [[ThatManIsDead true and former identity]] was Anakin Skywalker.
25
26[[AC: UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln vs. Creator/ChuckNorris]]
27* Lincoln ''did'' win the Civil War "Four Score and Sixty-Five years in the past". The battle was released in 2010 and was exactly 145 years since the Civil War ended in 1865.
28
29[[AC: UsefulNotes/SarahPalin vs. Music/LadyGaga]]
30* Why is Lady Gaga played by [=NicePeter=]? Because, as Sarah Palin alludes to, when she first debuted, many people thought she was a transvestite.
31
32[[AC: Wrestling/HulkHogan vs. Kim Jong-Il]]
33* Hulk Hogan's mention of owning Kim Jong-Il in a way akin to a "''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' puppet show" might seem like an obvious mistake [[DumbMuscle on his part]]. However, he's probably thinking of ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', also created by South Park creators Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone, which also featured the so-called Glorious Leader as the primary antagonist.
34** In addition, when Hogan says he'll leg drop Kim Jong-Il 'back to Beijing' it's easy to discount that as an ignorant mistake. With that said, North Korea were aided by Chinese forces during the Korean War. A mistake by Hogan, but not by the creators.
35* It makes sense that Hogan would (rap) battle a world leader, since, at one point, he led an infamous stable which went by the name ''Wrestling/NewWorldOrder'' which [[WagTheDirector played a key part]] on the (metaphoric) destruction of [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} a world]].
36
37[[AC: Music/JustinBieber vs. Music/LudwigVanBeethoven]]
38* Beethoven's comment "Ask Bach, I got more cock than Smith & Wesson" seems inexplicable when you know that Bach died twenty years before Beethoven was born. Then you realize Beethoven is probably not talking about THE Bach (that would be Johann Sebastian) but one of J.S.'s equally musical sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel. EpicLloyd (who portrays Bach in the Beethoven vs. Justin Bieber rap) even looks a bit like C.P.E Bach.
39* Beethoven's remark about Justin Bieber being a "Little White Usher" has a double meaning. The obvious meaning is what is shown in the video, where Bieber turns into a ticket usher; but it also refers to the fact that Music/{{Usher}} is the name of a musician who helped promote him.
40
41[[AC: UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein vs. Creator/StephenHawking]]
42* Stephen Hawking sings "I've got 12-inch rims on my chair, that's how I roll y'all". It turns out that really is how Stephen Hawking rolls.
43** Further, the Million-million bit is actually how he described such large numbers.
44* "Dropping mad apples on your head from the shoulder of giants". At first, it might seem a bit out of place, as the reference is to Sir Isaac Newton, rather than Hawking or Einstein. But then you remember that, not only has Hawking authored a book called ''On the Shoulders of Giants'' (in which he talks about Einstein and Newton, among others), but both Hawking and Newton have held the same position as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in Cambridge. In other words, while Einstein could easily be described as Newton's spiritual successor, Hawking holds legitimate claim to being Newton's ''literal'' successor.
45
46[[AC: UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan vs. the Easter Bunny]]
47* Genghis Khan vs. the Easter Bunny seems to be a battle of opposites, but they do have one theme in common: Genghis outright stated that he has an enormous amount of descendants in the present day, and [[ExplosiveBreeder what are bunnies known for?]]
48
49[[AC: UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte vs. Film/NapoleonDynamite]]
50* Dynamite's line "Why don't you crawl back in your little shell and escargot the heck home?" seems at first to be no more than an awful pun on "escargot." Then you remember that escargot comes from a snail, which ''crawls'' and has a ''shell.''
51
52[[AC: Creator/BenjaminFranklin vs. Creator/BillyMays]]
53* The only thing Mays liked about Franklin was that he founded the U.S. postal system. Since all the products he sells are mail order, he really would appreciate that.
54
55[[AC: Gandalf vs. Dumbledore]]
56* Of course Gandalf wouldn't consider Dumbledore a "real fighter". The former wields a sword, whereas the latter relies entirely on magic.
57* When Gandalf was reincarnated, he didn't just become a more powerful wizard. His name changed from "the Gray" to "the White", and his wardrobe followed suit. "Makes my brights brighter", indeed.
58
59[[AC: Creator/DrSeuss vs. Creator/WilliamShakespeare]]
60* Many fans claimed that Shakespeare's first verse didn't flow well. Then there's the lyric "I hath gone iambic on that ass, ye bastard". Shakespeare's first verse is actually in iambic pentameter and once you realize that, the first verse flows perfectly with the beat.
61* When the Cat in the Hat raps about Theatre/{{Macbeth}}, the blackboard behind him has the equation "1+2=SO MUCH BLOOD". [[{{Foreshadowing}} Later,]] Things 1 and 2 show up and start threatening to stick their feet up Shakespeare's ass.
62* The reason why Dr. Seuss never spoke himself and let his creations rap for him? The real Dr. Seuss died from cancer in his jaw/throat area, which made it very difficult to speak in the days before he died.
63* Dr. Seuss uses his book-written characters to duel Shakespeare. Shakespeare can't do that since all of his are dead.
64* Shakespeare's SophisticatedAsHell style makes a lot more sense when you realize how many dirty jokes he put in his plays.
65* The Cat in the Hat is Seuss's first creation in-battle. The good doctor himself considered himself to be the Cat on his "good days." [[note]] And the Grinch on his "bad days." [[/note]]
66** The only play the Cat directly mentions is Macbeth. Makes sense when you remember that the magicians from Seuss's own ''Bartholomew and the Oobleck'' are based on the witches from Macbeth.
67
68[[AC: Creator/MrT vs. Mr. Rogers]]
69* Mr. Roger's break dancing is not just a random juxtaposition against his calmness throughout the battle. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw_GnjE-des Watch this and see for yourself]].
70* At the end, Rogers tells Mr. T to "get the [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] out of his neighbourhood." Rogers never swore on his show; with Mr. T, Rogers finally lost his patience.
71
72[[AC: UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus vs. [[Franchise/StarTrek Captain Kirk]]]]
73* The reason Captain Kirk hates Columbus so much is because Columbus is one of the greatest examples in history of why the PrimeDirective is necessary.
74** Also why Kirk's rap derails towards the end into an attack on Queen Isabella.
75* Columbus's claims he has "a neck chop for Spock, I'll put my sword through Sulu" aren't threats, they're boasts - Spock is famous for his 'Vulcan neck pinch' and Sulu is a fencer.
76* Columbus claims to be more of "a ''real'' explorer" than Kirk. He's right: Kirk is a ''fictional'' explorer.
77
78[[AC: Nice Peter vs. Epic Lloyd]]
79* Peter claims that Lloyd played a ''mean'' Hitler. This is a double compliment: "mean" doesn't just mean he was good at acting, but that he was good at being a jerkass, which Hitler clearly was.
80
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder:Season 2]]
84[[AC:General]]
85* At first, Beethoven's inclusion in the season 2 trailer seems misleading, but then you remember that the Mozart Vs Skrillex battle had a similar premise to the Beethoven Vs Justin Bieber battle: Classical musician Vs modern musician.
86
87[[AC:Darth Vader vs. Adolf Hitler 2]]
88* Darth Vader raps the line "Ask Indiana Jones who the fuck I am". The Indiana Jones movies (or at least the original trilogy) take place in the 1930's, and the Nazis are recurring enemies in the movies. Hell, Indy bumped into Hitler at one point in ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade The Last Crusade]]''. So Hitler had the chance to ask this to Indy in person! Also, obviously, an ActorAllusion as Indiana Jones was played by Creator/HarrisonFord, who had more than a few run-ins with Vader in his role as Han Solo.
89* Hitler tells Vader that he appears to be in pain, right after the latter removes his iconic helmet.
90** He also tells Vader to take a trip on his train. The obvious joke is a reference to the transportation of Jews to concentration camps, but it also references one of the several ways his opposition tried to assassinate him; where they bombed the train Hitler was supposed to be on.
91* Hitler refers to Vader as "black". This is not only a reference to his armor's color, but also to the fact that he is voiced by Creator/JamesEarlJones.
92
93[[AC:Master Chief vs. Leonidas]]
94* Leonidas chides the Chief, saying "I've had better battles with my six-year-old son!" John (the Chief) was taken from his parents when he was six years old, and it was then that he began his forced training and transformation into the Master Chief we know today. Sure, doesn't really work its way into the dis, but it's still a nice little tidbit they slipped in.
95
96[[AC:[[UsefulNotes/TheWrightBrothers Wright Brothers]] vs. [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario Brothers]]]]
97* Why [[ButtMonkey Lu]][[LovableCoward igi]] is the AxCrazy LargeHam? It could be part of his [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario Mr. L]] personality showing through, partially summoned by his anger towards the Wright Brothers.
98** Alternatively, it could be because Luigi has [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion previously]] had to fight a dude named Orville.
99* The Marios are doing the Music/PublicEnemy bit, with Luigi playing the role of Flava Flav. Notice his bling is about the size of an alarm clock.
100* Why are 8-bit fists more badass than quarters? Because quarters are only 2 bits.
101
102[[AC:Music/MichaelJackson vs. Music/ElvisPresley]]
103* The first verse shows both singers in their primes. The second shows them as the trainwrecks they became later in life.
104* During Jackson's second verse, Elvis begins eating sandwiches. He is first shown just casually taking a bite of one like it's a lunch break, but then after Jackson's line "Then you made one daughter, she came to me", he starts wolfing them down faster and looking enraged. He got his BerserkButton pressed by that line and tried to get his anger out by eating while waiting for his second verse, and in that time ended up gaining a lot more weight, hence his transition into "fat Elvis".
105* When Elvis tells Michael Jackson that he has a rap for his monkey, it might refer to Bubbles... or, given Jackson's [[MemeticMolester status among many]], it might refer to [[DoubleEntendre his other monkey]].
106* On the other hand, there's Elvis's line: "You lost your damn mind! That's why they cast you in ''Theatre/TheWiz''!" where Jackson plays the supposedly-brainless scarecrow.
107* Elvis was famous for performing in Las Vegas later in his career, which is subtly acknowledged by the stage lights behind Fat Elvis having the same shape as the famous 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign.
108
109[[AC:UsefulNotes/{{Cleopatra|VII}} vs. Creator/MarilynMonroe]]
110* Marilyn got 3 verses, the first, middle and last, while Cleopatra only got two. The third one was clearly a sort of "free throw" for Cleopatra's disgusting "Miss Carriage" joke. Evidently the announcer was ''not'' amused.
111** Alternately, Marilyn got a pretty short first verse compared to Cleopatra's first verse, so she got an extra verse to make up for it.
112* Cleopatra has a serious case of OohMeAccentsSlipping, half the time she sounds like she's from Queens, NY. Wait... Queens?
113** It could also be since she's from ancient times and no one really knows how similar accents were back then.
114* "You can't have children" is probably the most devastating insult Cleopatra could come up with. Not for emotional reasons, but because Cleopatra, as an ancient queen from a long dynasty, would have heard all her life that having children was the only way to ensure her family's continued rule. And unlike, say, [[UsefulNotes/HenryVIII Catherine of Aragon]], she ''was'' successful here, having three sons and a daughter. (Granted, one of her sons was murdered and the other two disappeared from the historical record, and this after she died and her kingdom was absorbed by Rome.)
115** Likewise, this fact meant her remarks just slammed Marilyn Monroe's BerserkButton even harder - not only is [[DudeNotFunny Cleopatra crossing a line even she'd consider taboo]], but her LackOfEmpathy of the situation - i.e., [[ManipulativeBastard seeing children as tools to]] [[ItsAllAboutMe carry on one's personal legacy]] - probably indicates that Cleopatra would've been an EvilMatriarch, and would've given ParentalNeglect at best, and [[AbusiveParents would've been a nightmare at worst]]. Even though Marilyn didn't get any children, her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Cleopatra's TakeThat shows she would've been one HELL of a MamaBear if she did have them.
116
117[[AC:Creator/SteveJobs vs. Bill Gates]]
118* Steve Jobs interrupting the typical "VERSUS!" introduction is pretty much something the real Steve Jobs did during presentations, all the time. (For instance, when being shown a prototype Segway, they asked that questions be held for the end, to which he snorted and said something like 'yeah, ''that's'' going to happen.")
119* Steve said that 'Windows bit off Apple'. Apple's logo is indeed a bitten apple.
120* The HAL 9000 going up against Bill Gates makes sense when you remember that HAL was a [[TakeThat potshot]] at IBM.
121
122[[AC:Music/FrankSinatra vs. [[Music/{{Queen}} Freddy Mercury]]]]
123* The real reason Freddie Mercury got on his feet was Music/FrankSinatra implying that ''he was using his bisexuality for publicity'' ("You'll do ''anything'' to get famous!")
124** It's also a roundabout [[HypocriticalHumor jab at Sinatra himself,]] who's rumored to have such a background, as well as being resentful of the rise of rock taking away some of his fame. Mercury, in contrast, was out most of his adult life, even when it was more taboo in the 80s, which makes Mercury's [[{{Pun}} rebuttal]] all the [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome stronger.]] It's somewhat implied that Sinatra really ''is'' bisexual (at least in the ERB) review, but made fun of Freddie for being [[ReallyGetsAround too promiscuous]] - as evidenced by the line "[[EveryoneIsBi Look, we all want to swing, baby]], [[EveryoneHasStandards but you took it to far!]]".
125* Of course the man credited for desegregating Las Vegas practically overnight[[note]]''(by threatening to not play at venues that turned away his friend Sammy Davis)''[[/note]] "can't stand a racist!"
126* Also, some of Sinatra's lyrics references some of Queen's more well known songs. Another One Bites the Dust and Bicycle Race.
127
128[[AC:UsefulNotes/BarackObama vs. Mitt Romney]]
129* Barack Obama says that Mitt Romney has a "[[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mister Fantastic]] face." Of course he would - [[JustForFun/OneOfUs Obama grew up reading Marvel comics]].
130* Obama vs. Romney is unique in that it was right before an election, and had the power to influence voters. The implications of a one-sided battle would have been enormous, and an indicator of ERB's political leanings. The candidates' bickering and Lincoln's intervention do a crucial job of keeping things balanced.
131** It can be said that Lincoln served as an AuthorAvatar with his KirkSummation telling what ERB thought of both Obama and Romney at the time - that [[NiceGuy the former is extremely likeable]], but [[WindbagPolitician didn't have the guts to fulfill his promises]], and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the later was a blatantly pro-business miser]], [[SleazyPolitician who had to resort to dirty tactics and low insults to compete against Obama]] - [[CheatersNeverProsper and was STILL coming out the loser because of it]]. Therefore, ERB can be said to have preferred Obama to Romney but only because Obama was, as Honest Abe said, "[[DamnedByFaintPraise the shiniest of two turds]]", and if ERB had their way, [[TakeAThirdOption neither would be President]] (or at least Obama would've gotten his act together during his first term).
132** Lincoln also calls out both candidates, even Romney who was a Republican like Lincoln. This is another way of keeping it politically balanced, but both parties platforms have changed significantly since Lincoln's time, with the Dems and Pubs switching places as the right and left-wing parties. Perhaps Lincoln's calling out of the Republican candidate as well as the Democratic could indicate he's unsatisfied with the direction the party has taken, as the Headscratchers page suggested.
133
134[[AC:Doc Brown vs. Series/DoctorWho]]
135* Out of eleven Doctors to choose from, they chose the Tenth and Fourth. These Doctors have been considered to be the most iconic and received great acclaim from fans.
136** Not to mention David Tennant, the actor playing the Tenth, has been on record saying that Tom Baker's run is the first he remembers- that is, the earliest Doctor he remembers is the Fourth.
137* Doc Brown's opening CatchPhrase, "Great Scott! (Not!)" has double-meaning here -- Creator/DavidTennant, the actor who played the 10th Doctor (the one of the first verse) was Scottish.
138* Doc Brown tells the Doctor to not bother trying to out-rhyme him. If you check their lines, you'll see that the majority of the Doctor's lines in either incarnation don't actually rhyme, while Doc Brown had at most one PainfulRhyme (which was the rather excusable Hot-Watts).
139* At the end of the rap, the announcer proclaims, "Who won? Who's next?" as he always does. Then the Doctor comes back to start the rap over and finish it early, thereby winning the battle. Who, indeed.
140
141[[AC:Creator/ClintEastwood vs. Creator/BruceLee]]
142* Why is Clint Eastwood so racist towards Bruce Lee? It's a reference to his character in ''Film/GranTorino''.
143* Clint Eastwood was playing dirty. Fitting, as Clint Eastwood (the actor) also played ''Film/DirtyHarry''.
144* At first, Clint Eastwood saying "Those little dances you do don't threaten me, Bruce" seems like a derogatory remark fitting to the battle's ''Film/GranTorino'' references... until you realize that might not be as unfair a comparison as it sounds. Martial arts movies in general are in fact carefully choreographed to a point where they are often compared to dances. In fact a lot of Martial Arts stars even got their start as dancers.
145** It's also doubles as a reference to Bruce Lee's status as a champion cha cha dancer.
146* Clint Eastwood's line "You should spend more time matching your voice up to your lips" may actually be a very subtle case of HypocriticalHumor. Eastwood's big acting break was playing the Man With No Name in Creator/SergioLeone's "Dollars Trilogy", but one of Leone's trademarks was his tendency to cast American actors in the lead with supporting actors from wherever he could get them. On set actors would speak their native language, be it English, French, German, Italian, or any other language and the films would then dub over certain actors based on wherever that version of the film was being marketed to, so in the case of the Italian versions of those movies, Eastwood himself was dubbed over much like Bruce Lee.
147* The line "I would mess up your face, but YourMom did it for me!" becomes a much stronger diss when you remember it's coming from a professional martial artist.
148
149[[AC:Franchise/{{Batman}} vs. Franchise/SherlockHolmes]]
150* Of course Batman would call Sherlock a dork. Deerstalker hats (Sherlock's signature hat) aren't supposed to be worn in common, even during Sherlock's time. Those hats are supposed to be worn by hunters or when people go to the countryside, not for everyday city wear.
151* Delegating Alfred to do research seems very out of character for Bruce, who is extremely thorough and the world's greatest detective. But given the nature of his lines, he doesn't think Holmes is worth any effort at all.
152* Sherlock Holmes' first verse begins with his deduction that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Almost no one in the DC Comics world knows this, yet Holmes was able to figure it out immediately. How was he able to do so? He's a master sleuth who can make connections between entities that almost no one else may have even considered.
153** It does help that this Batman mentions Alfred in his first verse, making it even easier to pinpoint who's under the cowl.
154* Invoking Robin when "he's needed:" Sherlock Holmes cannot function without Watson in the stories, because Watson is the readers' surrogate. And Watson usually does very little in unraveling the mystery, because Holmes always solves it and has to explain it to Watson. Robin at least does things. And Batman also dismisses The Boy Wonder when his aid is no longer needed in the video.
155** Robin's insults are much more juvenile (about screwing Holmes' girlfriend, breaking his fiddle, etc). Why? He's an impulsive teenager.
156* Batman doesn't make many of the deep-cut references most battlers do. That's because he didn't read the original Sherlock Holmes stories, so he's working purely off of PopCultureOsmosis.
157
158[[AC:Moses vs. SantaClaus]]
159* It's pretty clear that in America, more people celebrate Christmas than they do Hanukkah. (And the few people who can spell ''that'' may not have heard of Passover, which actually does originate from the story of Moses.) Normally, that lack of popular knowledge would lead to Santa Claus winning. But since they got Snoop Dogg (who is both well-known and raps for a living), it acted as the ultimate CurbStompCushion and made Moses the popular vote.
160* Why do Santa's elves love bacon so much? It's a great way to keep warm at the North Pole. [[ShapedLikeItself Also, because it's bacon.]]
161* Moses claims that Santa "added more mass" to Christmas. This isn't just a fat joke. "Christmas" literally means "Christ's mass." [[StealthPun It may also be a reference to mass production of toys to sell at Christmas.]] If this is true, then Moses is blaming Santa for turning a religious holiday into [[CommercializedChristmas a way for toy factories to make more money]].
162* Why did they cast Snoop Dogg, who is an African American, to play Moses? That's because the story of Moses is set in Egypt, which is located in ''Africa''.
163
164[[AC:Adam vs. Eve]]
165* The inclusion of someone named Steve in the Adam vs. Eve fight makes no sense until you remember one common anti-gay marriage slogan was "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve".
166* Adam gets the line "When things are good they're great and it's like I'm dreamin', until your junk starts bleeding and you turn to a demon!" This has two different meanings; the first is the obvious reference to females becoming crankier when on their period; "turn to a demon" as in turning into a demon. However, in the traditional Adam and Eve tale, Eve was the one who first accepted the forbidden fruit from Satan; hence the second, more subtle "turn to a demon" as in turning and listening to a demon or devil.
167* In the beginning of the rap battle, Eve boasts that it will end with Adam “kissing [her] ass and begging [her] for a rub.” After calling Eve a bitch, Adam almost immediately apologizes and soon after tries to initiate sex again— exactly like Eve said he would!
168
169[[AC:Martin Luther King vs. UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi]]
170* One of Gandhi's lines is "Leave your thoughts on the door, like the real Martin Luther." Martin Luther was also the name of the 16th century founder of Protestantism (a division of Christianity) who famously nailed a list of his "95 theses" to a church door in Germany.
171* Gandhi's suggestion that MLK plagiarize from him seems a bit odd at first. However, MLK did commit plagiarism in college, which Gandhi was mocking him for. Also, MLK did borrow a lot of his philosophies from things Gandhi said.
172* Gandhi's comment about staying away from the hoes seems out of place, but Dr. King was known for having a number of emotional trysts. This actually caused him a lot of guilt, which means what looks like an inexplicable opportunity for an awful pun is actually a surgical strike on King's self-confidence.
173** It's a double-whammy: He said it applies to protests as well. Hoes in protests? Not so much. But ''hose'' (as in fire hoses being used to disrupt protests)...
174* MLK's line about having a "No-Bell Prize" must have cut Gandhi deeply. Why? Because Mahatma Gandhi [[AwardSnub never won the Nobel Peace Prize]].
175* Why did Gandhi reject MLK Jr's forgiveness at the end? Because despite Gandhi being a pacifist spreading peace and love, some of his opinions on black people have been viewed as racist. See [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-monroe/the-gandhi-none-of-us-kne_b_842941.html here and ]] [[http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-3-2005_pg4_24 here]] [[http://www.gandhism.net/hisownwords.php also here]] [[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/17/southafrica.india this one too.]] \
176\
177[[http://www.trinicenter.com/WorldNews/ghandi5.htm This one supported the caste system and detested the "Untouchables."]] \
178\
179[[http://books.google.com/books?id=f6vvy-J7vhcC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=gandhi+treatment+of+untouchables&source=bl&ots=ybGwaIHo9e&sig=SfxLfE6FBLJO23dajySN0NIRkrc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5_VmUuu8HrKy4APr4YHYAw&ved=0CHAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=gandhi%20treatment%20of%20untouchables&f=false Page 56 of this excerpt on Google Books talks about how poorly Gandhi treated the Untouchables, despite allegedly fighting for their freedom. He basically looked down on them as helpless, stupid subhumans who had to be rescued and couldn't think or act for themselves.]]
180* The beat to Gandhi vs Martin Luther King Jr. ended with a gunshot. Both men were shot and killed by assassins.
181* After the line "No shoes, no shirt, but I'm still gonna serve you," King continues the food theme with the next line, "Make you swallow your words so you can break the fast."
182
183[[AC:UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla vs. UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison]]
184* It makes sense for Tesla to reverse the blackout that Edison creates in order to demonstrate what the battle would be like without his contributions. While it's true that Edison invented lightbulbs, sound recording, and motion pictures, almost all modern appliances run on alternating current, which ''Tesla'' discovered.
185* One that several comments have pointed out: Edison's movements are stiff, jerky, and twitchy. Tesla's movements are elegant and flowing. Doesn't that remind you of the respective currents they championed?
186
187[[AC:Creator/BabeRuth vs. Lance Armstrong]]
188* Babe Ruth rips into Lance Armstrong pretty bad for his admission of cheating, but he also makes a reference to calling his shots- there's been a strong debate over whether or not Babe Ruth was cheating by instructing pitchers to throw specific pitches. In "The Babe" he makes several enthusiastic points into the air as if he's eager to hit a home run, while [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15XqYErtEfc actual footage of that very same event from the original game]] shows him merely making a hand gesture to someone- exactly where has been largely debated. Though despite the debate, no actual proof of Ruth cheating ever came to light and the general agreement was that the shot was not called in the manner of cheating, but rather he simply pointed his intent to hit a home run as a taunt to the Cubs and then hit the home run.
189* When Ruth hits his home run, the pitcher was Babe Ruth as well. Ruth was primarily a pitcher when he played for the Boston Red Sox in the 1910's.
190** Pitcher!Ruth then throws a tantrum. Ruth lost his cool a number of times, like when he [[http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/06/23/132245176/ernie-shore-threw-quasi-perfect-game-after-babe-ruth-ejection got ejected for swinging at an umpire after one batter]]
191* Why does Ruth open his verse with a CombatCompliment? Because, as he says in his second verse, he wanted to remind Lance what real sportsmanship looked like.
192** Furthermore, he congratulates Lance for beating cancer. Why? Because [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Ruth#Cancer_and_death_(1946%E2%80%931948) he didn't]].
193
194[[AC:Music/{{Skrillex}} vs. Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart]]
195* The Skrillex side of the instrumental has segments that sound like various actual Skrillex songs, whereas the Mozart segments shift over to a more classical music sound.
196* First, Mozart makes the crack, "I'm a prodigy, sonny, and I'm about to smack a bitch up!". Music/TheProdigy's most famous song is [[Music/TheFatOfTheLand "Smack My Bitch Up"]], and Skrillex's first name is Sonny. Then he says that Skrillex "reeks of dead mouse", a pun on Skrillex's friend/rival Music/Deadmau5.
197* Mozart refers to Skrillex's music as "skrill-excrement". Considering Mozart's apparent documented love of feces-related humor throughout his life(of which Skrillex insults him for in the prior verse), this crack makes even more sense than being a one-off pun. He does it AGAIN in his next verse when he refers to a part of a Skrillex song as "the 68th measure of diarrhea".
198* Skrillex's line "I'm a rock star, mix you with the bass and drop ya!" seems pretty straightforward; he's making a pun on "drop the bass", saying he'll mix Mozart with said bass so he can drop Mozart while he drops the bass. However, "mixing" in music terminology is when you put a song together and add effects to it so it sounds good. So Skrillex is also making a subtle pun on the term "mixing".
199* "You go piano to fortississimo! (That means 'soft' to 'very, very loud' '''[[SuddenlyShouting CAUSE I'M GUESSING THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW]]!'')" For one line, if only to make fun of it, Mozart is indulging in this trick himself.
200
201[[AC:Grigori Rasputin vs. Josef Stalin]]
202* The beats start off grim, then happy, then triumphant. Why? The beats reflect Russia's history. Rasputin's and Stalin's are dark because in their times, Russia wasn't a great place to live in. Rasputin was manipulating the Tsar and millions were starving. Then under Stalin's time, millions of people were dying in camps or getting shot, some groups were subjected to ethnic cleansing and the Germans were attacking Russia. In Lenin's time, the people were starving while the Bolsheviks and other insurrectionists were killing off their enemies and starting uprisings and revolutions. However, by Gorbachev's turn, where the beat gets very cheerful, Russia was slowly opening its arms to the West and things were improving. When the wall was torn down, Russia was happy for the first time in years. And if you're wondering why Putin's beat is triumphant and uplifting, it's because by the time he was in power, Russia was truly happy and no one was starving anymore.
203* Each rapper only gets a single turn. However, if you pay attention NicePeter and EpicLloyd do alternate turns the entire time, keeping with the usual (if modified) formula.
204* "Who built a superpower, but he paid the price!" Possibly, in addition to its obvious meaning, a subtle call forward to when Rasputin says "If you're the Man of Steel, I spit kryptonite!"; both are Superman references. The first by bringing up superpowers, the second with "Man of Steel".
205* In his verse, Stalin yells "Shot!" four times. Exactly as many times as Rasputin was shot when assassinated.
206* Why is Lenin so angry at Rasputin and Stalin?
207** The peasantry of Rasputin's times blamed him for [[TreacherousAdvisor using his position with the Tsarina]], making a corrupt regime worse.
208** Before Lenin's death, he had specifically stated he didn't want Stalin to succeed him. After Lenin's death, Stalin went so far as to doctor photos to "prove" Lenin favored him. Also why Stalin says, "Pride of Lenin, [[StealthPun took Trotsky]] [[{{Unperson}} out of the picture]]."
209* "If your name end with '-in', time to get out." Not just a potshot at the three standing there or foreshadowing Putin, but a bonus jab at Boris Yelts''in''.
210** In a bit of a GeniusBonus, this joke also applies to Gorbachev's predecessor, Konstant'''in''' Chernenko.
211* Why does Rasputin keep dancing during Putin's verse? Because Putin mentioned "schooling every communist сука" and Rasputin isn't a communist, so it doesn't offend him.
212* When Putin says he's "a President in [his] prime", it works in two ways: when he first became president, he was in his 40s, which is relatively young for a democratically-elected leader to hit the head of state; also, he served as the prime minister of Russia, both before his rise to the presidency, and from 2008 to 2012 (while there are no hard term limits on the presidency in Russia, no president may serve more than two consecutive terms).
213* "So comrade come at me" = rephrased from the phrase [[Series/JerseyShore "come at me bro"]].
214* Notice how Stalin is having difficulty with ThatRussianSquatDance during the Epic Dance Battle at the end? That's because ''he's not really Russian''. He's actually from Georgia. All the others are from Russia proper: Rasputin was born in Siberia, Lenin was born up the Volga from Moscow, Gorbachev was born in Stavropol at south of Moscow, and Putin was born in St. Petersburg.
215[[/folder]]
216
217[[folder:Season 3]]
218[[AC:Darth Vader vs. Adolf Hitler 3]]
219* Stephen Hawking and Abraham Lincoln being on Vader's side seems unusual considering they aren't generally thought of as villains. However, considering who his opponent is, Vader ''is'' the good guy.
220* Hitler makes the {{Pun}} of "A War on Two Fronts" to start off the third rematch. This actually becomes a very clever foreshadowing of the end when you realize that was precisely what led to everything crashing down on him toward the end of World War II.
221* Vader asked Hitler if Napoleon didn't tell him to pack some winter clothes when he invaded Russia. This might seem straight enough, but on a much earlier battle (Napoelon Dynamite vs. Napoleon Bonaparte), Dynamite subtly insults Bonaparte for being one of the things that has failed in Russia, which refers to Bonaparte's failed invasion to Russia. This adds three layers of brilliance:
222** Layer one, a Napoleon did indeed say something about Russia, albeit implicitly.
223** Layer two, that Napoleon told it to the other Napoleon, so in a sense, Napoleon never told Hitler anything about the whole stuff.
224** Layer three, Napoleon Dynamite and Napoleon Bonaparte are played by Peter and Lloyd respectively, who also plays Vader and Hitler. So, in a sense, Napoleon did tell Hitler (or perhaps, Vader himself told Hitler).
225* Boba Fett is only on screen for a short while, barely getting to say anything, but leaving an impact before being unceremoniously killed off. [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi This sounds about right.]]
226** Fett has four lines, followed by a [[StockScream scream]] as he's being killed... exactly the same as his dialogue in the original trilogy.
227* Hitler screaming that "You're not going to cheat me!" after shooting Boba Fett is a reference to how Vader was always a CombatPragmatist in the Rap Battles, first by [[TakenForGranite freezing Hitler in carbonite]], then dropping him into the Rancor pit, before finally [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe slicing him in half]] with his lightsaber.
228* The fact that Vader [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim only slices Hitler]] after Boba Fett was shot also makes sense when, during his lyrics, he establishes the two being TrueCompanions by calling Fett his "homeboy". Vader made [[ButtMonkey Hitler]] TheChewToy ForTheLulz (it would be ForTheEvulz if Hitler wasn't... well, [[AssholeVictim Hitler]]), but [[KickTheDog killing Fett?]] Now ItsPersonal.
229* Vader calls Hitler "son." [[LukeIAmYourFather What's his most famous line again?]]
230** In their first rap battle, Vader tells Hitler "So many dudes been with YourMom, who even knows if I'm your father?" making this a CallBack to that battle.
231* When Hitler says, "I'm sick on this mike!" his accent makes it sound more like, "I'm sick ''of'' this mike!". This could foreshadow this being the last battle.
232
233[[AC:UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}} vs. UsefulNotes/AlCapone]]
234* Blackbeard starts by trying to distinguish pirate stereotypes from the reality. Later on, Al Capone makes a bunch of remarks about him having a bunch of crumbs stuck in his beard. This is obviously a case of ShownTheirWork in realizing that the life of an ''actual'' pirate was really quite horrific due to the terrible living conditions of any sailing ship at the time (though pirates would have it especially bad since they'd have to spend the most time at sea). Among other things, most sailors would have very bad hygiene (or in Blackbeard's case, plenty of stuff caught in his extremely thick beard) because they were unable to wash themselves due to a need to conserve their supply of drinkable water.
235* Al Capone comments how he's been 'slapping bitch-ass teaches back since I was 14.' Makes more sense when you remember Blackbeard's real name was Edward '''Teach'''.
236
237[[AC:UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc vs. Music/MileyCyrus]]
238
239[[AC:Bob Ross vs. Creator/PabloPicasso]]
240* When Pablo Picasso is switching channels on the television, it shows clips of previous battles. In addition to the channel number being the number of that battle, every character who appears on it (Billy Mays, Mr. Rogers, the Fourth Doctor, and Bob Ross) are famous for being on television - Billy Mays for his commercials and everyone else for their own television shows.
241** Furthermore, three of those four have been on PBS. (There was a time when ''Series/DoctorWho'', like a lot of imported British shows, ended up there).
242* Bob Ross's remark about "dropping bombs like this is Guernica" makes sense when you realize that ''Art/{{Guernica}}'' was an actual {{painting|s}} by Creator/PabloPicasso. Furthermore, the fact that Bob Ross taunts Picasso by making a joke out of it makes sense when you consider the fact that Picasso made it in response to the innocent people killed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Guernica during an actual aerial bombing]] that happened during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar.
243
244[[AC:UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan vs. UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli]]
245* Many of UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli's insults towards Michael Jordan are in the same vein of the insults he used in real life to taunt upcoming opponents. He would call them ugly, claim that they were sell-outs to white people ("Uncle Tom" is the term Ali used towards numerous fighters in his career), tell them they look more like a creature than a person, etc. In the battle, he even uses the term "whoop" (as in "I'll whoop you"), and he doesn't use it the way the current generation tends to (usually saying "I'll whoop your ass"), because that's not how he used it in real life.
246* After his conversion to Islam, calling Muhammad Ali "Cassius" (or "Clay") was [[BerserkButton an easy way to get him pissed off]]. After Jordan actually DOES refer to him as "Cassius," [[DoNotCallMePaul Ali's tone becomes more aggressive]] and he even threatens to "leave [Jordan] flat on [his] ass."
247* Putting Muhammad Ali in a rap battle is very fitting, considering his use of rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry ended up being a major influence on rap as a genre.
248* Jordan's "Battle me two more times" line. In previous battles, each rapper had only two verses. This battle was the first to have three for each rapper. Most later battles would also give each rapper three verses.
249* The video got a lot of hate comments from ''Film/SpaceJam'' fans for Ali's TakeThat on the movie at the end of the battle. However, the movie was praised by younger people but criticized by older people. Most of the ERB fanbase would be "younger people," while Ali, who was born in 1942, was an "older person."
250* Ali referring to Jordan as "Gandalf the Black" isn't a reference to him being African-American, it's a StealthInsult. When [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf]] was [[CameBackStrong reincarnated into a more powerful wizard]], his name changed from "the Gray" to "the White", and Ali is implying that the opposite happened to Jordan when he returned to the NBA.
251
252[[AC:UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump vs. Ebenezer Scrooge]]
253* Initially, Trump's beat starts slowly, as Marley took a while to convince Scrooge he was there. After that, Scrooge's beat initially starts out chilly, the high-pitched spikes calling snowfall to mind. The beat gets moving during J.P. Morgan's verse, representing the beginning of Scrooge's road to redemption. Scrooge's second verse retains the chilly atmosphere of his first, but parts of Morgan's theme are still found, meaning that although Scrooge says he wasn't affected, he was shaken slightly. The sudden change starting from Kanye West represents that, in the book, Christmas Present deals Scrooge a few blows that begin to shatter his perception of Christmas as a "humbug". It is kept in Scrooge's third verse, representing the fact that, after the encounter with Christmas Present, Scrooge is truly shaken. Yet to Come changes the beat ever so slightly, as he really drove the point in and made Scrooge understand. Scrooge finally changes his ways in the fourth verse, and the same beat is kept.
254* Notice how J.P. Morgan appears as ''soon'' as the clock in the background strikes one, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come begins his verse (with "Boo!") as soon as the clock chimes a third time (you have to listen really carefully to notice it chime more than once). However, Kanye appears a second or two ''after'' the clock chimes a second time. In the original ''A Christmas Carol'', Scrooge was confronted by the first ghost the moment the bell tolled one, and the third ghost appeared "when the last chime of midnight [ceased] to vibrate"; however, the Ghost of Christmas Present (whom Kanye replaces here) had waited for Scrooge outside his bedroom door, and Ebenezer failed to approach him until appears a little bit after the clock strikes two.
255* Why does Scrooge refer to "the Dead Donald's lecture" when Donald Trump is still alive and there was no indication of him dying in the battle? Donald Trump's role in this battle was to inform Scrooge that there are problems with his lifestyle and that he shall be visited by three ghosts who will help him change. In Literature/AChristmasCarol, this role was played by the ghost of Jacob Marley, who had died shortly before the beginning. This is even alluded to when Donald Trump displays a briefcase chained to his arms over his back, similar to how Marley is often depicted being heavily bound in chains with money boxes and various items associated with his life and warns Scrooge that a similar fate awaits him if he doesn't change.
256* Scrooge asks in his last verse if it's too late to change. The video itself answers that question with Death's background. He's the Ghost of Christmas Future and his background is a green screen. But there's nothing imposed over it, which means the future isn't determined already - Scrooge isn't too late.
257
258[[AC:[[Series/TheWalkingDead Rick Grimes]] vs. [[Series/BreakingBad Walter White]]]]
259* Rick keeps calling out for Carl at the start of his verses. Note that he has his hat on - in the series, Carl is known for inheriting the hat at the same time he TookALevelInBadass, so it's justified here.
260* Rick pointing out how Walter gets messages written on his pancakes becomes funny if you know about Rick's mention of his wife Lori's pancakes, which were... not up to standard.
261* In the BTS of ''Rick Grimes vs. Walter White'', it was revealed that the 'heroin joke' was dead. There are two reasons why, and they have to do with both shows:
262** With ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': The show is about a ZombieApocalypse, and considering the 'heroin joke' was [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personified]] in the battle's BTS, it's safe to assume that it doesn't survive the apocalypse.
263** With ''Series/BreakingBad'': Lloyd was the one who kept using the heroin joke in the BTS videos, essentially making him a mock drug dealer. In the rap battle, he played an ''actual'' drug dealer, selling drugs that are possibly even more deadly than heroin. Thus, Lloyd has officially played the heroin joke. Any further attempts to do so in the BTS videos would be considered moot.
264* The ragged zombie in Rick's reality instantly changes to an unkempt meth addict in Walter's, without changing physical appearance. In Rick's reality it lunges at Walter to devour him. In Walter's reality, it lunges at him to get the Blue Sky meth.
265** Shortly thereafter you see the zombie/addict scratching his neck. Compulsive scratching is a classic symptom of methamphetamine addiction.
266* "Ask Gus, you don't want to face off against me!" Why Gus? He died when his ''face'' was blown ''off.'' The episode is even called "Face Off."
267
268[[AC:[[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]] vs. Franchise/{{Superman}}]]
269* A couple of Youtube comments mentioned that Lloyd doesn't quite have the build to portray Superman. They probably never heard of [[Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman George Reeves]].
270* Both Goku and Superman have lines about banging the other's girl - both heroes have notably averted ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex ''and'' fathered children in at least one version of their stories.
271* Superman's comment about how he's going to drop bombs on Japan with his rap seems [[ValuesDissonance off-color]] and [[SuperDickery out of character for him]]... Until you remember that in the 1940's he was used as propaganda against the Japanese Empire. [[http://www.headinjurytheater.com/images/oc%20slap%20a%20jap%20superdickery.jpg Here's a sample.]]
272* Superman referring to himself as "the OG" makes more sense if you consider that Goku's origin story was deliberately based on Superman's.
273* Superman being confident he'll win makes sense if you remember [[WebAnimation/DeathBattle the last time these two clashed.]]
274* Superman's 'tiny genitals' line isn't just a generic diss, it refers to the fact that genitals really did come up in the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' anime, before they were [[{{Bowdlerise}} rendered nonexistent]] in ''Anime/DragonBallZKai''!
275* After you watch the Goku vs Superman WebAnimation/DeathBattle you can better appreciate Superman's "My level is incredible" line. His power has no known upper limit. He only applies as much as necessary to defeat the bad guy without killing him or causing collateral damage. He is literally [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe As Strong As He Needs To Be]]. Thus, it makes sense for his PowerLevel to simply be "incredible" rather than an astronomically high number.
276* When Superman says he'll "freeze (Goku's) whole measly species", it seems like just a stock example of him using his powers... until you realize Goku's entire species WAS snuffed by a villain named... Frieza.
277* Superman says the line "you live in a village of idiots" which doesn't make sense, because it's never mentioned in the battle where Goku lives. However, in the same universe, [[Manga/DoctorSlump there is a very silly town of people]].
278* Goku's line about "One more Superman who's never gonna walk again" is not only a reference to Creator/ChristopherReeve who broke his back and became limp, but also a reference to the ''other'' "Man of Steel", Stalin.
279* Goku turning Super Saiyan right at the start of his verse makes sense considering not only Superman got the first turn and thus is the first to diss Goku, but he made ''two'' disses that are probably very personal for him (his planet and his wife).
280* Superman's line that Goku is "primitive" actually has multiple meanings. First obviously refers to the Saiyans being [[AnimalMotifs monkey themed]], then them being [[BloodKnight battle hungry]]. But if one looks into the Dragon Ball mythos, the Saiyans were historically a BarbarianTribe.
281
282[[AC:Creator/StephenKing vs. Creator/EdgarAllanPoe]]
283* Like Dr. Seuss vs. Shakespeare, Poe's first line has the same problem of not flowing well to first time listeners. It's in trochee, which is the inverse of iambic.
284* [[https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/473571946316443648 Here]] is Stephen King's reaction to his battle against Edgar Allen Poe. He literally says Poe ''shut him down''. Because King admitted he lost, Poe gets the '''FIRST HISTORICALLY CONFIRMED WIN''' out of any Epic Rap Battle. This didn't happen again until [[https://twitter.com/D_Copperfield/status/608021111473872898 David Copperfield vs Harry Houdini]].
285* King comparing himself to Cujo seems to be just a part of his pun frenzy with his works until you realize that Poe [[http://www.umm.edu/news-and-events/news-releases/1996/edgar-allan-poe-mystery might have died of rabies]].
286* King's verses being much longer than Poe's verses. The latter is known for his short fiction, while the former is known for his {{Doorstopper}}s.
287* When King says, "Speaking of bored..." he isn't just saying he is ''bored'' by Poe's works. In the very next line, he brings up the fact that Poe dropped out of school. The kind of school Poe dropped out of? A ''board''ing school.
288* King's line "In eight bars I can write a whole best seller!" has a double meaning. The obvious meaning is that King can write a novel in as much time as it takes for him to rap eight lines. However, eight lines is the ''exact length'' of the verse that contains this line. King is saying that if he sold that verse as a novel, it would sell out.
289* An example involving BookEnds. Poe's first line is 'Once upon a midnight dreary'. Stephen King's last line? Nevermore. Both are the first and last lines respectively of Poe's poem, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven The Raven]].
290
291[[AC:Sir Isaac Newton vs. Bill Nye]]
292* Nye didn't have many insults so much as backhanded (or even outright) compliments. His persona in ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' has always been as cheerful and goofy, so in a rap battle, he naturally wouldn't know exactly what to do.
293* Bill Nye's insults are based on the previous line IE "You wrote the book on Gravity but you couldn't attract no body". Gravity is the force of attraction between two bodies.
294* In Newton's second verse, you can see Nye mouthing along with Newton's lyrics at one point. Nye's job on his show included having to memorize long scientific speeches from scripts; perhaps [[RealityWarper he memorized Newton's lyrics]] [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall from the episode script]] before the fight began?
295* When Neil [=deGrasse=] Tyson does his line about Newton's calculation - pointing out that the answer is "i" - his verse acquires a large amount of "i" sounds.
296--> '''Tyson''': As in '''I''' put the swag back in sc'''i'''ence wh'''i'''le '''I'''saac Newton was l'''yi'''ng and sticking daggers in L'''ei'''bniz and h'''i'''ding up ins'''i'''de his attic on some Harry Potter business!
297** The equation itself is a GeniusBonus if you are aware that the answer to the integral is simply the natural log of the square root of 3, meaning Newton was literally asking Nye for the 64th root of 1. i is a valid answer, but so is 1, or -1, or -i, or any square root of i, or square root of that, or...
298** It's also taken wholesale from a [[InsideJoke calculus limerick]]:
299--->"The integral sec y dy[[note]](pronounced "seek y dee y")[[/note]]\
300From zero to one-sixth of pi\
301Is log to base e\
302Of the square root of three\
303Times the 64th power of i"
304** Also a clever VisualPun: Tyson enters the battle when the equation Newton wrote on the blackboard transforms into him. "The answer to your little calculation is ''I''," indeed.
305* Newton refers to Nye's "debating creationists," which is what Nye is actually doing in the video, since Newton himself was one! And not just in the obvious sense. As Newton says in the next line, he ''created'' the laws of physics that Nye taught. Furthermore, Newton says that Nye "wastes time" doing so, subtly meaning that he should give up on the battle.
306
307[[AC:UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington vs. William Wallace]]
308* The choice of William Wallace is particularly appropriate - [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-forms-modern-depravity-way-older-than-your-grandpa/ the concept of the rap battle originated in Scotland]].
309* George Washington's Continentals are a strong presence in the rap battle, while Wallace's soldiers are hardly seen. Why? The Continental Army post-Valley Forge was very loyal to Washington (in many cases it was the only thing holding the army together) while Wallace was betrayed to the English by a fellow Scottish knight. [[ProperlyParanoid Wallace is right not to trust them.]]
310
311[[AC:Artists vs. Turtles]]
312* Each of the four artists is wearing the signature color of their respective turtle. Raphael's red shirt, Michelangelo's orange coat, Leonardo's blue belt and hatband, and Donatello's purple hat and sleeves.
313** Not only that, but like the turtles, each artist brandishes a weapon when the announcer says their name: Donatello's hammer and chisel, Michelangelo's mallet, Leonardo's sketchbook, and Raphael's paintbrush and pallet.
314* There's a minor case of UncannyValley with the Turtles' suits in "Renaissance Artists vs TMNT" (the mouths articulate, but not the eyes), but as a dig at the upcoming Creator/MichaelBay movie, it makes perfect sense.
315* A number of people have pointed out that the Artists get more screen time than the Turtles in their episode. This makes sense - unlike most ERB characters, the Artists aren't very well-known. Everyone knows Leonardo da Vinci and many know of Michelangelo, but only someone into Renaissance art has likely even heard of Raphael or Donatello. They need the extra time to establish themselves.
316** Furthermore, the turtles are used to working together, each chipping it a little. The artists, on the other hand, have never worked as a team. Note how they have to tell each other when it's their turn to rap. It's not 4 artists vs 4 turtles. It's 4 artists vs a TEAM of turtles.
317* Why does Donatello look like he's dancing up on Da Vinci during his verse? It is believed that he was gay. Da Vinci was generally believed to be gay, as well. "My man Donatello" indeed, but in his case this is less certain. It's equally possible that he was bisexual. Hence why he also gets the line "I love the ladies".
318** Also why Michelangelo (the turtle) compares them to New York Pride.
319* Raphael concludes his verse by saying "I should pass it up to the man in the ceiling", but he doesn't mean it in the obvious sense, since Michelangelo seems to just be on a higher floor when he begins his verse. Raphael didn't mean "on the ceiling" as in standing on the ceiling, but rather as in working on the ceiling. One of Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti's most famous achievements was painting the ceiling of the Art/SistineChapel.
320* The first line of the TMNT's first verse is split up in a way that matches the turtles' dynamic: "The wisdom of our master taught us not to rush to violence" is said by Leo and Donnie, who are the more sensible and responsible half of the team, whereas Raph and Mikey, the more likely to break the rules, are the ones that point out that their master "ain't here, dude!". They all still chant "SPLINTER!" together as despite their differences, they all still respect their father/sensei.
321** The order in which they speak is Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo. ''Exactly the same as the artists in the first verse.''
322* Donatello not knowing about his Renaissance counterpart may seem out of character for the smartest turtle of the group. However, the traditional trinity of the Renaissance masters is Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo, so Turtle Donatello ObfuscatingStupidity is him referencing how Artist Donatello is not part of that trinity and thus would not be as well known as the other 3.
323** In addition, his "Gattamelata" pun is a reference to one of Donatello's statues (in fact, the same one he's working on when the camera briefly cuts back to him), so Turtle Donatello clearly ''does'' know what his artist counterpart does, making the above even more likely.
324* Michelangelo (the artist) claims that [[AGodAmI he is a god]] and that the turtles can't touch him. This seems generic at first...until you remember one of his most famous paintings. In it, Adam reaches out to God, [[StealthPun but can't quite touch him.]]
325* Why does Donatello (the artist) think the turtles are immature? Because they are ''teenage'' mutant ninja turtles.
326* Why would Italy have a tower made of pizza? Not just because they invented pizza. Because of their fondness for pizza, the turtles got the name of the Leaning Tower of ''Pisa'' wrong.
327* When Michelangelo (the turtle) says "Ain't here, dude!" three turtles appear behind him. They all wear red masks, making them look like Raphael. But two of them have Leonardo's katanas, and the third has Donatello's staff. Why? Because in the early TMNT comics, all four turtles wore red masks!
328[[/folder]]
329
330[[folder:Season 4]]
331[[AC:Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} vs. Series/{{Mythbusters}}]]
332* Winston is not present in either the title card or the commercial, he only appears when the commercial is over (In fact, he's the one who turns off the TV). This makes sense when you realize that in the movie, Winston was recruited later.
333* The line referring to Literature/TheLorax during the Ghostbusters' first verse initially seems a bit confusing and out of place... until you realize that they don't literally mean the creature from the Dr. Seuss book, it's probably meant as a derogatory nickname for Walter Peck (who cited environmental concerns as his reason for wanting to shut them down). This also seems reasonable when you consider the line is delivered by Venkman, who was the one that initially refused to co-operate with Peck and thus provoked his rage.
334** It might also be a burn on Jamie's mustache.
335* The B Team only left Mythbusters three months ago! Bringing them "back from the dead" doesn't make sense... unless you're even farther in the future, after a few more seasons. Especially following the death of Grant Imahara in 2020...
336* When Tory struggles with a rhyme, Adam suggests he "say the first thing that pops into his mind". Then the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man shows up, in an obvious reference to the climax of ''Ghostbusters''. However, he has another reason to do so, which is subtler and much more valid. Before Tory struggled with his rhyme, Kari delivered a line ending with "own". The first thing Tory thought of that remotely rhymed with "own" was "marshmallow".
337
338[[AC:Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet vs. Film/BonnieAndClyde]]
339* Romeo's "lick my ass" taunt also refers to [=NicePeter'=]s previous role as Mozart, who wrote a tune with that title.
340* How did Juliet tell it was poison when she was looking at Romeo's arse? Well, Romeo's FinalSpeech included "apothecary, thy drugs are [[BringMyBrownPants quick]]".
341* Bonnie didn't expect the death of both Romeo and Juliet because she never finished reading their play. Them Western types weren't into no sissy book-learnin'.
342
343[[AC:Zeus vs. Thor]]
344* Why is the rap battle between Zeus and Thor portrayed using LEGO bricks? Four possibilities:
345** 1: This battle is a representation of a child pitting the two gods against each other, a la ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie''.
346** 2: Viewing the gods going up against each other in their true forms [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm would lead to death]], so LEGO bricks are used to depict the battle as an alternative.
347** 3: [[RealLifeWritesThePlot There simply would not be the budget to enact the special effects neccessary to show off their power]]. Note that the shots are all more dynamic than usual, with a bunch of background characters, including three ships and a cerberus. No way they could do that in real life, with the budget they have.
348** 4: There was actually a man in Greek mythology who once dressed up as Zeus and claimed he was the lord of the skies. Zeus fried him AND his whole city with his lightning bolts. Nobody dared pose as Zeus after that.
349* Some folks may have noticed that Lego's official Thor and Loki figures are deliberately pushed to the back in favor of original builds like the alternate Thor. That's the whole point of Lego - original creations. The guys with Zeus can all be identified as Greek gods, so it clearly works.
350* One scene uses slow-mo battle shots, meant to evoke the Greek-based ''{{Film/ThreeHundred}}'', but the trailers for ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' have been spamming these, so it applies to Thor too.
351* Why does Zeus outright describe Thor as having "died" while Thor only claims he'll send Zeus "deep underground"? Because in Norse Mythology, death is the fate of all things, including the gods ([[MutualKill with Thor dying at Ragnarok after slaying Jormungandr]]), but in Greek mythology, the gods have CompleteImmortality, so the closest Thor could come to killing Zeus would be to directly transport him to Hades.
352* Thor says at one point, "I'd spit in your face, but you'd probably like it." This is obviously a reference to Zeus's sex obsession, but is likely also to the Greek tradition of (mostly) dry spitting at people as a blessing and a ward against the [[http://www.greeka.com/greece-culture/traditions/ evil]] [[http://www.thinkwedding.com/WedTraditions-Greek.htm eye]].
353** Both rappers are male, so Zeus liking it might be a gay joke, as Zeus is a Greek god.
354* At one point, Zeus compares himself to Usain Bolt, an Olympic athlete. The Olympic games were originally held in ancient Greece.
355
356[[AC:Jack the Ripper vs. Hannibal Lecter]]
357* It's very sensible for Jack the Ripper to use the name the papers gave him. He killed women who wouldn't give him attention, and obviously no one would be paying attention to his rap if he used his real name; they'd be too confused. Plus it's way better than anything he could've come up with himself.
358* Of course Hannibal Lecter would start his first verse by "diagnosing" Jack the Ripper as a megalomaniac. He was a ''licensed psychiatrist'' before he became a cannibal and was probably carefully taking the time to observe Jack as his restraints were removed.
359* Hannibal Lecter calls Jack the Ripper a "Penny Dreadful version of O.J. Simpson." This seems to be an odd person to reference, until you think about it: Lecter is one of two villains in Silence of the Lambs. Who is the other one? Well, he shares his name with the team O.J. was famous for playing on: ''The Buffalo Bills.''
360
361[[AC:Creator/EllenDegeneres vs. Oprah Winfrey]]
362* Ellen's line "I'll bite you in the ass like a tax on a free car!" alludes to the famous incident on Oprah Winfrey's talk show when she gave a car to everybody in her studio audience, but also acknowledges the infamous backlash which came about when audience members had to pay taxes on said cars.
363* Ellen's line "you're 'So if battling me is your intention, I better mention; you're bout to get licked by a lesbian" may be a lot more cruel than it first sounds, considering that Oprah was molested by her relatives and a family friend in the past.
364* Oprah's "secondhand Porche" line isn't just a crack about her being richer than Ellen. Ellen's wife ''Portia'' was previously married to somebody else.
365
366[[AC:Creator/StevenSpielberg vs. Creator/AlfredHitchcock]]
367* If you pay attention to the soundtrack in "Steven Spielberg vs. Alfred Hitchcock", you'll notice the fact all the verses' beats mimic the director's distinctive soundtracks: Spielberg's has a grand, John Williams-like orchestra feel. Hitchcock's has the ScareChord and a tense atmosphere, Tarantino's has a jazzy, pulpy tone. Kubrick's has the operatic, bombastic feel of 2001: A Space Odyssey (complete with a few notes reminiscient of ''Also Sprach Zarathrustra'') and begins with a very science fiction vibe. Finally, Michael Bay brings a Pop, over-the-top Hip-Hop like one.
368** Also, it sounds like they recycled Michael Bay's beat from the previous battle, Oprah vs. Ellen, just like Michael Bay recycles movie ideas (Transformers, TMNT).
369** In a similar vein, each director, with the possible exception of Michael Bay, performs in their rap in a setting from one of their movies. Spielberg does his verse in Film/JurassicPark, complete with a Tyrannosaurus Rex appearing in the background. Alfred Hitchcock does his verse outside of the Bates Motel from Film/{{Psycho}}. Quentin Tarantino's background references Film/KillBill. Stanley Kubrick rides through the motel from ''Film/TheShining'', and begins his rap on the moon and continues it in the Star Gate, both referencing Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey.
370** Kubrick also isn't riding on a tricycle; it's a Steadicam mount, being one of the pioneers of the format.
371* [[OneSteveLimit Both Stephen King and Steven Spielberg become]] [[PungeonMaster Pungeon Masters]] by using the titles of their own works, and those of their opponent in Spielberg's case. Fittingly, Alfred Hitchcock also tries to use Spielberg's own tactics against him, starting by referring to Spielberg exposing his anus as a "Close Encounter of the Turd Kind".
372** Kubrick also does something similar, but in downplayed form by keeping the puns much more subtle. His "I'm the bomb" remark, for example, is a reference to the popularity of Film/DrStrangelove (which is widely recognized as the definitive anti-Cold War film). He also uses the phrase "Like Clockwork" in reference to Film/AClockworkOrange. He even uses the term "ultraviolent", which came from that movie and the book it was adapted from.
373* While all four other directors in Spielberg vs Hitchcock take jabs at Michael Bay, Hitchcock's doubled as a slam at Spielberg, who produced the Transformers movies.
374* "I squeeze screams out of chocolate syrup" is right. That's precisely how Alfred Hitchcock created the illusion of blood for the famous shower scene in Film/{{Psycho}}.
375* Spielberg's comment about visiting Hitchcock refers to a real incident. Hitchcock was dying at the time and wasn't too keen on meeting anyone new. Supposedly, Spielberg had a chip on his shoulder about it for years afterwards.
376* The silences in some of Quentin Tarantino's last few lines can also act as censoring out some of Tarantino's cuss words (for example, "Quentin Tarantino is a fucking genius).
377* Tarantino's line "Scripts I write ain't the cleanest" is true, especially compared to Spielberg and Hitchcock's work, but he's also the first rapper to use expletives in that battle. Also, Tarantino has notoriously bad spelling.
378* Why does Tarantino specifically mention stubbing his toe in the shower? It's well established that Tarantino has a [[FootFocus foot fetish]].
379* According to the description, Stanley Kubrick was played by "The Ghost of Stanley Kubrick" and if you pay attention to his verse, he only includes a jab at ''one'' of the three directors who have previously rapped up to this point: Steven Spielberg. Why? Because the two of them were supposed to collaborate on Film/AIArtificialIntelligence and Kubrick died before it could get made. Kubrick really entered the rap battle because he wanted to get revenge on Spielberg. His responding to Tarantino calling himself a genius was just an excuse to get in.
380** Spielberg is famous for creating a film shot where [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial a character rides a bike past the moon]]. As if to one-up this, Kubrick ''actually'' rides a tricycle ''on'' the moon.
381* During his verse, Stanley Kubrick sits down in Tarantino's chair. [[{{Film/Spartacus}} Given his history of taking over troubled productions]], this makes sense.
382* When Kubrick points at his eyes at the line "Like ''Clockwork'', make you all hurt" it's not merely a nod to the make-up job on Film/AClockworkOrange (specifically, the actor of Alex having eyeliner on his right eye, which Kubrick points to), but also to the infamous Ludovico treatment scene where Alex is forced to watch movie reels of terrible violence and war set to classical music, with his eyes forced to stay open by wires, which actually hurt the actor while filming. This, along with the inclusion of the infamous "Do that scene again" 127 times from the filming of Film/TheShining, is another nod to Kubrick being an infamous PrimaDonnaDirector.
383* It's debatable if Kubrick truly took a shot at Bay, or if Bay just interpreted him as doing so. He said AI was "the worst waste of potential since the Ninja Turtles." This implies Ninja Turtles came first... meaning he was taking a shot at [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the original film]], not Bay's version.
384** It might also be about the mixed reception of the TMNT vs. Artists battle.
385** "Since" in a humorous context can be used to mean "other than"; Napoleon Dynamite said Napoleon Bonaparte was "the ugliest thing that's ever failed in Russia since Boris Yeltsin", even though Yeltsin lived long after Bonaparte.
386* Michael Bay's appearance at the end of "Spielberg vs. Hitchcock" makes even more sense when you remember that all FOUR previous rappers (Spielberg, Hitchcock, Tarantino and Kubrick) included a jab at Michael Bay in their verses.
387** Also note that it's only the mention of the ''Ninja Turtles'' movie that sets him off. Why, you ask? Because Michael Bay merely serves as producer, but has been MisBlamed countless times for directing, even on this very wiki.
388* [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent Note the part where Michael Bay hurls the director's chair to the left side.]] [[BrickJoke That's where the nuclear explosion takes place.]]
389* This may not have been intentional, but there's a StealthPun in Michael Bay's lines "Got Milk money" and "silk money." Michael Bay created the "Got Milk?" ads, and Silk is a brand that makes milk substitutes like soymilk and almond milk.
390* Michael Bay performs a crotch grab, just like another Michael (Jackson), ''also played by Peter.''
391* Michael Bay's rap has quite a few detractors who say that his rapping skills are bad, but looked good due to the music, action, and special effects... which is exactly what critics say about his films, too. Also like his films, he's one of the most popular rappers in the battle.
392--> '''Michael Bay''': ''"I give the people what they love, the critics say I'm evil!"''
393* Alfred Hitchcock's shocked reaction to Michael Bay's final line seems a bit odd at first, until you realize the VisualPun that he invokes. Basically, Michael Bay flipped Alfred Hitchcock Film/TheBirds.
394** Alternatively, it's because Hitchcock is ''the only one who didn't insult Bay''. The thing he dislikes about ''Transformers'' is Megan Fox's acting, not Bay's directing.
395** Actually, Hitchcock's diss toward Megan Fox's acting can be interpreted as a roundabout insult toward Bay; the real Alfred Hitchcock firmly believed that it was the director's responsibility to tell the actors how to play their roles properly. Therefore, his complaint about Megan Fox's subpar performance is an indirect accusation that Michael Bay isn't doing his job.
396* Tarantino is famously a fan of movies besides his own. If he's only seen one of Hitchcock's movies, Hitchcock must be very obscure.
397** It gets even better when you remember that the real Tarantino once controversially claimed that he preferred the infamous shot-for-shot remake of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' over the original Hitchcock film.
398* Some of the directors' characteristic styles are shown through the cinematography during the rap battle itself. To wit, Tarantino's final verse ends with his trademark "{{trunk shot}}" that he does every so often in his movies (a still camera facing upwards from the trunk of a car to look up at the character), Kubrick is teased through a ground-level camera angle from behind following him down a hallway, and Bay is introduced with a low-angle telephoto shot circling around him while emphasizing his presence like he often does to make a main character look more heroic with something in the background for dramatic effect.
399* When Hitchcock says "half of [Spielberg's] billions should go to Music/JohnWilliams", it's not just him dissing Spielberg. Williams scored ''Film/FamilyPlot'', Hitchcock's last film.
400
401[[AC:Lewis and Clark vs. Franchise/BillAndTed]]
402* Not only will Lewis and Clark walk all over their opponents, they will then proceed to hand back "a whole stack of maps and accurate charts" on where their footprints landed. In other words, Bill and Ted could be mashed flat enough to cover an area the size of the Louisiana Purchase, and Lewis and Clark would still be able to do their jobs on the new terrain.
403* Throughout the rap battle, Bill and Ted reference numerous historical figures, which leads to an amusing series of [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]] as the ERB versions of those characters begin to appear. However, the choices of which historical figures appear during Bill and Ted's raps (Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Khan, Ludwig Van Beethoven, and Joan of Arc) make sense when you consider that all of them were among the historical figures Bill and Ted brought to 1980's San Dimas in their film.
404* Lewis and Clark get very excited when Lewis holds up the clownfish he caught, ignoring Sacagawea's much bigger fish. They have every right to be excited - Clownfish aren't native to any American waters. They just documented yet another new species!
405
406[[AC:David Copperfield vs. Creator/HarryHoudini]]
407
408[[AC:The Franchise/{{Terminator}} vs. Franchise/{{Robocop}}]]
409* The Terminator makes a burn about Robocop being [[GroinAttack rebuilt without his genitals]] - something that was confirmed in TheRemake. Also note that Terminators are always NakedOnArrival, and nobody around them noticing anything out of the ordinary means that Skynet went and ''made them with intact parts despite not really needing them!''[[note]]And if the reaction from the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp5KTSaFhY0 female bar patron]] who [[FemaleGaze looks down and sees]] the Terminator's [[UnusualEuphemism crank]] in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' is any indication, Skynet made the Terminators very [[BiggerIsBetterInBed well-hung]].[[/note]]
410* The premise of this battle is "Terminator vs. a man turned robot". This battle is also created to promote ''Film/TerminatorGenisys''. Turns out, in the movie, their main adversary is indeed a man turned robot.
411* The Terminator claims Robocop 3 failed Detroit worse than the automotive industry. Not only was Robocop 3 generally disappointing, and did the auto industry downsize its workforce to where Detroit's economy lies in shambles, the city has begun to resemble the dystopia shown in the Robocop movies. What caused the auto industry to lay off its workers? Robotization.
412
413[[AC:Eastern Philosophers vs. Western Philosophers]]
414* When Nietzsche spells his name, an individual copy of himself slides onscreen for each letter. All the consonants show him standing straight as a pole, but the vowels have noticeably different poses.
415* Each Philosopher has a counterpart on the other side that's their primary opponent - Nietzsche and Lao Tzu, Voltaire and Confucius, and Socrates and Sun Tzu. These all make sense - Nietzsche (Works embraced by fascists) vs. Lao Tzu (Works embraced by anti-authoritarians), Voltaire (Nontraditional) vs. Confucius (Traditional), and Socrates (Soldier turned philosopher) vs. Sun Tzu (Lifetime soldier).
416** Alternatively for Nietzsche, one can argue that he's still the opposite of Lao Tzu when you compare Lao Tzu's ideals on acting in harmony with the Dao, opposed to Nietzsche's belief that a man should strive to make their own morality as the "ubermencsh"
417* Nietzsche remarks about dropping a "tao of poo[h] on Lao Tsu". You might think the captions got it wrong by spelling it as ''[[Literature/WinnieThePooh pooh]]''...until you remember [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Pooh that's the title of an actual book]].
418* The one who turns the Western Philosophers on themselves is Sun Tzu, which makes sense, considering he wrote the Art of War.
419* Sun Tzu is often seen either alone or actively setting himself apart from his comrades, from him jumping at the three Westerners in his first verse to backing off when he tells his companions to drop some bars, and most of his verses have just him on screen. He also sneaks off, again by himself, to stealthily taunt the Westerners when they start arguing, and then picks an argument with both Lao Tzu and Confucius. This all goes to highlight that Sun Tzu is the odd one out in this rap battle - He's not a brilliant ''philosopher'' like the other five, but a brilliant ''strategist'', whose literal tactics are taken abstractly.
420** This is also why Sun Tzu turns on Lao Tzu and Confucius -- Lao Tzu is given to abstract symbolism, and Confucius is condescending and narrow-minded. Sun Tzu's advice is all coldly practical. He doesn't have time for their bullshit.
421* Socrates mentions "tak[ing] apart [Sun Tzu's] Wu with [his] [[Music/WuTangClan method...man]] ;)". Aside from "Wū" (巫) meaning a supposedly magical shaman, and also being a homophone for "武" (martial), it can also be heard as "woo", a derogatory term for pseudoscience and "alternate" remedies and processes with no scientific backing behind them.
422** It could also be a reference to the well-known ''[[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' literary work, as it features the Kingdom of Wu, being lead by the Sun family. Given the naming conventions of China at the time and the arguable historical accuracy of the literary works, Sun Tzu could be a member of the same Sun family line.
423** It's also a brilliant way of contrasting the two; while Socrates merely claims he'll take apart Sun Tzu's team, Sun Tzu takes it a step further and actually causes the Western (and Eastern) teams to fall to infighting.
424* Why do the Eastern philosophers initially seem more in-sync and like much more of a team? They are all from the same country--China--and so have something in common despite having differing philosophies. To contrast, Socrates (Greek), Nietzsche (German), and Voltaire (French) all have different nationalities, and so are already on kind of a rocky start as far as team unity goes.
425* Socrates mentions that he is "toxic like a hemlock sip." What does poisoning have to do with philosophy? Well, disgraced and disliked philosophers were prone for executions, and many earlier ones were coerced into taking their own lives with poisoned wine. Socrates himself was sentenced to death by a "hemlock sip" by Athens for his work!
426** Socrates' remark about hanging a sandal on the door is a double-entendre and double insult to Nietzsche. By telling Nietzsche to suck his dick, he's invoking the Greek tradition of students sexually servicing their teachers, thereby insisting Nietzsche is a student of his.
427* Laozi and Confucius being referred to as "Yin and Yang twins" is a reference to their respective and opposite philosophies. Confucius encouraged rule by an enlightened elite, while Daoists like Laozi encouraged 'the power of the weak', or the massed peoples. Bonus points for YinYang being a Daoist concept!
428* The fact that the teams fall to infighting at all! Philosophers, especially from rival schools, were prone to petty squabbles and political maneuvering. Its no wonder 5 separate schools (and a general) would turn from two teams of three into 6 angry individuals!
429** This is also why Confucius claims he's 'way above you weak rookies' - He lived during one of those time periods and eventually his school of thought won.
430** It would have been strange if the battle didn't end with the members of both teams arguing - philosophers constantly criticize each other through their texts. The best example for this rap battle is Nietzsche, who has criticized both Socrates and Voltaire. They argue over important aspects of life. And that means disagreeing with other philosophers. Placing such different ideologies in two teams had to lead to infighting at some point. If Sun Tzu hadn't started it on the Western philosophers' side, it could very well have started on his own.
431* When Sun Tzu delivers his final line to Socrates, he turns his head slyly to the side when referring to 'both your students here.' From his perspective, he's not looking at Socrates but at Nietzsche, who his lines were ''really'' directed at.
432* Socrates getting the first turn to rap and the fact so much of the Western Philosophers' lyrics were his. It wasn't just because he was the father of Western Philosophy, its because of his status as the 'mad gadfly', which he alluded to. His career as a philosopher was (in)famous for him spurring the political leaders of Athens into acting on issues. He is acting the gadfly by starting the rap battle to begin with! "It all starts with you", indeed.
433* How did Sun Tzu know he could provoke Nietzsche into turning against Socrates? Several hints are dropped in the video that Nietzsche doesn't respect Socrates, hints the Master Strategist wouldn't have missed. The biggest one is at the beginning of Team West's second verse, when Nietzsche pushes past Socrates to deliver his line rather than simply moving a few inches around him. He's also visibly the angriest rapper, which would make him easily provoked.
434* Nietzsche takes a turn for the violent in Team West's last verse, threatening to stick his knee up Sun Tzu's chi and attesting to his ability to end motherfuckers. This seems like him just taking offense to Sun Tzu calling him a student of Socrates, but in the previous verse, Confucius said the Nazis were inspired by his work. Thing is, Nietzsche was vehemently against anti-Semitism, proof being [[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche letters he wrote to his sister]], where he lambasted her for her backwards views on the Jews. Also, that very same sister reappopriated his work for the Nazi cause. Perhaps there's more than one reason why Nietzsche went ballistic in his last moments of the battle.
435* Laozi's "A bowl is most useful when it is empty" observation actually makes complete sense. When a bowl is empty, you can put something in it, but when it's full, you can't. Laozi is saying that instead of "filling" the Westerners' disagreement with their own verses and risking them uniting again, the Easterners should let it play out until the opposition leaves in disgust with each other.
436** It can also be taken as Laozi agreeing with Sun Tzu: since an empty bowl is something you can put anything into, it also stands for opportunity, just as Sun Tzu pointed out ("Their chaos is our opportunity!"). If you don't put something in it, then it's useless.
437* For both the Eastern and Western philosophers, the infighting that breaks out between them occurs is almost identical in how it is structured, complete with each team member making the same decisions as their counterpart on the opposing team. Nietzsche and Lao Tzu both say something that angers the person next to them. Socrates then turns on Nietzsche while Sun Tzu turns on Lao Tzu. Then Voltaire and Confucius both try to stop their team's infighting and shift the focus back towards their opponents. Neither Socrates nor Sun Tzu is willing to accept this, instead opting to insult the other partner. Voltaire and Confucius then begin to argue with the other two as well. It shows that both sides are not so different.
438** Adding to this: from shortest to tallest, the Europeans are Socrates, Nietzsche, Voltaire, and the Chinese are Sun Tzu, Confucius, and Lao Tzu. But Confucius's hat makes him look taller than Lao Tzu.
439* Lao Tzu can be seen pulling ''tai chi''-esque movies in the DancePartyEnding. ''Tai Chi'' really did originate from Taoism.
440* Nietzsche's line, "Call me Übermensch cause I'm so driven!" has a very subtle StealthPun. Yes, the Übermensch as a concept describes someone with the "drive" to take control of life, but there's another "Uber" which drives a lot of people...
441** Nietzsche also gets a lot more aggressive during that verse, perhaps because there's also an "Uber" that [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 makes you temporarily invincible]]...
442* Confucius's claim that he's "way above you weak rookies" can be a subtle case of HypocriticalHumor that alludes to the fact that he's played in the battle by MC Jin, the only one of the six cast members to be a first-timer to [=ERB=].
443** Takes on a whole new layer of hilarity when one realizes that MC Jin already had an established career as an actor and rapper even before [=ERB=].
444
445[[AC: UsefulNotes/ShakaZulu vs. UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar]]
446* Many people questioned why Shaka Zulu was chosen, of all people, to face Julius Caesar. The choice makes a ''lot'' of sense if you know the basics about both men. They have a lot in common. Militarily, their armies would have been on a similar standing - scholars often compared them to each other - and both were known for brilliant and innovative strategies. Socially, both of them brought massive changes to the societies they lived in - specifically, both of them transformed their respective societies into empires. Finally, both of them were assassinated by people close to them - Caesar by members of the Roman Senate, Shaka by his half-brothers.
447* Caesar's claim Shaka 'can't outflank the best' isn't as much of a boast as it sounds. Two of Caesar's most important and iconic victories - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alesia Alesia]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pharsalus Pharsalus]] - were won despite the enemy both outnumbering and successfully outflanking him. In the latter battle, he was actually counting on it. And since the Zulu buffalo horn formation relies on flanking...
448* The end of the battle showcases the fighting formations that typically led both leaders to glory. Shaka's "Horns of the Bull" vs a Legion formation.
449* Shaka Zulu describes himself as "[[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian Conan]] of the Savannah". This isn't just a reference to his strength, bravery, and fighting skill, but also a play on the fact that many of the historical enemies of the Roman Republic and later Empire were known as "Barbarians".
450
451[[AC:Creator/StanLee vs. Creator/JimHenson]]
452* When rappers have copies of themselves in the background, it's usually one, two or three at most. In Walt Disney's section, there's an entire army of the same guy. More indication that this is The Walt Disney Company as it is now, and not Walt Disney himself at all.
453** Similarly, Disney is practically angrily screaming all his lines. Walt was well-known for speaking in a calm, grandfatherly way, and rarely losing his temper. And while most rappers at least speak normally and rarely use copies, Disney speaks in VoiceOfTheLegion while his army of doppelgangers rap for him most of the time.
454* Walt Disney says "That's my dime you're wasting". Why not "time"? This being Disney the enterprise, while it does care a little about not wasting time, it cares even more about not wasting money.
455* Walt Disney's line about "In fact I own this whole series" sounds like a weird BadassBoast until you remember that Disney bought out Makers Studio back in 2014. Several high-profile Youtube producers, including the Epic Rap Battles crew, work through Maker Studios to create their content.
456* Lee is the only rapper in the battle who swears.[[note]]He says "'''damn''' skippy".[[/note]] It makes sense since his opponents are Creator/JimHenson and Creator/WaltDisney.
457* Everything being painted by Walt's artists is in some way owned by Disney.
458* When Creator/WaltDisney turns Stan and Jim to gaze upon his "empire of joy," they both look terrified, as if they know all too well they're about to become faceless cogs in the machine. Stan's smug confidence and Jim's tranquil calm are both evaporated in this nightmare.
459* Walt's first line in the rap is "I rock the mic properly!" Of course he does: he voiced WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse for years.
460** Before this line, an offscreen chorus sings "M-I-C!" Before Disney's second line, the chorus sings "K-E-Y!" It is obviously spelling "Mickey," a reference to Mickey Mouse Club. But it is also spelling the words "mic" (which Disney rocks properly) and "key" (which Disney has to turn profits.)
461* Kermit leaves the battle, right after agreeing with Henson that "we all have a time to go."
462** This line also mirrors the message of the Mr. Hooper episode of ''Sesame Street'' that Lee previously mentioned.
463* Lee refers to Henson as "the geek beneath the Fraggles." As a puppeteer, Henson would literally be ''beneath'' them.
464** This line becomes even stronger when you remember that the Fraggles live underground.
465* Mixed with tearjerker. Why does Stan become so sad after he says "There's a lot of things you can't control at my age"? "My" age--Stan knows Jim will never experience those things himself, because he will never live to be that age.
466* When Disney claims that he will put "green" in Lee's and Henson's pockets, he isn't just being FauxAffablyEvil, but ''outright'' evil. This has to do with ''both'' of the other rappers: Lee's character, Bruce Banner dislikes turning into the green Hulk, while Henson's character, Kermit, sings a song about how he dislikes being green.
467* Disney being able to "make a mouse gigantic" is an obvious reference to Mickey's popularity. But for a mouse, Mickey ''is'' gigantic - about the size of a human child.
468* "Your Muppet Snuffleupagus stuff is bupkis!" Why Snuffleupagus? Until 1985, most of the cast of ''Sesame Street'' believed Snuffleupagus to be nonexistent. [[note]] "Bupkis" means "nothing." [[/note]]
469* One of Henson's earliest films was ''Limbo'', which is about a man who enters his own mind so he can clear it out. Hence why Kermit says, "That anger can clutter your mind." But why does Kermit say this instead of Henson? Henson used Kermit as an "alter ego" to express his more pessimistic side.
470* Henson claims that he's "clenching all of [Lee's] strings like [he's] a puppet." Not just a reference to Henson being a puppeteer, but to the Marvel movie ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', where Ultron says, "I had strings, but now I'm free." It may also foreshadow Walt Disney, as his movie ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' had the title character sing a song about how proud he is of being a puppet without strings.
471* When Lee says, "You taught children to count and spell!" he has a Muppet version of himself. Guest stars on ''The Muppet Show'' often appeared alongside Muppet versions of themselves.
472* Lee's reference to Henson's "turtleneck" might be a reference to the animatronics Henson created for ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' movies.
473* Lee says that Henson should keep moving "down the road." He could have said "street" in reference to ''Sesame Street,'' but he gave up the opportunity to avoid a PainfulRhyme with "code".
474* Disney is a LargeHam even by the standards of this series. Why? Well, he acts as an antagonist to Lee and Henson, and [[Creator/{{Disney}} his company]] is well-known for its [[EvilIsHammy hammy villains]].
475[[/folder]]
476
477[[folder:Season 5]]
478[[AC:Creator/JRRTolkien vs. Creator/GeorgeRRMartin]]
479* At the very beginning, Tolkien suddenly appears out of nowhere. What's he doing? Taking off a ring.
480* Martin disses Tolkien saying "There's edgier plots in [[WesternAnimation/TheWorldOfDavidTheGnome David the Gnome]]." Considering the series ends with ''the death of David the Gnome'' and his wife Sarah (not through war or sickness, they just reach old age and die), that's actually a true statement.
481* In the battle, George R. R. Martin brags about killing off his characters, while doing so in the video to Jon Snow. Then, near the end of his first verse, said character is seen rising up off a table in the background, having apparently come back to life. This mirrors a scene in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' Season 6 Episode 2, which came out a mere ''twenty-six hours'' before this battle went live on Youtube. ERB took a serious gamble on this scene appearing, as this battle would have been finished long before the Season 6 premiere.
482* Tolkien's comment about Martin being "a pirate who even stole [Tolkien's] R.R." could be not only a reference to the accusation of Martin plagiarizing ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', nor a StealthPun on a pirate's catchphrase, but also a reference to Martin's iconic fisherman cap. It could also be a reference to how Martin's father was a longshoreman.
483** Martin was also born just George Raymond Martin. He later adopted a second middle name, Richard. Tolkein is suggesting that Martin changed his middle initials from R to RR just to copy him.
484** While this may be unintentional, when saying this, Tolkien makes a hand gesture that looks like both a stereotypical pirate's HookHand ''and'' the letter "R" in sign language.
485* Tolkien referring to Led Zeppelin is a well earned boast; the band is the Trope Codifier of HeavyMithril, and frequently referenced Tolkien's works in their songs. In short Tolkien is truthfully claiming to have inspired one of the most famous rock and roll bands of all time.
486* Tolkien's line about Shire-raq refers to the fact that ''both'' modern wars in Iraq had heavy involvement from [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush famous]] [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush Georges]] and wound up causing significant problems for them.
487* What comes after Martin's line about Tolkien's books having too much backstory? Tolkien's backstory.
488** Ironically, it also comes after Martin gives ''his'' backstory.
489* George R. R. Martin's claim that you can tell what's going to happen in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' by "page and age five" has a double meaning. The obvious meaning is that Tolkien's books are so boring and predictable that even a 5-year-old can tell how they end by the fifth page. However, the history of Middle-earth is divided into distinct time periods called ages, and LOTR starts during the Third Age and ends at the beginning of the Fourth Age. Thus, Martin is saying Tolkien's world is so predictable that not only can he predict what's going to happen by the end of the book, but he can predict the ''entire'' future of Tolkien's world, ''even going into the next historical epoch''.
490* Tolkien's comments on Martin's conscientious objection to the Vietnam War and the later verse "C.S. Lewis and I were just discussing/How you and Jon Snow ''both know nothing''!" could very well be taken as a jab at how Martin avoided war and yet writes war "realistically" as if he had personal experience, versus Tolkien who was in the Battle of the Somme where over a million men (including all his friends) were killed and chooses instead to write the more idealistic fantasy presented in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
491** This is subtly highlighted by how they handle their weapons. Martin uses his sword in a very inexperienced way, looking like a kid playing with a plastic toy, and when he stabs Jon Snow it's a [[GroinAttack very low blow]] rather than a clean hit. Tolkien, by contrast, handles his rifle in a professional manner, even observing proper gun safety by keeping his finger off the trigger and not pointing the rifle at anyone even by accident.
492* Tolkein's last line is an obvious reference to Return of the King, the final volume of the Lord of the Rings. What isn't so obvious is that the previous line features a reference to the other two volumes: "Fellow, shit" and the final syllable of "towering" are a reference to the Fellowship of the Ring, "too towering" a reference to the Two Towers.
493* While it may seem odd that Tolkien never brings up the fact that Martin [[ScheduleSlip still hasn't finished his books]], it makes sense when you consider that Tolkien ''died'' before he could fully flesh out and codify his Legendarium. He probably doesn't want to throw stones from a glass house.
494* Tolkien's "you can't react this Fellow,, shit I'm too towering!" is not only a pun on the titles of two of his volumes, but a direct rebuttal to Martin's line "you're a nerdy little nebbish"; he's ''literally'' "towering" compared to Martin (Tolkien was 5'11, Martin is 5'6).
495
496[[AC: Creator/GordonRamsay vs. Creator/JuliaChild]]
497* The Behind The Scenes video for this battle indicates that, beyond being between two famed cooking show chefs, it also represents a clash between the old way to do things (Julia Child, who only has her counter, her ingredients and her kitchen tools, does everything herself) and the new way (Gordon Ramsay, who has a whole production team behind him at the start of the video, hosts multiple shows, and even has a blue team doing the work as he sings). It could also be taken as a parallel between the New ERB and the old ERB; new ERB has constant changing backgrounds, more cinematic sections, a lot of bonus special effects, an entire crew in the background and makes frequent use of cameos and extra actors, while old ERB only had the accessories, the person singing on the screen - and little to no cameos or additional characters - and a hardly-changing background image.
498* Child is cooking and prepping food throughout the rap battle. Ramsay never prepares any food. This reflects the different focuses of "The Joy Of Cooking" (Child showing you how its done) and "Hell's Kitchen" (where Ramsay isn't cooking, only passing judgments).
499** And in "Kitchen Nightmares", he also criticizes the chefs, the managers and the business decisions of the restaurants he visits. More than once, he tasted food so horrible he hurried to the bathroom to throw up, as seen in a shot of the battle. Also of note, while Ramsay often cooks in "Kitchen Nightmares", it always happens off-camera.
500* Ramsay holds up a Beef Wellington in the beginning, which is quite obviously undercooked in the middle. Undercooking any kind of meat is a well-known [[BerserkButton way to get on Ramsay's bad side, quickly]]. He gets noticeably more irritable after holding up the ill-prepared food.
501* The jacket Ramsay offers sarcastically to Child is for the Blue Team... which is the first round in Hell's Kitchen. He won't even give her designation on the newbie team.
502* Child takes all of Ramsay's criticisms and rage without yelling back at him herself, why? Because this was exactly what she went through as one of the first professional female chefs! When Julia first started out, the professional world for cooking, especially French cooking, was almost exclusively male dominated and would outright deny women from joining their kitchens.
503* Why does Ramsay compare Child to [[Series/SesameStreet Big Bird]]? Child was 6'2" in real life, which at the time was very tall for a man, let alone a woman like Child. "Bird" is also a Scottish term for "woman," so Ramsay is calling her a "tall woman." Bonus points for both shows being on PBS!
504** He may also mean "big" as in "fat"-- he compares her to Miss Piggy and the Michelin Man, and her cooking style certainly has a LOT of fat and grease tossed in.
505* Child's line "There's one F word: France!" might be a reference to the fact that PBS doesn't allow swearing, as well as a reference to the fact that Gordon Ramsay is [[SirSwearsALot extremely prone to swearing]].
506* Fans have noted that Gordon Ramsay does not swear and shout at *everyone* in the cooking competitions he heads - notably, he's very gentle with the contestants on Masterchef Jr. If you really examine his behavior on- and off-camera, you realize that he only gets that way with incompetent people who should know better than to use unsanitary or unsafe cooking practices. Meaning that the reason he spends the whole battle shouting at Child is because he sees her as incompetent despite her training allowing her to know better - meaning the *performance itself* is a diss!
507
508[[AC:UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson vs. Frederick Douglas]]
509* "Founding Absentee Father" becomes especially fitting when you realize the insult is meant ''literally''. Although he is considered one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson ''wasn't even in America'' when much of the Revolution happened.
510
511[[AC: Film/JamesBond vs. Film/AustinPowers]]
512* Bond is the first character to use the word "cunt" in a battle since Adolf Hitler. Hitler used the word cunt because he was among the world's worst real-life villains, and "cunt" is seen as the worst possible insult in North America. Bond, however, uses it because [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage it is actually fairly common in England and doesn't carry the same connotations]].
513** For the record, the line means he's used to beating up old guys.
514** Also, as Hitler was defeated by Vader twice and Bond was slapped in the face, they both have good reason to be pissed enough to use the word "cunt".
515* Bond's line--"Ladies want to B on D"--isn't just veiled double entendre. It's also a callback to the most recent Bond actor, '''D'''aniel Craig.
516** Probably unintentional, but the code name 007 was originally used by a 16th century occultist and agent of the court of Queen Elizabeth I named John '''Dee'''.
517* Austin Powers himself only gets one verse, and a lot of the battle instead ends up being between the Daniel Craig and Sean Connery incarnations of Bond. This also marks the first episode in which someone raps against themself. However the choices of which Bonds are used (the original vs. the most recent) makes sense as it shows how much Bond and, by extension, the franchise, has changed over time.
518* Austin Powers calling Sean Connery's Bond "rapey" is an understatement. Possibly the least enjoyable aspect of Connery's Bond films is that [[ValuesDissonance they are pretty misogynistic]], with the Bond girls treated as disposable sex objects or undergoing {{chickification}}, as well as Bond making some downright sexist statements. Case in point, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pUXH1Bye88 Goldfinger]] actually does attempt to glorify sexual assault. Also ironic in that Austin's obsession with sex was directly mocking and exaggerating this aspect of Bond, and the women in his films were ''still'' represented better - in fact, Austin refuses to even so much as kiss a drunk woman in his first movie.
519** Of course Craig's Bond would despise the misogyny of Connery's earlier films. One of the easiest ways to look at how the Bond franchise has changed is to examine the representations of women across different incarnations. While Connery's films are the most misogynistic of the bunch, more recent incarnations of Bond (especially Daniel Craig) have made a concerted effort to treat the Bond girls as actual human beings and to give the female characters a more active role.
520** Even [[Literature/JamesBond Ian Fleming's novels]], which are quite politically incorrect, [[FairForItsDay made most Bond girls strong and independent characters]]. Honey Ryder, for example, was a brilliant naturalist and skilled sailor in [[Literature/DrNo the novel]], but [[Film/DrNo the film]] turned her into an airhead who didn't do much. And while Fleming's Bond himself was far more violent, cold and ruthless than the movie Bond, he could sometimes be ''less'' misogynistic than Connery's Bond. For example, ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'' has Bond politely flirting with Patricia Fearing and then the two doing it consensually later on. The film has Bond blackmailing Fearing into having sex with him, then advancing on her and stripping her in the sauna while she protests. Even ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'' is less aggressive than the film in "seducing" Pussy, as it's made repeatedly clear that Pussy finds Bond very attractive. However, the film simply has Bond do it without warning.
521* Craig places a particular emphasis on calling Connery a "misogynist." Why? Aside from the above reasons, it's because in three of his four films (and the previous incarnation, Pierce Brosnan) the role of his boss, M (a role previously accepted as male) was played by Judi Dench.
522* Out of all the insults Connery's Bond could have used against Craig, he chooses to call him "Pussy." Considering that was also the name of the woman he practically raped in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', it amounts to indicating that he pretty much views Craig's Bond the same way he views nearly all the women he encounters: inferior and expendable.
523* Notice how Connery's Bond immediately shrugs off Austin Powers' remark that he's "rapey," and basically denies it while stubbornly claiming to be "distinguished." That's basically what happens when you attempt to explain the misogyny of Connery's Bond films to a die-hard fan of that era.
524* Austin's line about Q crafting a new plot line is more devastating if you look at ''Film/{{Spectre}}''. The main villain being the (half) brother of the protagonist has been done before in ''[[Film/AustinPowers Goldmember]]'', making it look like Bond ripping off Austin, which is already a ripoff of Bond.
525* Throughout the rap, Austin is actually acting like the better spy. While Bond is constantly hyping up himself and his achievements, Austin takes a few personal pot-shots at Bond and brags about a number of things that sound silly and/or have nothing to do with spying - he's [[ObfuscatingStupidity deliberately playing himself up]] as a non-threat so that Bond lowers his guard. When Connery's Bond appears, Austin makes a token attempt to rejoin the rap before backing off and [[LetsYouAndHimFight letting his two enemies fight]], which would both distract them from anything he might be doing (such as actual spywork) and allow him to come back in and finish off the (weakened) survivor later on if need be.
526* Connery!Bond claims that he doesn't need a Q to break Craig!Bond's balls. This isn't just a terrible billiards joke. In ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Craig!Bond really ''did'' have his balls broken.
527* At the beginning, Bond mentions Blofeld's "cheek scar." It isn't just to [[PainfulRhyme rhyme with "teeth are."]] Powers' nemesis, Dr. Evil, was based on Blofeld, but lacks the iconic scar.
528* Connery!Bond calls Craig!Bond a "runt." This sounds like HypocriticalHumour at first, as EpicLLOYD is shorter than Ben Atha. However, Daniel Craig is shorter than Sean Connery - in fact, the shortest actor to play James Bond.
529* Bond claims that he's "still reaching new heights." In his movies, he's frequently seen on top of skyscrapers.
530* Bond claims that Powers "couldn't get a learner's permit." He isn't just comparing it to his "licence to kill." For most of the first movie, Vanessa Kensington was the one driving instead of him.
531* Sean Connery's Bond makes a reference to the controversial movie adaptation of ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', in which Connery appeared in his last role before retirement. However, [[ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen the original comic book]] had James Bond actually appear as a character -- albeit with heavy WritingAroundTrademarks -- and in that comic, Bond [[RonTheDeathEater is controversially depicted as a bumbling, treasonous rapist]]. Yeah, NotHelpingYourCase there, Sean.
532
533[[AC: Bruce Banner vs. Bruce Jenner]]
534* The dig Jenner throws at Banner is that he can only bang his own cousin. Anyone even remotely knowledgeable in comics (especially Marvel) knows the truth couldn't be further. However, someone who doesn't know much might well just assume that She-Hulk was created as "romantic interest" the Hulk, regardless of her family ties to him. Jenner isn't the only one to make that mistake; in 2015, Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice co-writer David S. Goyer made the same assumptions on a podcast, enraging the character's fans. The line could be a reference to that controversy.
535** Alternately, it could be an allusion to ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'', which involves a clan of inbred Hulks descended from [[KissingCousins Bruce breeding with Jennifer]].
536* A lot of people complained about how one-sided Jenner's battle against the Hulk was, with Jenner dishing out multiple verses worth of verbal beatdowns that Hulk had no answer to. But then you realize... of course he had no answer. He's the Hulk. His specialty is smashing things, not wordplay. If Banner had stayed calm and stayed himself he might have won; this was one case where becoming Hulk made him ''less'' capable in a battle.
537** Also, Jenner's last 'verse' was a stream-of-consciousness ramble that was nearly impossible to respond to coherently since it itself was not particularly coherent. Hulk replied when he had something to reply to, but the long string of self-help cliches, affirmations, and lukewarm disses was as confusing to Hulk as it was to most viewers.
538* At the beginning, Banner criticizes Jenner's "lifetime of green." At the end, Jenner says that Banner will be so angry from losing that he will remain the Hulk forever, ''literally'' dooming him to a "lifetime of green."
539* Many fans complained about Jenner getting a ridiculous amount of lines compared to Hulk in the latter half of the battle, but it actually makes sense - Banner accused Jenner of being an AttentionWhore, so Jenner proceeded to [[IResembleThatRemark hog the spotlight]].
540
541[[AC: UsefulNotes/IvanTheTerrible vs UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat]]
542* Both Alexander and Frederick die in the same manner they did historically; Alexander collapsing after taking a single sip of possibly poisoned wine [[note]]Historians IRL aren't sure whether it was poisoned or not, but it is one accepted theory[[/note]], whereas Frederick died peacefully in an armchair. Furthermore, both of them foreshadow this in their verses by making a demand of Ivan.
543** Pompey was also assassinated, but his cameo doesn't mirror it as closely, as he was stabbed rather than garroted. However, he was beheaded afterwards.
544** This also explains why Ivan's attempt at dispatching Catherine doesn't work since the idea of her "[[BestialityIsDepraved dying while screwing a horse]]" was simply a myth.
545** As stated above, it is still uncertain whether Alexander the Great was actually poisoned or not. If you look closely in the last parts of Alexander's verse, you never actually see Ivan putting anything in the wine he gives to Alexander. His claim that he poisoned Alex could simply be a case of him taking advantage of the situation to deliver a final insult.
546** Technically, Ivan doesn't actually claim to be responsible for killing Alexander. His exact words are "you've been poisoned," which could be seen as him merely stating a fact (that Alexander consumed something toxic, even if Ivan didn't actually put anything into the drink). This would also parallel and foreshadow the appearance of Frederick, who also dies coincidentally at the exact moment when Ivan is going to kill him.
547** The best part about all this? For an ERB battle that seems at first to toy with the old formula by having one participant kill the others, aside from the ambiguous situation with Alexander (in which Ivan may or may not be responsible), Ivan hasn't actually killed anyone, despite being the villain; yet Catherine The Great did kill Pompey on-camera. Even better, many historical figures who showed up on ERB seemed to know how their opponent died, as it's often the point of a diss (similarly to how both Alexander and Catherine refer to Ivan dying in the middle of a chess game). Ivan is the first one to act on this knowledge to, if not directly kill them, provoke the historical cause of death of two of his opponents.
548* Similar to [[NotHelpingYourCase Mozart's retorts to Skrillex]], after Ivan calls him an alcoholic, Alex tells Ivan to grab him a drink and makes a vodka-themed crack.
549* Frederick's mention of his battle tactics not being exactly straight is both a reference to his preferred strategy of flanking his enemies and his [[AmbiguouslyGay alleged homosexuality]]. The latter also seems like a component of the "...if I had to look at your troll face every night!" line.
550** There's also reason to believe that Ivan was bisexual, so Frederick's line about his "troll face" may have been a preemptive rejection.
551* Why is Catherine so eager to jump into the battle that she assassinates Pompey? She's out to avenge Frederick, who arranged her marriage to Peter III, through which she became Empress. She doesn't want to admit it, but she owes him.
552* When Catherine announces "checkmate", why does she topple a fool piece rather than a king? Because Ivan ''was'' insane, and she doesn't consider him her equal as ruler of Russia.
553** Adding to this, Ivan has a dark color scheme, while Catherine is all dressed in white and pale colors, pushing the chess theme a little further.
554** If Ivan is represented by black, then why was the piece toppled white? Simple. White always moves first in Chess, and Ivan had the first verse/move.
555* It's pointed out a couple of times that Ivan was suffering from delusions - does it make sense now that he'd be familiar with [[Film/DropDeadFred a movie about an imaginary friend?]]
556* The recurring ChessMotifs - most laymen who know the first thing about chess will be familiar with the Queen, an UrExample of GameBreaker for being able to traverse the entire board in all directions. Is it any wonder that the last man standing is a woman?
557* Frederick actually won his part of the battle. He let himself die of natural causes before Ivan could kill him.
558* Ivan's first verse is full of this when examined.
559** Ivan's first words are "Look alive." He tries to win by killing his opposition.
560** Ivan's second line is "Try to serve Ivan, no survivin'". Turns out he's not being hyperbolic.
561** Ivan's third line is "You're a land rover, I'm a land expander." This is a preemptive counter of Alexander's inevitable bragging about his conquests, since while Alexander did conquer a lot of territory his empire fell apart barely two years after he died. In contrast, Ivan's smaller conquests have remained part of Russia ever since.
562** Ivan's second-to-last line is warning Alexander "Don't even try to approach the god," and true enough Alexander dies shortly after approaching Ivan to receive the poisoned drink.
563* Catherine’s line “I’m picking up where Peter (the Great) left off” also applies to the battle itself, as she is continuing the rap from where Ivan (played by Nice ''Peter'') left off.
564
565[[AC:Donald Trump vs. UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton]]
566* At the end, Abraham Lincoln tells off both candidates, much like he did in the Barack Obama VS Mitt Romney battle, though he's much harsher towards Trump. One moment sticks out though; when Abraham says the line "Of the people, by the people, for the people", he slaps Trump twice, but looks at him only for the "Of the people" part. For the "by the people, for the people" part, he looks at Hillary menacingly, even moving a bit forward. Sure, [[WouldntHitAGirl Abraham won't hit her]], but he wants to make damn sure that Hillary remembers to have the interests of the American people in mind if she wins these elections, and not only those of people and groups close to her.
567** Abe is especially harsh to Trump, which a lot of people see as a liberal bias by ERB. But it makes sense he'd be harsher to Trump than Clinton when you remember Abe's own politics - This is the man who gave us the famous 'House Divided' speech after all, and he saw exactly how bad things can get when the country is divided. He likely sees ERB!Clinton as a sleazy politician, sure, but he sees ERB!Trump as something far worse - Someone intentionally fostering disunity and division. His lines reflect this line of thought with his multiple Civil War references.
568** Lincoln being harsher towards the Republican is actually in character. In Obama vs Romney, Lincoln said that he likes Obama's campaign but disliked Romney's. And in Lincoln vs Norris, Lincoln used Norris's vote for [=McCain=] as an insult.
569* The lines "She's your daughter!" "Well, grab her by the p***y" lines were decried as a demonization of Trump by his followers - however, while the second line is taken from the billionaire's infamous "locker room talk", the first line references an interview where Trump said that if his daughter [[http://www.mediaite.com/online/donald-trump-wont-stop-joking-about-banging-his-daughter/ Ivanka wasn't his daughter, he would date her]].
570** Most, if not all, the lines said by Clinton and Trump in this rap battle reference lines from interviews, and can be traced back by someone who's willing to do this sort of research.
571* A HarsherInHindsight interpretation of Abe's controversial 'And beat this dummy!' line isn't him telling Clinton he wants her to win, it's him criticizing Clinton's campaign. Her campaign revolved largely around sitting around waiting for Trump to self-destruct, and when that turned out to not matter she was left without an effective counter-plan. She wasn't trying to beat him, she was waiting for him to beat himself which ultimately worked against her, and Abe was mocking her for this.
572* Trump begins his verse by claiming to "respect all females" only to immediately insult Clinton, claim that America only wants male leaders, and brag about how he'll shove his anus into the glass ceiling. Of course he would! Aside from showing Trump's (very flimsy) attempts to convince people he isn't a bigot, it also alludes to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJfH9O0w1WY his inability to be consistent in anything he says]].
573* Trump's final line at first seems like another attempt to bring up his racism, especially with [[CurseCutShort the part Lincoln's Eagle censored]], and it is, but it makes even ''more'' sense when you realize it's also referencing two other aspects of Trump's speeches. First, it alludes to Trump's notorious tendency to draw support by making up conspiracies that have no basis in fact (not to mention that the phrase "This whole system's rigged" is an almost word-for-word quote from some of Trump's speeches around that time), but he also claims that this has happened for "the past eight years." Eight years ago was when Barrack Obama (credited as the first black president) first entered office. The line is in fact alluding to the multiple occasions when Trump has voiced his hatred of Obama's politics.
574* The style of the whole battle is more grim than Obama vs. Romney was, with most of the material taken from things the candidates actually said and did whereas in the previous Presidential Candidate Rap Battle, they mostly used overexaggeration and devolved into childish namecalling and bickering. Well, what was the first line of that battle? "I'm not gonna let this battle be dictated by facts!"- that is, they consciously stayed away from them. But not this time.
575
576[[AC:Ash Ketchum vs. UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin]]
577* Charles claims Ash's Pokémon are slaves and being forced into fighting, and that makes him sick. Now remember that Charles is the grandson of Erasmus Darwin, a dedicated abolitionist.
578** Another reason why it "makes him sick" is because [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP038 there was actually a Pokemon]] MissingEpisode outside of Japan that gave some viewers epileptic seizures.
579* This episode was released a few days before the first games of the Seventh Generation of the Pokemon series. A major trait of that generation is how certain Pokemon adapted to their environment, often becoming drastically different from the same species as they were encountered in other regions. This is a direct reference to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The new region, Alola, is itself based on Hawaii and the Galapagos islands.
580* Darwin has some Pokémon insults that are extremely common and even nowadays considered discredited and not taken seriously - likening Pokémon battles to slave abuse and claiming people are spending too much time on their phones playing VideoGame/PokemonGo, in particular. Darwin is an old man (who's also been kind of dead for a while), so it's rather in-character for his insults to be practically expected; if you've seen an older person criticizing Pokémon, chances are it'll be one (or both) of those points that they bring up, because they're not actually familiar with Pokémon itself. Goes along with how he calls Ash "Mighty Morphin", getting him confused with Power Rangers; mixing up shows or movies they don't care for is a common stereotypical 'old person' thing.
581* The battle takes place in Alola, judging by the presence of the Alolan Exeggutor, with Darwin having just sailed on one of the islands.
582* Ash having yet to catch the Ghost type. By the time the battle was released, he's had Electric[[note]][[SeriesMascot Pikachu]][[/note]], Fire[[note]]the Charizard line, two thirds of the Typhlosion line -except Typh itself-, Torkoal, the Infernape line, two-thirds of the Emboar line -except Emboar itself-, the Talonflame line[[/note]], Water[[note]]Squirtle, the Kingler line, Lapras, Totodile, Corphish, Buizel, Oshawott, Palpitoad, the Greninja line[[/note]], Grass[[note]]Bulbasaur, two-thirds of the Meganium line -except Mega itself-, the Sceptile line, the Torterra line, Snivy, the Leavanny line[[/note]], Poison[[note]]Muk[[/note]], Normal[[note]]Raticate, Tauros, Snorlax, the Ambipom line[[/note]], Bug[[note]]the Butterfree line, Beedrill, Heracross[[/note]], Flying[[note]]the Pidgeot line, Noctowl, the Swellow line, the Staraptor line, the Unfezant line, the Talonflame line, the Noivern line[[/note]], Ground[[note]]the Donphan line, the Krookodile line[[/note]], Ice[[note]]the Glalie line[[/note]], Dragon[[note]]Gible, the Noivern line, Goodra[[/note]], Dark[[note]]Scraggy, the Krookodile line[[/note]], Fighting[[note]]Primeape, Scraggy, Hawlucha[[/note]], Rock[[note]]two-thirds of the Gigalith line -except Gigalith-[[/note]]... but he does have yet in the anime to properly catch a single Ghost-type Pokémon[[note]]the Haunter from Season 1 was not properly caught, so it didn't count.[[/note]].
583** Made HilariousInHindsight as of [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/JN011 JN011]] - Ash ''finally'' has a [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ash%27s_Gengar Ghost Type!]]
584* Darwin's line "Where actual minds do ground-breaking work" may be a pique at the Pokédex. It's unclear as both interpretations have been used in the franchise, but it's either the Pokédex itself that fills its own entries, thus not being an actual mind, or that it's filled by the children who leave on their Pokémon Training journey, explaining the often ridiculous or exaggerated descriptions. What's more, all that is needed for an entry to be filled in the Pokédex is for the machine's owner to catch a Pokémon of that species, with little to no experimentation or observation. As the rap battle mentions, Charles Darwin would spend months or even years studying certain exotic species... going as far as to try and eat them (as shown with the turtle when Darwin is announced at the beginning of the battle)!
585* Darwin's opening pose and line ("Hello there, welcome to a world called Earth!") echoes the beginning of VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue, where Professor Oak greets the player in almost the exact same way.
586* Why is Darwin so unimpressed by Ash's inability to turn eleven? Because he hasn't hit puberty, and therefore can't reproduce. Not exactly useful to evolution, is it?
587* Darwin's line "You've got no game, boy!" seems at first like nothing more than a terrible pun on the Game Boy. Then you remember that Ash wasn't actually featured in the Pokemon games. He literally has "no game." "Boy" is yet another reference to Ash's inability to age.
588
589[[AC:Franchise/WonderWoman vs. Music/StevieWonder]]
590* Wonder Woman's line about "Princess Diana but this lady don't die" isn't just referencing the real life Princess Diana, but it's also a reference to the fact that Wonder Woman is an immortal being.
591** The line also references Princess Diana's popular nickname, Lady Di.
592* Diana is performed by a [=YouTuber=] who calls herself "Superwoman." This is not only a similar name to "Wonder Woman," it's actually the title of a Stevie Wonder song.
593* Diana says "Look" at the beginning of her third verse. This seems generic at first - many rappers before her have done the same. Darwin even did it at the beginning of his second verse in the previous battle. Then you remember a certain disability that her opponent has...
594* At one point, Stevie tells Diana to use her fingers to read his lips. This makes no sense at first, as ''Stevie'' is the blind one. But this is right before he suggests she could be blinder.
595* Stevie claims that Diana tries and fails to represent independence, and thus associates her with July 4th. The last time that date was mentioned in a battle, it was by Frederick Douglass, who pointed out that the day slavery was abolished is a more meaningful day for African-Americans like himself to celebrate. As Stevie is also black, July 4th would also be meaningless to him.
596* The battle contains a HurricaneOfPuns on Stevie Wonder songs. But it also contains a pun on a song by Ray Charles, whom Diana compares Stevie to. Charles wrote a song called "Tell the Truth", and Stevie says he will do just so because he knows Diana has the lasso.
597* Stevie Wonder's line 'DC is a whole step down' is one of the most densely-packed single lines in any ERB. Firstly, it's a continuation of his previous line about how he's on a higher ground, IE better, than Wonder Woman. Secondly, Stevie is also saying that DC Comics, where Wonder Woman originated, is a step down from Marvel, who has been much more successful than DC at the box office in recent years. Thirdly it's a music joke - In musical notation the distance between two notes is measured in half and whole steps, and going from a D to a C is a whole step down. And finally, DC step-down converters and transformers are common pieces of electrical equipment that decrease voltage, meaning he's ''also'' calling her lower in power.
598
599[[AC: Tony Hawk vs Wayne Gretzky]]
600* Hawk says that Gretzky's nose looks "titanic." The Titanic looked good until it hit the ice. Now remember that he's talking to a hockey player.
601* Why does this battle have three verses for each rapper, rather than the usual two? You might say that it's because it's in season 5 of ERB, when three verses became the norm rather than the exception. However, since one player is a hockey player, this can be considered analogous to the three periods of a hockey game.
602** If this is true, then Gretzky's line about Hawk being "speechless after three periods" isn't just a boast about his hockey skills, but about his rapping skills.
603
604[[AC: UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt vs. UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill]]
605* Churchill's claim that it's not fair "for a British bulldog to melee with a teddy bear" is likely referencing the fact that Theodore Roosevelt abducted a cub bear after killing its parents and paraded it around. In fact this is where the teddy bear originated; a toymaker created a plush replica of "Teddy's bear" to cash in on the popularity of the bear cub.
606** Another story of the Teddy Bear claims that the men Theodore was hunting with tied up a black bear with the intention of giving Theodore an easy target, since he was the only one of the group who hadn't found one that trip. Theodore decided this was unsportsmanlike and told them to let it go. If ''this'' was the version that Churchill was thinking of, then "teddy bear" could have been a [[StealthInsult stealthy way of calling Theodore a "softie",]] as well as a clever CallBack to Theodore's first line saying he preferred a challenge.
607** Also, the real Roosevelt didn't like being called "Teddy".
608* Churchill tells Teddy "if Rushmore was a band, then you'd be the bass", implying that Teddy is overshadowed by Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson. So it's not surprising that Teddy Roosevelt was the last of the Presidents on Rushmore to be featured in a battle. Not to mention the latter three have been portrayed by Peter, with only Teddy being portrayed by Lloyd.
609* The line "I keep my rhymes pure/Like my Food and Drugs" isn't just a reference to Teddy's famous physical fitness, but the fact that he spear-headed the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906, which eventually lead to the establishment of the FDA and better standards for food for American consumers.
610* TR claims that Churchill should grow a mustache to cover part of his unappealing face. In real life, Churchill ''did'' have a mustache during his earlier days in politics, for which he was once mocked.
611* "TR will give WC the full deuce" isn't just a generic threat; in Britain, WC is short for "water closet," AKA a bathroom.
612
613[[AC: Nice Peter vs. Epic Lloyd 2]]
614* The part where Lloyd talks about Peter screwing over their friends, the backdrop is the one from ''Tesla vs. Edison''. Rather appropriate, since Edison is known to screw Tesla over. He even bragged about it in his rap battle.
615** Lloyd says that Peter arguably treated Dante even worse. Even though Dante portrayed Tesla, Peter is better remembered for providing Tesla's voice.
616* The part where the editors mess with Peter and Lloyd. Peter was given a big hand, and was called out for being a ControlFreak, while Lloyd was given a big head, and was called out for having a huge ego.
617[[/folder]]
618
619[[folder:Season 6]]
620
621[[AC: General]]
622* The trailer for this season contained StockFootage of Walt Disney shouting, "THIS WHOLE SERIES!" which is taken from a line about how [[Creator/{{Disney}} his company]] owns ERB. At first glance, this is an [[{{Irony}} ironic]] foreshadowing that Maker Studios [[note]]which was completely bought out by Disney between seasons 5 and 6[[/note]] no longer produces ERB. However, since the "I own" part was edited out, this could actually be a straight foreshadowing.
623
624[[AC: Freddy Krueger vs Wolverine]]
625* "Only half of Film/EdwardScissorhands" is right - Scissorhands has two scissor-like hands, whereas Freddy has only one clawed glove.
626** Adding insult to injury, Edward Scissorhands is played by Creator/JohnnyDepp, who went from an oft-forgotten role in one Freddy movie to blowing up way bigger than Freddy ever did.
627* Wolverine's penultimate line -- "That face tells me you've met your match" -- is not only a BadassBoast but also a StealthPun. On the surface, Logan is saying he can tell that Freddy is intimidated by him just by looking at his face. However, Freddy's face has also been severely burned (as Wolverine points out earlier), so it could be said that Freddy's face literally "met a match," as in the kind of matches that start fires.
628* Wolverine tells Freddy that he'll "take your whole franchise out" - the superhero movie boom was spearheaded by the X-Men movies with Wolverine at the helm, easily overshadowing the horror genre, while the Freddy movies are dead in the water after the remake underperformed.
629
630[[AC: Guy Fawkes vs Che Guevara]]
631* Why does Fawkes hate Guevara so much? Guevara was an authoritarian communist, and therefore in favour of suppressing religious belief. Fawkes, on the other hand, fought against oppression of Catholics like himself.
632** Moreover, many of Guevara's activities were in Latin America and the Congo region, both of which are heavily Catholic.
633** And even moreso, while the matchup can be explained by both being revolutionaries, by modern definitions, Guevara was a leftist revolutionary while Fawkes, by wanting to restore Catholicism to Britain, was a ''reactionary.'' Guevara referencing the Catholic church's pedophillia scandals and Fawkes telling his opponent to "look at Venezuela" are rather simplistic and cliche insults... often used by online reactionaries and leftists.
634* Fawkes's claim that "these rhyme skills aren't evenly distributed" isn't just a boast about his own rapping skills, it's a reference to the fact that Guevara has four more lines in total.
635* When Fawkes says "I don't give two Guy Fawkes!" he holds up two fingers. This actually has more meanings than the obvious:
636** Holding up two fingers like this is actually the British equivalent of giving someone the middle finger.
637** It is also the letter V in sign language, and therefore another reference to ''V for Vendetta''.
638** If the fingers were hands on an analog clock, they would show the time 11:05, meaning the 5th minute of the 11th hour. Replace "minute" with "day" and "hour" with "month" and...
639* Fawkes referring to the Bay of Pigs invasion in his second verse seems odd, since Guevara was on the ''winning'' side of that as Castro's military instructor and general. Knowing this, though, it makes Guevara the Destro to Castro's Cobra Commander, just like Fawkes said in his first verse.
640** It may also be intended as a slur, since Fawkes is Catholic and would be familiar with ''actual'' Latin (pig latin is just an AsLongAsItSoundsForeign thing).
641* Che makes a few outdated references to pop culture, which is actually the norm in real life communist countries due to state-run media.
642* In one part of Che's first verse, two of his clones can be seen doing ThatRussianSquatDance in the background. Seems like just a regular background dance, until you remember where the first communist revolution started...
643* Che mentions that Fawkes's only job was to "strike a matchstick". It had a double meaning in both lighting the fires of revolution, and literally striking a match stick since Fawkes was supposed to ignite a huge cache of explosives but he got caught.
644
645[[AC: Ronald [=McDonald=] Vs. The Burger King]]
646* Neither Ronald nor the King take Wendy very seriously. They're initially surprised to see her, but once she's done both of them just [[ShrugTake look at each other and shrug]]. This makes sense - Wendy's is a ''significantly'' smaller and less international chain than either Burger King or [=McDonald's=], having little presence or name recognition outside North America while the other two are known worldwide. They don't take her seriously because they don't see her as a serious competitor, so they don't know why she's there.
647* Why is Ronald willing to compliment Burger King's onion rings? Since UsefulNotes/McDonalds doesn't serve onion rings, there's no sense in trying to compete there. Put simply, Ronald's picking his battles.
648* Wendy shows up shortly after Ronald calls himself "the best trash talking mascot in town". Since Wendy's is the chain famous for their epic Website/{{Twitter}} roasts, she likely would take offence to someone else trying to take that title.
649* All of the King's opening lines have clever double meanings:
650** First, he asks how he can "serve" Ronald today--as in, defeat him with clever rapping.
651** "One flame-broiled ass-clown?" means Ronald's going to be ''roasted'', as is traditional in rap battles.
652** Finally, "have it your way" is more than just a slogan drop. King's basically saying "You want to lose to me in a battle? Okay, you're getting what you want!"
653* Ronald calling BK "a rapper so plastic it had a toy in it". [[Music/SouljaBoy Rappers entering the toy and game market seldom do well.]]
654** Also a pun on plastic "wrapper".
655** It might also be a reference to the fact that the Burger King seen in commercials is actually made of plastic.
656* The King's confused 'Alright?' after the end of Ronald's first verse followed by him calling Ronald's lines a 'Ray Kroc of shit' is because Ronald legitimately screwed up his comparison. Not only do Mac and Android not compete (Mac is a PC brand while Android is a mobile operating system) but Android ''massively'' outsells iOS on mobile devices and Mac is almost a non-factor in the PC market. That comparison really ''is'' a crock of shit.
657** The "Alright?" immediately follows Ronald's line "Let's be real, I'm [=NicePeter=] and you're [=EpicLloyd=]." That line makes less sense here than in the "Flash in the Pan" version because, in the latter, Peter and Lloyd were uncostumed, so the line was literally true.
658* One of the King's background dances when he's on the attack is a series of (unarmed) fencing advances, appropriate for a duel. Fencing was widely-known among medieval European nobility, so naturally a king would know it.
659* Several parts of the ''Flash in the Pan'' version were rewritten for this one, like the line "you might be a king but ''a clown'' wears the crown." Some folks might recall that the clown, more commonly known as the jester nowadays, would be present in a royal court as much as the king would be (in fact, the pointy belled hat of the jester was designed as a parody of the actual crown.)
660* Burger King's claim that Ronald's rhymes are "a Ray Kroc of shit" is not just a {{pun}} about the name of [=McDonalds=]' supposed founder; if ''Film/TheFounder'' is to be believed, Kroc is the one who bilked the [=McDonald=] brothers -- the franchise's ''actual'' founders -- out of a lucrative business empire. In short, Burger King is pointing out that Ronald [=McDonald's=] claims of being a superior brand are fake in pretty much every way.
661
662[[AC: George Carlin Vs. Richard Pryor]]
663* Most rap battles don't involve SelfDeprecation, but the participants here engage in it during their verses a decent bit. SelfDeprecation is a staple of comedians and their routines.
664* When Creator/JoanRivers turns her attention to Creator/GeorgeCarlin, she attacks with, "My jokes always had bites/You started out toothless". Few people know that George wasn't always as counter-culture as his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKHVwMMI0fc later performances.]]
665* Creator/BillCosby getting drugged and trying to talk with heavily slurred speech isn't just a reference to his sexual assault allegations, it's also a reference to his 'Dentist' comedy skit.
666* There's a reason why Joan Rivers is the one who specifically tears Bill Cosby to shreds; Rivers got her first big break in showbiz thanks to Cosby, so of course she'd feel personally betrayed to find out that [[BrokenPedestal her mentor and friend was such a monster]]. The other participants never acknowledged Cosby's presence at all because they didn't have nearly as close a connection to the man (though Carlin, who died 7 years before the truth about Bill came out, did consider Cosby to be a WorthyOpponent), so while they would no doubt have been disgusted by what he did, it wasn't as [[ItsPersonal personal]] a betrayal for them as it was for Joan Rivers.
667** In real life, Pryor and Cosby did ''not'' get along. Cosby criticized Pryor (and any other black comic he could) for using bad language, whereas Pryor thought Cosby was self-righteous and egotistical. Either Pryor didn't want to bother acknowledging his presence, or he's satisfied the public caught up with his opinion.
668*** Additionally, Pryor imitated Cosby's inoffensive humor at first, before his breakthrough success with angrier comedy. In his later life, Pryor felt his opening work was an OldShame.
669** Cosby may have been the only living comedian in the group by the time it was made, but it's not just because [[BrokenPedestal he was already dead to many people]]. He arguably ended up with a FateWorseThanDeath.
670* Why is there a gold triangle in Robin Williams' background? He was a big fan of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', to the point of naming his daughter "[[Creator/ZeldaWilliams Zelda]]", so it's probably a reference to the Triforce.
671* Robin deliberately meshes together his mention of Creator/RichardPryor's burning incident with the PieInTheFace scene from ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'' - not only did Mrs Doubtfire actually catch fire in the movie ("First week as a woman, and I'm already getting hot flushes"), but setting fire to pie and other pastries when serving them is an actual thing, called a Flambé.
672* Robin Williams saying "that's my time, gotta set myself free" line works on four levels. Firstly, it could simply mean that's all the time he had arranged for this gig. Secondly, Williams' most famous role was as the genie in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', and the ''Literature/ArabianNights'' claims that genies get imprisoned by Arabian emperors they defy, so it could be taken to mean "I've now served my time, and am now allowed to live as a free man". Thirdly, Williams played at least ''two'' prisoners in his movies; the aforementioned Genie and Alan from ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'', both of whom escaped their prisons. Fourthly, it can be taken as [[SadClown a subtle reference to Williams' suicide, i. e. "that's all the time I have left to live, now I must free myself from the suffering of existence"]].
673* Williams's penultimate line, "I love the prince, but you'll never have a friend like me" isn't just a reference to the fact that the Genie from ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' turns the title character into a prince, it's a reference to the fact that the Genie was portrayed by Creator/WillSmith in the [[Film/Aladdin2019 live-action remake]], and whose resume includes starring in ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir''. Williams is saying that even though Smith is a good actor, himself will always be better.
674* Robin Williams introduces himself saying he's "[[Music/ChristinaAguilera a genie in a bottle]], for some comic relief". His verse insults are far more humor-based and less personal than typically seen in any of the rap battles, including this one.
675** He also keeps his insults limited to things the comedians themselves used in their own verses. He says Carlin "hasn't had a good shit since 1962" after Carlin did some ToiletHumor in his own lines, and he brought up Joan's plastic surgery and Pryor's lighting himself on fire, both things they brought up as SelfDeprecation in their own verse. With this in mind, it's entirely possible that the main reason he didn't bring up Cosby [[OccamsRazor was because he was unconscious and wouldn't have heard him no matter what he had to say.]]
676** 'For some comic relief' could also be a reference to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Relief_USA Comic Relief USA,]] the non-profit organization whose stand-up specials on HBO were fundraisers to help those who need it, primarily the homeless. Williams was one of the original hosts.
677** The "comic relief" line works two more ways:
678*** Comic relief is, by definition, something funny to liven up or distract from a more serious situation. Williams calling himself "comic relief" implies that the other comedians were unfunny enough to need it.
679*** "Comic relief", due to AmbiguousSyntax, might also be read as "relief ''from'' comics", i.e. the previously mentioned, seemingly unfunny stand up comics.
680* 'And believe me, we've all hit plenty of bumps.' In the 1970s and 1980s, Williams was a heavy cocaine user, but snapped out of it after both the death of John Belushi and the birth of his son, Zak.
681** The uncomfortable look Williams has when he says "plenty of bumps" may also be a reference to his first wife suing him for passing on genital warts during their marriage.
682
683[[AC:Jacques Cousteau vs Steve Irwin]]
684* Cousteau saying that he would eat the snail named after Irwin isn't as much of a threat as it sounds. It is common in Cousteau's native France to eat snails, i.e. escargot.
685* At around the start of Irwin's first verse, he tells Cousteau to "hang on a minute" when the latter tries to leave. Irwin says this at 1:39-1:40, literally a minute before the video ends at 2:39-2:40.
686* Right after Irwin says "your mistress was as young as your first born son", there is a [[BlinkAndYouMissIt quick]] shot where Cousteau wears a cheeky look on his face and tosses his pipe away as if to say "Let's get serious". This is because he was just given the opportunity for a good comeback (specifically, his "Outback Mistake House" line).
687** In addition to this, Cousteau notably gets a lot more angry (especially compared to his first verse) after Irwin counters this line by bringing up his own brother's nazi sympathies.
688* "Like a joey in the pouch, this ain't quite finished" is a very appropriate analogy. One of the defining traits of baby marsupials (like joeys) is that they're born very underdeveloped. In other words, "not quite finished".
689* Out of all of Irwin's lines, the ones calling out Cousteau for [[OldShame his cruelty towards animals early on in his career]] are some of the harshest and cleverest, to the point of often being cited as what won him the battle. Of course Irwin -- who's been a passionate conservationist his entire life -- would have such a large issue with Cousteau's earlier practices!
690* Irwin's telling Cousteau to embrace his "French nature and quietly surrender" is more than a politically incorrect dig. During World War II, Cousteau took refuge in Megève to quietly conduct his underwater experiments and explorations, although he later joined the French Resistance movement and was even awarded the Legion of Honour.
691
692[[AC: Mother Teresa vs Sigmund Freud]]
693* Mother Teresa claims Freud is "super-ego" tripping and "Freudian slipping". The problem is that she uses both terms incorrectly. The super-ego in Freudian psychology is the controlling balance to the animalistic Id, while a Freudian slip is a term used to describe when a person misspeaks and reveals their real thoughts. More proof that Mother Teresa knows nothing about what she'd need to to actually heal people.
694** On a similar note, though more subjective, [[FlatEarthAtheist Freud outright calling God non-existant can seem quite ironic]] when previous battles have involved outright Judeo-Christian figures and Christian-adjecent holiday mascots, as well as other pantheons being shown, making him look just as ignorant as Teresa.
695
696[[AC: Vlad the Impaler vs Count Dracula]]
697* There's lots of ancient art out there showing that Vlad impaled people through the gut and then stuck the pikes in the ground, but some verses imply that this version of Vlad does something even more grisly - impaling people in "spitroast" fashion. Bearing in mind that Count Dracula can be killed by a stake in the heart, impaling in this direction will most definitely reach it.
698
699[[AC: The Joker vs Pennywise]]
700* References to all the past incarnations of both characters abound, as per normal, while Joker's sudden outburst of apparent jealousy when Pennywise takes a dig at Batman can be interpreted as a subtle nod to the one time they turned the obsession [[WesternAnimation/TheLegoBatmanMovie into Joker's primary motivation]].
701** It's also a nod to several of the Joker's incarnations where he takes umbrage with people claiming they want to kill the Batman, as he sees himself as "Bats"' [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou one true enemy]].
702* Pennywise advises the Joker to kill Batman when he's still a child, which goes both ways - Pennywise was beaten by a bunch of past victims he failed to kill as children, while some versions of the Joker have come very close to killing Bruce Wayne as a child, even on the same night as his parents, which would have changed ''a lot''.
703* Pennywise flat-out shows Joker the [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm Deadlights]] during his first verse, but the clown-themed criminal is no worse for wear. The Deadlights are supposed to render people catatonic or drive them into insanity or death if looked at directly. It could be a nod to the fact the Joker is stated often in the comics to suffer from several different mental illnesses and psychoses all at once, having a disturbed, twisted mind from the getgo. The Deadlights might not have worked because the Joker is already too far gone.
704* Why does Joker say Pennywise would be "gobbled up" in Gotham? Because Gotham has Killer Croc, who ''also'' lives in sewers and is known for eating people who intrude on his territory.
705* Why did Pennywise mention ''The Cask of Amontillado''? Maybe because the story was written by Edgar Allen Poe, and [[https://twitter.com/stephenking/status/473571946316443648?lang=en he's the one who got the better of King...]]
706* It's normal for an ERB rapper to have multiple copies of themselves dancing to the beat, and they're always mirrored. Joker's are. Pennywise's ''aren't'' - They're doing the same dance but not quite the same way, and their facial expressions are different. It gives a feeling of supernatural wrongness to Pennywise even if you don't entirely notice it.
707* The Joker has indeed, many times in the comics, "made the Justice League look like just a bunch of super schlubs" [[BadassNormal despite having no powers of his own to match theirs]]. That being said, the line could also be referring to the fact that the movie ''[[Film/Joker2019 Joker]]'' did nearly double the amount in the box office that the ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'''s own movie did in much shorter time, effectively making the heroes a lot less interesting than the villain in the eyes of the public, making the line a StealthInsult on top of the real one.
708* During the battle, Joker tells Pennywise to "ask Robin if I drop bars!", likely referencing ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily, where a Robin, Jason Todd, was indeed killed by the Clown Prince of Crime. However, in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gquOYUdszag another]] rather [[SoBadItsGood infamous]] fan-made epic rap battle, Guy Fawkes (Joker's opponent) is played by someone called ''Robin''. Joker's aforementioned line could be partly referencing the time he rapped against Guy Fawkes (Robin).
709* Of course Pennywise has a grudging respect for the Creator/JackNicholson [[Film/Batman1989 rendition]] of the Joker. Another popular character of his is [[Film/TheShining Jack Torrance]], who shares the same [[Creator/StephenKing creator]].
710** The Joker even points this out earlier in the battle.
711--->'''Joker:''' Oh, and as far as Mr. King goes, I'm a ''Shining'' man -- WINK!
712* A major reason in general the entire ordeal is more balanced than one would expect is that Pennywise subsists on fear. The only things the Joker's ever genuinely been afraid of is dying pointlessly, and being forgotten, which doesn't seem to come up much... aside from Pennywise repeatedly jabbing at Joker's numerous goofy and unfulfilling incarnations that most would say don't do the character justice. In a word, people forgetting who the Joker really was.
713* The Joker's aforementioned declaration of his fondness for ''The Shining'' takes on new meaning when you realize that he's specifically talking about the film adaptation, which Stephen King infamously loathed. Even when he's trying to PetTheDog, Joker can't help but be a dick.
714* It makes sense that the Joker would bring up how he killed Robin as a threat to Pennywise: both Robin and Pennywise were both played by Epic Lloyd!
715* It's also clever that Pennywise would specifically bring up Jack Nicholson and Creator/JaredLeto's respective Joker portrayals in ''Film/Batman1989'' and ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', as those specific movies were released during the years in which the ''IT'' films take place, so it stands to reason that those would be the versions with which Pennywise is most familiar. There's even an advertisement for the '89 ''Batman'' film in the background of one scene in [[Film/It2017 the first IT movie]].
716* Pennywise calling Joker "a John Doe in [his] deadlights" isn't just a reference to his alias in ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries''. "John Doe" is a name given to unidentified decedents. Nobody knows the Joker's real name, probably not even him.
717** It works on another level, too: a doe is a female deer. Combined with the "headlights/deadlights" pun, Pennywise is saying he'll turn Joker into roadkill.
718* Pennywise tells Joker that he should run unless he has a "yummy younger brother". In ''Film/Joker2019'', Bruce Wayne may be Arthur Fleck's younger half-brother.
719
720[[AC: Thanos vs J Robert Oppenheimer]]
721* If the match-up doesn't seem to make sense at first, consider it like this: The most destructive force of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and, quite likely, the most destructive fictional character most people know about nowadays thanks to PopCulturalOsmosis) against the creator of the most destructive weapon known to man. To hammer the point home and explain their resemblances further, the background images during Oppenheimer's first verse are actual archive videos of the destruction caused by an atomic bomb, and images of the floating dust, debris and particles it leaves in its wake.
722** Another connection between the two. In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', what finally stopped the Chitauri army from invading New York? A nuke (and the portal closing as well). Later we found out that the Chitauri army is part of Thanos' great army, and of course the nuke is Oppenheimer's legacy.
723* A lot of comments talk about how Thanos's second verse, especially the ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' line, does as much damage to him as anything Oppenheimer says. Wouldn't be out of character for Thanos to sabotage himself without realizing it, as it's a very common theory that he does the same thing in the comics because he doesn't feel he deserves to win.
724** The 'Fortnite's dopest dancer' line could also be a sly shot at Oppenheimer's total inability to dance throughout the battle while Thanos can legitimately pull some moves.
725** Thanos builds up some goodwill during the first half, but burns it away in the second half; this is like his portrayal in Infinity War (where he gets enough VillainHasAPoint scenes that some fans even sided with him) versus Endgame (where he's just shown as crazy and egotistical).
726** The line itself also references the Infinity War event in the aforementioned game, where the Infinity Gauntlet was an item.
727* Oppenheimer's troubled breathing throughout the first verse not only coincides with jumps in the 'television' image but even sounds like static.
728* As with most depictions of him, Thanos wears the Infinity Gauntlet on his left hand. When Oppenheimer ends his second verse, he snaps with his right hand - the same hand Iron Man uses to snap Thanos into dust at the end of ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.
729* Oppenheimer mentions that Thanos should have better rhythm, considering he has the time stone. Thing is, infinity gems (and by extension, the gauntlet) only work in their own reality. This isn't the [=MCU=], ergo Thanos's time stone does not work.
730* Oppenheimer's final line isn't just a diss on Thanos' rapping skills- Thanos' verses never once mention his supposed WellIntentionedExtremist goal, and he boasts of killing Gamora and Loki. He really comes off as a CardCarryingVillain, so Oppenheimer is saying that anyone who listened to their battle should be disabused of their DracoInLeatherPants notions of Thanos.
731* Peter's portrayal of Oppenheimer is based off the doctor's famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb13ynu3Iac "I am become death" interview segment]], where his body language and tone of voice reveal [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone his regret at creating the most destructive weapon in the planet and watching it kill hundreds of thousands of people]]. Fitting with the portrayal further, none of Oppenheimer's bars in the rap are delivered with the usual cocky tone expected in the rap battles. Instead, he sounds just like he did in the video, having reached the DespairEventHorizon and just looking dead inside, only breaking the tone to demonstrate anger at Thanos and for the "all up in your stinky" line near the end. A good example of this is his verse "I'm a peaceful man/but I do what I must", where he sounds like he's trying to convince himself more than asserting it to his opponent.
732** This also ties in with Oppenheimer's overall behavior towards Thanos and the topic above where the connections between the two are mentioned: both men are responsible for multiple deaths, but while Oppenheimer is regretful to the point of despair, Thanos is ''bragging'' about it in the battle itself. [[BerserkButton No wonder the doctor is angry at him.]]
733** "I'm a peaceful man/but I do what I must" is not the only reassurance Oppenheimer is giving himself. He truly did have to make the atomic bomb, since it was a government demand.
734* Thanos' disgust at Oppenheimer sleeping with married women makes more sense when one remembers that the woman Thanos loves, Mistress Death, prefers Deadpool to him. So it's perfectly logical he'd have problems with someone cuckolding other men.
735** In addition, Oppenheimer's most infamous quote ties himself directly to death; Thanos never stood a chance.
736
737[[AC: Donald Trump vs Joe Biden]]
738* With Romney and Hillary starting their election rap battles and subsequently losing and Lloyd and Peter's clear disdain for Trump, Trump starting the battle could be their way of averting the jinx. It proves successful.
739* Abe Lincoln's absence could be part of the even DarkerAndEdgier tone, [[ShooOutTheClowns removing]] the comedic, hammy and fantastical element to show that the 2020 Election is SeriousBusiness even Lincoln couldn't save us from, or that Lincoln had crossed the DespairEventHorizon and either [[DeathByDespair died]] or refused to take part in the battle.
740** It could also be that he simply didn't have anything bad to say against Biden and already said his piece against Trump last time.
741* Trump saying that's Biden going up against the "45", aside from him Trump being the 45th president, might also refer to the pistol, and how Trump has been accused of influencing his supporters to attack Democrats.
742** The lines he follows up with only reinforce this.
743** It could also refer to the 45 lbs plate in gymnasiums (as Trump told Biden to "step behind the gym").
744* Biden's opening lines are about how he lost his loved ones, which fits for two reasons:
745** A major talking point of the Biden campaign is pointing out how Trump's incompetent handling of the coronavirus pandemic led to over 200,000 people dead, which Biden brings up later on.
746** Donald Trump's brother Robert had died earlier in 2020 and Biden [[https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1294978495383310336 sincerely sent his condolences to Trump]]. Here, Biden may have been pretending to be talking about Robert only to BaitAndSwitch to bring up Epstein.
747* Biden immediately brings up wrestling after mentioning Kim Jong Un, a reference to Kim Jong Il vs Hulk Hogan battle, as well as a tribute to Hillary Clinton, who brought it up in her battle with Trump.
748* The [[SurprisinglyCreepyMoment surprisingly creepy]] shot where three Bidens pose with finger-guns in front of a siren, the middle one with a SlasherSmile, makes more sense when Biden threatens Trump with jail later on. Biden was not just bragging that he was good with the police, but subtly threatening to prosecute and arrest Trump.
749* Biden saying that Trump "pulled out of Paris, should've pulled out of Stormy Daniels" goes two levels deep if you know that Trump reportedly made inappropriate comments about ''Paris'' Hilton when she was still underage.
750* While most rappers in the series spend some time building themselves up in comparison to their opponent, Biden doesn't, with his biggest boast being that he's "an old-ass man with some decency". However, his numerous jabs at Trump amounting to an enormous TheReasonYouSuckSpeech establish Biden's view that Trump has set the bar so low that he ''doesn't need'' to build himself up.
751* Biden being interrupted by Russian hackers is a BigLippedAlligatorMoment. However, as the subtitles and background begin to disappear [[FiveSecondForeshadowing moments before the hackers appear]], it's likely that the hackers were planning to cut Biden's verse out and end the battle prematurely until they accidentally exposed themselves and had to abort their mission.
752** Biden even responds to the interruption with his jail line.
753* Trump cuts off the announcer's introduction just like he's known to interrupt a lot of other people, such as Biden and the moderator during their first presidential debate.
754* Donald calling himself 'the Teflon Don' is a reference to Ronald Reagan, aka "Teflon Ron", who he bases much of his own campaign off of, most notably his slogan, Make America Great Again.
755** It could also be a reference to 'Teflon Don' John Gotti, another famous New Yorker, who was notoriously difficult to prosecute in court and became something of a media darling in the 1980s because of it. Trump has similarly survived a large number of trials and court cases brought against him, something he's quite proud of. He even brags about brushing off his impeachment during his rap.
756* Trump is noticeably less cartoonishly evil in this battle compared to his battle with Hillary. After spending 4 years as President, he could have (at least in ERB's universe) gained more experience and learned to hide his less well-received viewpoints while campaigning for his reelection.
757
758[[AC:Harry Potter vs Luke Skywalker]]
759* This battle makes heavy use of official LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Harry Potter sets and minifigures, in contrast to the lack of official minifigures in Zeus vs. Thor despite the existence of Thor and Loki minifigures from the LEGO Marvel line. This makes sense on two levels. First, the depictions of Thor and Loki in the previous battle are based primarily on their Norse mythology representations, not the Marvel films the LEGO sets are based on. Second, Star Wars and Harry Potter were the first two licensed LEGO lines based on media franchises (Star Wars in 1999, Harry Potter in 2001) and these lines have long been praised for their level of detail and faithfulness to the source material. These lines are also major sellers for LEGO themselves and are heavily ingrained with the modern image of the company, with the two largest LEGO sets at the time the battle was produced being the Millennium Falcon and Hogwarts Castle.
760* Luke saying "I'm a rhyming Jedi like my father before me" isn't just a reference to Vader having rapped in the previous battles; it's also a reference to George Lucas's description of Anakin Skywalker's story as "rhyming" with Luke's.
761* Harry making a reference to Dusty Bin at the end of his first verse makes more sense than one might think. 3-2-1 is a show mostly popular in the United Kingdom, where Harry Potter takes place. Harry could have seen it at one point or at least a small bit of it during his time at the Dursley's.
762* Harry calls Luke a "swamp school drop-out." Technically, he's correct. Luke abandoned his formal Jedi training and never finished it: the title of Jedi Master is more or less self-given, and by default.
763* Viewers noticed Harry's lines were way harsher than Luke's, but it makes sense if you've read the books, where Harry is more HotBlooded and has a biting sense of humor. And in the case of both Draco Malfoy and his cousin Dudley, Harry doesn't back down when someone tries to insult him or his friends. Whereas Luke's Jedi ways of course hold that anger leads to the Dark Side.
764** Further, Luke is nineteen at the start of his film series, where Harry was seventeen at the end of his--Luke, being a young adult, would be more emotionally mature than Harry, who was a child/teenager for his entire series.
765* This also explains why Luke never lethally attacks his opponent like Harry repeatedly does, despite Luke obviously being more powerful. He's a MartialPacifist, as is the Jedi way. The only acts of violence he commits towards Harry in the battle were disarming him by breaking his wand. Contrast him casually killing Palpatine and the Death Eaters. He even makes this clear towards the end of his last verse:
766-->''No need to expelliarmus, you're harmless in a duel."
767[[/folder]]
768
769[[folder:Season 7]]
770[[AC:Jeff Bezos vs. Mansa Musa]]
771* Mansa Musa's line "Want workers that don't piss? Hire some camels!" is true in more ways than one. Camels rarely need to urinate, and since they can't talk, they also won't "piss" and moan about poor working conditions.
772* Musa's "Allah mode" line isn't just a pun on "à la mode", it's also a reference to "god mode" hacks, a term used in gaming to refer to cheat codes that make the player immune to all damage and make completing the game trivial. Musa claiming to have served Bezos "Allah mode" implies that he's not only won the battle, but done so trivially without Bezos hurting him at all.
773** The gaming reference is apt, as many people (including Jeff Bezos in this rap battle) mostly know who Mansa Musa is from the VideoGame/{{Civilization}} games.
774
775[[AC: John Wick vs. John Rambo vs. John [=McClane=]]]
776* Rambo says, "I seek peace but I'm packing parabellum". A parabellum would be a fitting weapon for one seeking peace, as its name literally translates to "prepare for war" -- as in the Roman saying "if you seek peace, prepare for war". It's also the name of John Wick's [[Film/JohnWickChapter3Parabellum third movie]], where it has the same meaning, and is a widespread type of ammunition (9x19mm Parabellum).
777* John Wick steps in to defend Rambo against one of [=McClane's=] disses towards the end of the fight, instead turning it into two digs at [=McClane=]. Rambo didn't hit Wick's BerserkButton while [=McClane=] was repeatedly hitting it throughout his first verse.
778** Most of Rambo's bars are aimed at [=McClane=] specifically, and it's not just because of his BerserkButton. The person responsible for triggering Rambo's PTSD in ''First Blood'' was ''also'' a policeman.
779* [=McClane’s=] dig at Rambo’s supposed ties to the Taliban makes sense given he’s a proud, angry New Yorker.
780** And of course John Wick would know the difference between the Taliban and the Mujahideen. He's from Belarus, which was part of the Soviet Union, which waged war against the Mujahideen.
781
782[[AC: Lara Croft vs. Indiana Jones]]
783* Indiana disses Lara for saying that she burns through women quicker than he does. Aside from referencing her voice actresses, it may also be about Lara's best friend Samantha "Sam" Nishimura, who is yet to appear in another game after ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' and was also initially written to be her love interest.
784* With her line "You're not John Williams, so you ain't scoring!", Lara initially seems to be merely referencing the composer and confirming that she would never let him sleep with her. However, Indy closed his first verse with "Honey, just the first four notes of my theme exceed everything you've done." Lara is refuting that line, stating that Indy can't take credit for his own theme song and adding oomph to her opening line: "Dr. Jones, you're no rival." If what Indy says is true and his theme song is better than all of Lara's accomplishments, then Williams is her true match!
785
786[[AC: Henry Ford vs. Karl Marx]]
787* Marx's 'dung from a Taurus' line works on two levels. The obvious one is Taurus being the constellation of the Bull. The less-obvious one is 'dung' from a Ford Taurus, car exhaust. He's not only calling Ford's story about being a self-made man bullshit but also saying he's full of hot air, both common accusations leveled at car salesmen.
788* Marx claiming Ford's legacy is in ashes due in part to car crashes seems like a stretch at first since Ford didn't invent the automobile and Fords aren't any more prone to accidents than any other brand. Then you remember Ford made a very specific car that was so well-known for its fiery crashes [[EveryCarIsAPinto it has its own trope]].
789* Of course Karl Marx is in a position to criticize Henry Ford and what he did to his own state of Michigan, as during the release of the battle, it's run by an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Michigan_elections overwhelmingly left-wing government.]]
790* Marx's line about the Model T and its lack of style might not make a lot of sense to modern viewers who see the Model T as stylish and unique-looking in a retro sense, which is even mentioned by Peter and Lloyd in their behind-the-scenes video. It was however considered quite boring at its prime due to its ubiquity and one of the biggest clashes between Henry and his son Edsel was over whether or not they should stylize it more, with Edsel pushing for more visually-appealing styling and Henry favoring the blunt simplicity and easy assembly of the Model T.
791* Marx's metaphor describing Engels's money as the crank that got the Revolution spinning is a nod to the cars of Ford's day, which typically had a hand crank in front that had to be turned to start the engine.
792
793[[AC: Godzilla vs King Kong]]
794* King Kong pronounces nuclear "nuke-you-lar", much like [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush a certain former President of the United States]] whose appearance was frequently compared to that of an ape.
795* King Kong refers to Godzilla as "Lizzie" in his first verse, a reference to one of the monsters from ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}''. When killed, Lizzie turns into a human woman who, being ordinary-sized, is absolutely miniscule compared to the monsters. In other words, King Kong is calling Godzilla a little girl.
796[[/folder]]
797
798[[folder:Bonus battles]]
799[[AC:Deadpool vs Boba Fett]]
800* Deadpool claims that Fett had "five lines in the trilogy, and one of them was AHH!" This is not only a reference to the original Star Wars trilogy, but to the Hitler vs Vader trilogy that ERB previously did. Fett only appeared in the third installment, in which he only rapped four lines before Hitler shot him, and he screamed the WilhelmScream.
801** Similarly, Deadpool claims that Fett has "two different voices", a reference both to the two voices he has had within the Star Wars saga and to the fact that he was voiced by Ray William Johnson in Hitler vs Vader, but Nice Peter in this video.
802* Fett's line about Domino preferring Fett's durasteel to Deadpool's Canadian bacon becomes much more powerful when you remember that Domino's is a pizza chain that serves Canadian bacon as a topping.
803
804[[AC: Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg]]
805* After Zuckerberg says, "I'll end your story like Snapchat!" an offscreen chorus says "Ghost!" This isn't just a reference to the Snapchat logo, but to what Musk will become when Zuckerberg "ends [his] story".
806** Also a reference to ghosting, that is, reading someone's message but not replying on purpose- implying that Zuckerberg will end Musk simply by ignoring him.
807* "I've been flossin' since you doublecrossed the Winklevoss Twins" isn't just a current fad reference for the sake of the rhythm and a triple rhyme, it's a reference to the fact Musk is generally considered hip and a representative of Millennial and Gen Z attitudes. He's so in touch with the modern attitudes that he did modern fads years before they were invented.
808* When Musk compared Zuckerberg to [[Franchise/StarTrek "Lieutenant Data"]], Zuckerberg is quick to point out that Data was actually a lieutenant commander. It would make sense for someone famously obsessed with geek culture to know this.
809** In addition, Zuckerberg may be saying that he is better than Musk thinks he is, as a lieutenant commander is one rank higher than a lieutenant.
810* Zuckerberg's line about looking up Elon's father's dirty laundry is a call-back to Musk's earlier description of Facebook as "a place to discover your aunt's... kinda racist."
811* "Your platform only launches depression!" sounds fairly straightforward at first... that is, until you listen to how 'depression' is enunciated - specifically, to sound like 'deep Russian'. This ties nicely to Musk's line about Russian bots.
812* While flying from Earth to Mars, Musk can be seen dodging a satellite. This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the time when a SpaceX rocket carrying what would've been one of Facebook's satellites exploded.
813
814[[AC:Ragnar Lodbrok vs Richard The Lionheart]]
815* When Richard says Ragnar would only be in second place, he flashes a gestyure of his middle and pinter fingers up with his palm inwwards. This isn't just a Number #2 symbol, as in Britain that's FlippingTheBird.
816* Why does Richard dislike the Minnesota Vikings so much? Because he's Richard the ''Lion''heart, and hence a fan of their division rivals the Detroit Lions. Of course, this backfires on him: not only do the Lions have a worse losing track record than the Vikings, but the Detroit area is known for housing a large population of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Middle_Eastern_people_in_Metro_Detroit the Arabs that he fought during the Crusades.]]
817[[/folder]]
818[[folder:Flash in the Pan Hip Hop Conflicts]]
819[[AC: Ronald [=McDonald=] Vs. The Burger King]]
820
821Please see the Season 6 folder.
822
823[[AC: Larry Bird vs Big Bird]]
824* The connection in this battle isn't just the fact that they are both named "Bird". They are also both famous for being extremely tall.
825[[/folder]]
826
827!FridgeHorror
828[[folder:General/Multiple]]
829* In Hitler vs. Vader 3, Hitler insults and mocks Vader for "bowing down to Mickey Mouse." His cracks about Star Wars being owned by Disney come off as far more sinister now that we know what Disney is like in this universe...
830[[/folder]]
831
832[[folder:Season 1]]
833[[/folder]]
834
835[[folder:Season 2]]
836
837* Stalin refers to himself as "the man who made Mother Russia his bitch". Fair enough, "Mother Russia" is a common nickname for the country, and he certainly ruled it with an iron fist. But more studious viewers might know that "Mother Russia" can also be used to refer to an AnthropomorphicPersonification of Russia, much like Britannia is for Britain. And considering this ''is'' [[AxCrazy Stalin]] talking, one wonders [[RapeAsDrama what horrors he might be referring to...]]
838* "Anyone who sold you pierogi, shot!" Pierogis are a common dish in Poland, and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre well...]]
839* Knowing about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor Holodomor]] puts Stalin's line about starving Rasputin until he wastes away into an even uglier light.
840[[/folder]]
841
842[[folder:Season 3]]
843* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe threatening to cut Stephen King up into "itty bitty bits and sticking them in the floorboard" is appropriate enough for the macabre atmosphere of his stories. However, Poe ''did'' seem to have a thing for people committing murder in their own homes and disposing of the body without it leaving their property, given it happened several times in his stories such as ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' and ''The Black Cat''. If anything, King should just consider himself lucky that Poe isn't threatening to ''bury him alive'' like in ''The Cask of Amontillado''.
844[[/folder]]
845
846[[folder:Season 4]]
847* At the end of Romeo & Juliet vs Bonnie & Clyde, the Announcer seems to have just woken up, and is very soft spoken. When he starts getting loud again? It's when he sees the four bodies. Just like Juliet would've when she got out of her coffin to see Romeo!
848** The Announcer is watching the battles just like the audience. He's as confused as Bonnie and Clyde by the abrupt EveryoneDiesEnding. His yelling is him getting back into character.
849* During [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper Jack the Ripper's]] second verse, women's screams can be heard in the background. These are the sounds of the unfortunate female victims of Jack's brutal killings. Especially horrifying as this is possibly implying that he's committing these murders ''while'' delivering his verse.
850** A ghost woman suddenly [[JumpScare pops up and screams]] during the announcer saying "Epic Rap Battles of History" at the end. Going by her clothing, it's a safe bet that she's the ghost of one of Jack's victims, which implies that those screams during Jack's second verse were the ghosts of other victims, which in turn implies that...his victims continue to scream for help after death.
851** If you listen closely, you can hear that there are five screams in all. Jack the Ripper killed five women during his murder spree. Not only that, but the third and fourth screams actually overlap... just like how Jack's third and fourth victims were killed on the same night.
852* During [[{{Franchise/Terminator}} the T-800's]] last verse, two ED-209s show up to attack Murphy. Has Skynet already invaded OCP's mainframes?
853* Shaka Zulu vs. Julius Caesar implies that either the Romans or the Zulu expanded enough to come into contact with the other. Whether it was one, the other, or both, you can be sure there's a lot of bloodshed in the backstory.
854* In Stan Lee vs. Jim Henson, Disney's line "I don't sweat 'em" implies two reactions to questions about labor conditions. He is either denying that there is a problem, or saying outright that he doesn't care. Both responses are equally unscrupulous.
855** The sheer fact that in the ERB universe, Walt Disney has been corrupted so badly by his own company that he is ''no longer himself'', only the ''personification of the entire corporation as it is now.''
856** As befits the Walt Disney business model, all his lines contain zero swears, a rarity for ERB.
857** As mentioned under FridgeBrilliance above, Disney owns Maker Studios, which the ERB crew uses to make their series. This adds a meta level to the scene where Walt tells Stan and Jim to "hop on my steamboat... I'll put a smile on your face and green in your pocket... You'll be safe and insured when you're under my employ," and then forces them to gaze upon his "empire of joy". There's a reason a third rapper was cast as Walt: He's not talking to Stan and Jim... he's talking to ''Peter and Lloyd''.
858** At the end of this battle, the announcer doesn't go "Who won? Who's next?" as usual. It could be due to this being the season finale... but this could also be that one of the three rappers has steamrolled the other two, asserting dominance not only over them but also the entire Epic Rap Battles series. The announcer knows it and thus doesn't ask who won. As for why the announcer sings a bit in the last two minutes of music, it may be an audio version of [[StepfordSmiler putting on a smile to hide the true feelings]].
859[[/folder]]
860
861[[folder:Season 5]]
862
863[[/folder]]
864
865[[folder:Season 6]]
866* Unlike in the earlier two election-based rap battles, Donald Trump vs Joe Biden notably doesn't have Lincoln flying in on his eagle to have the last word, as if he gave up on America.
867** The background for both rappers is a map of America (tinted red for Trump and blue for Biden), with little sparkles periodically appearing on it, looking eerily like it's charting coronavirus cases/deaths.
868* Luke crashes his 614 Speeder due to the Weasleys distracting him. He's left crawling, on fire, with his hair burned off and his prosthetic exposed. [[Characters/StarWarsDarthVaderAndServants Just like dad...]]

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