Awesome / DEATH BATTLE! (Season Eight)

One-Punch Parry! And the sound barrier is the least that's going to break when they get serious.

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• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Nine)
• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Ten)

This season was made to celebrate Death Battle's 10th anniversary, so of course, they're going to bring out their best this time around!

Yoda VS King Mickey

• Throughout the first part of the fight, Mickey consistently has Yoda on the backfoot in their Keyblade-to-lightsaber combat, constantly countering each of Yoda’s attacks, and knocking his lightsaber away multiple times in comparison to Yoda knocking away his Keyblade only once.
• Halfway through the fight, Yoda decides to give up on using his lightsaber, choosing to fight with the Force as he starts off by hurling a barrage of boulders at the King, who manages to ward off the attack with ease... Only to be caught off guard as the Grandmaster drops his starfighter on him, SHATTERING the Dive to the Heart Station they were fighting on in half!
  Yoda: The path to victory, this is not. The Force, I must trust.
• Taking advantage of the stagger, Yoda proceeds to put Mickey’s back to the wall, using several Force illusion clones to fire a myriad of beams, forcing the King into defense in a manner similar to his last stand against the Replica Xehanorts in Kingdom Hearts III: Re𝄌Mind. And much like that battle, Mickey manages to turn it around.
  Yoda: Surrender, you should. The power of the Force, you have not.
  Mickey: I can try! All I need... is the light! (disperses the Force illusions with a burst of magic)
• Props to Yoda's response to Mickey’s turnabout as well, which doubles as a good Call-Back:
  Yoda: Do, or do not. There is no try!
• The fight ends with Mickey taking a soaring leap towards Yoda, defending against a barrage of energy attacks before eventually firing off an almighty Ultima, annihilating the Grandmaster as the music swells into a glorious remix of Hikari.
• However, despite ultimately losing, Yoda still manages to get the last word as a Force Ghost; startling Mickey with a lightning bolt before leaving with an amused laugh. Also doubles as a Funny Moment. The commentary captions even note that Yoda probably could have continued fighting at this point, as Force Ghosts have shown an ability to affect the physical world - only the unclear nature of Force Ghosts and the show's own rule of "death = defeat" prevented this. He instead leaves after making this point clear to Mickey with the aforementioned lightning bolt, conceding the fight of his own volition.

Shadow the Hedgehog VS Ryūko Matoi

• Throughout the fight, it's VERY clear Shadow has a huge speed advantage, evading and countering most of Ryūko's attacks through dodging, or using Chaos Control's time stop and teleportation abilities.
• However, it's not too long until Senketsu gives his host the idea to start anticipating the Ultimate Lifeform's movements, as she quickly manages to turn the tides, sending Shadow flying into the air and unleashing a huge barrage of slashes which leads to her dunking him into a building.
• Following this, the Honnōji Academy student proceeds to transform to her Senjin Shippu mode, attempting to rush down the hedgehog, who in turn (after trying to fire and tossing away an empty pistol) busts out one of his swords, clashing against each of her attacks, before swiftly slicing off one of Ryuko's arms. Albeit this was only a temporary injury due to Senketsu's Healing Factor benefits for Ryūko.
• After a brief clash, both fighters decide to enter their respective Super Modes, as Super Shadow and Ryūko with Senketsu Kisaragi proceed to clash at incredible speeds, eventually going to space for the climax, as Ryūko uses her trump card: Alumni Mode, the massive scissors being seen from space as she closes in to finish the fight with a familiar quote to those that have been watching Death Battle from the beginning:
  Ryūko: Sayonara, dipshit!
• ...only for a flash to go off as Shadow's Inhibitor Rings are seen being removed, and from there on out, the fight becomes a Curb-Stomp Battle in a matter of SECONDS as the Chaos-powered hedgehog immediately decimates the massive set of Scissor Blades, and sends Ryūko and Senketsu crashing down to Earth with a full power Chaos Spear rain. And before the Life Fiber user can even process what happened as she crashed down, Super Shadow appears right by her side, with a called-out finishing move dripping with the badass Tranquil Fury that we've known our edgy hedgehog for.
  Shadow: Chaos Blast. (Cue a massive Chaos energy-powered explosion, disintegrating Ryūko almost immediately)
• Some props to Senketsu as well in the end. In the finale of his original series, the Kamui ended up dying in a Heroic Sacrifice to protect his wearer from the heat of re-entry while she fell from space. Here, he managed to survive the entire fall and consequent impact... albeit only for a few seconds after landing before Super Shadow follows them down and finishes the job.
• Even beyond his win, Shadow's reputation as a Memetic Loser was all but undone by putting in what is arguably the best of his 3 episodes on the show thus far. After being treated as a joke within the series, not helped by his rather poor portrayal in his last appearance — in and of itself very much hurt by an intentionally mediocre animation — Shadow's fight against Ryuko played his Noble Demon Anti-Hero tendencies hard while also being one of the best 2D battles in Death Battle history, finally putting the respect on his name that he was denied for so long.
• In addition, he FINALLY gets to kill someone with the Chaos Blast! For context, Super Shadow ran out before he could use it on Vegeta, and Mewtwo tanked the attack and gave Shadow Laser-Guided Amnesia before he could use another Chaos attack after that. And the way he goes into pure Tranquil Fury mode before unleashing the attack on Ryuko shows that he is beyond tired of being metaphorically cockblocked each and every time; no more theatrics, no more power buildup, no more showing off, he is getting it done right then and there. As a whole, this entire episode benefitted from a massive amount of Catharsis Factor on Shadow's end, given the many, many Call Backs to previous matches, but now done to ensure that he was finally depicted as the proper badass he was.

Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom

• After losing his suit once more, Lex decides to do away with it, confidently choosing to fall back on his pseudo-Superman abilities, quickly proceeding to brute force Doom out of his building like a ragdoll after dropping a rather badass Pre-Asskicking One-Liner. A much more impressive showing than he put on when Iron Man destroyed his suit six years ago.
  Doctor Doom: Pitiful! What kind of man are you?! (proceeds to attempt to punch Lex, only to end up in a Punch Catch, and uppercuts him into the air)
  Lex: (with a confident smirk) A superman.
• The finale of the fight is nothing short of fitting for a cunning villain like Doctor Doom. After the aforementioned beatdown from Lex’s Everyman Project side, Lex attempts to rip off Doom’s mask... Only for Victor to quickly force a "Freaky Friday" Flip using his Ovoid Mind Transfer; turning his foe’s own super strength against him to lethally harm his foe’s body before swapping their minds back, reducing Superman’s greatest archnemesis to a Villainous Breakdown.
  Lex: Still hiding behind this hideous mask, Tin Man?! Let's show your true face to the light of day!
  (Doom proceeds to use the Ovoid Mind Transfer)
  Lex: What...?!
  Doctor Doom: (from Lex's body) Don't you see? That mask is my true face!
  (Doom in Lex's body proceeds to crush Lex's heart in his own hands before swapping minds again)
  Lex: No... NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
• And then following that, Doom proceeds to ironically impale Lex against his own logo, before slicing his opponent to pieces with energy blades and annihilating the LexCorp building in the process. His Bond One-Liner after doing the deed, complete with him standing none-the worse for wear among the burning ruins with his arms folded, sells just how hard he triumphed over one of DC’s most iconic villains.
  Doctor Doom: This power... It’s like that of a god's. Beneath me.
• Another more subtle awesome moment for Doctor Doom: in his last Death Battle, he sent a Doombot in ahead of him to test Darth Vader's power, only stepping in himself after Vader had already destroyed said Doombot. Here, he never uses a Doombot against Lex. This means Doom's confident enough in his ability to defeat Lex that he didn't see any need for one.

Heihachi Mishima VS Geese Howard

• As seen in the previews, the fight will be taking place in and around an active volcano. You know, where Heihachi's final fight against Kazuya took place?
• During the fight, the sheer power that Heihachi and Geese use against each other actively causes lava flows.
• Ringmaster shows up as announcer and gives us the motivations behind this battle: a collaboration between the King Of Iron Fist and the King of Fighters tournaments. And with each corporate's CEO being the finalists, Mishima and Howard's companies are on the line in this match.
• Many viewers missed the "FIGHT!" that was at the beginning of animations that stopped after Season 5. Ringmaster brings it back for us this time around.
• After several "Predictabos" from Geese, Heihachi gives Howard a dose of his own medicine in close-quarters:
  Heihachi Mishima: (after catching a kick from Geese) Tsumaranai (Predictable).
• The shot of these two badasses hitting each other with enough force to cause the nearby volcano they're fighting on to erupt is proof of the power behind those punches.
• The finisher, which is not only ironic and brutal as hell but truly befitting of one inflicted by a Mishima. Heihachi hurls Geese off a ledge and into the magma chamber of the volcano — referencing Geese's recurring in-game defeat animation of falling from high places — to which Howard responds by hurling a ki blast to try and knock Heihachi in after him, then using another to boost himself back up. Heihachi responds with an electricity-charged punch that hurls Geese back downward, impaling the South Town don on a stalagmite and leaving him to be slowly and agonizingly melted alive in the rising lava.
  Heihachi: BACK TO HELL WITH YOU!
• After all the crap Geese put Heihachi through — as well as the Bogard and Sakazaki families and the whole of South Town in his own series — you've got to admit, seeing the Mishima Zaibatsu leader punch Geese straight back into the volcano to his death is REALLY satisfying. And if the ending is anything to go by, Heihachi seemed no worse for wear outside of fatigue and some minor injuries!
• One of Ringmaster's camera drones gets right up in Heihachi's after he climbs out of the volcano, and he doesn't even hesitate to give an all-too-fitting response.
  Heihachi: Show's over. (smashes the camera off with a single punch)
• Despite being the loser, Geese deserves some props for being Defiant to the End, as he almost took Heihachi with him instead of being instantly out when his iconic fall showed up. Not only that, but he would have gotten out if the latter didn't make sure to punch him back into the volcano... and even then, it actually took being burned away to nothing by magma to put him down for good, despite already getting impaled.

Blake Belladonna VS Mikasa Ackerman

• Whilst Blake and Mikasa's battle is primarily composed of them swinging through the air and getting hits in at each other when they can, the moment they engage in a CQC sequence, it is both intense and fast-paced with shockingly powerful blows exchanged between the two. The fact the most intense lyrics from the Awesome Music kicks in during this only emphasizes the deadliness of this clash.
• During the fight, Mikasa is perpetually vexed by Blake's evasiveness and supernatural powers, but through her own cunning and some heavy-duty equipment, she manages to nail Blake with a devastating point-blank explosion by a Thunder Spear that shatters Blake's aura, leaving her open to getting her arm sliced off by Mikasa. This means Mikasa joins a very elite club of combatants^note Including Glacius, Afro Samurai, Gray Fullbuster, Goro, Konrad Von Sabrewulf, and Rock Lee. who left their enemies permanently maimed despite losing their bouts. It's especially impressive in her case, given how thoroughly outclassed Mikasa was stat-wise; and not only is she the first female character to perform such a feat, but she did it to one of Rooster Teeth's own flagship characters.
• The killing blow is badass as it is gnarly. Blake nails Mikasa with a shot of ice Dust, catches a misfiring Thunder Spear, throws it back at Mikasa to impale her through the chest, and detonates it by cutting off the fuse with her scythe, leaving her to perish in a massive explosion.
• At the end of the fight, the shadow of a Titan appears over the battlefield. Blake's response — which, lest we forget, is right after an already intense fight that cost her a hand and left her with broken Aura — is to enthusiastically leap back into battle as if nothing had happened.

Iron Fist VS Po

• In the longer preview, we find out that, after Po's fanboying, he learns that Iron Fist is also a Dragon Warrior and asks for a spar, which Iron Fist happily agrees to. Both Awesome and Heartwarming in the fact that this is a fight born out of the spirit of comradery and respect, no matter who wins or loses. With how they interact through the episode, you almost get the impression that Po and Danny could be great friends if not for them having to fight each other to the death.
• Po manages to show off quite a bit of quick thinking on his part, after shrugging off Danny's attempt at pressure point combat. First, he whittles down Danny's staff by eating half of it, like a real giant panda would do to bamboo. Next, Po uses his bamboo staff to tickle Danny's nose, distracting the Iron Fist long enough to pull out the Wuxi Finger Hold. Danny himself gets one in the form of being the first to find a way to counteract the Hold, barring Kai who was outright immune. Simply pulling your hand away.
• Once the fight enters the Spirit World, Po quickly attempts to use the Golden Lotus Clap on Danny. While it succeeds in blinding the Iron Fist for a short time, the Dragon Warrior learns the hard way that the Living Weapon is not hindered by the loss of his sight. After hitting Po with a quick barrage of combos, Iron Fist decides to show off his namesake technique as he sends Po flying through several islands with a one-inch punch.
  Iron Fist: Feel the power of chi!
• The way Po wins, and, by extension, his final clash with Danny. After dragging him to the spirit realm, both fighters create their chi dragons and charge at each other. What follows is a brief chi dragon clash, followed by Po's dragon eating Iron Fist's, along with Danny himself.

Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly

• When Star uses her Warnicorn Stampede, Steven sends his Watermelon Stevens to clash with them. The result is a brief war between Star's summons and Steven's clones.
• Spider With A Top Hat, while not around for a while, makes one hell of an impact, first by bravely charging into battle on top of one of the Warnicorns and then by giving Star a pep talk when Steven is attempting to crush her and has just taken her wand. This culminates in Star dipping down and casting Mega-Explosive Crystal Laser, an attack that easily tears through Steven's barrier while disintegrating him, and his Watermelon Stevens (along with her own summons).
• Despite his defenses being outclassed by Star's raw offense, Steven manages to deflect almost all of Star's attacks whenever he put up his barriers.

Link VS Cloud (2021)

• How does the rematch of the first 3D Death Battle begin? With a duel on motorcycles, of course! Link pulls up on his Master Cycle Zero, pulling out the Master Sword, and Cloud on Fenrir meets his challenge as he swings the Buster Sword one-handed while driving Fenrir.
• The choreography of Link and Cloud’s Sword Fight besides all their tools is utterly fantastic and does well to showcase each fighter’s respective style and how a sword and shield wielder and a Zweihänder would actually clash. Not only is it obviously leaps and bounds better than Link and Cloud’s last fight, but it stands as one of the most awesome 3D Death Battles and easily most impressive 3D sword duel since Sephiroth VS Vergil.
• Stop magic VS Stasis Rune. Who wins? Cloud, as a single swing of the Fusion Sword proceeds to disarm Link of the Master Sword. The Hero of Hyrule's shocked expression says everything.
• Like Tifa VS Yang and Sephiroth VS Vergil, the 1997 era UI and JRPG effects for Cloud are ingeniously awesome, especially at the end when Cloud delivers the finishing slash and Link splits in half, turns red and receives 9999 percent damage before fading away.
• Like in his last outing on Death Battle, Link shows off a lot of the quick thinking and puzzle-solving skills he's attained over the years, being one step ahead of his SOLDIER opponent at almost every turn. The AVALANCHE warrior destroys his Master Cycle Zero? Use Magnesis and an Ancient Arrow to do the same to Fenrir. Cloud disarms him of the Master Sword? Break out the Four Swords. Thunderhead manages to keep up with four of him at once? Blow him up with bombs. Left disarmed while Cloud is charging at him? Use the Dual Hookshots to maneuver around and the Magic Cape to reposition himself and reclaim the Master Sword. It really is a fantastic showing of the fact that while Link may have been outclassed in raw stats, he could certainly hold his ground just as well, if not better than last time, even if he couldn't win.
• Due to Cloud not letting up after disarming him, Link manages to hold him off with just his shield.
• Bringing out the Ocarina of Time, Link plays the Song of Storms, kicking off the Battle in the Rain as the Master Sword is recalled to his arm. In a Call-Back to his battle against the vile Demise, a bolt of lightning strikes the Master Sword, surrounding the Hylian Champion's sword in pure power◊ in a manner not dissimilar to He-Man, before unleashing a blast of light at Cloud. Cloud's response? Absorb the power of the Skyward Strike and turn it against Link.
• The Fierce Deity lives up to its name, and its arrival, as Boomstick put it, is akin to a dark god descending on the earth. Cloud, for his credit, isn't even fazed by the arrival of Link's strongest mask, merely nonchalantly dodging a boulder sent flying his way and giving a Fascinating Eyebrow in response. And it's shown it's earned, as not only does Cloud manage to keep up with the Fierce Deity before the battle ends, he doesn't get hit once by it.
• During the final clash.
  • It seems that each swing of the Fierce Deity's Helix Sword was smashing apart the Fusion Sword, leaving Cloud with less and less as the battle raged on. However, as Cloud fires off a Flare spell to launch Link into the air, the real reason the blades were sent up in the air is revealed: setting up the Omnislash V5. Cloud leaps up into the air after the Hero of Hyrule, before slashing at him from all angles, Link left helpless in the air before Cloud positions himself for the final blow◊, redeeming himself from his loss nearly a decade ago.
  Cloud: Let's mosey, asshole.
  • What makes it even more amazing is Cloud's foresight to set his Limit Break in advance. Against an opponent well known for being a tactical prodigy, Cloud's killing blow is set up not just through brute force (like what the original episode implied his entire fighting style as), but rather by a spur of the moment decision which shows his own acumen for tactics as well. Not only that, but he ended up being the smarter of the two combatants when Link, ironically enough, tries to use the Fierce Deity's power to outmuscle Cloud, only to fail.
  • In an amazing Call-Back to Ganondorf VS Dracula◊, The Fierce Deity tries to call upon the power of the Triforce to save him◊, and just like in Ganondorf VS Dracula, he ultimately fails, with Cloud slicing through the barrier and Fierce Deity Link himself in one clean slice.
  • Cloud’s Pre-Mortem One-Liner "Let's mosey" is a fantastic Mythology Gag to Cloud's iconically cheesy line from the original FFVII ending.
• If one listens closely, you can hear Mipha's Grace go off before Link puts on the Fierce Deity Mask. Because Mipha's Grace only goes off when all your hearts are expended, this essentially means that Cloud killed Link twice in the same battle. Hell, because of the clones Link employed, Cloud technically killed him five times. And, given that Mipha's Grace also gives Link extra hearts on top of a full heal, that means that Link put on the Fierce Deity Mask at better than top condition, and Cloud STILL took him out.
• In the post-fight analysis, Cloud's own arsenal of magic and superhuman abilities was noted to be able to effectively cancel out Link's own arsenal. Link - the current page image for Hyperspace Arsenal - was matched in sheer versatility. This is especially impressive when you consider the fact that this was a major factor in Link's victory back in 2012.
• A post-mortem case for Link: When Cloud is about to use Omnislash V5 we see his health similarly to Vergil's back in Season 4. How much HP did Cloud have left? 302 out of 9502, and that's after he cast Cure following the explosion from the redirected Skyward Strike lightning. That's right, despite losing, Link nearly managed to defeat Cloud before the SOLDIER made a comeback.

Batman VS Iron Man

• Tony has Batman on the run, Batman escapes into the darkness, and Tony bemoans such a trick being used on him, given that his armors can all see in the dark. Even so, he completely fails to notice Batman having snuck up behind him in the Hellbat until Batman gives a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
  Batman: Ready when you are. (*punch*)
• The above example also has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment. When Tony was searching around for Batman, his HUD showed that the hacking process on the Hellbat had already started. He managed to find and know about the Hellbat even before it came into the picture!
• The simple, but no less amazing Badass Boast from the two of them.
  Batman: What did you expect? I am Batman. (Tears the Iron Man suit into pieces.)
  Iron Man: And I... (Reveals the Iron Legion.) ...am Iron Man.
• The Godbuster vs. the Hellbat quickly sees the Godbuster on the ropes — the Hellbat easily punches it through a building, and their Beam-O-War not only manages to send Tony flying through several buildings with a bat-shaped hole through all of them, but destroy the suit. Seeing his opponent suitless, Batman readies a final blow, but the Virtual Armor blocks it. Bruce then goes for another punch at Tony's face... and freezes. During all this while, Tony had been diverting energy to hack the Hellbat and his ploy had succeeded, turning the Hellbat into little more than a glorified armor statue and a prime target for Sol's Hammer.
  Iron Man: (taps the immobile Hellbat) Had to divert some power to hacking that suit. Like I said, second grade. Friday, fire the hammer!
• Tony has hacked the Hellbat and fired his Sol's Hammer Kill Sat at it. When the dust settles, Batman emerges from the Hellbat no worse for wear, prompting a sincere "holy shit!" from Tony, whose Virtual Armor was spent by protecting himself from the blast. He fully expected Sol's Hammer to be the killing blow, yet here is Batman, a man who is very much his physical superior, ready to engage him with nothing but his fists — and as Batman proves, those are not circumstances that Tony stands a chance in hell in.
• Even without his armors, Tony still tries to attack Bruce in hand to hand combat. Granted, it fails, but major props for trying.
• The way Tony wins the fight. Batman has destroyed all of his armors, Sol's Hammer failed to kill him, and Bruce is throroughly thrashing him in a fistfight, breaking Tony's arm. Seems like it's over for Tony, right? Wrong. He managed to sneak a Nano Suit onto Bruce at the start of the fight just in case he needed it. After causing it to form around, restrain and trap Bruce, Tony uses its self-destruct feature to reduce Bruce to a skeleton. The very first blow that Tony (well, his suit) landed on Bruce when he grabbed the Bat's face was what decided Bruce's fate, showing how Crazy-Prepared Tony was against the hero who's memetically known for his preparedness. While it can hardly be said to be an Unflinching Walk owing to the broken arm Bruce gave him, it's especially badass of Tony that after ordering FRIDAY to self-destruct the suit, he just walks away without even bothering to watch the result. After all, he already knew that from the moment he snuck the Nano Suit onto Bruce, he had already won, mere seconds into the fight.
  Iron Man: Model 58, the Nano Armor. Snuck it into your body back on the watchtower. Friday, initiate self-destruct.

Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash

• The sheer amount of Scenery Gorn that occurs as two overpowered Paradox People with absolutely no restraint unleash their full potential at each other is spectacular.
• After Goku Black goes Super Saiyan Rosé, he's quick to show off the raw power of Universe 7's strongest warrior, as he immediately punches Eobard through both the Earth and moon... And then via Instant Transmission, slams him back through both planetoids back to where the fight was.
• Goku Black and Reverse-Flash both travel back in time to perform a kill in the past, ala Hal back in Ben 10 Vs Green Lantern. However, once both sides realize that it won't be as simple as a basic time travel kill, they both proceed to go on what's effectively a time travel mass murder, slaughtering past variants of their opponents, and showcasing both of them are VERY capable of killing each other physically the moment they get the chance.
  Reverse-Flash: I'll end this fight before it even began... death in reverse!
  • Following the line above, Goku Black enters the time stream to hunt Reverse Flash down. Judging by his look of surprise, Thawne was not expecting Black to have such an ability, so it was impressive for Black to throw off someone who knows basically all there is to know about traveling through time.
• Befitting two insane monsters with massive egos, Thawne and Zamasu trade more than a few affirmations of their greatness between them.
  Goku Black: To stand atop all things and look down on creation itself! That is the work of a god!
  Reverse-Flash: Empty threats to a living paradox!
• Black's death is a mixture of this and Nightmare Fuel. After Thawne destroys his Time Ring, another Thawne comes in from a different timeline and phases through his chest as the other Thawne flips him the bird before disappearing. The psychopathic speedster then slams the insane Saiyan onto the ground, before running around the world multiple times at super speed, utterly mutilating Goku Black's body as he can do nothing but let out a scream of absolute fury. With his work done and Zamasu's face reduced to a bleeding skull, the Reverse-Flash then hurls his foe into the sun with enough force to make it explode, ending the threat of the mad god for good. If you thought that Hulk's death back in Season 3, Ace's and Silver Samurai's back in Season 4, Afro Samurai's back in Season 5, Namor's back in Season 6, Sabrewulf's back in Season 7, or Lex Luthor's and Geese's earlier in this season were insane, Thawne's here to show that you can always go further.
• The commentary captions note that even if Fused Zamasu was allowed, Eobard would still take the win, citing how Thawne was on record for having destroyed several timelines on his own. Which is exactly how Zeno killed Zamasu. After the latter merged with the multiverse. We all know that the Speed Force is overpowered as hell by now, but that's just ludicrous.

Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man

• This milestone episode introduced a new form of animation to the series — stop-motion animation, courtesy of Luis Cruz. This part ends with the Kool-Aid Man putting Randy inside of him.
• Kool-Aid Man's masterful Xanatos Speed Chess. He drags Macho Man into a Kool-Aid dimension and uses the wonky physics to trap Macho Man inside of himself. When Macho escapes by drinking the Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid Man manipulates the drink to impale him with an internal geyser of Kool-Aid.
• According to Macho Man after he’s been resurrected by the Kool-Aid Man, the two of them apparently battle to the death on a weekly basis, with the implication being that they’ve been fighting for a long time and will continue to do so for eternity. The ending even has a constellation of the two fighting show up in the sky like Chuck Norris and Segeta Sanshiro.

DIO vs Alucard

• The beginning alone screams awesome. After Alucard shows up to shoot the car that DIO is driving, he comes out of the wreck and the two share a brief but badass banter:
  DIO: You interrupted my dinner.
  Alucard: Funny, I was just thinking about having mine.
  DIO: Then by all means... take a bite.
• DIO has the upper hand for the opening engagements, dodging all of Alucard's bullets and using The World to catch the one bullet that does get close, using his stand to flick it back at the Vampire King and blowing Al's face off. He then closes the distance and tears Alucard's legs off of his torso. Alucard gets back up, of course, but his returning volley gets mostly dodged before we see the first usage of The World's main ability.
• DIO pincushions Alucard with a flurry of knives, striding towards his enemy and boasting of his victory, which leads to his first big hint that Alucard's Healing Factor is nothing to scoff at. It's only a timely use of The World that prevents DIO from losing anything more than a bit of his flesh.
  DIO: How oh so very weak, dog. You thought you'd triumph, but it was I... Dio?
  (DIO looks behind himself in fear before Alucard literally chews him up, making him scream in agony.)
  Alucard: Hmhmhmhm, if I'm a dog... you're dog food.
  • One for the animators: right before DIO gets the knives, there's a brief flash to indicate him stopping time. You can then see the windows of the weapon store behind him shatter, implying that he got the knives by pausing time and breaking into the building to get them. A surprising bit of detail that could have easily been left out, but it's pretty incredible that they went to that effort to justify the knives seemingly appearing from nowhere.
• Alucard turns into a tidal wave of blood that powers through the misty city they're fighting in, which leads to both DIO and The World massacring a good chunk of the souls in Alucard as well as this badass exchange:
  DIO: What the hell are you?!
  Alucard: A real FUCKING vampire!
• DIO ends up on the top of a clock tower, which leads to him and Alucard tearing off the hands of the clock and having a supersized fencing match that ends with DIO hurling his hand like a harpoon and nailing a clean shot on Al.
• As the two of them fall off the tower, Alucard gives DIO a wicked one-liner before making him eat lead, but DIO isn't fazed by his bullets and freezes Alucard's arms off before firing back with an even better line of his own, screaming those two words we've been dying to hear from him all fight. Upon closer inspection, it appears that Alucard actually tears off his own arms on purpose to keep the ice from spreading to the rest of his body. It takes only a second, if that, for him to get back in the fight.
  Alucard: You want blood, you disgusting monster? Choke on your own.
  (DIO literally bites the barrel as Alucard fires, unfazed by the back of his head getting blown out. He freezes Alucard's arms off, but he simply grows more and lunges for DIO...)
  DIO: I want... to rule... THE WORLD!
  (...only for DIO to freeze time just at the right moment.)
• What follows is DIO feeding off Alucard's blood, destroying all of his zombies and evaporating him with his Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, and using The World to launch himself towards Alucard for the last confrontation, shooting off a killer Badass Boast while Alucard chants the Bird of Hermes poem in preparation to end this fight. It seems like they're going to end this fight with one last Punch Parry...
  DIO: Face me, Vampire King! BOW TO YOUR NEW GOD!
  Alucard: The bird of Hermes, is my name. Eating my wings, to make me tame.
• ...until the screen warps and DIO disappears. A confused Alucard looks back at a menacingly posing DIO, who mocks how useless his efforts were before crushing his heart and obliterating his remains with a rapid-fire series of pulverizing blows, completely exploding his corpse. The fight ends with DIO triumphantly screaming while the rain of blood that used to be his enemy pours down on him, exulting in his victory over Hellsing's champion.
  DIO: WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
• To top off DIO's victory, the fight ends with the classic JoJo-Title Card ending. Just like with Samurai Jack and Sanji before him, this fight was just another day in the life of Dio Brando.
• Despite being hopelessly outclassed, Alucard had Dio on the defensive through the entire match until the end. After being tossed around by Baskerville, Dio spent most of the match running and waiting for an opening to take out the Vampire King. Not bad considering the results.

Akuma VS Shao Kahn

• Shao Kahn attempts to finish off Akuma by stealing his soul. However, Akuma endures long enough to tap into the full power of the Satsui no Hado and become Oni.
  Shao Kahn: Your Soul Is Mine!
  Akuma: NO! The Satsui no Hado is MINE!
• The fact that Shao Kahn was able to keep fighting, and outright win, with a gaping hole in the middle of his chest. To most fighters^note Which include previous Death Battle fighters who both won and lost, that's a death sentence. To Shao Kahn, it was merely a flesh wound.
• In the end, Oni goes for the killing blow, the Raging Demon, but Shao Kahn straight up counters it at the last moment with a Punch Catch, rips Oni's arm off and finishes him with his War Hammer in a full blown Off with His Head! Fatality. Keep in mind, VERY few have canonically survived the Raging Demon, and even then they usually had to jump through hoops with their souls in order pull it off. Shao Kahn outright STOPS the Raging Demon in its tracks with sheer power, and takes the finishing lead over Oni in the process.
  Shao Kahn: Flawless victory!

Korra VS Storm

• In spite of everyone being well aware Korra was going to be the victim of a Curb-Stomp Battle, she manages to hold her own surprisingly well, to the point where she had Storm on the defensive for most of the battle. Even after Korra's defeat, Storm acknowledges her as a Worthy Opponent.

Madara VS Aizen

• The entire battle is one of the best animated of the show, and that's saying something. Much like Goku Black vs Reverse Flash, everything is fast paced, and you truly get a feel of two powerful nigh-omnipotent villains throwing everything in their arsenal at one another.
• Aizen's first move is also a treat, especially for Bleach fans. After realizing Madara can not only see him, but possibly affect him, does Aizen waste any time trying to take it easy? Hell no. He immediately calls upon Kyoka Suigetsu and starts taunting Madara. What's especially noteworth is that Madara is using the Sharingan the entire time to track Aizen and misses the part where Aizen gets behind him entirely.
  Aizen: Huh? You can see me?
  Madara: I can see everything.
  Aizen: (slicks back his hair, draws Kyoka Suigetsu and vanishes from sight before reappearing behind Madara) Did you see that?
• After this moment, the music kicks off. Madara fights his hardest, but Aizen simply overwhelms Madara, slaughtering him and removing his limbs one by one in quick succession. It looks like the battle's over and the fight's barely started. Aizen mocking his foe as a "mere human". However, Madara isn't fooled and reveals that this little curb stomp is but an illusion that Madara easily manages to break out of. The Uchiha patriarch follows this up by immediately paying the renegade Soul Reaper back with a swift beating. What's normally an instant-win button for the Gotei's traitor is a "mere parlor trick" for Madara. It's at this point Aizen knows, he's going to have to do this the hard way.
• The shot of both villains charging at each other, enjoying the thrill of battle against a Worthy Opponent, Evilly Laughing all the while.
  Madara: I love it! The thrill of battle, the pounding of my heart, the taste of my own blood. I LOVE IT!!
• Right after this, a huge explosion engulfs both fighters, as Madara falls from the air, missing a few limbs. Most Bleach fans expect Aizen to then show he's Not Quite Dead, only for Aizen to fall down past Madara in bloody chunks.
  Madara: Hahahaha, you almost had me there, you tricky bastard!
• Only for Aizen to choose that exact moment to impale Madara from behind with his fist. The chunks Madara saw turn to gray dust as Aizen has Madara right where he wants him.
  Aizen: Nothing escapes my illusions, human. (charges up a huge energy attack) Know your place.
• Aizen's attack completely disintegrates a screaming Madara as the music plays out what sounds like the final chorus. The rogue Shinigami laughs in victory...
• ...Only to lead into the absolute mother of all fake outs in the entire show. The viewer is treated to a shot of Aizen...clearly under the influence of the Sharingan. At that moment, Madara appears from the genjutsu and decides not to spare the Shinigami a second thought. He's clearly aware the threat this foe faces and decides enough is enough. The strongest of the Uchiha fatally punishes Aizen for his arrogance with a barrage of Truth-Seeking Orbs. Then he watches the debris of the meteors crash and hit the ground. And what's Madara make of all of this? Just how much he enjoyed the fight. You can tell that, if he had the choice, he'd fight Aizen all over again.
  Madara: What a wonderful dance.
• It cannot be understated just how close this fight was. Many of the most hyped fights in Death Battle often end up being huge one-sided stomps when it comes to the post-fight analysis. Aizen and Madara however are so comparable to each other in strength and speed that it literally came down to arsenal. The only times fights are this close is when the fighters themselves are closer to olympic athletes than world ending threats—such as Nightwing Vs Daredevil and Winter Soldier Vs Red Hood. It just really makes the fight feel all the more special and impactful.
• One last thing worth noting is that Aizen's impact with Kyoka Suigetsu cannot be understated as some Bleach fans refused to accept that Aizen had lost until the end credits, half-expecting Aizen to have put Wiz and Boomstick under the effect of Kyoka Suigetsu.

Saitama VS Popeye

• If you think the reality-breaking stunts in Hulk vs Broly and Vegito vs Gogeta were crazy, Popeye vs Saitama breaks animation styles, switching from hand-drawn to sprites to 3D modeling and back!
• After Popeye punches Saitama across the world, he starts chasing after him by getting in a rowboat and rowing so fast he's actually airborne!
• Once the fight shifts to 3D animation, things get taken up a whole 'nother level, as the two begin rapidly and furiously knocking each other across the solar system in a frantic brawl. Some specific examples include:
  • Popeye’s 3D model is just beyond badass as he is shown to have a buff tall, bulky physique and tattoos all over his body!
  • The two Pummel Duel with such intensity that even though they weren't even aiming for it, they shatter the continental plate they're standing on.
  • After Saitama punches him, Popeye manages to recover almost immediately and hits Saitama away so hard that the impact alone causes an Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
  • Saitama shrugging off the previous blow and near-instantly moving to Popeye's face with his signature Death-Punch ready. Not to be outdone, Popeye punches back with his Spinach-Punch, and not only counters Saitama's punch, he actually overpowers it, knocking Saitama back.
• Popeye briefly stands on the sun. While surviving a dip in the sun is nothing new for Death Battle, standing on it without injury is something only a cartoon could hope to accomplish.
• The Punch Parry that ends the battle as the two strongmen launch themselves at each other, laughing joyously all the while, ending with their fists connecting, turning the space around them into a white void...and Saitama's body breaking up in a burst of golden light.
• Popeye being one of the few (or quite possibly only) characters to A: come back to normal after being punched by Saitama and B: counter and match his serious punches is nothing short of amazing.
• Props to Saitama. He may have lost, but in the animation, he puts up one hell of a fight, and his last thoughts are actually him being overjoyed at the fact that he's finally found an opponent who can force him to go all out.
  "Thank you, weird spinach mascot."
• And of course, Popeye punches Saitama so hard he turns into eggs!
  He took a big gamble, but now he is scrambled, I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!~ *toot toot*
• After a long time, Death Battle returns to the trending page on Youtube with this battle (with the last time being Blake vs Mikasa).

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