To most, the laws of reality are unbending rules never to be questioned, even on this show. But for some people, they're more like... guidelines.
Such as Deadpool, Marvel's merc with a micro-penis. And The Mask, a total chad who just oozes big dick energy.
If the bias behind these monikers wasn't enough of a hint, the premise of season six's penultimate fight hinges upon the notorious sellsword returning yet again to plague the series, its hosts in particular, with his specialized brand of inanity. Veteran mercenaries and cartoonish caricatures alike have failed to put him down, but now, a fellow paper-and-ink sociopath steps up to the plate to see if the impossible can be achieved: killing off Deadpool once and for all. Infamous for being impossible to kill, these masters of black comedy have been arranged to duke it out the best way an exasperated Wiz and Boomstick know how: through—
For the third time in the series, the first combatant studied in an episode is the comic book mercenary Deadpool. Several conflicting stories exist as to his life before joining the military, the only constants being his birth name of Wade Wilson and his Canadian upbringing. However, the profile becomes clearer afterward; after a brief stint in special forces, Wade joined the ranks of a CIA-sponsored hitman squadron. During his travels with the group, Wade was diagnosed several dozen inoperable cancer tumors. He found potential salvation from this plight through a clandestine division of the Canadian government christened Department K. In truth, Department K was itself a branch of the Weapon X program, a Canadian-American joint effort to augment individuals with superpower-enabling genes like those found in mutants. Wade, specifically, was implanted with the same genetics that gave the mutant Wolverine his expedited healing rate. This healing factor halted the growth of his cancer, but also grotesquely disfigured his flesh and wore away at his mental health. Wilson escaped the Weapon X hospice where he was kept captive and was able to resume his mercenary affairs, now under the moniker of Deadpool.
Wade has always had the means to become an accomplished fighter, going as far back as before his days as a test subject for Department K. Traditional superhero fare, such as enhanced reflexes and durability, are at Deadpool's disposal, as is a working knowledge of several unarmed martial arts. However, as the healing factor implanted into Deadpool by Department K is the most notorious of his powers, it also proves his most vital; this extremely accelerated healing enables him to recover from a manner of otherwise fatal wounds and even total disintegration. The red-and-black lunatic manages to be just as competent while attacking as he does when put onto the defensive. In addition to a set of twin katana, Wade possesses a vast array of weapons and other gadgets. These run the gamut from conventional munitions such as explosives and high-caliber firearms, to more irregular, specialized weapons; examples of the latter would include a laser gun that erases those shot by it from existence and a mock Infinity Gem that can rewrite the very history of its universe. Combined with his mental irregularities, these skills and weapons make Wade an unpredictable combatant able to keep his foes guessing as to his next move.
Even if his contemporary presence may be bothersome, there is no denying Deadpool's prowess. He strength is such that he can anchor himself while tossing around helicopters, and his reflexes act at speeds faster than the human eye can perceive with regularity. His healing factor, meanwhile, gives his durability an additional boost that lets him live through collapsing buildings, laser blasts, and even explosions with enough force to level city blocks. Though it may seem like nothing can put Deadpool down, the truth is far different. His infamous immortality is not a product of Weapon X, but rather a curse by the cosmic warlord Thanos; this curse has since been rescinded. The healing factor that keeps Wade's cancer in check is also regularly exploited by the merc himself, in that he often endures punishment well beyond his preferred limits. Even so, the healing does need time to take effect for critical wounds, hence why Deadpool prefers to reattach severed body parts manually. The most glaring of all of Deadpool's weaknesses, however, would be his clinical insanity. This instability may give Deadpool an edge as an unpredictable fighter, but it also leads to a lack of forethought on his behalf. His mental state gives him knowledge of the fourth wall, though he usually reserves such a power for comedic purposes, usually antics with the production crew of whatever media he currently inhabits. His overabundant appearances in modern media aside, Deadpool continues to act as a wild card for every party he comes across, even himself.
- Boomstick: Deadpool may be an annoying clown who's menaced Marvel's good and bad sides for decades, but he's also had sex with my mom over a hundred times and made her moan-- hey, hey, who changed the prompter!?
Deadpool: (wildly whooping ala Curly)
Boomstick: Come back here, you sunnuva bitch!
The episode moves on from Deadpool for what is hopefully the last time, to the second combatant: Big Head, better known as the Mask. There exists much speculation behind the conception of his namesake accessory; some say it was originally a fetish crafted and worshiped by African tribes, others that it was made by the Norse god of mischief and trickery, Loki. Whatever its origins, one certainty is given in the mask's story, that it eventually finds its way into the hands of Stanley Ipkiss, an unassuming nebbish in Edge City constantly tempted by his violent urges. Out of curiosity, Ipkiss donned the mask and found his inner tendencies were no longer repressed while wearing it. This mystical relic, in reality, bears a consciousness of its own and forces the wearer to act upon their inner self without inhibition or regard for morals. Stanley was given the freedom to do whatever he wished under the mask's influence. Choosing to unleash chaos through the city, the public took note of Ipkiss' green-skulled alternate identity, giving him the moniker of Big Head in the wake of his violence.
It should be clarified at this point that the episode takes the Mask's source comic, rather than the film adaptation, as priority in showcasing the character. Desiring nothing but destruction and mayhem, the mask brings its wearer's repressed wants to the fore. With their id driving them, the wearer are forced to uncontrollably act upon them to satiate both their innermost desires and the mask's own urge to destroy. The source of such a power is never explained, but is theorized as a phenomenon called toonforce. So named for its prevalence in classic Golden Age animation, those with toonforce are able to bend the laws of reality for the sake of humor. Big Head regularly weaponizes toonforce in the form of crafting any weapon imaginable from nothingness. Such weapons the Mask has conjured include multi-barreled firearms, rocket launchers, and more conventional cartoon fare like whoopie cushions. Another one of the Mask's applications of toonforce is to contort and manipulate his mass; be it by flattening, stretching, or expanding his body if not outright shapeshifting, anyone under the Mask persona is immune to all forms of conventional injury. Like his foe, he is also capable of breaking the fourth wall, and unlike most users of toonforce, such reality-bending does not extend to his local environment around him. In summary, this power turns anyone using the mask into a living cartoon operating within the real world.
This unfathomable reality-bending ability gives the mask's bearer godlike power, and a number of showings demonstrate its potential. Wearers of the mask like Ipkiss have survived the most gruesome of injuries, even ones that would be fatal to an ordinary human. They have also toppled buildings and survived fights against giant robots with minimal effort. Through toonforce, Big Head can even survive nuclear explosions at ground zero and even a kick to the genitals that launched him into the atmosphere. This toonforce extends outside the confines of Mask canon as well; in a crossover with the DC universe, Big Head had a prolonged meeting with the cosmic bounty hunter Lobo. This interaction saw the pair race around the earth multiple times in under half a minute at speeds of almost ten million. The pair then crashed into each other in an explosion which failed to injure either of them. Shortcomings are few and far between with a power like this, but there exists one crucial weakness that even toonforce cannot overcome: the wearer loses the powers of the mask should they wish to take it off. Despite operating off the mask-amplified influence of their id, the overall consciousness of the wearer still exists and can be manipulated into removing it. That said, tempted the primal satisfaction of fulfilling one's desires through the most fantastic of means, any possessed by the mask would be hard-pressed to give up the joy and carnage granted by freely expressing their innermost self.
- The Mask: (casts a spotlight upon himself and an accompanying jazz band) Let's rock this joint!
These two combatants have been studied, and given all they have to offer, whatever comes next is sure to be a fight unlike any seen before on the show and quite possibly any after. One advertisement for the Blue Apron cooking service (plus one empty threat from Deadpool to prevent said advertisement) later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
The background noise of cars through a nighttime city betray the lunacy that awaits. From a towering skyscraper crashes Deadpool, regenerating degenerate himself, barely outside the reach of an ornately carved mask. As he narrates, a long story has led to this particular situation; but, for reasons outside the show's budget, that story must remain unanswered. On more relevant matters, the Canadian mercenary helplessly falls after the object of his attention; both he and the mask crash into a suspiciously familiar bus at the last minute. An explosion of rich emerald smoke blows the vehicle wide open, summoning a tornado with an equally-viridian hue. Casting Deadpool into a run-down alley, the tornado swerves out onto the street before dying down, and from the eye of the storm emerges the notorious Big Mask, yellow finery and all. Wade Wilson draws a pair of handguns to back his demand that Stanley Ipkiss remove the mask. The shock on Big Head's face is only a façade, though, as he aims his own set of balloon pistols at the merc.
FIGHT!
After realizing this mishap, the balloons burst, revealing an unholy abomination of chainguns and bazookas assembled together. The ensuing cacophony of gunfire proves to catch Deadpool off-guard seconds before a stray round runs through his chest. For a moment, the Mask revels in this quickly-earned victory, only for the gaping wound to patch itself back up. Confusion gives way to wary enthusiasm as the volley of bullets resumes; on Deadpool's end, he draws his twin katanas and more deftly reacts to the barrage of ammunition, parrying bullets away as he closes the distance. With a series of slashes, the Mask's munitions are carved to bits and a certain green cranium is propelled into the air on a geyser of blood. Just as the first killing blow proved non-lethal, so too does this one; the Mask's head lands perfectly centered on his shoulder, if backwards. The crimson mercenary can only react with frustration at Stanley's renewed vigor while his body corrects itself. It is with this vexed outlook that Deadpool is caught by an uppercut from the Mask. Equipped with boxing gloves, the id-fueled maniac continues to hammer away as Deadpool with elastic arms; the repeated punches begin to crack the very screen presenting the fight. Deadpool sees an opportunity to turn the fight around as he looks the viewer's way a second before diving through the fragile screen.
The Mask is left alone for only a moment in perplexity until Deadpool returns, holding in one hand a cabochon gemstone shaded the darkest of purples. This, despite the Mask's nerdish accusations to the contrary, is the fabled seventh Infinity Gem, the Continuity Gem. Deadpool begins to describe how the Continuity Gem could rewrite the history of the universe to his liking; prior matches from the series are shown in still-images to demonstrate, winners becoming losers and defeated becoming victors. More than that, however, the gem gives Wade the ability to force Ipkiss into removing the mask. Big Head slowly finds his hands inching towards his face, much to his horror. As Deadpool announces his certain victory, he heralds it with a snap of his fingers before everything is consumed by a white void. Outlines of both Wade and Stanley, sketched in pen, arrive soon after. The pair, now reduced to still frames and lines to denote activity, take a moment to process the current predicament; courtesy of the Continuity Gem consuming the remaining budget, the fight is now being presented during the storyboarding phase. Already a fight unlike any before due to these oddball shenanigans, the match becomes even more off-kilter as Deadpool and the Mask form a temporary truce. Together, and restricted to cheap live-action cosplay, the pair concoct a number of inane schemes to raise some additional money. Door-to-door salesmanship, competitive poker, gamers asking for donations, scrounging about furniture, selling Wade's bath water, this montage is brief, and thankfully, it gets the animators their extended budget.
In a flash of lightning, classic animation carries the fight once again; Wade and Big Head are now in a classic western standoff. The two are plastered with menacing snarls as the quick draw approaches, but in lieu of their revolvers, each pulls out a Continuity Gem. Faced with Deadpool's shock, the possessed Stanley Ipkiss makes it clear that he has no need for a Continuity Gem; the mask gives him powers on par with the gem. The darker impulses of the mask begin to take over. Demented cackling echoes through the ruinous landscape as the living cartoon grows increasingly larger. Wade can only stare in morbid realization as Ipkiss looms over him. The screen fades to black. Gentle instrumentation stirs the scene to life as Deadpool enters a melancholy ballad. As he sings, the Canadian realizes that the memes and the buffonery surrounding his character have consumed him. Indeed, he realizes that against someone like the Mask, his own brand silliness could never hope to compare; in defeat, he seals the Continuity Gem and lets a postman Big Head whisk it away. The music grows to a crescendo as Deadpool accepts his impending demise and his will to die with dignity. With katana and pistol in hand, Wade regains his fighting spirit, only for the sweeping score to be cut short by a lively rumba.
Light fills the wasteland as the Mask, now donning a more festive attire, shimmies towards Deadpool; he soon abandons his maracas in lieu of chainsaws. The two fighters pace every step and action to the rumba beat as Wade puts his utmost effort in fending off the toonforce-empowered lunatic. The katana is kicked out of his grasp, but Deadpool still refuses to give in, firing a volley of bullets that are only absorbed by the Mask. Said rounds are then spat back out, punching numerous holes in Wade. Reduced to prostrating himself before the Mask, Deadpool has both arms shorn off in a clean upward strike. Ipkiss turns his body into a cyclone at the rate he spins about, giddily shredding Wade to pieces. The merc's head is sent skyward, and the Mask, now donning his classic yellow suit once more, effortlessly catches it. Deadpool offers a final defiant insult, and the Mask, in response, unveils a nuclear weapon from his coat pocket. The timer counts down to zero, but no earth-shattering kaboom follows. Confused and impatient, Big Head taps on the nuke, only for it to detonate in a blinding explosion. Two piles of dust lie upon the parched earth, and each are blown away; the cause, an unpowered fan beside a reclining Big Head. Just like in the classic cartoons he hearkens back to, the screen irises out on the Mask's wild cackling, though only after he holds it open at the last second, asking for more comers.
K.O.!
The mood is jovial between the hosts, given they have finally freed themselves from the burden of Deadpool; said mood soon becomes dour, however, as they contemplate why he lost. The Canadian sellsword has had far more experience and his skill was better refined than the Mask. These were not his only advantages, either; his own unstable mental health was still better than his foe. On paper, he could have been able to outsmart the Mask, but there would be no viable way, given he was otherwise outclassed in stats by a horrendously imbalanced margin. Wade's pulling of a six-ton helicopter pales compared to the Mask having toppled over a thousand-ton skyscraper, thus meaning his enhanced strength is lost on the Mask. In the way of speed, Big Head was Deadpool's better to a similar degree; while Deadpool could react to ionized air currents associated with lightning, the Mask's race with Lobo puts him at over a hundred times faster. The collision at the end of that race is also calculated as possessing over 320 teratons of TNT, far greater than anything Deadpool has survived, including a 130-ton city block-leveling explosion. Not helping matters is the fact that with his toonforce, Ipkiss could easily ignore any attempt on Deadpool's part to attack him. The true reason why he lost, though, was out of petty spite. The two hosts, having been fed up with the crimson madman's nonsense, arranged this fight, when they were meant to be as fair and impartial as they are with many other fights. Under most circumstances, the Mask's victory would be well-justified and earned; here, only the latter is applicable.
- Boomstick: There's no way to mask what we've done!
Wiz: The winner is...
Before that thought can be finished, a envelope pops out from the monitor behind the hosts, the same one from Deadpool's dramatic number. In the accompanying letter, the fallen merc describes how this episode changed him. Through the years of memes and cosplay and being branded as a symbol of unpredictability, he lost his way. Even past appearances on the show played into it, and it was only with this defeat that he remembers who he was meant to be. Reading this final farewell, the scientist and the redneck are faced with the full crushing weight of their actions, wishing they could change it. Sadly, that change comes much sooner than they'd have hoped; the Continuity Gem falls from the envelope, right into Boomstick's open palm. As if answering the hosts' lamenting pleas, Deadpool reemerges from the aether, sending the hosts running off in a panic. Still, the winning announcement must be made to bring an official close to this episode, and only one man is fitting for the job.
- The Mask: The winner is me! (laughs heartily while pulling down a poster of himself)
Next time, on the season finale...
Deadpool vs. The Mask contains examples of:
- Art Shift: After Deadpool attempts to use the Continuity Stone, the artstyle switches from standard hand-drawn animation to still frames of storyboards, and then to live-action, before finally returning to hand-drawn animation.
- Bait-and-Switch: Deadpool snaps his fingers when he uses the Continuity Stone and everything fades to white...and then we see our combatants moving around in still frames to which Deadpool remarks that the used up all the animation budget.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: After realizing how unfair the fight was and reading a post-mortem letter from Deadpool, Wiz and Boomstick wish that they could undo the fight's results. Unfortunately, the envelope contained the Continuity Stone, so the wish actually comes true. Cue instant regret from Wiz and Boomstick.
- Big Fish in a Bigger Ocean: Exploited. Deadpool had already won two death battlesnote with his Healing Factor making him hard to kill conventionally and lack of a fourth wall making him impossible to trick. However, he's hopelessly outmatched against The Mask, a Reality Warper with limitless powers. The hosts specifically picked this unfair matchup to finally get rid of Deadpool.
- Book Ends: At the start of the battle, Deadpool cuts down Big Head's arsenal of guns and proceeds to cut off his head, only for Big Head's head to land on his neck and reattach itself. Big Head returns the favor at the end of the death battle by chopping off Deadpool's arms, though unlike the former, Deadpool has no body to reattach his head to since Big Head eviscerates it.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: It's Deadpool vs. The Mask. What fourth wall?
- Brick Joke:
- During Deadpool's musical number, he puts the Continuity Stone in an envelope and mails it off via a mailbox the Mask provides. Later, during the winner announcement, guess what falls in Boomstick's face— and what's in it besides a letter?
- A throwaway joke in the opening of the fight is that the budget isn't big enough to animate the whole thing. Sure enough, the special effects of Wade's Continuity Gem blow through it to the point where the fighters take a detour to beg for donations in live-action in order to pick things back up.
- Compensating for Something: The Mask one-ups Deadpool's twin handguns by drawing a set of balloon revolvers. Which then turn into his trademark everything guns. Which, of course, he points out in traditional Mask style.The Mask: PENIS METAPHOOOR!!
- Composite Character: In the case of the Mask. Only feats from the original comic book line are considered valid, but the yellow zoot suit and his overall demeanor in the fight are clearly lifted from the movie.
- Continuity Nod:
- Given his powers originate from Wolverine, Wade helps himself to referencing the time he duked it out with Metal Gear's Raiden, right down to a number of panels featured in the aforementioned episode.
- In the middle of scaling the Mask to Lobo, Boomstick points out that fans should already remember the latter from his fight with Ghost Rider a few episodes back.
- Deadpool, while using the Continuity Gem with the Mask at his mercy, describes his reality-warping capabilities, topped with the phrase "this is over" as a failed Pre-Mortem One-Liner. This isn't the first time all of this has happened.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Deadpool never stood a chance against the Mask, whose ability to survive damage completely outclasses his own even before Thanos removed the immortality curse put on him, on top of being a full blown Reality Warper. Even Deadpool realizes that he's more or less doomed. In fact, the fight was intentionally set up to be enormously stacked against Deadpool so the hosts could finally get rid of him.
- Damned by Faint Praise: The hosts pull this to piss Deadpool off. While doing the customary rundown of his feats, they note such herculean acts as lifting a 4 lb. pistol or "standing up [...] without aid!" Wade is nearly dumbstruck at this and demands Wiz and Boomstick do their jobs.
- Demon Head: The Mask exhibits one, with extra Deranged Animation, while saying that his own Mask is just as powerful a Reality Warper as the Continuity Gem.
- Disney Death: The Mask manages to successfully kill Deadpool. However he brings him back to life at the end with the Continuity Gem.
- Face Death with Dignity: When Deadpool realizes that his fourth wall breaking abilities won't save him from The Mask, he decides to throw away the jokes and memes, returning to his roots and fighting seriously even if he has no chance of winning. During his brief song he also sends out a letter with the Continuity Stone inside. The Mask delivers it to Wiz and Boomstick after the battle, and the letter is Deadpool sincerely thanking the two of them for helping him return to his roots.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: The main link between the combatants is that they're clownish, fun-loving, bloodthirsty Anti Heroes...on a good day.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: As much as Wiz and Boomstick were clearly biased against Deadpool, it was carelessly bending the rules in his favor that fucked them over in the end: the Continuity Gem is a universally powerful artifact that most definitely isn't a part of Deadpool's standard arsenal, but they gave it to him anyway, probably to emphasize that the Mask would annihilate him no matter what he had up his sleeves. Guess what Boomstick accidentally uses to bring him back to life after the Mask kills him.
- Homage Shot: Deadpool diving out of the window after the mask is lifted straight from The Matrix Reloaded, namely the scene where Trinity dives out of an office building to evade an Agent.
- Hypocritical Humor: During the live-action segment, Deadpool tries holding someone at gunpoint, only for Big Head to push the gun away. Guess what the Mask is in the middle of doing at the very end of the segment.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Wiz and Boomstick share one of these moments after realizing how utterly and non-impartially they've gotten Deadpool curbstomped.
- Mythology Gag:
- The first use that Deadpool proposes for the Continuity Gem is stopping Hitler from being born.
- The actual fight is littered with references to Big Head's big screen classic:
- After Wade's attempted use of the Continuity Gem results in the animation budget going down the drain and changes the fight to the story boards, Big Head tells him, "Can't make the scene if you don't have the green." In the first movie, Stanley as Big Head said the same thing when he prepared to head off for a party, only to realize he didn't had the cash and decided to "make a little stop."
- The scene where he explodes some balloons into a mishmash of guns is a composite of two gags from the movie: one where he turns a balloon tommy gun into the real deal, while the mishmash is taken from his fight with Dorian Tyrell's henchmen at the end.
- In addition, the final stage of his battle with Deadpool had him in his Cuban Pete outfit, and the timer on the bomb that he pulls from his coat pocket reads "Chick Chicky Boom", which are lyrics in the Cuban Pete song he sang when he ran from the cops.
- Nigh-Invulnerable:
- Zigzagged with Deadpool, who was this due to combining a Healing Factor with being cursed to literally never die, which meant that he would always survive the initial damage and cling to life until his Healing Factor could repair his body. However, he's recently lost this trait in comics canon, so it no longer applies in Death Battle.
- Played straight with the Mask, who is not only immune to pain and possessed of its own Healing Factor, but can basically No-Sell damage with its Reality Warper abilities.
- No Fourth Wall: The initial use of the Continuity Stone is too powerful for the episode budget to handle, forcing The Mask and Deadpool to venture into the real world to making enough money to restore the animation.
- Not So Invincible After All:
- During their analysis of Deadpool, Wiz and Boomstick point out that many of Deadpool's more insane feats of survival stem not so much from his Healing Factor as from the fact he was literally cursed to never die by Thanos, which would give said Healing Factor far more leeway to work with compared to even Wolverine. Since it was recently retconned in-universe that Thanos has removed this curse to be rid of Deadpool, that no longer applies to his Death Battle effectiveness. Sure enough, Deadpool loses the match because he can no longer tank the sheer amount of damage that the Mask can throw his way without his curse.
- Initially, Deadpool believes that his Continuity Gem will allow him to get around the Mask's being impossible to forcibly remove by internally retconning it off of its host. The Mask plays along, then disabuses him of this notion by pointing out that its toon-force Reality Warper powers essentially make it a sentient Continuity Gem in its own right.
- A sidebar during the Mask's analysis notes that, despite what Wiz and Boomstick are saying, the Mask has been forcibly removed from others in the cartoon and movies. They explain the discrepancy by noting that when it's happened, it's been with hosts that were children or animals, which don't have as much repressed Id for the Mask to latch onto and so its connection is inherently weakened.
- Offhand Backhand: Boomstick doesn't even change his expression when he punches an intruding Pinkie Pie off-screen.
- Off with His Head!: Done to both combatants. Subverted in the first instance with Big Head, who's head lands back on his neck and reattaches itself with no consequences. Deadpool isn't so lucky in that, even with his healing factor, Big Head literally tore his body to shreds and is killed before he has a chance to grow said body back.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When the hosts realize that Boomstick wished to have the now dead Deadpool back... while he was holding the Continuity Stone.
- Pet the Dog: The Mask kills Deadpool in their fight, but then helps bring him back to life by delivering his letter to Wiz and Boomstick, this allowing the Continuity Stone to revive him, despite having nothing to gain from it himself.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Wiz and Boomstick get what they want by finishing off Deadpool the annoyance with a Reality Warping cartoon killer he had no chance against, but at the cost of their impartiality. Boomstick says as much.Boomstick: YES! HE'S GONE! HE'S FINALLY GONE! HE CAN NEVER BOTHER US AGAIN! ...why don't I feel as awesome as I should?
- Reality Warper: The Mask's "toon force", which allows it to literally do anything that its wearer wants, at least so long as it feels funny. This is actually the major reason why the Mask wins; Deadpool is insanely durable, but the Mask's ability to twist reality essentially makes Deadpool helpless before it. Even the Continuity Gem can't save him because the Mask's reality warping powers are on par or exceed it.
- Redemption Equals Death: During the fight, Deadpool finally realizes that the memes have gone too far and he needs to return to his roots. Pity the fight didn't end in his favor... or did it?
- Running Gagged: After several episodes where Deadpool has shown up to bug them during the host segments, Wiz and Boomstick decide to deliberately pit him against an opponent he has no chance of beating. Ultimately, the Mask is able to finally kill Deadpool, and seemingly put an end to his antics.
- Self-Deprecation:
- When wielding the Continuity Gem, Deadpool muses how he can rewrite reality to correct history's biggest mistakes. In the background, one can see images of some of the most controversial matches in the show's history having their victors changed, including Rogue vs. Wonder Woman, Link vs. Cloud, Goku vs. Superman 2, Gaara vs. Toph, and Yang vs. Tifa. Rather hilariously, Link VS Cloud's rematch in Season 8 had Wiz and Boomstick themselves change their minds, meaning at least one of these attempts succeeded.
- The fight itself seems to be a lighthearted jab at the idea that Wiz and Boomstick have a bias despite their desire to remain impartial. In this episode, Wiz and Boomstick let their grudge against Deadpool color their commentary on him as they put him in a fight he has absolutely no chance of winning purely out of spite, only for them to realize doing so leaves them feeling empty and regretful as well as costing them their impartiality. Could also easily apply to the actual hosts and research team, who have often been decried as being biased for or against certain characters in matches.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Despite the above, Deadpool himself proposes uses for the Continuity Gem that are much more heroic in nature, like preventing Hitler's rise to power or changing the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Or making Big Head take off the Mask, but you can't blame him for that one.
- Share the Male Pain: Out of all the gore in The Mask's comic series, Boomstick considers Big Head getting kicked in the testicles so hard he flew into the sky to be the worst of it.
- Shout-Out:
- Again, it's Deadpool vs. the Mask, this should go without saying:
- The Homage Shot mentioned above is followed by Deadpool doing the Goofy holler as he falls.
- Immediately after, he labels the Mask as Majora's mistake.
- For a non-combatant example, the opening statement about the rules of reality being more like guidelines hearkens back to a similar sentiment about the Pirates' Code in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film.
- During the live-action portion of the fight, Deadpool is shown playing against a NoobMaster69, the same name as the gamer from Avengers: Endgame who menaced Korg.
- The live portion seems reminiscent to an episode of Chowder, where the characters/voice actors try to earn enough money to restore their animation budget.
- While describing how toonforce works, Wiz lists three specific examples of users: Bugs Bunny, Popeye, and Michael Jordan.
- The Mask goes into a full Rocky IV homage while pummeling Deadpool, even contorting his face into Ivan Drago as he insists he must break Wade.
- When Deadpool comes back at the end, the exchange is a classic Kool-Aid Man "Oh no!" / "Oh yeah!".
- Stealth Parody: Over the years, Death Battle's creators have been accused of everything from using faulty methods of measurement to calculate their fighters' capabilities to overlooking important factors to just plain rigging the match for the combatant they want to win. This episode puts a comedic spin on those criticisms by having Wiz and Boomstick prove all of them right out of their deep hatred of Deadpool, especially the last.
- Stealth Pun: The fight ends as the Mask detonates a nuclear bomb labelled 'Fat Lady', meaning it was only over when she 'sang'.
- Take That!:
- The Mask's debut on this show wouldn't be complete without both hosts getting in a dig at Son of the Mask.Wiz: (comparing the original comic to the Lighter and Softer film version) Don't let the family movie fool you... sorry, movies. I always forget that second one.
Boomstick: Don't blame ya! - The show also takes shots at Deadpool's oversaturation and him frequently being reduced to that one wacky violent guy from Marvel Comics. Even Deadpool admits he's sick of the attention by the end and resigns himself to dying with some dignity... for a short time, at least.
- The Mask's debut on this show wouldn't be complete without both hosts getting in a dig at Son of the Mask.
- Take That, Critics!: Since the show has been dodging accusations of bias since its inception, this episode can be interpreted as showing detractors what a biased Death Battle would really look like.
- Tempting Fate: Deadpool's death at the Mask's hands (who was chosen specifically for that purpose) had Boomstick uttering the line "He can never bother us again!" over the KO screen. He really should have known better...
- Torso with a View: Early on in the fight, the Mask manages to blow a hole through Deadpool’s chest, complete with a shot from behind him as it shows the Mask’s confused expression as the wound quickly regenerates.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Right after Deadpool's death, Boomstick notes that finally getting rid of him isn't as satisfying as they thought. Both he and Wiz lament that they threw out their regular impartiality and set Deadpool up in a one-sided fight to get rid of him due to holding him in contempt, and the emptiness shifts straight into regret.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: Wiz and Boomstick went into the battle wanting Deadpool gone and made no secret of this. They initially have no shame about sending Wade to die in a battle they knew he had zero chance of winning, but when all's said and done, they take no pleasure in having done it. On the contrary, they're distraught that they breached their professional ethics out of spite and only want to undo the damage they caused. The Continuity Gem is all too happy to oblige them.
- Where's the Kaboom?: After reducing Deadpool to a head, the Mask pulls out a nuclear bomb to finish him off. Once the countdown hits zero... nothing happens. A confused Mask taps on the bomb, which then goes off reducing both the Mask and Deadpool to dust. Though the Mask is shown perfectly fine a moment later.
