Boomstick: Apocalypse, Marvel's baleful mutant conqueror.
Wiz: Anubis. Thoth. Ra. For over 30 centuries, Egyptian mythology spawned countless legends.
Boomstick: And we've got comics' biggest baddies this side of the Nile!
For this episode, Death Battle travels to the unforgiving sands of Egypt, one of the world's oldest civilizations. With millennia of history serving as the inspiration of pop culture's greatest works, it's now time to revisit DC and Marvel's long-standing rivalry to pit two merciless monarchs to see whose might truly makes right. Having lived for countless eons, Teth-Adam and En Sabah Nur have terrorized their respective worlds with the power of gods at their beck and call, so whose deific abilities will triumph in a death battle?
First, the hosts travel to one of the DC universe's more notable exotic locations: just south of the Mediterranean Sea and north of the Sinai Peninsula lies the sovereign nation of Kahndaq, which, much like Gotham and Metropolis, is home to its own protector, Black Adam. Long ago, Teth-Adam and his people had been enslaved by the armies of the ruthless conqueror Ibac the First. The only family he had left was his young nephew Aman, and together, the pair escaped what would've been certain death, in the process stumbling upon the Rock of Eternity, a magical lair that has defended the mystic arts since time began. The two earned an audience with the lair's masters, the Council of Wizards, and they, having sensed the purity in Aman's heart, granted him magical powers of his own, which he then shared with Teth-Adam. Returning to free their fellow people, the man and the boy reached an ideological impasse: while the young Aman wanted to use his powers mercifully and peacefully, his uncle Teth-Adam desired vengeance on his former captors. And so, Teth-Adam did the unthinkable: using his borrowed power, he murdered his nephew and stole his power to take for himself. With the full might of the Wizards now at his disposal, the newly christened Black Adam destroyed Ibac's barbarians and liberated Kahndaq.
Needless to say, Black Adam is not exactly an ordinary hero, with even the mightiest combatants of his world knowing better than to needlessly provoke him. This is thanks to the power of Adam's Living Lightning: while it may appear akin to ordinary electricity at first glance, this mystical energy is among the most powerful magic in comics history, being able to revive a giant and empower the Flash, among other properties. This energetic electricity can be summoned by Adam with the magical verbal command of "Shazam" and transforms him from the ordinary human Teth-Adam to the powerful warrior Black Adam and vice versa, much like prior Death Battle combatant Shazam, a.k.a. Billy Batson. And these similarities are quite meaningful, as Mamaragan, the most powerful of the Council of Wizards, promotes various people across the multiverse to protect its magic and become his champions, with Black Adam being among the first. Adam's powers are granted to him by various mythological gods, originally from the Greek pantheon, though when he eventually died, his most loyal followers gathered his ashes and prayed to their Egyptian gods for his return, successfully reviving him with a new pantheon to draw his strength from. With the Stamina of Shu, Strength of Amun, and Speed of Horus granting Teth-Adam standard superheroic abilities such as enhanced strength, speed, flight, and durability, the Power of Aten allows him to channel the Living Lightning through his body for combative purposes, and the Wisdom of Zehuti enhances his strategic thinking, serving as a method of clueing Adam in on his foes' weaknesses. This was handily demonstrated when The Batman Who Laughs, a twisted version of the Dark Knight, drove Shazam to insanity, and the newly dubbed King Shazam attacked Kahndaq. Though Black Adam initially held a disadvantage, the Wisdom of Zehuti had made him instinctively draw King Shazam into a trap, where he was soundly defeated. And finally, the Courage of Mehen gives Teth-Adam a minor healing factor and resistance to mental attacks, alongside an indomitable will, which gave him the strength to keep going despite several personal tragedies, such as the death of his family, the destruction of his country, and the petrification of his wife shortly after her revival.
With Mehen's power, Black Adam became a strong leader and a pillar of hope for his country; no matter what the world may think of him, it matters not to Teth-Adam so long as his home of Kahndaq remains safe. And he'll aid whoever it takes to aid him in this goal, from the Justice Society of America to the Society of Supervillains and even the Justice League, helping heroes one day and villains the next, for Black Adam is neither a superhero nor a supervillain, and to him, only the side that helps his people matters. Matters of morality aside, his brash nature is frequently misunderstood, leading to the Justice Society of America attacking him on two occasions, though they were defeated both times by him. Adam has caused sandstorms with a mere clap, pushed the moon alongside Superman, and killed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by himself. Having once fought alongside Sinestro of the Yellow Lantern Corps, he was allowed to keep a Yellow Lantern ring which fell into his possession, with which he was able to create a massive tiger construct empowered by the Living Lightning. Black Adam has even endangered Mamaragan and murdered the Council of Wizards, who are part of the Quintessence, the deific beings who watch over the multiverse, and effortlessly broke the body of Spectre, another being of the Quintessence. And though he's torn off Hawkman's wing and tried to kill Wonder Woman, to the citizens of Kahndaq, Black Adam is a hero, and even a moment's glance from their protector is all they need to continue living.
For Teth-Adam's foe, the host look into the Marvel universe at what happens to be one of Boomstick's favorite graphic novels. Five millennia ago, the nomadic ancient Egyptian tribe known as the Akaba birthed a baby boy, but, horrified by his appearance and believing him a bad omen, abandoned him in the middle of the desert. Fortunately, the child was saved from certain death by Baal, leader of the Crimson Sands tribe, who believed he would become a great conqueror, and raised him as one of their own, naming the boy "En Sabah Nur" (translating to "The Morning Light"). To him, Baal imparted upon him the belief that only the strong survive, and with this in mind, Nur became a fearsome warrior, but unlike his comrades, his physicality was unique, and this led to a difficult experience as he grew. Though he was stronger and smarter than them, Nur was a pariah; to the rest of the Crimson Sands, he was still an outsider despite Baal's blessings. His hardships would only grow when the pharaoh killed Baal and enslaved Nur, leaving him truly alone save for Nephri, a lone woman he would grow fond of. However, as all who met him would believe him to be a monster, even being spurned by Nephri despite saving her life, Nur eventually decided to embrace this belief: if everyone thought him a monster, a monster he would become, and if no one would love En Sabah Nur, they would learn to fear Apocalypse.
As his physical appearance may suggest, Apocalypse is the first of many mutants across the world, though his powers are quite grand compared to most. Besides his enhanced strength and intelligence, Nur also has complete control over his molecular structure, allowing him to mold and reshape his body into whatever form he chooses. And with his mighty power and intellect, Apocalypse easily conquered Egypt, and though it entered a golden age under his rule, said rule was obtained through a bloody, iron fist. Soon, the mutant conqueror set his sights on the rest of the world, though his ambitions were thwarted time and again by the heroic mutants of the X-Men and Avengers. To defeat them, Apocalypse would need a new edge, and his chance would come upon the arrival of Cable, another prior Death Battle warrior. Though he had come upon interstellar technology belonging to the Celestials, the gods of the Marvel universe, Nur was unable to utilize this new technology despite his vast intellect, until the time-travelling Cable appeared to assassinate him. In the process, Cable accidentally infected Apocalypse with his techno-organic virus, which happened to be just what he needed to access his Celestial technology. With the promise that he would repay them at a later date, the Celestials granted unto Apocalypse a stone known as the Death Seed, an artifact made for the purpose of evolving mankind into an ascended form. Injecting one of these Death Seeds into another person transforms them into one of Apocalypse's Horsemen, boosting their power to incredible heights. And the techno-organic virus, though unable to be tamed by Cable, only served as another boon to Nur, whose power allowed him to utilize it to control all forms of technology with only his mind.
With these two gifts, the power of the alien Ship, and the multiplication of the X-gene, Apocalypse was evolved into one of the strongest beings to ever live, with any power imaginable at his disposal, such as teleportation, energy blasts, invisibility, regeneration, telepathy, flight, and absorbing energy. This last power is also one of his most impressive ones, having once absorbed Cyclops's optic laser, which is capable of splitting planets, with only his bare hand. His techno-organic virus would eventually incorporate its technology into his very molecules, and with his thoughts alone, he can construct body doubles and entirely robotic armies, and even enhance his physical size to towering levels. At his best, practically no one can best Apocalypse, as he's defeated Colossus, Beast, Storm, Quicksilver, Iceman, and Archangel, six of the most powerful X-Men, at his weakest in under a minute. His telepathy rivals that of Jean Grey, one of the greatest psychics in Marvel history, and his physical strength allowed him to overpower the Hulk, She-Hulk, and Thor, whose power is capable of destroying the universe. In an alternate timeline, Apocalypse even killed a Celestial with naught but his bare hands. With the power of the Death Seed in tow, Nur is truly unstoppable, as its power has mutated even beings capable of combating the Phoenix Force, a cosmic entity and the primal force of life, and Doctor Doom has compared the Death Seed's might to the Phoenix itself. Having endured incredible amounts of pain and gone through several bodies, Apocalypse is a seasoned warrior unlike any before him, and even if some manages to put him down, as long as his blood, metal, and Death Seed remain, the Apocalypse will return time and again to torment the people of Earth.
After an advertisement for the episode's second sponsor Mint Mobile, these two Egyptian emperors have been fully analyzed, and it's time for a death battle!
Explosions rock the city of Kahndaq as a robotic army assails it, their leader Apocalypse watching over them from above. One of these robots is blown apart as Kahndaq's defender Black Adam smashes through it, and as he catches sight of their leader, the warrior of Shazam charges forth to attack the mutant conqueror who throws some energy balls at his attacker.
FIGHT!
Black Adam manages to dodge the energy balls as Apocalypse transforms his arm into a massive drill and fires it at him, but Adam manages to avoid it and force his fist through Apocalypse's chest before asking Apocalypse where his general is. But it turns out that this Apocalypse is a fake, and the real one is hovering in the skies.
Both Black Adam and Apocalypse fly towards each other with their punches generating enough force to decimate the environment around them, with Black Adam's punches not doing anything of significant effect against Apocalypse. Seeing this, Black Adam shouts "SHAZAM!", causing a lightning bolt to strike Apocalypse from above. Apocalypse is stunned long enough for Black Adam to electrocute him some more, but then Apocalypse headbutts him to the ground.
Apocalypse absorbs several of his robot soldiers, causing him to grow to a massive size and destroy the Tiger Construct. Undeterred, Black Adam flies up to Apocalypse and orders him to leave the country. Apocalypse tried to punch Black Adam, but the ruler of Kandahq dodges and attacks his upper arm to no effect. However, Apocalypse swats his foe to the ground with his other arm.
The wounded Black Adam refuses to give up his home and with a loud "SHAZAM!", summons a lightning bolt to strike the kaiju-sized Apocalypse, resulting in his body being broken down, leaving only the Death Seed. Unfortunately, Black Adam is too weak to destroy it, resulting in Apocalypse's body being reconstructed. En Sabah Nur approaches the ruler of Kandahq to stomp on his head. Black Adam tries to summon another lightning bolt, but he finds out that his power has been drained. All Black Adam can do is lie helplessly as Apocalypse stomps on his head repeatedly (whilst breaking the camera in the process).
With his opponent severely weakened, Apocalypse lifts Black Adam up by the head to show him the ruined kingdom before finishing him off by electrocuting him with all of the Living Lightning that he absorbed during the fight. He then throws Teth-Adam's corpse to the ground and laughs triumphantly, with the fight ending with a comic-style freeze frame with the words "THE END..." written on it.
KO!
With Kahndaq all but conquered and its blood-stained sands serving as all that remains of its ruler, the hosts - after applying some pretty rudimentary repairs to their camera - delve into how the First Mutant triumphed over the fallen champion of Shazam. For starters, both Black Adam and Apocalypse were absurdly powerful to the point where neither strength nor speed would win the day for either of them; given that they've fought beings such as Mamaragan, the Phoenix Force, Wonder Woman and Thor, it seemed to be pretty apt at displaying the level of their godhoods. As such, this battle would need to be settled by how well their powers countered their opponent's, and this is where Apocalypse capitalized on his advantages. For one, most of Black Adam's skillset that he obtained from his pantheon are powers Apocalypse naturally possessed as a mutant, and that's without adding in further refinements from his Celestial technology, Techno-Organic Virus and the Death Seed. The Wisdom of Zehuti would've afforded Black Adam insight into targeting the Death Seed to cripple Apocalypse enough, and considering that it served as the way Apocalypse could even match Black Adam's strength and speed, Teth-Adam's gameplan revolved around targeting it directly. Such a feat would prove to be very improbable, as the myriad of abilities En Sabah Nur had at his disposal would be too much for him to reliably counter.
Apocalypse's telepathy allowed him to read Black Adam's thoughts, and while the Courage of Mehen afforded Adam some protection against mental attacks, it did not make him wholly immune to it in general - only exacerbated further knowing that Apocalypse's own telepathy rivaled that of Jean Grey's. His precise molecular control would also defend against Black Adam's magic transmutation, whereas Black Adam had no particular resistances against the Techno-Organic Virus infecting him. The clincher in this was that Apocalypse could simply absorb the Living Lightning itself any time Black Adam used it to attack him. With a mix of his mutant powers and Celestial technology, Apocalypse was in a position to use all of Black Adam's energy attacks to fuel him further, especially since the Living Lightning itself - in spite of all its enchantments - is still just lightning at the end of the day and could be rerouted, absorbed or nullified by a variety of sources. This in turn would make Black Adam's control over it weaker, as wielders of it have been weakened in the past if the Living Lightning were to be shared with others; considering that this very maneuver was how Teth-Adam attained his godly powers, it could be deduced that Apocalypse could very well do the same in turn. With Apocalypse growing stronger and Black Adam getting weaker, it would only be a matter of time before Kahndaq's protector would meet his end at the hands of He Who Never Dies.
Wiz: The winner is Apocalypse.
This Death Battle includes the following tropes:
- Attack Its Weak Point: The main theme of the outcome; with Adam and Apocalypse possessing similar levels of power, the best chance for either one to claim victory was to destroy the other's source of power. Thanks to his telepathy, shapeshifting and regeneration, Apocalypse could keep his, the Death Seed, safe from Black Adam's attacks, whilst with his energy absorption, he could siphon away Black Adam's Living Lightning, in the process powering himself up even further.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Downplayed. The straight-up villainous Apocalypse defeats Black Adam, who's generally an Anti-Villain but is seen as a hero by his own people. Black Adam fails to protect Kahndaq from Apocalypse's army and the country is conquered by the evil mutant.
- Call-Back: Once again, a champion of Shazam ends up having their own lightning turned against them after their foe absorbed it. Unfortunately, unlike Billy, this is how Black Adam meets his end.
- Camera Abuse: Apocalypse breaks the camera after stomping on Black Adam's head, which the screen remains cracked throughout the rest of the animation. The screen is still cracked when we see Wiz and Boomstick at the end of the post-fight analysis, but there's tape from the attempt at repairing the $30 camera.
- Detonation Moon: During part of the battle, the high-speed clash between the two godlike warriors ends up blasting off part of the moon.
- Downer Ending: The battle ends in an unusually dour note by the show's standards. Black Adam fails to destroy the Death Seed, which allows Apocalypse to come back and stomp on his head many times in a very gory fashion. Then, Apocalypse shows the barely surviving Black Adam his failure to defend his country and finally fries his brain with his own Living Lightning, followed by Apocalypse throwing away his corpse and delivering an Evil Laugh.
- Foil: Black Adam originally received a portion of power from his nephew and later stole it after killing him when their ideologies conflicted, going on to become a beloved figure in Kahnduq. He's also more neutral in regard to the struggles between heroes and villains and changes allegiances if it benefits him or helps him protect Kahndaq. Apocalypse was abandoned by his birth family and raised by a group with a Might Makes Right mentality feared for his prowess and abilities. Upon gaining access to Celestial technology and the Death Seed, Apocalypse gained greater influence and became a recurring foe for the X-Men.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Black Adam’s living lightning is used against him twice over. Apocalypse uses his powers to absorb it, which not only increases his own power but makes Black Adam weaker, as its power decreases the more its shared between others, and finally uses it to finish the heavily wounded Black Adam off by frying his head.
- Mundane Utility: Boomstick remarks that Apocalypse's complete control of his molecular structure could have been used to give himself the looks of Jason Momoa (and thus solve the ugly face problem that plagued him), if not for the First Mutant's pride.
- Mythology Gag: Before finishing Black Adam off, Apocalypse tells him "Now, everything you've built... will fall," referencing his "Everything they've built will fall!" quote from X-Men: Apocalypse.
- Oh, Crap!: Black Adam has this reaction when he attempts to shout "SHAZAM!" before Apocalypse can stomp on his head, only to find out that his power has been drained.Black Adam: SHAZAAAA-oh, shit.
- Shout-Out:
- When recounting how King Shazam was defeated through the power of Kahndaqian prayer, Boomstick exclaims "Hallelujah, holy shit!", complete with accompanying footage from the film.
- Boomstick also says that, as an infant, Apocalypse was abandoned like a prom night dumpster baby.
