Boomstick: Raven, the Azaranthian demon witch of the Teen Titans.
Wiz: If absolute power corrupts absolutely, in our quest to contain the beast within, we may very well be consumed by—
Boomstick: Bird battle time! Ba-caw!
The sixth episode of DEATH BATTLE!'s tenth season sees two sorceresses that struggle to contain the destructive might they wield pitted against each other. The bright flames of the Phoenix Force shall be contested against the dark shadows of the soul, as for Jean Grey and Raven, only one magician can prove more mighty in a death battle.
[This recap is a work in progress]
With both avian-aligned adversaries fully analyzed, there is nothing further but for the stage to be set, and it's time for a bird battle!
FIGHT!
KO!
With Phoenix's destruction, the hosts discuss how Raven managed to soar to victory in this nail-biting fight. Raven's reputation hardly matches that of Phoenix due to the fact that she almost always holds back, but when she doesn't, it's easy to see how both her and Phoenix are evenly matched in power. Even though the Phoenix Force was strong enough to hold back the destruction of all of creation, Raven has had similar experiences in battling powerful beings such as Trigon and the Spectre, both of whom could compete with speeds which are higher than infinity.
Although Jean Grey's power was increased in the White Hot Room, she wasn't invulnerable as the Phoenix has been overpowered in the White Hot Room before. This ultimately means that the fight came down to their abilities. Both Raven and Phoenix were extremely powerful telepaths and were able to control matter and time as well as absorb each other's energy. However, Raven had the ability to survive and fight as just her soul, meaning that Jean's arsenal of attacks were unable to end the fight.
While it is possible that the Phoenix Force could have tried to possess Raven's soul, Raven has tethered her essence to other similarly-powered beings and absorbed them. On top of that, despite the Phoenix Fire's ability to burn souls, Raven's soul has the ability to regenerate from complete disintegration, whereas Jean Grey had little in the way of defense against Raven's ability to manipulate souls and the Phoenix was unable to regenerate Jean's spirit. When Rachel Grey's soul was shattered, the Phoenix was unable to repair it on its own. Despite the Phoenix Force being rebuilt in the White Hot Room, it can take as long as centuries for it to happen.
Wiz: The winner is Raven!
"Phoenix VS Raven" contains examples of:
- Always Someone Better: Raven to Jean Gray. While both are empaths capable of incredible feats, Raven's talents are more magical in nature and has fought opponents that rival the Phoenix if not stronger than the cosmic firebird (for reference, during Raven's analysis it's mentioned Trigon once fought Superman pre-52). This even extends to matters regarding the soul: While Jean has managed to come back from death (almost absurdly so) and has had her soul destroyed and put back together, she usually needs outside help over spiritual damage (which the Phoenix explicitly stated it can't fix easily) and the Phoenix itself can takes months to years to come back from that level of destruction. Raven can do this all on her own, even when her soul has been reduced to nothing, and do so in a timely manner.
- Apologetic Attacker: Before she attacks Raven, Jean apologizes and says she has no real issue with her, she just thinks that her demon self is too strong to be left alive.
- Atrocious Alias: Boomstick doesn't appreciate Jean's original hero name, Marvel Girl.
- Bookends: Near the beginning of the fight, Jean breaks out of Raven's illusion, with the flame of her soul expanding out. At the end, after Raven's disintegrated her body and the Phoenix itself, the flame is briefly seen again before Raven blows it out.
- Continuity Nod: When describing Raven's Soul-Self, Wiz briefly mentions that it can smash ponies like a battering ram.
- Dark Is Not Evil: A common connection between Raven and Jean. Both are hosts to evil entities (Trigon for Raven, the Phoenix Force for Jean), but are some of the most heroic characters in comics.
- Death Is Cheap: Boomstick notes that Jean has died no less than 15 times over the course of her history in the comics and expresses no surprise at the idea she'll die again in them very soon (which a pop-up notes actually happened after the line was recorded, making it 16 deaths on record). By the end of the fight, Jean's gone through her 17th and final death alongside the Phoenix thanks to Raven.
- Demonic Possession: After noting that the Phoenix seems to have a preference for possessing redheads, the hosts check in with Jocelyn, whom they tasked with studying it... and discover that it's now in control of her.Jocelyn: I! Demand! A raise!
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Alongside her feats against some of the most powerful entities in her own universe such as Trigon and the Spectre, here Raven manages to kill not only Jean, but also the Phoenix, Marvel's primordial cosmic entity of creation and destruction.
- Doppelgänger Attack: Dark Phoenix briefly creates multiple copies of herself and unleashes a host of flames on Dark Raven, who barely blocks it and needs to telekinetically control a nearby asteroid to smash the copies to relieve the pressure.
- Evil Versus Evil: Midway through the battle, Trigon takes over Raven, becoming Dark Raven in the process. After Dark Raven cuts Jean in half, the Phoenix Force takes over. Raven is the first to regain control of her body, followed by Jean.
- Foul Waterfowl: Boomstick brings back Mecha-Goose Howard, the two-headed robot goose, while asking what this bird represents. Wiz then accidentally spills some Applied Phlebotinum on it, causing it to gain Glowing Eyes of Doom and yell threats before running off. Boomstick then realizes that geese symbolize assholes.
- Half the Woman She Used to Be: Dark Raven stops time and slices Jean in two midway through the fight, but this only causes the Phoenix Force to reattach her halves and turn her into the Dark Phoenix.
- Hypocrite: Jean Grey has no ground to stand on when claiming that the demon inside Raven (Trigon) is to powerful to be left alive.
- Kill It with Fire: Dark Raven's body is reduced to a blackened husk by the Dark Phoenix's flames. However, as Raven has survived the complete destruction of her body before, her soul simply emerges from the husk and keeps fighting.
- Mythology Gag: Upon trapping Jean in the Dark Room, Raven asks her the exact same question she asked Dr. Light.Raven: What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?
- No Body Left Behind: Raven disintegrates both Jean and the Phoenix, then snuffs out their souls.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Boomstick mentions that Jean Grey has died and resurrected 15 times in the last 5 decades of comic book storylines, and is willing to bet that she will die again sometime in 2024. The video had to pause to point out that on July 26th, a couple days before this episode aired, Jean Grey has indeed died again.Comics are f*kin' crazy.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Dark Phoenix shouts one as she sets Dark Raven aflame until she's nothing but a burnt husk. Luckily for Raven, her soul could keep up the fight.Dark Phoenix: BURN!
- Shipper on Deck: During Raven's analysis, Boomstick brings up the Ship Tease between Raven and Beast Boy and expresses his annoyance that DC hasn't made it official.
- Shout-Out: Fittingly, multiple references are made to Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven".
- Took a Level in Badass: Compared to her last appearance five seasons ago, Raven is significantly more powerful here thanks to gaining a wider array of abilities and arsenal after a further exploration into her powers.
- Victory by Endurance: The major factor in Raven's victory; while she and Jean have similar showings of power and abilities, even up to the ability to rend minds and absorb energy and souls, only Raven has shown the ability to outright regenerate her soul from total destruction and in a timely manner, while Jean was unable to do the same and the Phoenix Force would take much longer to regenerate from such damage.
- Willfully Weak: The host note in the end that although it's incredibly surprising to see Raven stack up evenly with Phoenix, despite the latter holding a much more powerful reputation, it's only because Raven holds back her punches and for good reason, as the constant use of them will only make Trigon's influence stronger. With no restraints, Raven could match her father Trigon, and in the end, match and surpass Phoenix as well.
- Wrecked Weapon: Once Jean goes Dark Phoenix, she grabs and shatters Dark Raven's sword with her gloved hand.
