Boomstick: Courage, the cowardly dog straight outta Nowhere.
Wiz: Canis familiaris, Man's Best Friend: the dog. No animal companion has stood by humanity's side as long or as loyally.
Boomstick: Even, and maybe especially, these two yellow-bellied, lily-livered scaredy-cats! Or... dogs.
DEATH BATTLE! is ready to celebrate Halloween this year by taking a look at man's best friend; in this case, two who embody that ideal to such a tee that they're willing to brave any and all terrifying threats to protect those they love, even if it routinely means facing off against things that give them a panic attack on a near-daily basis. Indeed, while Scooby-Doo and Courage may be among the most famous cowards and scaredy-cats in fictional history, that hasn't stopped them from accomplishing the near-impossible time and time again. They may have crossed paths before and parted ways on the best of terms, but their reunion now is set to be a lot less amicable; which of these meddling mutts will survive after a death battle?
The first dog to be introduced is the Great Dane of Mystery Inc., Scoobert "Scooby" Doo, who, despite making his mark in all manner of popular media, comes from humble origins. Born to Momsy and Dadda Doo in the town of Doosville, USA, the young Scoobert was taken in by the affluent Rogers family, and came under the ownership of their ravenous son Norville Rogers, better known by his nickname, "Shaggy". Scooby and Shaggy would eventually meet Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, and Velma Dinkley, and the quintet, occasionally aided by Scooby's nephew Scrappy-Doo, would go on to form Mystery Incorporated, an amateur investigative team dedicated to uncovering seemingly paranormal mysteries across the country.
Scooby would be a valuable asset to the group, as Great Danes were bred by German nobility as hunting dogs, their sense of smell in particular letting them track their quarry with ease, and Scooby himself is no different in this regard. The breed was known as Kammerhunde, or "chamber dogs", as they would stay in their owners' bedrooms while they slept and defend them from would-be attackers. Ironically, this is where Scooby differs from the reputation of his breed, as he's quite cowardly, anxious and afraid of even his own shadow, being quite reluctant in his duties of catching culprits unless plied with his favorite brand of dog treats, Scooby Snacks. This cowardice belies his true capabilities, however, such as his mastery of the classic cartoon trick known as "the dupe", where he dresses in various disguises to deceive others. Obvious though this deception may seem at first glance, these dupes are so convincing that he and Shaggy had once fooled a jester into rethinking his life, who had gone as far as going home, getting into bed, and preparing to sleep before realizing he'd been had.
Though the culprits Mystery Inc. has foiled the plots of were usually people in costume, on one occasion the monster's mask didn't come off; the gang started to encounter truly paranormal phenomena, and Scooby's abilities increased in turn. While the Great Dane became able to gain a boost in strength from his beloved Scooby Snacks, Shaggy's inventor uncle, Albert Shaggleford, would modify the dog treats with nanite technology to give Scooby various supernatural abilities, such as invisibility, robotic armor, force fields, increased intelligence, and even shapeshifting into a panther. All of this complements his mastery of toon-force, being able to change his shape however he pleases, copying himself, and regenerating from all sorts of damage, even moving independently from his very soul. Appearing in multiple places at once, ignoring gravity, and using super-speed or the Time Scepter to rewind time are also among his abilities, as well as drawing things into existence and even manipulating the plot of his own show. Scooby also owns items such as the Super Spooker 3000, an energy gun that instills a sense of intense terror unto its targets, and the Chest of Demons, a container for thirteen terrible ghosts that the Great Dane has recaptured twelve of, which imprisons the body and soul of its targets within and subjects them to everlasting torment.
With the speed to dodge lasers and electromagnetic waves and the durability to withstand being at the epicenter of a time-destroying explosion, Scooby is also able to perform the dance move known as the Zobrinsky Triangle. This three-person maneuver, originally performed with the aid of Shaggy and Maddie Ziegler, is so dangerous that even botched performances can cause widespread destruction, and their perfect execution lit up the entire Milky Way galaxy and shattered the snow-globe containing it, a feat calculated as requiring enough energy from each performer to destroy the universe 11 quintillion times over. With such great feats under his belt, Scooby and his friends have saved Earth from alien invasions, wielded the power of a Yellow Lantern Ring, and have been inducted into the Mystery Analysts of Gotham by Batman himself. Together, the group has even defeated the eldritch being known as the Evil Entity, and survived its subsequent death which rewrote all of reality. Yet the duty of solving mysteries rests for no man (or dog), and Scooby-Doo continues to venture wherever they may take him and his friends, no matter how frightened he may be.
Wiz: Also, he's an alien.
Boomstick: Wait, what?!
From one cowardly canine to another, the hosts now look at the pink Beagle known as Courage. After being kidnapped and having his parents shot into outer space by a cruel veterinarian, the young puppy managed to escape onto the streets, though it seemed he would be forced to live a hard and lonely life as a stray. Fortunately, he would be saved from this fate by the kindly Muriel Bagge, who discovered the young Beagle and named him Courage for his bravery in the face of such harsh circumstances. However, Courage would eventually discover that his new home in Nowhere, USA was the epicenter for all sorts of supernatural and strange phenomena, ones that he would be forced to defend Muriel, her crotchety husband Eustace, and himself from.
Beagles are a hare-hunting breed known for their intense separation anxiety and loud howls, all of which aptly describe Courage as well. Given the unusual and spooky events that often occur in Nowhere, Courage understandably has plenty to howl over, but his devotion to his Scottish mistress grants him the willpower to face these threats head-on by his lonesome. A master engineer, Courage is able to build all sorts of contraptions and traps near-instantly, but he also has access to a plethora of items at will, among them chainsaws, flamethrowers, laser guns, spiked clubs, a mind-control helmet, vampire-hunting tools, and the God Bone. This massive bone is irresistible to any canine, forcing them to lick it until they die, though Courage himself has resisted its temptations through sheer willpower alone.
With such an arsenal at his disposal, Courage can find information to any problems that arise thanks to Computer, the Bagge family's sentient (and snarky) desktop computer able to answer almost any questions the Beagle may have. Courage is able to use toon-force to transform his body however he pleases, usually as a form of charades, but a legitimate ability nonetheless. Stretching, shrinking, invisibility, teleportation, and self-duplication are all with his capabilities, and the pink canine is also effectively immune to damage; while he still feels pain, his terror and devotion to Muriel lets him push through it. Even tearing himself in half, turning himself inside-out, and self-vaporization fails to keep Courage down, as he reforms as if nothing had happened. One would believe abilities such as creating objects from his imagination, breaking the fourth wall to address the audience, and being practically unkillable would serve as confidence boosters, yet the anxious pup still fears the terrors he faces on a regular basis.
Despite this, Courage has withstood being shot out of a cannon that punched him through the moon, then swatted back to Earth by an alien that had once spiked a meteor into the planet hard enough to advance time 1000 years into the future. The pink pup has physically stitched together holes in the ozone layer, held stars in his hand, and screamed loud enough to shatter the Sun, the last of these feats calculated as requiring force equivalent to 68 quettatons of TNT, and doubly impressive considering that it'd travelled through the vacuum of space. Courage also managed to pilot a UFO using a peloton fast enough to fly past Saturn, enter hyperspace, and cross the Milky Way galaxy. However, the foe that menaces the Beagle most regularly resides within his very home, for Muriel's mean husband Eustace regularly terrorizes and abuses Courage, even gathering several of his dog's past enemies to mercilessly beat him in a game of dodgeball. Courage's anxiety likely would have continued to hold him back, had he not met a kindred spirit in none other than Scooby-Doo, and together they and the rest of Mystery Inc. uncovered the source of Nowhere's strange troubles: the reality-warping Dark Matter Meteor. The very same meteor that had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, this artifact can rewrite the laws of physics, control minds, and increase Courage's size to tremendous levels. Using this meteor, the pink Beagle defeated the monstrous cicada queen leading the sudden cicada invasion of Nowhere and saved it and his family once and for all, though should his elderly owners be threatened once more, their protector Courage will still stand to face his fears and defend his home.
Boomstick: He may be small, and he may be scared, but standing up to our fears is what makes us brave in the first place. That's why his name is Courage!
After an advertisement for the episode's sponsor Shady Rays, these two heroic hounds are ready to face their friend, and it's time for a dog battle!
Inside an abandoned mansion in the middle of Nowhere, a certain Great Dane and Beagle have become separated from their charges. Their fear briefly overcomes them as the two dogs back into each other, both screaming at their unexpected company. Quickly realizing their error, Scooby and Courage laugh about their mistake, but they have only a brief moment of respite before the door next to them opens, a monster in a green mask menacing them. The two cowardly canines respond to this new foe by collectively screaming in terror and dashing away, the monster in hot pursuit.
As the two dogs run away, they attempt to convince each other to deal with the creature terrorizing them, which goes back and forth until a desperate Courage trips the canine companion of Mystery Inc., leaving him behind to save his own pink fur. The monster takes advantage of the tripped Scooby by pulling a massive hammer out of nowhere to squash him, though Scooby gets away just before becoming a Great Dane pancake. In another room of the mansion, Courage is still running away, only to see Scooby has beaten him to it. The pet of Shaggy Rogers glares down at his Beagle opponent, a hand stretched out, ready for a thumb war…
FIGHT!
…To which Courage accepts the proposal with a hand of his own, ready to begin the war, with the thumbs they offered soon sprout boxing glove-clad arms of their own to duke it out. The battle is neck and neck, until Scooby gets the idea to distract his opponent, letting him own thumb land the knockout blow. As Scooby celebrates his victory, the monster finally gets its hammer unstuck from the mansion floor to resume its hunt. Meanwhile, Courage pulls a laser gun and fires at Scooby, eventually shooting straight onto the Great Dane's nose, disintegrating his head to ash.
Courage is justifiably horrified that he just killed his friend, but he regains his confidence when Scooby pulls out a new head. Resuming fire, Courage gets his laser reflected by Scooby using a mirror, which Courage dodges by temporarily tearing himself in half. The monster chasing the dog duo isn't so lucky, with the reflected beam hitting them right on the kneecap, causing them to scream in pain and drop their weapon. Still undeterred, they chase the cowardly canines through several doors, ending with Courage opening another door to reveal twin Scoobys, dressed in gowns and wearing fruit-adorned hats.
Not fooled (but still horrified) by Scooby's dupe, Courage pulls out his trusty computer to look up how to defeat his adversary, with him just barely able to type in the question before the twin Danes pull him in to perform the infamous Zobrinsky Triangle, which is so powerful it ends up cracking Wiz and Boomstick's monitor and burning their eyes.
Unharmed other than being scorched, Courage laughs mirthlessly before pulling out his ace in the hole: the Dark Matter Meteor. Meanwhile, Scooby escapes the mansion and finds the Mystery Van parked outside, ready to get his fill of his favorite treats, only to get stopped by Courage, wielding the God Bone over his head using the Meteor's power. Courage managed to crush his opponent, but it's in vain, as Scooby is able to still chow down on Scooby Snacks.
The strength of the dog treats, along with the God Bone, allows Scooby to transform into a planet-sized monster with a fist ready to pound Courage into the ground. Courage responds by screaming so loud that the humongous dog shatters like glass and reverts into his normal form, crashing into Courage like a canine comet, resulting in a massive explosion. The two are on their last legs, but the monster that was chasing them isn't, as they return for one last scare.
Both canines screaming in terror, Scooby pulls out the Chest of Demons, pulling himself and his Beagle friend behind it. Several demonic claws emerge from the chest that attack the monster, first pulling off their mask to reveal their true identity: Eustace Bagge. Courage's grouchy owner scolds the two pooches before noticing the demonic hands and attempts to flee, only to trip on Courage's discarded Meteor and fall into the claws' clutches, ripping his head apart and trapping him inside the chest. Scooby and Courage, relieved that their feud is over, both laugh before fainting at the same time.
Iris Out on the Chest of Demons' skull-shaped lock, Eustace still complaining about his hatred of Courage.
KO!
Much to Wiz's confusion and Boomstick's relief the battle thankfully ends with neither cowardly cartoon canine dying, but not for lack of trying. Indeed, for the first true draw the show has had in years, both Scooby-Doo and Courage proved to be such true equals to each other, that it was downright impossible to declare a sole winner between the two. Due to their canonical crossover showing how they were both comparable to a tee, Scooby and Courage were nearly equal to each other as far as stats went. Courage had ridiculous cosmic levels of strength such as shattering the sun with his screams alone, but Scooby's Zobrinsky Triangle could match it due to being a universal-level feat as well. Even so, both fighters have regenerated from nothing repeatedly, which meant that brute force alone would not win the day.
Each combatant was smart in their own way, as Scooby was more of a trickster while Courage focused more on the fly planning. Both had a wide array of weapons that were for the most part equal and were capable of many esoteric abilities such as mind control and transmutation, so their arsenals cancelled out. Even their most powerful tools - the Chest of Demons and the Dark Matter Meteor - wouldn't be able to break this stalemate; Scooby could permanently incapacitate Courage by sealing him into the chest, but Courage could break out of it using the meteor, and any damage done to the chest could be repaired by Scooby going back in time to reattempt sealing, so on and so forth. Thus, with no way to determine a proper winner, Wiz and Boomstick have no choice but to declare this battle between the loyal companions of Mystery Inc. and the Bagge family a draw given their sheer absurdity, albeit with one notable (yet not unwelcome) casualty to this contest...
Wiz: S-stop. This battle is a draw!
"Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog" contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Downplayed; while both dogs are humongous cowards, it takes being in danger or their loved ones being threatened for them to put up their metaphorical dukes. Scooby and Courage immediately duke it out when Courage trips Scoob to save his own skin.
- Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed; this is not the first time Eustace has tried to kill Courage, but it is the first time he's tried to kill someone other than the pink beagle.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: When the abusive Eustace is pulled into the Chest of Demons, both Scooby and Courage start laughing. Boomstick himself also seems to be happy about this outcome, considering how he views him as a Hate Sink.
- All for Nothing: Only so far as the Excuse Plot. Scooby is the first dog to suggest the other stay back and deal with the monster, and he fights—even cheats at thumb boxing—to ensure Courage has to, but in the end it's Scooby's resource, the Chest of Demons, that brings down Eustace.
- Aside Comment: When Courage is described as being able to survive any physical injury through sheer terror, such as tearing himself in half or turning himself fully inside out, the note in the upper corner lets out a horrified "jesus christ".
- Asshole Victim: Considering all the crap he put Courage through in the latter's home series and his actions in the battle, suffice to say no tears are shed when Eustace is literally torn limb from limb and his head is sliced apart before being dragged inside the chest of demons.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Boomstick absolutely can't stand Eustace due to his frequent abuse of Courage. When the episode ends with him suffering A Fate Worse Than Death, there is celebration from Scooby, Courage, and Boomstick.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Courage's horrified look when he thinks he's killed Scooby with his ray gun looks like it might foreshadow a dour conclusion to the fight (which isn't unheard of for a Death Battle), but it's actually foreshadowing to how both dogs survive the battle, with neither of them actually trying to kill each other.
- When Scooby-Doo crashes into Courage after he gets forced out of his massive form, it seems that one of them isn't going to survive the collision, with the music's lyrics ending to really sell the idea. The two fighters end up okay with only minor injuries.
- Beware the Silly Ones: While Scooby and Courage both hail from comical series, their mastery of Toon Physics lets them pull off some truly impressive feats in the battle, with the destructive energy generated by Scooby's Zobrinsky Triangle damaging DEATH BATTLE!'s observation equipment, and the sheer volume of Courage's Super-Scream briefly drowning out the battle music and shattering the planet-sized Scooby. And both times, the combatants survive.
- Big "WHAT?!": At the very end of Scooby's analysis, Wiz casually mentions that Scooby is actually an alien, eliciting this response from Boomstick.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Boomstick gets out a moment of this while running through Courage's extensive Rogues Gallery of freaks and weirdos, with Aliens (The Alien Brain), Robots (Mecha-Courage) and Alien Robots (Robot Randy).
- Breaking Old Trends:
- This is the third episode in the show's entire history where the battle ends in a draw, the first being Chuck Norris VS Segata Sanshiro and the second Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie.
- Furthermore, it's the first episode to end in a draw that is not considered as a joke battle, as both the other two battles purposely discarded serious analysis, whereas this episode still covered each character with the usual process. This applies even when counting the three Season 1 episodes where both named combatants ended up dying (Goomba vs. Koopa, Justin Beiber vs. Rebecca Black and Eggman vs. Wily), as the former two were also treated as joke battles and Eggman vs. Wily still had a named winner.
- It's one of the few episodes in which both combatants canonically know one another, due to their crossover being canon.
- This is the first non-irregular episode to show Wiz and Boomstick directly observing the battle, as they're briefly seen reacting to Scooby's Zobrinsky Triangle as it damages their monitor and burns their eyes.
- Furthermore, it's only the second time after Sauron vs. The Lich King where Boomstick's announcement line is changed to name both fighters race.Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DOG BATTLEEEEEEE oh god, when I say it like that it sounds--
- This is the first episode where combatants capable of Breaking the Fourth Wall don't interact with Wiz and Boomsticknote .
- Breather Episode:
- A cartoonish affair that ends with the series third ever official draw, right after and before two of the show's most requested matchups.
- It also serves as one to the other Halloween Episodes, which were usually dark and dreary match ups that wasted no time in getting bloody. This match up, on the other hand, is a goofy, lighthearted affair that has barely any gore.
- Call-Back:
- Boomstick's hatred of Eustace for abusing Courage serves to be a continuation of his hatred of other dog killers in previous episodes. This includes Carnage and Lucy's bullies, the former killing his family dog and the latter forcing Lucy to watch as they killed her puppy, and DIO who burned Jonathan's dog Danny alive.
- Wiz states that not since "the great Norris-Sanshiro singularity event of 2015" have they seen a result such as this.
- The Cameo: After the Scooby-Dooby Doors sequence, Courage opens three doors that in turn reveal Bad Mr. Frosty, Godzilla, and Columbo.
- Character Catchphrase:
- When Courage sees Scooby growing into a Kaiju, Courage says "This could be bad, or my name isn't Chad James! [to audience as the music momentarily stops] And it's not."
- Scooby, of course, has "Scooby Dooby Doo!", belted out as he prepares to punch the Earth as a planet dwarfing god.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Chest of Demons is mentioned as being part of Scooby's arsenal, and even briefly shows up after Courage uses the God Bone to destroy the Mystery Machine. Scooby doesn't use it until the end of the episode when he and Courage open it to trap Eustace.
- Combat Breakdown: Right before the end of the fight, the two dogs are reduced to weakly slapping each other with a totally dazed look on both of their faces, which they only break out of when they see the monster coming at them for the final time.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Like in his home series, Eustace goes out on a grizzly note. He had his head sliced to ribbons and pulled apart, and then hauled into the Chest of Demons, which is essentially being Dragged Off to Hell. Naturally, he deserves every agonizing second.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Inverted for the fight proper. Scooby and Courage are so dead even that, ironically, neither of them winds up dead by the end of the fight. However, this is technically a curb-stomp by the hosts' final verdict, as Eustace, who never even landed a hit on one of the other fighters, is counted as one of the combatants for the purposes of determining a loser.
- Denser and Wackier: In contrast to the previous episode, this Death Battle depicts two dogs from cartoon series that are rife with plenty of slapstick, and are no strangers to the usage of Toon Physics.
- Dramatic Unmask: The monster chasing Scooby and Courage at the start of the episode has its "face" ripped off after the two dogs open the Chest of Demons, revealing it to be Eustace.
- Dying Declaration of Hate: Eustace's last words are about how he hates Courage. Though he technically already died by then.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Say what you will about Boomstick, but even he hates people who abuse dogs. He makes no secret of his disdain towards Eustace Bagge and even calls him the worst villain in cartoon history. Naturally, he's whooping for joy when Eustace gets trapped in the Chest of Demons.
- While Courage was indeed fighting Scoob and this is a battle to the death, he gets horrified when he thought he actually killed Scoob with his laser gun, and sighs in relief when he realizes it wasn't the case, showcasing how both are more on a friendly spar instead of an intentional death battle.
- Exact Words:
- Discussed at the end of the episode. Wiz is left wondering if the draw is acceptable since per the rules, a battle has to end with the loser dying. The rules however don't say that the loser has to be a featured combatant, and, as Boomstick gleefully points out, the episode did feature a death-Eustace Bagge.
- One that's never brought up is how Scooby resisted the effects of the God Bone. The bone only affects mortal dogs, but remember that Wiz said that he was technically an alien by way of being a descendant of the Annunaki.
- Since Computer cannot find information on Scooby-Doo by his name alone based on the events of the crossover movie, Courage describes him to Computer as "a Great Dane with a speech impediment" to find an answer.
- Faux Horrific: Courage opens three doors and screams at the sight of what was behind it. The first two of which contained the threatening-looking Bad Mr. Frosty and Godzilla. The third contained a far less scary looking Columbo.
- Fighting Your Friend: Scooby canonically met Courage in Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! meets Courage the Cowardly Dog, and bonded with the pink beagle. Each character's background slide even acknowledges this, listing the fact they are friends with the other. This episode puts both of them in a fight to the death, though it thankfully ends in a draw with both surviving and making peace, the whole fight being treated more akin to a spat between two buds.
- Foreshadowing:
- During Courage's analysis, it's noted that his abilities are the same as Scooby's. While this isn't the ultimate factor,note them being so equally matched in abilities ends up being part of the reason the battle ends in a draw.
- Courage's analysis also has Boomstick state his hatred for Eustace Bagge, ending with wanting to kill him. By the end of the battle, Eustace is the one who ends up being the fatality of the match instead of either featured combatant, which Boomstick is more than happy to accept as fulfilling the rule that someone must die by the end of the battle.Wiz: Did I ever tell you you're kind of... scary sometimes?
Boomstick: I don't like dog-killers. - The Monster of the Week-esque villain chasing Scooby and Courage is wearing the mask Eustace Bagge often uses to scare the daylights out of Courage and briefly uses an oversized mallet. Sure enough, the crook is revealed to be Eustace himself, who is attempting to kill both Courage and Scooby.
- Early into the fight, Courage is immediately horrified when it looks like he blew Scooby's head off with his raygun and then is immediately relieved when he emerges unscathed, foreshadowing that the two aren't actually trying to kill each other (more like a friendly spar), and the fight's eventual draw.
- When they first bump into each other before the actual "fight," neither one immediately attacks the other and it instead starts as they run away from the disguised Eustace, further implying that they don't actually have anything against each other and the fight is pretty much incidental.
- During the Scooby-Dooby Doors sequence, Scooby could be seen gathering fruits early on. Later, it's revealed these fruits are part of a disguise he and a copy would don to perform the Zobrinsky Triangle with.
- Frame Break: Scooby challenging Courage to thumb war, and Courage accepting, is accompanied with black bars emerging from the top and bottom of the screen. Parts of the characters overlap with the bars, which adds a sense of depth to the scene.
- Halloween Episode: Despite releasing after Halloween 2023, this episode still thematically qualifies, given that it pits the protagonists of two Defanged Horrors series against one another.
- Hate Sink: Boomstick loathes Eustace due to his habit of abusing animals. He spends most of the fight pretending to be a monster and tormenting Scooby and Courage for no real reason, and in the end, him getting torn apart by ghostly hands and pulled into the Chest of Demons is meant to be seen as a happy ending, with Courage and Scooby both laughing about it as the episode ends.
- Hurricane of Puns: Boomstick lets loose a series of dog puns at the episode's conclusion, prompting Wiz to flatly tell him to stop.
- Improbable Infant Survival: The description of this trope says it applies to dogs, too, and it just so happens that the Death Battle that involves two domestic dogs ends with neither of them being the one to die. For context, a tie with both fighters alive happened 2 times out of the 183 Death Battles that happened before this one. Justified in that it's damn near impossible for one to kill the other.
- Karmic Butt-Monkey: Much like in his home series, Eustace gets no respect and gets his recompense for all the shit he's done to Courage. Granted, it's much more visceral than what usually happens to him, but he still deserves being reduced to a head and having it sliced apart before being dragged into the Chest of Demons by the ghosts within.
- Kick the Dog: Literally; when he and Scooby are running from a monster (who turns out to be Eustace), Courage deliberately trips Scooby up so the monster will get him as Courage keeps running. This ends up being what starts the two of them fighting each other.
- Lighter and Softer:
- By default, given the two combatants are still alive and friendly towards each other when all is said and done after the Bloodless Carnage. Of course, it does still end with some pretty grisly violence inflicted on Eustace Bagge, though the level of violence isn't far off from the violence in Courage's show. And a good portion of it was inflicted on him to begin with.
- It's also indicated that neither combatant was ever seriously trying to kill the other given Courage's horrified reaction when it looks like he shot off Scooby's head and the fact that the fight ends when they both defeat the Monster of the Week. Further reinforced by how Courage was relieved that his initial attack didn't actually kill Scooby. At worst the fight was an argument between friends.
- It's especially this to every previous Halloween Episode of the show. While they tended to go for a dark atmosphere, straight scares, and/or incredibly bloody violence, this is a goofy, cartoonish bout between two canon friends that doesn't even end with either of them dying, with an Asshole Victim being the designated loser of the fight instead.
- Loophole Abuse:
- As per the rules of the show, a death battle must conclude with someone dying. Per Exact Words, the rules don't state it has to be one of the contestants; while Scooby and Courage are Nigh-Invulnerable and have access to wacky and devastating weaponry and abilities (the Zobrinsky Triangle, Chest of Demons, and nanomachine-infused Scooby Snacks for Scoob and the dark matter meteor for Courage), they don't have the means to permanently kill or defeat each other. Eustace, on the other hand...
- The Chest of Demons. In 13 Ghosts, the Chest was used to capture and seal the most dangerous ghosts to ever roam the earth. It has only ever been used to capture ghosts, but it's never explicitly stated to seal ONLY ghosts. Scooby and Courage use the Chest to seal the monster chasing them throughout the episode, who winds up being the loser and casualty of the matchup.
- An interesting, In-Universe example based on the canonical-crossover. During the fight, Courage pulls out Computer and asks his "How to defeat a Great Dane with a speech impediment". While it does not help win the fight, it is mentioned at the end that Computer could not find any knowledge of Scooby or the gang when Courage searched them by name. So in the battle, Courage got around it by explicitly describing Scooby by his breed and characteristics.
- Made of Iron: Both Courage and Scooby can survive truly staggering amounts of pain, to the point of regenerating from basically total annihilation. This is defining element in why the match ultimately ended in a draw since it was impossible to determine what could actually permanently kill either of them.
- Magical Computer: Courage's ally in dealing with threats is Computer, a desktop computer with all sorts of knowledge that Courage can look up almost instantly. It's also something of a Deadpan Snarker. In the fight itself, it gives Courage the idea to use bones against Scooby, leading to him using the God Bone. However, Wiz notes that the computer could not identify who exactly Scooby was during their canonical crossover, meaning that Courage had no way of figuring out a way to put Scooby down for good.
- Medium Blending: The combatants, their items, and Eustace's head are depicted with hand-drawn 2D animation, while the monster and various backgrounds use 3D models.
- Mêlée à Trois: While the majority of the fight is between Courage and Scooby, a Monster of the Week Scooby-esque villain is chasing them at the beginning and end of the episode. The villain is later revealed to be Eustace, who is the loser of the battle and is dragged into the chest of demons.
- Mistaken Identity: While discussing Scooby’s talents in disguise, Boomstick seemingly walks onscreen dressed as an old woman, at which Wiz tries to use “him” as an example of how the disguises work when they really shouldn’t. Then Boomstick actually walks onscreen, at which point Wiz realizes he accidentally insulted Boomstick’s mother.Wiz: Obviously, these disguises shouldn’t work at all, but Scooby is just so supernaturally talented, they just do!
(Mama Boomstick walks onscreen)
Wiz: See, this is a perfect example! No one in their right mind would think that that’s anyone but Boomstick in an awful wig and makeup!
(The real Boomstick walks onscreen)
Boomstick: That’s my mom!
(Wiz realizes his mistake)
Wiz: I’m so sorry ma’am. - Mundane Made Awesome: Scooby and Courage start off their battle with a thumb war. Eyedscreen is used to emphasize the intensity of Scooby challenging Courage, and the fight involves their thumbs growing arms and actually having a boxing match, complete with a crowd cheering and camera flashes.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Courage pulls out his laser gun and shoots Scooby with it after losing a thumb-wrestling match and vaporizes the latter's head. He's immediately shown to be horrified, only to smile when Scooby recovers by pulling his head out of his stump a la cartoon logic.
- Mythology Gag:
- As with certain prior combatants, Courage's analysis begins with Wiz and Boomstick reciting the opening of his show.
- Much like Scooby's home series, the battle has a brief segment where he, Courage, and the monster engage in Scooby-Dooby Doors.
- The recurring Scooby-Doo element of a monster actually being an ordinary person in costume returns, with said ordinary person in this case being Eustace Bagge.
- Courage loses a thumb wrestling match to Scooby, similar to how he did to The Mattress Demon in one episode.
- Right after the Scooby-Dooby Doors sequence, Courage opens up several doors that reveal something that scares him, much like what happened in the Season 2 episode of his series, "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City". For bonus points the second door Courage opens has Godzilla behind it, much like how the original episode had King Ghidorah behind the first door Courage opened.
- The episode concludes with Courage and Scooby trapping Eustace in the Chest of Demons, referencing how Eustace attempted to open a lockbox containing his deceased brother's stash of money. While he did open it, he was trapped inside (though he somehow got out at a later date).
- Or My Name Isn't...: Courage's response to the Kaiju sized Scooby is "This could be bad, or my name isn't Chad James! [to audience as the music momentarily stops] And it's not."
- Padded Sumo Gameplay: To a level even more absurd than previous Death Battles! Both of these cartoony canines have survived so many outlandish things and possess so many potent defenses that neither of them could kill or otherwise permanently dispose of the other, resulting in a draw.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: It's not exactly hard to figure out who the monster wearing Eustace's scary green mask is.
- Post-Victory Collapse: Once both Scooby and Courage have Eustace trapped in the Chest of Demons, the two laugh off their fight before both pass out from exhaustion.
- Pushed at the Monster: What actually gets Scooby and Courage to start fighting is when Courage, in an attempt to get away from the monster, trips up Scooby so that the monster will focus on him instead.
- Scooby-Dooby Doors: Naturally, since this battle features the Trope Namer, Scooby, Courage and the monster briefly chase each other in and out of several doors.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: The monster chasing Scooby and Courage turns out to be none other than Eustace Bagge, who gets unmasked as the Chest of Demons pulls him in. Considering that the monster's head is the very same mask that Eustace tends to torment Courage with, it may also be a rather obvious reveal.
- The Scrappy: In-universe, when the original Scrappy comes up in Scooby's analysis, Boomstick hisses in disapproval.
- Shout-Out:
- Boomstick compares Scooby gaining strength from Scooby Snacks to Popeye's spinach, and when Wiz mentions how Scooby's Scooby Snacks have been empowered with nanite technology, Boomstick exclaims "Yeah, nanomachines, dog!"
- Scooby and his copy disguise themselves wearing pink and orange dresses that look visually similar to the ones worn by Peach and Daisy.
- At the climax of the fight, Scooby eats a stash of Scooby Snacks and the God Bone to grow planet-sized in a sequence framed akin to the end of the Gongen Wyzen fight in Asura's Wrath, complete with Courage's counterattack shattering the giant Scooby.
- Spiritual Antithesis: To the previous season's Halloween Episode; whilst that episode had the unique element of the two combatants hunting down and killing innocent interlopers as they fought, this episode instead sees the combatants attempting to escape a monstrous third-party whilst sabotaging the other in the process, essentially flipping the script.
- Stock Scream: The monster lets out a Wilhelm scream when a deflected laser shot hits it in the leg.
- Super-Scream: Courage's shrill screaming comes in extra handy this episode: When Scooby chows down on nanomachine-infused Scooby Snacks and grows into Wyzen-levels, Courage responds by screaming his lungs out, shattering Scooby's super form and knocking him back down to regular size. Keep in mind, it's noted that in his analysis, Courage's scream traveled the vacuum of space (explicitly stated by Wiz to be near-impossible) and destroyed the sun. It even runs into fourth wall-fracturing Acoustic License territory, as it's so loud it temporarily drowns out the battle music.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: With all the rules about Death Battle, and given that no combatant can leave without one another dying, this episode seems to be a Bittersweet Ending at best and a complete Downer Ending at worst. Instead, it ends on a happy ending where both Scooby-Doo and Courage live, and the only one who suffers a terrible fate is Eustace, who pretty much deserves everything for what he did to Courage.
- Take That!: In Scooby's analysis, Scrappy-Doo gets a brief mention, but he's not referred to by name. Instead, Boomstick hisses like a cat, showing that while he is a blatant dog lover, even he can't stand Scrappy.
- That Came Out Wrong: Before the match, Boomstick replaces his "It's time for a Death Battle!" catchphrase with "It's time for a Dog Battle!". However, he stops himself mid-sentence when he realizes just how awful that sounded out of context.
- Toon Physics: While past matchups tend to factor in limits of this trope, especially when both combatants invoke it, this is one of the rarest cases in DEATH BATTLE! where both cartoon canines have no way of legitimately dying. This is where the Loophole Abuse comes in, as someone needed to die, even if they were not a combatant at all.
- Win-Win Ending: Both canines survive this matchup with no major injuries (the worst either party walks away with is Amusing Injuries) since they can heal rather instantly and are both evenly matched. On top of that, Eustace, revealed to be the monster chasing them, gets imprisoned in Scoob's Chest of Demons. Good riddance...
