This battle starts off as a bout between Russian Tsar Ivan The Terrible (played by Peter Shukoff) and Macedonian warlord Alexander the Great (played by Zach Sherwin). After killing his opponent, Ivan works his way against other world leaders Frederick the Great (played by Lloyd Ahlquist), Pompey the Great (played by Mike Betette), and Catherine the Great (played by Meghan Tonjes).
Tropes associated with this Epic Rap Battle
- The Ace: Alexander never suffered a defeat in battle, though Ivan aims to hand him his first. And with a poisoned chalice, he does.
- Agent Peacock: Frederick is a bit dramatic in energy, classy and well-dressed, and "genteel" and "not exactly straight" in his own words. Also quick and forceful in delivery and not well-regarded by history for nothing.
- The Alcoholic: Ivan claims Alexander hits the bottle too much. It's how Ivan kills him, courtesy of poison in a goblet.
- Anti-Climax: Ivan is about to garrote Frederick to death and is surprised and disappointed to find he's already dead.
- Authority Equals Asskicking:
- Ivan the Terrible is the Tsar of Russia.
- Alexander the Great ruled numerous kingdoms.
- Frederick the Great was the King of Prussia.
- Catherine the Great was the Empress of Russia.
- Ax-Crazy: Ivan the Terrible is very quick to resort to murder, even killing his own son and boasting about what he did to Novgorod
. Catherine the Great even questions how he could become head of state given his own mental state. And Frederick the Great mentions Ivan blinding two architects that designed St. Basil's Cathedral: according to a legend, Ivan ordered their eyes torn out so they wouldn't create an even greater building for someone else. - Badass in a Nice Suit: Frederick's Prussian military uniform shows how tough of a conqueror he really is.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: Pompey is set up as Ivan's next opponent after Frederick, but it only lasts for about five seconds before Catherine makes her own entry.
- Beard of Evil: Ivan's facial hair underscores how evil he is.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Catherine would like you to know that the "died by being crushed by a horse during sex" story is a pile of shit, thank you very much.
- Big Beautiful Woman: As portrayed by the plump and pretty Meghan Tonjes, Catherine the Great was an archetypal example later in life, and she Really Gets Around.
- Brick Joke: Catherine's final line against Ivan declares a checkmate, a callback to Alexander saying Ivan died during a chess match.
- Butt-Monkey: Pompey doesn't even get a chance to finish his first line. He only serves two purposes for the battle: making a Historical In-Joke at his own expense, and giving Catherine an excuse to rhyme "Romans" with "opponents".
- The Caligula: Catherine wonders how Ivan became Tsar in the first place, considering his mental instability.
- The Cameo: Rasputin, Stalin, Lenin, Gorbachev, Putin, and Baryshnikov appear in Ivan the Terrible's background when he brags about being the first Russian Tsar.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Ivan proudly accepts and embraces being called "terrible" after poisoning and killing Alexander the Great.
- Classy Cane: To highlight his more cultured side, Frederick carries a cane.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Alexander shamelessly boasts about torturing his enemies during his reign.
- Combat Pragmatist: No matching wits for Ivan; he just tries to kill the opponent at the first opportunity.
- The Conqueror: During his verse, Alexander shows off all the countries he has taken over, and at a younger age than his father did.
- Crowd Chant: Frederick's flute solo introduction is accompanied by chants of his nickname "Old Fritz".
- Cultured Badass: Not only is Frederick a military genius, but also an accomplished flutist.
- Cutting the Knot:
- Alexander boasts about being the Trope Namer as he threatens to do the same to Ivan. Meanwhile, Ivan outright decides to poison Alexander rather than continue rapping against him.
- Defied: Ivan attempts to garotte Frederick after he nods off in his chair... only to realize that he already died.
- Pompey only gets one line before Catherine slices his head off with her own garotte wire.
- Dark Is Evil: The sky fills with black clouds during Ivan the Terrible's verses, plus he has black hair and his clothes are a mix of dark brown and blood red.
- Dirty Old Woman: The handles of Catherine's garrote are shaped like penises, in reference of her extensive collection of phallic furniture.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Ivan grabs Frederick a seat after his verse, Frederick sits down and immediately dies in the chair. Ivan notes how sudden and unexpected this is.note
- Elegant Classical Musician: Frederick's genteel demeanor and talent as a flutist qualifies him for this.
- The Empress: Catherine's not content to settle for the title of "Queen", and she shifted the balance of power in Europe to back it up.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Ivan appears to be disgusted and shocked when Catherine demonstrates her ruthlessness by killing Pompey with the garrote wire.
- Catherine appears disgusted by Ivan The Terrible's mental state and how he killed his son.
- Everyone Has Standards: Promiscuous as she is, Catherine's still not into animalsnote . Or Ivan.
- Fanservice Extra: Catherine's backup dancers are a Rare Male Example.
- Foreshadowing: Alexander mentions Ivan died during a chess game, something that comes back around when Catherine the Great ends the battle with a "Checkmate".
- Formula-Breaking Episode: ”Ivan the Terrible vs. Alexander the Great" has four rappers (Ivan the Terrible, Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great, and Catherine the Great), with Catherine being the only one to get more than one verse, not counting the dialogues in which Ivan attempts to kill the others.
- Fur and Loathing: Ivan wears a lot of fur, and tries to "win" by killing his opponents.
- Glory Days: Catherine claims to have brought the Russian Empire into "the golden age".
- A God Am I:
- Ivan claims to be "heaven-sent, divine and holy" and later refers to himself as "the God".
- Alexander the Great ends his verse by proclaiming “I'm an immortal, you're not!"
- Gonk: Frederick claims Ivan has a troll's face.
- Gratuitous Greek: Alexander uses the word "kudos" and then explains its meaning; "Greek for the glory I got!"
- Gratuitous Russian: Ivan uses the frequently misused toast "na zdorovye", when offering Alexander a drink. The correct way would be "za zdorovye", and it's one of the many, many toasts used by Russians. "Na zdorovye" is an equivalent to "you're welcome" in certain situations.
- Happy Dance: Ivan does a simple jig on stage after killing both Alexander the Great and Frederick the Great.
- The High Queen: Though she is a powerful and commanding royal woman, Catherine rejects the title of "queen" because it is not great enough for her.
- Historical Hero Upgrade:
- Frederick the Great is presented as a military stereotype. The real Frederick was a military expansionist much the same way as Ivan IV, and during his campaigns villages and fields were burnt. Frederick was also the mastermind of the First Partition of Poland and expressed great bigotry to Poles (and to a slightly limited extent, Jews), and during his campaign against Poland, he ordered the ports of the Commonwealth to be bombarded. More importantly the Russophobia of some of his verses is highly hypocritical for some viewers, because the show neglects the fact that Russia saved his ass from almost certain (and considering his belligerence, deserved) defeat in the 2nd Miracle of Brandenburg.
- Granted, she's still extremely ruthless and much darker than Alexander or Frederick, but Catherine the Great is presented as hating Ivan IV, when in reality she was a German Princess who did her best to assimilate into Russia, and would certainly not have slagged Ivan so casually. Likewise, Catherine oppressed the serfs of the Russian Empire and Poland, sending free peasants into serfdom and refeudalizing Ukraine and like Frederick, masterminded the destruction of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthnote .
- Historical In-Joke: The deaths of the various "Greats" refer back to their real life deaths. Alexander was a notorious alcoholic and complained of severe stomach pain after downing a large bowl of unwatered wine shortly before his death. Frederick died of old age seated comfortably in a chair. Pompey was decapitated (though not with a garotte). But Catherine reminds people that her death by horse is nothing but a myth.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Ivan's made into a stereotypical Russian tyrant, shamelessly trying to murder all of his opponents at the first opportunity, while the real Ivan IV's most infamous, Accidental Murder of his son, by comparison, was one that he immediately regretted and repented for throughout the rest of his life. The likes of Frederick the Great and Catherine the Great, and even Alexander were just as oppressive and brutal as him, but somehow come off better. Likewise, while Catherine the Great slams him for making Russia backward, Ivan IV actually commissioned the first printing presses in Russia and also built St. Basil's Cathedral (and did not Shoot the Buildernote ). Albeit, he's probably the best historically-remembered of the bunch for his ruthlessness toward his own people. Hence "the terrible".
- In the behind-the-scenes, Nice Peter points out that some of the badness of his nickname is due to language drift that makes him seem worse than was intended when he got it. His Russian nickname, Grozny, can be translated as the old meaning of 'terrible' and also evokes the words 'fearsome' and 'formidable'.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Would you accept a drink from someone so Obviously Evil as Ivan?
- Hypocritical Humor: Catherine disses Prussians, and yet she is one just like Frederick. She also disses Ivan for being Ax-Crazy immediately before cheerfully gloating that she plunged Europe into war to unbalance her rivals, as if that was somehow better.
- Immigrant Patriotism: Catherine of a sort. She's not Russian by birth, but she clearly considers herself one. You'd think she was born into House Romanov instead of marrying into it.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Ivan mocks Alexander's alcoholism. Later on, the Macedonian makes a vodka joke and asks the Tsar to fetch him a drink.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Ivan pulls one on Alexander at the end of his first verse n order to poison him. Does this again for Frederick and Catherine, although Catherine doesn't buy it.
- Karmic Death: Alexander boasts in his verse about the brutal and painful torture he inflicted on his enemies, only for Ivan's poison to put him through pain he refers to as "unbearable".
- Keet: Frederick's rhymes are very fast, his theme is extremely high-energy, and he's almost never standing still. It completely exhausts him.
- Kubrick Stare: Almost exclusively Ivan's look in the battle. He doesn't even blink.
- Lady of War: A female warmonger only content to prove how powerful she is.
- Large and in Charge: Catherine's a Big Beautiful Woman who is also The Empress.
- Manipulative Bastard: Ivan pulls off I Surrender, Suckers to manipulate and get the upper hand on Alexander and Frederick.
- Manly Tears: Alexander claims to "weep" because no one is a challenge for him. It's possibly a reference to the famous quote about Alexander ("When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.").
- Motor Mouth:
- Alexander launches into this mode when boasting about Cold-Blooded Torture.
- Frederick raps very fast through his twelve bars.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Ivan the Terrible's approach to rap battles is to kill his opponent instead of outrapping them.
- Musical Assassin: Catherine, unusually, doesn't rap at all-she instead sings tunefully.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Ivan's not called "the Terrible" for nothing.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Alexander the Great seems to think so. “It seems no one can defeat me; I weep! It's all so easy!"
- No-Sell:
- Alexander looks positively bored during Ivan's verse, completely brushing him off.
- Catherine doesn't fall for Ivan's Running Gag temptations.
- Obviously Evil: Ivan the Terrible is one of the most sinister rappers in the series with his backlit face, tone of voice and that wicked beard.
- Oh, Crap!: Catherine is the Worthy Opponent that the others were not, and Ivan understands that he's in trouble now...
- Offing the Offspring: Catherine insults Ivan for killing his own son.
- Off with His Head!: When Catherine the Great enters the battle, she cuts off Pompey's head with garrote wire.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Catherine boasts a voluminous one, decked out in numerous diamonds. In the behind-the-scenes, Meghan points out the dress was actually very hard to move in, hence why Catherine isn't a very animated battle rapper compared to the others in the video.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Ivan threatens to sack Alexander like Novgorod
- Razor Floss:
- Ivan's garrote wire that he uses to try and kill Frederick The Great, before he dies of old age anyway.
- Catherine's garrote wire that has penis-shaped wooden handles, which unlike Ivan with Frederick she uses to kill Pompey. Somehow ripping his head off at the jawline.
- Really Gets Around: Catherine is proud of her reputation. In her words, she's "bringing sexy back to house Romanov".
- Sacrificial Lamb: Pompey's killed off to establish how ruthless Catherine is.
- Sacrificial Lion: Alexander the Great, one of the most brutal and formidable warlords in human history, is killed off to show how cunning and ruthless Ivan is.
- Silk Hiding Steel:
- Frederick; as he puts it: "Hard as steel on the field, genteel in the palace".
- Catherine's gentle tone is betrayed by her powerhouse figure and ruthlessness.
- Sleeps with Everyone but You: Catherine is open about her active sex life, but she makes it clear she would never bang Ivan."But you're never gonna get it — nyet!
You couldn't spin in my chamber if this were Russian Roulette!" - Smug Snake: Alexander boasts about how powerful he is, but Ivan easily dispatches him.
- The Strategist:
- Alexander boasts of being undefeated in battle; "winning every single war that I fought".
- Frederick brags about his "oblique attack tactics"
- Takes One to Kill One: Catherine claims it takes a Russian to kill a Russian, which is why she enters the battle to school Ivan. Except technically, she's not Russian (by birth).
- Tempting Fate:
- Ivan claims twice in the battle that no "Great" can defeat him. Enter Frederick the Great and Pompey the Great (followed promptly by Catherine the Great).
- Alexander told Ivan to fetch him a drink, which ended up killing him.
- Frederick tells Ivan to fetch him a chair which Ivan does so he can strangle him in it. Downplayed since Frederick dies of old age before Ivan can kill him.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Catherine's final line: "Empress to Tsar 8, bitch! Checkmate!"
- Token Good Teammate: Frederick is probably the only one in the battle outside of the screentime-lacking Pompey that isn't portrayed as a ruthless bastard, with Ivan and Catherine gleefully murdering their competitors while Alexander boasting about torturing his enemy. Frederick even has a more upbeat theme during his verse.
- Victory Is Boring: Alexander claims that no one can defeat him and laments that it's all so easy after Ivan "admits defeat."
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Pompey gets half a line before Catherine offs him.
- Worthy Opponent: Lampshaded and defied when Catherine claims that Alexander ("Macedonians"), Frederick ("Prussians"), and Pompey ("and Romans") are not proper worthy opponents for a fellow Russian.
