Death Battle matchup suggestions for battle royales and team battles:
A few things to keep in mind:
- Remember that they should have at least some common factor. Even the Starscream vs. Rainbow Dash had one; both being popular high flyers in their toylines in Hasbro. Also, no fanon interpretations of characters.
- No creepypasta. They have too many unknowns to be qualified combatants, and Death Battle is known for showing their research.
- Characters who run on the Rule of Funny are generally frowned upon. With no established limits, any scientific limits would be random. However, this doesn't really apply if that is the entire point; if you have a "just for fun" type match up, put it in the Jokes Battles folder.
- No Memetic Badasses after Chuck Norris and Segata Sanshiro (that match-up's enough, thanks!). The fun of the meme is kind of ruined when the show reveals and proves that they're not nearly as badass as all the jokes and facts say. And besides, the aforementioned match ended in an apocalyptic draw. note
- Video Game Villain Battle Royale: Akuma vs. Shao Kahn vs. Fulgore vs. Ganon. It would also be a battle royale between previous winners.
- The Akatsuki vs. Organization XIII (Small, but powerful organizations orchestrating most of the events behind their series)
- The Akibarangers vs. Survival Game Club (Battle of Delusions!)
- Aku vs. Discord vs. HIM vs. Mephisto (lords of chaos and evil)
- Assassin's Creed Battle Royale? Any combination of the main series protagonists (Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Ratonhnhaké:ton (a.k.a. Connor Kenway), Edward Kenway, Arno Victor Dorian, Jacob/Evie Frye, Desmond Miles) would work, and even some side/former Assassins (Haytham Kenway, Aveline de Grandpré, Adéwalé, Shay Patrick Cormac) for good measure.
- Apocalyptic alien invaders:
- The Bacterion Empire vs. The Bydo (Evil, infectious alien invaders from popular retro Horizontal Scrolling Shooter series)
- Banjo and Kazooie vs...
- Cream & Cheese (Badass Adorable duos trying to save kidnapped family members.)
- Spanx and Redmond (3D platformer duos where both members are constantly strapped together and one member uses the other as a weapon.)
- Yooka and Laylee Platform stars that have a flying sidekick. It's also a case of the original vs the Spiritual Successor.
- Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong (Rareware platform duos)
- Ratchet & Clank (Furry animal platforming heroes who carry their sidekicks on their backs)
- Bending Battle Royale
- Katara vs. Toph Beifong vs. Zuko
- The Black Order vs. Strega (Apocalypse Cults who feel they owe their very existence to a single, unified, destructive cause, be it Thanos or the Dark Hour)
- Brick and Salvador vs. Urdnot Wrex and Grunt (Blood Knight bruisers from sci-fi video games)
- Luke Cage and Iron Fist vs. Ryu and Ken (Heterosexual Life-Partners and expert fist fighters)
- Caesar's Legion vs. War Boys (Post-Apocalyptic armies that take after ancient European cultures lead by Secretly Dying cults of personalities)
- Carrangers vs. Go-ongers (Self-parodying Super Sentai teams with an automobile motif)
- Charlie's Angels vs. Totally Spies! (Catsuit-wearing agents)
- Children of the Corn vs Children of the Damned (Grimdark-borne children)
- The Covenant vs. The Citadel Counsel (Large multi-alien armies who make up the bulk of their respective series' story lines, and both have access to Precursor technology left behind by the Forerunners and Protheans respectively.)
- Cure White and Cure Black vs. Nanoha and Fate (ridiculously overpowered magical girl teams)
- Daki and Gyutaro vs. Carl and Ada Clover (Brother–Sister Team consisting of a Knight Templar Big Brother and the sister they puppet to fight)
- The Dazzlings vs. Tenacious D (Bands who use The Power of Rock to tap into hidden, divine powers)
- Disney Princess Battle Royal: Not a fight with every Disney Princess, but the ones who can fight. Ariel vs. Mulan vs. Jasmine vs. Rapunzel vs. Merida or any combination of the sort.
- Dracula Battle Royale: every applicable version of Count Dracula to see who's the ultimate Prince of Darkness, including Castlevania, Dracula Untold, Hellsing, and Van Helsing
- The Draka VS the Race (alternate WWII warriors)
- Ganondorf with some boss monsters and minions vs. Master Xehanort and his True Organization and Heartless and Nobodies. Dark Is Evil Overlords with a tendency to take over the plot.
- The Brothers Elric vs The Brothers Okumura (brother duos from heavily religious themed manga)
- The Elite Penguin Force vs. The Penguins of Madagascar (Penguin-based secret agencies with access to tactical weaponry and machines; owned by Disney and DreamWorks respectively)
- The Enclave vs. Millennium Also counts as Magic Versus Science in a way. (The Remnants)
- Ephraim vs. Hector vs. Roy (Fire Emblem GBA Lords Battle Royale! Each one representing a game, and each one representing a weapon in the Weapon Triangle. For extra fun, each armed with a "Reaver" weapon!)
- Final boss Eldritch Abominations:
- Expendable galactic soldiers:
- Fallout Protagonist Battle Royale.
- Fate/stay night Battle Royale: a seven-way battle between the Servants of the Fifth Holy Grail War—Arturia Pendragon (Saber), Cú Chulainn (Lancer), future!Shirou Emiya (Archer), Hercules (Berserker), Sasaki Kojirō (Assassin), Medea (Caster), and Medusa (Rider)—to see who would truly win in a fair fight, without input from their Masters or their ulterior motives
- Bonus points if there’s a second battle royale for Fate/Zero and its Servants—Alexander the Great (Rider), Arturia Pendragon (Saber), Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Lancer), Gilgamesh (Archer), Gilles de Rais (Caster), Hassasn-i Sabbāh (Assassin), and Lancelot (Berserker)—and then the winner of each battle royale is pitted against the other to see who the ultimate Servant is.
- Final Fantasy Villain Battle Royale
- Fire Emblem Lords Battle Royale
- The Four Knights vs. Four Swords Link (Quartets of knights who specialize in swordfighting and have access to elemental attacks and magic items)
- The Gaangnote vs. the Warriors of Valenote (four-man teams of world-saving elemental manipulators)
- The original Ghostbusters vs. The Real Ghostbusters vs. Extreme Ghostbusters (Animated "Ghostbusters")
- Finn and Jake vs. Prohyas and Vambre (Goofy adventuring duos from fantasy cartoons)
- G.I. Joe Battle Royale! Much like the TMNT Battle Royale, the Joes are a close unit that fight like a family, but which individual member is the best?
- Ghost Rider Battle Royale (Johnny Blaze, Danny Ketch, Alejandra Jones, and Robbie Reyes)
- Gotham City Police vs. Marvel's NYPD (ineffectual police forces in their comic universes)
- The Green Lantern Corp vs. the Nova Corps (Galactic defenders)
- Green Lantern of Earth Battle Royale (Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, and John Stewart)
- Guardians of the Galaxy vs... (Marvel's vs DC's Ragtag Bunch of Misfits)
- Han Solo and Chewbacca vs. Malcom Reynolds and Jayne Cobb (iconic Lovable Rogues and their respective large companions from sci-fi settings)
- Harry Potter: Muggles vs. Wizards
- Haruko Haruhara vs. Marceline the Vampire Queen vs. Scott Pilgrim (bassist showdown)
- Hero Shooter teams
- Hiccup and Toothless vs...
- Hiro Hamada and Baymax (a Gadgeteer Teen Genius and his Gentle Giant, also DreamWorks Animation vs. Disney)
- Max Taylor and Chomp (Electrokinetic Saurians and their human companions/trainers)
- Izanagi and Izanami vs. Zeus and Hera (Top Gods of their mythologies who also partake in Brother–Sister Incest)
- The Joker and Harley Quinn vs. Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan (suit-clad crime bosses and their respective Cute and Psycho Perky Female Minions)
- Lemmings vs. Worms (team of explosive Ridiculously Cute Critters)
- Alternatively, only their champions: Lomax vs. Boggy B.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- Breath of the Wild Champions battle royale
- A series-wide Battle of the Links, similar to the Mega Man Battle Royale. Highlights would include OoT Adult Link vs Majora's Mask Link and BoTW Link vs ToTK Link (same incarnation, but with different powersets for each game they were in).
- HYDRA vs. Millennium (Nazi organizations)
- Kirito Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki vs. Neo and Trinity (Battle Couples from virtual reality settings)
- Michael Jackson vs. Shaquille O'Neal vs. Mike Tyson (battle of celebrities as they appeared in games)
- Billy and Jimmy Lee vs Alex and Ryan (NES Beat-Em-Up Stars)
- John Marston vs. Rico Rodriguez vs. The Boss vs. Niko Bellic (Third Person Shooter Protagonist Battle Royale)
- The reason why it's interesting is that all characters come from popular shooter games, but with differences in style and approach to combat, though all characters are built around vast and varied arsenals.
- Rico is at heart a run and gun type, but he uses his grappling hook gun to outmaneuver foes, and can use his parachute to achieve Not Quite Flight.
- John is more of a slow but powerful foe. Though almost a century behind in weaponry, his skills are unmatched: Dead Eye Targeting makes anyone caught out of cover dead meat, while a combination of sniper rifles, shotguns, and repeaters make him a threat at any range.
- The Boss may be an untrained criminal, but has a variety of futuristic tech at his disposal.
- Niko is an untrained criminal as well, but his arsenal ensures he won't be helpless.
- The reason why it's interesting is that all characters come from popular shooter games, but with differences in style and approach to combat, though all characters are built around vast and varied arsenals.
- Mane Six / Elements of Harmony Battle Royale
- Minions vs. Raving Rabbids (team of crafty, but dim sidekick creature nuisances)
- Mooks:
- Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur vs....
- Super Dinosaur and Derek Dynamo (Tyrannosaurus heroes who have hi-tech Kid Heroes as their companions.)
- Spear and Fang (Western Animation characters who have dinosaurs as companions)
- Hiro Hamada and Baymax (young Gadgeteer Geniuses and their fighter companions from Disney)
- Naofumi's PartyMembers vs. Nagumo's PartyMembers (Party members lead by Isekai protagonist that became bitter and cynical as a result of a horrible betrayal, before finding their first party member, who helped them regain their faith and morality)
- Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo vs. Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Flint/Boney (EarthBound vs. Mother 3? Both represented by a character in Smash, and now both represented by their team in Death Battle!)
- Nicktoons Unite! Battle Royale
- Oda Nobunaga Battle Royale: Onimusha vs. Sengoku Basara vs. Samurai Warriors
- Odd Squad vs. Numberjacks (organisations from Edutainment kids' series who use math to solve problems out of the ordinary)
- Optimus Prime Battle Royale: Optimus Prime vs. Optimus Primal vs. Optimus Prime vs. Optimus Prime vs. Optimus Prime
- Organization XIII Battle Royale
- Owen Grady and Blue vs. . .
- Persona Battle Royale
- Protagonists:
- Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (minus the protagonist, Shinjiro, and Metis, and giving Aigis the Wild Card)
- Investigation Team
- Phantom Thieves of Hearts (minus the Traitor)
- Big Bads:
- Protagonists:
- Powerpuff Girls Battle Royale
- Blossom
- Bubbles
- Buttercup
- Optional: Bullet, Bunny, and Bliss
- Quirky Miniboss Squad Matches:
- The Ginyu Force
- The Pilaf Gang
- Team Rocket
- Witches Five
- RED Team VS...
- Red Team, of course!
- The Blood Gulch Crew. Assuming we count the three main members of each side of the BGCnote along with the extra charactersnote it'd be even in terms of fighters. But since Tex is dead, we may need to replace her with Wash or another Freelancer.
- NOBLE Team
- Or a Battle Royale amongst the nine classes, with only the standard layouts and only a couple other ubiquitous items for each class (e.g. the Sandvich for the Heavy and the Gunslinger for the Engineer)
- Team Overwatch, only a limited team of characters matching the TF one:
- Soldier vs. Soldier: 76, Winston, or Pharah
- Scout vs. Tracer
- Pyro vs. Mei or Reaper
- Demoman vs. Junkrat
- Heavy vs. Zarya or Roadhog
- Engineer vs. D.Va, Torbjörn, Bastion, or Symmetra
- Medic vs. Mercy or Lúcio
- Sniper vs. Widowmaker, Ana, or Hanzo
- Spy vs. Sombra
- The Champions of the Realm
- Spy vs. Skye
- Scout vs. Maeve
- Demoman vs. Bomb King
- Heavy vs. Ruckus, Makoa, or Raum
- Medic vs. Ying or Seris
- Engineer vs. Barik
- Sniper vs. Kinessa, Strix, or Sha Lin
- Pyro vs. Fernando or Androxus
- Soldier vs. Drogoz
- The Rogues vs The Sinister Six (supervillian teams formed to counter a single superhero)
- Army of Rohan under Aragorn or the Uruk-Hai under the The Witch King of Angmar vs. the Unsullied under Daenerys Targaryen (Tolkien vs. Martin)
- Team RWBY Battle Royale
- A battle royale with the five major Senshi of Sailor Moon: Moon vs Mars vs Venus vs Jupiter vs Mercury.
- The Sailor Senshi (Inner Senshi) versus the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
- The Ultramen Vs The Riders
- Japan's latex-clad protectors duke it out at human proportions!, who'll come out triumphant?
- Ultraman Leo Vs Kamen Rider Super-1
- Ultraman Tiga Vs Kamen Rider Kuuga
- Ultraman Gaia Vs Kamen Rider J
- Japan's latex-clad protectors duke it out at human proportions!, who'll come out triumphant?
- Secret-keeping agencies:
- Shaggy and Scooby vs. Steve and Blue (A boy and his dog teams who solve mysteries)
- Commander Shepard Battle Royale: - Adept vs Soldier vs Engineer vs Vanguard vs Sentinel vs Infiltrator? Use Mass Effect 3 as it seems to strike the best balance between them.
- The Skrulls vs. The Yeerks (Subversive alien races)
- The Survivor Crewnote vs The Survivorsnote (zombie-killer teams)
- The RED and BLU spies vs The Black and White spies (Spy vs. Spy)
- Starships:
- Star Wars Sith lords: Darth Sidious vs. Emperor Vitiate vs. Darth Krayt.
- ToeJam & Earl vs. Spongebob SquarePants and Patrick Star
- Tom and Jerry vs. Oggy and the Cockroaches (cartoon rivals who don't talk)
- Twitch Plays Pokémon battle royale
- Tyranids vs. the Zerg (Horde of Alien Locusts)
- Vault Hunter Battle Royale
- The four major comic companies' respective demonic heroes in a massive brawl.
- The Koopa Kingdom vs. The Rebel Army (Large but mostly incompetent armies often wiped out by one or two people)
- Xeno-series family reunion:
- Fei Fong Wong and Elhaym "Elly" Van Houten
- Gears: Weltall-2 and El Regulus (maybe let Fei use Xenogears for a final 1-on-1 if he makes it that far)
- Shion Uzuki and KOS-MOS
- E.S.: Dinah (co-piloting)
- Shulk and Fiora
- Fiora has Face Nemesis, but Shulk might have to foot it this time. Then again, he could get the Mobile Artillery from Colony 9 working again...
- Elma and Rook
- Skells are interchangeable in this game, so Elma and Rook's rides can be up to player preference. That said, the Verus Cain makes the most sense for Elma's skell, as it's the unique version of her canon favorite type, while Rook would do well with the Ares-90.
- Rex and Pyra/Mythra
- Mythra has Artifice Siren, but like Shulk, Rex might be stuck on foot. Maybe Gramps could give him a lift?
- Noah and Mio
- Naturally, they'd use their Ouroboros forms in lieu of mechs. And "family reunion" might be a bit more literal for Mio than the other participants.
- Fei Fong Wong and Elhaym "Elly" Van Houten
- Avengers vs. Justice League, possibly limiting them to the more expansive adaptations rather than the entire canon partly because several characters on each side are completely overpowered with their entire continuities; specifically, it could be the MCU Avengers and the DCAU Justice League since they probably have a roughly equal number of mainline members to match each other.
- Scorpion vs. Akuma vs. Spawn vs. Ghost Rider. All of them have a connection to Hell, and all of them won their respective Death Battles.
- Spider-Man battle royale: a face off between the most notable of Spider-Men.
- Original Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
- Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
- Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara)
- Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy)
- Superior Spider Man (Otto Octavius)
- Spider-Man Noir
- JoJo battle royale:
- Jonathan Joestar
- Joseph Joestar
- Jotaro Kujo
- Josuke Higashikata
- Giorno Giovanna
- Jolyne Cujoh
- Johnny Joestar
- Josuke Higashikata
- Battle track name: Stand Proud
- Magical animated babies battle royale: Labra vs. Poof vs. Princess Flurry Heart.
- The 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. The Ninja Baseball Batmen. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael take on Captain Jose, Stick Straw, Twinbats Ryno and Beanball Roger in an all-out, four-on-four team melee. Considering the colourful, Crazy Is Cool natures of both sides as well as their respective fighting capabilities and experience in side-scrolling arcade beat-'em-ups, this one has plenty of potential to be brilliant.
- Dream Friend battle royale. All of Kirby's greatest allies (plus a few less then trustworthy ones) all brawling it out. Between all the magic, weapons and mechs the characters could pull out, this would be one hectic fight. All the group Dream Friends could also need to be split up, making things even more crazy.
- Rescue Fire vs Fire Force (superpowered firefighter teams who fight against fire-based monsters)
- T-Rex Red Ranger Battle Royale: Jason vs. Conner vs. Tyler vs. Zayto.
- Wonder Twins vs Wild Kratts. Both are kid-friendly sibling superhero teams with shapeshifting abilities, and three out of the four can turn into animals specifically.
- The Holy Britannian Empire vs. the Domination of the Draka (army vs. army; alternate-history/sci-fi racist totalitarian empires with ridiculously advanced technology and a point-of-divergence connected to the American Revolution)
- Main pets Ruby, Garnet, Sapphie, Labra, and Angela alongside any of their human partners vs. Any group of Digidestined and their associated Digimon.
- The Vek vs. The Bugsnax: Insectoid monsters from gaming who have a living island for their nests. note
- Team Sonic Battle Royale: Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Miles "Tails" Prower vs. Knuckles the Echidna.
- Stan and Ford Pines vs. Eda and Lilith Clawthorne. (estranged Sibling Teams from Disney cartoons)
- Nintendo Evil Counterpart with "Dark" in their name Battle Royal. Dark Link vs. Dark Pit vs. Dark Samus.
- Ruby's Human Partners Battle Royale: Rinko Kougyoku vs. Akari Sakura vs. Kanon Mizushiro vs. Pink Oomiya vs. Chiari Tsukikage vs. Momona vs. Airi Kirara vs. Ruri. Bonus points if the winner (alongside Labra if Akari wins) fights Tai and Agumon alongside Ruby afterwards.
- The Young/Student Six (Sandbar, Yona, Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder, and Silverstream) vs. Luea and Larimar (These eight were introduced in the second-to-last season of their respective fantasy shows, are widely considered the best characters in said shows' last two seasons, are more vital to saving the day than the heroes introduced before them, and fight to restore the lost magic of their worlds.)
- Barry Allen's Flash Rogues Captain Cold vs. Heat Wave vs. Captain Boomerang vs. Top vs. Mirror Master vs. Trickster vs. Abra Kadabra vs. Weather Wizard vs. Pied Piper
- Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider Ichigo vs. Yusuke Godai/Kamen Rider Kuuga vs. Aruto Hiden/Kamen Rider Zero-One (The first Kamen Riders of the respective eras they debuted in: Showa (Ichigo), Heisei (Kuuga), and Reiwa (Zero-One))
- Sector V vs. the Warriors of Hope: Two teams of five kids, three boys and two girls, fighting for the rights of kids and against villainous adults.
- The Seven Deadly Sins vs. the Homunculi (Inhuman beings with the Seven Deadly Sins as their motif)
- Power Ponies vs. Mighty Pups (empowered superhero forms of animal protagonist groups that originally had six members)
- Grand Theft Auto protagonist battle royale (For simplicities sake, use only one per game)
- Ornstein & Smough vs. Agni & Rudra (Two pairs of guardians who fight together against intruders and take the power of the other when one of them is killed.)
- Marionettes vs. 7 Hells (The most common enemies in DMC1 and DMC3 respectively)
- Sora and Riku vs. Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu (Multiverse traveller fighters that appear in humongous crossover franchises that fight specific organizations that try to destroy the world [Ouma and Organization XV])
- Splatoon Idol Battle Royale
- The Banana Splits vs...
- Winnie the Pooh and Piglet (Horror Movie adaptations of child-friendly franchises)
- The original Five Nights at Freddy's Animatronics (children entertainment animatronics that turn murderous and hunt the protagonists for differing reasons [programming errors and being possessed by the souls of dead children respectively])
- Rugal Bernstein vs. Geese Howard vs. Mr. Karate vs. Shizuka Gozen (SNK Boss Battle Royale)
- The Charmed Ones vs. The Winchester Brothers (Sibling Team fighting against supernatural forces)
- Pokémon Starters Battle Royale
- Mordecai & Rigby vs. Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt (Funny Animal suburban workers who constantly end up coming face-to-face with supernatural occurrences)
- Galadriel leading an army of Elves vs. Francesca leading am arm of Elves.
- Tywin Lannister vs. Emperor Emhyr
