The freezing chill of death is a horrifying thought. Whether it comes from being alone in the mountains, submerged in the Antarctic, or if you’re really unlucky, getting iced by one of these cool warriors.
Sub-Zero, the cryomancer ninja of Mortal Kombat. And Glacius, the icy alien with a Killer Instinct.
In episode six of season four, a pair of ice-manipulating fighting game veterans are called to battle one another. The hosts will pit ninja training and skill against inherent otherworldly power, an expertise in close quarters against an affinity and need for distance, for it is here that Sub-Zero and Glacius will bring all they have to offer and engage in a spectacle of combat, a spectacle that has become known as a death battle.
Starting the episode off, Wizard and Boomstick cover Sub-Zero, who was raised by the clan of assassins known as the Lin Kuei during a bloody war against the ninjas of the Shirai Ryu clan. The Lin Kuei needed soldiers to aid them in their conflict and began to abduct children from several dimensions, amongst them, a pair of cryomancers from the Outrealm, the brothers Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. Through the training of the Lin Kuei, the pair became some of their greatest fighters, and Bi-Han would go on to make the sobriquet Sub-Zero as his own, after he led the Lin Kuei to the complete destruction of the Shirai Ryu. Sub-Zero was soon hired by the sorceror Shang Tsung to compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament, but would be killed by Hanzo Hasashi, one of the Shirai Ryu he slew in the Lin Kuei's war against them. Kuai Liang would avenge his older brother by taking on the mantle of Sub-Zero himself and murdering Hanzo once again; the Lin Kuei still had a cryomancer in their possession, one who would continue to carry on the legacy his brother left behind.
Kuai Liang has spent many years honing his natural cryokinetic abilities and his training in the Lin Kuei mean that he can use them to amplify the damage caused by his prowess in Shotokan karate. By channeling water in the air and freezing it solid, Sub-Zero has a plethora of ice-related techniques at his disposal; he can slide on a sheet of ice, conjure weapons from nothingness, firing blasts of frigid air and even forming a solid sculpture of himself to freeze whoever touches it. His more advanced fare is likewise, equally immense in scope; he can shapeshift into a polar bear to maul his foes or, after lowering the temperature of the surrounding area to a degree thousands of times greater than absolute zero, induce full-body frostbite for fatalities such as smashing his enemies to chunks.
Although he has forged his own reputation, his concern of living in the shadow made by Bi-Han has left Kuai Liang with great doubt over himself and his sense of self-worth. And while he may still be a mortal man, the truth remains that the second bearer of the Sub-Zero mantle is among one of the greatest assassin the Lin Kuei has had to offer. Kuai Liang has survived flamethrowers and impalement, has proven himself to be strong enough to break titanium statues, and has even managed to force himself through the process of becoming a cyborg and living through the sorcerer Quan Chi destroying this metal form and reassembling him into a human. With such a selection of accomplishments under his belt, it becomes evident that Kuai Liang has been more than capable of reaching the rank of grandmaster of the Lin Kuei and eventually making peace with Hasashi; in this way, much like Kuai himself, the Lin Kuei have grown to become something far greater than they were in the past.
From there, the hosts change the topic to Glacius, a member of the extraterrestrial force known as the galactic marshals, and a stout follower of the 88 decrees that define interstellar law. When the corrupt Earth-based organization known as Ultratech began to reverse engineer alien technologies left behind after the Roswell incident, the act of which was a violation of the 88 degrees, the alien whom Ultratech would christen Glacius was tasked with investigating their goings-on in the planet. Ultratech would ambush the alien and destroy his ship, crash-landing in the freezing cold of Antarctica and destroying the protective outer armor to that otherwise protect his species' fragile bodies; luckily, they were also capable of manipulating the environment around them to create new armor, which Glacius would use to craft a new ice-based shell.
It would be from this new shell that Glacius also adopts his own set of skills centered around the ice and cold. Compared to his opponent, his preferred fighting style involves keeping his foes at a distance with ice lances and shards of hail, though he remains equally adept should the battle come down to close-range. The telekinetic powers that are a hallmark of his species serve Glacius well when up close, be it by forming a second protective layer for a temporary increase in his defenses or create spires of ice and summoning statues to knock his enemies backward. Glacius also has other moves unique to himself, namely the ability to dissolve into a puddle with which to avoid attacks and dissolve others in.
Be it because of his own natural talent or the powers his time on Earth has forced him to adapt with, Glacius is a skilled combatant. Several of his potential opponents are shown to be easily launched upward by the strength of Glacius' punches, including Ultratech's quarter-ton Fulgore units, and, as its robotic overseer ARIA herself found, he can lower the environment around him by 50 degrees Celsius in less than a tenth of a second, though when not holding back, he too can freeze others solid at temperatures well exceeding absolute zero. He has even fought and slain his logical worst enemy in the literal man on fire and Ultratech operative known as Cinder. However, for as powerful as Glacius is, he is truly as fragile; his inner body is weak and vulnerable, being the primary reason his race has protective armor surrounding it. But given how fearsome he can be and has proven himself as, there is seemingly no way this weakness can be exploited.
- Glacius: (waves his hand, leaving a trail of snow behind and growls)
The combatants are prepared and studies, with little standing in their way. One advertisement for the Blue Apron cooking service later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
In the midst of a desolate tundra, a spaceship lies in ruins, fire crackling around it. Kuai Liang, the second Sub-Zero, rushes to the crash site, eyeing a mysterious puddle seeping away from the wreckage. The Lin Kuei assassin leaps back as the puddle forms into the galactic marshal Glacius, who lets out a piercing screech upon seeing Sub-Zero's presence. The ninja looks upon his foe and fails to be perturbed, his nerves ready for conflict.
FIGHT!
Sub-Zero nimbly evades a barrage of swipes from Glacius, ducking and backing away from the alien's icicle appendages, scoring the first clean hit of the match with an uppercut, which Glacius soon returns in kind. Despite his best efforts to mount a counterattack, Sub-Zero takes an early lead, pummeling the otherworldly combatant until a high kick gives Glacius the opening he needs to shift back into a puddle, knocking Sub-Zero into the air, barely missing the jagged icicles littering the arena. From here, Glacius meets Sub-Zero's offense with one of his own, a statue of clear-cut ice mimicking the alien's motions from afar, bursting to knock the Lin Kuei assassin back to the original, who continues the onslaught.
A string of uppercuts keeps Kuai Liang juggled in the air before Glacius forms an iceberg that shatters and knocks the ninja away. By the time Glacius tracks Sub-Zero's trajectory and explodes the tree he would've otherwise crashed into, the cryomancer has teleported away from the destruction, bringing himself to the forefront. Conjuring a sheet of ice, Sub-Zero slides onto it, closing the distance but missing an overhead kick due to Glacius melting back into a puddle and dodging the attack. When he reforms, sharp hailstones surround the second Sub-Zero, who, though treating his foe with respect, remains steadfast in his own superiority.
The hailstones close in, but Sub-Zero briefly conjures a kori blade with which to shatter the crystalline projectiles. Bi-Han's younger brother resorts to punches and kicks to destroy the remaining few, grabbing one to lob back at Glacius. The assassin vaults back into the action, striking the galactical marshal with karate, a final ice blast pushing Glacius back. The Lin Kuei ninja summons frost around his arm and immediately after, he and Glacius throw connecting punches, steam emanating from the contact. Sub-Zero pulls his hand back to find it dissolved from Glacius' puddle form, before he finds himself being absorbed and dissolved into nothing, his skull the only remnant.
That is, if Glacius noticed the Sub-Zero in question was only a decoy. The real Kuai Liang teleports in and throws a straight hook that punches through Glacius' protective armor, reaching well into his fragile inner body. As Sub-Zero yanks his arm back out, holding the alien's spine, Glacius' form, outer and internal alike, burst into pieces, never to notice the Lin Kuei holding the vertebrae in victory.
K.O.!
In the aftermath of the victory, Wiz and Boomstick take a look at the outcome of the match, namely, how Sub-Zero had the superior training and skills to defeat Glacius. Sub-Zero has faced a larger collection of opponents in his home series than Glacius, including other cryokinetic characters, meaning he would be well-adjusted to anything brought against him. In addition, he held the better agility, reflexes and durability over his foe. While Glacius, meanwhile, does have some form of telepathy to accompany his telekinetic powers, he is not shown using it beyond communication, meaning it would be unlikely he could piece together Sub-Zero's strategy. While Glacius held the advantage in defense courtesy of his ice shell, Sub-Zero's strength still outclassed it; even blue ice, capable of withstanding almost sixty thousand pounds of force per square inch, would be shattered by Sub-Zero's titanium-busting punches, which exceed that threshold. Both cryokinetic characters are more than capable of taking and delivering in battle, but Sub-Zero had all the key advantages that Glacius lacked.
- Boomstick: I guess you could say that Glacius had his expectations shattered.
Wizard: The winner is Sub-Zero!
Sub-Zero vs. Glacius has examples of:
- An Ice Person: Much like the previous episode focused on pryokinetics, the power of ice is the key theme here.
- Beat Them at Their Own Element: Ice ninja vs ice alien. It is Sub-Zero's martial skills that end up being the deciding factor.
- Beyond the Impossible: Both combatants are capable of freezing the environment around them in a matter of seconds, which Wiz states requires temperatures far below absolute zero itself.
- Precision F-Strike: The one and only F-bomb of the episode comes from Wizard's reaction to Boomstick likening Glacius to a popsicle and wondering if the alien would be just as edible:"Boomstick, you're fucking weird."
