DEATH BATTLE

Anyone to alt+F4 hub? Well, maybe Brainiac since he could reasonably scale to Superman? Then again Brainiac isn't a full AI like Ultron...

Except when he is, like in the DCAU. But given that Death Battle generally tends to use mainline versions of characters or sometimes composites (both of which would probably go with Braniac as a Coluan), that doesn't really help him here.

I mean, I definitely would like to see the DCAU version in particular for Amazo. From what I understand his comics counterpart was a lot less interesting. Though, finding a good opponent for mister "casually bodies the entire Justice League and moves an entire planet to another dimension because it was easier to him than moving around it" might be difficult. I think he became basically omnipotent in one of the DCAU comic adaptations, so maybe Dr Manhattan could work?

I mean if you want non-AI people to kill Hub from the battle network series, just have Reverse-Flash delete his grandfather back in time and watch as Hub gets erased from time.

Ha

It was me, Hub. I was the one who told your grandfather there was money in robotics to keep him from ever starting a family. I don't know why that also caused humanity to go extinct, but hey, that's worth some bonus points right?

For the next Death Battle cast, they will be covering John Wick VS The Bride.

This one is a pretty close battle I feel, certainly far closer than their other options so far (Wick having gone up against Bond who took him in most areas, and Yor being The Bride’s other common opponent with physical that are pretty far above her). I’m honestly not sure who wins it exactly, though I think I’d give a slight edge to Wick so long as he can keep enough range for solid gunplay. He’s good in close combat, but The Bride may have him outclassed there, especially if she gets her hands on swords. His pain tolerance is through the roof though, especially with what we see him take in 4 even if by the end he does succumb to all those injuries.

Edited by ToadTV on Mar 31st 2024 at 3:12:11 AM

Mmmmm... Chapter 5 might prove you wrong about that.

I never watched much Kill Bill but doesn't she have a move that causes your heart to explode?

John might not survive that. I'm pretty sure she's at least as good/skilled as he is in H 2 H though maybe she knows more fighting styles?

To be fair, John Wick also knows of a forbidden technique capable of ending the fight in a single strike. It's called 'shooting you in the head'.

The 'Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique' as its known is actually probably useless in a VS Debate perspective, because while it does end the fight, it requires having a clean five-step strike on your opponent's chest, at which point... if she didn't know the technique, she could still just... stab him or something. That would be a difficult fight to animate, because it's such an iconic move that you would have to work it in somehow, but if Wick were to win - which he probably would - then you either have to have him avoid it for the entire length of the fight, or just be magically resistant to his heart exploding.

It would be useful against any opponent that would have resistance to her normal attacks, and if things ever end up in a direct game to hand scenario where both are disarmed. It’s her big win condition against Yor, although getting it off in a fight against her isn’t exactly what I’d call easy.

In this battle, it’s useful if things ever get into direct blows between her and Wick, though such a situation requires both to be disarmed. Not an impossible situation to get into, but not too likely imo. If they had to work it into the animation with The Bride losing, she’d probably get part way into it before being stopped. Likely before the final strike, actually completing the technique.

It's kind of a hard thing to analyze too, because by my recollections, the way the heart-exploding palm thrust thingy works, is... well, basically it's fucking magic. Not like, magic magic, but in the sense that it does not make any logical sense whatsoever. And the problem there is that John Wick's suit is beyond bulletproof, which clearly offers no small amount of protection to his chest, and while the five finger death punch thing clearly isn't strictly about force, it presumably still requires some force to be transferred from her hand to her opponent's internal organs, which a good bulletproof vest would still be able to negate, to an extent.

So, would a sufficiently advanced bulletproof vest be able to protect against it?

It’s a matter of pressure points, if I’m remembering right. So there’s some logic to it, but y’know. It’s magic kung fu logic where pressure points can do things like explode your heart. Not sure if she could properly hit those through his own protection, and if she’s at a point where she’s stripped him of that, there probably are other methods to put him down too.

Its basically Meridian Points, which is something common in Chinese Martial Arts philosophy (And Acupuncture as well)

Its totally something that can be taken into account in a Vs Battle. Its basically an exaggerated form of Soft Martial Arts like Qigong.

Well, the Five Point Exploding Palm technique can work if you have the element of surprise the way Beatrix did when she used it on Bill. By the time he even knew what was happening, she'd already finished it.

After that, she just has to make sure she's 5 steps out of range of her opponent....actually, better make that 6 or 7, just in-case they decide to pull a Bill and take an extra step.

Now, if the opponent knows the move, they theoretically can just fight in a wheel chair for the rest of their lives, but that's neither here nor there.

Oh, it absolutely can be taken into account, it's just that unless they're both unarmed and unless she has free access to hit him in five specific movements very quickly, then it's about as useful in a VS Debate as being able to cook a really good burger, or knowing a little bit of French. On paper, a way of killing your opponent in just five quick strikes is awesome, but both John and the Bride have access to several techniques that can kill an opponent in just one strike, such as 'Just fucking stab him.' Also, the fact that it didn't even immediately kill Bill and allowed him a dying two-minute speech followed by six steps away makes it not a particularly useful killing move in the context of a Death Battle.

It’s a cool move, and is obviously insanely effective once she actually does get it off. But at the end of the day, it’s a win condition that only works as an absolute last resort. She would need to force the battle into close combat against her opponent and be faster and stronger than them to appropriately pull it off before they can just strike her back to stop it, which is feasible, but not the most likely scenario. For Wick, his gunplay can keep range for a lot of the battle, and in close combat I’d argue her katana would do him in far before it ever got to the point where she’d need to use the move. For Yor, the chances that a woman who can casually toss a volleyball into space or effortlessly kick a moving car out of her way not being able to take The Bride out in one solid strike seems low to me.

It is a notable win condition, and could probably win her quite a few matches, it’s just that on its own its not the strongest argument for her taking a battle.

I think we should note that 9 times out of 10 John's biggest fights become hand to hand fights, and that as we saw in Kill Bill Part 2 the Bride pulled it off while she was in a chair.

She could just be fast enough to do it. Seriously. She doesn't have to hit John's limbs to make it work. John has been punched in the chest before and if the fight progresses to disarmament (which it always does), he's not going to be raising his jacket to defend him as much.

If it does progress to a hand to hand to fight and if that is the win condition, these things are in the Bride's favor:

I don't see why she wouldn't be able to pull this off on John as a last resort. He likely wouldn't expect this. This is actually the only thing she could do I think John wouldn't see coming or have a proper defense against. He'd have to be lucky enough she just flat-out missed.

John is a capable fighter, but surrounded like this I don't see him doing as well. The violence in John Wick is slightly more grounded and less comic book-y than Kill Bill.

John struggles against similarly-skilled opponents. These guys are students of Zero the final boss in this film. Granted, The Bride struggles against O-Ren Ishi and Elle.

Zero could have killed John here, John's weaponized respect/hype harms as well as helps him multiple times in Chapter 3.

John has nearly been killed by a blind assassin who was on John's level of skill. Granted that blind assassin was played by Donnie Yen.

==

His luck has saved him multiple times:

• the one sniper they sent after him happened to be one of his friends
• he found a random hobo in NY who was part of an underground network when he was bleeding out and definitely about to die
• 3 of his enemies respected him so much they held off the killing blow to shake his hand and ogle him
• the second time he had a sword at his throat another assassin intervened; same guy later helped him survive a giant fight in Chapter 4

==

If it doesn't progress to a hand to hand fight and John keeps his distance, well... things look worse for the Bride

John is an unstoppable force in the first movie capable of infiltrating and eliminating nearly any threat (read - the mafia). The Bride AFAIR doesn't really have this reputation.

John's well capable of pulling a ninja vanish

Adapts quickly to bulletproof armor-wearing opponents. The Bride's enemies were unarmored in every fight.

Mind, this is when they knew he was coming. The Bride didn't really show this level of tactical expertise. She's great at fighting her opponent in open combat, but John doesn't have these scruples.

I'm just going to let the motorcycle chase in Chapter 3 speak for itself. If he can maintain focus in this scenario it's hard to imagine The Bride getting the drop on him.

Edited by FOFD on Apr 1st 2024 at 11:36:55 AM

Peak vs blog has dropped gang.

https://matchupmadness.blogspot.com/2024/03/death-battle-predictions-huggy-wuggy-vs.html?m=1

Ok the first one I know but who on earth is their opponent

It's that piece of shit from Garten of Banban.

How DARE you diss Garten of Peakpeak!?

I was really hoping we’d get The Neighbor VS Baldi, but this will do.

A very in-depth blog for sure.

Edited by FOFD on Apr 1st 2024 at 11:05:20 AM

Ainz Ooal Gown vs. Sung Jin-Woo

Main characters of Asian fantasy series who have managed to attain great powers through video game-esque level-up mechanics and have power over necromancy, though they do have some skill with close-range weaponry as well.

It's funny, cause this anime season has several characters that fits as matches for Ains, including another who is a great thematic match for Ains - Sunraku from Shangri-La Frontier - but not necessarily a physical match as Sunraku is explicitly just a character a guy is playing in a game rather than there being any magic or isekai or anything that makes the character's abilities "real."

Edited by KnownUnknown on Apr 1st 2024 at 8:09:09 AM