Brobuscus Retrospective - Previous DEATH BATTLE! Results

So as some of you may or may not know, I run a DEATH BATTLE! podcast called BrobusCast: DEATH BATTLE! Edition, and recently for the return of the show for the Independent Era, the hosts and I have been researching the new episodes so we can have a better understanding of the debates and therefore have actually decent debates instead of just talking out of our asses. While it’s been hard work, I think I speak for the rest of the group when I say that it’s been successful in actually getting good debates and discussions. For me, while I’ve been getting all the hard franchises and currently have the most characters I’ve repped, I have been having quite a bit of fun doing so, and I’ve been doing stuff I thought were way too daunting for me. A few years ago, I never would’ve thought about researching franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog or Marvel, but here we are! But in doing so, it’s made me think about the previous episodes featuring the franchises I researched and seeing if they still hold up. So that’s what this is all about! I’m gonna be going through all the franchises I researched in this first year of the Independent Era and revisiting their past episodes to see how I feel about their results nowadays. Just to note, I also researched Among Us and Halo, but one is a one-time franchise and the other is just the same matchup done again, so neither franchise will be included here.

Should note a couple things before we start. Firstly, for most of the franchises I researched, I didn’t have time to cover everything. Secondly, most of my knowledge on the opposing sides of most of these matchups is going to be second hand. With both of these in mind, please keep in mind that these are NOT definitive in any way. Just my personal thoughts based on what I know. With that being said, there’s a lot to cover, so let’s just jump right into it!

Invincible 

I honestly don’t think I would’ve ever gotten Invincible had I not already researched it for a project I was working on, but I’m glad I did! I have read through the entire main series comics(apparently there are some side stories or spin-offs I’m not familiar with?), and as of now have watched the first two seasons of the show plus the Atom Eve special. So I’m not completely caught up, but I’ve seen quite a bit. Fortunately for this blog post, this franchise has only been on the show once before the indie era, so at least it’ll be…

Omni-Man VS Homelander 

…easy.

I mean, obviously Homelander wins this, right? In fact he probably should’ve won in the first place, amirite? I mean come on now, Homelander has two more abilities than Omni-Man and they just happen to be able to take advantage of Nolan’s key weaknesses! Nolan’s gotten soft over time, Homelander’s a lot more…

…yeah ok I’m not humoring this farce anymore. To be fair, I haven’t seen it yet, but apparently the newest trailer for The Boys implies a quite strong feat for Homelander, but it’s still not enough to stand a chance against the Viltrumite. I know this, you know this, we’ve all known this, I’m not gonna keep you any longer on this. At least the episode is still really good!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure 

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure AKA probably my favorite “anime-like” anime. Well, at least the first few parts anyway…which Giorno wasn’t in. In fact, researching that episode was the first time I watched Part 5, and while I’d say I liked it overall, it’s probably my least favorite part of JoJo. Actually on that note, since Giorno was only in Part 5, I don’t actually have research notes for Parts 1-4, which is where the matchups I have to talk about are from. That being said, I’ve seen them more than enough times to know what I’m talking about. However, aside from one, the same can’t be said for the opposing franchises, so again please keep in mind that these are not definitive in any way.

Jotaro VS Kenshiro

Honestly, so long as Kenshiro is still quite a bit stronger and more durable, he should still win. Jotaro’s speed and time stop is obviously quite a hurdle, but his primary weapon, brute strength, won’t be enough. The only wincon anyone’s ever argued for Jotaro is phasing through Kenshiro’s body and attacking his inner organs…a strategy he’s never employed before. Not exactly a reliable thing to argue. The only times Jotaro ever used that ability are either on himself to hide his heartbeat from DIO, and on Joseph to beat his heart and pump blood through his corpse. Neither of which are using it offensively in combat. I guess it’s something he can do, but he wouldn’t do it, otherwise why didn’t he use it against DIO when he had him dead-to-rights? Or Kira when he had more control over the time stop? Look at it this way: Jotaro’s only chance to win is to use a strategy that he’s never used before, while Kenshiro’s wincon is to just…touch Jotaro once and it’s over, which is his primary method of combat. It’s just easier to argue a win for Kenshiro all in all, even with the disadvantage in speed. Even then, Kenshiro has abilities like phasing and mirage clones to get by. One slip up and an opening from Jotaro is all Kenshiro needs to win. 

DIO VS Alucard 

Hey, here’s one that I can feel confident in talking about! I actually really like Hellsing Ultimate, and Alucard is really freaking cool as a character. With that being said…yeah, DIO still wins pretty handily. And honestly, I’m not sure what I can say that the episode didn’t in some way. DIO’s got an insane advantage in strength and speed, and that alone puts Alucard at an insane back foot, as DIO’s regular punches are gonna make Alucard run through the souls in his body to regenerate until there’s none left. Doesn’t help that Alucard can’t see The World, so he’s gonna constantly get hit by something he can’t see and therefore can’t defend himself against. Yeah, Alucard’s Third Eye can see past hallucinations, but that’s not what The World is. Alucard’s never had to encounter spirits or invisible fighting auras before, so even the Third Eye isn’t helping him see The World. On the flip side, Alucard’s own options aren’t going to do much damage to DIO. Reminder, vampires in JoJo aren’t quite like the ones in Hellsing, particularly the weakness to holy weapons or silver is nonexistent in JoJo. In fact, if I remember right, DIO actually held a crucifix in his hand and crushed it, so Alucard’s special bullets are basically ineffective. Alucard may have hypnotism, which DIO probably can’t counter(?), but DIO has it too on top of straight up mind control, and Alucard similarly has no counter to that, plus DIO’s better speed means he’s probably going to use it first. And all the other arguments I’ve heard for Alucard just don’t hold up at all. Wait for the Sun to come up and kill DIO? Alucard wouldn’t know to do that, and even then, DIO could always hide in the shadows or in a nearby building. It doesn’t take that much to hide from the sunlight. Drink DIO’s blood and absorb him? That requires Alucard to be able to pierce DIO’s skin, and DIO’s too tough for that. Even then, DIO could always drink Alucard’s blood and get even stronger, which he can also do to his Level 0 zombies. Schrodinger? Of course, the big one. The episode covered the reason why it can’t be given among Alucard’s other powers, as it’s literally the entire point of Schrodinger’s character that getting absorbed into Alucard would erase him from existence, but even playing hypothetical and saying it can be included safely among Alucard’s powers…so what? The whole point of Schrodinger is that he had omnipresence, not omnipotence. All that power does is ensure that DIO can’t kill Alucard, which I guess is great, but Alucard in turn still can’t kill DIO either, so have fun with the stalemate I guess! But then DIO will either hypnotize Alucard or control his mind, force him to eject Schrodinger, and then kill him. And this is all without mentioning DIO’s healing, time stop, or other vampire abilities like freezing Alucard on contact. I know it seems super odd for a character as fearsome and unstoppable as Alucard to lose this badly, but them’s the breaks sometimes. 

Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar

Ironically enough, despite actually watching Demon Slayer, at least the first season and movie, I feel like I have even less to say here than with Jotaro VS Kenshiro. I haven’t kept track of Demon Slayer stats since this episode came out, and it’s very likely that the franchise has gotten some revisions since then that could tip the scales in Tanjiro’s favor. That said, I think as long as Jonathan is still a fair bit faster, then his wincon with Hamon is still on the table. Other users like Joseph or Ceasar have shut down people’s organs before and Jonathan himself used it to manipulate muscles, so there’s no reason to assume he wouldn’t do the same to Tanjiro. And considering Hamon can be channeled through metal, Tanjiro’s sword acts as a perfect conductor for Hamon to travel through and affect him. To me, Tanjiro needs to be able to keep up in speed or be able to survive Jonathan’s Hamon in order to win, and I have yet to hear a solid argument for either.

Sonic the Hedgehog 

Ah yes, this definitely won’t have people angry at what I say regardless. Sonic the Hedgehog is a franchise that has a million different interpretations of its stats, as well as a million different abilities you’ve probably forgotten about. With that being said, if any franchise I talk about on this blog post is not going to have definitive answers, it’s this one, especially since Sonic characters are typically pit against other franchises that are equally annoying to scale. With that in mind, there’s quite a few matchups to talk about, so let’s just get into it, and hopefully the first one will be simple enough to discu-

Vegeta VS Shadow

-oh dear it’s Dragon Ball…

So if I remember right from working on Bowser VS Eggman’s G1 blog, the safest you can argue for Sonic’s cosmology is about 13x Universal, which would’ve matched up with Dragon Ball’s…before Goku VS Superman anyway, which got it up to 1500x Universal, much higher than what you could argue for Sonic. I have heard you could argue Sonic’s cosmology to be infinite in scope, but the arguments for them are…flimsy, to say the least. And even then, you could make similar arguments for Dragon Ball’s, so there’s that too. To be fair though, if this did end up with even stats, I could see Shadow taking the win due to the amount of abilities he has and could overwhelm Vegeta, or freeze him in place with Chaos Control. But if you’re only willing to go with finite ends for both, then Vegeta is likely AP stomping.

Mario VS Sonic

Well, well, well. The matchup to end all matchups. The most “there is too much to consider” matchups I’ve ever seen. 

Both Mario and Sonic are crazy powerful, have a ton of abilities and hax, and a ton of power-ups that all combine to create an extremely complicated matchup. From what I remember, Sonic should be at least a little bit stronger and faster, but Mario’s abilities and power-ups help him keep up. That said, if you go with infinite ends for both, I’d imagine Mario’s wider variety of power-ups would let him pull ahead, though I’m not too sure. Sonic should likely be more skilled as a fighter and probably smarter, and both have plenty of experience against world or universe-ending threats, from Dimentio to Solaris. To be perfectly honest, I’m actually currently not comfortable siding with either of these guys. There’s just too much at play here and I haven’t done nearly enough digging into either for me to make even a preliminary guess. So for the first time in this post, I’m going with No Contest!

Eggman VS Wily

So little fun fact: I came up with the idea to do this and started writing this blog before the Game Awards, so imagine my surprise when Mega Man: Dual Override got announced there! I have played very very little of Mega Man, but I’m so happy to see it come back!

Anyway uh, yeah Eggman kinda just steamrolls here. Don’t get it wrong, Wily’s machines are nothing to scoff at, but the absolute highest that I’ve ever heard the Mega Man series to be argued at is about Planetary, something that Eggman’s machines have matched and surpassed as early as the Sonic Adventure games, maybe even earlier. In general, the Sonic series is just on a completely different scale, and weapons like the Phantom Ruby, Final Egg Blaster, and Eggman’s top tier mechs like the Egg Salamander or Egg Wizard would wipe out Wily’s entire army instantly. Hell, even the Metal Virus would have better use here than against Bowser. Remember, the main reason why the virus was so dangerous to Eggman in that fight was because the more beings it infects, the less control Eggman has. But here, the only organic being in Wily’s army is…well, Wily. So if he gets infected, Eggman can easily control him and have him wipe out his whole army…or they destroy him, that works too. 

Luigi VS Tails

Oh great, another Mario VS Sonic fight, this won’t end badly.

To be fair though, I think I’m a little more confident in this one depending on a few factors. Particularly if Tails gets his super form, as he does technically have one in some of the earlier Genesis titles and I believe Sonic Superstars as well. I’m just not sure if it's technically canon or not, as afaik, it’s never brought up in canon. Whether you do or don’t though kinda decides the outcome for me. As far as I know, Luigi doesn’t get the Pure Hearts, so the top of the line scaling that Mario and Bowser get doesn’t apply here, and against a Super, that puts Luigi at quite the disadvantage. If you decide not to give it to him however, then I really don’t see how Tails is meant to measure up. Sure, Luigi doesn’t get Pure Hearts scaling, but he more than most likely should get Power Stars and Grand Stars scaling. This is more than enough to beat Base Sonic stuff. I think for the time being, I’m gonna assume both get everything and cautiously side with Tails.

Donkey Kong VS Knuckles

Kind of a similar story to Luigi VS Tails, at the moment I kinda feel like Super Sonic scaling surpasses what you can get with Power Stars and Grand Stars. What’s even more problematic this time around is that I honestly haven’t been convinced yet of Donkey Kong even getting Stars scaling in the first place. The only times I can recall him having Power Stars is either Mario Kart Tour, which was for currency, or the Mario Party games, where he’s handing them off to other players. Either way, he never used them in the “oonga boonga Universal” way like, say, Bowser did. I will grant, I haven’t played Donkey Kong Bananza, and currently don’t own a Switch 2 so I can fix that, so I’m not familiar with any extra abilities or feats from there. I could also very easily be wrong about DK and the Power Stars, which would be huge. But for the time being, I’m gonna be going with Knuckles.

Mewtwo VS Shadow

Ah yes, another matchup with a lot to consider and could easily go either way.

Ok, so the biggest question on my mind is if Mewtwo gets Creation Trio scaling. IMO, that’s the only way he’s avoiding getting statstomped by Super Shadow. The problem is, if it does get the scaling, I’m not sure which is more impressive. Assuming it’s around even, then both have some extremely solid ways to win. Mewtwo’s psychic powers would do a great job keeping Shadow at bay, and erasing his memories, while not the be-all-end-all that the episode portrayed it as, is still an extremely useful ability and one that I haven’t seen Shadow resist. Shadow meanwhile has Chaos Control to stop time, which would leave Mewtwo wide open for a deadly attack. I’m not sure if Shadow has abilities like Ring Time or anything like that, but if he does, then that’s transmutation he could use to win as well. Personally, I find Chaos Control to be a more reliable wincon, especially since it’s more likely that Shadow would use it before Mewtwo uses his psychic power to erase Shadow’s memories. Besides, even with memories gone, Shadow still has all his abilities and skills, as the last time he lost his memories, he still at least remembered his powers. So imo, I currently feel more comfortable thinking Shadow has the advantage here. It’s an extremely interesting debate though, and one I hope DB revisits sooner rather than later.

Amy Rose VS Ramona Flowers

Would you believe me if I said that Ramona comfortably scales to Todd’s moon level feat now thanks to the recent Netflix show? Would you also believe me if I said that it doesn’t freaking matter? Yeah you probably believe me on both counts. Base Sonic has stuff like defeating the planet-shattering Dark Gaia or destroying the Paradox Prism. Obviously Amy isn’t quite to Sonic’s level, but even if she’s only a fraction of his strength and speed, she’s still seriously overwhelming Ramona, especially with all the different abilities she has as well. Good for the Scott Pilgrim series that scaling to Todd became valid, but it doesn’t quite save Ramona here.

Metal Sonic VS Zero

I feel kinda bad for this, as this is currently the only fight the Mega Man series has won that wasn’t against itself. With that being said, yyyyyyeaaaah Metal Sonic kinda clears this, last I checked. Zero’s vast arsenal and hax would likely keep Metal at bay for a while, but Metal’s far greater speed and power, especially with his transformations, is too much for Zero to handle. I guess the only thing I’m unsure of is if Zero has resistance to time stops like X does, because if not, then Chaos Control is likely to add to Metal’s advantages. If he does resist it, then time stopping is something that neither can take advantage of, as Metal has shown resistance to Shadow’s Chaos Control as well. But yeah, I have yet to see anything that saves Zero from the stat gap. I hope Mega Man fans will get more episodes and maybe more wins down the line. I mean there’s that new game! But yeah, this sure ain’t it.

Flash VS Sonic

So I’ll admit, the Archie comics are a bit out of my wheelhouse currently. I do plan on changing that, hopefully sooner rather than later, but at the moment, I can’t confidently make a call here, especially with how complex both Wally and Sonic get. That said, the reasoning from the episode appears to make enough sense to me, particularly with Wally continuously stealing speed from Sonic every time Sonic recharges. This basically ensures that Flash will be at least some degree faster despite both of their incalculable speeds, and given this match is basically all about speed, having the advantage there is pretty big. And given both of these guys are crazy haxy, Wally being faster helps out in this regard too. 

Shadow VS Ryuko

So uhh…this fight got a lot more interesting, huh?

NGL, Kill la Kill IF actually being canon changed freaking everything. Kill la Kill now has some insane stats, from what I’ve heard reaching hundreds of times Universal and a shitton times FTL. I wouldn’t be surprised if people, DB included, ended up going with Ryuko winning this fight nowadays. It ultimately depends on how high you have Sonic’s cosmology, which unfortunately is something that’s probably never gonna be generally agreed upon, but most values I’ve seen have it lower than Kill la Kill, so I think Ryuko’s a bit more likely to win nowadays, which I’m ngl feels incredibly wrong given the timeline of when the episode came out. 

Trunks VS Silver

Once again my lack of investment in the Archie Sonic comics bites me here, and even more so paired with Dragon Ball Heroes. But I honestly think I’m quite sold on Silver’s victory based off the episode’s description, even if I think they might generally be even in speed nowadays. But generally, if Archie Sonic’s cosmology is bigger than DB Heroes, and Chaos Magic lets Silver resist stuff like Trunks’ Keysword, that’s probably enough for me to side with him. I won’t lie though, of all the Sonic fights, this is the one I hope holds up the most, it feels so satisfying for Silver to win this.

Marvel Comics 

Ohhhhhh god, y’all might want to strap in, because there’s a loooooooot to cover here.

Full disclosure, obviously very few of these matchups feature characters I’ve actually prioritized researching, but given my research style, I do have some notes on most of the Marvel guys here, even if it is the tip of the iceberg. Even still, if there’s any franchise that y’all should remember that this is not me definitively saying “x character wins”, it’s this one. I’ll do my best tho, :)

Also, I’m going to be excluding all the Marvel VS DC fights for this. On top of there just being so many of them, there’s honestly too many variables for basically all of them, and there’s no way I’m gonna be confident enough to make a decision on any of them. I know this has been very impromptu and not definitive, but those are on another level, not helped by me having zero notes on DC characters. Maybe in the future I’ll try my hand at them, but not now.

Thor VS Raiden

Raiden wins. You’re all wrong. But that’s ok, not everyone can be right.

Ok obviously that’s a joke before you guys think I’m a psychopath. For what it’s worth, Mortal Kombat can get some pretty solid stats, and Raiden should get some degree of scaling to demigod Liu Kang, but like…it’s freaking Thor we’re talking about here, the Multi+ immeasurable God of Thunder. I don’t think it quite matters how high Raiden scales so long as it can be measured, because then Thor is just infinitely statstomping his ass. And this is without Mjolnir’s crazy hax and energy absorption and whatnot, as well as being able to control Raiden’s lightning, shutting down arguably his best method of attack barring his bare fists, which Thor also has and then some. Good luck Rai-Dude, you have absolutely no shot here.

Beast VS Goliath

Gargoyles needs a revisit so badly bro. If I had just a semblance of an idea how strong Goliath is, I’d be able to be a lot more confident in choosing one or the other here. Apparently there’s a triple digit kiloton calc on VSBW, so if that holds up, then I imagine Goliath just AP stomps unless Beast gets Spidey scaling, which I imaaaaagine he doesn’t? Given it’s Marvel, I wouldn’t be surprised if Beast had better feats when it comes to skill and intelligence, but if he’s getting super outclassed in power, it’s like, who cares? So unless that calc is just bad, which obviously isn’t impossible, then for now I’m gonna go with Goliath. Me when the episode came out would never believe it, lol!

Darth Vader VS Doctor Doom

I think everyone agrees that Doom kinda slaughters here, but did you know that he recently became Sorcerer Supreme? Y’know, just in case this fight wasn’t stompy enough. I honestly struggle to think of any advantage that Vader could possibly have here. Even stuff like a lightsaber and the Force provides abilities Doom has very likely seen before and dealt with it easy enough. I like the vibe of this match, but man it’s crazy just how much of a stomp it is.

Wolverine VS Raiden

I feel like this fight might be more debatable than people let on. Just off what I know, Raiden should be a fair bit stronger, though cutting through Adamantium is obviously a problem. That said, speed is something I’m not sure of. I’ve heard some laser dodging for early-series Metal Gear, which would let him keep up with Wolverine, but I don’t know the deets. If that’s not true, then Wolverine should be a fair bit faster, which is detrimental when Raiden has a limited fuel supply. Of course, Raiden’s HF Blade is a valuable resource, but I’m honestly not too convinced that it’ll weaken Logan’s skeleton fast enough before he runs out of fuel, especially if Logan ends up being faster. It’s kind of unfortunate because from my point of view, Raiden winning is the morally correct outcome. Just not the actually correct one.

Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie

Can I just say Deadpool wins just to be petty?…..No?…..fine.

Ok so Pinkie wins because MLP is cracked and she has some crazy regeneration. She just outstats Deadpool and survives pretty much everything he throws at her. I don’t think I need to elaborate further, and I’m ngl, this matchup and episode makes my blood boil enough as is, so we’re moving on. Sorry to anyone who wanted some in-depth explanation here, but I’m also not qualified for that in the first place, so we’re done.

Android 18 VS Captain Marvel

I’m ngl, to this day I’m still very confused how Carol lost this fight. I guess people were under the impression that she’s not quite on the level of other Marvel heavy hitters, but like…she definitely is? She’s fought on par with people like Thor and Model Prime Iron Man, survived Robbie Reyes’ Penance Stare, and y’know…absorbs energy? The same energy that 18 uses for half of her combat? And considering the other half is her bare fists, and she falls behind Carol in stats, I really don’t see what she’s supposed to do here. I don’t want to get tinfoily, but I kinda can’t help but feel that people basically refused to give Captain Marvel her best stuff because of her…mixed reception after Civil War II. I get y’all don’t like her, but saying she’s not all that is just a blatant lie. And you might’ve noticed that I didn’t mention Binary at all…

Shredder VS Silver Samurai

Given Harada’s Tachyon abilities being able to cut through just about anything, if he winds up being faster than Shredder, he should probably take the dub. And considering other Marvel street tiers like Wolverine(who Harada fights on the regular) have documented light-timing feats, something I’ve never heard anyone argue for TMNT, that’s pretty damning. If feats on that scale do exist though, then I could see Shredder keeping his distance and overpowering Harada, assuming the latter doesn’t get Spider-Man scaling. It’s something I wanna look into, especially since I haven’t seen a great modern coverage on TMNT. But I think at the moment, I feel more comfortable going with the Silver Samurai. 

Carnage VS Lucy

I’m ngl, for as good as this episode is, I am more than done with this debate. I still remember having a…not very great time during the lead-up, and at this point, I don’t really know who actually wins and really couldn’t care less anymore. I’d be shocked if Cletus didn’t get Spiders scaling, though I’m not sure if he at all benefits from the stuff with King in Black that Venom does. I know Dark Carnage is a thing, but I don’t know if that’s the same. Tbh, the only issue I read with Carnage in it is one where he fights and kills Alejandra Jones, though given she’s a Ghost Rider, and the one who battled and defeated Mephisto, that could be enough to win? Though I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s not consistent, which would probably make Lucy stronger. That said, I have not heard a convincing argument for Lucy being faster, and iirc, the debate I did have on this match relied on that and either Carnage slicing Lucy herself to bits after outmaneuvering the Vectors, or using stuff like infection or possession to overcome the strength advantage. Though I do remember Lucy’s Vectors being invisible being a huge problem, and I could see Lucy hitting Carnage hard enough with a strong punch he can’t see getting her the win. So I’m just gonna go with that and then move on because I never want to think about this debate ever again.

Ultron VS Sigma 

I’m fairly confident Ultron’s got this in the bag. Not only is he a lot stronger and faster than Sigma, but his crazy tough body ensures that Sigma is never doing any lasting physical damage, and that’s on top of Ultron having self-repairing features. If this was a purely physical brawl, Ultron is reducing Sigma to scrap. But there’s obviously more to it, as the Sigma Virus could ensure that Sigma will never truly die in a brawl, and could rewrite Ultron’s code and kill him that way…if not for the fact that Ultron’s hacking ability is far superior, and could turn the rewriting back around. I know the episode brought up the Phalanx, and I haven’t seen them yet, but if they really are a “race of Sigmas”, then there is no way that Sigma can resist what Ultron is capable of. 

Black Widow VS Widowmaker

Briefly familiarizing myself with Overwatch stats…I would honestly be kinda surprised if Natasha still won this. Right from the get-go, there’s arguments for Overwatch getting into the Town-City Level range, which Widow can only match if she gets Spider-Man scaling. Not impossible that she does, and she has over 1000+ comics to prove it, but somehow I doubt it. But then when the Overwatch cast has quite a few laser-timing feats, and when certain characters that Widowmaker should likely scale to outpace Omnics, which was calced at 173x FTL, far outpacing any speed feat done by any Marvel street tier, Widowmaker is likely running circles around Natasha and putting a bullet in her head before she has time to react. Black Widow is definitely better at hand to hand, but when Widowmaker is that much stronger and faster than her, even Natasha’s better skill won’t hold up for long. Crazy to think about given the attitude people had at the time this was announced, but yeah, kinda seems to me like Widowmaker’s got this.

Deadpool VS Mask

I haven’t really caught up with where people have the Mask at nowadays, assuming they even think of that at all. That said, if the episode’s calc for the Mask & Lobo’s collision holds up, Deadpool’s probably not winning. Wade’s likely more skilled and maybe has more combat experience, but the Mask is probably statstomping and has a massive arsenal and far greater healing. I feel like the episode kinda oversold how “unkillable” the Mask is, but he’s still likely kicking Deadpool’s ass.

Genos VS War Machine 

If I remember right, since this episode, Genos got a new supercharged ability that I’ve heard could match War Machine in power…maybe. However, it only lasts a few seconds, and Rhodey has plenty of ways to keep his distance and is probably still a fair bit faster, which is ultimately still devastating. That combined with Rhodey’s military training and experience makes me still pretty confident in saying that War Machine should probably have the edge here. Could be interesting to revisit though.

Venom VS Crona

It’s kinda interesting how long Venom kept his King in Black stuff, but nowadays he’s back to being a regular street tier. Well, a Spidey-tier, but still. I think this ultimately depends on if you include King in Black or not, because even regular Spider-Man scaling ain’t saving him from how strong Soul Eater characters are, especially since Crona’s main method of attack is sound-based, taking advantage of Venom’s key weakness. Granted, I don’t think just having sound attacks by itself is enough to beat Venom, but with how strong Crona’s are, that’d be extremely dangerous for Venom. But even without that entirely, without King in Black, Crona matches Venom’s speed and eclipses him in strength, ensuring that they take the lead.

Hulk VS Broly

Hulk’s got this one in the bag. I know, shocker. On top of being just infinitely stronger and faster than Broly, he’s dealt with foes like Broly that can fly around and shoot projectiles. And since Broly, like most Dragon Ball characters, is basically just a glorified stat brick with no great methods of hax, all he can hope to do is overpower Hulk, and uh, yeah that ain’t happening. Even if Broly did have any form of hax, the Hulk has a straight up Bible’s read worth of resistances that makes it very unlikely that he’ll be affected by it. And all of this is on top of Hulk’s monstrous healing factor, further ensuring that Broly will never be able to put him down. 

Iron Fist VS Po

Conversely, this is one where the Marvel character actually loses pretty decisively. Granted, in this case, Iron Fist isn’t fighting someone who is impossible to kill…just that it might as well be impossible for him. So long as the calcs from the episode hold up well enough, Po is leagues stronger than Danny, and has a fighting style that perfectly counters Danny’s superior speed and skill. To be fair, Danny is likely a lot faster than anyone Po’s ever fought, but he’s still likely got no answer to Po just hitting him really hard. Probably could be interesting to revisit Kung Fu Panda stats, but I imagine Po is still making quick work of Iron Fist.

Korra VS Storm

Aaaaaand we’re right back to Marvel absolutely sweeping. Storm quite frankly has pretty much every possible advantage here. She commands pretty much every element Korra does(barring Firebending, I guess), can run circles around Korra and dodge her attacks super easily, excels in hand-to-hand a lot better than Korra does, and above all is just leagues stronger, meaning that any attack Storm will land will be devastating, especially if she decides to attack Korra’s insides by frying her brain or something. This is basically a case of “Anything you can do, I can do better.”

Thor VS Vegeta

Yeah I don’t imagine Vegeta winning this at all. Thor being on a Celestial level of power means there’s basically zero way that Vegeta is matching his strength in the slightest, and beyond that, Thor just has far too many abilities that can overwhelm Vegeta, and Mjolnir’s energy absorption pretty much forces Vegeta into a close-ranged fight, which is not a game you wanna play against Thor. Honestly feels a bit similar to Hulk VS Broly in a way…at least Thor can die…? Just not against Vegeta.

Magneto VS Tetsuo

Once again I feel like this is pretty decisive. Tetsuo’s really strong for sure, but Magneto’s fights against people like Iron Man and Hercules can overpower and outpace him super easily, and against Charles Xavier, Magneto has proven he can handle telepathy far beyond Tetsuo’s, even without his telepathy-protecting helmet. And against Tetsuo’s mutated form, Magneto may appear to be at risk of getting nuked, but those nukes aren’t as strong as the threats Magneto has gone up against, even if you take the idea of them being comparable to the Big Bang as truth and ignore that they aren’t even canon anyway. Tetsuo’s impressive, but his abilities are parlor tricks for the Master of Magnetism.

Stitch VS Rocket Raccoon 

Anyone who remembers the debate for this one knows where this is going. At a close range, Stitch is completely tearing Rocket apart with no trouble. But at a long range, Rocket’s weaponry is far beyond Stitch’s best showings, ensuring that one direct shot will kill the little gremlin, and Rocket’s tactics can assist in putting Stitch in a vulnerable position. So the ultimate question is if Rocket is fast enough on the draw to get that shot, but unfortunately, even with laser dodging and picosecond-timing weapons aren’t enough to outpace Stitch’s supercomputer brain and ship-piloting reactions, making it more likely that Stitch will avoid Rocket’s tech and get in close, which is incredibly devastating for the totally-not-a-Raccoon.

Galactus VS Unicron

Oh thank god we’re at the end.

Unicron is incomprehensibly powerful, one of the most powerful beings in the Transformers world, and you should know that’s saying a lot. Against almost anyone else, Unicron would prove way too powerful and way too unkillable, especially as he can continue to exist so long as evil and hatred exists. But against Galactus, Unicron will finally meet his match. Galactus is even more insanely powerful than him, has a lot more experience against people like Unicron than vice versa, and uh, yeah the Ultimate Nullifier is basically the “I win” button. Considering how well it worked against Abraxas, who’s basically Marvel’s version of Unicron, Galactus will have no problem erasing the Chaos Bringer from reality. Meanwhile, Unicron turning the Nullifier against Galactus will be a lot harder, as he can just hide in a pocket dimension to escape its effects, as he’s done before. Unicron’s power can NOT be understated, dude is easily one of the most powerful beings DEATH BATTLE! has ever featured, but Galactus has him matched and surpassed.

Well at least we’re finally done with Marvel. I’m glad I decided to omit the DC fights, that would’ve added over 20+ more matchups. But at least everything from here should be smooth saili-

RWBY

…god…dammit…

On the one hand, I adore RWBY, and I actually have basically completed notes on the show, so this segment will actually be at least a bit more definitive than the others. On the other hand, talking about RWBY in this community is pure misery. Sometimes there’s a huge agenda towards it, pushing for feats and scaling that has more holes in it than swiss cheese. But I guess I can’t blame people for doing that when it’s mostly in response to some serious anti-agenda too, both in VS and in general. And the cast are constantly seen as weak because they can’t seem to score very many wins. On that note…

Yang VS Tifa

Man, Yang is so weak she can’t even beat the Galaxy-Multiversal Tifa Lockhart from the cracked and haxy as all hell Final Fantasy series? Pathetic…

God I wish I could’ve said Yang wins, it’d make a lot of you guys so freaking mad.

Weiss VS Mitsuru 

Man, Weiss is so weak she can’t even beat the Multiversal+ Mitsuru Kirijo from the cracked and haxy as all hell Persona series? Pathetic…

Yeah, you see the problem right? It’s not that RWBY is necessarily weak. It’s just that they’re typically pit against cosmic-tier franchises like Final Fantasy and Persona. The fact that some people tried to push Fire Force scaling for Maka against Ruby adds to the point as well. 

Why yes, I did spend more time talking about this point than actually talking about these matchups. I mean why should I? You all know how they go, why waste time?

Blake VS Mikasa

Ok, now to be a bit more serious. Probably a bit eyebrow-raising shifting tones for the fight where the RWBY character actually wins, but whatever.

Which yeah, Blake should win this pretty handily, in fact it’s likely even easier now than when the episode came out. Even the argument from the episode that Mikasa’s Thunder Spears could wipe out Blake’s Aura probably doesn’t hold up too well anymore. Even if it does, Blake is far too fast for the Thunder Spears to land, and Mikasa herself ain’t packing that kind of power or defense, meaning Blake’s own strength and equipment are likely gonna overpower her, helped by the fact that Mikasa’s primary weapons are pretty notoriously brittle, so Blake’s gonna mow through her options for attack before Gambol Shroud shows any signs of wear-and-tear. Even Mikasa’s Ackerman heritage granting her centuries of experience is nice and all, but they’re only really useful against Titans, not someone like Blake, whose crazy Shadow Semblance is something that the Ackermans have never seen before and adds to Blake’s already overwhelming versatility advantage. I do feel bad for Attack on Titan fans, especially since it’s another series that’s probably not gonna be picking up Ws anytime soon, but there’s also a chance this is gonna be RWBY’s one and only win, so I’d like to revel in this a bit, thanks!

Devil May Cry

Oh this should be interesting. The Devil May Cry series also has some varying interpretations on its stats, but fortunately they’re generally in the same ballpark…generally. That said, I don’t believe the difference in what people argue will make much of a difference this time around. Fortunately, we only got two matches here, so let’s just get into it.

Dante VS Bayonetta 

Honestly, even as someone who still sides with Dante against Clive, even after the episode came out, I really don’t think Dante has what it takes to win this one. Unlike Clive, Bayonetta far overpowers anything Dante could do, which is further damning for his healing factor being overtaxed, she resists Dante’s attempts to slow down or stop time, something Dante can’t do in turn, and her arsenal matches and surpasses Dante’s blow for blow. Dante’s only real shot is spatial cutting with the Yamato Shard, but Bayonetta’s absurd strength is more likely to destroy it before Dante could take advantage of it, and spatial cutting with the Devil Sword Dante is also unlikely for similar reasons, on top of Bayonetta being able to avoid being hit with Witch Time. Basically, both have a lot of weapons and hax to throw at each other, but only Bayonetta resists most of the opposition, on top of a pretty massive strength advantage.

Sephiroth VS Vergil 

This match meanwhile I feel has a bit more debate to it, not helped by the fact that I haven’t seen rock solid stat arguments for Final Fantasy VII. That said, I feel like Vergil needs to eclipse Sephiroth in stats in order to win. If stats are remotely even, then Sephiroth is very likely winning via a larger amount of abilities and hax. Yamato is pretty haxy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Sephiroth could resist a fair amount of it, though spatial cutting is still a thing. That said, if Sephiroth keeps up even a little, his own healing and versatility are gonna be a major problem. In my mind, it’s just more likely that Sephiroth is matching Vergil’s stats, if not surpassing them. Might be a fun fight to revisit though.

Pokémon 

Ah yes, my magnum opus of last year. I spent over a year and a half watching every single English dubbed episode of the Pokémon anime, as well as literally all 23 movies. So I think it goes without saying that I am pretty prepared to talk shop about Pokémon. Should note, I am assuming each individual Pokèmon(so basically anyone other than Red) are comped. Just more fun that way, ngl.

Pikachu VS Blanka

I mean…y’all saw Ash VS Yugi, right? If you did, then you may know that Blanka would be lucky if Pikachu didn’t just recreate his battle with Cassandra’s Paras and fry the entire Street Fighter cast. Ok, exaggeration of course, but yeah, Pikachu is just on a whole other level from Blanka it’s not even remotely funny. Blanka’s size and strength may appear to be a problem, but Pikachu has several feats like vaporizing the top of a mountain, cutting boulders in half with Iron Tail, and matching Legendary Pokémon like Zapdos, Latios, and, oh I don’t know, halting Dialga’s Roar of Time? Ash’s Pikachu alone is easily one of, if not the strongest Pokémon in the anime, it's kind of insane just how different the little rat is built.

Pokémon Battle Royale

Honestly, analyzing this battle when all parties are comped sounds fun as hell. Especially since just using regular Pokémon stats is like, well yeah obviously Blastoise wins. Analyzing this battle using actual feats sounds pretty cool. And honestly screw it, add stuff like Mega Evolution, Gigantamaxing, etc., let’s have some real fun. With that in mind though, I honestly would be slightly surprised if Charizard didn’t win under that lens. Just in general, Charizard is the favorite among not just the community, but also some big name trainers like Red, Leon, Alain, and obviously Ash, and that kind of spotlight lets Charizard show off some crazy feats and battling some powerful Pokémon. What also helps is that both Red and Ash’s Charizard have experience defeating their respective rival Blastoise, so that’s neat! Though I won’t lie, Venusaur feels like the wild card. It could either claim the surprise victory, especially with its various status moves like Sleep/Poison Powder and Synthesis, or get just as stomped as it did in the original episode, especially if it tries to take Charizard on primarily. For now though, I feel a bit more comfortable going with Charizard.

Red VS Tai

I’m so interested in seeing how this works out like “Red VS Tai” instead of “Charizard VS Greymon, kinda”. Red does have Charizard of course, but also the other two fully evolved starters, as well as ‘Mons like Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Lapras, and if you include Pokémon Origins, he also has the Legendary Birds and, oh idk, Mewtwo! Red has a lot of stuff to work with, and from what I’ve been told, has easy CT scaling from battling a trainer who owns an Arceus. It doesn’t help that Digimon, while powerful as a franchise, appears to suffer from cross-scaling issues, similar to Final Fantasy. So Tai would only scale to feats from his own series, rather than getting fully comped. With that being said, I have no idea how this goes, but fortunately there is a blog coming out that’s being worked on by some respected researchers in this community, so I’m gonna make it easier on myself and just go No Contest. I’ve seen enough people going both ways that I don’t feel comfortable choosing myself just yet.

Lucario VS Renamon

So I don’t think anyone’s seriously looked into this much, but I’ve talked with a couple Digimon peeps about this, and they told me that Renamon is the Digimon equivalent to a Charmander. If that’s true, then I imagine Lucario still takes this. With Aura allowing for a Spider-Sense-like warning, stat boosting moves, and if we’re allowing Mega Lucario, Ash’s was able to beat Cynthia’s Garchomp. Then again, if you do that, then Digivolution is probably on the table as well, and then that creates a whole other can of worms. But anyway, with a Fighting-Type skill, precog with Aura, and a probable stat advantage on top of buffs, I think this is still Lucario’s to win.

Goro VS Machamp

Machamp should probably still take this one, I feel. Goro’s definitely got skill, experience, and size on his side, but Machamp counters stuff like his arm blades with Knock Off, and his fire breath with Guts, and is definitely physically superior, especially when looking at a more apex Machamp, which would include Bea’s, who gave Ash’s Lucario a hard time, even when Mega Evolved. I know that Titans and Elder Gods in Mortal Kombat get some crazy stats, but I kinda doubt Goro would scale to all that. Even if he did, I imagine CT scaling through Ash’s Lucario would probably surpass it. 

Conclusion

Wow, there was a lot here. And you know how the saying goes, “You win some, you lose some.” Now I don’t claim to be an expert on any of this, and there’s a lot of these I could be very wrong about, but I feel relatively good about most of these. I’m willing to hear any counter arguments, just obviously be civil about it, but I’m again working off of what I’ve seen(which isn’t everything) and heard(which could be wrong). But I want to say thanks for joining me on this ride, and if you watch my podcast, thanks for a fun 2024 and a great 2025! Here’s to an even better 2026! We still got a couple more Kickstarter matchups left, and I can confirm I’m on one of them…we’ll see when that one comes up. Until then, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and I’ll talk to you all next time! Bye everybody!