Awesome / DEATH BATTLE! (Season One)

The manliest piledriver you will ever witness.

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• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Five)
• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Six)
• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Seven)
• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Eight)
• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Nine)
• DEATH BATTLE! (Season Ten)

Akuma vs Shang Tsung

• Shang Tsung transforms into Akuma and gains the upper hand. He goes for the finishing blow... and Akuma catches him mid-strike with the Raging Demon.

Haggar vs Zangief

• Two paragons of Manliness falling off a building at terminal velocity while both perform a spinning piledriver on each other. It ends as a swirling ball of Briefs, Boots, Trousers, and Men impacting the ground.

Zitz vs Leonardo

• Leonardo's fighting skills. Not only did he strategize a incredible plan to get all three of his brothers killed. (including Donnie and Raph no less!), but he also managed to defeat an equalily powerful leader of another team, by viewing his surrounding, and sneaking up on Zitz, while killing him. There's a reason why Leo's the leader of TMNT.

Yoshi vs Riptor

• The fact that Yoshi, an adorable little dinosaur from a cutesy series, basically delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to Riptor, a terrifying and extremely powerful raptor basically bred for fighting.

Vegeta vs Shadow

• Both Vegeta and Shadow's Transformation Sequences into their Golden Super Modes, with the orchestra swelling in the background for each of them.
• Super Vegeta punching the moon at Super Shadow. Made even more epic by the fact it was accompanied by Bruce Faulconer's "Destruction" from the Funimation dub of DBZ.
• The fact that the voice actor of Vegeta is the voice of Abridged Vegeta of TFS.
• Even though Shadow was completely outmatched, if it were anyone else in Vegeta's position who couldn't breathe in space or underwater, Shadow would have won.
• When Vegeta pushed the moon towards the Earth, Shadow uses all his power. In other words, Shadow lost by Heroic Sacrifice.
• Vegeta's the first being to ever defeat Super Shadow. In contrast to his usual role, it's quite impressive.

Mario vs Sonic

• Two of the greatest rivals in video game history fighting each other to the death. And it's as every bit as glorious as it sounds. Especially the montage where they start bringing the Final Boss music of Super Mario Galaxy 2.
• Despite losing the battle, you gotta give it to Mario for being able to use the Metal Cap, Starman, and Giant Mushroom to tank Super Sonic. Super Sonic could barely even move Mario in his powered-up forms, while Mario was actively knocking Sonic around, all with a carefree look on his face.

Starscream vs Rainbow Dash

• G4!Rainbow Dash vs. G1!Starscream. A pony fighting a giant robot. It's a very unbalanced battle. Starscream had no chance. Rainbow Dash outmaneuvered him, turned his missiles against him, destroyed him, and then ate his spark.
• Boomstick sums up the entire match with his famous line: "This is a pony! A baby horse girl toy! Why is it so awesome?!" This very quote is now at the top of the "Awesome" page for MLP TV Tropes entry.

Wily vs Eggman

• Wily vs. Eggman is perhaps the highest scale Death Battle in the series' history with multiple animated robots attacking each other. And it's every bit as epic as it sounds. This scale was actually the main reason Ben decided to do this episode. Every time he tried to get an animator on board for death battle, he was shot down. As such Ben decided to make a battle that was so big and showed such high demand for these kinds of episodes that his boss would finally allow him to hire an animator for death battle and it worked!.
• When Wily taunts that his infantry is better, Eggman replies, "No matter. Get a load of this!" Cue the badniks wrecking Wily's infantry.
  E-101 Beta Mk. II: Target confirmed.
• Not to be outdone, Wily immediately follows up by sending in the Robot Masters— who proceed to soundly defeat the Badniks with some very effective coordination and teamwork.
• Of all the characters in the sprawling Robot War, Sheep Man manages to earn one. He's mostly just seen hanging about and minding his own business amidst all the chaos, until Scratch and Grounder charge in to attack. After dodging out of the resulting Big Ball of Violence, Sheep Man simply floats down as they're bickering and blasts them both with lightning to incapacitate them. All three of them then get promptly mown down by Silver Sonic afterward, but still.

Peach vs Zelda

• The battle's climax. The princesses have a projectile war with Peach's turnips and Zelda's fireballs. All of a sudden, the Sleepy Time sheep that Peach had cast earlier lands on Zelda, knocking her out. Peach jumps back, grows wings and kicks Zelda in the face so hard that her head explodes!

Link vs Cloud

• Animated with 3D graphics rather than sprites, exceptionally close, no way to tell who would win, and possibly the longest battle yet. What's not to like? Except the result, for Cloud fans?
• Becomes even more awesome in retrospect when Ben reveals in this blog that it wasn't even meant to be 3D. Ben had given Lange all the sprites and assets for a 2D battle and then didn't hear from Lange until he was given the episode's animation near the release date. Lange took on the challenge of a 3D episode despite only being expected to put out a 2D episode.
• The final exchange of blows is the crown jewel: Link blocking the Omni Slash by parrying every strike, slashing Cloud in a Single-Stroke Battle, bombing him and finishing with his down-stab Meteor Move from Zelda 2.
• The reason for the outcome? Link used strategy to outmaneuver and defeat Cloud.

Batman vs Spider-man

• While it was ultimately Spider-Man's victory, Batman outsmarted him throughout almost the entire battle, barely giving Spidey any breathing room.
• Batman destroying all of the lights inside the skyscraper, because that's exactly the kind of thing he would do in the situation he was in.
• Spidey rapidly firing web balls at Batman until the Caped Cruasder got knocked back into a giant web, then finishing him off by using himself as a human slingshot.
  Spider-Man: HAVING FUN YET!? IT'S ALL OR NOTHIN'!!
• Spidey's own reaction after delivering the coup de grace also counts as one.
  Spider-Man: Sorry about that.
• There's also the idea that Spider-Man was keeping up with the quips the entire fight, even during the portions when Batman had the upper hand. The webslinger really wasn't scared of the Dark Knight.

Goku vs. Superman

• The reveal. At first, there's darkness. Then, as a familiar voice chants the name of his most famous attack, a peculiar shape is partially shadowed by the glow of energy gathering. When the beam is finally released, the shape is revealed to be the symbol of the world's most famous superhero. This makes Wiz and Boomstick go absolutely wild.
• Much like Shadow vs. Vegeta, they lined up a pair of well-known internet voice actors for the fight, this time being MasakoX of Team Four Star and It'sJustSomeRandomGuy of I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC.
• Think there was a Schedule Slip? That's because they've been researching everything about these characters, doing their most thorough analysis yet to provide the ultimate, irrefutable, and unquestionable answer to this most ancient of fandom rivalries, with the release date of 12-21-12, just to expound the significance. As of 12/21/12, there has been a Schedule Slip. This is because Lange is taking a while to animate the fight. However, it's thanks to this slip that we are let in on some info about this Death Battle that's never been done in any Death Battle before: Half-hour. That's right, this Death Battle is going to be about 3 or 4 times longer than the average Death Battle!
• The very premise itself. Son Goku, the anime hero and cultural icon of Japan, versus Superman, the superhero and cultural icon of the United States! No way!
• The first thing before the death battle actually begins? The famous "No More Holding Back" Speech itself followed by Superman going all out.
• Superman not being the least impressed at Goku's After Image technique.
• How the battle went from lighthearted and comical to the two heroes having a friendly spar to getting more and more heated by the minute the more serious both became and the soundtrack and animation (dark clouds, the blackness of space) helped set the ambiance. Even Goku's voice darkened after his final transformation.
• Every time Goku transformed beyond the initial Kaio Ken.
• "You think this is a game? I haven't even begun to play..."
• Goku Dragonthrowing Superman.
• Following Goku going SS4: Goku's Beam-O-War with Superman's heat vision bolstered by the soundtrack playing at the time. And the climactic battle-ending punch of Goku's Dragon Fist VS Superman's Infinite Mass Punch.
• Goku slamming Superman to the ground with his Power Pole and then Superman grabbing said Power Pole and using it to slam Goku (Who was on the other side of the pole) into the ground.
• Both warriors firing energy attacks at each other from near point blank range. By point blank we mean at the face!
• Superman smashing a car onto Goku's head in a Shout-Out to Superman's earliest comic cover.
• Superman powering straight through Goku's Kamehameha and smashing him into the core of the earth.
• The main theme for Goku vs Superman, created by The Blake Robinson Synthetic Orchestra. It really gets everyone who waited so long for this legendary fight all hyped up, and makes the episode seem like an epic movie.

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