With a series as long as DEATH BATTLE! and bringing in many memetic series into the fights, the show itself would have a lot of memes.
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General
- Wiz's proclamation of Gaara's sand being "still sand" and nothing out of the ordinary has spawned a large array of "X is still X" jokes on the Screwattack forums... mostly taking the piss out of the meme's origin.
- "Hoo boy, here comes the rage from the "X" fanboys!" said by Boomstick in Kratos vs. Spawn has since then become a widely used statement across both YouTube comments and the Screwattack forums.
- "Pillars" has become an inside joke of mockery, pillar related feats are strangely used for a lot characters who, by the Versus Community majority and research team, should not have won, examples being Link, Yang, and Ganondorf. This has led to the joke that pillars are god-tier feats.
- Subverted for Ragna. He was shown in his analysis tanking a punch through SEVERAL pillars... and still lost.
- A sub-meme from the pillar feats is "You tanked a/an X? Yeah well I TANKED A PILLAR!"
- Death Battle is biased against X! Both are used genuinely by fans of franchises with a bad track record and sarcastically by those who make fun of people who say Death Battle just prefers whoever wins their fight.
- "Watch the episode better" or some variation is often used by Ben Singer as his retort to those questioning/countering his verdict, first appearing in his (now defunct) ask.fm account. As to be expected, the community picked up on this quickly. And even more to be expected, it's yet another mockery meme.
- "If you had an X that could beat Y, would you even want him?" from Boomstick at the end of Goku vs. Superman 2. Usually in response to stomp battles or battles that are jokingly labeled as a stomp. The most common retort to this common post is either a continuation of the quote from the episode, a bastardization of said continued quote, or a Blunt "Yes".
- SPOILER: The [Insert shared quality between the fighters here] wins. ExplanationOne of the most popular jokes to do in the comments and the like, such as "The black guy wins" for Balrog vs. TJ. or "The robot wins" for Metal Sonic vs. Zero. It's especially popular to do before the fight even airs since both those combatants have those qualities and it does nothing to say anything about who wins.
- The fight's inaccurate. [Insert Character here] didn't say [Insert Catchphrase here]!/ Where was all the [Insert meme here]? ExplanationPeople joke that the fights are inaccurate when the characters don't do or say something that theyāre memetically known for doing. Examples include Vergil not saying "Now I'm motivated" or "Scum", fighting game characters not spamming the same special moves over and over, Mitsuru not using Marin Karin, or (perhaps the most popular one) the Naruto episodes not having Filler, Flashbacks, Inner Monologues, or Talk no Jutsu, other characters watching the fight and saying how strong they've gotten, Crash Bandicoot not saying "Woah" upon death, Pit not saying "I'M FINISHED!" upon death, Dragon Ball characters not spending their entire fights standing there talking or powering up, Steven Universe not crying or trying to reason with Star Butterfly for a whole season, etc.
- "This was an extremely close match." Explanation Wiz quite often says this statement (or a variation) during the verdict. While it may be true in some cases, most of the time the matches are far from close and the statement ends up followed by feats outclassing the loser by several orders of magnitude. Often accompanied by "Well, yes, but actually no." Brought up and parodied during the post-fight analysis of Spongebob Squarepants vs. Superfriends Aquaman, with Wiz saying the words before going 'gotcha!' and explaining why Spongebob curbstomped Aqauaman.
- Non-Violent endings. Explanation A lot of the fights happen due to Excuse Plot reasons. It's quite often to see comments showing what would happen if some of the flimsy (and downright petty) reasons for fighting didn't happen. Examples include Sasuke respecting Hiei's private business, Tatsumaki guiding Mob to his destination, Zuko and Shoto Todoroki bonding with each other over their similarities, Venom respecting Crona's request to be alone, Ben being his more rational UAF self and going along with Hal to Oa for trial, Rock Lee asking Sanji for some hot sauce, and Jon Talbain forgiving Sabrewulf and offering to help him with his lycanthropy.
- "By now you probably heard of Blue Apron." Explanation For many years, Death Battle was sponsored by Blue Apron, and due to how frequent the ad was, it lead many members of the fanbase to remember the wording. Even when Death Battle stopped announcing Blue Apron, many in the comments will react in shock about this.
- "Wait out the Super Mode/Form Change."ExplanationUsually the host justification for why characters with the ability to change into a more powerful form usually don't end up mattering much in the end, as their opponent can easily wait for the form to run out until they're back into a more manageable form (or in the case of Rock Lee, turned to dust from opening the Eighth Gate). On both sides of the spectrum, it's used by detractors to mock the apparent bias the hosts have against characters with the ability to form change since it relies on the fallacy that the opponents can survive the onslaught in the first place, while those who agree with the logic use it to regard any character with a form change as a Memetic Loser. This cost Shadow his first two battles, Mario his first, and Archie Sonic his.
- Bad Luck Charms Explanation (Spoilers)Some viewers note the recurring losses of characters with a particular property and consider that property of a bad-luck charm. Examples include characters voiced by Nicholas Andrew Louie (until the end of Season 8), Mega Man Classic characters, Power Rangers' Zords (the series went 0-3 and Jason Lee Scott got their first win without a Zord), Son Goku (the first combatant to lose four times without a single win whereas Batman managed to win once), Mega Man X characters (after Season 4), One for All users, Batman (the first combatant to lose three times), characters officially voiced by Tara Strong (In order of character's first appearance plus linking the shows she first voiced the characters: Batman (she only voiced young Bruce Wayne but it still counts since Batman is 1 win and 3 losses), Twilight Sparkle (lost to Raven, who Tara first voiced in Teen Titans (2003)), Ben Tennyson who lost to Hal Jordan, Barbara Gordon who lost to Spider-Gwen, Harley Quinn who lost to Jinx, Scarlet Witch (lost to Zatanna, who Tara first voiced in Zatanna Trial Of The Crystal Wand), and Jean Grey (who lost to Raven like Twilight did). Only Billy Batson avoided a loss by defeating Carol Danvers), characters officially played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Street Fighter characters (after Season 1), Soulcalibur characters, Bleach characters, non-Autobot Transformers, characters voiced by Brent Mukai, and the character who does not appear in the YouTube Shorts for the next time (up to the middle of Season 10).
- More measured feats before fight equals losing ExplanationA common trend noticed by viewers is that the loser will have more of their feats will be measured pre-battle while the post-analysis will reveal that the winner has much better feats and/or counters to justify the victory. This makes the victor very obvious in most cases before the fight animation is played.
- Death Battle hates Naruto.ExplanationThe Naruto franchise had one of the worst track records in DB history: 4 wins and 5 losses over ten seasons. Also, the second Naruto character to win (Might Guy) dies in the process due to the Eighth Gate. This comes up again in Sanji vs Rock Lee, as Lee's use of the Eighth Gate would have killed him even if he won. That said, this has started to die down by Season 10, as Obito's win against Darth Vader has elevated the series' win-loss ratio compared to several others such as Bleach, who are 0-2 with both losses against Naruto characters ironically.
- 0-2 Club Explanation (Spoilers)Some bad-luck charms apply to the characters themselves, having two Death Battle appearances with different opponents and not getting a win. Examples include Charizard, Mega Man Classic, Hulk, Lex Luther, and Darth Vader. Shadow also fell into the category until the battle with Ryuko.
- The DC Slaughterhouse. Explanation DC's only losses prior to Harley Quinn vs Jinx have come from Marvel properties. Against anything else that isn't from Marvel, DC had a perfect winning streak. The win-streak was broken when Harley Quinn was pitted against Jinx and lost, and broken again later the same season with Superfriends Aquaman getting curb-stomped by SpongeBob SquarePants.
- Son Goku is a bad luck charm. ExplanationSon Goku had four appearances on the show (Goku vs Superman, Goku vs Superman 2, Goku Black vs Reverse-Flash, and Goku vs Superman 3) and all four resulted in him dying. In fact, his first win by technicality (Gogeta vs Vegito), has the fusion between him and Vegeta fight another fusion of him and Vegeta, so even when he wins, he still loses. What's more, the hosts also confirmed that yes, SpongeBob beats Goku. The only exceptions, technically, are Heracles vs Sun Wukong and Lucario vs Renamon, due to both Wukong and Lucario sharing many similarities with Goku, which includes being voiced by Sean Schemmel.
- Fan predictions are always wrongExplainationThe outcomes that most fans predicted for Stitch VS Rocket Raccoon, Vader VS Obito, Phoenix VS Raven, and Bill Cipher VS Discord (being that Rocket, Vader, Phoenix, and Discord would win their respective battles) all turned out to be wrong. While this isn't the first time this has happened, the fact that it happened three times in a row turned it into a meme, only strengthening when Bill Cipher VS Discord continued the streak with Bill coming out on top.
- The Edward Bosco slaughterhouse. ExplanationEvery character that has been voiced by him won with the exception of Courage the Cowardly Dog and even then, Courage never lost in his battle, as the actual loser was deemed to be Eustace Bagge
- (Cates)ExplanationDue to recent events in Donny Cates' run of Venom featuring him taking on symbiote gods themselves, people were expecting Venom to win against Crona based on them. Even though Venom ultimately lost, people still joked about Cates Venom being a Memetic Badass and used (Cates) as a joking label for an alternate version of a character who is far above the original.
- Remember, it comes down to who can survive more TNT.ExplanationThe hosts frequently use TNT as a comparison to in-universe attacks or disasters that characters survived as a way of determining how tough and/or durable they are. Generally, the more durable character has an advantage (and thus often wins) since their opponent is less likely to deal enough damage to kill them.
- HalpostingExplanationAfter Ben 10 vs Green Lantern, it's become a tradition on /co/ to respond to any topic or post about Ben with an image of Hal derisively mocking him (what a chump, pathetic, what crusty smegma, etc). Having lasted for a year and a half at the time of this posting, it's since mutated into Wallyposting following Flash vs Sonic.
- The Hulk is the only guy I know that can have fun with Umar...FOR 12 HOURS!ExplanationOne of the Hulk's most impressive showings is going nearly 12 hours with Umar, Dormmammu's sister and ruler of the Dark Dimension, albeit a Destructo-Nookie.
- Ness vs Sans ExplanationAfter the infamous MatPat video, many fans have joked (or not) about wanting Ness and Sans to actually fight. Died down quite a bit after the match ended up becoming a DBX.
- Amity vs Springtrap ExplanationFollowing Ness vs Sans becoming a DBX, this matchup became the new joke one, most likely due to how out there the concept is.
- Junko Enoshima vs William Afton ExplanationFollowing the popularity of Amity vs Springtrap, this derivative started making appearances. Much like similar past matchups like Walter White vs Light Yagami, both combatants are scarily similar to one another; both are two Legacy Character masterminds behind several events(the Killing Games and the Fazbear Inc incidents), have connections to a robotic bear(Monokuma and Freddy) and are still major influences to their series even when dead. It's seeking a resurgence since of recent activity as of writing, Brandon Yates has made a commissioned matchup theme for the two, Trapped In Despair.
- Columbo on his own. But mostly vs Kira. ExplanationA popular fan matchup is Columbo vs Light Yagami, and especially in season 10 there have been a lot of Columbo jokes. He shows up in Bill vs Discord, Gojo vs Makima, Courage Vs Scooby-Doo and Rick Sanchez vs the Doctor. Albeit in the last one itās an arcade cabinet out of order.
- Similar themed combatants alone do not make for good fights. ExplanationThe matchups are usually decided by how similar the combatants are in terms of themes since day one with the exception of massive fan-requested fights, which has led to many Curb Stomp Battles to the point that it is not even worth watching due to how obvious who the winner will be from the announcement alone. This peaked in Korra Vs Storm where the winner was so obvious that the former's fans are wondering why wasn't the matchup wasn't against a fairer opponent. Subverted in Omni-Man vs. Homelander, where everyone knew that the former would easily crush the latter but most were happy with it due to the latter being a vile, despicable person who thoroughly deserved it.
- Universal Shockwaves ExplanationFans have taken note of how nearly every episode with a Dragon Ball character that took part in Dragon Ball Super has brought up Goku and Beerus creating shockwaves in their clash for strength feats, with Goku Black almost immediately bringing up the feat in his analysis the second Goku was brought up. It's become a common joke for fans to bring up the feat whenever a Dragon Ball character is mentioned, or if Goku is even mentioned in conversation. And when Trunks from Dragon Ball Heroes was announced to be fighting Silver, fans were expecting the much crazier feats from there to overshadow this feat so it wouldn't have to show up... Only for it to show up anyways in Trunks' analysis. And later on in Gogeta vs. Vegito, fans were quick to bring up the humor how the feat wasn't mentioned.
- Base-Form Naruto ExplanationSimilar to the shockwave feat from Dragon Ball Super being used for almost every modern Dragon Ball character, the time Naruto's chakra was extracted and blew up the moon in The Last: Naruto the Movie is brought up in most Naruto character analyses, being joked about to a similar degree. Boomstick even addresses this in All Might VS Might Guy, saying "God damn, we can never get away from this little twerp, can we?"
- Lasers ExplanationLasers have quite the reputation on Death Battle, since whenever a character has dodged a laser in their series, it means they can move and react at least near the speed of light.
- Golden Tree feats ExplanationThe term used whenever a combatant is given an impressive sounding feat during their analysis, before revealing after the fight that it was actually wasn't as impressive as it seemed. The term was coined in Beast VS Goliath, where they stated that Beast lifted a solid gold oak tree in his analysis, before revealing after the fight that he didn't actually lift the entire thing off the ground. Some notable examples include them saying that Knuckles the Echidna punched the moon and moved it before revealing he only destroyed a receiver controlling the moon's flight path, Scout being able survive three rockets at once before revealing that rocket's point of impact was never directly shown, Twilight Sparkle being able lift the moon and the sun before revealing she could only do so when she had the magic of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Cable being able to keep up with the Silver Surfer in a fight before revealing that once the Silver Surfer got serious he lost pretty quickly, and Hulk being able fight the One Below All before revealing that he only actually bought himself some time by getting rid of his avatar.
- Inappropriate Timing Spongebob 2 ExplanationWhen Spongebob Squarepants himself was announced to be taking on Superfriends Aquaman in Death Battle, fans took to making various Spongebob-related memes right away. And one of these memes was the Inappropriate Timing Spongebob meme, making a resurgence after Korra Vs Storm as people proceeded to edit it over more death scenes, in particular the death from the previous episode Trunks VS Silver.
- The Star Wars win-loss pattern ExplanationNot counting the Samus vs. Boba remaster, Star Wars has had a consistent lose-win-lose-win and so on pattern since the series' very first episode and spanning as far as Season 10. In short, Star Wars has yet to recieve 2 losses in a row or 2 wins in a row and remains one of Death Battle's most consistent patterns, talk about "bringing balance to the force".
- Wanna know how the Star Wars combatant fares? Check what happened to the previous oneExplanation Semi-commonly seen on the series' subreddit
- Tinfoiler Explanation Since battle music tracks often released before the battles, some viewers listen to better guess who would win. The term "tinfoiler" itself is coined in the backwards message of "Deciphering Discord" from Bill Cipher VS Discord, which talked about how music doesn't necessarily decide the victory. Still, some tracks like track music for battles like Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai and Aang VS Edward Elric have obvious musical references to the winner at the end, though there have been subversions like Batman VS Iron Man, in which the melody of Batman's theme is played at the very end of "Suit Yourself" even though Iron Man won.
- It smells like bitch in here. ExplanationThis phrase is commonly used in conjunction with a winner proclaiming that over losers in the same series, particularly on opposite sides. Examples include Frieza doing so to Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks (sometimes with "bitch" replaced by "monkey"), Eustace doing it to all the other losers of Season 10, and Optimus Prime doing so to Transformers villains like so◊, none of whom won their respective battles.
Seasons 1- 7
- The reasoning for Superman's first two victories, "No Limits", is almost always brought up during a debate of him and his opponent, usually with a lot of snark among the fans.
- No Limits Man[[labelnote: Explanation]]A mostly mocking nickname given to Superman following the backlash of how it was deduced that he won.
- āFor Kirby, it was Thursday.ā Explanation A common response to Kirby vs Majin Buu, since the former battles, and defeats galaxy destroying entities on a fairly regular basis (read: in every single game).
- For some reason, Tifa's death just seemed to get a lot more attention, with many people taking fanart of it and pasting on a Boomstick-style pun.
- Despite the controversy of the scene, Tai punching and then kicking Red is also a minor meme. Unbiased or non-raging fans even declare the scene to be absolutely funny.
- "Super Lava" from Bowser vs. Ganondorf has quickly become a great mockery-related meme, as the de facto example for downplaying and contradiction in Death Battle.note Wiz outright said that Bowser has survived normal lava, falling into a star, a supernova, and a black hole, making him one of the most durable combatants yet. At the end of the episode, Boomstick suggests that Bowser's death in New Super Mario Bros. DS was due to "super lava" given the inconsistency with the above durability feats. Fans interpreted this as them greatly downplaying Bowser's durability with Dry Bowser-related shenanigans, to no success among the Versus Community.
- Mewtwo vs Shadow has generated many spoon-related memes. Explanation How Mewtwo vs Shadow ends. Mewtwo wipes Shadow's mind and then...impales him with a giant spoon. While the way it ended is contested, much like PokƩmon vs Digimon, many fans found it absolutely hilarious.
- Kano is 0-1.ExplanationA couple people decided to ironically count Kano's Death by Cameo in "Cammy vs. Sonya" as a part of his win to loss ratio...despite the fact he has yet to be an official Death Battle competitor, making him among the many Memetic Loser's among the fanbase.
- Tracer VS Scout
- "The point of impact is never directly shown" Explanation Flared up very quickly as a sarcastic response to any character surviving an explosion, no matter how blatant the displayed feat is.
- "The Soldier can't actually rocket jump" is a semi-common sarcastic response in the TF2 community after the hosts argue that the BLU team get killed easily by a single rocket, so the RED team must be the exact same and Soldier can't really rocket jump... and his rocket jump in "Meet The Soldier" wasn't directly shown.
- Amy Rose vs Plank Explanation As a hint to Amy's opponent (Ramona Flowers), Ben posted a picture of Scott Pilgrim comic books stacked together from the side. The picture in question ended up looking like a piece of wood, with some people jokingly guessing that it was a hint at Ramona, because of how Pilgrims used wood and Ramona's from Scott Pilgrim.
- After one of Metal Sonic's attacks (V. Maximum Overdrive) was shown to involve blasting forward at high speeds, people immediately compared it to another meme from Spongebob Squarepants courtesy of Plankton stealing a Krabby Patty. It only got more popular when the outcome of the fight was shown:
Metal Sonic: "You'll never beat me,
Zero! Not if I shift into...
V. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE!" (slice) "...I knew I should have gotten the turbo."
- Raven vs. Twilight Sparkle's a pretty strong matchup. Explanation An awful pun used very often in comments when talking about Raven vs. Twilight Sparkle, as both are voiced by Tara Strong and how completely unexpected the matchup seemed.
- Patrick Star: Touch. Explanation Kenshiro kills Jotaro with a single touch.
- The bizarre split-second in Sora vs. Pit where Sora gets cartoonishly punched in the face by Pit's Upperdash Arm. Some people thought it looked wrong and out of place, while other people thought it was one of the funniest moments in Death Battle.
- Pretty much anything related to Doctor Fate regarding pizza thanks to the dub over they did for the Doctor Strange vs Doctor Fate preview.
- Ryu VS Jin
- Ryu vs Jin is canon to RWBY. ExplanationThe second half of the Ryu vs Jin animation takes place in the Vault from RWBY Volume 5, the same place where Cinder and Raven fought.
- Yang's got the Satsui No Hado. ExplanationYang's Semblance is often linked to her rage, not unlike Ryu tapping into his Evil Ryu form, and both are usually depicted with glowing red eyes and a flaming aura. With the above theory that this fight is RWBY canon, some fans quickly decided that the true source of Yang's Semblance is the Satsui No Hado
- SO LONG, GAY HEDGEHOG! ExplanationMario tosses Sonic to the ground while yelling "So long-a, hedgehog!" during their second fight. Like "So long, Kinga Bowser!" before it, it got misheard thanks to Mario's accent.
- This shot from the Mega Man Battle Royale has been used as a meme similar to Abbacchio joins in the beatdown, or mocking the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3. NoteAll of the other Mega Men got third games, with Star Force only barely making it with Star Force 3 as his last game.
- Ben 10 VS Green Lantern
- "Ew! I stepped in loser!" Explanation A one-liner said by Ben as Way Big when stepping on Hal and used by Hal when crushing Ben with a giant boot.
- Scissors Explanation Hal Jordan wins the fight by traveling back to before the fight started and cutting off Ben's arm with a pair of scissors. Detractors of the episode often bring up the humiliating killing blow when arguing that Ben was misrepresented.
- "Time, huh? Thanks for the tip."Explanation What Hal Jordan says before going back in time to kill Ben. Often a line brought up whenever someone uses time travel in a battle, such as the later Cable Vs Booster Gold and Flash Vs Sonic, or whenever someone says "Thanks for the tip.". It's to the point where the Death Battle producers themselves noticed it had become a meme (With fans spamming the infamous green boot emote or the quote in the livestream chat whenever time got brought up), and a shirt of the meme with the infamous boot was made as well!.
- This shot of Weiss was pretty funny, but others have taken the liberty to edit it into... NSFW◊ variations◊.
- Ghost Rider vs. Lobo:
- "Bowser vs. Ganon but not BS" Explanation How many people summarized the verdict of Ghost Rider vs. Lobo, since both Ghost Rider and Ganon won for similar reasons, one of which was a weakness that can only be exploited by holy weapons. Ghost Rider's was deemed more acceptable since it's stated only God himself can kill Ghost Rider for good, so it's not as much of a stretch as with Ganon, and unlike Ganon being far weaker than Bowser in terms of raw power, Zarathos outclassed Lobo physically by several orders of magnitude anyways, so a holy weapon wouldn't make much of a difference.
- Ghost Rider was wreaking vengeance on DC. ExplanationThis episode broke DC's streak of seven wins in a row, the longest streak (winning or losing) in Death Battle history.
- Dragonzord vs. Mechagodzilla:
- The fight spawned Avengers: Infinity War jokes, specifically "You should have gone for the head"ExplanationDragonzord's fighting mode successfully stabs Mechagodzilla, but not a fatal area, allowing it to use the Absolute Zero Cannon at point-blank range. This also extended to other fights where the eventual loser stabs his/her opponent in the chest or shoulder instead of the head (such as Kratos vs Spawn, He-Man vs Lion-O, Wolverine vs Raiden, The Shredder vs Silver Samurai, Weiss Schnee vs Mitsuru Kirijo, and Sasuke vs Hiei). and "I don't feel so good".ExplanationThe Fighting Mode Dragonzord is reduced to ice dust that blows away.
- Kiryu goes berserk because the Dragonzord killed his waifu.
- Wally West vs. Archie Sonic:
- Batgirl spammed Death Battle requests.ExplanationAt the start of Batgirl vs Spider-Gwen, Batgirl is shown watching She-Ra vs Wonder Woman and requesting Hulk vs Broly. Doubles as Hilarious in Hindsight, since Hulk vs Broly is Season 7's finale.
- Hulk Smash? More like belongs in the trash! ExplanationThe Hulk lost in both of his episodes. The first one, Hulk vs. Doomday, was a Foregone Conclusion due to Doomsday's adaptability. In the second one, Hulk vs. Broly, Broly was calculated to be millions of times stronger than Hulk.
Season 8
Because of the anniversary nature of this Season, practically every episode has spawned some sort of meme or joke.
- Yoda's death at the hands of Mickey along with their fight as a whole has become joked by fans as the story of how Disney claimed ownership of Star Wars.
- Shadow has to kill his waifu ExplanationJokes about how Shadow has a crush on Ryuko and is forced to kill her started coming out after the fight was announced, thanks to this tweet from the official Sonic Twitter account. This gets lampshaded in the post-fight analysis after Shadow's victory, with the clip even being played on screen and the hosts giving a "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer.
- FOOT DIVE! ExplanationJust like in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Doctor Doom performing several Diving Kicks while yelling "FOOT DIVE!" each time led to countless memes and jokes about it, generally with Doom being Photoshopped foot-diving other Death Battle combatants.
- "Don't say it..." ExplanationHeihachi's response to Geese when he realizes the latter is about to drop another one of his signatures "Predictable!"s in an attack. Often used in response to rapidly used memes such as the above "Time, huh?"
- Likes: Reading, Tuna, Yang ExplanationBlake's analysis info has this as a small note. The RWBY FNDM went wild at seeing Death Battle add onto the Ship Tease between the two.
- Sparring Match = KILL ExplanationA lot of viewers found humor in the fact that similar to All Might Vs Might Guy, Iron Fist Vs Po ended up becoming a Death Battle after a sparring match between the two led to Po outright disintegrating Iron Fist in the Spirit Realm.
- Star committing mass murder ExplanationDuring Star's battle with Steven, a lot of people noticed Star becoming a full-on Person of Mass Destruction as she not only kills Steven with her laser spell but also takes out the Watermelon Stevens and her own summons too. Coupled with her Never Live It Down act of destroying all magic in the multiverse in her show's finale (and causing an implied genocide of magic beings), it's not uncommon for people to make memes of Star killing other people with lasers ala Galeem from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- Cloud Strife, Pot Protector ExplanationLink shattering pots and Cloud going through the trouble of setting a thrown pot down was already a comedic moment, but fans couldn't help but riff on it further. There have even been jokes about the pots being crucial to the results, like Cloud beating Link for the sake of the pots' safety or being given considerable power by a Pot God to end Link's rampage.
- Clearly, you don't own an air fryer. ExplanationA meme borrowed from the Marvel Cinematic Universe fanbase, many Iron Man fans began using this phrase to celebrate the Golden Avenger's victory in Batman Vs Iron Man.
- From Goku Black vs Reverse-Flash:
- Zoomposting ExplanationAs with his own franchise, Reverse Flash's announcement to be in Death Battle against Goku Black has led numerous fans to begin spreading the DC speedster's Memetic Troll status, leading to all sorts of theories on how he'll screw with Goku Black. Some have also joked that Zoom is the reason they're doing DC episodes back to back, with him changing the schedule. When Zoom's preview was uploaded on YouTube, the comments were filled with various complaints about DEATH BATTLE (such as unfair matches they've done, them not doing a certain matchup and of course, complaining about the result of an episode) with Zoom claiming credit for making the episodes that way.
- It was me, Barry! ExplanationSimilar to the above, people have brought this iconic Reverse-Flash meme to the Death Battle fandom, giving credit to Zoom for causing all sorts of things to happen in Death Battle (Results, deaths, calculations, etc.), and some even claiming he did it just to screw with Barry more or to get a chance to kill Iris. This only escalated when the memetic line was used in the Death Battle itself, with it being shown that Eobard was behind the circumstances of Quicksilver's death way back in Season 3 (moving the statue in the way), and only escalated even further when it was revealed Valentine Stokes, the one behind the infamous "I jerked you off at super speed" Zoompost, was voicing Reverse-Flash for the episode.
- Sorry, was that important? ExplanationThe scene where Thawne destroys the Time Ring (pictured above) has become an exploitable meme, with the Time Ring usually being replaced by something else.
- We all know where this is going. ExplanationHeihachi Mishima is known for throwing others off high places and Geese Howard is known for falling from high places. Meanwhile, Star Butterfly has the potential to destroy universes and Steven's last name is Universe.
- Macho Man and Kool-Aid Man falling ExplanationA bit after Macho Man Vs Kool-Aid Man was released, it had become a meme for people to copy and paste the fighting duo (Particularly from their fall into the Kool-Aid Dimension◊) into various scenarios.
- "You thought Alucard would win this Death Battle, BUT IT WAS I, DIO!" Explanation (Spoilers!)Going into the DIO vs. Alucard fight, DIO had many comments in the preview videos of the combatants expressing doubts of whether or not he could truly beat Alucard, and the fact that he has a poor track record in both One Minute Melee (where he lost to Sakuya Izayoi in their match-up before getting unceremoniously knocked away by Kenshiro at the start of his own OMM against Jotaro) and DBX (where lost to Alucard) before this didn't help matters. DIO's actual victory in the Death Battle can thus be summed up with this line against his doubters.
- Akuma vs Shao Kahn
- Ultra Instinct Akuma/Cum Lore Akuma ExplanationShin Akuma's appearance in the episode has his hair glowing completely white, with little to no detail added to it. The jokes were inevitable.
- "Flawless victory", huh? I don't think that means what you think it means.ExplanationShao Kahn caps off his win with his iconic "Flawless victory", but considering he got the crap beaten out of him beforehand, including a hole through his chest, it comes off as less a Badass Boast and more him trying to play off how hard it was.
- "Asses to asses!" ExplanationOni's line "ashes to ashes" has often been misheard as this, thanks to the voice filter and line delivery.
- Korra Vs Storm
- SHE'S FIGHTING WHO!? ExplanationConsidering that Korra's most popular matchups were Rey and Delsin Rowe, the fact she was fighting Storm caught many people off guard, since it's a season that is themed around legacies and many had assumed all the matchups were popular ones.
- Death by Finger Guns Explanation(Spoilers!)Needless to say, not many people were expecting Korra to die from a Boom, Headshot! as a result of Storm effectively finger gunning her lightning back at her.
- Live Execution Explanation Upon the announcement of the battle, A LOT of people knew from the start Korra was going to die to Storm in a Curb-Stomp Battle to end all Curb-Stomp Battles, joking that this was effectively a live execution rather than an actual Death Battle. And sure enough, Storm very decisively won. Furthermore, Storm killed Korra when the latter was in the Avatar state, rendering her Deader than Dead.
- Inappropriate Timing Spongebob Explanation(Spoilers!)Borrowing a meme from the Avatar fandom, specifically from The Legend of Korra's memes, people have begun to edit Spongebob's infamous commercial pop up over Korra's death.
- LowTierGod Storm ExplanationA hand-drawn frame of Storm looks strikingly similar to the infamous "YOU SHOULD KILL YOURSELF...NOW!" meme edit of LowTierGod.
- T-Posing Korra ExplanationA shot of Korra standing with her arms stretched out as she prepares to finish off Storm has been making strides in the community, with the resemblance to the t-pose getting everyone's attention. Becomes even funnier now that Korra is in Fortnite as the bonus reward for Chapter 5 Season 2 which has the infamous T-Pose as a purchasable emote, making it a reality.
- Madara Vs Aizen
- Is there a character that could even possibly EVEN TOUCH Madara Uchiha? ExplanationA copypasta infamous in the Naruto fandom for being used to explain the various powers of Madara in the Vs Debating community. People have begun to post the copypasta around upon the announcement of this Death Battle. This is just the first sentence for reference. Becomes Meme Acknowledgement when the quote is even used in Madara's analysis!
- Death Battle's really about to post Madara Vs Aizen before One Minute Melee even finishes theirs. ExplanationUpon the announcement of Madara and Aizen both being in Death Battle, fans were quick to joke about how 1 Minute Melee hasn't finished their Madara Vs Aizen animation (The battle ended with a to be continued, heavily implying a second part) due to being in a very heavy hiatus, while Death Battle was about to air a complete version of it.
- Aizen's got this planned out all along. ExplanationSimilar to Madara's Memetic Badass status in Naruto, Aizen's iconic and frequent use of the Xanatos Gambit throughout his time in Bleach has made fans joke he had planned for this Death Battle WAY before it came out, and even though he lost to Madara it was all just another part of his plan.
- "Sorry, Bleach fans, I know you all really wanted to win, but unfortunately, this wasn't it." Explanation (Spoilers!)A quote from Wiz after Naruto Vs Ichigo ended in Ichigo losing, used to mock Bleach fans that were really salty about Aizen's loss.
- "Since when were you under the impression that losing against Madara WASNāT part of Aizenās plan?" Explanation (Spoilers!)A variation of the infamous āSince when were you under the impression that [insert text here]ā, which came from one of Aizenās most memorable quotes that illustrates his exceptional skill at Xanatos Speed Chess. Used as a counter-response to mock Naruto fans who mock Bleach fans by implying that Aizen let Madara win to further his own plans.
- Saitama Vs Popeye
- Giga Chad Popeye ExplanationThe 3D model used for Popeye is generating numerous opinions in the community, between it makes Popeye looks like a god or at least looks very similar to the model from the Chad meme, or being just weird. The community is having fun with the closeouts made to his face in the battle, especially making memes between the Virgin Saitama and the Chad Popeye
- "How did you get so strong?!" ExplanationSaitama's excitement in Popeye's incredible power has him asking this. It's a very common joke to replace Popeye's reply "I eats me spinach!" with something else.
Season 9 and Onward
- Scarlet Witch Vs Zatanna
- Give me your phone.ExplanationZatanna's moment of The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You has elicited this meme to come up, particularly with the fact of her reaching through the screen.
- Presentation! ExplanationThe setup of Zatanna one-upping Wanda's growing act has not gone unnoticed by fans of Megamind, with plenty noticing similarities of Zatanna's act to the titular character's, with a giant version of them overshadowing the opponent.
- No witches? Explanation (Spoilers!)Thanks to the above meme bringing the attention of Megamind fans, Zatanna's "No more witches" finisher on Wanda has led to various variations of the film's "No bitches?" meme.
- Thor Speed Dice. Explanation Every time he's bought up, Thor, or rather his hammer, gets exponentially faster. This became a meme to the point where it got a constantly updated Image Macro on 4chan. Take a look◊
- #HomelanderSweep ExplanationIn a similar vein to Morbius (2022) and the #MorbiusSweep meme, people started rooting for Homelander ironically before Omni-Man vs Homelander was released, stating that Homelander will win his fight with Omni-Man, or call the fight a stomp in favor of Homelander, usually accompanied by the hashtag #HomelanderSweep.
- Tetsuo's forehead ExplanationWhen the official thumbnail for Magneto VS Tetsuo was revealed, fans were quick to joke about the size of Tetsuo's forehead on his official render (granted there were very few renders of him that are not fanart), to the point where people photoshop various objects on it.
- Goku VS Superman 3 ExplanationWhen Hercules VS Sun Wukong was announced, many fans were quick to note how the inspirations for Superman and Goku were going to fight, thus making it Goku VS Superman 3 by technicality. Even funnier after Wukong won the fight, and even funnier yet when Goku VS Superman 3 was officially announced for season 10.
- John Yautja ExplanationSince the Predator in the episode is a composite one rather than any one specific Yautja from the franchise, fans have taken to calling him John Yautja, similarly to the "John Halo" meme.
- Black Adam Vs Apocalypse
- The Rock is a bad luck charm Explanation (Spoilers!)Season 9 had two characters whose preview thumbnails were based on film versions played by Dwayne Johnson (Hercules and Black Adam) and both of them died in their respective Death Battles.
- "Ready to rock, eternity will kneel to my COCK!"ExplanationThe lyrics to the track for Black Adam VS Apocalypse, "Fallen Gods" is rife to lyrics that fans joked about, ranging from the Narm-tastic lyrics on paper with killer delivery ("Shape-shift my arm to a big drill, I'm harmin' ya" for instance), the above mentioned comedic misinterpretation of the line "Eternity will kneel to my cause" prior to the lyrics being officially released.
- "Punch the best"ExplanationIn the soundtrack "Fallen Gods", one of Black Adam's various Badass Boast lines is "I'm powerful, I punch the best". With how direct the line is, people have taken to jokingly using the latter half to bluntly describe other characters who are known well for punching really hard.
- Trunks VS Silver
- Warp RingExplanationViewers have taken swiftly to editing Silver's Warp Ring to show a different location, usually showing a meme, another character, or even a scene from another Death Battle. Some edits also include Trunks getting hit by something from the portal, either by it coming out or Silver knocking him into the Warp Ring.
- Trunks' Win StreakExplanation (Spoilers!)Upon the episode's announcement, fans were quick to realize that Trunks' Future counterpart has never lost a battle in all of the prominent VS shows on the internet that he showed up in, with fans claiming he has an untouchable win-streak, and wondering whether or not Archie Silver would be capable of breaking that winstreak... And to the joy and shock of many, he managed to finally give Trunks a loss to his record.
- Gacha ShaftExplanation (Spoilers!)During the fight animation for Trunks VS Silver, Trunks brings out the Hero Switch not by summoning with on-hand cards, but rather by opening a fresh Dragon Ball Heroes card pack.. Only getting base form GT Kid Goku and Pan, as well as Oolong. Fans tend to jokingly state that the episode was wrong simply because of Trunks' bad luck in getting shafted his card pulls, or suggest that he would have won had he pulled better cards.
- Derek Derekman Explanation Due to a majority of the fight in Jason Voorhees vs Michael Myers focusing on a survivor trying to (unsuccessfully) evade the two slashers, many have begun poking fun at the fact that Jason and Michael got Demoted to Extra in their own battle, dubbing the survivor āDerek Derekmanā and acting as is heās the fastest or most powerful character in Death Battle.
- Asta vs Detroit. ExplanationDuring Deku vs Asta, Deku repeatedly uses Detroit Smash on Asta, irritating him, causing him to say āI donāt know what Detroit is, but Iāve had enough of it!ā. Later, after Asta smashes Dekuās corpse into the ground, his Bond One-Liner is āTake that, Detroit!ā. Fans began to jokingly comment that Asta would begin trying to fight the city itself. "Detroit Smash? More like belongs in the trash!"
- Season Of VegetaExplanationWith Season 9 having a total of four Dragon Ball characters, fans have taken quick notice how all of the fighters (Trunks, Gogeta, Vegito, and of course Vegeta himself) have all had some association with the Prince of All Saiyans. Which added a lot of humor in how almost all of them lost, with Vegito only winning by taking out Gogeta, and even that was a hollow victory for Vegeta because A). it was a Mirror Match and B). Boomstick notes that Vegeta's slightly lower power level was the direct cause of Gogeta's defeat.
- "But how about some variety?"ExplanationA line said by Gogeta during his fight with Vegito before transforming into Super Saiyan 4 to match his foe's Super Saiyan Blue. Usually used by fans ironically for this episode due to using two Dragon Ball characters for the season finale while already having two other characters earlier in the season, or just to either joke about something being repeated too often in general or to actually encourage some variety in something.
- "X will win by crawling up Y's ass"ExplanationUpon the reveal for Ant Man vs The Atom, jokes immediately crawled up in reference to a meme that circulated around the release of Avengers: Endgame, about how Ant Man would defeat Thanos by crawling up his ass and expanding outwards. This was even lampshaded at the end of the analysis, and something like that does happen in the battleā¦ except in the most horrifying way possible.
- Guts VS Dimitri:
- "This is what Guts does EVERY SINGLE DAY."ExplanationAt the conclusion analysis of Guts VS Nightmare, which ends in Guts' victory, Boomstick states this line, noting Guts constantly living through brutal hardship as a primary reason of why Guts wins... Despite noting that Nightmare is much more powerful than Guts statwise, with most of the analysis boiling down to this and whether or not Soul Edge could be destroyed. This older analysis leaves modern fans more confused than anything. But when Guts was announced to be returning to fight Dimitri, fans quickly decided to take this meme and run with it, stating Guts would win even if Dimitri was leagues stronger than him because "he fights people stronger than him every single day".
- "He fights people weaker than him every single day!"ExplanationIn response to the above joke, supporters of Dimitri would half jokingly respond this way, taking evidence of Dimitri cutting down entire armies full of commanders and enemies weaker than him throughout both Three Houses and Three Hopes as proof why he'd take down Guts as well, as well as half seriously considering said weaker people would be stronger than Guts thus meaning Dimitri would scale well above the Black Swordsman.
- Dimitri wins because of Weapon Triangle advantageExplainationEven before Guts VS Dimitri was announced as an official episode, many people who discussed the matchup claim that Dimitri has an inherent advantage over Guts due to a Fire Emblem mechanic called the Weapon Triangle where, among other things, swords had a disadvantage against lances. And because Guts's signature Dragonslayer is (technically) a sword, Dimitri with his affinity for lances would win from that fact alone. And funny enough, Dimitri's Swordbreaker skill (which was part of Three Houses's way of emulating the Weapon Triangle) was listed as a means in which he could close the speed gap between him and Guts, and thus win.
- Fire Emblem fans want Dimitri to loseExplainationFollowing the announcement of Guts VS Dimitri, the FE fan base immediately started betting on Guts, not Dimitri, making it one of the only times that a fandom was seemingly against their own character. This is partly due to the fact that FE fans are used to seeing Dimitri die to basic soldiers, while Guts is known as an unkillable Memetic Badass. Come the episode's release, Dimitri proved that said fandom underestimated him.
- The real Beast of Darkness was MrBeastExplainationMany fans (and crew members) were amused that the episode surprisingly managed to surpass the latest Mr. Beast video of the time.
- 0-2 Club GutsExplainationSince most Death Battle fans agree that Guts should have lost to Nightmare back in Season 2, it's popular to joke that Guts is an unofficial member of the 0-2 Club (for combatants that have lost both of their battles).
- Martian Manhunter VS Silver Surfer:
- Happy PiccoloExplainationMartian Manhunter was Piccolo's most talked about matchup, and seen as the most likely should Piccolo appear on the show. It was also quite controversial due to how much of an utter stomp it is for Martian Manhunter. As such, when the episode was unveiled, many Piccolo fans rejoiced at the fact that he would most likely fight someone else who would (hopefully) be more fair.
- Bill Cipher VS Discord
- September 11thExplanationThe long-awaited fan-requested Bill Cipher VS Discord was set to be aired in full on September 11th, 2023, a date that serves as the 22nd anniversary of a certain terrorist attack. This immediately caught viewers' attention, leading many to joke that Bill, being the sociopathic line-crosser that he is, would somehow tie a 9/11 reference into the fight.
- Fucking FinallyExplanationBill VS Discord has been one of the single most requested battles in the show's history, up there with Galactus VS Unicron. Needless to say, most fans were just happy the episode was finally made official. This meme would carry over to the following match up, Alex Mercer VS Cole MacGrath and the finale, Galactus VS Unicron for similar reasons.
- Discord lost the battle but won the warExplanation(spoilers)Despite being the loser, Discord manages to trap Bill back into the Nightmare Realm. Since this is arguably a Fate Worse than Death for Bill, many fans like to say that Discord won in a way that counts.
- Frieza vs. Meg GriffinExplanationA joking alternative to Frieza vs. Megatron, since Meg's full name is canonically Megatron.
- Gojo VS Makima
- Goro vs. MajimaExplanation Fans found out that if you put the last name of Satoru Gojo and Makima together, it would sound like Goro Majima. Cue the "Majima Everywhere" jokes.
- "Gojo getting cut in half" memesExplanation (Jujustu Kaisen spoilers!)Upon the announcement of Gojo VS Makima, due to Gojo's current status of being cut in half by Sukuna in the recent chapters of Jujutsu Kaisen going very viral across the internet, fans proceeded to make several memes related to Gojo's fate for the upcoming episode, such as Gojo being bisected in Makima's infamous "Bang." scene in the manga. While Gojo's fate isn't directly shown or mentioned in the episode, there are minor allusions to it with a note that Gojo dislikes Among Us, and Gojo's bisected legs with an Among Us visor being seen during the Unlimited Void sequence.
- Gojo and Makima at the moviesExplanationThe start of the fight takes place in a movie theater, showing Makima apparently watching the episode Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai in theaters before Gojo interrupts her. People have quickly taken to green-screening the clip to put other stuff on the movie screen, ranging from memes to other DEATH BATTLE! episodes.
- Makima's Unlimited VoidExplanation (Spoilers!)During the finale of the fight as Gojo has Makima trapped within his Domain Expansion, Unlimited Void, in preparation to finish her off, plenty of blink-and-you'll-miss-it images could be seen during the sequences, some being callbacks to past episodes and others just being flat out memes such as Chihiro in his memetic pose. As a result, plenty of edits ensured with various humorous images of sorts being seen within the Unlimited Void.
- Scooby's Planet Punch and Courage's ScreamExplanationDuring the climax of Scooby Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, the former eats a massing quantity of Scooby Snacks and the God Bone, leading to him becoming a planet-sized Titan in an Asura's Wrath Shout-Out, leading to Courage unleashing a Super-Scream that shatters him. Cue fans deciding to place various things over Scooby's fist, or insert all sorts of different noises in place of Courage's scream.
- Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor
- & Morty/ Morty from Morty Explanation (Spoilers!)The end of the fight has the Doctor kill Rick with the D-Mat gun, effectively erasing him from Time itself. Cue memes of people jokingly acting as if Rick never existed in discourse of the episode and even the series. Examples include acting confused as to who was the Doctor even fighting or "complaining" that the episode was just 22 minutes of white noise outside of the Doctor's analysis, the Doctor swinging a spoon in the air, "Morty from Adult Swim's hit series Morty having a random cameo at the very end", and being just as confused about the identity of Rick's ghost as Morty was.
- Less frequently, "DUMMI who?"ExplanationDuring the Doctor's explanation, Boomstick ends up shooting DUMMI with the D-Mat gun, thus undergoing the same sorts of jokes.
- X is a ONE SIDED MASSACREExplanationVirtual Youtuber Nux Taku has become a prominent figure in the community for all the wrong reasons, mostly thanks to several of his reaction videos sharing almost the entire same clickbait-y thumbnail, leading to many eventually making fun of it in any way they could.
- Galactus VS Unicron
- Galactus VS Unicron's Release ExplanationA long while ago during MAGFEST 2013, Galactus VS Unicron was mentioned as a matchup that Ben and Chad said they would eventually do, with plenty of fans hyped for its eventual release... Only for it to not release as the years went by as of March 2023 (With Ben also mentioning that no matchup is 100% guaranteed along the way), with fans beginning to joke about the battle's "eventual" release, with even people on DEATH BATTLE Cast joking about it every once in awhile. Eventually though, the battle would finally come into fruition in December 2023, acting as the Season 10 finale.
- Galactus and Unicron spitting barsExplanationDuring most of their battle, Galactus and Unicron both deliver Badass Boasts about their power, and they do it in rhyme, which lead to several people making jokes about them having a rap battle while destroying the universe.
- Autobots Explanation (Spoilers)Unicron's loss marked the third time a Transformers character lost their fight out of four, with the only exception so far being Optimus Prime, an Autobot. Fans gleefully ran with the idea of Autobots being superior over Decepticons and other Transformers villains, often in conjunction with the "it smells like bitch in here" meme, like so◊.
- "Optimus, you killed a child." ExplanationA joke that frequently follows is people noting how the only reason that Transformers have a win is because Optimus mistook Amuro piloting the Gundam (and using the original Gundam meant that this was his teenage self from the original series not his adult self from Zeta Gundam or Char's Counterattack) for a Decepticon, thus leading to the Autobot killing him.
- Starscream lost to a pony. ExplanationAnother thing people like to joke about afterwards is realizing that with Megatron and Unicron losing to beings that could destroy multiple or infinite universes, Starscream's loss against Rainbow Dash seems even more pitiful. Became even funnier when MLP fans noted how with the Elements of Harmony and Rainbow Power, Rainbow Dash is stronger than Discord (and by extension the Pony of Shadows), making her a force on par with Frieza and Galactus.
- A gorilla's worst nightmare.ExplanationBefore Season 11 released, Liam Swan posted a small part of the script for the first episodes analysis. Cue several fans brainstorming on what matchup it represented, some thinking it was a monkey-based matchup while others thought it was the long-awaited Giorno vs. Joker, due to the former having turned a gun into a gorilla's favorite food once. Another popular prediction was Archie Knuckles vs. Juggernaut, with some fans theorizing it being a Call-Back to the formers game counterpart fighting Donkey Kong.
- Wile E. Coyote Curse. ExplanationA battle between Wile E. Coyote and Tom Cat was voted to be part of Season 11 but Rooster Teeth was shut down before Season 11. Cue many pointing out how Rooster Teeth's parent company, Warner Bros cancled Wile E. Coyote's solo movie before its release leading many to suspect WB has it out for the Coyote.