Wiz: Today, we'll find out which final boss reigns supreme.
DEATH BATTLE!’s tenth anniversary season continues with two of the fighting game genre’s most infamous bosses stepping into the ring. Among decades' worth of fantastical fighters, these soul-rending martial arts monsters have seared themselves into the minds of players everywhere with their oppressive abilities and unrelenting power. Clearly, a bout between the Raging Demon and the Outworld Emperor can’t be settled with just a street fight. For some of gaming history’s most notorious and mighty combatants, this can only be settled in a death battle.
The first of these final bosses to be examined is a man whose power is so great, the Japanese kanji symbolizing "Heaven" is synonymous with his legacy: Akuma. Alongside his brother, Gouken, Akuma was trained by the legendary martial arts master, Goutetsu, from a young age in the art of the Ansatsuken or "Assassination Fist". Combining aspects of judo, kenpō and karate into a fighting style dedicated to murdering one's opponents as quickly as possible, Akuma proved to be naturally adept at this level of violence. The brothers' paths would eventually diverge however, with Gouken desiring to form his own less lethal version of the art, while Akuma fully embraced their style's violent nature and would go beyond its already murderous power in an effort to master the very essence of killing intent itself: the Satsui no Hado. A power best described as the dark side of martial arts, the Satsui no Hado transformed Akuma into a true monster at combat, cementing his destiny as a warrior dedicated only to power. Following that, Akuma slew his master in combat, claimed his prayer beads, severed his ties with his brother, and chose to wander the world searching for worthy foes.
As a practitioner of the Ansatsuken and a veritable master of the Satsui no Hado, Akuma possesses many classical Shotoclone abilities dialed up to their most destructive form, such as the Gohadoken and the Tatsumaki Zankukyaku, as well as some others stemming from his much greater experience with the style, such as the Ashura Senku, a short-range teleport, and the Kongou Kokuretsuzan, a geyser of energy powerful enough to sink entire islands. It should come as no surprise that Akuma is among the most powerful Street Fighters, surpassing the likes of E. Honda and Hakan whose combined efforts enabled them to destroy a massive meteor. Akuma is also capable of matching blows with the cast of Final Fight, such as Haggar, who can piledrive foes with enough force to create an explosion visible from space. With so much power at his fingertips, Akuma himself has few equals with his brother being among those few. Yet, Akuma eventually managed to overcome even him by using his signature move: the Shun Goku Satsu or Raging Demon. An attack that destroys an opponent's soul using the weight of their sins, Gouken only just survived by emptying his own soul from his body. Furthermore, Gouken is not the only Ansatsuken practitioner who can protect his soul, as Akuma also proved capable of resisting Necalli's attempt to devour his own soul.
Despite (or perhaps because of) his unrelenting dedication to combat, Akuma possesses a code of honor that treats martial arts with the utmost respect. He will spare those with an unfair disadvantage and even foster the skills of those whose dedication to battle and ability to improve rivals his own, most notably Gouken's own apprentice, Ryu. This same courtesy does not extend to the like of M. Bison however, whom Akuma killed instantly upon encountering him, which is impressive given Bison's ability to intercept a satellite laser moving at five thousand times the speed of sound. Even with his code, Akuma's devotion to the Satsui no Hado is immutable, eventually mastering it to such a degree that he can tap into a Super Form known as Shin Akuma. But even that form pales in comparison to what happens when Akuma loses himself to the Satsui no Hado's power, becoming the almighty Oni, a demon solely focused on destruction. Still, this is not a power that Akuma gives into so readily and with the might to split mountains, freely traverse the sea floor and even leap into the heavens, he hardly needs to. Whether he ends up consumed by his darkness or mastering it in full, there's no denying that among a world of warriors, Akuma stands at its peak.
- Akuma: (Performs the Raging Demon technique on Ryu, a KO sign appearing afterward.)
With Earth's final boss examined, the hosts travel to the wretched realm of Outworld to look into this episode's second combatant: Emperor Shao Kahn. Once the advisor to the Dragon King, Onaga, Kahn usurped his former master by poisoning him, laying claim to his throne and embarking on a brutal conquest of all other realms. Kahn's Outworld armies steamrolled most of the opposition, even those of the idyllic realm of Edenia. But while Kahn is certainly a deceptive and cunning leader, his personal might is by no means to be underestimated. Kahn is both a master martial artist whose fighting style is based off of the aggressive Tai Tzu and Lui He forms as well as an almost unmatched sorcerer, able to shoot fireballs, create portals, yank opponents with telekinesis, form a barrier that reflects projectiles and summon his signature Wrath Hammer to crush those before him. He is even capable of stealing and consuming souls, ironically doing so to Shang Tsung, a similarly fearsome soul stealer.
Kahn's martial and military might brought him far in his conquests, eventually reaching the point of threatening Earthrealm. Fortunately, his champions ended up defeated by the warrior monk, Liu Kang, denying Kahn the right to merge Earthrealm with Outworld under the rules set by the Elder Gods. Unfortunately, being as treacherous as he was, Kahn chose to forgo the rules of the tournament anyway and subjugate Earthrealm the old-fashioned way. Merely stepping foot on his would-be territory allowed Kahn to steal the souls of practically every human alive and begin the process of physically merging the world into his own. That power is the same kind that has let him decimate the more heroic Kombatants on countless occasions: Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Kotal Kahn. Even Liu Kang, who impaled Kahn's chest with his fist, and Raiden, who can move as fast as lightning, could not stop him for long. Even more impressively, Kahn has proven capable of matching the power of the Elder Gods themselves, one of whom can grow to planetary proportions and fire lasers that reach relativistic speeds.
These staggering victories have fed Kahn's ego time and time again, making his arrogance and tendency to mock even those capable of genuinely harming him among his few true weaknesses. But when the cards are down, Kahn has proven that not even his own hubris will stop him from conquering his foes. Case in point, in the Battle of Armageddon, the final battle between the forces of Light and Darkness to decide the fate of all realms, Kahn was the one to emerge victorious. By slaying the fire elemental, Blaze, who could threaten all of the realms with his power, Kahn had achieved his dream and gained dominion over all worlds. Only through a time manipulating intervention could Raiden undo his victory, leaving Kahn's brief but total victory a thing of the past. Though even a temporal retcon might as well be a temporary setback for Shao Kahn, whose desire to crush all beneath his heel will continue to drive him to the heights that other men can only dream of.
- Shao Khan: I am Kahn of Outworld. Vacate my throne. Or I'll soak these sands with your blood!
With the advertisement for Bluechew complete, the final round between final bosses is ready. It's time for a death battle!
In the desert wastes of Outworld, Akuma executes a kombatant using his Raging Demon technique. Unamused that his tournament has been interrupted, Shao Kahn approaches Akuma who tells him that he's seeking his life.
FIGHT!
Akuma throws a right hook that knocks Shao Kahn backwards before attacking him with a flurry of punches, only for Shao Kahn to throw him off with his own punch. The Emperor of Outworld capitalizes on this by kicking his opponent in the chest and punching him twice before pushing him away with a shoulder charge.
Akuma quickly recovers and tries to strike Shao Kahn with a diving kick, but this fails as Kahn punches him towards a pillar. Before Akuma makes contact with the pillar, he flips and uses the pillar to boost himself towards the sky before launching a Gohadoken at Shao Kahn who catches the projectile and dissipates it.
Shao Kahn telekinetically pulls Akuma towards him and knocks him away with his Wrath Hammer before repeating this process two more times. Before he can hit Akuma for a fourth time, though, Akuma uses the Ashura Senk to teleport behind him. Boasting that death is beneath him, Akuma uses a sweep kick to bring Shao Kahn down before pummeling him with a combo to his chest and then knocks him into the air with an uppercut. As Shao Kahn begins descending to the ground, Akuma charges up the Shinku Hadoken and uses it to blast the Konquerer of worlds away.
Angered, Shao Kahn gets up and swings his Wrath Hammer at Akuma who dodges most of the swings before one hits him in the left side, knocking him into the desert. As Kahn mocks his opponent, he is suddenly punched in the jaw by Shin Akuma who throws him into the air and uses a stone monument to try and attack Kahn with a Tatsumaki Zankukyaku, only for Kahn to grab his foot and land on the ground while performing a back-breaker on him.
Akuma is thrown into the sand and then has his skull stomped on before Kahn headbutts him, dealing some damage to his jaw. Onaga's advisor begins to drain the disoriented Akuma's soul, but Akuma taps into the depths of the Satsui no Hado's power and transforms into Oni, causing Kahn to release him. Oni pushes Shao Kahn backwards with a blast before charging towards him and punching him repeatedly in the chest before finishing with a palm strike.
After being hit by a barrage of punches, Shao Kahn briefly repels Oni by slashing at him with his spear. He then attempts to impale Oni who leaps into the air and launches several Gouhadokens at Kahn who uses his Emperor's Shield to repel one of them back at a shocked Oni.
After Oni lands back on the ground, he dodges Kahn's spear and then sends Kahn flying with a palm strike. He then follows up on this by flying forwards and using his fist to impale Kahn in the chest before delivering a Shoryuken that knocks off the Emperor's helmet. Once Oni lands back on the ground, Kahn gets to his feet and pulls his heart out of his chest which has a huge, gaping hole in it.
As Oni prepares to use the Shun Goku Satsu, Shao Kahn tries to use his hammer on Oni who knocks it away before unleashing the Raging Demon onto the Konquerer. Unfortunately for Oni, Kahn catches his fist before he can finish the combo. Shao Kahn tells Oni to feel his wrath.
As Oni struggles to escape from Kahn's grasp, the ruler of Outworld wummons his Wrath Hammer from the sky and pulls off Oni's left arm before shouldering him. Oni is knocked the ground and then hit in the face by the falling Wrath Hammer which is returned to the hand of Shao Kahn who instantly uses it to crush Oni's head before triumphantly holding his hammer above his head and declaring a flawless victory.
KO!
With another victory under the Konqueror's belt, the hosts begin their deep dive into why Shao Kahn emerged as the winner. Resisting Necalli shows that Akuma had some defenses towards Shao Khan's ability to rip his soul out, and he - along with several other Street Fighter characters weaker than him - had some pretty impressive feats of strength, such as busting meteors and making explosions seen from orbit. However, all pale in comparison to Shao Kahn's defeat of Blaze, who is capable of wiping out all of the realms in Mortal Kombat as stated in his ending from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. While this ending is non-canon, it does provide an example of what could still happen in MK canon — the mere destruction of Earthrealm alone would be a far greater display of power than anything Akuma has had to deal with. As Shao Kahn is already capable of similar feats like merging other realms and transforming them into extensions of Outworld, it makes sense that he would be able to defeat someone as powerful as Blaze. Akuma would've likely been able to potentially land the Shun Goku Satsu as a finishing maneuver, but Shao Kahn's speeds would scale to those of the Elder Gods like Raiden and Cetrion, allowing him to at least keep pace with Akuma's blows and prevent the instant murder technique from claiming his life. Above all else, the Emperor of Outworld may be cocky and arrogant, but even he knows when to take his opponents seriously, hence his successful track record of having claimed multiple realms to his name; as such, he had the tools necessary to quell the Raging Demon's bloodlust in this battle between final bosses.
Wiz: The winner is Shao Kahn.
Akuma VS Shao Kahn contains examples of:
- Back for the Dead: After achieving a victory against Shang Tsung, Akuma returns to fight against Shao Kahn who kills him.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: Shao Kahn is the first Mortal Kombat character to win a match since Sub-Zero in Season 4, breaking the franchise's three match losing streak that began with Johnny Cage's loss in Season 6. Also, this is the first time Gianni Matragrano voiced a character who ends up winning.
- The Bus Came Back: Both of these fighters return to the show after a long time, with Akuma appearing for the first time since Season 1 and Shao Kahn since Season 2note . As of this episode, Akuma holds the longest gap between appearances, with his two appearances having a gap of 150 episodes and nearly 11 years in between. Funny enough, both fighters enter this episode having beaten another boss character from the opposing franchise (Shang Tsung and M. Bison, respectively).
- Call-Back:
- Not only do both characters make their long-awaited returns to DEATH BATTLE! in this episode, but both combatants' previous battles had also been against another villainous character in the other's game series.
- This is not the first time Boomstick sings the beat of the Mortal Kombat theme, as he did it during the rundowns for Sektor, Sindel, and Goro. This time, stock dance music plays over Boomstick's humming.
- Just like the last time he was a combatant, Shao Kahn's opponent interrupted a tournament by killing a fighter.
- Evil Versus Evil: Both of these guys are villainous and served as final bosses in their respective franchises, but Akuma is clearly the lesser of two evils here as he has a code of honor contrasted to the Combat Pragmatist Multiversal Conqueror in Shao Kahn. In the end, the greater of two evils wins this fight.
- Gory Discretion Shot: We don't get to see what is left of Akuma's crushed skull, but we do get to see his blood splatter on the screen after Shao Kahn smashes his head.
- Lame Pun Reaction: As a result of Boomstick going on a pun-filled tangent about Shao Kahn's constant taunting, Shao Kahn himself suddenly speaks up and lambasts Boomstick for his puns.
- Mythology Gag: Shao Kahn says "Flawless victory!" after killing Akuma, which is one of the things he says after a Fatality during his time as the announcer in his home series.
- No-Sell: While it doesn't do him much good in the end, Akuma is able to throw off Shao Kahn's attempt to steal his soul.
- Punch Catch: Kahn manages to interrupt the Shun Goku Satsu by catching Oni's fist mid-beatdown before promptly turning the tables.
- Rocket-Tag Gameplay: The hosts outright say that if they were the one to land a fatal hit first, either combatant could put the other down; Akuma's Raging Demon could destroy Shao Kahn's soul thanks to the sheer scope of the atrocities he had committed whilst Shao Kahn's overwhelming power could turn even the likes of Oni to paste. Ultimately, with relativistic speeds, Shao Kahn was more likely to land his power-based killing blow.
- Torso with a View: Akuma punches a hole straight through Shao Kahn's stomach. It barely phases him.
