“If winning is not important, why keep score?”

 

-Worf, son of Mogh

 

Records are current as of August 2021.

 

Team Scores

 

DC

 

 

Justice League (Core) 

 

9-3

 

Wonder Woman lost to Rogue, Batman lost to Spidey, Superman DIALED Goku, Batman beat Cap, Superman DIALED Goku again, Flash DIALED Quicksilver, Wonder Woman beat Thor, Batman lost to Black Panther, Aquaman beat Namor,  Hal DIALED Ben, Wonder Woman beat She-Ra, Flash DIALED Sonic.

 

With 9 wins and a 3 to 1 win ratio, the superest super-friends remain the alpha CHAD of Death Battle. Their showings pre-research team were mild with Superman caring the team by using Goku as a punching bag, but things changed around Flash vs Quicksilver. With Archie Sonic, Ben 10, and Goku under their belts, the JL is the team to beat. With Wonder Woman’s loss all but retconned by recent research, Batman is the team’s weak link, which is rather appropriate since he’s the team’s token normie.

 

Justice League (Expanded) 

 

13-5

 

Adds: Green Arrow losing to Hawkeye, Dr. Fate defeating Dr. Strange, Billy defeating Carol, Lobo losing to Ghost Rider, Black Canary defeating Sindel, Booster defeating Cable,

 

Yes, Lobo has JL membership. He got it during that one really shitty run where Batman led the team.

 

JSA (Core)

 

3-0

 

Dr. Fate beat Dr. Strange, Billy beat Carol, Black Canary beat Sindel

 

The first ever superteam in history has some entertaining wins in Death Battle…and Black Canary’s win over SIndel. Dr. Fate vs Dr. Strange was the first big confirmation of DIALS post-Goku v Superman II: The Quest for Peace and Billy vs Carol may be the most cathartic death battle in history.

 

I wish JSA got used more. They got a very wide range of power levels going from “guys that punch good” like the Atom, Wildcat and Dr. Mid-Nite to cosmic level beings like Specter and Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolt is begging to be in a match with a JoJo character, whether attached to Jakeem or Johnny, due to being the grandfather of stands. They bring solid mid-level options like Starman and Sand to.

 

The JSA deserves some love. I mean, if DC isn’t going to show them any besides a cameo in Geoff Johns Watchmen fanfic, Death Battle can pick up the slack!

 

Batman Family

 

3-4

 

Batman lost to Spidey, Batman beat Cap, Nightwing beat Daredevil, Terry beat Miguel, Batman lost to Black Panther, Jason lost to Bucky, Girl-Bat lost to Girl-Spider.

 

People say that DC’s weak link is in its street-level characters, and that proves true in the score. Batman himself is 1-2 (though 2-2 if you count him as Terry’s Otacon) and I used to joke about Death Battle having a file labeled “sidekick fight” for when they need to give DC a loss back before Jason vs Bucky. There’s still plenty of Batman Family members that haven’t been fed to people that actually have superpowers left, so odds are we’re going to see them again. Cass fans, Steph fans, your times will come, but I hope you don’t mind seeing them splattered on the screen.

 

Marvel

 

Avengers (Core)

 

5-5

 

Thor beat Raiden, Cap lost to Bats, Iron Man beat Lex, Hawkeye beat Green Arrow, Quicksilver lost to Flash, Hulk lost to Doomsday, Thor lost to Wonder Woman, Black Panther beat Batman, Black Widow beat Widowmaker, Hulk lost to Broly.

 

Avengers assemble! The Avengers started off really strong in Death Battle. Cap lost a hotly contested match with Batman, but Thor, Tony, and Clint all took home wins. Then Quicksilver vs Flash signaled a shift in the energy. Hulk and Thor lost big power level matches to DC characters and fed into the DIALS meme. While Black Panther and Black Widow scored wins over low-powered characters, it seems like we’re not likely to see high-powered wins from the Avengers anytime soon, especially with Hulk in the Oxygen Club.

 

Avengers (Expanded)

 

8-9

 

Adds: Spider-Man beating Batman, Wolverine losing to Raiden, Carol losing to 18, Carol losing to Billy, Beast losing to Goliath, Bucky beating Jason, War Machine beating Genos.

 

Defenders 

 

0-4

 

Dr. Strange lost to Dr. Fate, Hulk lost to Doomsday, Namor lost to Aquaman, Hulk lost to Broly.

 

Say hello to the inverse JSA. Weird how a team generally known for its power levels (the classic lineup is Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Hulk, and Namor, all heavy hitters within Marvel) has been totally skunked in Death Battle.

 

Dr. Strange lost to Dr. Fate, because of course he would, Nabu is the kind of being Stephen has to use prep time to counter. Hulk lost to Doomsday because DIALS, and Namor lost to Aquaman what should have been a pure telepathy argument, but somehow Aquaman got the strength advantage, which is bullshit. Every comic reader worth their salt knows Namor is stronger than Aquaman. The guy has a few wins over the Hulk.

 

Broly sent Hulk to the oxygen club because Death Battle skimmed read on how the Green Door works, and I have to wonder, who are they going to have Norrin fight? I’m curious if the Defenders will get completely shut down.

 

Invaders

 

1-2

 

Captain America lost to Batman, Namor lost to Aquaman, Bucky beat Jason.

 

Cap took a close (and perhaps undeserved) loss against Bats early in the series, then Namor lost to Aquaman to make it 0-2. But good old Bucky came through to avenge Cap’s lost to the Bat family by taking out Jason Todd and prevented his team from going 0-3.

X-Men

 

1-3

 

Rogue beat Wonder Woman, Beast lost to Goliath, Wolverine lost to Raiden, Cable lost to Booster Gold.

 

X-Men have not had a good time in Death Battle. Rogue took an undeserved win over Wonder Woman that’s all but retconned with recent showings from Wonder Woman, then Beast lost to Goliath from Gargoyles (When are we going to get more? Demona could use a fight) in a fight with a lot of problems (Throwing vikings off the castle for centuries makes better combat experience than the danger room? Seriously?) but one I ultimately agree with. I don’t see Beast beating a guy that gets back up from AA fire. 

 

Then Wolverine lost to Raiden in another fight I had some problems with (HF blades are to Antarctic vibranium as knives are to chainsaws. If the HF blade was as good at destroying metal as the anti-metal, Raiden would melt just by drawing it from its sheath. Pym brought out Antarctic vibranium knuckle dusters to fight Ultron during Busiek’s Avengers run and it made metal within several yards melt just by being out of their container) but ultimately agreed with–Raiden is just too strong and fast. Cable is the last X-man to have a fight and he lost to Booster, but at least he got a really cool and creative death out of it.

 

Spider-Man Family

 

2-2

 

Spider-Man beat Batman, Spider-Man 2099 lost to Batman Beyond, Miles lost to Static, Spider-Gwen beat Batgirl

 

Am I the only one that thinks it’s really weird Pete has had only one fight where he’s fed Batman? He’s easily Marvel’s most popular character and is neck-and-neck with Batman for being the most popular superhero in the world, but he’s only been used once? Superman has had two fights. Wonder Woman has had three fights. Batman has had two fights, three if you count him being Terry’s Otacon, and he’s got another with Iron Man coming up. Carol Danvers, Carol Danvers, has had two fights. Yet Spidey gets just one? That doesn’t track at all.

 

Spidey 2099 lost to Batman Beyond, which was to be expected, Terry rarely had villains that didn’t suffer some over-the-top death. Remember the dude that got pulled to the center of the Earth? Miles then lost to Static in an underrated match. I thought it did a great job showcasing their powers and abilities, and what’s more, having McDuffie’s take on Spider-Man kill Bendis’ take on Spider-Man was cathartic in a way that only Carol vs Billy and Ben vs Hal matches.

 

Spider-Gwen was the last Spidey Family character on Death Battle in a match with Batgirl that might be one of the worst matches of all time. They couldn’t even make it Mayday vs Cass, they had to pick the worst Spider-girl to fight the worst Batgirl.

 

Marvel Knights

 

0-2

 

Daredevil lost to Nightwing, Iron Fist lost to Po.

 

Marvel Knights is what old-schoolers call the modern “Defenders.” While it was never a term used in-universe, it was used as a category by Marvel itself to refer to non-Spidey street level characters–Heroes for Hire, Punisher, Daredevil, Moon Knight, etc.

 

Poor Matt. Imagine having superpowers and still losing to a dude without super powers. They should have made it a fight between Matt and Wildcat. It could have been the next TJ Combo vs Balrog. But I think Danny still had it worse. It felt like they were trying to find an opponent for Po instead of an opponent for Danny. There’s lots of kung-fu characters he could have fought. Poor guy had to draw the kung-fu cartoon.

 

Anime

 

 

Dragon Ball

 

6-2

 

Vegeta beat Shadow, Goku got DIALED, Goku got DIALED again, Hercule beat Dan, 18 beat Carol, Roshi beat Jiraiya, Beerus beat Galaxia, Broly beat Hulk

 

With a 3-1 record and the longest held kill streak (unbroken since Hercule vs Dan), Dragon Ball has one of the strongest showings in Death Battle owing to its (fanboy headcanon) cosmic level feats, though its two unavenged loses to the same DC character makes Dragon Ball something of a Wladimir Klitschko to DC’s Shannon Briggs.

 

Naruto

 

2-4

 

Naruto beat Ichigo, Jiraiya lost to Roshi, Sasuke lost to Hiei, Might Guy beat All-Might, Kakashi lost to Obi-Wan, Little Might Guy lost to Sanji.

 

Ah, so this is why fanboys are so trying to hard to make Naruto dimension/universe/whatever level, they got a pretty bad record. I chalk it up more to booking than power levels. Jiraiya was absolutely fed to Roshi. The guy blew up a moon and still had energy to spare, how’s if fair to have him fight someone from a universe where the protag’s entire life force being taken out of his body blew up the moon? Kakashi was never going to beat Obi-Wan when he’s given planet-level force powers from (Liam’s fanfiction) expanded universe novelizations. L

 

Naruto fans shouldn’t be mad about their score. They’ve shut down the power levels of two whole universes. Naruto beat Bleach power levels so hard that they had to bring in Mexican Dragon Ball fanboy levels of power level math for Ichigo…and he still lost. Might Guy killed MHA’s version of Superman, and Might Guy isn’t at the top of his setting’s power level pyramid. Naruto fans should be happy. Usually it’s DC and Dragon Ball that bring the big definitive DIALS wins.

 

One Piece

 

2-1

 

Luffy’s bro lost to the dragon guy from Fairy Tale, Zorro took revenged on the sword girl from Fairy Tale, Sanji kicked Little Might Guy to death because Luffy dodged a “laser.”

 

One Piece is the only one of the shonen big three to not have their protag fight. I’m not sure why. People say its because when it comes time to feed him to Plastic Man, they want One Piece to be over so Luffy will have all his powers and fanboys won’t complain that they didn’t include Luffy’s anti-plastic power from chapter 1 trillion or whatever.

 

Folks, it’s the world’s biggest shonen. Even if One Piece ends, there’ll be One Piece: The Next Generation or whatever. You don’t stop printing money. Bite the bullet I say. Bring on Luffy vs Plas, and if Luffy develops god-powers in the last chapter, so be it, it’s not like other fights haven’t become dated. Remember when Nu 52’s Superbro was the “de facto” Superman?

 

The One Piece matches haven’t entertained me. 2/3rds of them involve Fairy Tale, which is only like one step up from absolute shonen drivel like Black Clover, and the most recent involves Little Might Guy and just felt like the Jr edition of All-Might vs Might Guy. I’m banking on Luffy vs Plas to give us the definitive One Piece fight.

 

Video Games

 

 

Street Fighter

 

4-7

 

Akuma beat Shang-Tsung, Zangief beat Mike Haggar, Chun-Li lost to Mai, Blanka ate Pikachu, Bison lost to Shao Khan, Ryu lost to Scorpion, Dan lost to Hercule, Cammy lost to Sonya, Ken lost to Terry, Balrog lost to TJ Combo, Ryu beat Jin.

 

I was torn on whether or not to count Zangief beating Haggar as a Street Fighter win since Final Fight is part of the Street Fighter universe…but I decided to include it since, technically, Haggar has never actually been in a Street Fighter game. Guy has. Cody has. Andore has. But not Haggar.

 

I remember when “Because they hate Street Fighter” was a meme. I never got it. They have a losing record, but it’s not an awful losing record. It’s not that different from Mortal Kombat’s record.

 

The high-level Street Fighter characters have done very well. Akuma is undefeated and Ryu has only one controversial defeat against Scorpion who won mostly because of obscure Netherrealm powers. Bison only lost because he he went up against someone with an answer to his soul powers. But the mid-levels haven’t done so hot. Blanka got a weird win over pikachu based on him being immune to electricity…which isn’t true for anyone that’s actually played a Blanka mirror match. And Zangief beat Haggar with a final move I still remember. Zangief and Haggar wrestling mid-air to try and power bomb the other into the concrete was the best possible ending for the match. For the kind of budget they had back then, they did great.

 

Everyone else lost and lost conclusively. Terry vs Ken and Sonya vs Cammy were not close. They were stat blowouts. Even Balrog vs TJ, one of the best matches of all time with a thorough analysis that used real-world boxing strategy, ultimately came down to TJ having bigger stats. I think this might have contributed to the “Because they hate Street Fighter” meme. When Street Fighter loses, they lose hard, and rarely walk away with a “but in this stat they were better” consolation prize.

 

With most of the big names used up, I wonder if we’ll ever see another Street Fighter match? There’s a couple of matchups I wouldn’t mind seeing. Guy/Cody/Haggar against Streets of Rage’s Axel/Adam/Blaze could be awesome. We’ve never had a 3 vs 3 match before. Akuma vs Raoh from FOTNS could be GOAT if they choreograph it right.

 

Wait, how about Elena vs Christie from Tekken? In live action? Please?

 

Mortal Kombat

 

4-6

 

Shang-Tsung lost to Akuma, Raiden lost to Thor, Shao Khan beat Bison,  Sektor lost to Fulgore, Scorpion beat Ryu, Cammy beat Sonya, Sub-Zero beat Glacius, Johnny Cage lost to Captain Falcon, Sindel lost to Black Canary, Goro lost to Machamp.

 

Mortal Kombat has had a surprising number of creative matchups. You wouldn’t think that “Enter the Dragon but 90’s” would have much crossover potential, but MK has fought Marvel, DC, F-Zero, Pokemon, Street Fighter, and Killer Instinct. That’s a pretty broad spread.

 

MK started with an interesting fight, Shang-Tsung vs Akuma. I rather liked that fight, it’s one of my favorites of the early episodes because of the theme–a man who masters all fighting styles by stealing them vs a man who masters all fighting styles by surpassing them with one ultimate style. Then Raiden was fed to Thor in one of the biggest stomps in the series. It’s not Quicksilver vs Flash levels of stomp, but it comes close. Shao Khan’s win over Bison felt a little cheap, because Shao Khan’s soul powers were too much of a silver bullet for Bison. I remember being surprised when Sektor lost to Fulgore. Sektor just seemed like the more advanced robot. He light sabers and stuff. And I think I might have thought that it would be like Robocop vs Terminator where Robocop being part-human gave him a creative edge over the all-robot Terminator.

 

I remember a lot of people finding the theming of Ryu vs Scorpion odd. They must not have been 90’s kids. Scorpion was the face of MK. Ryu was the face of SF. They were the fighting games of the 90’s. It couldn’t have been more thematic. Sonya killed Cammy in humiliating style by squeezing her between her legs as she screamed and the fight is one of those “Ben’s into ryona” flags. Sub-Zero killed Glacius, and that was another MK win that surprised me when I saw it. I didn’t know much about Glacius, but he seemed to be made of ice. Guy made of ice should beat a guy that shoots ice.

 

MK was put on a hiatus after Sub-Zero’s win, which gave MK a winning record of 4-3. But the next three MK fights would all go in the L column. Two of them, Johnny Cage vs Captain Falcon and Goro vs Machamp were poorly themed but more than made up for it by having very strong fight animations. The other was the infamously bad Sindel vs Black Canary. It’s theme was as tenuous as the other two, but it made one unpardonable sin–it’s sprite work was bad, really bad, “Sindel’s hair is lifted from Felecia from Darkstalkers and it shows” bad.

 

I hope MK comes back soon. They’re so close to filling out the entire MK 1 roster. They have Liu Kang and Kano left for selectable characters and Reptile as a hidden character. Reptile shouldn’t be hard to find a match for. Snake people have been a dime a dozen since Edgar Rice Burroughs invented the Mahars. Feed him to Kurt Connors or something. Liu Kang is also easy to set up. Have him fight Jago or Ryu, pick a fighting game protag. Kano would be hard. I’ll be accept a stretch on him. Pick a super merc to fight him, any super merc. Feed him to Deathstroke if you have to.

 

Kill Streaks

 

 

What makes a kill streak?

 

Well, in Halo (that would be the space marine franchise with an undeserved win over Doom), and Quake, you start a killing spree by getting five kills in a row without dying. The term kill streak is used by the Call of Duty series and starts with three kills in a row.

 

I thus propose the terminology to be killing streak for three wins in a row and killing spree for five or better.

 

The Dragon Ball Killing Spree–Hercule vs Dan, 18 vs Carol, Roshi vs Jiraiya, Beerus vs Galaxia, Broly vs Hulk. (5)

 

The DC Killing Spree #1, Slaughterhouse Classic–Raven vs Purple Horse, Dr. Strange vs Dr. Fate, Nightwing vs Daredevil, Darkseid vs Thanos, Aquaman vs Namor, Billy vs Carol, Ben vs Hal. (7)

 

The DC Killing Spree #2, Slaughterhouse Jr.–Static vs Miles, Black Canary vs Sindel, Booster vs Cable, Wonder Woman vs She-Ra, Wally vs Archie Sonic (5)

 

Clubs

 

The Supermen of America

 

 

Characters that are 2-0

 

Superman (ENTER SUPERCHAD, the only character who won their opponent’s salty runback rematch)

 

MGS (Snake killed Sam, Raiden killed Wolverine)

 

The Flash (As a legacy. Barry killed a blue speedster that couldn’t keep up and so did Wally)

 

Godzilla (Godzilla composite killed his old rival Gamera, Godzilla Kiryu edition killed Dragonzord and Tommy)

 

Kingdom Hearts (Sora clipped Pitt’s wings, Mickey sent Yoda to Jedi heaven)

 

Dr. Doom (Doom doomed Darth Vader and then Lex Luthor)

 

Jedi (Luke Skywalker killed Harry Potter by making his scar explode–remember that? Obi-Wan killed Kakashi after Kakashi stuck his fingers up his ass–remember that? Darth Vader doesn’t count. He burned his Jedi card hard when he killed younglings)

Starktech (Tony beat Lex and Rhodey beat Genos)

 

Kirby (Kirby killed Buu, Dedede killed Wario)

 

The Oxygen Club

 

 

Characters that are 0-2. Get it? It’s a chemistry joke.

 

Tommy Oliver (Lost to Zechs as the White Ranger, Lost to Kiryu as the Green Ranger)

 

Carol Danvers (Lost the title of Captain Marvel to the real Captain Marvel, Lost to Android 18 because of video game feat shenanigans, but no one calls Death Battle out on it because no one wanted Carol to beat 18, absolutely no one)

 

The Hulk (Died to Doomsday and Broly. Hulk puniest one there is? Ain’t he unglamorous?)

 

Goku (Got his ticket punched twice by Superman, and has a good chance of getting it punched a third time)

 

Mega Man (Was fed to Astro Boy, then was fed to stronger versions of himself in the Mega Man battle royal. Even Capcom treats Rock better than this.)

 

Charizard (Perhaps the most disrespected fighter in Death Battle history. Died painful, humiliating deaths to 

 

Lex Luthor (How appropriate is it that Lex is in the opposite of the Supermen of America? He lost to two 

 

Soul Calibur (Nightmare died to Guts, Ivy lost a boob battle with Orchid. Remember when they could do things like a boob themed battle?)

 

Cartoon Network (Ben got the boot, fat boy was fed to autistic girl)

 

The Ozone Club, aka The Morphin’ Grid

 

 

Characters that are 0-3. Another chemistry joke.

 

Megazords (Tigerzord lost to Epyon, Megazord lost to Voltron, Dragonzord lost to Kiryu. Who’s left before it’s a sweep? The Thunderzord and Ninjazord? Don’t tell Death Battle about Ninja Senshi Tobikage! LOVE SURVIVOR! LOVE SURVIVOR!)

 

(SPACE RESERVED FOR GOKU)

 

The Zen Club 

 

 

Characters that have as many wins as defeats. This size of this section likely indicates that Death Battle likes to keep most franchises relatively balanced.

 

MHA (Todo won, All-Might lost)

 

Gundam (Zechs killed Tommy Oliver while White Reflection played, Amuro was killed by Optimus Prime as Wings of Iron played)

 

Thor (Thor was fed Raiden and then was fed to Wonder Woman, who emasculated him almost as hard as Donny Cates)

 

MOTU (He-Man was fed Lion-O, She-Ra was fed to Wonder Woman)

 

DMC (Dante killed Bayo, Vergil lost to Sephiroth and Supernova wank)

 

MLP (Oh god. Blue horse killed Starscream, purple horse died to Raven) 

 

OPM (Psychic brat killed Mob, Rhodey was fed Genos in one of the weakest themed fights of all time)

 

Venom (Brock was fed Venom and then was fed to Ben’s fetish)

 

Deadpool (He killed Slade, then got killed by the Mask, and we aren’t going to mention the fight with the pink horse)

 

Transformers (Starscream died in a fight that may well be peak Death Battle cringe, Optimus Prime killed Amuro and likely felt real bad about it afterwards)

 

Spider-Man Family (Pete and Gwen won their fights against their Bat-family counterparts while Miles got introduced to a bug zapper by Static and Miguel got his chest exploded)

 

The Salty Runback Club

 

A subset of the Zen club for characters that won/lost their first match but lost/won the salty runback rematch to even the score.

 

Cloud and Link

 

Mario and Sonic