Death Battle

Death Battle (stylized as DEATH BATTLE!) is a popular web series created by Ben Singer, independently owned by Ben, Chad James, Sam Mitchell, and Austin Harper (formerly produced by Rooster Teeth), and hosted on the DEATH BATTLE! YouTube channel (formerly known as ScrewAttack). The show pits two or more fictional characters from different medias such as movies, comics, manga, television programs, literature, video games, advertisements, public service announcements, and even mythology in a simulated battle to the death. The characters are analyzed with their respective abilities, powers, strengths, and weaknesses to determine a winner.
Following the shutdown of the show's parent company, Rooster Teeth, it has become fully independent after the success of the Save Death Battle Kickstarter.
The show currently has 187 episodes, which were formerly split up into seasons until Season 10, after which it was split up into a new yearly structure.
Season 1 had 25 episodes and a Bonus episode. It premiered on December 6th, 2010 and ended on January 10th, 2013.
Season 2 had 32 episodes and a Bonus episode. It premiered on May 31st, 2013 and ended on December 15th, 2015.
Season 3 had 14 episodes and a Bonus episode. It premiered on March 16th, 2016 and ended on December 21st, 2016.
Season 4 had 16 episodes. It premiered on February 1st, 2017 and ended on December 20th, 2017.
Season 5 had 16 episodes. It premiered on February 7th, 2018 and ended on December 19th, 2018.
Season 6 had 16 episodes. It premiered on February 6th, 2019 and ended on December 18th, 2019.
Season 7 had 20 episodes and a Bonus episode. It premiered on January 26th, 2020 and ended on December 28th, 2020.
Season 8 had 16 episodes. It premiered on March 7th, 2021 and ended on December 19th, 2021.
Season 9 had 16 episodes and a Bonus episode. It premiered on March 28th, 2022 and ended on December 21st, 2022.
Season 10 had 16 episodes. It premiered on May 22nd, 2023 and ended on December 18th, 2023.
Death Battle '24 had 4 episodes. It premiered on October 6th, 2024 and ended on December 8th, 2024.
Death Battle '25 is set to premiere in 2025.
==Format Overview==
The idea of the show is to pit two or more fictional characters against each other in a simulated fight to the death, referred to as a "death battle". Matchups are decided based on the popularity of requests, debatability, entertainment, and theme.
The show is hosted by the original characters Wizard and Boomstick (along with the later additions of DUMMI, Ringmaster, and Jocelyn the Intern).
Before the fight, the hosts provide an analysis of each combatant, analyzing their backstory, character, powers, equipment, skills, strengths, weaknesses, and physicality. This is done by extensive research of each combatant's official, canon media, as well as the calculation of feats and powerscaling. If a character has multiple versions (e.g., Link), said character will be composited throughout all forms of media unless a certain version is too deviant from the main source (for example, Sonic the Hedgehog and Archie Sonic are considered two different characters, though the latter was composited into the former back in Season 1).
After the analyses, the fight animation is shown, portraying the combatants fighting to the death. The animation shows off how the combatants' various abilities and skills would interact with each other, and in later seasons, includes original dialogue provided by voice actors as well as an original soundtrack. The animation is not meant to portray how a fight between the combatants would go completely accurately, but instead exists mainly for entertainment and to display the verdict. The animation style varies with each episode, but is most commonly computer graphics 2D sprite animation and occasionally 3D computer animation. The fights are also more uncommonly animated with hand-drawn animation or even portrayed in live action.
After the fight animation, the hosts combine the information from the combatants' analyses together in order to explain the verdict, usually capping off with Wiz summarizing the important factors for the winning combatant's victory and Boomstick making a pun based on either the combatants or what happened in the fight at the very end before Wiz announces the winner.
===Rules===
The rules of the show (which were established sometime around Season 3) are as follows:
#Combatants have no prior knowledge of each other unless specified.
#To ensure a fair fight, any specific moral restraints from killing are removed from combatants. All other traits are considered.
#A combatant's maximum personal potential is examined unless specified otherwise. Factors unrelated to combatants cannot end the battle.
#Unless specified, all official material related to a character is applied unless found contradictory to the primary source material.
==History==
Death Battle was originally produced under ScrewAttack and partnered with Revision3, who helped distribute the show by hosting it on their website, as well as helping make sponsorship deals.User blog:CrossoverKing96/Road to 100 (Archive) Akuma vs Shang Tsung, Rogue vs Wonder Woman As part of their partnership, it was agreed that the show would produce two seasons of 13 bi-weekly episodes. However, after the production of Mario VS Sonic (2011), which was intended to be the first season finale, it was instead decided that the seasonal format would be dropped in favor of simply producing the show continuously, with the season and episode counts of what would eventually become Seasons 1 and 2 having later been decided retroactively. Ben Singer stated that he felt this was an extremely time-consuming process, which impacted both the show and his health negatively.User blog:CrossoverKing96/Road to 100 (Archive) Haggar vs Zangief After Master Chief VS Doomguy, the show ended their partnership with Revision3 and became independent.
In November 2014, both ScrewAttack and Rooster Teeth were acquired by Fullscreen (which is owned by AT&T), with ScrewAttack being made a division of Rooster Teeth.Exclusive: Fullscreen to buy online video producer Rooster Teeth However, the official merger between ScrewAttack and Rooster Teeth would not happen until a year later, after the release of Yang VS Tifa.User blog:CrossoverKing96/Road to 100 Archive: Hercule vs Dan, Yang vs Tifa
In 2016, AT&T would buy Time Warner, which was later rebranded as WarnerMedia. WarnerMedia later merged with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery.
At the start of Season 6 in 2019, it was announced that the ScrewAttack YouTube channel would be rebranded to DEATH BATTLE!, effectively shutting down ScrewAttack.
On March 6th, 2024, it was announced that Rooster Teeth would be shut down by its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery,https://www.reddit.com/r/deathbattle/comments/1b85d86/roosterteeth_closure_megathread/ which left the status of Death Battle as uncertain and its production on an indefinite hiatus. Chad James soon confirmed that the crew was working to find a way to keep the show going. Later on, it was confirmed that no new videos would be uploaded on the DEATH BATTLE! YouTube channel after May 10th, as the crew would lose access to the channel by then, though they would still have access to the channel's community tab. On the 10th, an update video was released, in which it was confirmed that the crew was in talks to keep the show going with multiple different parties, but wouldn't rush to announce anything until they were confident they were making the right call, assuring viewers to keep in touch for more updates down the road.Is DEATH BATTLE dead???
This would be followed up on July 25th later that year, when Ben Singer announced that he, along with Chad James, Sam Mitchell, and Austin Harper, had fully acquired the rights to the Death Battle IP and YouTube channelhttps://x.com/BenBSinger/status/1816584247765008726 and created a Kickstarter campaign that would launch on July 30th to fund four new episodes and get the show back on track.https://x.com/BenBSinger/status/1816584250306769362 More details were given in an "Ask Me Anything" thread hosted on the r/deathbattle subreddit.https://www.reddit.com/r/deathbattle/comments/1ec7blw/we_own_death_battle_ama/
==Schedule==
For the first two seasons of the show, there wasn't a consistent schedule, as episodes were released anywhere between a single week to a few months, with some episodes even having to be delayed due to external factors such as hardware failure or issues in the animation process. 
From Seasons 3 to 6 (and for Gogeta VS Vegito and Death Battle '24), episodes were released every three weeks. In the first two weeks, previews of each combatant's analyses were released, and in the third week, the episode was released at around 12:00 PM CST.
From Seasons 7 to 10, episodes were released biweekly. The schedule was similar to the old one, with the combatants' analysis previews being released the Monday and Wednesday before the episode is released and the episode itself releasing the following Sunday around 12:00 PM CST for FIRST Members (and Death Battle Champions starting with Gogeta VS Vegito) and on Monday for the general public. In the middle of the season, the show generally took a short break, with DBX or Desk of DEATH BATTLE taking its place for an unspecified amount of weeks before Death Battle's return (though Season 10 lacked this break in exchange for starting two months later than usual).
During Season 10, the schedule was changed slightly. Due to internal speculation that the early releases for Champions were negatively affecting the overall performance of the season's episodes on YouTube, a test of a lack of them for both Champions and FIRST Members was done from Frieza VS Megatron to Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog to see the potential difference.Spinal vs Cervantes (Killer Instinct VS Soul Calibur) Who wins a DEATH BATTLE Debate? After said tests, the early release perk was removed for both parties, with episodes going forward now releasing on Monday for the general public without any kind of early release the day prior (outside of a special live premiere of Omni-Man VS Bardock that would be hosted for Super Tengen Toppa backers of the Save Death Battle Kickstarter three days before its public release).
After the show became independent following the closure of Rooster Teeth, the schedule was changed once more. Starting with Death Battle '24, the show no longer uses the traditional bi-weekly seasonal structure established in Season 3; instead, episodes now release on a constant monthly schedule,#SaveDEATHBATTLE Kickstarter Livestream with the current plan being 12 episodes per year starting in Death Battle '25. However, it was also stated on multiple occasions that this is to be a minimum they wish to maintain, meaning more frequent releases are potentially possible and this schedule is not set in stone.
==Episodes==
<tabber>
|-|Seasons (2010-2023)=
|-|Yearly Episodes (2024-)=
</tabber>
==Staff==
==Merchandise ==
Official Death Battle merchandise was available on the Rooster Teeth store. The merchandise is primarily various T-shirts, but it also includes a hat and a card game.
DB the Game box.jpg|Death Battle: The Game
Db tshirt.png|DEATH BATTLE! T-Shirt
WizRock&Roll.png|Death Battle Wiz Rock & Roll T-Shirt
Palpatine's Favorite Episode.png|Death Battle Thanks for the Tip T-Shirt
Boomstick Hat.png|Death Battle Boomstick Hat
Db skull shirt.png|Death Battle Skull T-Shirt
Db graphic shirt.png|Death Battle Graphic T-Shirt
Dbx shirt.png|Death Battle DBX Logo T-Shirt
10 years shirt.png|Death Battle 10 Years T-Shirt
Logo shirt.png|Death Battle Logo T-Shirt
First fallen shirt.png|Death Battle First Fallen T-Shirt
Weapons shirt.png|DEATH BATTLE Weapons, Armor, Skills Tee
Fight shirt 2.webp|Death Battle FIGHT T-Shirt
Fight shirt.webp|Death Battle FIGHT Raglan T-Shirt
Db 150 shirt.webp|Death Battle 150 T-Shirt
Ringmaster shirt.webp|Death Battle DBX Ringmaster T-Shirt
Wiz and boomstick shirt.webp|Death Battle Wiz & Boomstick T-Shirt
Cast shirt.webp|Death Battle 10 Years Cast T-Shirt
==Gallery==
DB Previous Logo.png|Death Battle logo during Season 1-2
DB Redesigned Logo.png|Death Battle Logo from Season 3
DB logo 2017.png|Death Battle logo from Season 4-current
DEATH BATTLE! Logo.png|Death Battle logo from Season 4-current with blood splatter
DB Skull.png|Death Battle skull logo from Season 6-current
Db skull with wings.png|Death Battle skull logo variant for the Save Death Battle Kickstarter
SA DEATH BATTLE! First Fallen Poster.png|"First Fallen" design
DEATHBATTLE.png|Poster
Db poster final-800x800 1024x1024.png|Special poster celebrating Death Battle's 100th episode
DB2020Artwork1.png|2020 artwork
DB2020Artwork2.png|Alternate 2020 artwork
Renamon vs bayonetta death battle by genzoman deh3l69.jpg|Official Death Battle Holographic Poster: Renamon VS Bayonetta
==Trivia==
*Ben has stated that the series was heavily inspired by Monty Oum's Haloid, Deadliest Warrior, and Machinima's Versus. However, since Versus did not have any conclusive winners, Ben decided to do an actual series with fully animated fight sequences.User blog:CrossoverKing96/Road to 100 (Archive) Samus vs Boba Fett
*The original series' name was going to be "Who Would Win?", and the original pilot episode (done completely by Ben) even used that title. However, it was later changed to the current name when Chad joined the show.
*Up to Season 10, every season featured at least one combatant from the series Marvel Comics and DC Comics.
*Up to Season 10, every season featured at least one combatant from the companies Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Hitotsubashi Group.
*On October 4th, 2024, in response to criticism from the inner community regarding the lack of credit to fan artists for their resources being used on the show,Death Battle Uncredited Work List the DEATH BATTLE! YouTube channel updated the thumbnails of various episodes that still used fan art (as well as a few more for certain DBX episodes and combatant analysis previews) to replace them with official art and added the credits to creators of custom sprites and models to the descriptions of the respective episodes that used them. Specifically, the thumbnails that were updated are as follows:
**Death Battle: Zitz VS Leonardo, Kratos VS Spawn, Bomberman VS Dig Dug, Vegeta VS Shadow, Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui, Fulgore VS Sektor, Godzilla VS Gamera, Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Power Rangers VS Voltron, Raven VS Twilight Sparkle, Nightwing VS Daredevil, All Might VS Might Guy, Black Canary VS Sindel, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, and Sauron VS Lich King.
**Analysis Previews: Ragna the Bloodedge, Tifa Lockhart, Captain Falcon, Black Adam, Megatron, and Rick Sanchez.
**DBX: Terry Bogard VS Jon Talbain and Mega Man VS Bomberman.
**Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Lucario VS Renamon, and Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki's thumbnails currently remain unchanged, the first to preserve its fourth-wall-breaking nature (with credit to the original artist being added to the description), the second due to the artist of Renamon's render simply requesting to be credited in the description,https://x.com/Emiridian/status/1403478237418827787 and the latter in spite of Zuko's render being an uncredited fan redraw of from the episode "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse".
==See More==
===Spin-offs===
*DBX
*DEATH BATTLE Cast
*Death Race
*The Desk of DEATH BATTLE
===Trivia===
*Death Battle Winners
*Death Battle Losers
*Death Battle Cameos
*Death Battle Curse
*Death Battle Music
*Combatants by Series
*Combatants by Company
*Locations
==External Links==
*Death Battle on Wikipedia
==References==
Category:Media
Category:Real World