Leon Kennedy VS Frank West

Leon Kennedy VS Frank West is the 93rd episode of Death Battle, featuring Leon S. Kennedy from the Resident Evil series and Frank West from the Dead Rising series in a battle between Capcom's zombie slayers. Leon was voiced by Ricco Fajardo and Frank was voiced by Austin Lee Matthews.
==Interlude==
Wiz: Surviving the undead apocalypse takes grit, perseverance, and an armies worth of firepower. With all that and some luck, these two became experts in zombie fighting.
Boomstick: Leon Kennedy, the top cop and government agent in Resident Evil.
Wiz: And Frank West, the backyard wrestling MacGyver of Dead Rising.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
==Leon S. Kennedy==
Wiz: As a child, Leon Scott Kennedy's father instilled in him a strong sense of justice. Following in his footsteps, Leon joined the police force, determined to uncover the darkest riddles and uphold the law.
Boomstick: So, for his first-ever assignment, he took the biggest challenge he could find. Instead of picking an easy job like dishing out dastardly parking tickets, he was off to Raccoon City to investigate a bunch of mysterious murders.
Wiz: His instincts were good, perhaps too good. Officer Kennedy wound up choosing the most challenging and dangerous assignment he possibly could have.
Boomstick: Yeah, turns out Trash Panda Town was due for a big ol' zombie outbreak, and Leon got stuck in the middle. How's that for hazing the rookie?
Wiz: He wasn't a rookie for long. After fending off the zombie threat, and even taking a bullet—
Boomstick: From the Grassy Knoll?
Wiz: Leon was recruited by the American government as a special agent, bodyguard, and their go-to specialist for apocalyptic events.
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Leon: In all cases, the people that are bitten become infected themselves and go on to attack others. The only way to stop the spread of infection is to destroy the infectees' brain. Shoot them in the head.
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Boomstick: His training at the police academy turned him into a pretty tough guy, but as a special agent, he became unstoppable.
Wiz: All thanks to his extensive firearms training, extreme driving tests, and the study of tactical response scenarios.
Boomstick: Guess what martial art they teach American Secret Service members? A traitorous Russian one called Systema, and Leon is an expert at it.
Wiz: Systema is a freeform martial art focusing on disabling targets via pressure points in joints. While not specifically lethal on its own, Systema also involves quite a lot of training with knives and firearms.
Boomstick: That's good, 'cause I don't think fists would be enough to take on monsters like the Tyrants, skinless dogs, and... is that Gene Simmons?
Wiz: Right, these Bio Organic Weapons, or B.O.W.s, were far tougher than your ordinary run-of-the-mill zombie. Thankfully, Leon has the weaponry to take them on.
Boomstick: He's efficient with just about any kind of gun, but like me, he loves carrying around his favorites, including the Silver Ghost, a unique pistol specifically designed for him. He's also got a modified .50 caliber Desert Eagle Magnum, a gift from his father. Lucky bastard, all I ever got from my dad was a sore cheek.
Wiz: While he has no problem dual-wielding handguns, Leon is extremely proficient in dealing damage with heavier weapons, such as the M203 Grenade Launcher or his ludicrous Rocket Launcher Special.
Boomstick: This red-tipped wrecker of an RPG is far more powerful than an ordinary propelled grenade. The gun itself looks similar to a classic RPG-7 Model, first used as an anti-tank weapon by the Soviet Union. Since the red grenade is so deadly, it's probably a thermobaric explosive booster, which can launch over 600 feet for a 60-foot wide explosion. That's more than enough to take down one of those bow-wows.
Wiz: Leon has plenty of experience with hand grenades, rifles, flamethrowers, etc., but one weapon stands above them all: his knife.
Boomstick: Oh yeah. Leon's combat knife is way more than some plain old bread cutter! He's practically magic when it comes to his skill with a knife. And if he gets hit, he'll be fine... probably. I mean, he's wearing lightweight level three tactical body armor, which can stop bullets from a magnum and even some rifles. If he does take a hit, he's carrying some healing herbs which he can also take a hit from, if you know what I'm saying!
Wiz: He's not snorting drugs, Boomstick! Healing herbs have a history of being applied as an aerosol spray or ground up within paper.
Boomstick: Well, once Leon became the government's numero uno answer to all of their zombie problems, he was stopping outbreaks all over the world; he had to pull off some awesome feats to do it. He even had to make some horrible sacrifices along the way, like that poor, poor Ducati...
Wiz: Leon is strong enough to crush a skull, or even force open the jaws of a giant infected shark. This shark appears to be similar in size to a Great White, which has a bite strength of nearly two tons of force.
Boomstick: That shit's crazy! And speaking of which, let's talk a little bit about Leon's relationship with boulders.
Wiz: Relationship with what?
Boomstick: Boulders! You know, they're like, really big rocks. Think you would know that. Well, he fought Chris Redfield to a standstill, the famous boulder-puncher himself! And while Leon doesn't seem to have Chris's brute strength, he did push over this giant rock with a little help.
Wiz: Leon is pretty quick, too. He's dodged bullets, a moving laser grid, and even outraced this Tyrant, which, according to the Inside of BIO-HAZARD Guide, could run up to 43 miles per hour.
Boomstick: He's even thrown his trusty knife fast enough that this creepy guy didn't even react until, uh... Oh...
Wiz: The average time for a person to perceive and react to movement is a quarter of a second. Leon appears to be about 30 feet away from his target Salazar here, meaning he threw his knife around 80 miles per hour.
Boomstick: The average speed for most world-class knife throwers is only 35 miles per hour, so he's more than double that.
Wiz: Leon is tough, having survived blows from various large and burly B.O.W.s. He even matched the strength of Umbrella Agent Jack Krauser. Krauser was strong enough to perform a 30-foot vertical jump. Generally, men can pull off a two-foot vertical jump at most, making Krauser potentially 15 times stronger than the average man.
Boomstick: At this point, let's just say that Leon is basically superhuman. It's like he has zero weaknesses!
Wiz: Au contraire, Boomstick, Leon has his fair share of baggage. He's pretty gullible, oftentimes tricked by those wilier than himself.
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Ada: Go... Save yourself...
Leon: Is it just me or does everybody always ignore what I say?
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Boomstick: Like her? You think he just might be trying to get laid? Lord knows I've done a few dumb things on that quest. I don't know about his chances though, rockin' that hairdo.
Wiz: But after more than 15 years of nightmarish catastrophes, Leon's mental state has become more fragile, and more reliant on alcohol.
Boomstick: Ah, you and me both, pal! He always needs a little chaos in his life, and when it comes down to it, that's what makes him such a friggin' badass.
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Leon: Better try a new trick, 'cause that one's getting old.
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==Frank West==
Wiz: Upon first impression, Frank West seems to just be your average journalist, but... he's far more than that.
Boomstick: I'll say. He's covered wars, you know.
Wiz: As a photojournalist, Frank will regularly go far beyond the call of duty to uncover his next big scoop. It was this iron-clad determination which led him to a mall in the town of Willamette, Colorado, where he found... the zombie apocalypse.
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Frank: What? Did you just say "zombies"?
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Boomstick: But Frank's down to rough up dozens of zombies every now and then, and with his wrestling history and battlefield experience, he's got the skills to do it.
Wiz: Despite never having fired a gun at another person before Willamette, Frank discovered he's a natural when it comes to firearms.
Boomstick: He's handy with all sorts of guns, like pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and a beautiful minigun. Oh, I love it! He's even got a Silver Ghost, a unique pistol specifically designed for government agent Leon Ke— Hey, hey, wait a minute!
Wiz: But, bullets can only last so long against a never-ending zombie horde, so Frank was forced to improvise.
Boomstick: And thanks to being in a shopping mall, he had plenty of options.
Wiz: From obvious choices like sledgehammers, baseball bats, and chainsaws, to out-of-the-box picks like shampoo, lipstick, lawnmowers, and a shopping cart, Frank has an uncanny ability to effectively weaponize pretty much anything he gets his hands on.
Boomstick: Garbage, toys, food, you name it! This guy does not overlook anything's death-dealing potential. He even uses his camera flash as a weapon!
Wiz: His primary camera appears to be a Nikon D100, which has a flash color temperature of 6,000 K, or crystal light. When used up close, it's nearly as effective on the eyes as a flashbang grenade.
Boomstick: Anyway, Frank survived the zombie horde with flying colors. His next step was obvious: Profit from it!
Wiz: He became famous overnight. He was named the "Hero of Willamette", hosted a TV show, and scored all sorts of endorsements.
Boomstick: His love of using baseball bats to smash zombie skulls in even landed him a great commercial deal with Deadwood Pro Baseball. Damn, so he's making tons of money off of killing people! My dream.
Wiz: I know, right? All these zombies were technically people once, so when you really think about it, this whole situation is pretty—
Boomstick: Freaking awesome! Ah, living the dream, buddy. You earned it.
Wiz: Uh-huh... Anyway, fame is a fickle mistress, and it wasn't long until Frank's 15 minutes of fame were cut short. He eventually became a college teacher, but not before several more encounters with the undead kind.
Boomstick: And the more he fought 'em, the more creative he got about it!
Wiz: Frank's greatest asset is his impressive ingenuity.
Wiz: With nothing but his blood, sweat, and tears...
Boomstick: And a shit load of duct tape!
Wiz: Frank perfected the art of combination weapons.
Boomstick: Like the Paddle Saw, where he took a kayak paddle and strapped on a couple chainsaws for a rip-roaring good time!
Wiz: The Electric Crusher is an invention combining the power of a car battery with a weight of a sledgehammer, crafting a Mjolnir for mortals.
Boomstick: The Blitzkrieg is a freaking wheelchair, powered by a car battery, firing machine guns all over the place! Stephen Hawking could have even beat Death with that!
Wiz: He can make a laser sword by sticking a gem into a flashlight... Don't ask me how.
Boomstick: And the Reaper is the unholy union of sickle and samurai sword. Wow! And all that is just scratching the surface. He's even got combo vehicles, like the Exo Suit!
Wiz: That's a suit made of Slurpee machines.
Boomstick: Which shoots ice tornadoes! Talk about cool, pun intended!
Wiz: Even stranger, Frank has used an arcade machine to miraculously copy some of the powers of fellow Capcom characters.
Boomstick: You're a wizard, Franky!
Wiz: No, he's not magic. These powers come directly from costumes most commonly obtained from the machine. For example, he can don Ryu's gi to perform Hurricane Kicks or Mega Man X's armor, complete with a Mega Buster.
Boomstick: You are what you wear. Speaking of costume changes, sadly, Frank eventually was caught by zombies and wound up becoming another mindless slave of the undead horde. But it's okay, he got better!
Wiz: Frank has pulled off a lot of impressive feats, despite having little formal training aside from maybe a three-day combat journalist crash course. He's killed hundreds, maybe thousands of zombies, giving him one of the highest body counts in video game history.
Boomstick: He's really strong, too! He can pull a zombie's limbs and head off, no problem, and in the Exo Suit, he's pushed around a two-ton car!
Wiz: He's tough enough to survive long falls and devastating helicopter crashes with little issues, and he's quick enough to catch up to and board a train moving 15 miles per hour in less than three seconds. He can even hop off zombies heads like a ninja so well that the zombies barely even notice.
Boomstick: Wait, they don't notice that he's literally jumping off their heads? How the hell does he pull that off?!
Wiz: Very carefully. But Frank has fought more than just mindless zombies.
Boomstick: Yeah, like some crazy clowns with chainsaws and a freeze gun, and plenty of other psycho maniacs...
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Steven: THIS IS MY STOOOORE!
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Boomstick: ....Including Lance Corporal Calder, the world's first intelligent soldier zombie.
Wiz: Also, I think it's important to note many of these feats were performed in the span of 72 hours with no sleep or rest. According to a study on sleep deprivation in 2010, an average human's physical and mental health begins to severely deteriorate after 36 hours of no sleep, resulting in disorientation and even hallucinations.
Boomstick: And here I thought heavy drinking was the only way to legally hallucinate. Well, time to binge Netflix until I trip balls!
Wiz: Whether by inhuman stamina or just a shit ton of adrenaline, Frank was in peak condition for twice as long as he should have been.
Boomstick: There's that journalist determination again! Sure, he may be a bit of a self-serving asshole, but he's pulled off the impossible more than once, even when he got into his 50s!
Wiz: Once a survivor, always a survivor.
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Frank: Snag your very own disposable Digi-Cheap disposable camera! It's faaaaaannn... tastic!
Director: Cut!
Frank: I mean it. Seriously. I need a raise.
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==Prelude==
==Death Battle==
A zombie outbreak has affected a now-abandoned city. A person on the radio is giving updates on the situation.
Radio Broadcaster: With evacuation complete, state officials are prioritizing outbreak containment. Yet there are still reports of looters within the city. Who knows what these people think is worth braving certain doom to get?
As he says this, Frank West is seen walking past the radio down the street with a shopping cart before he punches open a store window, making off with various supplies.
Frank: Sweet! Just what I was looking for!
He dumps the items in the cart and rubs off his hands before hearing a voice behind him.
???: What are you doing?
Frank turns to see Leon a small distance from him, readying his Desert Eagle.
Leon: No one's supposed to be here.
Frank: Never stopped me before, pal!
Frank takes a bottle out of the cart and hurls it at Leon, who shoots it. With his opponent distracted on the broken object, Frank then rams the shopping cart full of supplies into Leon, disarming him. He then jumps and does a cartwheel over the cart while pulling a bat out of the items. Leon charges forward, but Frank knocks him back with the baseball bat.
Frank: Batter up!
Frank then takes several swings at Leon, who dodges or blocks most hits before slicing the bat in half with his knife. Undeterred, Frank uses smashes the broken bat across Leon's face, making him stagger back. Frank then charges in with his Nikon D100.
Frank: See you in a flash, buddy! Ha ha ha!
Taking a photo (and flipping him off in said photo), Frank slams the flashed Leon down onto the ground and kicks him into a few arcade machines, starting them up. Leon gets up, only to notice the noise of the arcade machines attracted nearby zombies.
Leon: Ah, shit.
The zombies then break down the iron fence and begin stumbling towards the two. Frank stops charging his shopping basket forward, only to notice the incoming zombies. He starts digging through his cart as Leon starts mowing down the undead with his submachine gun. Frank knocks back all the zombies surrounding him by creating the Electric Crusher before attempting to hit Leon, who barely dodges it.
Frank tries swinging the Crusher at Leon again, but Leon avoids it and kicks Frank as he gets one of his shotguns. Frank knocks the gun upwards and Leon kicks him before he can do anything else and catches the gun. The two take down the incoming zombies while continuing to try and harm and dodge each other as Leon swipes with his knife and shoots his shotgun while Frank keeps relying on the Crusher. The two stop as Leon aims his shotgun at his opponent.
Leon: Give it up man! You can't keep up with me.
Frank: Wanna bet? I've covered wars, ya know!
Leon shoots the Crusher out of Frank's hand. Frank retreats and leaps on top of his cart to escape.
Leon: That's nice, but...
Leon charges forward as Frank tosses a scythe attached to a boomerang at him, which Leon slices in half.
Leon: ...I've fought in them.
Frank leaps toward a Capcom arcade and sees an arcade cabinet on the outside. He scrolls through a series of Capcom mascot costumes before he lands on and selects Mega Man X's outfit.
Frank: Lucky me!
Leon arrives in front of the arcade and tosses a grenade as Frank charges and launches the X-Buster. The projectile mows down a couple of zombies as Leon tosses an undead walker at the projectile to shield himself. The explosion from the shot still has intense knockback that sends him backwards. Meanwhile, Leon's grenade lands right next to Frank. West covers it by knocking a zombie back and taking its Servbot helmet, but the explosion still sends him crashing into the store. Meanwhile, Leon has a rough landing after being sent back by the X-Buster.
Leon: Ugh... shit! 
Leon holds his chest as he limps towards the arcade, where inside, Frank launches an ice projectile at his opponent that Leon narrowly dodges. Frank leaps outside, now armed with the Exo Suit.
Frank: (impersonating Mister Freeze) "Ice" to meet you! (normally) Why don't you chill out?
Frank starts shooting more ice projectiles at the cop as Leon starts rushing towards his motorcycle and rocket launcher. Frank jumps forward and slams his fists down to unleash the ice tornado. Leon grabs his rocket launcher and readies his shot.
Leon: Here we go! Huh?!
Leon is shocked upon seeing the ice tornado coming towards him, and soon enough, he loses his footing and is sucked into the cyclone. Frank starts laughing and celebrating while witnessing his opponent struggle.
Frank: He he he ha ha ha ha! Yeeeeehaw! It was "ice" fighting with ya, buddy!
Leon watches as one of the zombies sucked in Frank's tornado freezes within seconds. Leon's feet become frozen, but he grabs one of the flying frozen zombies to escape the eye of the storm. After shattering the ice with his feet, he launches a rocket downward.
Leon: Game over!
A dejected Frank looks down as he sees the rocket approaching.
Frank: Awww, shi—
Frank is blown apart by the rocket as Leon lands on the ground.
Frank's now zombified detached head is still breathing as Leon contacts his superior via walkie talkie. Leon turns around and tosses his knife at the journalist's head, causing it to cease breathing.
==Results==
Boomstick: Something tells me Frank won't be coming back from the dead this time.
Wiz: Frank's cheeky strategies and endlessly creative arsenal certainly put up a good fight, but in the end, Leon just had him beat in nearly every other category.
Boomstick: Frank was one tough cookie, but Leon's superhuman abilities were just more impressive. Frank's pushed a two-ton car, right?
Wiz: Yes, which is similar to Leon holding back the shark's two-ton biting force, but his boulder feat was much more impressive. By comparing the boulder's size to Leon, it appears to have weighed around nine tons at minimum. While Leon did have help pushing it, even half of nine tons is much heavier than anything Frank's lifted or pushed.
Boomstick: Leon and Frank seemed equally tough, but Leon was definitely quicker. Bullet timing, laser dodging, and hell, Leon's speed and precision with his knife on its own is more impressive than any speed feat Frank's got. 
Wiz: But in the end, the most important question was whether or not Leon could cope with Frank's insane weaponry and unpredictable creativity.
Boomstick: But Leon's seen plenty of crazy shit in his career, and fought lots of surprising and off-putting monsters.
Wiz: His years of formal training and more consistent combat record certainly lent him the experience needed to win. He's survived numerous battles with enemies powerful enough to one-shot him, and he's shown plenty of creative strategy and critical thinking mid-fight.
Boomstick: Like when he fought Tyrant Glenn, using momentum from his own injuries and throwing a freaking motorcycle through the air! Leon was just too fast, too strong, too experienced, and too badass. He was "Frank-Leon" his game.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Leon Kennedy.
==Original Track==
===Composition===
The track for this fight is called "Resident Rising" by Therewolf Media. It features electric guitar solos and background instruments in the forms of drums, with soft piano keys throughout in a melody reminiscent of "Secure Place" from Resident Evil 2. The guitar solo is most likely a reference to the action genre of both zombie series.
===Title===
The title is simply a combination of the titles of both combatants' home series (Resident Evil and Dead Rising).
===Cover Art===
The cover art done by Luis Cruz depicts two of Leon's rocket launchers crossing in an X-formation behind Frank's camera akin to a skull and crossbones design.
==Trivia==
===Production===
*The core connections between Leon and Frank are that they are both zombie slayers from popular zombie video game series developed by Capcom, who have fought and defeated numerous zombies and other humans throughout their careers by relying on their quick thinking and near-superhuman capabilities. Both of their zombie-killing careers started when they were investigating a town/city as part of their regular jobs (Leon was assigned to Racoon City as a police officer, and Frank was tipped to probe the town of Willamette as a photojournalist), and after encountering a zombie outbreak, they fought their way out and became vital figures in fighting against future outbreaks, encountering all kinds of monsters and enemies. In addition:
**Both were infected with a deadly virus themselves before being cured (Las Plagas and the Ampulex Compressa Giganteus, respectively). 
**Both had a former soldier who became corrupted by the zombie virus as one of their greatest enemies, with them seeing it as necessary to become stronger and restore balance to the world (Jack Krauser and Lance Corporal Calder, respectively).
**Dead Rising has made several references to Resident Evil throughout the years (most relevantly, Frank owning Leon's one-of-a-kind Silver Ghost, which Boomstick points out in Frank's analysis), as well as Frank appearing in crossovers with other Resident Evil characters (such as Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Project X Zone), albeit none with Leon in major roles (as Leon only has cameos in UMvC3 and was added to Project X Zone 2, which doesn't have Frank).
*According to the commentary for this episode, Torrian Crawford originally wanted to animate the fight due to his love for the Resident Evil series, but later felt it would've been too complicated with time constraints and Frank's weaponry. The fight was originally supposed to end in a mansion to pay homage to the Resident Evil games.
*The background sprites are primarily from a 1990s Sailor Moon arcade game.
*The fight location was built in Blender, a first for the series since Season 2.
*The original thumbnail for this episode used fan art of Leon by WeskerFan1236 on DeviantArt that mimics the art style of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The thumbnail was later updated to replace the fan art with official artwork.
**This makes it the 13th episode where at least one of its thumbnails uses fan art, after Zitz VS Leonardo, Kratos VS Spawn, Bomberman VS Dig Dug, Vegeta VS Shadow, Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui, Ivy VS Orchid, Fulgore VS Sektor, Godzilla VS Gamera, Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Metal Sonic VS Zero, Lucario VS Renamon, and Raven VS Twilight Sparkle, and with the next 10 being Nightwing VS Daredevil, All Might VS Might Guy, Black Canary VS Sindel, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki, Blake VS Mikasa, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, Sauron VS Lich King, Frieza VS Megatron, and Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor.
===Easter Eggs===
*A Servbot head from Mega Man Legends can be seen amongst the items Frank steals from the store's display front at the beginning of the fight, and another one that a zombie was wearing is used by Frank to contain the explosion from Leon's grenade. This doubles as a reference to how Servbot heads can be found as items in Dead Rising, particularly in the first game.
*A restaurant seen in the background of the fight is called "Humbrella", a reference to the evil corporation from Resident Evil, Umbrella.
*The games within the three arcade cabinets Frank knocks Leon into are Baseball Stars 2, Metal Slug, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. The first two games were published by SNK, who have crossed over with Capcom multiple times.
*The arcade cabinet Frank uses to obtain his Mega Man X costume is called "Capcom Arcade Heroes: The Arcade Game The Game", which is a joke on how Capcom has multiple releases and excessive titles for the Street Fighter series, especially with Street Fighter II.
**The different costumes he scrolls through while using this cabinet are that of Ryu, Phoenix Wright, Felicia, Dante, and Leon himself before settling on X.
*The Capcom Heroes Arcade building is eventually revealed to have Mega Man's original 8-bit sprite as part of its sign after Frank gets knocked through the building's ground-floor windows by Leon's exploding grenade.
===Errors===
*When Leon's rocket launcher is analyzed, "Muzzle Velocity" is misspelled as "Muzzel Velocity".
*In the "Combination Weapons" slide of Frank's analysis, Slushie is misspelled as "Sushy".
*Leon's motorcycle and rocket launcher seen in the alleyway between the Humbrella and Capcom Heroes Arcade buildings in the climax of the fight aren't present in any previous scene featuring said alleyway.
*Therewolf Media is miscredited as "Therewolf Werewolf" instead of "Werewolf Therewolf" in the ending credits.
===Other===
*This is the second Capcom-themed episode, after Haggar VS Zangief, and with the next one being Mega Man Battle Royale.
*This is the first Horror-themed episode, with the next one being Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers.
==Notes==
Category:Death Battles
Category:Season 5 episodes
Category:'Video Games' themed Death Battles
Category:Animated Sprite battles
Category:Fights animated by Luis
Category:'Company' themed Death Battles
Category:'Mascots' themed Death Battles
Category:'Protagonists' themed Death Battles
Category:'Heroes' themed Death Battles
Category:'Guns' themed Death Battles
Category:Fights with voice actors
Category:Fights animated by Kiid
Category:Death Battles with cameo appearances
Category:'90s VS 00s' themed Death Battles