Leatherhead vs. Killer Croc

## Description

*When two mutated, sewer-dwelling crocodilians meet each other on bad terms, who will rip the other apart?*

## Interlude

Hiro: Urban legends speak of alligators living in the sewers beneath us, hiding in the darkness while we live our lives, only emerging to gain their fill. But what most people don't realize is that most of those urban legends are very real.

**MBStarscream: And these two are proof of that.**

Hiro: Leatherhead, the literal sewer gator from the Ninja Turtles.

**MBStarscream: And Waylon Jones, the Killer Croc from DC Comics.**

Hiro: I'm Hiro Hamada.

**MBStarscream: I'm MBStarscream.**

Hiro: And it's our job to examine both warriors' strength, abilities, weapons, and weaknesses to see who would win in a fight.

## Leatherhead

Hiro: Originally a mere exotic pet, Leatherhead was eventually flushed down to the sewer, somehow ending up in an Utrom base. The Utrom happily chose Leatherhead to be a part of their studies until he was exposed to the same mutagen that would eventually change the Turtles, mutating him into a massive, humanoid crocodile.

**MBStarscream: With intelligence mirroring that of Donatello's, he lived with the Utroms whom he considered his family. All was dandy until Leatherhead was accidentally left behind during the Utrom Shredder's attack, which forced the Utroms to flee Earth.**  **In his desperation to return to his family, he befriended Baxter Stockman and helped him create a new body, while working on a transmat device so that he could rejoin the Utroms.**

 Hiro: Leatherhead eventually met and befriended Michelangelo, who found him living in the Turtles' old lair. After a battle between the Turtles and Stockman, Leatherhead learned that Stockman worked for the Shredder and attacked him. The resulting battle caused a cave-in, and despite Michelangelo's pleas for him to follow them, Leatherhead seemingly gave his life for his new friends.

**MBStarscream: Leatherhead later reappeared, surviving because of his tough skin, as a prisoner and object of experimentation in the lab of Agent Bishop. After being freed by the Turtles, he helped his old friends escape, and for a time lived in the Turtles' lair. However, Leatherhead's animal rages, already dangerous, were made more so by Bishop's experimentation. While in blind animal rage, Leatherhead struck Michelangelo and woke up to believe that he had killed his friend.**

Hiro: Leaving the Turtles, a depressed Leatherhead found himself hunted by an extreme game hunter, Mr. Marlin, through the sewers. Luckily, he was saved by his friends, who refused to give up on him, and was delighted to discover that Michelangelo was alive and well. In the end, he chose to live away from his friends due to his affliction, living in a nearby chamber so he would always be nearby, but still able to ensure their safety.

**MBStarscream: Leatherhead has aided the Turtles in their battles with the Foot and Agent Bishop, and fought the same evil forces that separated him from his Utrom family. And while he is no ninja, this gator has plenty of other stuff to add to the table.**

Hiro: Leatherhead's mutant physiology grants him serious power. He can easily bend and rip metal with his bare hands even while underwater, smash through brick walls, and overpower the turtles with ease. In terms of speed, he can blitz three of the turtles, who are fast enough to react to lasers and outrun explosions.

**MBStarscream: This tough gator can shrug off most physical attacks and survive a sewer coming down on top of him. He can also take on groups of robotic Foot ninja and armed government soldiers by himself and come out with little to no injury, and take blows from a mutated Donatello, who not even the other turtles or Bishop's men could contain.**

Hiro: Leatherhead comes pre-equipped with the natural weapons that every alligator needs: Powerful jaws that can bite through flesh, bone and metal, claws for grabbing, and a large tail strong enough to smash through solid concrete. And being an alligator, Leatherhead is naturally an adept swimmer, moving at incredible speeds, being able to hold his breath for long periods of time, and using the water to his advantage in battle.

**MBStarscream: Leatherhead isn't just all brawn, though. He's an expert with both Earth and alien technology, hacking computers, and knows his stuff about biology and genetics. Even when not in the lab, Leatherhead uses his wit during battle, patiently biding his time in a hiding spot and waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. He's outwitted the turtles before, who are known for stealth and using the environment to their advantage as well.**

Hiro: Leatherhead has his fair share of achievements. He held his own against all four Ninja Turtles in their first encounter, stormed the Shredder's base with the turtles, fought a mutated Donatello, and helped create a cure for various people who mutated by Bishop.

**MBStarscream: But even this gator has his weaknesses. Supersonic sounds can hurt his ear drums so badly that he can't think or properly fight back, and he can easily be knocked out by electric pulses. He's also not that skilled at fighting directly, relying on his brute strength in combat.**

Hiro: Plus, Leatherhead has lived a rather traumatic life and certainly has some form of PTSD. Trigger any traumatic memory, and Leatherhead will either go berserk or suffer a breakdown, attacking anyone around him regardless if they are friend or foe.

**MBStarscream: But you're still better off sitting down for tea with him than fighting this gator.**

*Leatherhead: Intelligence, reason, and even simple thought... most people take these things for granted... but I do not, For I know what it's like to be an advanced mind trapped in the body of a brute... of a monster. But for once, I am not the monster in question.*

## Killer Croc

Hiro: Waylon Jones was born in a Florida slum with a congenital medical condition that gave him a thick scaly hide and razor-sharp claws and teeth. His mother died in childbirth, his father abandoned him, and he was raised by an aunt whose persistent drinking made things quite difficult.

**MBStarscream: Starting off on a good note.**

Hiro: It gets better. Jones was relentlessly bullied because of his monstrous appearance until he snapped and almost killed one of his schoolyard tormentors. For that little incident, he spent the next eight years of his life in reform school. Over this time his contempt for humanity grew; and so did his body, mutating to grotesque proportions and becoming increasingly reptilian in appearance. The now sociopathic Waylon Jones celebrated his eighteenth birthday by becoming a cold-blooded murderer.

**MBStarscream: He served twenty years for that crime and emerged from jail to join a traveling carnival. He quickly became the main attraction as the alligator-wrestler "Killer Croc". It is worth nothing that it was here that Croc first found a home and developed a niche for his heretofore ghastly appearance. The circus and its inhabitants became Waylon's family and had the circus been able to maintain financially afloat who knows if Waylon would then have turned to organized crime after all.**

Hiro: In time, Waylon would turn away from petty crime - and Croc's ambitions and travels led him to Gotham City, where he began to forge a criminal empire to make a new home. Though rising to prominence by the elimination of other mob members was accomplished quickly - his complete dominion over Gotham was foiled by its native guardian. His attempts to "set up shop" were repeatedly thwarted by the vigilante Batman, but Waylon's ability to adapt have allowed him to carry on for many years.

**MBStarscream: Looking like a crocodile does come with some perks. For one, Croc has grown so physically powerful and quick over the years that Batman has had to resort to planting explosive devices on Croc's chest to knock him unconscious.**

Hiro: He can tear through metal walls like paper, rip bank vault doors straight off the wall, and fight with the hulking zombie known as Solomon Grundy. And just because he's a brute doesn't mean he's slow; even Supergirl says he's faster than he looks, and she's not wrong. Croc has reacted to batarangs, blitzed Batman with a bad leg, and dodged a swipe from a giant minotaur robot's scythe.

**MBStarscream: He's also shown to be one of DC's tankiest characters. Bullets bounce off him, explosions don't scathe him, hits from Supergirl and Zod - two Krytonians I might add - don't put him down for long, and he barely feels batarangs.**

Hiro: As if his endurance wasn't enough, Croc has superhuman regenerative powers, able to heal even lost limbs. He once cut off his own hands to escape Arkham and then healed from them later. And after Bane broke his arms, he healed them in a matter of weeks.

**MBStarscream: Croc has much more adaptive senses to that of a crocodiles', to the point where even as a kid, he was able to track humans from miles away. Growing up in the circus, Croc knows a thing or two about wrestling, and wrestles lots and lots of alligators and crocodiles for a living.**

Hiro: His skill in hand-to-hand is also worth a mention. He regularly fights Batman and is getting to his level of combat, and once had a full-fledged fight with Aquaman, one of which he won. He's also more than a match for Bane, and has even defeated him. Wonder Woman and Cheetah have also learned a few things from him in sparring combat.

**MBStarscream: Due to having the natural instincts and behaviors of a crocodile, Croc is a naturally exceptional swimmer, and can breathe underwater. He's exceptionally stealthy in the water, and can swim up to the surface fast enough to jump out of it, all while dodging and avoiding robots with octopi arms and mutated animals. He even beat up King Shark while underwater, sneaking in from behind even though Nananue was presumably in that tank for a while.**

Hiro: Despite popular belief, Croc is actually quite an intelligent foe, successfully infiltrating S.T.A.R. Laboratories and raiding Gotham City jail. He also has the jaws and claws of a crocodile, and has proven them to be ridiculously strong. His jaws can lift and throw prey around and bite through bone, and his claws can cut through bulletproof suits and shred great white sharks.

**MBStarscream: There's a reason Croc is one of Batman's most challenging adversaries. He killed Jason Todd's parents, single-handedly mauled an entire SWAT team, has fought people fueled with god-like powers and manages to make it out alive, and even defeated Batman in their first encounter, something very few villains have achieved.**

Hiro: But Killer Croc is definitely not invincible. Though smart, he typically uses brute force to solve most of his problems, allowing clever opponents like Batman to outmaneuver him in combat by thinking his way through. His regeneration also has its upper limits; the graver the injury, the longer it will take for Croc to heal.

**MBStarscream: However, you'll definitely think twice about going down to the sewer, because down there is a monster that will enjoy a delicious meal: Your flesh.**

*Killer Croc: I will enjoy feasting on your bones!*

*Killer Croc eats the camera.*

## Fatal Fiction

*Mario flips a coin.*

Hiro: Well, let's stay out of the sewers as our combatants settle it once and for all in a Fatal Fiction.

**MBStarscream: What's so fun about being underground cleaning the bowels of the city anyway?**

*The sewers*

*Drip... drip... drip...*

That was the only sound you could hear echoing throughout these dark, smelly sewers. A lone engineer walked down the long corridor, holding a flashlight that shone brightly, allowing him to navigate his environment. Rats squeaked as they scurried across the floor, frightened by the light that shone on them. The man shook his head in disgust upon seeing the little creatures.

*Splash!*

Stopping in his tracks, the man shone his flashlight on the water next to him. Something had either fallen in or emerged from the dirty liquid, as the ripples indicated. The man stood there with his flashlight focused on the water, then shut his eyes as something wet dropped on his head. Putting his hand on his cranium, the man winced with revulsion as he rubbed his hair and lowered his hand to look at what had dripped on him.

As he looked at his palm, he quickly realized that the substance he was holding was saliva. He started to back up, only to hit something hard. That was funny; he definitely didn't remember there being a dead end behind him. His confusion only grew as he felt the wall with his hands. It felt... scaly.

*Grrrrrrrrr....*

His eyes wide and his pupils the size of dots, the man gulped and looked up while shining his flashlight upward.

All he saw was pair of jaws opening wide and coming down towards him.

His flashlight hit the floor. Blood sprayed on it as screams of terror and agony echoed throughout the sewer.

The man's body then fell onto the ground front-first, blood pooling out of where his head once was. Spitting the man's decapitated head into the water, the monster kneeled down, picked up the man's corpse and started tearing into his new meal, his teeth slicing through muscle and bone as he chewed into his victim's back. The brute in question had reptilian skin, its mouth was packed with dagger-like teeth and his hands were tipped with sharp claws.

This beast was well known as **Killer Croc**.

And he wasn't the only croc in this area.

His nostrils catching a new scent, Croc lifted his head and was greeted with the sight of a 7-foot tall humanoid alligator. He had seen plenty of gators in his day, but never had he come across a gator that walked on two legs. Likewise, **Leatherhead** had not seen anything quite like the anthropomorphic reptile that had just found new prey. Regardless, he wouldn't let this cruel murder go unpunished. Getting on all fours, Leatherhead growled a warning towards Croc, giving him one chance to just walk away and stop this cannibal nonsense. But Croc was not convinced. Standing to his full height, he tossed his snack into the water and roared at the gator standing before him.

Only one croc was going to live.

**FIGHT!**

Croc's foot crushed the man's flashlight as he and Leatherhead moved towards one another. Leatherhead put his hands on Croc's shoulders as the latter reciprocated. The two mutants began to push and grapple each other until Croc suddenly broke the clash to throw Leatherhead towards the nearest wall, the gator's back hitting the solid surface with enough force to form small cracks. His head then reeled left and right as Croc's fist slammed across his snout repeatedly. Leatherhead eventually caught one of Croc's punches and grabbed the criminal's throat in his jaws. Croc tried to break free as Leatherhead turned him around and pinned him against the wall.

Unable to pry open Leatherhead's jaws, Croc desperately planted his fist in the gator's throat, which did the trick. Croc then grabbed Leatherhead in a bearhug, lifted him off his feet and threw him to the ground. Leatherhead swung his tail at Croc's feet, taking him down. Standing up, Leatherhead tried to smash his fists down on Croc, but only hit the ground as Croc rolled out of the way. Leatherhead tried to hit him, but Croc grabbed him by the wrist. He dodged Leatherhead's crossed hook and hit him in the ribs. As the gator let out a cry of pain, Croc punched him twice in the stomach, then lifted him up and smashed him onto his knee.

As Leatherhead lay flat on his back, Croc grabbed his tail, turned around and threw him a considerable distance away. Leatherhead got to his feet and saw Croc advancing towards him. Swinging his tail like a baseball bat, Leatherhead hit Croc in the gut, making him double over. Leatherhead then tackled Croc to the ground and started rolling around on the ground at high speeds, crushing Croc underneath him. Once he stopped his death roll, Leatherhead lifted Croc off his feet and wrapped his jaws around his opponent's head, trying to crush it like a grape. Croc roared in pain as Leatherhead's teeth dug into his skull.

Then stars burst around Leatherhead's field of vision as Croc's fist impacted his left eye. He staggered back and put a hand over his eye in pain, giving Croc some breathing room. Croc then charged at Leatherhead and pushed him towards another wall, pinning the gator against it. Leatherhead retaliated by biting down on Croc's shoulder, the mutant roaring in pain. Croc angrily brought his elbow down on the back of Leatherhead's head, but this did little to deter him. The gator pushed Croc backward, still holding the latter's shoulder in his jaws as blood oozed out of the wounds.

Croc wrapped his hands around Leatherhead's throat as the two mutants pushed against one another. Leatherhead planted an uppercut into Croc's chin and brought a knee to the monster's abdomen. Croc placed both of his hands on Leatherhead's chest and pushed with all of his strength. As his adversary fell hard on his back against the ground, Croc pounced on him and started smashing him with his fists, his vicious blows echoing through the sewer.

Leatherhead eventually kicked Croc off of him and got back to his feet. The combatants began to trade blows, their fists striking each other across the face with tremendous force. Leatherhead swung his tail to hit Croc in the ribs, but Croc grabbed the appendage, spun Leatherhead around and threw him away. As Leatherhead got up, he saw Croc shoulder-charging straight towards him, moving at surprising speed. Croc slammed right into the gator like a rhino, sending him to the ground again.

The sound of a loud splash caught Leatherhead's ears as he picked himself off the floor again. Seeing that Croc had just disappeared, he looked towards the water and narrowed his eyes. He ran forward and dived into the water with a splash, searching for his opponent. He looked around in the water, seeing no sign of Croc anywhere.

Then he heard a loud roar, and turned to see Croc swimming in his direction with his arms outstretched. Grabbing Leatherhead around his waist, Croc pushed the gator towards a wall and pinned him there. Leatherhead raised his fists and slammed them down on Croc's head, to which Croc responded by biting his opponent's chest and tearing out a chunk of flesh, blood spilling out of the wound. Leatherhead pushed Croc away from him, grabbed his leg in his jaws and started dragging him around the place, eventually throwing him out of the water. Croc flew towards a wall and slammed into it, falling to the ground shortly after. Leatherhead burst out of the water and ran towards Croc. He swung his tail at the mutated human/crocodile hybrid, throwing him towards the wall again.

He grabbed Croc by the head and started slamming it into the wall multiple time, hoping to break his opponent's skull wide open. He stopped when Croc kneed him in the stomach and pushed him away. Leatherhead tried to punch Croc in the face, but Croc dodged the blow and punched Leatherhead in the throat, making him gasp for air. Croc pummeled Leatherhead for a few more seconds until Leatherhead caught Croc's right wrist and twisted it, producing a wet crack and eliciting an agonized roar from Croc. Seething with rage, Croc lunged forward and sank his fangs into Leatherhead's shoulder. With a strong pull, Croc ripped the arm right out of its socket, causing blood to spray out and onto the floor as Leatherhead howled in agony.

As Leatherhead held the stump where his arm used to be, Croc gripped his broken wrist until his regenerative ability healed the bones. Giving Leatherhead an evil smile, Croc stabbed his claws into the gator's throat and sliced down to his chest, forming three huge red lines as blood gushed out. He did this again, this time exposing Leatherhead's ribcage. Upon seeing his opponent's bones, Croc tore out two of Leatherhead's ribs and thrust them into his opponent's eyes deep enough to pierce his brain. Leatherhead reached out towards Croc as he started to lean back, about to fall.

Before he could hit the floor, Croc grabbed Leatherhead by the arm and pulled the gator toward him. Grabbing Leatherhead's jaws, Croc pried them open with a disgusting crunch, the corners of Leatherhead's mouth bleeding as a testament to ruptured muscles and tendons. Only then did Croc allow Leatherhead to fall lifelessly. As soon as Leatherhead's back hit the ground, Croc raised his fists while unleashing a mighty roar of triumph. Then he looked at Leatherhead's corpse and licked his chops. A better meal shall be his reward.

**FATALITY!**

## Results

**MBStarscream: Wickedly brutal, even by croc standards!**

Hiro: Leatherhead proved to be Croc's equal in strength and speed, and had his own advantages in this fight. He was more intelligent than Croc, was naturally adapted to the environment of the sewer and had faster reflexes, but that was really all he had.

**MBStarscream: Sadly for Leatherhead, Croc was just too much for a powerhouse for him to overcome. Not only was Croc the more durable of the two, he was also the more experienced, having matched opponents who would be more than a match for Leatherhead.**

Hiro: To add to his durability, Croc also had the better healing factor, able to heal more severe injuries like his hands being amputated or his arms being broken. Croc has also accomplished a lot more on his own, while Leatherhead typically works with others to achieve common goals. To make things worse for Leatherhead, Croc is used to wrestling alligators like him for a living, so Leatherhead wasn't going to be too hard for him.

**MBStarscream: And you're saying, "Leatherhead isn't like the mindless animals that Croc is experienced with!" but excluding the fact that Croc has plenty of experience fighting similar opponents, the only real difference is that he's smarter, walks on two legs, and is from a media about anthropomorphic turtles that eat pizza.**

Hiro: Leatherhead fought well, but it was only a matter of time before Croc's durability, experience and regeneration did him in.

**MBStarscream: Later, gator.**

Hiro: Killer Croc wins.

## Advantages

### Killer Croc (Winner)

* More durable
* More experienced
* Regeneration
* Has accomplished more on his own
* Has experience in wrestling alligators like Leatherhead
* Fights opponents who utilize stealth on a daily basis
* Has battled far more experienced foes
* Has defeated metahumans before