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Good guys, bad guys, [[Stuff Blowing Up|and explosions]] [[More Dakka|as far as the eye can see]]<br />
And [[There Can Be Only One|only one will survive]] I wonder who it will be<br />
This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny|Chorus from [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (
{{quote|''"Can a [[Laser Blade|lightsaber]] cut through [[Superman]]?"''|[[Google]] autocomplete (There's also "Can a lightsaber cut through [[X-Men|adamantium]]?")}}
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* ''[[Curb Stomp Battle|Curbstomp]]'': Similar to the original kind, only the thread creator, and most likely the general population of the board, knows full well (or at least believes) that one side has an overwhelming advantage. The purpose of this discussion is just ''how'' badly the underdog (who is usually considered unpopular, often to [[The Scrappy]] level, on that board) is going to get slaughtered.
The trope is named for the song and flash animation "[[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (
The geek-centric Wizard Magazine has a section devoted to this called "Who Would Win?" and would describe the stats of the two combatants and then tell the "real" fight that occurs. They then proclaim a winner and have a URL to go to to talk about it. They've done [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] versus the [[Justice League]] ({{spoiler|[[Justice League]] won}}), Classic Wolverine versus [[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate]] Wolverine ({{spoiler|Classic Wolverine won}}), and [[
Usually settled with [[Popularity Power]]. See also [[Fan Wank]] and [[Evasive Fight Thread Episode]]. If it's actually canon then it's a [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]]. Compare [[Character Tiers]]. Contrast [[Story-Breaker Team-Up]]. If you were looking for the song, [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (
----
'''Four TV series have been based on this concept so far.'''
* MTV's ''[[
* Spike Tv's ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'', which explores "history's greatest killing machines", look at their historic backgrounds and the science behind their equipment and fighting styles, and pair them off in a one-on-one computer simulated fight. Showdowns include "Gladiator vs. Apache", "Ninja vs. Spartan", "Taliban vs. IRA", "Yakuza vs. Mafia", and "William Wallace vs. Shaka Zulu".
* History Channel's ''Jurassic Fight Club'', similar to ''Deadliest Warrior'' in that it uses best available knowledge to establish the abilities, strengths, and weaknesses of the animals, then CGIs the actual fights. Match-ups include Allosaurus vs. Ceratosaurus; Mega-Lion vs. the Short-Faced Bear; and Megalodon vs. Brygmophyseter, the "biting sperm whale".
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'''The concept has also been used in:'''
* ''[[Harry
* ''[[Will It Blend]]'': Anything, at all, versus a Blend-Tec blender.
* ''Anachronism'': A card game that lets you pit various historical (or somewhat historical, like [[Robin Hood]]) characters against each other. For more fun, trade the character's goodies around -- give Achilles Beowulf's chain mail and Miyamoto's katana.
** Another card game ''Who Would Win?'', which is [[Exactly What It Says
* ''[[Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus]]''.
** ... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LpjxWF7C6E Vs. R. Lee Ermey.] {{spoiler|With a cameo from [[Billy Mays]].}}
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* the Race Of Champions (ROC), an annual event which involves taking the best racing drivers from their repsective fields and different nationalities, putting two of them into 100% indentical cars and having them race head to head on a very short twisty track for 2 laps.
* ''[[The Spoony Experiment]]'' had ''[http://spoonyexperiment.com/2010/12/05/the-deadliest-character/ Deadliest Character]'', a direct take-off of the aforementioned ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'', featuring the [[Power Rangers|Megazord]] vs. Mecha[[Godzilla]]. {{spoiler|1=Megazord wins by summoning [[The Sixth Ranger]] and tearing MechaGodzilla apart}}.
* ''[[
* The children's book "Shark vs. Train", which takes the more common sense approach, with hilarious results (it matters, for instance, whether the competition is under water, or involves trying to sell lemonade.)
* This is the main idea behind ''[[
* In 1953's ''Jungle Drums'', a wilderness-adventure film crew stages a fight between a tiger and a lion.
* The entire gag underlying ''[[Bambi Meets Godzilla]]''.
=== This level of geekery can creep [[In
== Canon ==
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** Dracula vs. Superman also happened. By hypnotizing Lois Dracula actually gained the upper hand and succeeded in drinking Superman's blood (Assume that as a magical creature Superman is vulnerable to that). However, Superman is solar powered, and seconds after drinking his blood well... [[Your Head Asplode|imagine eating a grenade]].
*** Which is technically inaccurate, since Stoker's Dracula wasn't destroyed by sunlight, just weakened.
* The most blatant example here is ''[[The DCU|DC]] vs. [[Marvel Universe|Marvel]]''/''[[Marvel Universe|Marvel]]'' vs. ''[[The DCU|DC]]'' (depending on who produced the particular issue you have). The crossover was built around five such classic face-offs ([[
* One of the best was ''[[Justice League of America|JLA]]''/''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'', written by [[Kurt Busiek]]. Highlights include:
** [[
** Batman and Captain America facing off until they realize that they're equally matched and that someone is pulling both teams' chains. Then they leave to find out who. [[Memetic Badass|At this point you realize there's nothing the]] [[Big Bad]] [[Memetic Badass|can do, as he's screwed]].
*** Writers are notoriously loathe to decide the Batman vs. Captain America contest. Not only here, but in the Batman/Captain America crossover by [[John Byrne]], the two team up instead of fight. (They were also the 1940s incarnations of the respective characters.) And in the aforementioned ''DC vs. Marvel'', they're about to team up again when Cap is temporarily immobilized by a river of sewage, giving Batman a technical victory.
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** And "Doomsday" brings the fight people had been wanting for ''decades''; Daleks vs Cybermen.
** The novel "All-Consuming Fire" had Sherlock Holmes and the seventh Doctor square off with the Cthulhu Mythos.
* This is arguably one of the purposes of such [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]] [[Fighting Game|Fighting Games]] such as [[Capcom vs. Whatever|just about every single Capcom crossover game ever]] and ''[[Super Smash Bros]]''. ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'', despite being a [[Turn
* [[MUGEN]] is a custom [[Fighting Game]] system which allows characters from different fighting games to battle aginast each other. It's gotten popular on [[YouTube]], especially Perfect Cell vs. Dio Brando, where Dio wins using his famous steam roller attack.
* Now that ''[[Super Smash Bros]] Brawl'' has come out, players can decide [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]] vs. [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]] for themselves. ''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games'' also takes this on.
* Recently the [[Transformers]] franchise came up with a fighting game called ''[[Transformers
* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' does this for the various heroes and villains of multiple ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' titles. [[Final Fantasy VII|Cloud]] vs. [[Final Fantasy IX|Zidane]], [[Final Fantasy IV|Cecil]] vs. [[Final Fantasy X|Tidus]], [[Final Fantasy VII|Sephiroth]] vs. [[Final Fantasy VI|Kefka]], [[Final Fantasy X|Jecht]] vs. [[Final Fantasy IX|Kuja]]... the possibilities abound.
* Spoofed in a recurring ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch in which George Wendt leads a cadre of football fans who speculate on the scores of hypothetical games pitting the Chicago Bears against other teams, with the Bears facing increasingly unlikely handicaps, such as being shrunk to the size of midgets. (Hint: Da Bears win.)
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** Alternatively, The Detroit Red Wings vs. the Swedish Olympic team. Almost half the roster is the same.
* Kristofer Straub, the author of ''[[Starslip Crisis]]'', has challenged ''all sci-fi [[Web Comics]]'' to enter their respective ships in ''The Alterverse War'', where they will battle each other.
** Sadly, the series went into hiatus shortly after it began. The only battle we saw was the ''[[Starslip Crisis|Fuseli]]'' vs. the ''[[Schlock Mercenary
* Despite some fora now trying to crack down on the "X vs. Y -- who would win?" threads, they're impossible to avoid on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX|GX]]'' sites. The common opponents are of course Yugi vs. Judai, Mai vs. Asuka, and Kaiba vs. Kaiser.
** Of course, ''GX'' tried to satisfy that first one with Judai dueling against Yugi's deck (stolen by a fellow student adept at copying other duelists), and barely won. However, it was pointed out that, since this was just an imitator, it doesn't necessarily make him better.
*** {{spoiler|The final GX episode had an actual Yugi/Judai duel. It's implied that Yugi won, though we don't see the end results of the Osiris/Neos clash.}}
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* One of the odder comic book examples: [http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/315/ Superman vs. Muhammad Ali]
** You don't know the half of it. I provide for your amusement: [http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category=blog&id=29&Itemid=46&limitstart=259 Santa Claus vs THe Incredible Hulk] and [http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=29&Itemid=46&limitstart=260 Santa Claus vs the Iron Man] When you see Cringle pull out a submachine gun on the Man O' Iron, you know that [[A Worldwide Punomenon|Ho-Ho-Homicide]] is about to happen. As for pulling a crowbar out on the Hulk....
* Movies like ''[[Alien (
** One review of ''Alien vs. Predator'' opened by mentioning the latter two "vs." movies, then, struggling for [[Rule of Three|a third example]], adding, "and... um... ''[[Lassie (TV series)|Lassie]] vs. [[Flipper]]''?"
** It should be noted that there were several Aliens vs. Predator games and comics long before the movie was even thought of.
*** And then there's the Alien vs. Predator vs. The Terminator comics.
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** Memorable reversal: the short film ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VujzyznQ4eE Son of Bambi vs. Godzilla]''.
*** How about ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oCF-QFuoYs Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley]''.
* Via [[Actor Allusion]], a battle between two famous hotblooded [[Super Robot]] pilots, [[G Gundam|Domon Kasshu]] and [[
* Koei released a game entitled ''[[Warriors Orochi]]'', which amounts to a crossover between their (Three Kingdoms China) ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' and (Sengoku Japan) ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'' franchises. Much of the plot deals with this, such as Lu Bu's hunt for Samurai Warriors equivalent Honda.
** And by the 3rd series, they also tossed in the bonafide [[Badass]] Video Game [[Ninja]] [[Ninja Gaiden|Ryu Hayabusa]], as well as the bonafide [[Trojan Wars]] [[Badass]] [[Warriors: Legends of Troy|Achilles]].
* [[Jet Li]] vs. [[Jackie Chan]]. Fortunately, we had ''[[The Forbidden Kingdom]]'' to answer this question for us. Unfortunately, it was a draw.
** Jet Li has gone on record as saying that in a no holds barred fight, Jackie would wipe the floor with him.
* The original series of ''[[Star Trek]]'' had an episode in which aliens set up an Ultimate Showdown: Kirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln, and Surak versus Colonel Green, Kahless, Zora, and [[Genghis Khan]].
** As well in the movie [[Star Trek]] Generations, Kirk meets Picard. And the fans went nuts..
* ''[[
* Generally agreed to be what makes ''[[Soul Calibur]] 3'' and 4's Create-A-Soul feature so much fun.
* In an episode of ''[[Angel]]'', Wesley walks into Angel's office to discover that Angel and Spike have been arguing vehemently over who would win if astronauts and cavemen got into a fight. Unfortunately, [[Tear Jerker|the events of the episode]] prevent them from reaching a conclusion...although Whedon's [[Dysfunction Junction|general storytelling method]] and some dialogue in the episode hints on where his money, though not his heart, is: cavemen, i.e. [[Crapsack World|humanity's barbarousness and savagery can and do defeat reason or higher ideals]].
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{{quote| '''Fred''': Cavemen win, of course cavemen win.}}
* ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' does this for its own franchise. The plot requires the titular Rider to travel to [[Alternate Universe]] versions of the nine previous ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' series in order to stop a cataclysm of multiversal proportions. Thanks to his [[Power Copying]] ability, Decade can take on the form and powers of the last nine hero Riders, allowing matchups that couldn't happen even with the series' concept, such as Kuuga vs. Kiva, Kiva vs. Knight and so on. As the protagonist, Decade is naturally going to win, but apparently the staff thought that using [[Alternate Universe]] versions of these shows would allow fans to say "Decade can beat this new Kuuga, but the real Yuusuke would give him a run for his money." [[Unpleasable Fanbase|Didn't work]].
** After ''[[Super Sentai]]'' did their own [[Crisis Crossover]] with ''[[
* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' made a nice set up of sorts in the 00 final: {{spoiler|Ribbons, voiced by Toru Furuya, aka Amuro Ray's seiyu back from 0079, got hold of the RX-78 Gundam and fought Setsuna in his old Exia in a nice but too short fight. Though, Fans of course want to see a lot of Gundamverse [[Match Ups]], as Char vs [[Fan Nickname|Rent-a-Char]][[Gundam Wing|Zechs]] or plot armor wrecking Ali al Saarchez against immortal Kira Yamato and so on. Gladly there are occasional [[Super Robot Wars]] games and Gundam specials out.}}
* Pretty much the premise of ''[[Heroscape]]''. So far, the only copyrighted characters they have managed to aquire are from the Marvel Universe, but they've got enough obvious [[Expy|expies]] to make up for it.
* 1906: ''[[Arsène Lupin]] vs. [[Sherlock Holmes]]'', by Lupin's author Maurice Leblanc, as an [[Affectionate Parody]]. Soon afterwards, Arthur Conan Doyle complained and, from the following edition onwards, the story became ''Arsène Lupin vs. [[Writing Around Trademarks|Herlock Sholmes]]'' (or, in some versions, "Holmlock Shears").
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* This was the whole concept of ''[[King of Fighters]]''. People from ''Fatal Fury'' fighting against ''Art of Fighting'' characters.
** And [[Capcom vs. Whatever]] games.
* Although it tends to get lost amid the alien warfare, Jake and Marco from ''[[
* ''[[
* Done in-verse with the ''[[NCIS]]'' team. They like to discuss [[Badass|Gibbs]] vs. all comers. They pretty much decide that the best fight would be Gibbs vs Gibbs.
* In a short story from the ''Wolf & Raven'' anthology for [[Shadowrun]], it's revealed that professional baseball in the Sixth World has become an exercise in this trope, with skillwired players' performance being dictated by software that makes them play exactly like historical star players. Thus, each season sees matchups like Babe Ruth vs. Mark McGuire, or even Babe Ruth from 1923 vs. Babe Ruth from 1927.
* The ''[[Family Guy]] vs. [[
* An [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EiM8Pa91SQ episode] of ''[[The Annoying Orange]]'' featured [http://www.youtube.com/leprechaun Liam the Leprechaun] forcing the orange to see if he was more annoying than [[Fred]]. {{spoiler|It appeared to end in a stalemate, but Fred got the last laugh.}}
* Alonso Quijano and his friends [[Those Two Guys|the curate and the barber]] were [[Fan Boy|victims of this phenomenon]]… Keep in mind this book was written [[Older Than Steam|more than four hundred years ago!]] At chapter I Part I we learn that:
{{quote| ''" Many an argument did he have with the curate of his village (a learned man, and a graduate of Siguenza) as to which had been the better knight, [[Weird Al Effect|Palmerin of England]] or [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|Amadis of Gaul]]. [[Unpleasable Fanbase|Master Nicholas, the village barber, however, used to say that neither of them came up to]] [[Dark Horse Victory|the Knight of Phoebus]], and that if there was any that could compare with him it was [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Don Galaor, the brother of Amadis of Gaul]], because he had a spirit that was equal to every occasion, and was no finikin knight, [[Never Live It Down|nor lachrymose like his brother]], while in the matter of valour he was not a whit behind him."''}}
* ''[[Ip Man]]'' films are largely an excuse for <Insert fighting style here> vs. Wing Chun duels.
* In-Universe in ''[[
* In a ''[[
{{quote| '''Willis:''' I'll get back to you on this.}}
* [[Those Two Guys|21 and 24]] on [[The Venture Brothers]] often get into arguments about hypothetical fights such as Champ vs. Nessie or [[Crosses the Line Twice|Lizzie Borden vs. Anne Frank]].
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** It's worth noting that the story of ''how'' Kasumi became God and several other plot points such as Dark Sakura originated from MTCFF '''Beta''' which was a single-elimination tournament decided by votes rather than by individual authors, with such oddities as [[Fusion Dance|Fusion character]] "Nario" resulting from Naru of [[Battle Arena Toshinden]] and Mario of [[Super Mario Brothers]] tying in votes.
* "Hitler continued laughing, then finally said 'Goku! You came here expecting to find a madman, but instead, you found a GOD!' Hitler had become a Super Saiyan." How's that for a [[Crack Fic]]-style showdown? See it [http://smallcave.net/goferchan/afgoku01.html right] [http://smallcave.net/goferchan/afgoku02.html here] in all its Not Safe For Sanity glory. By the way, it also [[Shipping|ships]] Goku x Anne Frank.
* Ultimate Showdown tournaments are a [http://board8.wikia.com/wiki/Most_Powerful_Character_Contest common occurrence] on [[Game FAQs
* History nerds are somewhat fond of debating Alexander the Great vs [[Genghis Khan]]. This battle actually happens in [[Arthur C. Clarke
* [http://www.rpgdl.com/ The RPG Duelling League] is a site dedicating to deciding which [[Video Game]] RPG characters would win in a fight. The site is organized into 6 week long elimination tournaments (refered to as seasons) with four different [[Character Tiers]] (Light, Middle, Heavy, and Godlike). The voters who decide who wins are also ''strongly'' encouraged '''NOT''' to vote according to [[Popularity Power|popularity]] or [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|plot powers]], but rather comparative in-battle capabilities and performance.
* Whosthebitch.com was the HQ for a fun and easy game; simply match any two given personalities (or even inanimate objects) and answer the question, "Who's the bitch?" Basically pick which one would be the 'bottom' in a relationship between the two, and justify your answer with an explanation.
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* [http://www.factpile.com/ Factpile] mostly runs on this trope. It has branched out to include other topics, but is still mostly battles between fictional characters. It has also determined the outcome of the page image {{spoiler|Superman easily wins.}}
* [[Make Your Move]] applies this to [[Super Smash Bros]] with movesets for everything from King K. Rool to Socrates.
* Screwattack's ''[[Death Battle]]'' sets characters up against each other as well, from [[Star Wars|Boba Fett]] vs. [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] to [[Final Fight|Mike Haggar]] vs. [[Street Fighter|Zangief]] to [[Transformers|Starscream]] vs. [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* Dark Horse Comics asked who would win; [[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
* This is what the [[Outskirts Battle Dome]] is for.
* The [[Deadliest Fiction Wiki]] is basically this, using the formula from Deadliest Warrior, but for warriors of any media and franchise, with the warriors chosen by logical (usually) debates from the members of the site. It's essentially [[The Wiki Rule]] for [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]].
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