Death Battle

Death Battle (stylized as DEATH BATTLE!) is an American animated web series about battleboarding. Originally published by the website ScrewAttack in 2010, the show has changed considerably over its history. It is the longest-running web series in the battleboarding genre, and has gained a cult following.

The show is narrated by fictional hosts named Wiz and Boomstick, respectively voiced by series creators Ben Singer and Chad James. These characters were originally disembodied voices, but as the show progressed they became animated characters. Wiz is a genius scientist who presents scientific information and mathematical calculations, while Boomstick is a street-smart redneck that discusses weapons, armor, and feats.

Each episode of Death Battle features a matchup between fictional characters from different media that have similar powers, skills, or backstories. The majority of each episode showcases background information about each character while analyzing their abilities and feats, and ends with a fully-animated battle scene that decides the winner of the matchup, taking into account the prior analysis. The show's formula is inspired by shows such as Animal Face-Off and Deadliest Warrior, but uses fictional characters in place of animals or historical warriors. Notable episodes of Death Battle include "Goku VS Superman", "Galactus VS Unicron", and "Gojo VS Makima".

Death Battle has featured multiple styles of animation across different episodes, including 2D pixelated animations and 3D animations integrating motion capture technology. The show's battle animations typically feature high levels of graphic violence.

Death Battle has had multiple spin-off series. ScrewAttack created the series Desk of Death Battle, which showcases pop-culture trivia that the ScrewAttack team found interesting while researching and writing the main show, presented by Death Battle supporting character Jocelyn the Intern, who is voiced by Lisa Foiles. Additionally, DBX is a spin-off series that, like Death Battle, features both 2D and 3D animated battles, but with winners decided by a poll among fans rather than research or debate.

Death Battle debuted in 2010 as a web series published by the website ScrewAttack; Death Battle became ScrewAttack's most popular show. The website began to shift its focus towards the show, and in 2019 ScrewAttack rebranded to focus exclusively on Death Battle. The show was acquired by Rooster Teeth, and all of ScrewAttack's existing content was moved to the Rooster Teeth website.

Death Battle was published by Rooster Teeth from 2019 until 2024, at which point Rooster Teeth was shut down by its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. In 2020, Amazon Prime Video sponsored a promotional episode of Death Battle to advertise the second season of The Boys.

Rooster Teeth created a spin-off card game based on the show, titled Death Battle: The Game.

Following the closure of Rooster Teeth, fans of Death Battle speculated about the show's future, and the hashtag "#SaveDeathBattle" trended on Twitter. The rights to the show were acquired by series creators Ben Singer, Chad James, Austin Harper, and Sam Mitchell, making it an independent series. In July 2024, the staff of the show announced a Kickstarter campaign to fund future episodes. The campaign surpassed its original goal of $75,000 within the first twenty-one minutes of launching. The campaign ended on August 29, 2024, and raised a total of $740,000 from 7,836 backers.

^†: Plus bonus episode

After Death Battle became independent, the show stopped using the original season format, with episodes instead being internally categorized by year of release.

Death Battle is one of the most popular web series dedicated to battleboarding, and the show's YouTube channel has been described as a "central hub" for fans of the genre. The show has a cult following, and several online communities exist both for discussing the show and writing fan-made episodes. It also inspired similar shows such as Super Power Beat Down and Grudge Match. Death Battle helped popularize the use of mathematical calculations to determine the strength of fictional characters; in the battleboarding fandom, such calculations are called "calcs".

The show has also inspired a number of fan fiction sites and crossover fiction, most notably Death Battle Fanon Wiki. It has also faced occasional controversy and backlash online surrounding the chosen winners of some episodes.