DEATH BATTLE!

"Pitting pop culture's deadliest characters in a duel to the death! Experts Wiz and Boomstick analyze each fighter's weapons, armor, and skills... and then the battle begins! Who will win? Who will die?"

- Tagline

DEATH BATTLE! is a web-based video show hosted by "Wizard" (Ben Singer) and "Boomstick" (Chad James) presented by ScrewAttack. The show pits two or more fictional characters from different medias such as movies, comics, manga, television programs, literature and video games, and create a simulated battle to the death. The characters are analyzed with their respective powers, strengths, and weaknesses, to determine a winner.

The show's first season has 25 episodes. The first 18 episodes were featured exclusively on ScrewAttack's YouTube account, and starting with episode 19 the series is now posted to the redesigned Screwattack.com, with a delayed posting of past fights to their YouTube page.

The second season of DEATH BATTLE premiered on May 31, 2013, more than four months after the first season finale. The season will end on December 23, 2015, with a total of 32 episodes for the season, bringing the total number of DEATH BATTLE episodes to 57.

Season 3 will premiere in early 2016, provided that ScrewAttack! keeps their current schedule.

Format Overview
The idea of the show is to pit two or more fictional characters and pit them against each other in a simulated "death battle". Before the start of the battle, an analysis of the character's powers are listed together with their other stats such as strengths, weaknesses, physicality (weight, height, age, intellect), and weapons. This is done by extensive research of each of the characters, and taking notes from various known experts, collaboration from various conventions (e.g. Comic-Con), official websites, and franchise encyclopedias. People and fans are sometimes interviewed in these conventions to know their opinions about the battle.[2]  All other traits will be represented with accuracy based on the character's canon universes. If the characters has multiple versions, the most well-known and modern version will be the one chosen. After studying the characters, a conclusion is made to who is the winner and the reason he/she is triumphant. This is shown in a form of a virtual battle in either 2D sprites or 3D CGI. Many of the characters involved are voiced by many YouTube personalities such as MasakoX and ItsJustSomeRandomGuy.

Because the show is entitled "DEATH BATTLE!" and its idea is to create a virtual "fight to the death", characters in the virtual simulation kill their opponents, even though many of them are canonically indifferent to killing (such as Batman, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rebecca Black). These are made as a "What If" scenario for entertainment purposes, and does not go against the accuracy of the analysis of the respective winner. In the case of Justin Bieber versus Rebecca Black however, the battle was satirically made for comedic purpose. As of episode 51, 2D battles are animated by Mali and Zack and 3D battles are animated by Torrian Crawford.

Real-Time Process
In real time, ScrewAttack! typically releases a new DEATH BATTLE! three weeks after the current DEATH BATTLE!. In the first two weeks they release a video about each combatant, primarily about their background and in the third week the DEATH BATTLE! is released at various times. After the battle ScrewAttack! will reveal the next combatant(s) for the next match-up.

On Tuesdays, starting with Boba Fett VS Samus Aran Remastered, a special live-stream, dubbed DEATH BATTLE! Live, is hosted on Twitch and Youtube at 8:00 pm Central Time by Ben Singer, Chad James (actors of Wiz and Boomstick), Craig Skistimas (co-founder of ScrewAttack!), and Torrian Crawford (animator). While Craig, Ben, and Chad host the Youtube live-stream, Torrian hosts the Twitch live-stream. The live-stream will feature voice actors if they appear, a live comment section, a live poll in which voters choose who would win, a Q&A with Ben and Chad regarding details about the battle (ex. why were the combatants chosen), the battle itself, and a follow-up Q&A. As all of the current live-streams feature 3D-animated battles, Torrian also releases animation footage while working on the battle. ScrewAttack! posts the live-stream into two separate parts: the Pre-Show, the segment before the battle, and the Post-Show, the segment after the battle, alonside the DEATH BATTLE! on Wednesday.

Rules
Note: While some rules have been officially stated, some are generally implied during DEATH BATTLE!
 * The combatants can only know of each other if they do know each other in canon in both official universes. Otherwise, they cannot know each other's move-sets. Even if they do know of each other in canon, no one is allowed to prepare for the fight.
 * A Death Battle, as entitled, has to end with the loser dying (though not necessarily at the hands of the winner, as shown when Dan Hibiki accidentally ingested one of Hercule Satan's capsules), or at least "dead" as far as physical forms are concerned (for example, being reduced to little more than a ghost, or gods and similar characters left with no working mortal avatar to continue fighting with).
 * Pacifist combatants will not have their peaceful nature interrupt the fight, and both combatants will have any personality restraints from killing removed.
 * All other traits will be represented with accuracy based on the combatants' canon universes. In addition, all consistent and canon sources available during the time of the episode's release will be examined by the hosts.
 * Characters with multiple incarnations, such as Link, Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Godzilla, will be composites combining the best aspects of their various incarnations, unless said incarnation is drastically different from other incarnations. If a specific incarnation of a character is chosen, the canon used will most likely be the most popular depiction.
 * To get as many common abilities as possible, the warrior will be shown at their latest depictions or their oldest age as an active combatant.
 * To ensure fairness, no player influences can be present during the battle. This includes changing the combatants' move-set (in the case of Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda) as well as the combatant receiving special training (in the case of Pokemon).

Season 3
Season 3 will debut in March of 2016.