- —Tagline
Mewtwo VS Shadow is the 63rd episode of Death Battle, featuring Mewtwo from the Pokémon series and Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog series in a battle between genetically engineered ultimate lifeforms. Mewtwo was voiced by Chris Niosi and Shadow was reprised by Curtis Arnott.
Interlude
Wiz: With Death Battle, our combatants are always extraordinary in one way or another, whether they're a superhero or a plumber.
Boomstick: But these two are literally built to show up the rest of their kind. Mewtwo, the genetically engineered Pokémon.
Wiz: And Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform.
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.
Mewtwo
Wiz: Years ago, a brilliant scientist named Dr. Fuji was working to create a brand new life form which would change the world.
Boomstick: That's great and all, but he had something else in mind.
Wiz: Fuji hoped his experiments would help him discover a way to resurrect the person he cherished most: his deceased daughter Amber.
Boomstick: With unlimited resources funded by mob money, he figured out how to clone his daughter's... ball of... consciousness. Because science!
Wiz: But before he could finish, he had to create the most powerful Pokémon: a clone of the legendary Mew.
Boomstick: And he named him... Mewtwo.
Wiz: Yeah, Fuji wasn't very creative when it comes to naming, but when you can create a new lifeform with nothing but a fossilized eyelash, you know you're a master of genetic engineering, a field I'd love to get more experience in myself.
Boomstick: Told you a thousand times, Wiz; you're not gonna alter my DNA!
Wiz: (chuckles nervously) Wh-What are you talking about? I would never do that.
Boomstick: Always watching, Wiz. Always.
Wiz: Growing up in a test tube, Mewtwo's only companions were Fuji's other test subjects, including Amber herself, through some sort of psychic link.
Boomstick: Amber taught Mewtwo about the sun, the moon, tears, and you know, life stuff. Oh, and also death, when she died for good right in front of him.
Wiz: Worrying this may be too mentally traumatic for the still infant Mewtwo, Dr. Fuji's team erased all memory of her. Unfortunately, this left Mewtwo with a feeling of loss and confusion and no memories to explain why.
Boomstick: With nothing else to do, Mewtwo decided to take out all his aggression on all of humanity. Then he turned some stupid kid into stone, a bunch of Pokémon cried, and Mewtwo figured out humans aren't so bad after all.
Wiz: Mewtwo is one of the most powerful Psychic-type Pokémon, defeating its foes with the power of its mind.
Boomstick: Hey, wait a minute. You keep calling him "it." Is Mewtwo a guy or a girl?
Wiz: Well, neither. Technically, it's genderless.
Boomstick: Oh. How does it bang?
Wiz: It doesn't.
Boomstick: Bummer. Well, one thing's for sure, it's got balls...
Wiz: Uh...
Boomstick: ...of ghost energy that blow holes in stadiums! Add an onslaught of undodgeable stars, multiple types of defensive shields, and a healing ability for when those shields don't quite cut it.
Wiz: Alongside its other abilities, Mewtwo's favorite move is Psychic, a powerful form of telekinesis. With it, Mewtwo can effortlessly send enemies as heavy as a 500-pound Onix flying through the air.
Boomstick: He can even make himself fly like a Zubat outta hell.
Wiz: Also, it can augment its melee combat with psychic energy, or occasionally a massive spoon.
Boomstick: Would you say he sometimes... spoons his enemies?
Wiz: No, nothing about Mewtwo is cuddly. Especially when it uses Hyper Beam or Psystrike, attacks so strong, they can incapacitate the toughest of Pokémon in a single hit.
Boomstick: And when trouble comes a-knocking, Mewtwo answers the door with a badass Mega Evolution.
Wiz: Mewtwo is one of the few Pokémon capable of Mega Evolving without the assistance of a Trainer. As Mega Mewtwo Y, it gains enormous boosts in strength, defense, and speed.
Boomstick: Making Mewtwo powerful enough to fly into space while carrying a robot bug monster.
Wiz: Fast enough to breach escape velocity, over 25,000 miles per hour. Over 32 times the speed of sound!
Boomstick: So... really really fast.
Wiz: Mewtwo is so skilled in its psychic prowess, it can wipe specific memories from dozens of people at once.
Boomstick: On top of all that, it can survive a massive amount of abuse. Like the time it got double impaled by an alien Pokémon's tentacles. Shouldn't they censor that?
Wiz: It effortlessly defeated most of the Pokémon Champion's team, including a legendary Articuno. It also teleported an entire crater lake from the top of Mount Quena. This lake is comparable to a similar body of water in the real world, Lake Quilotoa, which holds over 385 million tons of water.
Boomstick: Wow, that's almost enough power to lift my ex-wife on buffet day.
Wiz: Being a Psychic Pokémon, Mewtwo is naturally weak to Bug, Ghost, and Dark-type damage. Strange Dr. Fuji didn't pull that code out of his DNA, but whatever.
Boomstick: Hey, you gotta have some sort of failsafe when your making the world's most powerful Pokémon.
Wiz: Ah, yes, the ultimate failsafe against the most powerful Psychic Pokémon: bugs!
Boomstick: Oh God, it's a Caterpie! Get it away, its spooky!
Mewtwo: I was not born a Pokémon, I was created, and my creators have used and betrayed me, so I stand alone!
Giovanni runs as Mewtwo causes a massive explosion that destroys the facility it's being held in.
Shadow the Hedgehog
Wiz: Years ago, a brilliant scientist named Professor Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Sonic's forever-balding nemesis, worked to create a new life form which would change the world.
Boomstick: It was called Project Shadow, a covert government operation to discover the secret to immortality. Besides, y'know, like diet and exercise, 'cause fuck that!
Wiz: In Professor Gerald's case, specifically for his granddaughter Maria, who was dying as a result of Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Boomstick: Now that I think about it, "Project Shadow" is a pretty scary name for a program that's all about curing diseases and saving humanity.
Wiz: Maybe it has something to do with the program's secret pact with a hive mind alien race called the Black Arms. Perhaps.
Boomstick: Okay... So what do you get when you take immortality, the cure of all diseases, aliens, and put them all together to make the Ultimate Lifeform? You get... a hedgehog.
Wiz: Shadow the Hedgehog was the first step toward a perfect future, and during his time in Gerald's space laboratory, Shadow and Maria grew very close.
Boomstick: Until they were separated by a bullet. Turns out the governments of the world weren't too fond of all the evil alien business, so they stormed the place, captured Shadow, and killed Maria right in front of him. Fifty years later, Shadow escaped, and decided to take his revenge by just killing everyone! Until he remembered Maria's last words were pretty much "Don't be a dick!", so he changed his mind.
Wiz: Now on the side of good, Shadow dedicated himself to protecting the world from the forces of evil.
Boomstick: Turns out, fighting the bad guys isn't too hard when you've got super strength, super speed, helped along by some awesome rocket shoes, and a bucket of deadly Chaos Powers.
Wiz: By channeling the potentially unlimited power of the Chaos Emeralds, Shadow can enhance physical attacks, heal over time, and strike with powerful energy blasts, and with the power of Chaos Control, he can warp through space and distort time, slowing it down to a crawl, or with enough power, freezing it completely.
Boomstick: He's got so much power, he can only contain it all with two inhibitor rings around his wrists. Unless he gets all seven Chaos Emeralds, which he can use to transform into a Super Saiya-Shadow, Super Shadow, yeah. As Super Shadow, he is completely invulnerable, can move at the speed of light, and has unlimited access to the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
Wiz: Enough power to stop the Space Colony ARK's collision with Earth, and to teleport a giant comet the size of a city. Assuming this rock is half hollow, and using the density of concrete as a minimum base, this Black Comet must weigh at least 915 million tons.
Boomstick: Even without his super form, Shadow is powerful enough to wipe out an entire alien fleet in one blast, fast enough to reach hypersonic speeds, and strong enough to play tug of war with a giant space monster who was so big, he uses a planet a tenth the size of our moon as a chair. Naturally, when you've got this much power, you're probably a cocky dick.
Wiz: Yes, Shadow is excessively overconfident in his abilities. Also, he has a terrible memory.
Boomstick: This guy's spent most of his life wondering who the hell he is. And even when he does remember, he usually winds up losing his memories later anyway. To be fair, if I fell from outer space and all I lost were my memories, I'd consider it a really good day. I mean, I lose them from just falling over at the bar.
Wiz: That's probably not because of the fall. Also, we can't forget that the Super Shadow form only lasts so long.
Boomstick: Then again, when you move at lightspeed and have control over space and time, who cares about time limits?
Wiz: Not usually a problem for the Ultimate Lifeform.
Shadow: Many years ago, Professor Gerald Robotnik endowed me with the power of Chaos Control. A normal creature like yourself doesn't stand a chance against me.
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
Death Battle
Shadow walks through a wooded area, in which various Pokémon are seen. A flock of Pidgey fly overhead, and a Skitty pokes out of the bushes as he passes by. Shadow sees a cave and enters it, we see Mewtwo secretly watching him. Shadow stops and looks around, but sees nothing, he continues on and sees a pedestal with the green Chaos Emerald on it, a flock of Zubat's fly around it, one approaches it.
Shadow: Get away!
I Am All Of Mewtwo
by Brandon Yates |
He throws one Chaos Spear, but Mewtwo teleports in front of the Zubat and deflects it.
Mewtwo: You are not welcome here, leave this place.
Shadow: What's your problem, freak?
He charges his hands with energy.
Mewtwo: I know not its name, but it is black, red, and very annoying.
It pulses with an energy aura.
Shadow charges, and Mewtwo forms a shield to block the attack. Shadow tries several more times to get through it, but can't penetrate. He then leaps up and fires four Chaos Spears, but Mewtwo uses its psychic abilities to reflect them back, which Shadow dodges, except for one, which sends him flying back, Mewtwo teleports behind him and uses a giant spoon to knock him to the ground. Shadow pulls out the red Chaos Emerald.
Shadow: This'll stop you!
Mewtwo: Another gem? What's he doing?
Shadow: Chaos...
Mewtwo: I must know!
It reads Shadow's mind, seeing flashes of various events from Shadow's life, such as Maria and his Super Shadow form.
Mewtwo: No!
Shadow: Control!
He freezes Mewtwo in time and leaps, kicking it in the back of the head. He then leaps and grabs the green emerald, and then unfreezes Mewtwo, who falls to the ground. Shadow then uses all the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Shadow.
Shadow: Ha ha ha! Good try, monster, but you're done!
He creates a huge wave of energy.
Mewtwo: Too... much...
The scene cuts to outside, where the energy explodes upwards. A purple orb flies up, followed by a yellow orb. Shortly afterwards, it's revealed that the purple orb is Mewtwo, who has Mega Evolved into Mega Mewtwo Y, and the yellow orb is Super Shadow. The two clash in the sky, creating bright flashes.
Shadow: Chaos...
Mewtwo: Not this time.
Shadow: Contro-
Mewtwo uses its psychic power on Shadow to erase his memories before he finishes. There is a pause, and he looks around.
Shadow: Maria... Wait, where am I? Oh my God, I'm glowing! Why am I glowing?!
He changes back to normal.
Mewtwo: Sayonara.
Mewtwo summons a spoon and knocks Shadow away.
Shadow: Screw you!
Mewtwo then impales Shadow with the spoon, and his body falls into the water and sinks. Mewtwo hovers over it.
Mewtwo hovers in the cave with the Chaos Emeralds surrounding it, while several Carvanha gather around Shadow's corpse.
Results
Boomstick: You know, Wiz, when we started Death Battle, I don't think we ever expected to see someone die by spoon.
Wiz: Yeah. Shadow may have had the advantage in pure speed and power, but this time, brain defeated brawn.
Boomstick: Mewtwo got the rundown on all Shadow's abilities simply by reading his mind, giving it the knowledge it needed to counter or avoid crazy powers like Chaos Control.
Wiz: Ultimately, there was nothing really stopping Mewtwo from just taking over Shadow's mind, and its impressive durability and healing power bought it enough time to do so.
Boomstick: Pretty hard to win a fight when your opponent can make you forget what you're doing and who you are in an instant.
Wiz: Shadow has been mind controlled before, and has always relied on outside help to recover. Even while Super Shadow was physically invulnerable, this form didn't protect his mind, like that time he fell from space, and then the worst game ever happened.
Boomstick: Yeah, Shadow was gonna lose, "spoon-er" or later.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Mewtwo.
Original Track
I Am All Of Mewtwo
by Brandon Yates |
Composition
The track for this fight is "I Am All Of Mewtwo" by Brandon Yates. It is a chiptune rock that mixes various classic themes from Pokémon Red & Blue with Shadow-related Sonic tracks.
Title
The title is a reference to "I Am... All Of Me", a track from Shadow the Hedgehog, with "Me" replaced with "Mewtwo" to naturally reference Shadow's opponent.
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Mewtwo and Shadow are that they are both video game anti-heroes who are genetically engineered lifeforms created to be the "ultimate" of something (the most powerful Pokémon and the Ultimate Lifeform, respectively). Both were created from the DNA of a powerful being (Mew and Black Doom, respectively) and wield incredible amounts of power. Both turned against humanity after losing a young girl they loved (Ambertwo and Maria Robotnik, respectively) and gaining amnesia, initially wreaking havoc that nearly doomed the planet until they saw the error of their ways, with both vowing to become one of its protectors instead. In addition:
- Both appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, with Mewtwo as a playable character and Shadow as an Assist Trophy.
- Both have fought Vegeta in previous episodes of Death Battle, although Mewtwo's "fight" was an April Fools joke and not a proper episode.
- Before this episode was revealed, the most requested opponents for Mewtwo at the time were Frieza from Dragon Ball and Silver the Hedgehog from Sonic the Hedgehog. To address this, Ben Singer made a chart of why Mewtwo was ultimately pitted against Shadow and not Frieza or Silver.
- It was then later brought up in the 64th episode of DEATH BATTLE Cast, where Ben explains that they don't only choose matchups based on popularity, but also what would be the most interesting or entertaining, citing Mewtwo VS Frieza as an example of a popular matchup they didn't pick.[1]
- Silver would go on to fight Trunks and Mewtwo would eventually fight Frieza in DBX, while Silver's Archie Comics counterpart would go on to fight Xeno Trunks in Season 9 and Frieza would go on to fight Megatron in Season 10.
- Coincidentally, if Archie Silver were to be counted as Silver in general, all of Mewtwo's potential opponents on said chart would end up winning their respective episodes after this one, including Shadow himself in his next runback.
- This episode's fight animation was originally meant to be significantly different. However, while it was initially rumored that the animator Donimations did a poor job on the fight on purpose because they did not enjoy making VS animations anymore, in actuality, he had been going through struggles with the creative process and personal responsibilities like college at the time, thus forcing him to rush his animation projects, resulting in the fight's current infamous quality.[2]
- After this episode was released, a video titled "10 DEATH BATTLE Facts You Probably Don't Know!" revealed that Curtis Arnott, Shadow's voice actor, was literally directed to "act worse" to match the tone of Shadow's voice in Sonic Adventure 2, a decision that has been heavily criticized by the Death Battle community since the episode's release.
- This is the first episode to be followed by a Bloopers episode.
- As part of the Save Death Battle Kickstarter, any backers who pledged for any of the reward tiers could vote in a survey to decide a rematch to be made for Death Battle '25, with this episode having been one of the available options, though it ultimately lost to Master Chief VS Doomguy.
Easter Eggs
- During the ending, Mewtwo says the word "sayonara" before killing Shadow, a call-back to Vegeta saying the same thing before killing Shadow in Vegeta VS Shadow.
- Like before, this references the final words Maria uttered to Shadow before her death in Sonic Adventure 2; "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."
- Ryūko Matoi would say the same thing in Shadow VS Ryuko before trying to finish the hedgehog off.
Errors
- During Mewtwo's analysis, Wiz describes Mew as a Legendary Pokémon, even though it is classified as a Mythical Pokémon.
- After Wiz describes Mewtwo as genderless, Boomstick inconsistently refers to Mewtwo with both masculine (what he had been doing prior) and genderless (what would be accurate) descriptors, rather than continuing to use the former anyway or consistently switching to the latter.
- When Shadow transforms into Super Shadow, half of the green screen background can be seen unedited.
Other
- This is the sixth episode to feature a returning combatant, after Zitz VS Leonardo, Batman VS Captain America, Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Goku VS Superman 2, and Pokémon VS Digimon, and with the next 32 being Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Metal Sonic VS Zero, Thor VS Wonder Woman, Black Panther VS Batman, Ryu VS Jin, Mario VS Sonic (2018), Mega Man Battle Royale, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Ganondorf VS Dracula, Deadpool VS Mask, Leonardo VS Red Ranger Jason, She-Ra VS Wonder Woman, Venom VS Crona, Hulk VS Broly, Shadow VS Ryuko, Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom, Link VS Cloud (2021), Batman VS Iron Man, Akuma VS Shao Kahn, Thor VS Vegeta, Boba Fett VS Predator, Excalibur VS Raiden, Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha, Phoenix VS Raven, Guts VS Dimitri, Goku VS Superman (2023), Omni-Man VS Bardock, Bowser VS Eggman, Kratos VS Asura, Master Chief VS Doom Slayer, Aang VS Traveler, Ash VS Yugi, and Hulk VS Godzilla.
- This is the fifth episode to feature a returning loser, after Batman VS Captain America, Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Goku VS Superman 2, and Pokémon VS Digimon, and with the next 23 being Thor VS Wonder Woman, Black Panther VS Batman, Ryu VS Jin, Mario VS Sonic (2018), Mega Man Battle Royale, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Leonardo VS Red Ranger Jason, She-Ra VS Wonder Woman, Hulk VS Broly, Shadow VS Ryuko, Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom, Link VS Cloud (2021), Batman VS Iron Man, Thor VS Vegeta, Boba Fett VS Predator, Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha, Goku VS Superman (2023), Bowser VS Eggman, Kratos VS Asura, Master Chief VS Doom Slayer, Ash VS Yugi, and Hulk VS Godzilla.
- This is the fourth time the returning loser loses, after Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Goku VS Superman 2, and Pokémon VS Digimon, and with the next nine being Black Panther VS Batman, Mega Man Battle Royale, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Hulk VS Broly, Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom, Batman VS Iron Man, Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha, and Goku VS Superman (2023).
- This is the fifth episode to feature a returning loser, after Batman VS Captain America, Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Goku VS Superman 2, and Pokémon VS Digimon, and with the next 23 being Thor VS Wonder Woman, Black Panther VS Batman, Ryu VS Jin, Mario VS Sonic (2018), Mega Man Battle Royale, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Leonardo VS Red Ranger Jason, She-Ra VS Wonder Woman, Hulk VS Broly, Shadow VS Ryuko, Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom, Link VS Cloud (2021), Batman VS Iron Man, Thor VS Vegeta, Boba Fett VS Predator, Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha, Goku VS Superman (2023), Bowser VS Eggman, Kratos VS Asura, Master Chief VS Doom Slayer, Ash VS Yugi, and Hulk VS Godzilla.
- This is the fourth Nintendo VS Sega-themed episode, after Mario VS Sonic (2011), Luigi VS Tails, and Donkey Kong VS Knuckles, and with the next two being Mario VS Sonic (2018) and Bowser VS Eggman.
- This is the second time the Nintendo character wins, after Donkey Kong VS Knuckles, and with the next one being Mario VS Sonic (2018).
- This is the sixth Anti-Heroes-themed episode, after Kratos VS Spawn, Vegeta VS Shadow, Ragna VS Sol Badguy, Wolverine VS Raiden, and Dante VS Bayonetta, and with the next nine being Wario VS King Dedede, Ghost Rider VS Lobo, Sasuke VS Hiei, Deadpool VS Mask, Winter Soldier VS Red Hood, Venom VS Crona, Hulk VS Broly, Shadow VS Ryuko, and Guts VS Dimitri.