- —Tagline
Saitama VS Popeye is the 155th episode and Season 8 Finale of Death Battle, featuring Saitama from the One-Punch Man series and Popeye from the Popeye series in a battle between unbeatable bald super brawlers. Saitama was voiced by Ryan Abedi and Popeye was voiced by Liam Swan.
Interlude
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Wiz & Boomstick by Brandon Yates  
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Wiz: Saitama, the One-Punch Man.
Boomstick: Popeye, the Sailor Man.
Wiz: East versus West. Old versus new.
Boomstick: Healthy eating versus basic exercise!
Wiz: These two warriors may seem ridiculous, but their unassuming exteriors belie impossible strength.
We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.
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.
Saitama
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Statement Not A Question by Adam Skinner, Dan Skinner and Randall Breneman 
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Wiz: Life is pain: brutal and short. The challenges we face during our brief sojourn on this tiny blue marble are what make us human. They light a fire in our soul. They make it all worth something. Without them, we are lost.
Boomstick: Yeah, it's a little early in the day for an existential crisis. But luckily, I came prepared.
A beer can is heard being opened off-screen.
Wiz: For this failed salaryman, all it took to get that fiery passion back was to save this butt-chinned child from a crab monster in underwear... That was a sentence.
Boomstick: This man was Saitama, and he was going to be a superhero.
Wiz: And so, he trained, pushing his body beyond its limits and shattering the boundaries of humanity.
Boomstick: So hard, his friggin' hair fell out!
Wiz: Saitama's strength grew exponentially day by day, with the goal of becoming the greatest hero who ever lived.
Boomstick: And much to his horror, that's exactly what he got.
Saitama: All it took was one punch.... DAMN IIIIITTTTT!!!!!
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Vengeance by Terry Devine-King & Adam Drake
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Wiz: He became too strong. He became the one, the only, the infamous... Caped Baldy.
Boomstick: But anyone who's cool knows him as One-Punch Man, as in he can't help but beat almost every opponent he's faced in exactly one punch. One... friggin' punch! And this is a universe with some pretty wacked-out monsters, like a giant who's over a quarter of a kilometer tall, and can stomp city-sized craters into the Earth!
Wiz: Or an esper who can effortlessly pull giant meteors from outer space.
Boomstick: Or a monster king who shaved off a continent from the Earth's surface, and lifted it into the stratosphere. And Saitama's never even broken so much as a sweat fighting any of 'em!
Wiz: During their battle, that same monster king absorbed this huge chunk of the Earth's core and fired it at Saitama.
Boomstick: Who blocked it by squirt-gunning some lava at it. The lava he was bathing in... naked. And then he punched him... Surprise.
Wiz: Saitama's created afterimages just by hopping side to side, defeated a martial arts master with... his butt, and survived the inhospitable vacuum of space, after being kicked all the way to the Moon, and before jumping back to Earth in about 16 seconds. That's 8% the speed of light!
Boomstick: Kinda like the time he blocked attacks from this alien dude, who's stated to move near lightspeed. Or punched so fast, his fist starts to blueshift. Y'know, that thing that happens when you approach the speed of light?
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Firebrand by Terry Devine-King & Adam Drake
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Wiz: Saitama utilizes his absurdly superhuman strength and speed with techniques like his devastating... Normal Punch. And if he wants to amp it up, the... Consecutive Normal Punches.
Boomstick: Are you kidding me?! Those are his attack names?! What kind of self-respecting anime protagonist is he?
Wiz: Plain and simple, he's a satire of one. Instead of seeing his journey from the beginning and enjoying his struggle to the top, we join him when he's already there.
Boomstick: Basically, imagine if Goku went Super Saiyan in his fight against Jackie Chun! Kinda sucks all the drama out of it, doesn't it?
Wiz: And that's the point; far from the power fantasy the genre is known for, Saitama's life became an existential nightmare. Without suitable conflict, the struggle that had heretofore defined him became... meaningless. His new reality was inescapably boring.
Boomstick: Which is really saying something when he can decimate mountains without even hitting 'em! Or shatter asteroids that rank a 9 on the Torino scale! For those not in the "Tori-know", that's equal to one trillion tons of TNT! This guy's training must've been insane!
Wiz: That would be 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run, every single day... and that's it.
The music suddenly cuts out as Wiz finishes his sentence.
Saitama: 100 push-ups! 100 sit-ups! And 100 squats! Then a 10-kilometer run!! DO IT EVERY SINGLE DAY!
(The transcript below is exclusive to the YouTube version of the episode.)
Wiz: That would be 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run, every single day... and that's it.
The music suddenly cuts out as Wiz finishes his sentence.
(The transcript below is exclusive to the Rooster Teeth version of the episode.)
Saitama: 100 push-ups! 100 sit-ups! And 100 squats! Then a 10-kilometer run!! DO IT EVERY SINGLE DAY!
(Version-exclusive transcripts end here.)
Boomstick: ...You've gotta be shitting me...
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Adrenaline Junkie by Chris Egan & Andrew Cooksley
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Wiz: It doesn't make sense because it's not allowed to make sense. To be fair, though, to someone who isn't already a trained soldier or athlete, keeping that workout routine every day for years is pretty much impossible.
Boomstick: While 100 push-ups and sit-ups are technically doable, especially if you space 'em out, doing 100 squats and then running half a marathon every single day would absolutely destroy your legs.
Wiz: Put simply, effective workouts involve shredding muscle fibers at the micro-level, then allowing them time to repair themselves, more durable than before. This repair process requires hydration, consuming protein and carbohydrates, and lots of sleep.
Boomstick: But Saitama's workout schedule doesn't give them time to repair, which means he was basically just rippin' himself to shreds over and over and over!
We cut to Boomstick.
Boomstick: After a few days, he shouldn't even have been able to move! But he just... kept goin'!
Wiz: There might be an explanation. Take the brilliant scientist Dr. Genus, whose half-century of research into evolution Saitama erased in... well, one punch. According to Genus' hypothesis, Saitama's training broke his limiter.
Boomstick: Basically, every living thing on Earth has a limit to their natural abilities. At some point, no matter how badass they are, they'll plateau. Wait a minute... have I peaked?! I gotta go to the gym!
He runs off before we cut back to the analysis.
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Turbo Overdrive by David O'Brien & Kevin Browne
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Wiz: Well, Saitama trained so hard, he literally defied the laws of nature and reality! He just... breaks the logic of his world! He crushed the entire field of evolutionary biology in the palm of his hand!
Boomstick: And while he has stated that his strength did eventually stop growing, it's pretty clear he's never gotten close to showing it off in full!
Wiz: Such as when he fought the godlike alien conqueror Lord Boros, and finally broke out his Serious Punch: a blow where he punches... a little harder... than normal.
Boomstick: And reflected Boros' Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon — now, you see, THAT'S an attack name — an energy blast that was goin' to blow up the freakin' planet! That's over 50 zettatons of TNT, like a quadrillion of the world's strongest nukes going off at once!
Wiz: Despite his obvious and overwhelming power, Saitama's accomplishments were never officially recognized. As if no one in their right minds could believe a psych ward Charlie Brown could save the world.
Boomstick: Eh, he doesn't seem to mind. Almost as if being removed from anything resembling conflict gave him a perspective on how tropey and contrived his world is. Only, Saitama's the only one in on the joke, because who cares about how far up their own ass a supervillain is, when you can just chill at home with your buds and play video games?
Wiz: Maybe that was the real lesson all along. Not to value our lives based on our accomplishments, but on the time we spend living and enjoying life's simple pleasures.
Boomstick: I'll leave that to Saitama, and I can't think of anything more pleasurable than punching so hard my name becomes a byword for "Literally Unbeatable"! The dude is the undisputed king of broken anime characters, because until Saitama finds his equal, he's gonna end all his fights in... ONE PUNCH!!!!
Saitama: I guess that takes care of that.
As he says this, pieces from the meteor he destroyed crash and explode behind him.
Popeye
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Hearts Of Oak by Frederick George Charrosin 
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Boomstick: ♫Popeye the Sailor Man~!♫ Hero, adventurer, sailor, man!
Popeye: Oh, two against one, huh?
Popeye slaps Boola twice.
Popeye: How do ya like that?
Boomstick: Man, he sounds like he smokes a pack of Marlboro factories every day. And, uh, if you ever wanted to know what angry cat sex sounds like, he can sing.
Popeye: ♫I'm Popeye the Sailor Man~! *toot toot*♫
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Sozzled Sailor by Max Saunders
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Wiz: How exactly do you know... never mind. Popeye's origins are humble. Born to the cruelly named Poopdeck Pappy, Popeye was, immediately upon birth, horrifically ugly; so ugly, his father fled in embarrassment of his spawn and never returned.
Boomstick: So Popeye grew up with a chip on his shoulder and a pop in his eye, especially after discovering his higher calling: beatin' the snot outta people!
Wiz: Don't worry, Popeye's fists are righteous, only spilling the snot of those who deserve it. Inspired by his adopted father, Whaler Joe, Popeye set out to put his combat prowess to the test and joined the Navy, becoming a true Sailor Man.
Boomstick: It was there he'd learn the sweet science of boxing and do battle against World War II-era racial stereotypes. I'm being non-specific, not just for sensitivity, but because there are SO MANY examples.
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Sailors Hornpipe by Gordon Pattullo
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Wiz: Originating in the era of rubber hose animation, Popeye's body is essentially made of, well, rubber, able to stretch, twist, squish, and squash any way he likes.
Boomstick: Or rev up his arm for a punch that'll knock you around the planet!
Wiz: Popeye's punches are fascinating, since they can disincorporate their targets into composite elements, like turning anchors into fish hooks, an alligator into handbags, and several Native Americans... y'know, I don't even want to know.
Boomstick: I think the reason's pretty simple, Wiz: He's a cartoon, he can basically do whatever he wants. He can shoot fire from his corncob pipe, pull a canyon closed, punch bolts of lightning out of the air, and even give the Sun a black eye.
Wiz: Judging by the distance the Sun is from the Earth, as well as the time it took for the high striker puck to reach it, the puck must've been moving at 500 times the speed of light.[Note 1] In order to generate that force, Popeye must've swung his fist just as fast. Hell, he's even shadow-boxed so fast, he somehow occupied two places at once and hit himself!
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Drunken Sailor Reel by Edgar Martell
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Boomstick: So, uh, was he just born this way? Is being ugly the secret to pulling insane, bullshit superpowers out of your ass? 'Cause if so... you might wanna get on that, buddy!
Wiz: (sarcastically) Ha ha, no. (normally) The secret to Popeye's immense physical strength is simply the virtue of... nutrition.
Boomstick: Awww, I knew you'd find a way to make it lame!
Wiz: Specifically, Popeye has spent his life consuming a miracle herb that has turned him from a mere sailor into a veritable god: spinach!
Boomstick: Propaganda, straight from the bean counters at Big Vegetable! You'll never get me to eat my greens, damn you! It's only animal flesh and grain alcohol for me!
Wiz: Uh, (clears his throat), originating in Persia, Spinacia oleracea is a leafy green nutrient and antioxidant-rich vegetable that can help prevent cancer and reduce blood pressure.
Boomstick: And, apparently, imbue your biceps with the power of God and anime!
Wiz: While a normal can of spinach contains about 44 calories, when used in Popeye's world, its effects are multiplied; not only does it immediately increase Popeye's already impressive speed and strength even further, it makes him virtually impervious to harm!
We cut to Boomstick.
Boomstick: It lets him fly, turn invisible, shapeshift his body into literally anything, and even survive the universe getting turned off! That's right, this big whatever-the-hell-that-thing-is is apparently God, and he turned off reality in order to kill Popeye and his friends. 'Cause why not? Except guess what? Popeye was fine! Why? Because he eats his spinach.
Wiz: I wonder what its nutritional content is like. Let's find out... with MATH!
Boomstick: Noooooooo—!
We abruptly cut back to the analysis.
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Shore Leave by Will Hesling
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Wiz: A single can of spinach in Popeye's world was once able to grow a beanstalk so tall, it reached into outer space, all the way to a nearby solar system, and shattered this stylized yellow star. By measuring the volume of this spinach-stalk, and including the caloric density of regular spinach, we can calculate one single can of Popeye's spinach contains over 46 undecillion calories![Note 2] That's over 700 octillion times greater than the total calories the average person will consume over their entire life!
Boomstick: That's over 46 million yottatons of TNT![Note 3] Enough to destroy... well... a star! Or enough to punch your annoying neighbor so hard that when they land, they tilt the Earth!
Wiz: By measuring the angle of the planet after tilting, we can determine its axis was adjusted by about 13 degrees in less than a second. That's a speed of about 1.8 million meters per second![Note 4]
Boomstick: I wonder, is that enough to power a rocket ship so fast it travels backwards in time? Yeah, 'cause that happened! I only know of one type of herb that'll take you through time. Whatever kind of spinach it is, it sure ain't normal.
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The Rear Admiral by Max Saunders
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Wiz: Not true! Popeye doesn't consume some special magical spinach. Any kind will do, even if it's handed to him by the audience in the real world watching his cartoon!
Boomstick: He can summon cans to his side by whistling for them, praying to gods, painting them into reality, or just waving his hand! The dude has literally been disintegrated into nothingness, then his nothingness grabbed a spinach can out of nowhere and ate it. NOTHING ate it, his NOTHING, and then he came back good as ne-I-I don't-I don't know...
Wiz: He can even punch so hard he tears the filmstrip he's being animated on, or exit his cartoon to beat the shit out of his own animator.
Boomstick: So Popeye's basically fought two different versions of God and whooped their asses! Y'know, he's a pretty chill broski, considering he's basically a spinach-eating Lovecraftian nightmare.
Wiz: But he's always down for a scrap. So if you decide to antagonize him, be aware you're messing with one of cartoon's all-time heavyweight champions. And, for your own sake, eat your f***ing vegetables!
Popeye: ♫I'm Popeye the Sailor Man~!♫
He toots his pipe.
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. We've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: But first, in case you're startin' to feel those winter blues, check out BetterHelp.
Wiz and Boomstick read out an advertisement for BetterHelp.
Boomstick: But right now, IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. We've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!(The transcript below is exclusive to the YouTube version of the episode.)
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. We've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: But first, in case you're startin' to feel those winter blues, check out BetterHelp.
Wiz and Boomstick read out an advertisement for BetterHelp.
Boomstick: But right now, IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
(The transcript below is exclusive to the Rooster Teeth version of the episode.)
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. We've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!Death Battle
In a Japanese supermarket, Saitama is seen shopping and approaches the vegetable aisle. He comes across a section with canned Segar's Spinach, which features Popeye's face as the logo. He grabs one of the cans to observe the price.
Saitama: Aw man, this crap's always so expensive. Eh, no thanks.
Popeye's face suddenly comes to life on the can, clearly offended by the remark. In response, he extends his body out of it and punches Saitama across the store. Popeye takes off his hat as he talks to catch the flying can of spinach in it before putting it back on and assuming a battle stance.
Popeye: I's cant's stands no one bad mouthing me spinach. Put 'em up, ya's big palooka!
Saitama sighs as he brushes the dust off his suit and tosses aside his broken shopping basket.
Saitama: (sighs) Whatever.
Popeye angrily dashes over and mumbles as he throws three punches that blow wind throughout the store that Saitama easily dodges.
Popeye: Agagaga~! Give ya a one, and a two, and a hun, and a hee, and a hoo!
He then grabs him by the arm and delivers multiple blows to his face before unleashing a charged wind-up punch. Saitama crashes through the wall and lands near a burger shop. In typical cartoon fashion, a mumbling Popeye closes the intact door and pushes up the wall to make the outside of the market look as good as new.
Popeye: (incomprehensive mumbling) —don't wan' be impoloite.
He then turns around, only to be surprised upon seeing that his opponent is unscathed.
Popeye: Well, blow me down! Ya aint's got a scratch on ya's!
Saitama: I know, right? Overwhelming strength is soooo... boring.
Saitama unleashes one of his more powerful punches that takes up most of the screen, with the "death" kanji (死) appearing on it. However, unlike a previous known victim of the attack who showed still fear, an unfazed Popeye tries to decipher it...
Popeye: Hmm, I can'ts read that—
...before getting hit and exploding into a bloody mess. After a moment of silence, his limbs, aquatic items, and finally his cross-eyed head land on the street shortly after.
Popeye: Blugh!
As Saitama looks at his fist disappointedly, he notices the spinach can from earlier landing in one of Popeye's arms. The arm squeezes it to send the miracle herbs toward his mouth. After consuming the spinach, Popeye regenerates his entire body as his biceps features a stack of TNT that explodes. Saitama stands there in silence as the spinach leaves brush past him, one also hitting his face harmlessly.
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Saitama: ...okay.
Popeye unleashes a more powerful blow that Saitama counters, resulting in an explosion that takes out most of the street. Both step back as their fists burn hot.
Popeye: Eh, little bit more insterestings now. Agagaga!
Both dash all over the street and bounce around like pinballs, countering each other blow for blow. They meet in the middle and deliver rapid punches in succession, with Popeye's literally having more weight on them to counter Saitama's Consecutive Normal Punches. Still disinterested, Saitama increases his speed to overwhelm Popeye with his afterimages. He then delivers a harder punch, but rather than exploding, Popeye's body stretches like rubber across the road, allowing him to come back and deliver his own counterpunch.
The attack suddenly shifts the animation style to 16-bit graphics and takes place over the water. A surprised-looking Saitama starts running backwards on the ocean after recovering and sees Popeye chasing him in a rowing boat at super speed. He tries using the shockwaves from his punches to knock him off, but Popeye manages to steer clear of all of them.
Popeye: Ya sure is one crazy gazookus!
Saitama: I'm just a guy who's a hero for fun! Who the hell are you?!
Popeye leaps from his boat into the air...
Popeye: I yam what I yam...
...before blowing into his right thumb to inflate his left arm into a massive size.
Popeye: ...and that's all what I YAM!
As he uses his giant arm to deliver a punch, Saitama counters with his own. Again, the force of the two attacks shifts the animation style back to the traditional style. Popeye is then seen floating upwards uncontrollably following the clash.
Popeye: Well whaddya know, how am I gonna get back down?
At the bottom of the seafloor, Saitama puts his hands into the ground and successfully lifts a large chunk of the Earth into space right above where Popeye is floating. Popeye turns around to see the large mass right above him, opening his squinted right eye in surprise.
Popeye: Uhhh... uh-oh.
Saitama leaps from the ground to punch his opponent into the giant landmass, which releases a massive explosion that blinds the screen in a white light.
When said light dies down, the animation is then shown in 3D graphics, with Saitama floating in space, Earth broken with a visible core. Before he can process the shift in art style, he is ambushed by Popeye, now appearing shirtless and buff. Saitama quickly counters Popeye with a few punches, but he still smashes him into celestial debris.
Catching up, Popeye axe handles Saitama into a meteor field before flying and ramming into him at full speed. Saitama escapes and punches him through some of the debris before they both end up on one piece of it, where they rapidly trade punches to the point of creating a vortex-like effect that explodes and pushes them away.
Saitama closes the gap again and punches his opponent to the side, but Popeye delivers a more devastating blow that sends Saitama to Mars, blowing it up. Popeye wipes his face with his arm as he looks on, smirking with great impression. The now serious Saitama rushes toward his opponent, with his eyes glowing as he releases his Serious Punch.
Popeye, eyes glowing, laughs and he releases his own punch.
Death and Spinach Punch collide to cause another massive explosion that sends them back. Saitama begins laughing, overjoyed and in awe of his opponent's power.
Saitama: Amazing! This is amazing! How did you get so strong?!
Popeye: I eats me spinach!
Popeye catches up to and grabs hold of Saitama's cape before tossing him towards the camera, causing it to shatter. A planetoid is drawn into view and Saitama lands on it, shifting the art style back to traditional animation and causing everything to regain its color. Standing alone on Pluto, Saitama looks up silently at the solar system, pondering to himself about what he has gotten into.
Saitama: (thinking) Can this be?
He smiles and looks down at his hands, shaking from excitement.
Saitama: (thinking) My heart's beating so fast... My muscles ache... I can feel them again!
Popeye, who is also back in the traditional animation style and with his clothes, chuckles as he drifts towards the Sun, which he simply leaps off of and sends it spinning into the distance in pursuit of his foe.
Popeye: That's all I can stands, cause I can't stands no more!
Saitama leaps forward off the dwarf planet, destroying it in the process and continuing to hold up a bright smile.
Saitama: (thinking) I never thought it would happen! A serious fight... I found it!!
As Popeye chuckles once more, Saitama lets out a hearty laugh of his own as they both float towards each other in the middle of space, with Saitama in particular shedding tears of joy.
Saitama: (thinking) Thank you... weird spinach mascot.
The satisfied Saitama and Popeye deliver their most devastating punches in one final punch clash, causing the color in the scene to fade away. After a brief pause, Saitama's fist then starts cracking, and he screams in agony as the cracks extend towards the rest of his body and he begins glowing yellow while the screen is blinded in white light once more.
After the screen fades back into the fight, Popeye crash-lands back on Earth face-first and finds himself in the middle of a field next to a mountain. As he recovers and prepares to fight his presumably still-alive opponent, he instead notices eggs falling from the sky that break open as they hit the ground. He catches one of the eggs and turns it around, only to find his defeated foe's face on it.
The victorious Popeye then looks to the camera and closes the battle by singing a variation of his theme song as a Looney Tunes-esque end card closes in on him.
Popeye: ♫He took a big gamble, but now he is scrambled, I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!~ (toot toot)♫
Results
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We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.
Boomstick: Well, I guess you could say that fight was... over-easy? Wait, except, isn't Saitama's whole gag that he can't lose?
Wiz: It is, but... it's more nuanced than that. Despite breaking his limiter, Saitama's strength isn't limitless. He's said so himself.
Boomstick: Breaking his limiter meant his potential strength was likely infinite, but there's nothing left in his world powerful enough to push him to get stronger, like a bodybuilder stuck with five-pound dumbbells.
Wiz: He also doesn't possess some magical ability to kill someone in one punch, regardless of effort. Powerful adversaries like Boros and Garou have survived his blows repeatedly, albeit briefly. And he's never met anyone quite like Popeye the Sailor Man.
We cut to the post-analysis.
Boomstick: According to the mangaka, One-Punch Man's gag is that Saitama is an anime protagonist at the end of his series slapped in at the beginning of his series, where he's too strong to have a challenge.
Wiz: So, if we know Saitama's strength does have a limit, what is it?
Boomstick: We know he can deflect Boros' planet-destroying blast, but he was clearly super casual about it. He may have called it his “Serious Punch”, but that's the joke: he's only now getting "kind of" serious.
Wiz: In order to get as generous a number as possible, let's assume Saitama was exerting the least amount of effort he could to throw that punch. Since he's still technically a human, we can assume the ratio between the least amount of effort possible and the most is relatively consistent with other humans. Let's just say he burned the equivalent of only one calorie relative to the strongest punch ever recorded, which was over 1,000 joules. For reference, the average person burns one calorie a minute doing absolutely nothing, so this is assuming Saitama is literally as casual as physically possible.
Boomstick: That'd make his strongest punch about 200 times greater than his weakest. Using Boros' energy blast as a base, Saitama's theoretical strongest punch would be over 11 yottatons of TNT. That's absolutely insane! Enough to annihilate Uranus four times over!
Wiz: Well, that's impressive, but that's still far less than Popeye's star-busting power, which was millions of times greater. Sure, this is only an estimate, we don't know Saitama's full strength exactly. But the point is, whatever it may be, it can be measured.
Boomstick: That's right, but tryin' to compare them with just numbers isn't the whole story.
Wiz: While Saitama can break his world fairly easily, it's still a semi-realistic world that generally obeys the laws of physics.
Boomstick: Popeye in his world, on the other hand, can't really be measured at all; the dude's occupied two places at the same time, ripped the film strip he's animated on, and knocked out the guy drawin' him! Can't do math to figure that out; Popeye's just on a whole other level of bullshit.
Wiz: Even if Saitama was strong enough to kill Popeye in one punch, Popeye has survived being fully disintegrated, only to recover good as new. Hell, God turned off all of reality, and Popeye just... ignored it.
We cut to Wiz and Boomstick.
Boomstick: And on the flip side, there was nothing stopping Popeye from just turnin' Saitama into a bunch of eggs, which he can do without spinach. So even if Popeye was weaker, he'd still have a way to finish the job in one punch.
Wiz: Saitama was easily one of the strongest combatants we've ever seen, but pure strength was no match for Popeye's insane power, survivability, and plain ol' cartoon shenanigans.
Boomstick: If you thought nothing could match the One-Punch Man, now you know, Popeye's spinach can!
He reveals a can of Segar's Spinach out of thin air as he makes the pun, surprising Wiz before we cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Popeye.
Popeye's theme song plays one more time as the Death Battle transition card closes over the episode.
Original Track
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Composition
The track for this fight is "Balderdash" by Brandon Yates and Therewolf Media. It is an instrumental rock track that emulates the music of the One-Punch Man anime and includes the leitmotif of One-Punch Man's official theme, with some portions having music reminiscent of sea shanties, referencing Popeye's background as a sailor. Part of the track also includes a chiptune rendition of "The Sailor's Hornpipe" (a song that's frequently used in Popeye cartoons) for the switch to sprite animation.
Title
The title references the combatants' overpowered and nonsensical natures (as "balderdash" means "nonsense"), as well as the fact that they are both bald.
Cover Art
The cover art done by John Mitchell depicts an opened can of spinach named "ONE PUNCH CAN" (a pun on Saitama's home series, One-Punch Man) with art depicting Saitama's fist punching through Popeye's sailor hat on it and text saying "100 PUSH-UPS, 100 SIT-UPS, 100 SQUATS, & 10KM SPINACH IN A CAN!" at the bottom in reference to Saitama's daily training regimen (with the "10KM SPINACH" part likely also referring to the spinach beanstalk feat examined in Popeye's analysis). There is also a shockwave around the can, presumably the result of the combatants' powerful punches.
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Saitama and Popeye are that they are both animated bald heroes who originated from black and white comics, are comedic in nature, and have extremely powerful punches that they use to effortlessly defeat their enemies, yet can still massively increase their power upon performing a simple action (becoming serious and eating spinach, respectively). Both possess ridiculously overpowered strength that is theoretically limitless (Saitama having broken his limiter and Popeye having Toon Force) and gained said absurd strength through healthy but mundane practices (Saitama performed an intensive but simple exercise routine every day, while Popeye simply eats a lot of spinach). In addition:
- Both are members of peacekeeping organizations (the Hero Association and the Navy, respectively).
- Both have been marginalized because of their appearances (Saitama was named "Caped Baldy" and is often misjudged because of his simplistic appearance, while Popeye's father abandoned him because he was born ugly).
- Parts of Popeye's analysis preview didn't make it into the final episode (likely removed due to copyright claims for some of the clips used during these parts), namely the following:
- Wiz mentioning how Popeye was a vanguard of early American animation.
- Boomstick saying "And I should know!" after Wiz brings up how Poopdeck Pappy abandoned Popeye because of his ugliness, a nod to the culmination of the infamous "Boomstick's dad" running gag at the end of Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man.
- Boomstick listing off characters from the Popeye series.
- Wiz talking about Popeye using the "dark art" of Toon Force.
- The YouTube version of this episode had copyright claims upon upload, which resulted in two of Saitama's quote clips being muted, specifically his reveal of his training regiment and his end-of-analysis clip.
- This was later changed to Wiz explaining Saitama's training regiment instead and cutting both Saitama and Popeye's end-of-analysis clips altogether.
- The original version of the episode can still be viewed on Rooster Teeth.
- The official Popeye Twitter account commented on the fight, stating that he was not worried in the slightest.[1]
- After the episode aired, Popeye stated that Saitama put up a good fight when questioned how he felt after the match.[2]
- Weeks after the fight, Popeye tweeted again to remind everyone of his victory.[3]
- This makes it the sixth episode to be acknowledged by one of the combatants' creators or series, after Beast VS Goliath, Dante VS Bayonetta, Amy Rose VS Ramona Flowers, Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight, and Danny Phantom VS American Dragon Jake Long, and with the next three being Omni-Man VS Homelander, Among Us VS Fall Guys, and Ghost Rider VS Spawn.
- The fight's main animation style of depicting hand-drawn designs of the combatants and associated items on a 3D background likely pays homage to the stereoptical process used in a number of Popeye cartoons, where the camera would film 2D animation cels within a 3D miniature set for some shots.
- This makes it the first hand-drawn episode to use a 3D background, with the next three being Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, and Bowser VS Eggman.
- This episode, along with Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, was not initially planned for Season 8; rather, they were added last during the middle of the season,[4] meaning this episode was not originally planned to be the Season 8 Finale.
- As revealed on the April 24th, 2024 Fireside Chat, this episode took the place of Galactus VS Unicron after it had to be delayed.
- One of the official YouTube Shorts reuploads of this episode has over 54 million views as of 2024, far exceeding the view count of the actual episode, which only has over 8.5 million views in comparison as of the same year.
- If shorts were counted as videos, it would be the most-viewed video on the DEATH BATTLE! YouTube channel, surpassing Goku VS Superman 1's over 47 million current views.
- In a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) hosted years after its release, DevilArtemis stated that this episode and Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha were his favorite ones to work on.[5]
Easter Eggs
- During Popeye's analysis, Boomstick states that spinach can "imbue your biceps with the power of God and anime," referencing a popular meme involving a boy saying that they have "the power of God and anime on [their] side."
- The brand of spinach Popeye is on is called "Segar's Spinach", a reference to Popeye's creator, E. C. Segar.
- The cans of Segar's Spinach can be seen set next to a variety of cooking oils and cans of sweet peas, which are likely a nod to Popeye's girlfriend Olive Oyl and their adopted son Swee'Pea.
- A place called "Wimpy's Hamburgers" can be seen near the start of the fight across the mall, a reference to J. Wellington Wimpy, a Popeye character who loves hamburgers, with the poster on the restaurant's window featuring his catchphrase ("I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!") in Japanese as its slogan.
- It could also potentially reference the real-life Wimpy Bar chain of restaurants, which were named after Wimpy himself.
- When Popeye regenerates himself, Saitama makes his memetic "OK" face.
- This is the second episode to reference the meme, after All Might VS Might Guy.
- It reappears towards the end of the fight when he gets turned into eggs and during the post-analysis while Wiz calculates Saitama's theoretical strongest punch.
- During their first fist rush, Popeye can be seen attacking Saitama with a cinder block and 400-pound weight alongside his punches.
- Saitama crashing onto Pluto and jumping off it is similar to when he does the same thing on the Moon during his fight with Boros.
- As Saitama is thinking about how he finally found a serious fight against Popeye, the constellation from Chuck Norris VS Segata Sanshiro can barely be seen in the background, though only Chuck Norris' side of it can be seen due to Segata Sanshiro's side being covered up by Saitama's head.
- This makes it the sixth episode to feature the constellation in the background of the fight, after Guts VS Nightmare, Doctor Strange VS Doctor Fate, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Hulk VS Broly, and Shadow VS Ryuko.
- The exhilaration and accompanying monologue that Saitama has in the climax of the fight is very likely inspired by Saitama's dream sequence against the Subterraneans.
- Saitama and Popeye's final punch clash in the fight's climax reducing the animation to just their black outlines on a white background is a reference to both combatants' original form of media (black and white comics).
- In fact, every change in animation style is in reference to their original form of media, with the combatants tearing the animation down to said level each time, as indicated by a blank page background, black ink, or both.[6]
- The positioning of the mountain and stars in the ending shot of the fight is reminiscent of the Paramount Pictures logo.
Errors
- In Saitama's analysis, Boomstick claims that 10 kilometers is the same thing as running half a marathon, when in reality it's moreso a quarter of a marathon (as one marathon is 42 kilometers long).
- The Death Battle transition card at the end of Saitama's analysis is missing the "10 YEARS" spray painted on it.
- Wiz mentions in Popeye's analysis that his punch can turn alligators into handbags, alluding to the Popeye cartoon "Safari So Good", as well as a similar moment in "Alona on the Sarong Seas". However, the clip that plays on-screen as he says this is from the end of "Wild Elephinks", which features Popeye punching various jungle animals into articles of clothing with no alligator in sight.
- Wiz mispronounces Garou's name as "Geh-roh" instead of "Gah-roh" in the post-analysis.
- The Segar's Spinach can that Boomstick makes appear in his hand for his ending pun is flipped, resulting in backwards text.
Other
- With Saitama and Popeye making their respective debuts in 2009 and 1929, this episode has the second-longest gap between the creation of an episode's combatants that are not in the same series, with an 80-year difference, only behind Hercules VS Sun Wukong's several centuries worth of difference.
- This is the seventh episode to be animated in a hand-drawn style, after Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog, Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai, Mario VS Sonic (2018), Deadpool VS Mask, Genos VS War Machine, and Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man, and with the next five being Omni-Man VS Homelander, Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, Bowser VS Eggman, and Shigaraki VS Mahito.
- This is the first hand-drawn episode to use a 3D background, with the next four being Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, Bowser VS Eggman, and Shigaraki VS Mahito.
- Excluding sprite animations with hand-drawn shots, this is the fifth episode to be animated in more than one animation style, after Metal Sonic VS Zero, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Deadpool VS Mask, and Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man, and with the next five being Bill Cipher VS Discord, Goku VS Superman (2023), Joker VS Giorno, Bowser VS Eggman, and Among Us VS Fall Guys.
- This is the fifth episode to involve animation done in Source Filmmaker (SFM), after Ganondorf VS Dracula, Obi-Wan Kenobi VS Kakashi, Batgirl VS Spider-Gwen, and Yoda VS King Mickey, and with the next three being Excalibur VS Raiden, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, and Darth Vader VS Obito Uchiha.
- This is the first episode in which all traditional animation styles (sprites, 3D, and hand-drawn) were used, with the next two being Bill Cipher VS Discord and Goku VS Superman (2023).
- This is the fourth episode to have Brandon Yates and Therewolf Media collaborate on its track, after All Might VS Might Guy, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, and Shadow VS Ryuko, and with the next two being Excalibur VS Raiden and Galactus VS Unicron.
- Balderdash is the second collaboration track of theirs that doesn't have lyrics, after Gods of Destruction.
- This is the sixth Cartoon VS Anime/Manga-themed episode, after Gaara VS Toph, Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Aang VS Edward Elric, and Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki, and with the next one being Frieza VS Megatron.
- This is the 10th Comic Book VS Anime/Manga-themed episode, after Goku VS Superman 1, Goku VS Superman 2, Android 18 VS Captain Marvel, Carnage VS Lucy, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Genos VS War Machine, Venom VS Crona, Hulk VS Broly, and Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, and with the next seven being Thor VS Vegeta, Magneto VS Tetsuo, Trunks VS Silver, Frieza VS Megatron, Goku VS Superman (2023), Omni-Man VS Bardock, and Gurren Lagann VS White Lantern.
- This is the sixth time that the Comic Book character wins, after Goku VS Superman 1, Goku VS Superman 2, Optimus Prime VS Gundam, Genos VS War Machine, and Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, with the next five being Thor VS Vegeta, Magneto VS Tetsuo, Trunks VS Silver, Goku VS Superman (2023), and Omni-Man VS Bardock.
- This is the seventh episode to feature planetary destruction, after Goku VS Superman 1, Chuck Norris VS Segata Sanshiro, Thanos VS Darkseid, Wario VS King Dedede, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, and Hulk VS Broly, and with the next four being Frieza VS Megatron, Goku VS Superman (2023), Galactus VS Unicron, and Among Us VS Fall Guys.
- This episode reached #3 on YouTube's Trending page.
- This is the third Season Finale to reach Trending, after All Might VS Might Guy and Hulk VS Broly, and with the next two being Gogeta VS Vegito and Galactus VS Unicron.
- This is the eighth episode to have an original track with a single-word title, after Goku VS Superman 2, Wolverine VS Raiden, Meta VS Carolina, Crash VS Spyro, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, All Might VS Might Guy, and Hulk VS Broly, and with the next seven being Skyrim VS Dark Souls, Phoenix VS Raven, Cole MacGrath VS Alex Mercer, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, Goku VS Superman (2023), Galactus VS Unicron, and Kratos VS Asura.
- On December 5th, 2024, the DEATH BATTLE! YouTube channel uploaded the full fight animation of this episode on its own.
- This is the third Season Finale whose full fight was reuploaded by itself, after All Might VS Might Guy and Hulk VS Broly.
Notes
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/PopeyeTweetsk/status/1471262924379410435
- ↑ https://twitter.com/PopeyeTweetsk/status/1473762514160734219
- ↑ https://twitter.com/PopeyeTweetsk/status/1479099446118039555
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JumpNJetz/status/1762213335372636625
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/deathbattle/comments/1fjrlip/comment/lnq3u23/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/BenBSinger/status/1473069739211694087