- —Tagline
Sub-Zero VS Glacius is the 77th episode of Death Battle, featuring Sub-Zero from the Mortal Kombat series and Glacius from the Killer Instinct series in a battle between cryokinetic fighting game heroes.
Interlude
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Wiz: The freezing chill of death is a horrifying thought, whether it comes from being alone in the mountains, submerged in the Antarctic...
Boomstick: Or if you're really unlucky, gettin' iced by one of these "cool" warriors. Wow, sorry, that was bad, even for me.
Wiz: Sub-Zero, the cryomancer ninja of Mortal Kombat.
Boomstick: And Glacius, the icy alien with a Killer Instinct. 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.
Sub-Zero
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Wiz: For untold generations, the Lin Kuei assassins waged war with their rival splinter group, the Shirai Ryu. Desperate to claim victory in the bloody conflict, the Lin Kuei resorted to drastic means of recruitment for able-bodied soldiers, no matter what age they were.
Boomstick: So... kidnapping children?
Wiz: Kidnapping children.
Boomstick: Well, at least they got to be ninjas! I bet their tiny little bodies would be even stealthier.
Wiz: Turns out, two of these kids just so happened to be descendants from a race of extra-dimensional beings experienced in the art of ice magic. Their names were Bi-Han and Kuai Liang.
Boomstick: With the Lin-Kuei's training, these brothers became cold-blooded assassins and the finest warriors in the clan.
Wiz: And whether it started as a joke or he just thought it was badass, Bi-Han adopted a brand new name: Sub-Zero.
Boomstick: Sounds like an online username from your teenage years that you regret forever when you're older.
Wiz: Sub-Zero was so fierce and driven, he became directly responsible for the complete annihilation of the rival Shirai Ryu clan.
Boomstick: Unfortunately for him, one of them, called Scorpion, survived — well, kind of — and decided to kill him right back, which obviously pissed off Kuai Liang, who decided to do the same to Scorpion and... God, it's like high school drama, but with murder.
Wiz: Striving to honor his fallen brother, Kuai Liang assumed his brother's mantle as the champion of the Lin Kuei. Sub-Zero was reborn.
Mortal Kombat Announcer: Sub-Zero.
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Wiz: This new Sub-Zero is a master of Shotokan karate and Dragon kung fu, and enhances his martial arts with his deadly cryomantic abilities.
Boomstick: Subby can freeze the moisture in the air to do tons of stuff. He can make his own personal slip and slide, perfect for surprise attacks. He can form all sorts of weapons out of thin air, like daggers, swords, or even ice hammers.
Boomstick: But best of all, the dude can make ice so cold, it instantly freezes anybody who touches it.
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The Bounds of Friendship - Mortal Kombat X by Dynamedion
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Wiz: This can be achieved through Sub-Zero's Ice Blast projectile, or the Ice Klone technique, both of which completely immobilize his opponent for devastating follow-up attacks.
Boomstick: Did... did he just make a perfect sculpture of himself? Why doesn't he go into the ice-sculpting business? Dude would make a killing! Well... just... you know, not the literal kind; he's got that down already.
Wiz: Sub-Zero can also implement his cryomancy and ninja talents in what appears to be near-instant teleportation, an unexpected ability which baffles even his fellow assassins.
Boomstick: Yeah, but I bet that's still not as unexpected as turning into a frigging polar bear! Like... how, though? I wanna do that!
Wiz: And best of all, after subduing his enemy, Sub-Zero has no qualms about tearing them to bloody shreds with one of his Fatalities.
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Boomstick: Taking after his dear old bro's favorite form of murder, Sub-Zero can rip a person's head off with their entire spinal column in tow. This one's for you, Bi-Han! If he's feeling particularly nasty, Sub-Zero will toy with his opponent. He'll encase their lower half in ice and force them to watch helplessly as he tears them in half, or, for a quick death, he'll put them in a deep freeze that shatters like glass.
Wiz: At most, it takes Sub-Zero approximately four seconds to freeze a person in place, which in real-world physics, is completely impossible. To induce full-body frostbite in that time, he would have to lower the surrounding temperature to negative six and a half million degrees Fahrenheit.
Boomstick: That's a stupid amount of cold!
Wiz: Thirteen thousand times colder than absolute zero to be exact, making it a temperature which literally cannot exist.
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The Pit - Mortal Kombat (2011) by Dan Forden
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Boomstick: And yet, still not as cold as my ex-wife's heart. Ha! Anyway, Sub-Zero has more than earned his reputation as one of the most fearsome fighters in the Mortal Kombat universe. He's strong enough to break titanium statues with a single chop, quick enough to dodge an oncoming rocket, and he defeated some of the best warriors across multiple dimensions, like the lizard dude Reptile and Taven, the half-god, who singlehandedly defeated dozens of Lin-Kuei assassins. He's beaten his rival for life Scorpion several times and even took on... Batman?!
Wiz: Through sheer willpower, he's survived injuries no normal person could walk away from. Like getting torched in the face by a flamethrower, or being double impaled through the torso, and then torched again!
Boomstick: WHOA! That's a lot of blood. Like, how does he have any left?
Wiz: I know, right? But that pales in comparison to when he underwent the procedures which turned him into a cyborg, and then was blown apart and resembled into human form while still conscious.
Boomstick: Damn, what a tough son of a bitch.
Wiz: But don't overestimate him. Although Sub-Zero keeps company with powerful spirits, undead wraiths, and immortal gods, he's not one of them. He may have incredible powers, but he's still just a mortal man. Also, his emotional baggage and desire to live up to his brother's name has clouded his judgment more than once.
Boomstick: But that didn't stop him from becoming grandmaster of the Lin Kuei. He changed their goals, turning them to the side of good, and even formed an alliance with his old rival Scorpion over a nice brunch. Life couldn't get any better. Then they found dragons!
Sub-Zero: Shirai Ryu dog!
Scorpion: Lin-Kuei scum!
Sub-Zero: Death is more honor than you deserve.
Glacius
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Wiz: Beyond our solar system, advanced civilizations are governed by the 88 Decrees. Should anyone dare violate these laws, they will find themselves targeted by the Galactic Marshals.
Boomstick: AKA, space cops. One of these alien officers was sent to Earth to investigate an eerie distress signal, but he was shot down by the world-dominating corporation called Ultratech. You know, evil Walmart.
Wiz: Ultratech had reverse-engineered equipment from an alien crash some decades prior, the Roswell Incident. However, the use of advanced technology by less-developed species is a clear violation of the 88 Decrees.
Boomstick: Kinda like if you saw a chimpanzee pick up a flamethrower. It'd be awesome! But you'd want to take it away real quick.
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Shatterhail - Killer Instinct (2013) by Mick Gordon
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Wiz: Determined to correct these wrongs and return home, the alien marshal set his sights on bringing Ultratech to their knees and recovering his lost technology. And if he couldn't, he'd just blow it all up.
Boomstick: It was Ultratech who code-named him "Glacius". Don't let his name fool ya; Glacius wasn't always known for his fancy ice powers. Actually, he comes from a race of aliens with weird telekinetic abilities.
Wiz: By manipulating simple molecular structures, Glacius can use the environment nearby to create armor around his inner body. This came in handy when his ship was shot down in Antarctica, and he lost his native shell.
Boomstick: So he had no choice but to make a new shell out of ice, which permanently turned him into an abominable snow monster.
Wiz: With this new body, Glacius developed a fighting style to make the most of his new capabilities.
Boomstick: Glacius prefers to fight at a distance, using his long-range ice bending attacks. He can turn his limbs into huge ice lances to keep his enemies at bay, create spiky hail projectiles, and even summon spires of ice right under his opponent, and... did he just punch that guy with an ice sculpture of himself?!
Wiz: More or less. That is the Shatter technique, a powerful burst of energy which summons a mysterious uppercutting ice sculpture.
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Boomstick: Perfect for opening up some sweet combos on his foes. Still, for all his keep-away game, you'd think he'd be a total chump up close, but remember how he can move ice with his mind? Well, he can melt it, too, including himself.
Wiz: By turning his body into liquid, he can evade oncoming attacks, surprise opponents from below with the aptly named "Puddle Punch", and even completely dissolve people into nothing. And as an added precaution, he can summon extra ice to his body to serve as thicker armor, though his molecular telekinesis is too limited to maintain this armor for long periods of time.
Boomstick: He may be made of ice, but Glacius can still hit hard enough to launch opponents several stories into the air, including the 550-pound Fulgore units Ultratech is known for.
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Main Theme - Killer Instinct (2013) by Mick Gordon
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Wiz: He's cunning enough to not only infiltrate Ultratech's highly guarded facilities, but also surprise attack its highly advanced robotic CEO, ARIA. Before making his move, by ARIA's own calculations, Glacius was able to drop the temperature of the entire room by 122 degrees Fahrenheit in .026 seconds. That's a quarter of a tenth of a second.
Boomstick: Just like Sub-Zero, he can lower a person's temperature by like, thousands of degrees, to freeze his opponents completely solid, and then he makes them explode. WITH HIS MIND!
Wiz: Maybe Glacius' real name is Kelvin, because that's colder than absolute zero!
Boomstick: I feel like that was some kind of nerd joke.
Wiz: Yes it was!
Boomstick: Yeah, you're not allowed to make a joke ever again.
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Wiz: Aw, why you gotta be so cold? Anyway, in Glacius' mission to bring down Ultratech, he battled and defeated dozens of killer robots, a zombie pirate, a genetically engineered dinosaur fighter... and a werewolf.
Boomstick: He even killed Cinder, the guy who's made of freaking fire! You know, opposite ice?
Wiz: Glacius is ridiculously intimidating, but he does have a weakness. His natural body within the ice is fragile and defenseless. His entire fighting style is built around keeping foes away for this very reason.
Boomstick: So, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Glacius?
Wiz: That's gross.
Boomstick: What? He looks like a giant popsicle with legs, come on!
Wiz: You know what Boomstick? You're fucking weird.
Glacius shrieks.
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: But first, all this talk of these cold people makes me think of refrigerators, which makes me think of food, so here we go!
Wiz and Boomstick read out an advertisement for Blue Apron.
Boomstick: But right now, IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!
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. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: But first, all this talk of these cold people makes me think of refrigerators, which makes me think of food, so here we go!
Wiz and Boomstick read out an advertisement for Blue Apron.
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. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!Death Battle
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Main Menu - Mortal Kombat (2011) by Dan Forden
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In a cold mountain region, a crashed spaceship lies idle with a few sparks emerging from it and a small fire in front of it as Glacius emerges from it in his puddle form. Meanwhile, Sub-Zero runs across the area before coming across the wreckage. He crouches down and looks over it, more sparks coming off of it until he spots the puddle moving towards him. He hops backward to avoid it until it stops moving. The puddle then turns into icy spikes, revealing Glacius along with it.
Sub-Zero: Your race is new to me.
The spikes shatter as Glacius raises his arms and gives off a roar-like shriek at Sub-Zero, who braces himself before getting back into his fighting stance.
Sub-Zero: You will know the chill of death.
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Shatterhail - Killer Instinct (2013) by Mick Gordon
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The two shoulder charge into each other, neither overpowering the other. Glacius hops backward and as Sub-Zero charges toward him, the alien turns his arm into a lance-shaped blade and goes for a stab. Sub-Zero swerves his head to avoid the stab, ducks to avoid a slash, and back-flips to avoid an upward swing. Glacius goes on a frenzy, swinging and thrusting his blade hand, only for Sub-Zero to move to avoid each of them. He slides across the ground to avoid another thrust, then uppercuts Glacius, causing him to spit out blue blood. Glacius immediately counter-attacks with a successful jab, with Sub-Zero spewing blood. Sub-Zero then shoulder charges into the alien once more, hops back and then stops a punch from Glacius with his hand before delivering another punch to Glacius' head. After more blue blood spewed, Glacius was frozen in place as Sub-Zero threw another punch, shattering the ice that Sub-Zero covered him in.
After taking another punch from Sub-Zero, Glacius roared as he threw a punch, which Sub-Zero blocked. The ninja fired ice at the ground, trapping Glacius' feet as he jumped towards him for a jump kick to the head. More blue blood spat out as Sub-Zero landed and elbowed him, struck him with a downward two-handed swing, and then kicked him three times, knocking the alien back. He slid on the ground to capitalize on this when Glacius suddenly turned into a puddle once more. Suddenly, Glacius emerged from the puddle and uppercut Sub-Zero straight upward, the ninja shouting out.
KI Announcer: COMBO BREAKER!
Sub-Zero fell back-first to the ground before lifting himself upward with his hands, then flipping back onto his feet.
Sub-Zero: I should have known.
Glacius raised his fist and Sub-Zero kept his guard up but was caught off-guard by what appeared to be a replica of Glacius emerging from the ground with multiple uppercuts. The alien performed a kicking motion, causing a small explosion of ice to knock Sub-Zero towards him, followed by another. With Sub-Zero flying towards him, Glacius shoulder charged into the ninja before headbutting him. As Sub-Zero stumbled backward from the impact, Glacius swung at his head twice before turning into a puddle and uppercutting him once more. Lifted off his feet, Sub-Zero was then uppercut twice more. Then, before he could touch the floor, Glacius punched the ground. Large ice spikes rose up, knocking Sub-Zero high into the air.
In midair, Sub-Zero regained control and began flipping of his own accord into a tree. Glacius threw another kick and roared, to which the tree was cut in two by a large ice spike which soon shattered. Sub-Zero emerged unharmed and jumped back onto the ground.
Sub-Zero: Challenge accepted.
He slid forward, firing ice to slide upon for a longer distance than before hopping upward to avoid a large ice spike. As Sub-Zero went for another aerial kick, Glacius turned into a puddle to avoid it. Sub-Zero landed and turned to see six spiked balls of ice forming and floating above him.
Sub-Zero: You're a formidable warrior...
Glacius emerged further away from the ninja and roared.
Sub-Zero: But you lack conviction.
Glacius performed a punching motion and all six projectiles homed in on Sub-Zero, who formed his Kori blade. He swung the icy sword at the first two, then spun and kicked the third and fourth. He narrowly avoided the fifth crashing into the ground with a backflip, then jumped further back as the sixth ball neared him. Sub-Zero managed to grab hold of it with his hand, then turned and tossed it towards Glacius. It strikes the alien dead-on, who is entirely unaffected by his own projectile, only to see Sub-Zero slide and hop towards him for a kicking frenzy. He then slides, knocking Glacius off his feet before turning around with a double palm strike, knocking the alien onto the ground on his hands and knees. Glacius gets up as Sub-Zero raises his hand upward.
Sub-Zero: Time to die.
He channeled the cold in his hand, which was then covered in ice. He ran into Glacius for a punch, which Glacius countered with one of his own. Their two fists clashed, seemingly equaled, before steam emerged from between their hands and burning could be heard. Sub-Zero stepped out of the clash, then looked over at his hand, only to see that it was missing and his wrist was bleeding. He then looked down and saw Glacius in his puddle form directly below him and rising upward to ensnare his legs and lower body. As Glacius' liquid form continue moving up Sub-Zero's body, the ice ninja was suddenly frozen in ice. Having covered Sub-Zero entirely, Glacius went back to a puddle, the mass over the frozen ninja sinking as well before Glacius emerged roaring. The only remnants of Sub-Zero were a few pieces of ice that fell to the ground, including a part of his torso and his head. Sub-Zero's head cracked in two the moment it landed as Glacius roared once more in victory.
However it turned out to be an Ice Clone as suddenly, Sub-Zero emerged from behind Glacius in a mass of ice, the alien caught completely off-guard and shrieking in confusion.
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Fatality - Mortal Kombat (2011) by Dan Forden
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Then, before the alien could react, the ninja struck him in the back. Sub-Zero's fist dug deep into Glacius, whose icy shell began to crack. Within the alien, Sub-Zero's hand had gripped onto his inner body and tugged, tearing out his skull and spine. The force of the pull causes Glacius to shatter to pieces. Sub-Zero's wrist continues bleeding from his missing hand as his remaining hand lifts Glacius' skull up into the air. Shortly afterward, the skull snaps off of the spine, falling to the ground.
Results
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The End - Killer Instinct (2013) by Mick Gordon
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Boomstick: I know it's the theme and all, but that was just ice cold.
Wiz: Glacius and Sub-Zero seemed to be a near match in terms of cryomantic abilities, but it was Sub-Zero who had the training and the power to bring Glacius down.
Boomstick: Sub-Zero has fought ninjas, robot ninjas, secret agents, movie stars, gods, and even fellow ice warriors. Glacius really didn't have anything Subby hadn't seen before.
Wiz: And while their speed was fairly similar, Sub-Zero's impressive reflexes and ninja-like skills gave him one of the most important edges in this fight. He could maneuver around Glacius' keep-away strategy, and his teleportation kept him a step ahead, even able to avoid Glacius' liquid form. And while Glacius did possess a minor form of telepathy, there's no evidence to suggest that it was used for anything other than direct communication.
Boomstick: Sub-Zero could take a lot of hits, so he wasn't going down easy, but if you put their defenses side-by-side, Glacius' ice armor does seem better. But it really didn't matter, because Subs could just chop right through it.
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Unknown
by Unknown Artist |
Wiz: Sub-Zero could shatter titanium statues in a single blow, a feat which requires at minimum 63,000 pounds of force per square inch, and titanium is obviously tougher than ice. Assuming Glacius' shell is composed of blue ice, the purest and toughest form ice can take, it would still only take, at most, 57,000 pounds of force per square inch to crack his entire body in half.
Boomstick: And he didn't even need to go that far, just get to the squishy insides in the middle. I guess you could say that Glacius had his expectations shattered.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Sub-Zero.
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Sub-Zero and Glacius are that they are both cryokinetic fighting game heroes who debuted in the early 1990s and have appeared as playable characters in every game of their series since. In addition:
- Both have extraterrestrial origins (Sub-Zero is descended from Edenian Cryomancers, while Glacius is an alien).
- Both have a history of being captured and experimented on (Sub-Zero was turned into a cyborg by the Lin Kuei, while Glacius was captured by Ultra-Tech) and developed a rivalry with the robot responsible as a result (Sektor and ARIA, respectively).
- Before this matchup was decided on, many other matchups for Sub-Zero were considered, namely Ryu, Iceman, Elsa, and Frozone,[1][2] though Ryu was only considered before Ryu VS Scorpion was made.[3]
- Coincidentally, this fight was announced two days before Sub-Zero was announced as a character in the Injustice 2 Fighter Pack 1 DLC, as well as the announcement of Glacius receiving an Ultimate pack alongside four other characters in the third Ultimate pack for Killer Instinct.
- This is the first battle to be animated by Gus Espinal.
- According to the commentary of this fight, the most difficult aspect of the fight was how Sub-Zero would handle Glacius' liquid form, and the fight's ending was directly inspired by Nick Cramer's logic that Glacius would only have to fall for the teleportation once.
Easter Eggs
- Glacius' ship in the fight is actually Samus Aran's Gunship, albeit colored blue.
Errors
- The sprites used for Sub-Zero are not actually of Kuai Liang (who was used in the episode), but rather Bi-Han's sprites from Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, though his stance was modified to match Kuai's stance in Mortal Kombat II.
- Towards the end of the battle, Sub-Zero's missing hand switches from his right to his left.
- When Sub-Zero lifts Glacius' skull and spine, the blood on the skull disappears for a frame before reappearing as it falls off.
Other
- This is the 11th Fighting Game-themed episode, after Akuma VS Shang Tsung, Felicia VS Taokaka, Chun-Li VS Mai Shiranui, Shao Kahn VS M. Bison, Ivy VS Orchid, Fulgore VS Sektor, Ryu VS Scorpion, Ragna VS Sol Badguy, Cammy VS Sonya, and Ken VS Terry, and with the next five being Balrog VS TJ Combo, Ryu VS Jin, Sabrewulf VS Jon Talbain, Heihachi Mishima VS Geese Howard, and Akuma VS Shao Kahn.
- This is the second Mortal Kombat VS Killer Instinct-themed episode, after Fulgore VS Sektor.
- This is the first time Mortal Kombat wins.
- This is the second Mortal Kombat VS Killer Instinct-themed episode, after Fulgore VS Sektor.
- This is the first Ice-themed episode, with the next two being Weiss VS Mitsuru and Gray VS Esdeath.
- This is the second episode to get age-restricted, after Zoro VS Erza, and with the next six being Carnage VS Lucy, Goro VS Machamp, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, Iron Man VS Lex Luthor, Shadow VS Ryuko, and Ghost Rider VS Spawn.
- The reason for this was likely because of the heavy use of gore in Sub-Zero's analysis.