Death Battle Predictions: Thanos VS Darkseid

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Often times, the greatest stories told throughout fiction rely on the strength of their villains. The best ones are those that pose the gravest threats to heroes, whether it involves preying on their fears, ruining their lives, challenging the way they think and believe and - probably the most likely option - threatening to either destroy the universe for kicks or bring all of creation under their control, much like these two galactic overlords set for the final episode of Season 5.

Thanos, Marvel’s merciless Mad Titan. Darkseid, DC’s devious Dark God. Little need be said about these two beyond the simple fact that their deific might has made them two of the most powerful villains in all of fiction, much less the world of comics. It was only a matter of time before these masters of evil would trade blows to prove their might and superiority, and what better way to settle their long-standing score than under the bright lights of the season finale?

Background

Thanos

"I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless. It’s frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you, to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now, it's here. Or should I say, I am."

On Titan - the moon of Saturn, there lived a race of beings called the Eternals, offshoots of mankind who were created by the divine Celestials to defend all of humanity against their counterparts, the Deviants. In their near-millennia long war against each other, interbreeding between the two rival factions was far and between, but soon there came an Eternal child who bore Deviant genes; so hideous was this boy that his mother had attempted to kill him after foreseeing that the universe itself would wiped out by his hand. Little did she know that her nightmares would soon be realized as her son would grow into the very monster all of existence should fear - his name forever being etched in the annals of history: Thanos.

In stark contrast to the madman he would become, Thanos was a peaceful pacifist in his youth and had a relatively normal childhood. However, as he grew older, he adopted a nihilist attitude about life, and was spurred on to kill to find his place in the world. His penchant for wanton bloodshed led to a meeting with the physical manifestation of Death herself; with the two beginning a infatuation with each other, Thanos swore himself to honor his beloved by bringing about the end of all life in the universe as his own twisted gift of love. To do so, he trained relentlessly and harnessed resources and powers that made him a dominant force to rival any foe - hero and villain otherwise - who dared challenge his might.

Over many years, Thanos has committed genocide after genocide in a scale hitherto unheard of - millions of lives snuffed out either by his hand, his adoptive children in the Black Order or the massive space armada he has commanded. He has attempted to invade Earth several times and nearly succeeded were it not for the efforts of the planet’s mightiest heroes, become the Avatar of Death himself and most famously used the mighty power of the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out half of existence with a snap of his fingers. To put a long story short, those who wish to be the Mad Titan’s next challenger must truly be mad enough themselves lest they witness a power that is next to none in any universe.

Darkseid

“You may live to witness my triumph. Live -- to witness the darkness transcendent... and your ultimate, undying doom.”

Since time immemorial, stories were told of the near-eternal war waged by two opposing planets located far away from the expanse of Earth: New Genesis and Apokolips. Forged from the remnants of Urgrund - the home of the Old Gods, the surviving New Gods continued the battle of good and evil their homeworlds represented; where New Genesis was a lush utopian paradise, Apokolips was a barren landscape born in brimstone and fire, with its citizens kept in line through fear and force. Fittingly enough, only one being in the universe who embodied these emotions and more could lay claim to ruling such a locale: the wretched and maniacal Dread Lord called Darkseid.

Born as Prince Uxas, he had desired the throne of Apokolips for himself since he was but a child, and despised the peace-loving ways of his brother Drax. With the aid of his adviser Desaad, he seized control of the Omega Effect, a powerful energy source that Drax had hoped to attain in order to assume his role as ruler. After disposing of his brother, Uxas re-emerged from the Omega Effect a vile creature no longer recognizable as the man he once was, and assumed the name of Darkseid - the most feared of the god-names from the history of Apokolips that others before him have never even dared to take for fear of what that moniker had truly meant for themselves and the rest of the universe.

As with any tyrannical leader, Darkseid’s ambitions grew loftier as did his power. In his search to subjugate existence himself to his whim, he needed to destroy the free will it possessed. An encounter with the Green Martians who possessed a strong willpower gave him the idea to harness the Anti-Life Equation; with this formula, he could erase the concept of freedom once and for all. To this end, he has sought to invade Earth, believing a part of the equation to lay in the subconsciousness of humanity. The world’s finest and more have stepped up to the plate in order to stop him again and again, but for Darkseid, all are minor setbacks; he will never be truly stopped for good until all life in the universe belongs to him.

Abilities

Thanos

Eternal Physiology

Thanos is an Eternal, beings far stronger than humanity that are capable of superhuman strength, speed, durability, keener senses than humanity as well as extended lifespans. Thanos in particular is a special case as he has a genetic mutation called the Deviant Syndrome that makes him even more powerful than a normal Eternal.

Energy Manipulation

Thanos is one of the strongest energy manipulation users in the Marvel Universe, able to manipulate his energy in various ways in order to gain an advantage. It has even been speculated that nature of Thanos' cosmic energy reserve may be quasi-mystical.

Energy Beams

In terms of Thanos’ main method of attacking, he mostly uses his energy-based abilities while in combat. He is also able to project energy as a concussive force that is easily capable of knocking cosmic level beings such as Drax the Destroyer out. He can also use infrared eye beams to defeat beings such as Thor and the Thing, as well as fire out his energy as an area of effect style attack. He can even fire it as a focused beam style attack which was capable of easily knocking away Galactus, who was well-fed at the time.

Energy Enhancing

Thanos is easily capable of using his energy in order to increase the power of his strikes as shown when he fought Ronan the Accuser who has shown capable of giving Captain Marvel a run for her money.

Energy Transference/Healing

Thanos can use his energy in order to heal himself and others. He can also do this to cosmic level beings such as Adam Warlock and enhance the abilities of others around him, as shown by the time he enhanced Pip the Troll's teleportation powers.

Energy Imprison

Thanos is capable of using his energy in order to imprison other people. This was shown during his fight against Odin where he managed to imprison the All Father Odin, though this has shown to have its limits as Odin was able to break free in seconds. He is also capable to stop weapons such as Beta Ray Bill’s Stormbreaker as well as Thor’s Mjolnir.

Energy Shield

In terms of defense, Thanos will often utilize energy shields (he has three personal force fields on hand) in order to protect himself. These energy shields are capable of easily being able to protect himself from Thor with the Power Gem and Mjølnir. They are also capable of shielding him from other cosmic level beings such as the Silver Surfer using the power cosmic and an extremely angry Galactus.

Matter Manipulation

Even without the Infinity Gauntlet, he is still capable of controlling matter on an atomic level,  capable of easily turning beings into stone.

Telepathy

Thanos is one of the strongest telepaths in the Marvel universe, able to mentally influence/go into some of the strongest minds around. He is capable of defeating other extremely strong telepaths such as Moondragon, completely destroying minds as shown with Pip the Troll or Drax the Destroyer, as well using his telepathy to mentally control people as shown with the Hulk when he tried to manipulate him to fight the Avengers.

Teleportation

Thanos is capable of teleporting himself as well as anyone he so chooses to. Sometimes he just creates a personal portal. He can also use this teleportation ability as some sort of time travel machine, as he once travelled to future Earth and shows Silver Surfer what Earth would appear like.

Life Force Manipulation

Thanos is able to manipulate/control the lifeforce of others. He can absorb other people’s lifeforce in order to increase his own power or use it to heal himself. He can also transfer lifeforce onto other people, making them even more powerful

Creation

Thanos can use his power to create objects, though he does not use it that often. One notable thing that he did is when he used his power to create a house and tree.

Mystic Manipulation

Thanos has stated that he is well-versed in black mystic arts and has shown that he is capable of casting spells/curses, such as the time he cursed Deadpool to be forever immortal as well as create a curse that made Moondargon become infested with insects. Like many mystic arts users before him, he is also capable of entering the astral plane, but unlike a lot of mystic arts users, he can do so with his physical body.

Flight/Levitation

Thanos has been shown able to levitate without using his armor and fly

Darkseid

New God Physiology

Darkseid is a New God - a race of beings that have evolved due to their close proximity to the Source. All New Gods including Darkseid are immortal as well as being much stronger, faster and smarter than humanity and even some Kryptonians. Darkseid possesses superhuman strength, speed, durability and invulnerability, making them extremely hard to kill by conventional means, though cosmic beings such as the Spectre and Superman can kill him.

Omega Effect

The Omega Effect is a Cosmic Energy Field which gives him all of his many abilities - it is basically a form of energy manipulation/projection that allows him to control and manipulate the energy around him. It is only available to him and can’t not be taken nor stolen by other beings. It has also been stated that Darkseid can use the Omega Effect to travel back in time.

Omega Effect Projection

Darkseid is capable of projecting the Omega Effect outwards in various ways. If he gets angry enough then he will create storms of energy. He can also project his energy out in order to incapacitate Superman.

Omega Beams

This is Darkseid’s main method of attack other than overpowering foes through physical strength. He can utilise the Omega Effect to fire lasers from his eyes. The Omega Beams are capable of wiping out cosmic level beings as well as removing people from reality. They are also  strong enough to disintegrate entire planets to easily some of the strongest heroes in the DC universe such as Superman, the Flash, Supergirl and even the Spectre though it was brief, putting them at speeds massively faster than light.

Omega Sanction

The Omega Sanction is one of Darkseid’s most deadly abilities. If you are hit by it, you become trapped in an infinite number of realities and lifetimes. You will always die, come back and then die again. There have specifically been two people that have experienced the Omega Sanction - Batman, who experienced multiple time periods in history, and Mister Miracle, who eventually escaped the Omega Sanction.

Anti-Life Equation

This is most likely Darkseid’s post powerful tool. The Anti-Life Equation is a mathematical formula that allows the user to dominate the will of an race as well as increase the power of the user. By speaking the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid can insert the formula into any living being, giving them the mathematical certainty that life, hope, and freedom are all pointless (which he used to conquer the world). It is extremely difficult to break out of the Anti-Life Equation mindset. The only way to break through the Anti-Life Equation is the concepts of Freedom and Hope; the New Genesis hieroglyph of Freedom, called the Metron Emblem, which while not destroying the Anti-Life Equation completely, will certainly decrease its effects and give the infected a chance to break free of it’s hold. Barry Allen has also used the Speed Force to break out of the ALE.

Telepathy

Darkseid is one of the strongest telepaths in the DC universe (though his telepathic skills is increased with the Anti-Life Equation as it allows him to drain the minds of humans). He can also use his telepathic skills in various ways. For example, creating an illusion in Superman's mind and creating mental blocks. He can also telepathically manipulate and control people, even extremely powerful telepaths such as Martian Manhunter. There is no limit to the amount of people that he can control as he was able to manipulate three billion Daxamite minds.

Telekinesis

Darkseid can also use telekinesis in order to restrain people (such as the time he restrained Superman. He also once restrained the Legion of Superheroes). He can also telekinetically throw people back.

Teleportation

Darkseid is able to teleport himself or others away. He can teleport people through time as well teleport people across the universe. His teleportation is so powerful that he can teleport planets to completely different locations.

Matter Manipulation

Darkseid is able to manipulate matter on an atomic scale. He can use this matter manipulation ability in order to turn people to dust (likely through an aging process), as well as turn people into other objects such as the time he turned Jimmy Olsen into Kryptonite or turned Cyborg Superman into a metal ball. He can also turn people into statues.

Power Manipulation

Darkseid has the ability to give his own allies powers. He can also use this ability to restore power to those who had previously lost them, as shown with Mary Marvel.

Size Manipulation

Darkseid is able to manipulate his size in order to adapt to different situations. He can grow giant to combat larger opponents. His most impressive size changing feat is when his hands  grew to almost be the size of a planet. He can also shrink his body in order to fight microscopic enemies such Ray Palmer.

Soul Manipulation

Darkseid has the ability to manipulate a person’s soul as well as place souls in different objects like he did with Cyborg Superman. He was also capable of pulling Professor Stein out from the Firestorm Matrix.

Time Manipulation

Darkseid is capable of easily manipulating and controlling time. He does this mostly through putting people into the future as well as take past versions of himself out of the time stream.

Life/Death Manipulation

Darkseid is able to bring the dead back to life, such as the time he brought his entire army back from the dead. Using this ability he is also capable of creating an army of zombies (he can also grant others this ability).

Equipment

Thanos

Infinity Gauntlet

The Infinity Gauntlet was designed to hold six of the 'soul gems', better known as the Infinity Gem or Stones (differs between versions). These gems give the user extraordinary power capable of easily destroying an entire universe once they are used all together. In terms of what individual gem can do:

Power Gem

The Power Gem Increased strength and durability of the user as well as increase their energy manipulation power. Thanos’s energy manipulation powers became so powerful that he was able to carve his own face onto a planet, as well as being powerful enough to easily destroy multiple planets at once. He can also use the Power Gem to easily kill cosmic level beings as shown against him one shotting both Drax the Destroyer and the Silver Surfer. The Power Gem also supplies the other gems with its power.

While with the Power Gem, he was easily able to decimate Richard Rider and Thor, Quasar, Namor and She-Hulk, and Cloak.

Time Gem

With the Time Gem, Thanos has complete control over time, speeding it up, slowing it down or stopping it altogether, as well as time travel and being able to see the past and the future. The Time Gem’s powers are so great that they can beat Kronos, the god of time.

Space Gem

With the Space Gem, Thanos can manipulate space around him, giving the ability to go anywhere in the universe within the blink of an eye as well as being able to interfere with the motion of other objects. The Space Gem also gives him complete omnipresence, meaning he can be anywhere at any time

Soul Gem

With the Soul Gem, Thanos is able to attack a person’s soul as well as steal it for himself to use or control them.

Reality Gem

With the Reality Gem, Thanos can manipulate all of reality, even more than cosmic level beings such as Mistress Death. He can also use the reality gem to completely warp and distort a person’s atomic structure.

Mind Gem

The Mind Gem gives Thanos complete control over the mind, greatly enhancing his psionic abilities while also giving him new ones such as empathy and large scale telekinesis. He can also use the Mind Gem to enter other people's minds.

All Together

When the Infinity Gauntlet is all together, the Gems are even stronger than they are indivIdually. With the Infinity Gauntlet together, Thanos was able to pull off his most infamous feat - killing half the universe. With the Infinity Gauntlet together he was also able to fight Sire Hate, Chaos, Kronos, Mephisto, One Above All, Eon, Galactus, Ziran, Order, Stranger & Mistress Love, all of which are beings fully capable of destroying galaxies and some even a universe, and yet none were able to defeat Thanos. Thanos with all the gems was even able to face off against the physical embodiment of the universe - Eternity - and won, becoming one with physical embodiment of the universe.

Techno-Mystical Chair

Thanos’ personal throne that he likes to sit on. He is directly linked to this chair (it’s where his abilities of force field projection and teleportation come from). His chair is also capable of travelling through dimensions, travelling faster than the speed of light, as well as fire blasts and allows him to learn everything and anything about a person, as shown when he used the Cosmic Chair to learn about Adam Warlock and then attack him.

Ships (Sacantury, Demeter, Dreadnaught 666)

This is Thanos’s Star-Ship base and has been stated to be one of the most powerful starships in the universe. He tends to use it mostly for transport but it does have some functions that are able to help Thanos on the battlefield. It has shields that are capable of blocking attacks from cosmic level beings, and any attack that hits its shield will return back to the attackers, such as the time he used it to hold Hulk and Namor. He also has weapons that are powerful enough to easily devstate planets and one shot Thor, Captain Mar-Vell and Iron Man. It also houses a teleportation system that allows the user to transport people away with the wave of his hand. He also has other ships known as the Demeter and the Dreadnaught 666, but they aren't used nearly as often as the Sacantury.

Stasis Rifle

This is a rifle that he picked up on his travels. It envelops the victim in a cube of physical force, putting them in a stasis state. It was able to easily trap Thor, who had been enhanced by the Power Gem too. Its main weaknesses is that it’s a single shot weapon.

Time Machine

Thanos built a time machine in order to travel back in time.

Darkseid

Mother Box

The Motherbox are living computers usually found on New Genesis, but Darkseid has been shown owning and using one. While the Mother Box does have several uses, Darkseid only really uses it to access the Boom Tube. The Boom Tube allows anyone to cross over to any dimension as well as get from one place in the universe to another place in the universe. Darkseid doesn’t really use it for combat and mostly uses it to get from one location to another.

Forms

Thanos

Eternity Thanos

After fighting and defeating Eternity, Thanos became one with the physical representation of the universe, achieving ultimate power. This form of Thanos has all the same powers and abilities as both Thanos and Eternity, who has the power to destroy a universe and has shown to be superior to classic Doctor Strange and Dormammu, both some of the strongest heroes and villains in the Marvel universe, respectively. Though since this form requires Thanos to merge with Eternity, it would likely be considered outside help.

Heart of the Universe Thanos

During the Marvel Universe: The End, Thanos obtained the Heart of the Universe, a power that was created by the strongest Marvel character ever - The-One-Above-All - and it was strong enough that it allowed Thanos to defeat and absorb the Living Tribunal, who is the complete embodiment of the Marvel multiverse, transcending over the entire multiverse and absorbing its power for his own. However, it should be noted that Marvel's executive editor Tom Brevoort has stated that Marvel Universe: The End is not part of the official Marvel continuity.

Darkseid

Avatars

Darkseid is able to create Avatars of himself. These Avatars can be created even if Darkseid is dead or trapped in the source wall. They are an extension of his will and while not nearly as powerful as the True Darkseid, they can still hold their own and have all of Darkseid’s powers.

Soulfire Darkseid

This form was born when Darkseid has absorbed the powers of all the dead New Gods into himself, giving him nigh-omnipotence. In this form, Darkseid is strong enough to take on the Source, which is no small feat considering how its multiversal power, as well as tear holes in reality because of his fight with the Source. However, it should be noted that the story that Soulfire Darkseid appears in heavily contradicts with the event in Final Crisis, so it’s very likely this form is not in continuity.

True Darkseid

In Final Crisis, Darkseid released his true form for the first time in comics history. Every other version of Darkseid in the comics was simply an avatar of Darkseid - a body for Darkseid’s true form to inhabit. True Darkseid is hands down the most powerful form of Darkseid to ever exist as of making this blog. It is non-corporeal, omnipresent and exists in a higher plane of reality (until Final Crisis). True Darkseid is powerful enough that after he fell into the DC Heroes Plane of Existence, it caused the whole space-time continuum to collapse in on itself, and simply just existing was tearing the universe to shreds.

For abilities, True Darkseid mostly possesses others as shown with Dan Turpin, but it can also drag the multiverse into one giant singularity and cut off Gods from the mortal plane, as shown when Black Adam and Shazam were losing their powers because of him.

Feats

Thanos

Overall

• Is the most powerful Titan Eternal
• Killed millions of his own race in a nuclear bombardment
• Killed half the universe before it was undone
• Fought the All-Father Odin to a stalemate
• He has been stated to be one of the most dangerous foes the Avengers have ever faced
• Killed the Ovin Mercenary Army (who are known to be the strongest army in the universe) 
• Threatened Mephisto (that’s for One More Day, you ass) 
• Fought and defeated Thor with the Power Gem 
• Has fought and gotten better of the Avengers numerous times.   

Power

• No-diffed Adam Warlock
• Ragdolled Mar-Vell
• One-shot the Thing
• Backhanded Hulk & Drax
• Knocked Ronan the Accuser out cold
• One-shot Super Skrull
• Drew blood from In-Betweener
• Knocked out Jack of Heart
• Lifted the Galactus engine from Ego’s stomach
• Knocked Black Dwarf out cold

Speed

• Dodged Drax
• Moondragon failed a sneak attack
• Jack of Hearts failed to blitz him
• Dodges an attack from Ego
• Reacted to an attack from Silver Surfer

Durability

• No-sold Drax’s energy projection
• Tanked an attack from a weapon that was made to kill him
• No-sold an attack from Silver Surfer
• Tanked an attack from Ronan
• Survived a black hole
• Took a hit from a pissed off Thor w/ the Power Gem
• Still tougher than Thor
• Odin couldn’t hurt him
• Odin still can’t hurt him
• Odin needs to stop trying
• The Maker/Kosmos couldn’t hurt him
• Tanked an attack from the Black Bolt
• Walker can’t hurt him

Darkseid

Overall

• Easily one of Superman's most powerful adversaries 
• Orchestrated a war with New Genesis that would last for millennia
• Killed his mother and became the ruler of Apokolips
• Discovered and eventually obtained the Anti-Life Equation
• Is one of the Justice League’s deadliest foes 
• Tricked the Source, a universal god
• The existence of his true form alone is enough to tear the universe into shreds
• Went toe-to-toe with the Anti-Monitor, someone who cracked the multiverse
• Won a war in Heaven 
• Killed thousands of Supermen across the multiverse
• Defeated Alan Scott in their first encounter, someone who had the power of all Earths that exist within the multiverse itself
• By tearing his past self out of a time stream, the universe collapsed
• Can drag the entire multiverse into a singularity where he is all that exists
• His body fell over the entire multiverse
• Out of all of Superman's villains, Darkseid has the sexiest voice

Power

• Caught and crushed a face hugger, despite other New Gods being hurt by its acid
• Choked Metron
• Broke a Green Lantern ring
• Backhanded Mantis, Wonder Woman, and Superman
• Decked Superboy
• One-shot Captain Atom, whose quantum power can create a universe
• Punches and traps Superman in the Source Wall
• Soloed a team of Darkstars
• Darkstars have comparable power to Green Lanterns
• Beat Jimmy Olsen, despite him having been infused with the power of the New Gods
• Absorbing just two New Gods increases his power ten fold
• There were thousands of New Gods here
• Defeated a perfect clone of Orion easily
• Contributed 1/5th of the power to destroy a universe
• Restrained Superman with telekinesis
• Telekinetically shut down the Legion of Superheroes
• New 52 Darkseid holds open up a portal with raw strength
• New 52 Darkseid twists spacetime with his might
• New 52 Darkseid broke the magical bindings of Earth-2 Doctor Fate:
• New 52 Darkseid destroys the Hellbat with physical might
• New 52 Darkseid trades blows with New 52 Anti-Monitor, who is a casual universe buster
• Physically beats up Eclipso, the Universal Threat
• Just because it’s cool, found this. Every Superman vs Darkseid confrontation.
• The battle between Superman and Darkseid shook the Tartaros star system (given that this a star system in the sphere of the gods, it’s possible the star system is massive, as planets like Apokalips and New Genesis are the size of a galaxies)
• New 52 Darkseid Is a universe buster
• New 52 Darkseid has consumed universes
• Power is considerable to the lords of chaos, who are all at least universal, and the strongest of which are multiversal
• Darkseid is called by an official profile “a being of unparalleled strength”
• Darkseid is described as the most powerful being to ever live
• Darkseid is called one of the most powerful beings in existence
• In the New 52 Darkseid and Anti-Monitor were evenly matched
• The New 52 Anti-Monitor is the same one as the one from the Crisis on Infinite Earths
• Darkseid and Anti-Monitor are referred to as the two strongest and most evil beings in the new 52 universe
• Darkseid and Anti-Monitor could destroy the New 52 reality in their struggle
• Anti-Monitor can consume universes
• The Anti-Monitor has destroyed universes many times

Speed

• Caught Slobo
• Backhanded a speed blitz from Superman
• Escaped from Wonder Woman, generally comparable to Superman
• Snuck behind Superman, Post-Crisis Superman being well above beings quadrillions of times the speed of light and seemingly close to the Speed Force barrier from scaling to Jay Garrick
• Moved faster than Pre-Crisis Superman can track, this would likely be significantly faster than Wally West’s trans-time velocity deat, at about 2.376e43 time the speed of light, as such a feat did not break the Speed Force barrier while even Post-Crisis Superman was close to the Speed Force barrier
• Reacted in a microsecond
• Even moving 1 centimeter in a microsecond is Mach 29
• Flew to the Source Wall at “unthinkable speeds”
• The Source Wall lies at the edge of the universe 
• New 52 Darkseid tagged the Flash of Earth-2
• The following have been tagged by Omega Beams:
• Superman
• Lightray
• Lashina
• Secret
• Infinity Man
• The Flash
• Angel Supergirl
• Silver Surfer (debatable canocity)
• Mon-El
• Cyborg Superman
• Miss DC

Durability

• Immune to fear-inducing sound waves
• No-sold the Megaton Punch (equivalent of a megaton bomb)
• Tanked the Master Blaster (supposedly, no life form can do this)
• Survived attacks from Mary Marvel (Mary Marvel had all of Black Adam’s powers and training from Eclipso at this time)
• Tanked hits from a pissed off Supergirl, despite being weakened
• Survived attacks from Guy Gardener
• Tanked hits from an amped Pre-Crisis Superman and Supergirl
• No-sold hits from Mantis using the power of Pre-Crisis Green Lantern
• Survived the combined force of the Legion of Super-Heroes
• Survived multiple blows and a hurl into space from an amped Pre-Crisis Supergirl
• Survived a bomb that rips apart existence
• Debatable level of canon, but he survived attacks from Galactus
• Resurrected after being killed by the Spectre
• New 52 Darkseid survives a dimension collapsing on him
• New 52 Metron survived a universe collapsing on him, and Darkseid is far stronger
• New 52 Darkseid survives the power of the Hellbat relatively well
• New 52 Darkseid easily takes the power of New 52 Anti-Monitor, a casual universe buster
• New 52 Darkseid survived the power of highly amped Alan Scott, amped up on the power of the Green, Grey, Red, Blue, and White, five multiversal elemental powers

Weaknesses

Thanos

Thanos’s biggest weaknesses is quite simply that he subconsciously wants to always fail. Even when he wants to succeed in his goal, he always gives the means for the heroes to defeat him due to him not wanting to win in the end. Thanos is also rather overconfidence and despite his immense power, he is not completely immune to being killed as shown with the likes of Drax the Destroyer (mind you Drax was created to destroy Thanos), Gamora with the Power Stone as well as Emperor God Doom. Also, some of his abilities including force shields and teleportation do get nullified if his Techo Chair gets destroyed.

Darkseid

Like Superman, Darkseid has one key major weakness that various writers have used to make Darkseid lose and that’s Radion. Radion is an unknown substance thats effects are toxic only in sustained amounts. Most New Gods can be slain by Radion Blaster or Bomb and while Darkseid is tougher than most New Gods, he is still capable of being severely weakened thanks to Radion (one bullet would be enough to kill him). Darkseid’s second biggest weaknesses is that he is one of the most overconfident beings in the DC universe. Darkseid always tend to underestimate his foes (including Superman numerous times) and while he mostly never uses his full power (which is also another significant weaknesses of his) in any fight, he is often taken by surprise when they manage to hurt him.

Summary

Thanos

“Am I not Thanos?! Did I not butcher the woman who gave me birth, who forced me into this hell called life? Is not the wake of my passing crimson with the blood of my enemies and allies alike?! Death is with me every second of the day!”

Advantages:

• Better weapons and equipment than Darkseid
• Has more versatile powers 
• Infinity Gauntlet > base Darkseid

Disadvantages:

• Base Darkseid dwarfs base Thanos 
• Far less experienced than Darkseid
• Has no counters to the Omega Sanction
• Less intelligent than Darkseid
• Subconscious desire to lose will impede Thanos 
• The Infinity Gauntlet can only work in its universe 
• True Darkseid absolutely destroys Thanos even with the Infinity Gauntlet 

Darkseid

"When I command your surrender, I speak with three billion voices. When I make a fist to crush your resistance. It is with three billion hands. When I stare into your eyes and shatter your dreams. And break your heart. It is with six billion eyes! Nothing like Darkseid has ever come among you: Nothing will again.”

Advantages:

• Base Darkseid dwarfs base Thanos 
• Darkseid is far more intelligent than Thanos 
• Thanos has no counter to Darkseid’s hax (Omega Sanction) 
• Has the perfect counter to Infinity Gauntlet (he can teleport to different universes) 
• True Darkseid absolutely destroys Thanos even with the Infinity Gauntlet 

Disadvantages:

• Equipment isn’t as good
• Less versatile powers than Darkseid 
• Base Darkseid is outclassed by the Infinity Gauntlet

Verdicts

Malcolm Belmont

(The War of the Gods has begun and only one will remain victorious)

Yesss, one of my most requested DEATH BATTLEs is finally here

It has been a very long wait but it’s time to finally talk about the big one - one of the most requested DEATH BATTLEs ever. Thanos vs Darkseid - everyone’s properly already talked to in length about this fight but i wanted to throw my own personal hat in the ring and talk about a couple of questions regarding this fight:

Will the Infinity Gauntlet just erase Darkseid out of existence: No. While the Infinity Gauntlet is very powerful and could easily kill most beings - it wouldn’t be able to erase Darkseid out of history. Darkseid’s soul aka True Darkseid is above the Multiverse and we know that the Infinity Gauntlet is not above the Multiverse since there have been instances where the Infinity Gauntlet reality erasing powers have failed to work on beings that are stronger than it. So no i don’t believe that Thanos could just erase Darkseid out of existence and would just end the fight.

Would the Infinity Gauntlet weaknesses come into play and would Darkseid be able to exploit it. Answer - very much Yes. The Infinity Gauntlet main weakness is quite simply that is cannot work in another universe - that is made very clear in the Marvel vs DC Crossover when Darkseid tried to use the Infinity Gauntlet and couldn’t and i know what you are thinking “Wouldn’t the Marvel vs DC Crossover Event be non-canon?” well it is have been explicitly stated in the comics to be canon plus there have been other instances of the Infinity Gauntlet not working in other universes as shown through the use of Secret Wars (the modern one) so the IG’s main weakness would still remain. Now would Darkseid know about the Infinity Gauntlet weaknesses and no how to exploit it - well he would know if we are factoring in the crossover into this however, DEATH BATTLE states that characters must have no prior knowledge of the other prior to the fight so DEATH BATTLE obviously won’t be taking that into account when doing this fight. Buit one thing that should be mentioned/outlined is 1. Darkseid likes to fight on his home turf - home universe aka Apokolips 2. Darkseid has the means of transporting Thanos there via his Boomtubs meaning that once Darkseid transports Thaos to Apokolips - the Infinity Gauntlet will not work.

Is Infinity Gauntlet Thanos superior to True Darkseid - While Infinity Gauntlet Thanos is definitely stronger than most if not all the different Avatars of Darkseid - that doesn’t mean he is superior to True Darkseid. Let’s compare Infinity Gauntlet Thanos’s best feats and True Darkseid’s best feats. Infinity Gauntlet Thanos is capable of being able to kill ½ of the universes population as well as merging with the physical representation of a universe - Eternity. True Darkseid on the other hand was as big as the entire multiverse and was causing the true multiverse to collapse out of his sheer presence at being there. The only reason why Superman even defeated True Darkseid was that True Darkseid was injured by Batman prior to his death and even then Infinity Gauntlet Thanos would have no ways of putting True Darkseid down - even trying to erase him from existence would not work as shown previously and none of the stones have any means of putting down True Darkseid for good - so overall no True Darkseid is vastly superior to IG Thanos.

In terms of how i can see this fight playing out - while i definitely think that Infinity Gauntlet Thanos has the means of destroying a single Avatar of Darkseid - i do not think he has the means of killing True Darkseid before True Darkseid collapses the multiverse and kills them. There are also other factors to consider - while Thanos is more versatile and has better equipment - Darkseid is more intelligent, more experience, has several ways of countering Thanos’s strengths and has fought beings far stronger than even IG Thanos and still won. IG Thanos may bring this fight to be a lot closer but in the end Darkseid still comes out on top. Looks like in this Battle - the King of Apokolips will be the one to rule.

Grand Blazer

(“Fun ain’t somethin’ that a motherfucker considers when balancin’ the universe. But this shit… is fucking tight, dawg.”)

PREVIOUSLY ON GB’S VERDICTS

God this has aged poorly.

So. Thanos VS Darkseid. Don’t think anyone is really surprised that this is the season finale. Everyone was probably expecting it to happen sometime this year, or perhaps next year with Avengers: Endgame coming out. Thank you Death Battle curse for getting us the trailer.

Anyways, let’s keep this brief because I’m writing this at like 3am and I’m tired as fuck. Unless that HOTU stuff is actually included, which I kind of doubt, Thanos ain’t taking this one. It’s sort of a weird thing for me to wrapping my head around, because how do you choose between two people who have infinite power and can do anything? Well, by having one be just a bit more infinite. No matter how great the Infinity Gauntlet is, it doesn’t have enough to it to touch that true avatar Darkseid stuff, but it can be touched right back. That’s really all I think there is to this.

RIP Josh Brolin. Suppose we’ll see if you die a second time in about five more months.

(by the way go see into the spider-verse it is very good)

ramonzer0

(Remember the first Dissidia? Remember how good the PSP was? Pepperidge Farm does.)

You ever realize that some jokes you think are funny become infinitely more shit when they’re spelled out on text rather than said in person? ...yeah, that was me trying to make a Smash-themed Christmas pun. Speaking of which:

What the absolute fuck.

It’s stupid.

I love it.

(Ultimate Alliance 3 is also a thing. That’s pretty hype too.)

Oh, right. Darkseid wins because you never bet on Marvel to out-God tier DC.

(Author’s note: If my verdict for any reason looks short and less than half-assed, then finals and Smash have gotten to me.)

Struntron

(Prepare thy ears from one of the greatest symphonies ever made)

There’s no way Base Thanos is beating Darkseid. Darkseid is an incorporeal god that was tearing the multiverse into shreds just by dying while existing in it and was becoming one with the multiverse itself. There’s no way Base Thanos can measure up to that kind of power. Heck, Darkseid’s strongest avatar is capable of taking on the likes of Pre-Crisis Superman, so that alone would be capable of beating Thanos.

The only way Thanos can stand up to Darkseid is with the Infinity Gauntlet, which would even this out. However, not only is Darkseid capable of performing most of the abilities the Infinity Gauntlet is capable of (Soul Manipulation, Matter Manipulation, Time Travel, Omnipresence, Transmutation, Mind Control, etc. Really, the only real thing I can think of that Thanos can do that Darkseid technically can’t is stop time), but Darkseid is capable of taking advantage of the Gauntlet’s one weakness; it doesn’t operate in other universes outside of the Marvel Universe. Darkseid is capable of teleporting others to other universes outside of the MCU. Heck, teleport Thanos to Apokolips and proceed to obliterate Thanos. And heck, if DB decides to use the crossover, this makes things worse for Thanos, as Darkseid would know of the Infinity Gauntlet’s weakness from the start, given he figured it out in the crossover. I don’t think Thanos is even aware of the Gauntlet’s weakness, but even if he did, that doesn’t negate the fact that Darkseid can just teleport him to another universe.

Also, I seriously doubt that Thano can just snap Darkseid out of existence given Darkseid survived a bomb that erased existence.

I’m not sure if Heart of the Universe or Soulfire will be factored, but even if it did, it probably wouldn’t make too much of a difference. They would be pretty even again, but Darkseid would hold the smaller advantages I think would matter more, like intelligence, experience, skill, abilities, etc.

But in the end, with or without the Infinity Gauntlet, when Darkseid snaps, I don’t think Thanos will feel so good.

Brobuscus

(When I’m done, half of humanity will still exist)

Oh, this’ll be fun.

I should note before we start that this verdict is kinda rushed, so I apologize in advance if it isn’t super in depth. I’m pretty sure everyone else can explain this more than I can.

So this is it. The season finale. What a wild season this was. We got a battle of animal themed superheroes, purple magic users voiced by Tara Strong, manly anime characters, the icons of the PlayStation, children of light, zombie hunters, comic book sorcerers, competitive fighters with demonic sides to them, samurai, bloody murderers, giant robots, comic book vigilantes, the icons of video games for episode 100, androids with BS hacking abilities, and perverted martial arts anime teachers. But this is a whole other level, pitting two titanic cosmic beings of comics.

Thanos and Darkseid are insanely popular villains and for good reason. Thanos is one of the biggest obstacles to the Avengers, even being the villain of the MCU’s most ambitious project ever, going so far as to wipe half the universe from existence with the snap of his fingers. And Darkseid is probably the most dangerous threat the Justice League went up against, being one of the only villains that can take down Superman and even surviving the reset of the universe during the Crisis event.

I just gave away who I think wins with those descriptions, didn’t I?

Anyway, yeah, as much as I hate to say it as someone who’s rooting for Thanos, Darkseid is just too stupidly broken for Thanos to win. But since I basically summed it up above, I’ll do something a little bit different.

See, a lot of people believe that this matchup depends on whether or not ScrewAttack will allow Thanos the use of the the Infinity Gauntlet. On paper, this makes sense, considering what that glorified metal glove can do. But I, for one, do not believe this to be the case, so since it’s pretty obvious that Thanos gets mopped without the Gauntlet, I’m gonna explain my thoughts on why he loses even with the Gauntlet. After all, with it, he can manipulate time, space, the mind, the soul, reality, and overall power.

Well, here’s the issue. Since the Gauntlet is allowed, that means Darkseid gets the Anti-Life Equation, which allows him to control anyone who hears it out loud. So all Darkseid has to do is say the equation out loud and possibly control Thanos to kill himself. You could argue that Thanos’ Mind Gem would allow him to resist that, but not only do I have yet to see the equation get resisted by anyone Darkseid’s used this on, but it’s also possible that the Gem resisting it might not work considering the Equation doesn’t exist in the Marvel universe. Granted, I don’t know if any of them have resistance to that like Superman, but I digress.

Also, the biggest flaw with the Gauntlet is that it only works in the Marvel universe. This is why the Mind Gem failing to resist the effects of the Anti-Life Equation was a thing in my earlier point. In any other universe, it’s nothing more than a metal glove with 6 rocks attached to it. Don’t believe me? Well, just ask Darkseid of all people. And since Darkseid can hop between universes with his teleportation, he’d be able to warp away and either take Thanos with him, or allow Thanos to follow him in anyway. Darkseid would transport him and Thanos to Apokolips, and then the gauntlet is essentially useless.

Also, the biggest thing about the Gauntlet is the main thing people remember from Infinity War: The ending. Thanos snaps his fingers and wipes half the universe out of existence. Now, obviously this is simply from Infinity War, and I don’t know if this is a thing in the comics, but bear with me. So the big question is, would that work on Darkseid? The answer is, yes, it would. But would it end the fight? No. It might wipe out an avatar of Darkseid, but not Darkseid himself.

And that leads us into True Darkseid. The one thing that would be included regardless of whether or not the Infinity Gauntlet or Anti-Life Equation would. True Darkseid is Multiversal just by existing. He’d be able to work around the powers of the Gauntlet and still be able to take Thanos out.

Regardless of whether or not you give Thanos the Infinity Gauntlet or not doesn’t change much of anything. Darkseid has several counters to work around it anyway, and can take Thanos out with his power alone.

Oh, and real quick, I don’t know if they’re allowing the Heart of the Universe for Thanos or Soulfire Darkseid, but if they are, Soulfire Darkseid fought the Source. Leagues higher than the HOTU. In Thanos’ favor though, HOTU might be able to take down True & ALE Darkseid, but I think Soulfire still takes it.

Basically, Soulfire Darkseid > HOTU Thanos > True Darkseid > ALE Darkseid > IG Thanos > Base Darkseid >>>>> Base Thanos

Thanos may be one of the Avengers’ toughest threats, but Darkseid’s superior power, greater speed, and perfect counters to the Infinity Gauntlet are just too much for Thanos to handle. I guess Thanos will be seeing the Darkseid of the afterlife(Man, that was awful).

The winner of this Death Battle Season Finale is Darkseid!

EpicLinkSam

(These Gods of Genocide will clash, and one won’t feel so good.)

Before I start, I want to thank the G1 Death Battle Fan Blogs for giving me this opportunity. This is my first time on the prediction blog, and hoo boy, what an episode to start on. Two Marvel and DC’s biggest antagonists will finally be duking it out in this season finale.

(This is going most likely happen at some point in the fight, whether Thanos wins or loses)

Starting things off, it's pretty obvious that Base Darkseid is much stronger than Base Thanos. He also notably has wider arsenal of abilities, while Thanos has more weapons. Even through scaling, while Thanos has fought the likes of The Hulk and Thor, Darkseid has fought the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman. Then there's the case of the Infinity Gauntlet and the Anti-Life Equation.

Unfortunately for Thanos, there's one huge problem, and that's not the Anti-Life equation. That would be Darkseid's other forms. While the Infinity Gauntlet may give Thanos a chance against True Darkseid, it needing to be activated in order for it to work will prove a problem, while True Darkseid doesn't have such a problem. He only needs to think it, while Thanos needs to physically activate it. Darkseid can basically do whatever the Infinity Gauntlet does as well. And Darkseid could always transport Thanos to Apokolips, where the Infinity Gauntlet is effectively useless. Also, on the off chance that their non canon forms are used, it doesn’t really change anything. Heart of the Universe Thanos is absurdly powerful, but Soulfire Darkseid is leagues above.

To put it simply, anything Thanos can do, Darkseid can do better and quicker, and have an effective way of countering it. I guess in the end, Thanos won't feel so good.

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SOME HOUSEKEEPING BEFORE YOU GUYS GO PLAY SMASH BROS. ALL MONTH LONG

We first wanna dedicate this blog to the Man himself, Stan Lee. It’s been a good few weeks or so since he passed away, and we felt it was a good a time as any to pay tribute to him given that we have a Marvel character here. Granted, we aren’t saying anything that hasn’t already been said about him, but given his impact on our lives, we still think it’s worth saying a few words.

In some way, shape or form, it’s hard to deny that Stan has impacted us through our childhoods and onwards thanks to his many great creations and how they helped shape Marvel Comics into the pop-culture phenomenon it is today. Whether it was through video games, movies, cartoons or the comics themselves, we felt invited into a world where truly amazing and fantastic things can happen - one that we were also encouraged to share with others as well, and his voice was one that eagerly greeted you no matter who you were.

‘Nuff said. Excelsior, Stan.

Next, with the season over and done with, we also wanna say thanks to the lovely fellas who helped out as guests from last year’s fights:

• Brobuscus
• VampyreNVRmore
• Imp
• MLDKF (Wolf)
• m3Atl0afman
• RadioactiveCaffieine
• Js250476
• NocturnBros
• BerialEdge
• Jokerke12
• Kirschmädchen
• MeyJaX
• Animator3003
• That One Munchlax
• ThankSwalot (congrats on the Pokemon World Tournament win, buddy)
• Meddadius (was also kind enough to invite Hades too)
• Tinnie
• Tsubori
• DoctorMoo
• MarioGMan25
• Psychic Savior
• The Black Shulk
• DJTiki
• PineappleGuy Carmine
• Guardianangel1911
• HeroicDefender97
• Goblin Slayer
• David_The_Gamer
• Call Me Knuckles
• Unserious Sam
• Joshski
• EpicLinkSam
• Fakefraud

And one last announcement before we go. We here at the G1DBFB have also been working on a little side project behind the scenes of our regular blog postings, and we plan on finally posting it before the next season starts up. You can expect to see our seasonal lookback show up within the next few weeks along with this too. Thank you all once again for another great season, and with that being said, here’s what coming up next from us...