In the fifth episode of DEATH BATTLE!'s ninth season, An Ass-Kicking Christmas is in season as Wiz and Boomstick examine two of the most notable Corrupted Character Copies of The Cape himself. For about a century, the Last Son of Krypton has served as a paragon of what it means to be a superhero, with his virtues and powers defining an entire genre's worth of storytelling. However, when those who emulate the power he commands and the surface-level looks along with them lack the heart to be that man for others Superman naturally is, we get these two diabolically twisted mirror images who are about as invincible as they are brutal and devious. Viltrium's greatest warrior takes on Earth's most popular superhero to see which of these corrupt capes comes closer to emulating the Man of Steel's might in a death battle. Show Advertisement: Starting off the episode with the first caricature of the Man of Steel, Nolan Grayson, also known as Omni-Man was sent to Earth on a mission by his own planet, Viltrum, to serve as one of Earth's protectors and was successful; Saving the planet many times over, becoming a member of his universe's equivalent of the Justice League, The Guardians of the Globe and even ended up marrying and having a son, Mark Grayson. Life couldn't have gotten better until Mark had ended up inheriting his father's Viltrumite powers, and subsequently found out that Nolan's reasons for being sent to Earth weren't as benign as initially thought. As it turns out, the Viltrumite Empire, rather than being a utopic society, was in fact the result of a mass culling of half of Viltrum's population, leaving the remaining half united under a darwinist ideology that would lead them to conquer every planet in their home galaxy, slaughtering anyone that fought back, with Nolan being sent to do the same to Earth. And he's proved himself more than capable thanks to his Viltrumite heritage, aptly described by Boomstick as the combination of a Kryptonian's raw power and a Saiyan's bloodlust. Thanks to his DNA, Nolan can manipulate the "Smart Atoms" in his body in order to perform superhuman feats, similar to his inspiration's Bio-Electric Aura. Viltrumites like Nolan can fly, survive being subjected to absolute zero temperatures, and possess extreme healing factors that can heal them from injuries such as impalement through vital organs and disembowelment, though it does have limits such as extreme trauma to either the brain or heart, prolonged exposure to extreme heat and thanks to their own abilities, intense sound attacks. Advertisement: But despite these weaknesses, pushing a Viltrumite to their physical limits only makes them stronger, and due to Nolan fighting for millennia before coming to Earth, one can only imagine how strong he is in the present, with other species trying to attack him splattering on impact without any effort on Nolan's part. Despite his efforts, Nolan had difficulties trying to convince Mark to join him thanks to Mark being raised as a human rather than with the Social Darwinist ideology of Viltrum, as demonstrated by how they responded to an invasion by the interdimensional Flaxans; Mark tried to outwit his foes and minimise casualties, whereas Nolan attacked the Flaxans at the source, systematically destroying the planet for even attempting to take over Earth. During this devastation, Nolan demonstrated his power by flying fast enough to ignite the air around him, creating massive explosions as a result. His other achievements under his belt include flying across galaxies in the span of a week, survive punching a hole through a planet, deflected a meteor as big as the state of Texas and to ensure a seamless assimilation of Earth into the Viltrumite Empire, brutally slaughtered his former allies of the Guardians of the Globe. Advertisement: It is this very horror that spurred Mark into fighting his father for the sake of the Earth, and while he ultimately lost the fight, Nolan ended up leaving Earth on his own accord, in order to engage in self-reflection of his deeds. Wiz: [Nolan] may have tried to turn Mark into a Viltrumite, but in reality, as Nolan fled Earth with tears in his eyes, Mark made his father... human. After a promotion for Better Help online therapy, focus shifts from Nolan to the second caricature of Superman but first focuses on the company he works under; Vought International, a multi-billion-dollar American Mega-Corp that focuses on its top product in superheroes, monopolizing the concept as much as it can with merchandise, movies and video games based on the heroes associated with the company, including its ace team, the Seven, and their leader, Homelander. At first glance, Homelander seems like an above-board man and a phenomenal hero, but that is only how he's portrayed as by Vought, in actuality, Homelander may as well be the devil himself with how vile he is. Vought's quote unquote "official" backstory of Homelander is quite similar to that of his inspiration, and entirely false as Homelander was actually cultivated in Vought's labs using their specially made superhero serum, Compound V. When he was born, Homelander slaughtered dozens of scientists, and in the comics, Vought had attached a remote-controlled hydrogen bomb to him in his early years as a means of keeping him in line. Growing up, Vought had subjected Homelander to psychological conditioning in order to maximise his loyalty and profitability as the world's greatest superhero ever. His powers are very similar to that of Superman's; Flight, superhuman strength, speed, durability and heat vision capable of slicing aircraft, to say nothing of people, in half. He also performs a sonic scream that can rupture eardrums, as he ended up demonstrating on the passengers of the ill-fated Flight 37, and subsequently left them to die to keep them from speaking of him botching the mission, and this reveals that the only thing Vought's top hero truly cares about is ironically his public image, despite not caring about the people he's tasked with protecting. Speaking of Homelander himself, he's capable of surviving anything humanity throws at him, including a Tsar Bomb, his strength lets him throw a fighter jet with one hand, and his speed allows him to outrun a C4 explosion. However, despite his sheer physical strength and prowess, he has the attitude and psychology of a spoilt child. Still, he's cunning and manipulative to everyone around him, but not cunning enough to avoid angering one Billy Butcher; this super seemingly killed Billy's wife. However, the Super did get some form of control over his and Becca's son, so let's hope he'll take better care of little super-powered Ryan... [Homelander throws Ryan off the rooftop to get him to fly, only for the boy to fall face first to the ground.] With our two contestants examined and the promotion for the second sponsor Mint Mobile done, it's time for a death battle! Christmastime is here, with its happiness and cheer surrounding even the Viltrumite's home, all decked out for the holidays. Nolan returns home, only to find an unexpected guest in blue, red, white and gold with a mug of hot coco in hand. The stranger embellishes about his status as a merchandisable cash cow who will not be best by an alien superhuman and tries to agree with Nolan's wife...who is a charred skeleton. When the guest tells the family man to leave the country, Nolan calmly promises to feed him his own heart, but the Seven's leader scoffs at the threat, causing Nolan to send his fist into his face. FIGHT! Nolan begins his beatdown on Homelander with a barrage of punches before flinging him through the nearby table, scoffing at Homelander's motive for his actions. Angered, Homelander plows the Viltrumite through several houses, the road and an oil tanker, causing a massive explosion. Omni-Man is undaunted by the All-American hero's attacks and shoots up to the sky to continue the brawl. Dodging another punch, Nolan grabs the Super's head and forces him to look at an oncoming plane headed straight for him, holding him right in its flight path. In response to this unorthodox move, Homelander fires his Eye Beams to destroy the plane and goes on the offensive. The Viltrumite, however, is unfazed by the attacks and Homelander's laser eyes prove to be ineffective on him. Nolan resumes his beatdown and makes the lab boy bleed through his nose. As the human alien drags him to the ground upside down, Homelander makes a deafening shout, causing his foe's ears to bleed and the super alien himself to flinch in pain long enough for the cash cow superhero to slam him into the ground in a massive explosion, vaporising a crowd of civilians in the blast radius. Emerging from the crater, Homelander sees a crowd gathered around him, now aware of his brutality, having witnessed it first-hand, while also being injured himself. As the lab lad panics over his tarnished reputation, fear growing into frenzied anger, Omni-Man, unscathed from the attack, emerges from the flames taunting his wife's murderer. As his meltdown intensifies, Homelander once more yells at his opponent, stunning him again, before grabbing him and attempting to fry Omni-Man's eyes with his Eye Beams. As he does this, he threatens to kill everyone in the neighborhood, everyone he knows, and even his own son. Before he can go further, Nolan reaches out and rips off Homelander's jaw, punches through his chest to grab his heart, and stuffs it into his mouth as he reminds Homelander of what he promised before the fight started. As he opens his eyes to reveal how little damage Homelander did to the Viltrumite, Omni-Man crushes his head as the onlookers watching this one-sided battle get splattered with the blood of Vought International's number one superhero, now a headless corpse in a crater. Omni-Man bitterly wishes his audience a "Merry Christmas" and solemnly flies off, leaving the carnage of his battle behind. K.O.! The Seven have lost their leader, and Vought their cash cow... but given the type of hero Homelander was, it's doubtful anybody would miss him with such a gruesome yet fitting end. Despite both emulating Superman's incredible powers to different degrees, it was Omni-Man who came close to matching their inspiration's power level. The numbers don't lie either; comparing Omni-Man causing the destruction of the moon twice over to Homelander surviving a nuke made the Viltrumite 60 billion times stronger than his blonde opponent, whereas Omni-Man moving faster than light trumps Homelander moving faster than sound with a 7.2 billion times difference in speed. Homelander may have been the strongest being to ever exist within the context of The Boys, and he had access to abilities Omni-Man lacked, but he wasn't powerful enough to capitalize on them. Viltrumite healing factors have been overpowered by excessive heat, but Homelander's lasers were never shown to be on par with that of a star's, which have overtaxed them over a notable duration of time, not to mention that Omni-Man had defeated other superheroes with similar abilities before. Homelander may have also been able to use his supersonic voice to disorient Omni-Man, but he lacked the strength needed to capitalize on those openings. What sealed the deal was not just comparing their experience as heroes, but who they were as people in the end: whereas Nolan was a millennia-old warrior who had been conquering planets left and right, John was a test tube baby who never needed to push himself beyond what he was capable of since he already was the strongest in his universe and never really had any experience fighting someone who could even defeat him head-on. Despite his devious nature, Homelander was simply a bully who bit off more than he could chew given Omni-Man's overwhelming advantages in almost every area that mattered. Boomstick: When it comes to Superman knockoffs, Homelander had to eat his heart out. Next time on Death Battle... "Omni-Man VS Homelander" contains examples of:
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