Darth Maul vs. Thaal Sinestro
(Star Wars vs. DC Comics)
(Cue Death Battle Intro)
H20Flame: Fear. Rage. These emotions are tools that hinder your foe and can make them easier to take out, while just as easily work against yourself. This works especially in these two's case, as they use these emotions to power themselves.
TyForestWrites: Darth Maul, the former Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious.
H20Flame: And Sinestro, bane of the Green Lantern Corps. He's TyForestWrites and I'm H20Flame.
TyForestWrites: And it's our job to research their powers, abilities, and weaponry to find out who would win a Death Battle!
Maul
Background
-Name: Maul
—"Formerly Darth... now just Maul."
-Former apprentice of Darth Sidious/Sheev Palpatine
-Home planet: Dathomir
-Species: Zabrak (Dathomirian)
-No, those markings are not tattoos, it's his actual skin
TyForestWrites: The distant planet of Dathomir is a... strange place to say the least. On one side, physically powerful males, and on the other, more powerful witches, led by a woman named Mother Talzin. Then one day, a Sith Lord took notice of them, and stole one as an apprentice. Mother Talzin's own son, no less.
H20Flame: This particular male was Force-sensitive, shining with potential. The Sith, Darth Sidious, proceeded to train him in the ways of the dark side of the Force. This was the beginning of the being who nearly came close to sending the galaxy to its knees. He was known as Darth Maul.
Maul: (reveals himself as "Duel of the Fates" begins)
TyForestWrites: Oh man, I'm so excited! Darth Maul is one of the best Star Wars villains ever, and he first did so not saying a single word! Too bad he was pretty swiftly cut in half by then Jedi apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now normally, getting sliced in two and consequently falling into a near-bottomless pit would result in a pretty brutal death... but not Maul. How? Well, as his master wisely put it...
Palpatine: The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural...
Abilities
-Superhuman strength
-Proficient at hand to hand combat
-Strategist
-High pain tolerance
-Master swordsman
—Jar'Kai
H20Flame: We'll get to how exactly that works later. As for now, let's go over what Maul can do. Due to his Dathomir male physiology, he's definitely pretty physically strong, able to overpower the likes of his brother, Savage Opress, a guy who had the entire Jedi Council nervous about him. He's also pretty good in CQC, as well as being a master strategist on top of it.
TyForestWrites: Not to mention his stupidly high pain tolerance, though that should be obvious considering what we mentioned earlier. But now let's get into what everyone is probably really here for: his swordplay. He's a master of what is called in the Star Wars universe Jar'Kai, or the use of two blades, whether it be dual wielding or his iconic double-bladed saber. What kind of lightsabers does he use? Well, I'm so glad you asked!
Arsenal
-Dual-bladed lightsaber
-Mandalorian darksaber
-The Force
H20Flame: While Maul has carried a wide variety of different lightsabers over the years, for this matchup, we'll be focusing on two of them. The first is his iconic dual-bladed red lightsaber, which can be used with one or both blades. It was this lightsaber that he mastered using, and the one that killed Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.
TyForestWrites: Then there's his other lightsaber, or rather something else entirely unique: the Madalorian darksaber. The blade itself has its own backstory that we don't really have the time or patience to unpack, so we'll just go with the basics. Maul got it when he took over Mandalore by beating its leader and former carrier of the darksaber. Nothing's really too special about it other than looking really freaking cool. It's a black colored lightsaber!!
H20Flame: Well, while Ty's geeking out, let's have a complicated look at the Force.
The Force
-Levitate objects and people
-Choke
-Can somewhat predict others' moves
-Dark side
H20Flame: The Force is just as it was explained in the first movie; it's an energy field that binds together all living things. It's like a force of nature, no pun intended, and it's where a Jedi, or Sith, gets their power. The Force allows a wide variety of control over the things around them, like being able to lift large objects, as well as people, and some Force-users can grip the Force around their opponent's throat, choking them.
TyForestWrites: If that wasn't enough, Force-users also seem to have a slight foresight ability, meaning they can actually predict an opponent's moves before they even make them. And in case you don't believe me, Qui-Gon said it himself in The Phantom Menace.
Qui-Gon: (about child Anakin) He can see things before they happen.
TyForestWrites: So there ya go. And if you still need further proof, look at every lightsaber duel ever and compare them to an actual sword fight. They're considerably longer because of precognition.
H20Flame: The dark side of the Force in particular powers a Sith by the negative emotions, like fear and anger, they release, and Darth Maul is no different. It's the whole reason he survived that fall, as in the Force literally held him together through nothing but his sheer rage. It's freaking powerful.
Feats
-Survived Sith training
-Killed Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn
-Survived a very, very long fall after being cut in half
—Simply because he hated Obi-Wan that much
-Can easily overpower Savage Opress
-Overpowered General Grievous on multiple occasions
-Considered a fight with himself vs. Mace Windu and Aayla Secura "fair"
-Took over Mandalore
-Held his own against Palpatine
TyForestWrites: Not to mention this was only after he took on two Jedi at once, killed the better of the two, and toyed with the other until that guy got a lucky shot. Afterwards, Maul found himself on a garbage planetoid, his sanity lost to him due to his rage, and only regained it through the intervention of his brother Savage and Mother Talzin. And then he decided to take his anger out on the whole galaxy.
H20Flame: After promptly beating the crap out of Obi-Wan (and failing to actually finish the job), he decided to take over Mandalore and succeeded, killing Pre Visla to take the throne, and thus getting the darksaber. And though Palpatine/Sidious still beat him, Maul held his own pretty well against him. He's overpowered General Grevious, a guy who's known for killing Jedi and collecting their lightsabers as a hobby, multiple times even.
TyForestWrites: He also boasted that a fight between him and a tag team of Mace Windu and Aayla Secura would've been a "fair fight". Keep in mind, Windu is the guy who would soon overpower Sidious and even soloed a droid battalion with nothing but the Force and his bare hands, and that's not even taking Aayla into account, who could do stuff similar to Maul himself. If his boasts are accurate, he's one of the most powerful Force users in history!
Weaknesses
-Still doesn't hold a candle to Darth Sidious' power
-Lost to Obi-Wan on more than one occasion
-While rage makes him stronger, it doesn't make him smarter
—Ultimately resulted in his first defeat and eventually his death
H20Flame: The key word in that sentence was "boasts". While Maul may talk big, his weaknesses bring up glaring flaws. For example, while he may have held his own against good old Sheev, he was still utterly beaten by him. Not to mention that he's lost to Obi-Wan on more than one occasion after getting bisected.
(Note: Yes, Darth Sidious' full name is Sheev Palpatine. Feel free to laugh, it's hilarious.)
TyForestWrites: His greatest weapon, however, is also his biggest flaw: his anger. Remember how Force users can sense stuff their opponents do before they happen? Well, while Maul is capable of it, if his rage gets the best of him, it can cloud his judgement. This is proven on two occasions: when Obi cut him in two, and when Kenobi killed him in just three moves. Poor guy... In the end, he was still just another victim of Palpatine's schemes.
H20Flame: But nevertheless, Maul is not someone you want to mess with. He's got a lot of bark and the bite to back it up.
Maul: You may have forgotten me... but I will never forget you! You cannot imagine the depths I would go to to stay alive... fueled by my singular hatred... for you.
Obi-Wan: That may be so, but I've defeated you before, and can defeat you again.
Maul: (chuckles) Don't. Be. So. Certain...
Sinestro
Background
-Name: Thaal Sinestro
-Former member of the Green Lantern Corps
—Now leader of the Sinestro Corps
-Home planet: Korugar
-Species: Korugarian
-Was the villain in an episode of Duck Dodgers"... weird
H20Flame: On the distant planet of Korugar in space sector 1417, a boy was born who would dedicate himself to preserve order. Then one day, when he was a grown man, a powerful being known as a Green Lantern, named Prohl Gosgotha, who was severely injured. The man was told by Prohl to take his ring, the source of his power, to defend the planet from the foe who injured him.
TyForestWrites: The man accepted, but once the enemy was dealt with, Prohl asked for his ring back to heal his wounds. However, the man became obsessed with the power the ring gave, so he instead let Prohl die, taking his place in the Green Lantern Corps. The man's name was Thaal Sinestro.
H20Flame: What the heck is up with the name "Sinestro"? That's like asking for the character to become a villain.
Lantern Ring
-The yellow ring of fear
-Powered by the fear of others
-Can project energy constructs
—What can be created is limited only by the imagination
-Buffs a wielder's speed and strength
TyForestWrites: Well, he certainly lived up to it. After a long time of tricking the Corps and ruling his home planet with an iron fist, he was finally caught by Hal Jordan and his Lantern ring was confiscated. He was exiled as punishment to the antimatter universe, where he eventually found a way to get his revenge. With the help of beings called the Weaponers, he gained ownership of the Yellow Lantern Ring.
H20Flame: With the Lantern Ring, Sinestro can really create anything and is limited only by his imagination. He does run on a limit though, fueled by the fear of others. The ring also gives him superhuman strength, speed, and the ability to fly.
Feats
-Can make practically anything with his ring
-Has fought against multiple Green Lanterns, Superman, Superwoman, Deathstorm, and Alexander Luthor
-Helped Black Adam move the moon out of orbit
TyForestWrites: It's abilities like these that have let Sinestro compete with some of DC's heaviest hitters, like Hal Jordan and other Green Lanterns. And if he can keep up with them, that means he can travel at light speed like they can!
H20Flame: Most impressively, he once helped Black Adam push Earth's moon out of orbit! Though while this is impressive, Sinestro was hosting Parallax, who is basically Yellow Lantern God, so he can't receive all the credit.
Weaknesses
-Massive superiority complex
-Ring has limited energy
-The ring can be taken off fairly easily
—Without his ring, he's only mortal
-Ring can't work properly if an opponent feels no fear
TyForestWrites: Yeah, Sinestro may be incredibly powerful, but his drawbacks are quite harsh. For one thing, his arrogance is easily his biggest flaw. His superiority complex is the size of Jupiter. Then there are the flaws which come with being a Lantern Ring user.
H20Flame: Lantern Rings give people extraordinary power, yes, but without the rings, most Lanterns are just regular people with no special powers, and Sinestro is no different. Not to mention that taking off a ring is kinda easy to do. And all that's not even counting the fact that the rings need to be recharged fairly regularly.
TyForestWrites: Nevertheless, Sinestro is the Green Lantern Corps' bane for a reason. He's got the power to back up his claims, and that's a scary, scary thought.
Sinestro: You will know the meaning of fear.
TyForestWrites: Alright, the combatants are set, let's end this debate once and for all!
H20Flame: It's time for a Death Battle!!
War.
If there was one thing Mandalore seemed to never get enough of, it was war. Though it was quiet during the peaceful reign of Satine, there were always those who respected their warrior heritage. Enter Darth Maul, who supported these warriors and helped them overthrow their peaceful ruler, before ultimately claiming Mandalore's throne for himself.
And now, there were the ones clad in yellow. In his throne room, Maul paced next to the window, watching as his soldiers fought against these strange yellow beings constructing things from light. His predating was cut short by a loud bang at the door. He turned just in time to see the doors fling open violently, and one of the yellow beings floated in.
This one, however, carried himself with an air of confidence and arrogance contrasting the brutality of his companions. He smirked at the Sith Lord before coming to a landing on the floor.
"I hear you're the one in charge?" he asked, "I hope you will be wise enough to surrender before I, Sinestro, reduce your planet to ruins."
Maul couldn't help but chuckle, "Aren't you a bold one... I'm afraid it's going to take more than words to intimidate me. After all..."
The Sith looked wistfully back out the window, "I feel... the end is upon us..."
"Then you know," Sinestro replied, "That you stand no chance against my Lantern Corps."
Maul smiled menacingly, "Oh no, no, no... A being far more powerful than either of us has a plan. And unfortunately..."
Maul's double-bladed lightsaber flew into his hand via the Force, "You are not a part of it."
Sinestro frowned, but smirked again as he began to float up, his ring glowing, "In blackest day, in brightest night, beware your fears made into light, let those who try to stop what's right..."
Maul activated his lightsaber, one end popping out before the other end shortly followed.
"Burn like my power, SINESTRO'S MIGHT!!!"
Fight!
Sinestro raised his hand, a giant yellow fist projecting from the ring and sent it towards Maul. The Sith merely frowned, twirling his lightsaber just in time to cut the projection into pieces. He then leaped at the Yellow Lantern, who in turn fired potshots of yellow energy, all of which were deflected. As Maul got closer, Sinestro flew out of the way, projecting another giant hand, this time being successful in catching the Sith.
Maul struggles for a bit before exerting the Force around him, dissipating the hand before landing on the ground. He looked up just in time to see a yellow fighter jet heading straight towards him. Maul growled, but still jumped up and on top of the plane, running up it until he jumped at Sinestro again.
Sinestro frowned and put up a wall in between them, the Sith crashing into it, but Maul still held on, climbing on top of the wall to leap off of it. The Yellow Lantern growled as Maul soared above him and made a slash at Sinestro. The ring user managed to dodge, the lightsaber merely grazing him across the chest. But as Maul fell, Sinestro stretched out his hand, his ring creating an extension to grab Maul by his sword arm.
"I'll take this off your hand!" Sinestro quipped, yanking the lightsaber free from Maul's grasp and sent it flying out the window.
Maul tumbled to the ground, laying on his back. But just as he tried to get up, Sinestro raised his fist one last time, constructing a steamroller in midair. He then hurled it at Maul, who raised his hands to try and stop it with the Force.
"I'M GOING TO ROLL RIGHT OVER YOU!!!"
The steamroller stopped just inches from Maul, the Sith barely keeping it from crushing him with the Force. Unfortunately for him, Sinestro was already forming a giant fist and slammed it onto the top of the steamroller, crushing Maul, cratering the ground, and forming a cloud of dust.
Sinestro grinned and began to move away... only to suddenly falter unwillingly. He grunted as he tried to move, but just couldn't find the strength to. He looked over to the crater he had created to see a hand stretched out from the edge. Then slowly, Maul stepped out, his clothes nearly torn to shreds and his body bleeding from a few places, but the Sith was relatively fine. In his free hand cling the darksaber.
And he was pissed.
Sinestro tried to clench his fist to activate his ring, but his hand did the opposite, his fingers spreading out. And then, to the Corps leader's horror, the ring flew off his finger and towards Maul, the darksaber coming up and cutting the ring in two. Sinestro's uniform faded and he was into his plain attire, fear gripping him as he was lowered to the ground and on his knees. And with a loud cry of anger, Maul hurled the darksaber at his helpless opponent.
Sinestro didn't even have time to scream before the saber stabbed straight through his head. Maul finally let the Force go around the dead Korugarian, the body crumpling to the floor. And Maul screamed loudly in rage, echoing all across Mandalore.
K.O.!
(Cue "Duel of the Fates" by John Williams)
Maul
-The Force
-Physical strength
-Skill
Sinestro
-Versatility
-Strength (with the ring)
-Speed
H20Flame: The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural...
TyForestWrites: This is certainly a very tricky battle to explain. Due to his Lantern Ring, Sinestro had more versatility since the variety of the constructs he can create are only limited by his imagination, not to mention the power behind the attacks. But anything that could've been helpful, like restraints and such, could be easily countered by using the Force to break them. Anything else can be avoided by either cutting it to pieces or avoiding them.
H20Flame: Maul also had a slight strength and skill edge, due to his Dathomir physiology, his ability to overpower his brother, and his near unrivaled swordplay. But then came the thing that almost ruined it for Maul: Sinestro's speed. Thanks to his battles with Hal Jordan and other Green Lanterns, Sinestro completely outmatched Maul with his possible lightspeed movement capabilities. His speed easily made this battle a near fifty-fifty shot for both characters.
TyForestWrites: But remember when talked about the Force being able to predict an opponent's movements, thus why lightsaber fights last as long as they do? Yeah, that would be extremely helpful here. So that could at least keep Maul in the fight much longer than anyone else probably could in his position. Especially when he can fight on par with Kenobi, who has the reaction speed of approximately one nanosecond.
(Note: Light can only move just less than one foot (or 0.3 meters) in one nanosecond)
H20Flame: The only problem remaining is Maul's rage. It's how he died to begin with; rage clouded his mind from predicting what Obi-Wan was gonna do. But since that was Obi-Wan, the guy Maul hates more than anything, Maul definitely could've kept a better control over the power his rage gave in this fight. And since anger would be the only thing fueling Maul, Sinestro had nothing to feed his ring.
TyForestWrites: That's what ultimately decided the battle for us. Without a reliable way to feed fear into the Lantern Ring, Sinestro would eventually just run out of power before Maul could exhaust himself. And that's not even taking into account if Maul didn't just pull the ring off with the Force, leaving Sinestro with no power and completely helpless against someone like Maul.
H20Flame: And considering Maul's not, you know, an idiot, he could deduce where Sinestro was hurling all his constructs from and at least attempt to take the ring off. And even if he couldn't, he'd now knows where to aim. And considering the power he draws from, aka the Force, is quite literally a force of nature, no pun intended, Maul didn't exactly have a limit to how much he could use it. It was extremely difficult to call, but it was only a matter of time.
TyForestWrites: It looks like Sinestro was Forced to take a knee!
H20Flame: The winner is Darth Maul.
TyForestWrites: Next time on Death Battle!
Unknown: Oh, this is-this is nice. This is the end, okay... where exactly am I? Um... Oh, here's the song, oh good, um... there's some things that are still unresolved here, guys! How do I get home? Eh, what do I eat? Was Rei my... my mom, or... a clone, or... hell, was this all in my mind? Wh-What's an EVA? Is that sort of a Freudian thing, or... um... Am I real? Oh hell, does the bus run through here? I mean, I'd like to go home now, but, um... oh God, where's home?! Okay, okay, okay... I mustn't run away... I mustn't run-Okay, I got that, good, okay. Now, if I were to run away, let's analyze that... where the fuck would I go?! I'm on a big blue ball!! Uh... is this how you end a series?! I mean, is this where we go from here? Okay, the movie better sure as hell make up for this. 'Cause I'm stuck in nowhere land. You ran out of ink too, didn't ya, ya bastards...
VS.
Unknown: There are things you can't fight, acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can win.
Evangelion Unit-01 vs. Gipsy Danger
(Evangelion vs. Pacific Rim)
Bonus
Darth Maul breathed heavily over the corpse of his opponent, his anger slowly dissipating. This man was clearly a very powerful opponent, but nothing compared to Maul's former master. But the power he wielded was certainly nothing to scoff at, even if it did have a limit. Creating whatever the wearer wants from a simple ring?
Maul was now angry at himself for having his rage cloud his mind and having him destroy Sinestro's ring rather than put it on himself. His army was being pushed back by the Yellow Lanterns, and it would be over before Maul could even witness his former master's plans put into fruition.
Suddenly, a red portal forced itself into existence behind him. Two figures stepped out of it, one big and one small, both in red attire. The small one was a cat, which hissed as blood seemed to ooze out of its mouth, while the other one towered over even Maul himself. The red attire was not too dissimilar to the Sinestro Corps', but different enough for Maul to recognize that they were from another faction entirely. Then the larger one spoke.
"Maul of Dathomir! You have great rage in your heart! You belong to the Red Lanterns!"
The big one, named Atrocitus, held out his hand, and in it formed a red ring, like the yellow one Sinestro and his army used. Maul's eyes widened, but he grinned. This was the perfect opportunity to grab more power, and maybe, just maybe, be able to exact his revenge. The ring flew onto his finger, and great pain filled Maul's body. He screamed in pain, but he endured. He'd handled much worse than this.
Then he didn't know how the words came into his head, but he recited them nonetheless.
"With blood and rage of crimson red...
Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead...
Together with our hellish hate
We'll burn you all
THAT IS YOUR FATE!!!"
Maul let out one last rage filled scream as red light shone all around him, soon enveloping the entire area. When the light faded, Maul's appearance had changed. The red on his skin shone more predominantly, and right in the middle of his chest shined the symbol of the Red Langern Corps. The Force-user breathed heavily, rage becoming the only emotion in his head, and boiling hot blood leaked out of his mouth. And at long last, he let out a roar that would shake this galaxy to its knees.
"KENOBI!!!!!"
H20Flame: ...That can't be good...