There are three main stages to a truly epic battle. The first is the anticipation -- when the warriors face off across the plain, each waiting for the other to make the first move so they can unleash the fury. Then there's the combat, when they use every iota of their strength and skill to tip fortune their way. And finally, the moment of impact, the final blow that decides the conflict once and for all. In this feature, we'll share the greatest mano-a-mano battles from pop culture history and show how they all fit that classic formula.
The Best Mano-A-Mano Battles
Two men enter, one man leaves. That is the rule of kumite. Mano-a-mano combat is the purest form of the art, where emotions run high and violence is explosive. In this feature, the best battles that ended with a jaw-dropping moment.
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By K. Thor Jensen February 1, 2012 |
Solid Snake Vs. Psycho Mantis In Metal Gear Solid |
The original Metal Gear Solid has lots of awesome one-on-one battles, and it was hard to pick just one for this feature. But if you want an epic fight with a truly pivotal moment, the battle against Psycho Mantis is it. When you face off against the psychic soldier of FOXHOUND, you quickly find out that Snake isn't making any progress. Mantis can predict every move before you move it, because he can read your mind. How to solve the problem? That's the pivotal moment: unplug the controller and plug it into Port 2. That scrambles Psycho Mantis's hold on your "mind" and lets Snake pop a cap in his ass.
Neo Vs. Agent Smiths In The Matrix Revolutions |
Agent Smith's presence in the Matrix movies was one of the redeeming factors of the trilogy -- the malevolent artificial intelligence was cool enough to counteract all of the psuedo-philosophical guff the Wachowskis packed it with. Neo had faced off against Smith several times, but could never defeat him. In their final confrontation, it looked like Neo was going to perish until he realized that the key to winning lay in defeat. Tricking Smith into assimilating his data, he sacrificed his own life to reboot the Matrix and remove Smith's influence.
Richie Vs. Sho'nuff In The Last Dragon |
Blaxploitation kung-fu classic, The Last Dragon, is one of our favorite flicks, and the climactic battle between Leroy and the malevolent Sho'Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, fits our epic mold perfectly. We get the lead-in with Leroy's brother Richie challenging Sho'nuff and getting beaten down, we get the conflict as the older warrior beats our hero to a pulp, and then we get the big moment when Leroy realizes he's got "the glow" and ascends to the Final Level of martial arts mastery with a brutal smackdown that nearly rips the Shogun's Jheri curl off of his head.
Credit: Lucasfilm
Yoda Vs. Count Dooku In Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones |
As much scorn as we heap upon the Star Wars prequels, they did have some pretty owning action sequences. The best duel in the films, in our opinion, is when Yoda squares off with Count Dooku. Up until this point, we'd only seen Yoda as a wizened old man living in a swamp, doling out bits of cryptic wisdom. But this fight shows that the Jedi master is a force to be reckoned with, as he pulls out his lightsaber for the first time ever and turns the tide with a lightning-fast battle that changes the universe.
Credit: DC Comics
Batman Vs. Superman In The Dark Knight Returns |
Obviously comic books are a great medium for truly awesome mano-a-mano battles, and one of the grittiest and most brutal ever drawn comes from Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight Returns. In the dystopian future, Superman is just a tool of the corporate power structure, and Batman needs to take him out. Using a combination of nasty tactics, including a Kryptonite-tipped arrow and a sonic blaster powered by Gotham City's entire power grid, Batman manages to take Superman down, but his greatest victory is using the fight to fake his own death and go underground. Brains over brawn, people.
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