Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Aku VS The Lich (Samurai Jack VS Adventure Time)

 

Aku, the embodiment of evil from Samurai Jack. 

The Lich, The inevitable death from Adventure Time.

Evil comes in many different forms. Sometimes, from outside our view, a force that exists within the universe. Our two combatants embody that very evil, two individuals who will stop at nothing to destroy us all. Will Aku send Lich to his demise? Or will The Lich end all life? Come along to Saul’s VS Blog, where we find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!!!

Credit

All of the research for this blog, on Samurai Jack, was done by ourselves. However, we do include some Regular Show feats from the Squidward vs Benson Blog by Death Battle Espanol. (This will make sense later). We received permission from Mortadela, the creator of this blog, to use their calcs and feats where relevant. Big thank you to them, as I do not want to watch all of Regular Show for one argument. 


So, since this blog took us a lot longer than expected to get out, whoops! In that time, the G1 blog released their own Charlie Morningstar VS Marceline (Hazbin Hotel VS Adventure Time) came out. We’ll be mentioning some calcs in the blog from them, so full credit! Go and read the G1, although if you’re reading this, you probably know them haha. 


We had to bring up some other characters in this (for obvious reasons) and compiling all of their feats would have taken us longer than it already has, so, i’ve used some respect threads to compile feats in the scaling section, all respect threads will be mentioned and linked here.


Respect Scarab (Adventure Time)

Before We Go Anywhere…

This matchup has some aspects around what you can use for canon. Samurai Jack is really easy, and actually has an interview from the creator of the series. Genndy Tartakovsky doesn’t consider the Samurai Jack comic canon, he doesn’t like the way that they wrote Jack, and sees them as two separate entities. We’re only going to be looking into what’s officially directly canon, like the main show, and the tie-in game which is directly stated to be canon by Genndy Tartakovsky in an interview. Some comic arguments for Aku will be tackled as to cover our bases. (Also this is the only time i’m going to be really able to talk about tons of these arguments) 


Adventure Time has some complicated history around what is and isn’t canon. Luckily for us, The Adventure Time Addendum website categorises every piece of Adventure Time media and categorise them into what is likely canon or not. Using this list, we were able to make a list of what’s considered canon, this list includes.

  • Adventure Time Main Show + All Minisodes

  • Fionna and Cake 

  • Distant Lands 

  • Fionna and Cake Comics (2013)

  • Banana Guard Academy Comics

  • Ice King Comics 

  • Islands- Graphic Novel

  • The Enchiridion 

  • Marcy’s Super Secret Scrapbook 

  • 2015 Spoooktacular 

  • Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! (Video Game)

  • Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!!

This list should cover everything in the AT canon that we’re using for this blog. The only time we WILL be using extended media is where the main canon, and all other supplements, offer no explanations. This will become very, very, important later.  

Background

Aku

"Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish Samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law! Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku!"

What if evil came from space? I know that sounds crazy, but what if evil crashed onto the Earth, and took the form of a horrid individual? When a black mass crashed into the Earth thousands of years ago, and a forest started to form, something had to be done. The Emperor, a man with a strong will, went to find out what this forest was. Taking a flaming bow and arrow, he shot it into the air, hitting the black mass. The mass absorbed the fire, melding and moulding it into its body, creating true evil. Aku, the shapeshifting master of darkness, was born. His first act was to make The Emperor watch as Aku burnt his town to the ground.


Three gods came down the skies and saw that the Emperor was pure of heart. They melded a sword, one with the good of humanity, meant to kill Aku. The Emperor moved back towards the city, entering a duel with Aku. The two would battle for an entire day, ending off in a standoff between the Emperor and an army of Aku. The Emperor won, securing the future, but you can’t keep a good evil being down. 


Aku would reform after a couple of decades. The Heroic Emperor from before had a wife, and a young son, being way too old to stop Aku. He went back and burnt down the city, taking The Emperor and kidnapping him, leaving his life in ruin. The Emperor, in his last wish, would send his wife and young son away

The Lich

“Fall. You are alone, Child. There is only darkness for you, and only death for your people. These ancients are just the beginning. I will command a great and terrible army and we will sail to a billion worlds. We will sail until every light has been extinguished. You are strong, Child, but I am beyond strength. I am the end, and I have come for you, Finn.”

Everything must die, everything must come to an end, it is inevitable. We know that our lifespan as people will end someday. What if something existed to make sure that everyone would die right now, and wouldn’t stop until it was the last thing on Earth? Well, then you might end up with The Lich.


The Lich is the embodiment of evil, starting as a creature who existed before time itself, crammed within the universe alongside millions of other monsters. As the world developed and changed, the essence of The Lich was put into a catalyst comet, killing everything on earth at the time of his collision (Like the dinosaurs) its essence would burrow itself deep into the world, only to be awoken by the Mushroom War, a war that destroyed the entire world. Now alive, The Lich was free to do whatever evil it wanted. During sometime between the mushroom war and the development of the land of OOO, The Lich would attempt to fight the hero known as Billy, getting beat by him. Billy would seal The Lich within the amber of the Candy Kingdom, leaving him dormant for thousands of years, just waiting. 


When Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, and Princess Bubblegum would all go up to the top of the tree to check on the Lich, he would be set free. He managed to control the mind of a snail that crawled into Finn’s backpack and used it to break him free from the amber, setting him on a quest to bring death and destruction to everything in his wake. Finn and Jake would take chase to the primordial being, using the power of “liking someone a lot” to end The Lich once and for all… but if only it were that easy.


After his supposed defeat, The Lich would continue to possess a number of different beings, including Finn’s idol Billy, to orchestrate a plan to gain access to the Time Room, where he would wish for all life to be exterminated. After some weird experiences including a separate universe being created, time manipulation, and Lich wishing for Finn and Jake to go back home to OOO, The Lich was left within the very Time Room he wished to be left in. 


Finn and Jake would return to the Time Room, wanting to find out where Finns real biological father was, which Prismo (The wishmaster of the Time Room) Agreed would be ok to do. They’d just need to wake up the man who was dreaming of Prismo, and go to prison. When they brought the old man back into Prismos Time Room, The Lich got up, and killed the old man with his breath, going to the ultimate prison. Finn and Jake were tricked. Unluckily for The Lich, the guardians of this prison leaked blood with regenerative and healing properties, causing flesh and blood to mould over The Lich when he was covered by it. The Lich was dead, and Sweet P was born. 


Remember those ‘weird experiences’ I mentioned a minute ago? It got weirder. To quickly explain, Finn the human wished for a universe where the Lich was never a thing. A new universe was created, one without magic, which that version of Finn managed to mess up by destroying the bomb which contained the Lich’s essence. That version of The Lich, teaming up with this Farmworld version of Finn, was going to open a pathway to the multiverse. Prismo called the prime versions of Finn and Jake to take down this version of The Lich using an item called the maid.


They were successful in eliminating this version of The Lich. There was a slight issue, as The Lich managed to open a pathway to the multiverse, his hand falling in and being sent around the multiverse. Turns out you just need your hand to keep on existing. A hand fell into the prime timeline, and tried to manipulate Sweet P into becoming that version of The Lich again, a father and son type deal. Sweet P almost went through with it, but ended up betraying that version of The Lich and killing him. 


Hundreds of years later, Finn would meet his natural death due to old age, and end up in The Dead World. The Lich’s hand, when it died, ended up within The Dead World. He attempted to use the son of Life and Death as a new vessel, wanting to have the power of the gods. This time he was killed by Mr. Fox, who used an item from Life to kill her son. 


The last instance we see of The Lich is within an alternative world. The Lich, from all the way back in that timeroom, wished for the death of all life in OOO. Prismo put him into another universe where he could do what he wanted. But what is a life once you have your purpose? Everything The Lich had done was because he was a scholar of GOLB, a god of chaos, who he begged for an explanation. The Lich was simply lifted up and turned into a cube, disregarded like a piece of trash. 

Experience and Skill

Aku

Aku has been on a crusade of evil since he was created from The Great Evil, he managed to conquer the world in the centuries that Samurai Jack was banished into the future. He’s not only the leader of the world, his reign expands to the galaxies, explained to us through the dogs Jack meet in the bar 


While Aku usually relies on his minions to do his dirty work, he’s not afraid to fight against individuals. He’s had multiple encounters with Samurai Jack, an individual with multiple mastery of different fighting styles, although it should be noted that Aku usually needs his powers to do well against Jack. 


Everybody, for some reason, trusts Aku. Multiple people have fallen for his tricks, including Jack himself, who believed he was a girl named Icra. His deception has a pretty strong W streak even though all of his transformations share his colour scheme. 

The Lich

The Lich has experience that, unsurprisingly, dates back to before time. Being a primordial evil, The Lich existed before time and in the large sea of monsters that existed. He’s fought multiple people throughout his many attempts to end all life. Billy, a legendary hero who fought in multiple battles, and Finn the Human, who sought to be just as mathematical as Billy.


He’s crafty and manipulative, using the dead body of Billy to trick Finn and Jake into getting him the Enchiridion. The Lich also manipulated New Death, the son of Life and Death, into killing his own father. He also tricked another version of Finn, one who wore the crown of The Ice King, into helping him open a portal to the multiverse. 

Equipment

Aku

Sword

A sword that Aku had while being Ikra, which he (assumingly) created while in that form.

Pendant

Aku creates these necklaces to place around individuals who he wants to mind control. We see these on many foes, like the Scotsman. Breaking one of these Pendants sends you through time/ to the next level of the game. Aku eventually had to stop making these as Jack was using them to reach Ashi, who was attempting to pull him away from the pocket dimension Aku pulled him into, as revealed by Scaramouche. 

The Lich

None Notable

Powers and Abilities

Aku

Shapeshifting

Perhaps Aku’s most well known ability, his form isn’t bound by size. He can grow as large as the high buildings that Jack lived in, to even the size of mountains in certain depictions. It’s not just his size he can manipulate though, he can make various weapons out of himself alone (as seen above). The black liquid that Aku is made out of is actually acidic, and he can control different parts of it to capture people and hold them.


Aku has taken many forms over the years, which will be listed below. 


Gorilla

The first transformation Aku creates, he turns into a Gorilla that attempts to knock down Jack with his big fists. 

Scorpion

A scorpion that tries to claw at Jack, Aku can use this creature to scuttle around quickly. While Aku lacks a poisonous stinger, he makes up for with his skill. Aku uses his tail like a third limb, able to battle Jack in a sword fight with it. Of course, you know, he could just stab you with it, but that’s boring. 

Octopus

Not your typical land dwelling creature, Aku can become an octopus to wrap up and grab Jack. This can also be used for mobility, wrapping itself around the terrain, and flinging itself around. 

Goat

Being a goat himself, it’s no surprise that Aku has access to something similar. Aku can ram into nearby objects (or individuals) to cause damage. 

Bird

“I’ll be back, Samurai Jack!” Is something that Aku will shout when he’s running away, which the bird form helps with. Aku can fly away, or grab things with his talons. 


Ikra 

Ikra is a form that Aku takes while deceiving Jack. She looks nothing like Aku, even having a different voice. While she’s a skilled sword fighter, Ikra also possesses many of the same powers that Aku has, like being able to shapeshift and manipulate her size. The question is though, why doesn’t Aku stay like this? 

Snake

A trick stolen from Jafar, Aku can transform into a snake. We see him bite through some of his lair before being cut down by Jack. 

Stingray

This form is great for underwater travel, being able to flap its ‘wings’ to get around the water if needed. Aku is also able to release a loud sonic blast in this form, knocking some of the underwater buildings. 

Ball

Does Ball Monokuma finally have a matchup?


He also becomes a way larger ball later on, crushing a large army with it.

Squid

Like his octopus form, but underwater.

Spiked Tubeworm

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what a Spiked Tubeworm is, but the Samurai Jack wiki identifies this thing as it. 

Mouse

I’ll be back Samurai Jack. 

Dragon

With the ability to fly around and breathe fire, Dragon Aku makes for one pretty annoying foe to fight.

Praying Mantis

One of Akus most unique forms, the Praying Mantis can stab and dig into the ground. 

Hermit

Shapeshifting his body into a small hermit who lives in a tree, Aku tricks Jack into helping him revive Chronos. Only issue? Jack knew the entire time. This form isn’t made for combat, only for deception. 

Fish

If Aku is ever in danger and is around a body of water, he can turn his body into multiple schools of fish to swim away from any danger. These fish all seem to share a hive mind, swimming to one of Chrono’s gauntlets when one Aku fish notices it.

Frog

A tiny frog that Aku uses to hop away from Jack after being cut down by him.

Wyvern

This large beast is made for flying and biting, it doesn’t do much else. 

Crab

A powerful creature that towers over many buildings, it has multiple sharp ends made for stabbing. 

Sad Bird

The form Aku takes when he’s sick and ill. It isn’t like his regular bird form, just his sad face on two ‘wings’ 

Human

In Jack vs Aku, Aku takes the form of a regular human under the rules placed on their final conflict. Although it’s meant to have no superhuman strength or powers, Aku actively lies and gaslights Jack. 

Bat

Why is Aku bat, is he stupid?

Black Mass

Aku has shown time and time again to be able to become a mass of goop to perform various tasks. One of these is shown above, where he expands himself to fire multiple spikes down at the ground. He’s also used this to travel across the ground quickly and catch up with Jack.

Immortality

Aku’s physiology prevents him from taking damage by conventional means, shown in the first episode when he absorbs arrows coming towards him, before redirecting them at his foes. Aku, pretty consistently, can only be truly put down by the sword that Jack has. 

Regeneration 

Taking tons of stabs has some horrid side effects. Luckily for Aku, he can regenerate his body and pull it back together. We’ve seen him decapitated by Jack before regenerating, being cut in half by Jack, and regenerating from being cut down multiple times by Jack.


Fire Manipulation

Bowser Neutral B be like-

Aku can project streams of fire from his mouth, but can also use it with his hands if he so wishes.

Eye Beams

A fairly simple yet useful ability, Aku can shoot lasers from his eyes. These don’t just completely incinerate his targets, however, as it was shown to be capable of teleporting them to wherever he wants, seen when he transported a Vadaquian into the pit of hate.


Since you need multiple powers in your eyes, Aku can trap people in an ‘unbreakable crystal prison’. This lasted for decades, the subject learning how to manipulate the ground to get out, forming a giant rock formation around the crystal that he was in. Jack manages to free this individual later, only for time to catch up to him, since the crystal preserved his age. 

Time Manipulation 

Should be obvious based on the fact that this is what the plot is about, Aku can manipulate 

time in a bunch of different ways. The main one is shown in the first episode, Aku firing these bright white circles that appear around a target, before sending them through time. 

Absorption

After having some arrows fired at him, Aku absorbs and fires them back at the troops who shot them at him. 

Teleportation 

There seems to be no limit to where Aku can teleport to. He can do this in multiple ways, like circling himself up into a circle to disappear, having dark smoke appear around him, or just straight appear somewhere, as seen above. 


It’s also not just limited to himself, as he’s shown being able to teleport large piles of gold for some bounty hunters 

Telekinesis

For any tasks faraway, Aku can use his telekinesis to help him. He’s changed the direction of a stick, caused a pillar to fall, and can control his own essence just by pointing. 

Clairvoyance 

Aku can see Jack from his lair, able to see what the Samurai warrior is doing while he’s sitting back and plotting. This isn’t just limited to our planet though, as he’s able to do this from other planets as well. 

Weather Manipulation

On his creation, the first thing that Aku does is create clouds to hide the sun away. Another example of this is Aku saying the skies will darken, so that’s exactly what happens.

Enhanced Senses

Just like seemingly anyone, Akus senses are enhanced. He’s able to sense Jack looking at him in his lair (princess episode),smell the blood of Jack, and smell himself within Ashi. 

Earth Manipulation

Aku is a earth bender confirmed, causing a large pillar of dirt to appear in front of Jack

Resurrection 

Using an old book and some freaky words, Aku revives the god Chronos. When revived, Chronos is under the control of Aku. He’s also seen unleashing an undead army against Jack in Jack VS The Zombies.

Sound Manipulation 

As shown in the gif, Aku can fire a shockwave of sound that launches Jack backwards.

Precognition

 

Aku has a vision about a jewel that could send Jack back in time, so he went and destroyed it. 

Power Bestowal

Aku has shown to be able to grant power to individuals. The main example comes from the game, where Aku seemingly amps the Hag Witch with his words. In the show he also does this to three peaceful animals, making them large and hostile. 

Technology manipulation

On a strangely consistent basis, Aku has shown the ability to manipulate technology. He places his essence into the robots seen above, which powers them, and allows Aku to control them, which makes them turn rogue on their master. When Aku makes Mad Jack, he seemingly messes with a nearby poster that shows Jack's wanted picture.

Corruption 


When Aku was sick, he was able to cough up a small piece of his essence, which entered Samurai Jack. Over the course of a few hours, Jack begins to become more like Aku. This starts small, like with him becoming more hostile towards individuals, before darkness begins to grow on your body. Seemingly, a second Aku is created from your body, the memories of the original intact. Jack managed to overpower this by will alone, entering his mind and killing the Aku in his head. 

Explosion Manipulation

On random command, Aku can just conjure up explosions to blow an individual up. 

Life Manipulation

Aku puts some of his essence into a cup, which a woman drinks, which causes her to become pregnant with children who inherit the powers of Aku. 

Body Control

Aku can control individuals who have his essence inside of him. We see this with Ashi, who is made to fight Jack (as seen above). The control that Aku has over this individual extends so far that Aku temporarily takes over the body and mind of Ashi. She is able to break out through willpower alone. 

Duplication

If you think one Aku is bad, then don’t get me started on two Aku. As shown above, Aku duplicates himself so he can laugh at Jack. When Aku has therapy, he creates a second version of himself to talk to. The limit to how many of himselfs he can make is unknown, although he’s seen creating 7-8 before the bossfight in his game. 


Inside of the show, Aku is shown making many versions of himself by crushing individuals with his hand, and making new Akus out of that. 

Corrosion Manipulation 

Akus body is acidic and melts things like swords. 

Creation

This one is going to take a bit of explaining. In Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, Jack is knocked out of the time portal from the end of the last episode and into a place between time. In this pocket dimension, which is confirmed to be on by Jack at the end of the game when everything is collapsing, Aku creates everything that we see throughout the game. This includes his army, people like Scaramouche and The Scotsman, and locations with visible suns. If Aku is weakened enough, this entire pocket will begin to collapse. This means that, while in this dimension, Aku should be able to create his army, including the bosses in the game, while in this pocket dimension. 


His creation isn’t just limited to inside the pocket dimension, Aku looks deep into Jack and creates an evil version of him known as Mad Jack. Mad Jack is the embodiment of the negative emotions that Jack feels, such as his self hatred. Jack managed to overcome this by having a moment of ‘I have no enemies’ and conquering this.


He also made a new body for the goat Scaramouche. 

Armies

Aku can create some really basic creatures throughout the game. From bug robots to soldiers to fight, these loyal fodder will die for Aku. 


Notable Members

Imakandi

The Imakandi are the ‘best hunters’ in the Galaxy, according to Aku himself. They’re honourable warriors who, if someone gives them enough of a challenge and they win, they’ll simply let them go. There’s five of them in total, their main weapon being the spears that they carry.


In their episode, they’re sent after Samurai Jack to defeat him, winning. Although it should be noted that Jack is early days here, and beats them when they later reappeared in the game (when created by Aku) 

Demongo

Demongo has the main power of Soul Absorption. When a warrior is defeated, it’s absorbed by him, making their body a puppet. For as long as you’re a part of Demongo he can reabsorb their essence as many times as you want. You can only stop this by entering the body of Demongo, like Jack did, destroying the circle of blue fire that rests inside of them. He can also teleport. 

Hag Witch

Possesses Jacks sword and sends it to Aku. Hang on, why didn’t THIS THING COME BACK-

Scaramouche 

Who is he, if not the goat? Scaramouche is Akus top assassin, babes. This robot assassin has a great flute with the ability to make, you guessed it, rock golems. Oh you’re going to break that flute? Womp womp, he can telekinetically move things with his mouth, he’s also super agile. He owns a sword which can channel sound into it, able to explode weapons like swords. You killed him? No you didn’t, he can survive as just a head

The Lich

Basic Wizard Spells

Being a master of all things magic, The Lich should be capable of casting even the most baseline spells that even novice wizards should know. These include lightning blasts, energy blasts, flight, teleportation, creating forcefields, turning invisible, healing and size manipulation. More niche uses include reading the minds of chickens, creating pimples on a target’s face, and making your foes punch themselves in the face.

Fire Manipulation

A standard-yet-vital ability for any talented magic-user to have, The Lich can fire off green fireballs, and can even set an entire room on fire with his mind. Even in his weakest state, that being just a hand, The Lich can cause rings of fire and burn items away. This particular magic note couldn’t be overpowered by New Death, an impressive feat. 

Mind Manipulation 

The Lich’s most iconic ability, The Lich is constantly casting spells that try to get into your mind. Without the proper gear to protect yourself, you are susceptible to the Lich’s attacks. We’ve seen the Lich use his mind manipulation in a bunch of different ways. He causes Finn and Jake to fall with his command, control Big Destiny's mind until he wants to release him, and causes Fionna and Simon to cease.

Mind Control

Used on the snail to let him out of the amber, The Lich can enter and throw commands into your mind to force you to do certain things. He almost manages to mind control Finn into ending his own life by jumping into a pit of fire. Finn did overpower this, but he had the power of love on his side. After his first death at the hands of Finn, he’s able to use the body of the snail to help with his evil plans. 


After The Lich died from Finn destroying his body, his consciousness would live on in the Snail, being able to control it.

Sleep Manipulation

When The Lich catches Jake's hand, he manages to make him fall asleep with just one word.

Transformation 

Not just a solid, The Lich can transform himself into a liquid and a gas. 

Death Manipulation

Befitting of his nature, The Lich can make just about anything die in an instant, seen when he made old man Prismo crumble to dust just by breathing on him. Even just him being in water causes the fish around him to die instantly.

Telekinesis

No escaping the Lich, as his telekinesis can hold you still. He’s done this to the King of Ooo, Fionna, and Simon. With the latter two a specific command released them. 


Explosion Manipulation 

The Lich breaks out of a crystal by causing an explosion, nice and simple. 

Toxic Consumption

The Lich sustains himself through consuming all kinds of noxious, toxic chemicals, including gasoline, bleach and plutonium.

Perception Manipulation

While gaining brief control over Sweet Ps body, The Lich is able to show The King of Ooo and his squirrel friend the past. This included himself as a giant.  

Corruption 

Even while trapped, The Lich managed to release flames from his crystal that corrupts individuals touched by it. 

Shadow Manipulation 

When reduced to just a hand, The Lich manipulates his shadow to make it seem like his original form was back. 

Precognition 

Due to the nature of Amok Time, Wizards see the Past and Future. Given that The Lich is the top of Wizards he should be able to see all of this. 

Necromancy

Lich can bring skeletons to life, although they seem to have low durability, Finn and Jake have no trouble with these

 Weaknesses

Aku

While Aku may be all powerful, he has a list of weaknesses that we need to go over, since he’s not perfect. One of those being the good of man. The sword, which was forged by the great three gods of before, was based on the good that mankind could bring (The origin of evil). The gods themselves could also damage The Original Evil, of which Aku was a piece of. 


While Aku has a great list of powers, he does suffer in hand to hand consequences. In Jack VS Aku, Aku takes the form of a human who tries to best Jack in hand to hand combat, and cannot keep up without using his powers or minions, same could be argued for when he outnumbered Jack’s Father with an army of thousands, who were all armed with weapons and armour. 


His shapeshifting also has its limitations, individuals with enough experience with Aku might be able to figure out who he is, like Jack did (Jack and the swamp monster). Reflections also show his true form, so he could be caught out by that. 


He’s also not immune to diseases, as shown when he passes a disease onto Jack (Disease of Aku) 


Of course, his biggest threat is his own ego and arrogance. Believing that he’s the top dog, thanks to having nobody really challenging him, has led to scenarios where he’s been duped. Many of his once allies have turned on him, believing that he’s all powerful, so he doesn’t need to work with anyone.

The Lich

Despite being all evil, all knowing, some other third thing, The Lich has some weaknesses. Perhaps the most notable is his weakness to, yes, love. Finn managed to overpower the Lich with a pink sweater imbued with the love of Princess Bubblegum. Not only that, powers that give life can also mess him up. The regenerating blood of the Citadel Guardians, which was splashed onto The Lich, caused him to become Sweet P. 


His arrogance has led to his downfall on almost all occasions. Despite being beaten by Finn and Jake on multiple occasions, he still continued to underestimate them, even after they all were dead. He wasn’t able to understand that Sweet P was his own individual, only referring to the child as a vessel, which led to him being surprised, attacked, and betrayed by him.



There’s arguments that if he cannot kill something, he’ll simply cease trying to kill, shown within Prismos time room and he can’t cause a mass genocide. But considering that he’s perfectly fine to kill when Old Man Prismo enters, and that he specifically wanted to go to the prison, this was more than likely a plan put down by The Lich. If he does manage to kill everyone, he’ll fall into a great depression, shown within Fionna and Cake.

Feats

Aku

Overall

  • (Somehow) Came back from being sealed by Jacks father. 

  • Successfully ruled the world after Jack was sent into the future. 

  • Manipulated many different individuals, including Jack himself, into helping his plans.

  • Enslaved many individuals to make statues, artefacts, and jewels in the name of Aku.

  • Caused some horrific trauma within Samurai Jack

  • Had the last laugh, depending on who you ask.

Strength

Durability

Speed

The Lich

Overall

  • Came back from death multiple times.

  • Manipulated Finn the Human into giving him the Enchiridion.

  • Killed Billy, his biggest rival.

  • Manipulated farmworld Finn into opening a portal to the multiverse. 

  • Manipulated New Death into killing his father.

  • Manipulated me into believing this would be an easy blog. 

Strength

Durability

  • Got a sweater stuffed into his face and pulled on by Finn.

  • Survived a blast from a Gumball Guardian

  • As Sweet P, he fell down a large hole and was unharmed.

  • As Sweet P, not even small cars could harm him. 

  • Was unharmed by Simons portal to GOLB. 

    • Similar processesses killed lesser characters like Maja and Choose Goose, while the process of the portal left Scarab temporarily dismembered. 

Speed

  • Dodges out of the way of an energy blast from the Gauntlet of the Hero

  • Catches Finn out of the air and crushes said gauntlet. 

  • Moved before time and space. 

Scaling

Aku

Samurai Jack

The greatest foe who Aku has ever faced, Samurai Jack cannot be underestimated. It’s reasonable to scale Aku to Jack as they’ve had many fights where he has reacted, fought, and even overpowered Jack.

Scotsman

The true goat of Samurai Jack, The Scotsman is a powerful individual who has a good fair share of his own feats. Aku oneshot him with his eye beams, so he's clearly leagues above the man. 

The Lich

Finn and Jake

Two of his greatest foes, Finn and Jake have shared several encounters with The Lich and have even been overpowered by him in the past. Thus, the three should be relatively even in power.

Misc. Main Cast Members

Although The Lich has only interacted with a select few cast members, Finn and Jake should be relative to the likes of Marceline, the Ice King and pretty much everyone else within the main Adventure Time cast, so it should be reasonable to scale him to their feats.

Orgalorg 

Scaling to Oraglorg is easy, as Finn managed to destroy him with his grass sword, which was Fern. The Lich would later knock Fern out later in his most weakened state. 

The Scarab

“Oh no, he’s hot.” -Saul 

The Scarab is a god auditor whose job is to make sure great cosmic beings are doing their job, he has his own set of feats that are worth talking about. He’s shown fighting Fionna and Cake, who are OCs created by Prismo (who he plagiarised off of Finn and Jake), so should be similar enough to mention. 

Death + New Death

This section will cover the three versions of death. Death senior, New Death, and Mr. Fox Death. Death senior is actually afraid of the Lich’s presence. Lich should scale through upscaling Finn and Jake, who could physically compare to New Death. 

Before the verdict

Scaling Aku to the Great Evil

The Great Evil is a being of pure evil that the three gods (Vishnu, Ra, Odin) all destroy this piece. You might have noticed that we’ve seemingly left out some feats for The Great Evil, like it being seemingly bigger than certain stars. Well, dear readers, we here believe that scaling Aku to the Great Evil is not right to do. Aku was a part, a single tendril, who was cut off and crashed down to Earth. He never displays either the size or the (Estimated) power of the Olympic Pantheon. 

Aku’s travel speed VS Reaction speed

So, Aku has a really quick calc concerning the movement speed of travelling interstellar speeds. This is the fastest feat within Samurai Jack, and places Aku at FTL-MFTL depending on what ends you buy. 


Only problem?: This is just a travel speed feat. He isn’t doing much apart from flying from one distance to the other, not even really reacting. He knows the hunter’s he’s looking to and slams into the planet, making it unfair to scale to anything else he does 

Fake Aku scan

This can about Aku changing the Multiverse is a fake scan, that most people know about at this point. I just wanted to put this one in here because it was funny. 

Multiversal Aku? Immeasurable Aku? I’m Aku? 

Starting off, Aku has two feats of being able to grab Jack while he’s travelling through a time portal. One of those is when he grabs Jack as he jumps into the portal, and the other is him firing a laser and hitting Jack in the game. Time still exists in these portals, and to be immeasurable, you have to move freely across linear time. Both Jack and Aku cannot do this, it’s why they need the portals in the first place. Just because these portals are going between the future and past, doesn’t mean that he’s moving linearly. The portals are a means of travel, he’s going between two places, not moving clearly across linear time.


Let’s go back to the Samurai Jack game for a minute and talk about immeasurable Aku again. Arguments exist that Aku creates multiple timelines in the game, because where Aku casts Jack has no past or future and is a place between time, which means it runs on a separate time as the original timeline, which Aku can move in and out of through the game. Let’s actually explore what happens in the game. 


For one, these are not multiple timelines, they are pockets. The multiple timelines argument comes from the Samurai Jack fandom wiki page, which isn’t part of the game. What is a part of the game is Jack’s direct statement calling it a ‘pocket between time’. He’s not creating multiple full timelines, he’s only creating specific points within the history of Samurai Jack’s story. All of these pockets aren’t connected, they’re multiple different points that Aku creates. When you begin to break the Pendant that Aku has placed across the main bosses, Jack is brought to this dark void where nothing is, before going to the next pocket. In this void Aku openly mocks and laughs at Jack (average day in Aku’s life) before creating the next pocket. Scaramouche even confirms this, noting that Aku ‘did a number on you, babe’ as he directly manipulated the clothing that Jack has on, and the length of his beard. 


So, what is Aku actually doing? Well he knocked Jack into a type of limbo, which is the total shroud of darkness that we see, with Aku using this place to trap Jack with his creations. It isn’t multiple timelines, and time does exist in it.


Even if we take this argument at face value, it’s not immeasurable. You’d have to have direct proof that Aku is doing this by sheer speed alone, which you simply don’t have. It’s more likely that Aku would be teleporting through these timelines, seen when he teleports away from Jack in level two. 


This also helps debunk multi Aku since they’re pockets, he’s not creating multiverses. 

Crossover scaling Aku? 

( I can’t believe I have to talk about this) No, the crossover’s for all of these characters aren’t canon. I’m sorry if I shattered your world view, but there’s many reasons why these wouldn’t fit into the continuity of all the characters, the fact these comics are not canon (directly stated by Samurai Jack’s creator) but the fact that crossover scaling would not help Aku, since you’d be comping The Lich.


Comping The Lich opens up a whole can of worms in terms of scaling. It would include comic arguments that compare him to GOLB, scaling to Regular Show, which has immeasurable and multiversal arguments, and crossovers like Multiversus which would get us Lich compared to Superman. We don’t need that. 


“But Death Battle did it for Scooby and Courage!” Well, given that Scooby-Doo is generally a pretty crossover-centric series and has a direct crossover with the cowardly dog himself, it’s likely Death Battle were more lenient on what they considered usable for the two. Plus, they didn’t take it into account when discussing Jack himself in Samurai Jack vs Afro Samurai, nor did they do it for Steven Universe in his episode against Star Butterfly, so why would we do it here?

Aku Aku?

He has no qualms here. 


Adventure Time Cosmology

My favourite part of the blog. AT has an interesting cosmology. The entire world is made up of the Cosmic Imagination. What is the Cosmic Imagination? Well, before time existed, everything was a jumble of monsters and evil creatures. Lich shows this to the King of OOO. They all agreed on a common state to the multiverse, it isn’t actually a physical thing, it’s all mental. Every sentient being that lives within the multiverse maintains the multiverse just by experiencing it. Thanks to this, the multiverse is sentient in nature, which is linked to such things as time and space. 


As the multiverse continues to grow, new alternative timelines are created by diverging events. It’s unclear if these are alternative timelines, different universes, or different realms like the Lumpy Space universe. Booko gives us a small explanation in The Lich. So the other realms that we see could be other universes, cool. 


Since everything is weird in nature, magic is created by their own mental powers for their attacks. If you can use the cosmic imagination to destroy the universe, then you can do so. To reliably perform magic, you need MMS. What is MMS? Theorised by Betty Grof, all magic users must have varying degrees of Magic, Madness, and Sadness to reliably create magic. You have a tragic backstory? You’re more than likely to be drawn to magic. Tapping into the Cosmic Imagination to a strong degree could allow you powers like Earth becoming more akin for magic, or the precognition that we mentioned earlier. The most powerful display of this we’ve seen is dreamers creating realities, although this will collapse if the person wakes up. We’ve also seen that dreamers can create entire characters, Prismo is the result of an old man who dies when woken up.


What does this mean for cosmology? The multiverse is infinite, has infinite multiverse, and is sentient. Killing everything in the multiverse would end the multiverse. If you manage to harness the Cosmic Imagination, you could control everything, remake the multiverse if you wanted. 



So, depending on what you buy, Lich could potentially tap into the Cosmic Imagination, since he was one of the original monsters who created it in the first palace, but this is up to your own interpretation. Awesome. 

Scaling Lich to the Scarab, and Scarab feats in general

The Scarab, as mentioned before, is a god auditor who keeps these large beings in check. One of the biggest feats under contention is how The Scarab manages to trap Prismo inside of a cube. Considering that Prismo can create a universe, Fionna and Cake, we could get universal Adventure Time, right? Well, let’s actually assess what The Scarab does. 


The feat in question takes place entirely off-screen. We just cut back to Prismos time room, and Prismo is in a cube. We can’t really prove that a fight had taken place between the two individuals to reasonable scale them to one and other. One of the main ways that The Scarab beats these large beings is by sealing them, usually turning them into small eight-bit eggs that can be stored away, so him doing something similar to Prismo isn’t out of the question. Not only that, Prismo isn’t someone who fights against another? We can’t really translate his universal creation feats to anything physical. When The Lich (Hey, the guy on this blog!) grabs the old body of Prismo and begins to wake him up, he doesn’t try to fight back. Prismo also likes The Scarab, and likely doesn’t feel that threatened around him, so would have no reason to throw all of this power at him. 


As for the durability feat? One could make an argument that Scarab scales by that, but Lich wasn’t actually at the centre of the portal when it opened, he’s seen sitting on his throne. He could of just climbed in afterwards. 

Are the Dead Worlds universes?

The Dead World feats, such as Death destroying them, and Mr. Fox Death restoring them, are some of the most contentious things in this blog. Why? Because, within the canon that we are using, there is not one mention of the size of these Dead Worlds. You can imagine why this has caused frustration. There is nothing that tells us how big that is, with no observable end to the Dead Worlds we see. So, what do we do? 


Remember when I said this? “The only time we WILL be using extended media is where the main canon, and all other supplements, offer no explanations.” Yeah, this is this time. The only explanation we receive is in the comics where Death states that the 27th Death World is infinite. There are similarly potential infinite worlds in the main series, like the ghost world, which seems to just be a parallel to our universe.


There isn’t really anything else that we can do than make assumptions about the size, or just use this one piece of media that hasn’t been contradicted. My fault for trying to make an AT canon. 


Also that attack that Finn survived? It didn’t damage him, sure, but he’s fine after that dead world is destroyed. 

Where is The Glitch

The Glitch is an April fools episode where this entity known as The Glitch affects the universe. This is directly stated to be non-canon by said creator of the episode, discounting it. 

Verdict

Stats

The Shapeshifting Master of Darkness VS The inevitable end, who wins? Looking at stats, this is pretty clear cut. Let’s start with Aku, who upscales feats like Jack’s 19 Megaton re-entry, His own 4.05 Teraton entry, and the impressive 146 Quettatons of TNT for creating and sustaining a sun. If we’re going just by set numbers, he would have a strength advantage. Lich’s best showings are scaling to the Yottatons for Ice Kings feat, and Ronnatons of the Planet calc he scales to, or the Flame Princess planet calc. Oh but leaving out the many, many, many universal arguments would be doing Lich a disservice. Let’s count them!


If you buy the 4D sword and Black Hole argument, The Dead World explosion, the fact that Lich can scale to New Death who can destroy all 50 of these worlds which could be infinite in size/other universes, although i dismissed it, if you buy Scarab scaling through the portal or Winter King statement you can get Lich to uni that way. Him creating the Cosmic Imagination with the other monsters also helps, as if you buy him fully tapping into this, you get multi Lich. Aku is just screwed with all of these arguments.


Speed? Also clear cut. While Aku can travel interstellar distances, his reaction speed is that of only 0.82 XSOL, compared to Lich, who scales to 62c Finn. Although I didn’t touch on them, Adventure Time has infinite speed arguments through Tiffany grabbing Jake’s family before the blast. (I’d recommend reading G1 for that, i’ve covered a lot already haha). He has a pretty significant advantage overall, meaning that Aku is going to have trouble keeping up. 

Powers and Abilities

What about their powers and abilities? Well, Aku definitely has the versatility covered. All of his shapeshifting forms would keep The Lich on his (theoretical) toes, becoming dragons and Wyverns to control the air, large crabs to stab him, or even the dreaded…Praying Mantis. Aku can see the future in his dreams, send sonic screams, manipulate earth, or telekinetically pull over a pillar. There is an issue with Akus abilities. For what he has in quantity, Lich makes up with quality. Being able to just manipulate the mind of Aku, making him fall, taking over his body, or just sending Aku for a quick nap. From all of the research that we’ve done, Aku has no resistance or immunity to mind manipulation. A quick word would allow for Lich to have an instant win. Akus' explosions, screams, and fire aren’t going to matter when his mind has been taking over. Even if he manages to get these hits in, Lich can reform his body by turning it into a gas or liquid. 


A win con that i’ve heard is that Aku could seal the Lich away with his eye beams, trapping him in the unbreakable crystal prison that the viking was also set in. Due to Lich’s first appearance being sealed behind some amber, Aku could do the same, right? That would be the case if The Lich didn’t learn from his mistakes. In escape from the citadel, Lich breaks out of a crystal by causing an explosion. Remember that planet buster from earlier? They actually managed to capture that. I think the crystals that hold a planet buster are far stronger than that of a regular human, which Jack manages to break. 


Let’s run through his other abilities. Fire manipulation? Lich also has that. Absorption? Lich doesn’t have any arrows or swords to absorb. Telekinesis? Lich can do that, but has shown being able to do it on multiple people, why Akus best showing is some of his essence. Clairvoyance? Not really useful when your target is in front of you. 



Does that mean Aku is ak-screwed? No. If he manages to avoid the mind hax, he can employ many of his abilities. Aku could duplicate himself into multiple copies to throw The Lich off, BFR him with his eye beams or time portals, teleport around, corrupt him, or fill him with his life juices. If Aku pulls this off, could he win?


Maybe. Duplication may screw with Aku, as The Lich could possess Aku, keeping his essence inside of a duplicate. This would act as a back-up life for Lich if he died, making this an Aku off. Or worse, Aku is fighting both himself and his opponent. The Life Juices are an interesting argument, as Lich was killed by the regenerative properties of the Citadel Guardian blood. But it’s important to look at the context of what Aku does. Aku places his essence into a cup, and by oral ingestion, the mother becomes pregnant. (This is Akus assumption, he seems confused by the process.) This isn’t the same as the regenerative properties of the blood, as it’s not healing you, it’s acting like a male reproductive cell. It’s two different things. For the corruption, this was reliant on a sick Aku coughing up some of his essence which managed to enter and lay dormant within Jacks body. We don’t know if Aku can actually produce this while well, but we can give the benefit of the doubt to Aku, it still might not work. Given that Lich’s body is not alive, being a skeleton and all, it could potentially mean that the infection cannot lay dormant. Not only that, it took at least a couple hours for the infection to kick in. (Jack, rather notably, goes for a nap after he gets infected). Also the first few actions of this Jaku is to be evil, which Lich would do in a heartbeat. Lich could also potentially fight back the full infection by sheer willpower, which is how Jack did it. 


With his teleportation and forms, he has an advantage in battle control, which could allow him to use his time manipulation. Lich has no way to counter being potentially sent to the past by Aku, or the future. Is he dead? No, but he would be out of the battle enough for The Lich to be considered gone. The Eye Beams, which could BFR Lich to the pit of hate, would do the same. But, Aku can’t pull this off. Lich’s precognition would allow him to see any attack coming, his perception manipulation could trick Aku into believing he’s big, or in a different location entirely. Let’s look at the time manipulation again, because I believe Lich could counter it.


A ring appears around your body, which disables your legs, before a portal opens below you and zips you through time. Yes, your legs, as Jack is seen visibly swinging in anger many times. Lich could just fly out of the ring or turn into smoke and leave. There’s no reason for it to power nullify The Lich. 


“What about Akus' immortality and regeneration, couldn’t that keep him in a fight?.” Ah my friend, Aku isn’t actually that immortal. So many people believe that Aku can only be harmed and killed with Jack's blade, but that’s because of what Jack's blade can do. We’ve seen characters like Scotsman, after his death, be able to visibly hurt Aku with his bagpipe blast. Jack’s blade is special because it can stop the regenerative properties of Aku, which is the burning effect every time he’s cut. A more than powerful enough attack can bypass, which Lich has. Not only that, even if he’s truly immortal, Lich can just overwrite his mind. 


While Aku might have the much wider arsenal, he’s very unlikely to capitalise on it due to Lich’s specific counters and mind manipulation 

Any Other Factors

I left the army discussion till the last moment. Aku has a much better army, his creation and specific forces would overpower any skeletons that Lich brings back to life. For Aku, he has an unlimited army at his disposal, which could be a big factor in getting the distance he would need to set up his wincons. But this has issues, many of them. Aku could mind manipulate the armies, which we know works on robots as the mermaids managed to do the same to the robots in Samurai Jack. Lich also has passive death manipulation, so anyone who isn’t a robot will die. Lich can also release his corrupting flames, which would make his own army, turning Akus army against him. Even Demongo, who could absorb the essence of any fallen troop, would eventually be turned to Lich’s side. He would eventually win a war of attrition. 


Of course, i’m ignoring the fact that Scaramouche is boundless++++ and wins anyway. 


Lich also has better experience in general and combat. Aku spent many years sealed away by Jack’s father and never goes against threats who can actually challenge him. He’s struggled to actually ever win against Samurai Jack, needing to first disarm him with the Hag Witch (Yo Hag Witch mention) to make it a fair fight. The Lich has been around since the start of the universe before being temporarily sealed by Billy. He’s fought Finn, Jake, beat Fern, and others. I will give Aku this, he’s much smarter in on-the-fly dire situations. 


In terms of manipulation, Aku has only shown to succeed when he was disguised as Ikra against Samurai Jack, who was attracted to her. When Aku tried to do this again as the Hermit, Jack saw right through it. The rest of the population kinda have to trust him through their fear. The Lich manipulated Finn twice, pretending to be his hero Billy to give him the Enchiridion, and the time he got into the citadel. Not even Prismo, the wish god, saw it coming. I doubt manipulation will be a big part of this fight but it’s worth mentioning. 

Advantages/Disadvantages

Aku

“For you see, little samurai, the world is mine! My eyes and ears are everywhere, nothing you do will go unseen! Quest as you may, but we will meet again when I see fit, in a time and place of my choosing! And it is I who shall put an end to the war started in that age long past, Samurai Jack!”

Advantages 

  • Takes Strength with low ends…

  • Faster in travel speed.

  • Much wider array of abilities. 

  • Flight and teleportation allows for better battlefield control.

  • Much better army with creation hax.

  • BFR (By time or eye beams) Cannot be countered if hit…..

  • Immortality and regeneration could make him hard to put down….

  • Always voiced by a GOAT, always. 

  • Aku ordered a pizza, funniest shit I’ve ever seen.

Disadvantages

  • ….Absolutely stomped in strength with high ends.

  • Slower in reaction speed + Infinite speed arguments ruin any travel speed.

  • No counter to Lich’s mind hax.

  • Less experienced overall. 

  • Far less battle experience. 

  • Those wider arrays are hard countered by most hax….

  • Precognition + Physiology could let Lich not be hit…

  • ….these cannot prevent The Lich’s mind manipulation from taking over his immortality. 

  • Worse Manipulator 

  • Loses his army through the war of attrition. 

  • Imagine your daughter banging the one guy you were out to kill for like 50 years. 

  • Didn’t kill that one guy you were out to kill for like 50 years.


The Lich

“Stop. I have learned much from you, thank you, my teachers. Now, for your education. Before there was time, before there was anything, there was nothing, and before there was nothing…there were monsters. Here’s your gold star!”

Advantages 

  • Stomps in strength with higher ends.

  • Faster in reaction speeds + Infinite speed arguments trump all. 

  • Abilities are more reliable.

  • Mind Hax is a super easy win con.

  •  Better experience 

  • Better battle experience. 

  • Better Manipulator 

  • Hard counters most of Akus hax. 

  • Wins Akus army through a war of attrition 

  • Mind Manipulation counters regeneration and Immortality arguments. 

  • Could dodge Akus wincons with Precognition, turning into smoke, etc…

  • Always gives the coldest speeches. 

  • Voiced by the goat, Ron Perlman 

Disadvantages

  • Weaker with lower ends. 

  • Slower in travel speed.

  • Less abilities overall. 

  • Less battlefield control.

  • Army consists of skeletons with low durability. 

  • Cannot regenerate from damage.

  • …if BFR’ed, couldn’t come back.

  • WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT RON PERLMAN FORGOT HE VOICED HIM?

  • Not Scaramouche, babe. 

Final Vote

Team Aku- 0

Team The Lich- 4(Saulgoodmas, Asura, LandonTalksALot, Bananabreadsticks) 

Just one more thing…

This blog took longer than expected. If you made it all the way here, without skipping to see the next time, then thank you. I hope my passion for both of these characters could be seen, not only that, my passion for this matchup. If you enjoyed, let me know in some way, it’s your support that makes me spend time on these matchups. As for the next time? Well, I have a main and bonus blog. One for the batch and one for fun. The main one?


One more extended thank you to the G1 blog, who got to Adventure Time stats before I could. I don’t think I would have finished this without it. We were a pretty small team on this.

Waluigi VS Mortimer Mouse

Hopefully less painful next time for the main batch! I also mentioned a bonus blog, which is…

Spamton VS Dr. Coomer

If you want to join either, Saulgoodmanagain is my discord! Find me under Saul in your friendly death battle servers, and shoot me a DM. I can also be contacted through Reddit as Saulgoodmas. 
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