Luke Cage vs. Shizuo Heiwajima

Luke Cage vs. Heiwajima
Season 1.5, Episode 10
Vital statistics
Air date	Unknown
Written by	Fractyl
Directed by	Fractyl
Episode guide
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Necalli vs. Ogre	Saber (Artoria Pendragon) vs. Ghirahim

Luke Cage vs. Heiwajima is a What-If? episode of Death Battle featuring Luke Cage from Marvel Comics and Shizuo Heiwajima from the Durarara! series.

Interlude

Wiz: The best places you can find a brawler is on the crime-ridden mean streets, where it is eat or be eaten. But sometimes, you find superhuman combatants who put the criminals in line.

Boomstick: Like Harlem's Power Man Luke Cage.

Wiz: And Ikebukuro's Strongest Man Shizuo Heiwajima. I'm Wiz and he's Boomstick!

Boomstick: And it's our job to analyze their weapons and skills and find out who would win this Death Battle.

Luke Cage

Wiz: Born Carl Lucas in the state of Georgia, he is the son of former NYPD detective turned preacher named James Lucas. While a good child, Lucas ends up causing trouble with his best friend Willis Stryker as the two joined a gang called the Rivals. Eventually, after he and Stryker are arrested, Lucas realizes he needs to clean up his act as his father arranged him to court order of enrolling in military school.

Boomstick: But while Lucas managed to better himself in everyway, Stryker continues a downward spiral in crime. Stryker later gets revenge on Lucas by planting drugs in his ex-friend's apartment and tipping off the police.

Wiz: Stripped of his badge and his father's love, Cage is sent to Seagate Prison off the coast of Georgia. It was there that Lucas became targeted by racist corrections officer Albert "Billy Bob" Rackham.

Albert: How'd you like to live like a king using them fists of yours? We got some bad boys who's pretty good with their hands. And they making money in here. Good-ass money. I want you to get in on this. Believe it or not, it'll benefit both of us.

Luke Cage: Slavery was always a good offer to a master.

Wiz: After Lucas got him demoted by exposing his underground fight scheme, Rackham arranged him to be beaten to death by inmates. But the prison therapist Reva Conner saves Lucas by having him be subjected to a cellular regeneration experiment conducted by Dr. Noah Burstein, though Rackham makes a final attempt to kill Lucas by sabotaging the experiment. But the resulting explosion only killed Rackham while Lucas' treatment is accelerated past its intended limits, inducing body-wide enhancements that give him superhuman strength and durability.

Boomstick: Using his new powers, Lucas swam back to the main land where Reva was waiting for him. He then created the identity of Luke Cage as Reva takes him to New York, settling in Harlem where Cage attempts to live his life incognito as a sweeper in a barber shop owned by Henry "Pop" Hunter.

Pop: You should be more ambitious.

Luke Cage: What if my ambition is to sweep hair... wash dishes... and be left the hell alone?

Wiz: But Reva's murder and a later chance encounter with Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes that results in Pop's unplanned death over the crime boss's activities, inspires Luke to use his new powers to clean Harlem of crime.

Luke Cage: Since I can't touch the king, I'm gonna take his queen, his knights, his rooks. I'm knocking all his pieces off the board.

[Montage of Cage storming fighting Cottonmouth's men before he emerges out of the heavily fortified building with a sack of dirty money.]

Boomstick: Too bad the past comes back to haunt Cage when he faces Cottonmouth's weapons benefactor Diamondback, revealed to Willis Stryker who reveals himself to be his older half-brother.

[Montage of Luke Cage fighting Stryker.]

Wiz: Luke Cage eventually sets up the business venture of Heroes of Hire alongside his business partner Iron Fist. While the two are heroes first, they take paid work as bounty hunters and bodyguards for hire.

Boomstick: And help the tightwad who cheats Luke Cage out of his well-earned pay. He actually hunted down and pummeled Doctor Doom for not giving the him the 200 American dollars that the dictator owed him for testing his Doom-Bots!

Luke Cage: You mess with us and you're not going to jail. You're going to the hospital.

Wiz: Before gaining his powers, Luke Cage's military and police training made him a highly skilled brawler with skills in boxing, street fighting, and later Iron Fist's fighting style. He is also has expert detective skills that allow him to find people faster than the cops.

Boomstick: I can dig that!

Wiz: After being subjected to the experiment, gaining the intended ability to regenerate damaged tissue at an accelerated rate, Cage became strong enough to rip steel like tissue while showing no exhaustion from fighting multiple fights over a few hours. His skin and muscle tissue, augmented with gene that give Abalone their strong shells, are made extremely dense to the point that he is highly resistant to physical injury like high-caliber bullets.

Boomstick: But there are a few things that can harm Luke.

Stryker: One Judas for another. (Fired a Judas bullet into Luke's shoulder.]

Wiz: True. In fact, despite his hard skin, Cage can still suffer internal damage to his body ranging from being squeezed to death to blood loss. But if Luke Cage can go bookie on Doctor Doom over 200 hundred bucks, even if he hates the name, he deserves being called "Power Man".

Luke Cage: Sweet Christmas

TALLY

• Attack Potency and Speed: Able to level a large building, Cage moves at supersonic speed.
• Strength: Able to lift large concrete blocks with little difficulty, Cage can deal blows strong enough to damage a building.
• Durability: He survived being slammed through skyscraper, the destruction of buildings with no apparent injury.
• Intelligence: Above average (knows many languages)
• Stamina: Extremely high as he swam without stopping from an island prison miles away from land.
• Range: Melee range, but can reach to several dozen meters.
• Rank: Near-Superhuman (9-A) normally, Superhuman (8-C) at full strength.

Shizuo Heiwajima

Wiz: In Tokyo's district of Ikebukuro, it's mob rule and the most welcoming experience a tourist would get is a daily kidnapping.

[We see vending machine and a man go flying across the night sky.]

Boomstick: The district is also home to bizarre folks as well. Meet Shizuo Heiwajima!

Shizuo: I hate violence...

Wiz: Shizuo lived in a small family with his younger brother Kasuka, whose simply act of taking the last cup of pudding was a life-changing event. As Shizuo said, the human brain restricts one's muscles to prevent serious injury in response to pain. And Shizuo lacked that limitation, getting a heavily dosage of adrenaline pumping into his system instead.

[Preteen Shizuo lifting up the family fridge in a fit of rage, before getting crushed under it.]

Boomstick: That's gotta hurt!

Wiz: After repeated experiences, Shizuo's body was able to adapt by the time he entered middle school. But as his brother became a hollywood star, especially since he indirectly caused it, Shizuo became an outcast until met Tom Tanaka. Tom became a good friend and convinced him to dye his hair while setting up a reputation as the kind of guy the bullies kow not mess with if they value their legs.

Boomstick: Makes sense, he stings like a bee so he might as well sport the colors.

Wiz: But high school marked another life-changing events for Shizuo when he meets his mortal enemy and Ikebukuro's resident devil.

Izaya (voice): You're hurting my feelings saying things like that.

Boomstick: What are you doing here!?

Izaya: Well, if I had to give a reason.. I guess it's because I love people.

Wiz: For those just tuning it, this is Izaya Orihara.

Boomstick: You see, as nicely I can say this, this smug prick and toyed with peoples' lives a lot. And Shizuo is no exception, especially since Izaya made his life a living hell and even got him arrested by the cops.

Wiz: Shizuo lost many jobs because of Izaya until he finally landed a gig as a bodyguard for Tom.

Boomstick: Well it seems that this new job was a good fit for him since it's basically just kicking ass! And Tom would just pay for all the damages so this all works out!

Wiz: Shizuo is also a member of the Dollars gang, an internet-based group comprising of many Ikebukuro residents. But ironically, Izaya is also a member of the Dollars and manipulates the group and most events to meet his goals. So Shizuo ends up having to deal with whatever chaos ensues, most of which is Izaya's own doing.

Shizuo: 99% of the time whenever random violent crap happens, it seems you're somehow involved!

Izaya (Shrugging while taking out his switchblade): And you can't have a little faith in that last 1%? Guess that's...a no.

Wiz: While Shizuo gradually loses his urge to out murder Izaya, he fears that he might end up killing him. And it doesn't help that Izaya provokes him every chance he gets, even if it meant having Shizuo kill him in public.

Izaya: Things didn't go to plan, though.

Boomstick: I think you getting hospitalized by Varona is a good thing. But Shizuo did live with the notion that she murdered him before realizing his nemesis is alive and unfortunately well.

Shizuo: So he is alive, after all... if you see him again, tell him this..."Stay out of Ikebukuro."

Izaya: I cannot make those promises. But I am comfortable up north at the moment.

Wiz: But Shizuo's full potential is a mystery, with even a supernatural being like Celty deeming him a force to be reckon with.

[Montage of Shizuo fighting the Saika Children]

Wiz: The only time he went all out is when he was fighting a large group of Saika Children, essentially love-sick zombies with knives and high pain thresholds. Despite numerous stabbings to spread their love into him, Shizuo was not going down without a fight.

Shizuo: There's no way I'm going down in front of the people who love me.

Boomstick: So essentially, nothing can stop him short of the cops.

Wiz: Pretty much. But the same can said with our other opponent.

TALLY

• Attack Potency and Speed: Able to level a building, others believing he could have the potential to destroy city blocks at full strength, Shizuo moves at superhuman speed and react at supersonic speed.
• Strength: So far seen to be strong enough to lift and throw a truck away, Shizuo can deal blows that can normally destroy walls. But at full strength, is blows are strong enough to damage a few city blocks.
• Durability: With Izaya theorizing that it would take a low-level nuke to kill him, having shrugged off being hit by a speeding truck and then six dynamite sticks, Shizuo can endure anything that can destroy a building.
• Stamina: Extremely high as he fought and defeated a hundred Saika Children without tiring.
• Range: Melee range, but can reach to several dozen meters.
• Rank: Near-Superhuman (9-A) normally, Superhuman (8-C to 8-A) when using his full strength.

Pre Fight

Boomstick: We have analyzed the stats of our fighters.

Wiz: In terms of Attack Potency, Striking Strength, and Stamina, Shizuo and Cage are evenly matched. But Shizuo is slightly faster with higher durability, and able to lift more than Cage, who has an advantage in both intelligence and range. With Shizuo's untapped potential and Luke Cage's extremely tough hide, anything can happen in this Death Battle. And now that the combatants are set....

Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!

DEATH BATTLE

[Durarara OST - The Strongest Man In Ikebukuro]

The scene opens to the streets of Ikebukuro at night time, the property damage and a voice yelling "IZAYA!" is heard loud and clear as a young man in all black attire runs out of alley and into the streets. The crowd instinctively knew to move out of way as another figure in a bartender suit runs out. But the young man, Izaya Orihara, sees the only person not staying clear: A large African-American man in a hoodie. 'Perfect' The young man thought with smirk as he hears the sound of a trashcan thrown as him and dodges pass the large man. "IZAYA! YOU'RE DEAD!" People scream as they throw themselves to the ground, Izaya following suit as a trashcan lid is thrown like a razor-sharp frisbee. Only the large man did not duck, not flinch as the metal object hit him in the head.

"Tch tch, Shizuo. Keep this up, and you'll end up going to jail," Izaya said in an insulting matter which made essentially was provoking Shizuo further. Having passed some of the many horrified pedestrians, a young blond-haired man named Shizuo Heiwajima approaches his nemesis. The people already formed a semi circle around the two, murmuring amongst themselves as Shizuo looked around them and grinned with the knowledge there's no way Izaya can escape this time. "Looks like you've trap like a rat," he said as he stopped barely a few meters away from Izaya who decided to provoke Shizuo further. "Says the protozoan. I will miss our little talks." "Too bad I won't," Shizuo clenched a fist and was about to punch Izaya in his smirking face. However, something grabbed him with Izaya chuckling. "I didn't mean myself. Have fun!" With that, Izaya runs off laughing while a livid Shizuo turned to see the large man, holding the mangled trashcan lid in his free hand before dropping it, grabbed him.

[Luke Cage OST - Diamondback's Trap]

"I don't know what's your deal, blondie," the large man started as Shizuo looked up at him with a twitched eyebrow. "But this is part where you apologize-" "You're in my way," Shizuo said bluntly, clearly in a very bad mood. "I'm not going to ask again," the man insisted as he tighten his grip around Shizuo. "STAY OUT MY WAY!," Shizuo shouted as he uses his free fist to punch the large dark-skinned man in the face. But the man lands his own fist on Shizuo's stomach, the punch powerful enough to send him flying across the street and through a nearby wall.

After the dust clear, Shizuo is standing with a blood from his forehead. "You know this counts as attempted murder," Shizuo said with a grin as he spat out his cigarette. "So what happens next is on your head," he snarled as he grabbed a nearby vending machine and throws it at the dark-skinned man as he grabbed it like a basketball. "Sweet Christmas...," the figure said with an annoyed look as he puts the vending machine down. He then takes off his hoodie, revealing himself to be Luke Cage. The crowd, armed with their I-Phones, spread out for their safety as Shizuo runs at Cage.

FIGHT!

Shizuo's fist connects to Cage's lower jaw, but the punch has no effect and Shizuo would be in a lot of pain were it not for his own high pain threshold with only slightly bruised knuckles due to his physical conditioning. Within moments, the two men unleash a flurry of punches on each other with most of their hits making their mark. Clearly, it appeared that Shizuo was getting the most damage before Luke grabs Shizuo by the throat and tosses him at a parked car, crushing it. Shizuo, now mad, gets up and picks up the vehicle to Luke's astonishment. "Sweet Chris-" Before he could finish, the thrown car hits him and explodes.

Within seconds, Luke Cage emerges from the flames with his hoodie burned off. "I'm about sick of always having to buy new clothes," Luke said annoyed as Shizuo rips a signpost from the ground with one hand to use as a weapon to swat the approaching opponent. But the signpost bent against Luke's outstretched arm and Shizuo ends up being thrown head first toward a wall in a construction site. Luke was about to leave when he sees Shizuo getting back up. If Shizuo was holding back because his opponent is not Izaya, for he has taken off his now broken sunglasses with expression that says that playtime is over as he puts on a pair of shadow-like gloves.

[Luke Cage OST - Bulletproof Love (instrumental)]

Shizuo lets his adrenaline rush take over as he charges Luke Cage head-on, using the parkour skills he learned from chasing Izaya for years to close the gap between them. Luke, finding himself barely keeping up with Shizuo's sudden burst of speed, gets staggered back with a point-blank kick to the chest. Shizuo continues going on the offense with a barrage of punches and kicks with Luke managing to block some of the blows hitting him. Though there appear to be no outward bruises, Luke is clearly showing some pain from potential internal bleeding while Shizuo's pain tolerance is giving him an advantage.

Though Luke managed to grab him opponent a Master Lock submission hold, Shizuo breaks out of it by dislocating his left arm and attempts a punch with his right arm. But Luke dodges in time, with Shizuo instead smashing the main girder. Within seconds, the entire building structure collapses on the two men...

Within minutes, the people having took pictures of the fight, the dust settles on the what remains of the construction site. Emerging from the rubble is Shizuo, clutching his dislocated shoulder, which was starting to bleed pretty badly. "Just great..," he sighed knowing he needs to see Ikebukuro's underground doctor Shinra. But then Luke emerges from the rubble, too. He is clearly in need of a doctor, though he doesn't look like he does. Both Shizuo and Luke stare he each other down, both at their limits as they run at each other while each musters his remaining for a knock-out punch.

The punches connect, the force knocking both Shizuo and Luke down to the ground hard. Within a half minute, Shizuo gets back up and walks over to the barely conscious Luke Cage. "Sweet Christmas..," Luke said while coughing hard. "You got a lot of power, man." Luke expected Shizuo to finish him off, but he instead feels the smaller man picking him up bridal style as he carries the near-unconscious man away with everyone taking snap shots. "I REALLY hate violence...," Shizuo muttered under his breath while Luke chuckles in agreement before drifting out...

KO!

Results

Izaya: That was disappointing.

Boomstick: I thought you would be supporting Shizuo. Enemy or not, you gotta support the home team.

Wiz: Unless you set up that fight...Which you did.

Boomstick: What?!

Izaya: Guilty as charged. No matter, I made sure Mister Cage has been paid for showing up. So there is no foul.

Boomstick: Except you just gave Shizuo a ANOTHER reason to kill you.

Izaya: Well, it's good thing I'm not going back to Ikebukuro for a while. But don't threat, I'll be back someday.

[The sound of a door opening and closing is heard.]

Boomstick: Good riddance.

Wiz: Back on topic, there is no doubt that both Cage and Shizuo are equally fast and strong. Both are heavy lifters, each is a crowd control army of one, and they usually fight as a last resort when nonviolent methods are not going to work. But it is the little things that influence the outcome of this fight. Cage's skin is invulnerable, protecting him from gunfire, conventional melee weapons, and being knocked off a building. But there have been ways that this defense has been bypassed with Cage ending up suffering disasters.

[Montage of Luke shooting himself with a shotgun at point-blank range, Cottonmouth's rocket hitting the Chinese restaurant]

Wiz: While firing a shotgun at point-blank range would not damage the skin, it can cause serious internal damage. That same principle can be said if Cage is being squeezed to death by the likes of the Hulk. Shizuo, on the other hand, gets his durability from his high pain tolerance which enables him to act beyond his human limitations. Compared to Cage, Shizuo was able to get back up without trouble after being sent flying 20 feet by a speeding truck. He even survived a near point blank explosion.

Boomstick: So this fight is essentially a match of endurance and pain resistance?

Wiz: Pretty much. But in the end, having shown that he can punch a hole in a 18 wheeler truck, Shizuo's adrenaline rush and untapped potential gives him the means to overpower Luke Cage and potentially cause massive internal bleeding.

Boomstick: And Shizuo is still the Strongest Man In Ikebukuro.