The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", often shortened to "The Ultimate Showdown", is a comical song and video released on December 22, 2005. The song was written and performed by Neil Cicierega under the pseudonym "Lemon Demon", with art and Flash animation by Shawn Vulliez.
| "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot from the official music video for "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", featuring a large collection of pop culture characters | |
| Song by Lemon Demon | |
| from the album Dinosaurchestra | |
| Released | December 22, 2005[1] |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:33 |
| Label | Bandung Recordings |
| Songwriter(s) | Neil Cicierega |
| Producer(s) | Neil Cicierega, Shawn Vulliez |
| Music video | |
| "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" on Newgrounds | |
"The Ultimate Showdown" is a massive, citywide battle set in Tokyo started by Godzilla and Batman ultimately involving dozens of pop-culture icons, fictional and otherwise, ending with Mr. Rogers emerging victorious and then committing seppuku. It gained a large cult following among web enthusiasts[2] and became the "User's Choice" on December 28, 2005 on Newgrounds, where it has been viewed over 18 million times.[3] It appeared on several other websites including Albino Blacksheep,[4] YouTube, Transbuddha, and Weebl's Stuff. In 2006 it was included on Lemon Demon's fifth album Dinosaurchestra. As of May 2020, it has over 24 million views on YouTube.[5]
The song topped the "Funny Five" on The Dr. Demento Show for several weeks and was the #1 Request for 2006. The video has since been parodied and referenced repeatedly in other flash videos. A new version of the song was later recorded specifically for the Rock Band Network and was released for the service on July 6, 2010 under the title The Ultimate Showdown (RBN Mix). In 2009, the song was rerecorded with a full band, and this track was included in Lemon Demon's 2011 EP "Live (Only Not)".
Characters
The song mentions a long list of characters, both real and fictional. They are shown in the following order:
- Godzilla
- Batman (also as his alter ego Bruce Wayne)
- Shaquille O'Neal
- Aaron Carter
- Abraham Lincoln
- Optimus Prime
- McGruff the Crime Dog
- Jackie Chan
- Indiana Jones
- Care Bear
- Chuck Norris, to whom most of the bridge is devoted, portrayed as an angelic superhuman as a nod to the "Chuck Norris facts" phenomenon
- Gandalf (as both Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White)
- Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Benito Mussolini
- Blue Meanie
- Cowboy Curtis
- Jambi the Genie
- RoboCop
- The Terminator
- Captain Kirk
- Darth Vader
- Lo Pan
- Superman
- Every single Power Ranger (displayed in the video as only the original five Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
- Bill S. Preston
- Theodore Logan
- Spock
- The Rock
- Doc Ock
- Hulk Hogan
- Mr. Rogers, the winner
Characters not mentioned in the song but depicted in the video include Robin; Samuel L. Jackson being attacked by snakes; Mario fighting Sonic the Hedgehog; Eric Bauman, creator of eBaum's World, being punched in the face by Lowtax; Santa Claus being run over by the DeLorean time machine; Goku; R2-D2 and C-3PO being taken apart by a Jawa; Tobias Fünke; Han Solo encased in carbonite; and Pac-Man. McGruff the Crime Dog is mentioned in the song, but not depicted in the video.
Notes and references
- "The Ultimate Showdown". Newgrounds.com. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- Rempel, Shauna (August 26, 2006). "Copy, paste, animate". The Toronto Star.
- Emily Sweeney (June 22, 2006). "He's a hit with Internet set". Boston Globe.
- Bob Batz (April 11, 2006), Seen & Overheard, Dayton Daily News
- AlbinoBlackSheep (2008-05-06), The Ultimate Showdown (with MP3 ♫), retrieved 2018-10-29