Shao Kahn v.s Aang The Avatar

[ArlEammon]

Shao Kahn is the Warlord of Earth Realm, capable of defeating a Thunder god. Shao Kahn's sorcery is also not weak in the slightest. With his supernatural strength, he won the Armageddon's final battles, defeating both Blaze and Raiden in personal combat.
Aang is the Avatar. His martial art's skill is not weak, and he is the supreme Bender of his world, perhaps second or equal to Korra, the next Avatar. However, though his martial art's skill is not weak, his real power comes from his bending of the elements.

[JNAProductions]

Shao Khan, undoubtedly.

[Hopeless]

Correct me here but didn't he lose and unless he cheats he doesn't have a prayer of taking the Earth Realm please note I did say cheat I believe in the movie sequel he called upon one of the Elder Gods to defy the rules of Mortal Kombat?

If this is the same person then he won't be facing Aang alone and to be fair this would be Aang between the 4th season and whenever he actually died with Korra being born so unless Shao Kahn cheats Aang goes Avatar, Shao Kang is pretty much history no matter how long he lived if Aang has access to the previous Avatar's lives thereby he'll see through Shao Kahn which means Shao has to beat Aang before he goes Avatar which is why he won't be alone.

Now if I've got the wrong Shao Kahn please explain who you're talking about?

[Traab]

Correct me here but didn't he lose and unless he cheats he doesn't have a prayer of taking the Earth Realm please note I did say cheat I believe in the movie sequel he called upon one of the Elder Gods to defy the rules of Mortal Kombat?

If this is the same person then he won't be facing Aang alone and to be fair this would be Aang between the 4th season and whenever he actually died with Korra being born so unless Shao Kahn cheats Aang goes Avatar, Shao Kang is pretty much history no matter how long he lived if Aang has access to the previous Avatar's lives thereby he'll see through Shao Kahn which means Shao has to beat Aang before he goes Avatar which is why he won't be alone.

Now if I've got the wrong Shao Kahn please explain who you're talking about?

Well the thing is, until he hit earth, shao khan had taken over dozens of other realms without any stumbles at all. Wasnt he victorious for like, ten thousand years of combat conquering realm after realm? On the other hand, the Avatar is capable of continental level damage when pushed far enough. So yeah, I dunno. Shao Khan has a massive physical edge and experience edge when it comes to combat, and he has fought gods. But those gods were pretty clearly reduced to mortal levels for the tournaments. And Aang can turn all the elements of the planet against him on a truly vast and overpowering scale. I think Aang wins. Unless Shao Khan finished him before he drops into avatar state. Which he could. Dude is fast and obscenely physically strong. That Wrath Hammer could reduce Aang to half his current height with a single overhand smash.

[Mato]

Correct me here but didn't he loseNo, he won. In MK3 Liu Kang defeated him in mortal combat which as someone else already pointed out brings it's own nerf to God level beings. In a later free-for-all Shao Khan beat everyone, including a reanimated Liu Kang whom is pretty much the Avatar of the MK universe. Kang can manipulate yin-yang spirit energy to heal and enslave the dead and he uses meditation to train (training in the spirit world?), Kang is also a super combatant with firebending that would initially seem weaker if you go off game-only depictions but Kang can shapeshift into a full on fire breathing dragon.

But that's beside things. I feel like it comes down to one simple point, Aang does not kill. Aang also needed his Avatar-state in order to overpower Ozai's will in order to remove his firebending and that's just the will of one mortal man who simply thinks he should rule the world. Kahn as absorbed and subjugated millions of souls, is the successful ruler of an uncountable amount of realms, and is known for his confidence & arrogance being so immeasurable they become a weakness to more cunning foes. Aang has no claim of success.

And as always, we have to got back to that pyramid. Shao Kahn won. It doesn't matter if it was through sheer power, on the fly planning, alliances. Which, given the promise of ultimate power any alliance not built on utter devotion could have been counted on anyway. The point is, he won in a free for all against everyone including facing off against the Elder God's counter champion, a lightning god, and a super magical dragon.

[ArlEammon]

Said magical dragon was superior to Raiden in everyway. I'm surprised he or Shinnok didn't take the tournament, although to be fair, Shinnok was just a clone.

[TeChameleon]

Meh- I'd honestly call rocket tag on this one, with a very slight edge to Aang. Aang's entire style as a master airbender is based around avoidance and speed. Shao Khan is fast, no doubt about it, but at the same time, hitting an airbending master that knows you're coming is like trying to hit air. Shao Khan, on the other hand, is an oiled up tank, and will likely try to just plow straight through whatever Aang is throwing at him.

And if Aang gets pushed hard enough...

Shao Khan: "Is it just me, or is it getting kind of warm..?"
VOLCANO'D

That being said, yeah, Shao Khan could turn Aang two-dimensional pretty easily if he connects with some of his bigger moves.

[Kyberwulf]

Why in these fights, does someone always claim rocket tag.

I don't think so.

I think this is a weird match up. I don't know if Shao Khans abilities are ever given anything outside of a fighting game.

Still given that, Aang is fast. I think Shao Khan is WAY faster. Even with Aang boosting his speed, Shao Khan is faster. Given how fast and how much combat expertise his opponents where. I don't think Aangs shtick of playing keep away would work on Shao.

I wish I could see Aang winning this fight. I just don't. Shao Khan would just overpower him, then beat him with that hammer of his. I don't think Aang has the spirit to actually kill Shao Khan.

[Traab]

Why in these fights, does someone always claim rocket tag.

I don't think so.

I think this is a weird match up. I don't know if Shao Khans abilities are ever given anything outside of a fighting game.

Still given that, Aang is fast. I think Shao Khan is WAY faster. Even with Aang boosting his speed, Shao Khan is faster. Given how fast and how much combat expertise his opponents where. I don't think Aangs shtick of playing keep away would work on Shao.

I wish I could see Aang winning this fight. I just don't. Shao Khan would just overpower him, then beat him with that hammer of his. I don't think Aang has the spirit to actually kill Shao Khan.

Rocket tag may be the wrong analogy here. If Shao Khan lands even one of his physically dominant attacks on aang, aang dies. Its more glass cannon versus normal artillery. Shao Khan is physically strong, exceptionally tough, and can take a lot of damage as well as dish it out. Aang has the potential to unleash landscape altering attacks, but he can NOT take the level of punishment shao khan can. That means that theoretically each can kill the other, but Aang has both a higher upper range of potential damage, and a WAY lower threshold for durability.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I know barely anything about Mortal Kombat, and I'll say that Shao Kahn wins.

[Psyren]

There's a death battle that discusses Shao Khan's capabilities in detail:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh1Y1TfV86U

I'd have to go with SK.

[Traab]

Seriously, Bison gets the best lines. "Yes yes, I killed your father. What is it with you women? I killed MY father too, and you dont hear ME whining about it!" There is just something seriously enraging about that and he hasnt even killed my father! (yet)

[TeChameleon]

Seriously, Bison gets the best lines. "Yes yes, I killed your father. What is it with you women? I killed MY father too, and you dont hear ME whining about it!" There is just something seriously enraging about that and he hasnt even killed my father! (yet)

It doesn't hurt that Raul Julia owned that role in the live action movie (seriously, he's very nearly the only thing that makes that pile of nonsense watchable). The way he was chewing the scenery, he must have been flossing sound technicians and key grips out of his teeth for weeks. And it. Is. GLORIOUS.

And I dunno- the Death Battle thing is fun, but I'd argue that it actually supports my statement that Shao Khan just doesn't have the speed and agility he'd need to tag an airbending master who saw him coming, much less an Avatar-state-fuelled airbending master who had just as much combat experience as he did (give or take a couple hundred years).

Not to say that Khan couldn't take down Aang using some other part of his monster bag of tricks, but I don't think that it would be the simple Hulk-vs.-Loki floor mopping that some seem to be calling.

Eh, could be a fun fight, anyhow- mostly, I suspect that it'd be Aang trying to get enough distance on Shao Khan to unleash some of his more... destructive... (i.e. continent-rearranging...) moves.

[Traab]

It doesn't hurt that Raul Julia owned that role in the live action movie (seriously, he's very nearly the only thing that makes that pile of nonsense watchable). The way he was chewing the scenery, he must have been flossing sound technicians and key grips out of his teeth for weeks. And it. Is. GLORIOUS.

And I dunno- the Death Battle thing is fun, but I'd argue that it actually supports my statement that Shao Khan just doesn't have the speed and agility he'd need to tag an airbending master who saw him coming, much less an Avatar-state-fuelled airbending master who had just as much combat experience as he did (give or take a couple hundred years).

Not to say that Khan couldn't take down Aang using some other part of his monster bag of tricks, but I don't think that it would be the simple Hulk-vs.-Loki floor mopping that some seem to be calling.

Eh, could be a fun fight, anyhow- mostly, I suspect that it'd be Aang trying to get enough distance on Shao Khan to unleash some of his more... destructive... (i.e. continent-rearranging...) moves.

Yeah its kinda like I said. Shao needs to hit aang to win. If he does, aang goes splortch. If aang can go full avatar mode, he will have enough power to splortch shao khan. Nothing less than avatar mode will faze him. As for raul, oh my yes did he own that role. Despite being physically one of the worst choices possible to play m bison. That was the last movie he ever acted in before he died, and he did it solely because his grand kids were huge street fighter fans. So he put so much ham into every scene israel declared it an act of religious persecution.

[Kyberwulf]

Meh, it's all about context.

Shao Kahn is from a video game. Both the Computer controlled character and Player controlled character move so fast.

Aang, is from a cartoon. So of course the action screen can make them look like they move super fast. It's more stylized.

[TeChameleon]

That's true as far as it goes, but Aang is explicitly called out in-universe as having superhuman speed and agility- it's not just cartoon whoosh-ness. Plus, while it's been a while since I've watched Avatar, I'm fairly certain that Aang was visibly faster than the other characters, even ones like Zuko and Azula who moved pretty dang fast on their own.

So... Aang: superspeed as an explicit power. Shao Khan? Not that I've ever heard. Yeah, big mean fast strong mofo, but no extreme superhuman speed.

EDIT: Aaaaand for clarity, not calling for a curb-stomp by Aang, either. Just that both fighters have ways to incapacitate or straight-up murder one another in a startlingly short amount of time. Shao Khan could probably suction the entire Avatar cycle out of Aang with Raoh as the chewy centre of the Tootsie Pop, if he had enough time to work out the whole reincarnation thing and whatnot, and he's physically strong enough to squash Aang against his forehead like a fratboy with an empty beer can. Meanwhile, Aang is fast enough to keep out of range or dodge most of Shao Khan's more obvious tricks, and I'm pretty sure that the ruler of Outworld doesn't have anything much in the way of defenses against being abruptly fossilized in several million tons of rock (i.e. splatted between two chunks of rock the size of small countries, then they're earthbended to be one chunk of rock the size of two small countries) or volcano'd without warning.

[ArlEammon]

That's true as far as it goes, but Aang is explicitly called out in-universe as having superhuman speed and agility- it's not just cartoon whoosh-ness. Plus, while it's been a while since I've watched Avatar, I'm fairly certain that Aang was visibly faster than the other characters, even ones like Zuko and Azula who moved pretty dang fast on their own.

So... Aang: superspeed as an explicit power. Shao Khan? Not that I've ever heard. Yeah, big mean fast strong mofo, but no extreme superhuman speed.

One of his moves involves ramming himself into enemies at high speed.

[Kyberwulf]

That, and Kahn has faced people that move pretty quick. People that can teleport, and don't have to dance to use their moves.

[-D-]

EDIT: Aaaaand for clarity, not calling for a curb-stomp by Aang, either. Just that both fighters have ways to incapacitate or straight-up murder one another in a startlingly short amount of time. Shao Khan could probably suction the entire Avatar cycle out of Aang with Raoh as the chewy centre of the Tootsie Pop, if he had enough time to work out the whole reincarnation thing and whatnot, and he's physically strong enough to squash Aang against his forehead like a fratboy with an empty beer can. Meanwhile, Aang is fast enough to keep out of range or dodge most of Shao Khan's more obvious tricks, and I'm pretty sure that the ruler of Outworld doesn't have anything much in the way of defenses against being abruptly fossilized in several million tons of rock (i.e. splatted between two chunks of rock the size of small countries, then they're earthbended to be one chunk of rock the size of two small countries) or volcano'd without warning.
Except Aang can't kill. And at that point Shao Kahn, just needs to hunt him down make him go Avatar and kill him on the spot to get rid of him forever. Only time Aang "killed anyone" was when he was possessed by a spirit.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Except Aang can't kill. And at that point Shao Kahn, just needs to hunt him down make him go Avatar and kill him on the spot to get rid of him forever. Only time Aang "killed anyone" was when he was possessed by a spirit.

On the other hand, locking immortal jackasses away permanently is almost certainly something he's okay with and definitely something he's capable of, even if he might need an episode or two worth of flashbacks to get the knowledge from Wan on how to do that. The capability is there, it just might not be applicable in a straight fight.

[-D-]

On the other hand, locking immortal jackasses away permanently is almost certainly something he's okay with and definitely something he's capable of, even if he might need an episode or two worth of flashbacks to get the knowledge from Wan on how to do that. The capability is there, it just might not be applicable in a straight fight.
Yeah, except Shao Kahn isn't going to sit and wait for metric ton of earth to envelop him. He'll probably blast it with his magic and/or hammer to smithereens.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yeah, except Shao Kahn isn't going to sit and wait for metric ton of earth to envelop him. He'll probably blast it with his magic and/or hammer to smithereens.

Well, that's why it's a fight. I'm just saying that Aang has options to end it that aren't killing.

Anyway, I think it's an even fight if they're both limited to "Mortal" Kombat - Aang's evasiveness and mastery of the environment vs. Shao Khan's raw power. If one goes full-on Avatar State and one goes full-on universal-conqueror or whatever, I'd need to read up on Mortal Kombat more to be sure.

[Traab]

Its a decent matchup in that both have the capability to kill each other. My main worry is that in order for aang to survive he has to dodge every single hit long enough to go full scale avatar and then drop some seriously high end voodoo on shao to finish him. Seriously, even in avatar state, if he takes so much as one of shao khans real attacks, he will be obliterated, and I hate relying on, "But he will just dodge everything" as a reasonable claim for how someone will win. Because short of an objectively superior matchup like say, shao khan versus the flash, you cant really say definitively that aang is so much faster and more agile that he wont get hit.

[JNAProductions]

Agreed with Traab. Seriously-Aang has the durability of a normal human. (Well, he might have far superior endurance, but his body is still relatively frail.) One good hit will paste him, and while he can dodge well, I don't think he can maintain an offensive while frantically trying to survive. What little offense he COULD mount can be bullrushed through.

[Kyberwulf]

What people seem to forget.. is context. In the context of the game. Shao Kahn is faster then all the other fighters. In the world of mortal kombat.. he is pretty fast himself. For the most part. It isn't stylized as say.. Street fighter is. Where as. We know aang is fast. Just not how much faster. He is from a highly stylized cartoon.

[-D-]

What people seem to forget.. is context. In the context of the game. Shao Kahn is faster then all the other fighters. In the world of mortal kombat.. he is pretty fast himself. For the most part. It isn't stylized as say.. Street fighter is. Where as. We know aang is fast. Just not how much faster. He is from a highly stylized cartoon.
And speed means ****, if you aren't durable enough to survive the stop. Or if perhaps is someone puts a stop by placing a hammer in path of your stomach.

[Nerd-o-rama]

What people seem to forget.. is context. In the context of the game. Shao Kahn is faster then all the other fighters. In the world of mortal kombat.. he is pretty fast himself. For the most part. It isn't stylized as say.. Street fighter is. Where as. We know aang is fast. Just not how much faster. He is from a highly stylized cartoon.

Nope, nothing stylized or over the top (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YxPFw7lfY0) about Mortal Kombat, no sir.

[Kyberwulf]

Yeah, but it's more consistent to the context of the world. Avatar can't decide what kind of physics it wants half the time.

[TeChameleon]

Yeah, but it's more consistent to the context of the world. Avatar can't decide what kind of physics it wants half the time.
...

Right.

Anyways, speaking of 'Aang can't survive being hit by the Wrath Hammer', is there any explanation as to how, say, Sonya Blade or Johnny Cage or Jax or whoever can survive getting smacked with it? I don't think they've got anything much in the way of 'supernatural durability' going for them, and Aang has tanked Earthbender hits before, so I'm no longer as certain that Shao Khan's guaranteed a one-hit-kill as I previously was. There's also the fact that Aang has on multiple occasions tanked hits that would have killed a fit, strong, full-grown man without anything more than shaking his head a little when he clambered out of the pile of rubble he landed in (after being put through a stone wall >.>).

As to speed? Agreed, Shao Khan is fast. However, he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, Airbender fast. Aang has run up vertical walls and across the surface of the water, reacted defensively to an explosion in progress a matter of inches away from him, and dodged arrows. Shao Khan has not, to the best of my knowledge, shown any comparable speed. Aang is vastly his superior when it comes to reflexes, reaction time, and mobility.

[Traab]

...

Right.

Anyways, speaking of 'Aang can't survive being hit by the Wrath Hammer', is there any explanation as to how, say, Sonya Blade or Johnny Cage or Jax or whoever can survive getting smacked with it? I don't think they've got anything much in the way of 'supernatural durability' going for them, and Aang has tanked Earthbender hits before, so I'm no longer as certain that Shao Khan's guaranteed a one-hit-kill as I previously was. There's also the fact that Aang has on multiple occasions tanked hits that would have killed a fit, strong, full-grown man without anything more than shaking his head a little when he clambered out of the pile of rubble he landed in (after being put through a stone wall >.>).

As to speed? Agreed, Shao Khan is fast. However, he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, Airbender fast. Aang has run up vertical walls and across the surface of the water, reacted defensively to an explosion in progress a matter of inches away from him, and dodged arrows. Shao Khan has not, to the best of my knowledge, shown any comparable speed. Aang is vastly his superior when it comes to reflexes, reaction time, and mobility.

Shao Khan is fast enough to reflect lightning bolts fired at him by the very god of lightning himself. And other projectile attacks of various types. As for how the other humans can tank it, im not sure if there is any in universe justification for how they can go from taking a dozen wrath hammer hits to the face during regular combat, to this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFp8Ezd9k8g)

[Kyberwulf]

Meh this seems like two different fights.

Shao Kahn vs. Aang

And

Shao Kahn Vs. The Avatar.

I don't really see Aang doing anything spectacular. Well, anything outside of what is in Mortal Kombat. The Avatar isn't going to help him either. Not a lot. Just for the fact, Aang doesn't kill. I don't think Aang sealing ability would work on Shao Kahn. As much as I like the Avatar series. He is just outclassed.

[TeChameleon]

Does Aang... need to kill, exactly? I mean, I'm quite certain that there are tricks he can pull out that could take down Shao Khan and make sure that there's no further Kombat, Mortal or otherwise, without the slightest need to kill him. I mean, it's not going to kill him, necessarily, but if the ground suddenly goes away, then slams shut around him, *poof*, instant Khan-fossil- heck, could even keep just that silly skull-helmet thing poking out so that Shao Khan could still (sorta) breathe.

So, just to break it down briefly: I'm sure it's pretty obvious what Shao Khan could do to kill Aang (smoosh with Wrath Hammer, fry with magic whatsit, squash head like a grape with bare hands, etc., etc.); however, Aang is hardly without options. I really don't know how well Shao Khan could fight someone who could alter the entirety of the environment he was fighting in. To the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, Shao Khan cannot fly, and even if he can, I don't think he has any real way to deal with hurricane-force winds that pop up out of nowhere and are being directed by an intelligence that wishes him to go 'splat'.

If Aang can maintain his distance (which really is a key part of his fighting style), then he could remove all the air from Shao Khan's lungs and prevent him from getting any new air, blow him all over the place and bounce him off of every solid object in a three kilometre radius, roast him (and unless Liu Kang is extremely fond of wasting his time, hitting Shao Khan with fire does hurt him), turn quite literally any liquid in the vicinity into a whip or tentacle things or ice (or whatever the equivalent thereof might be for the liquid in question) to bludgeon or whip or freeze Shao Khan, or batter him with large rocks, entomb him in stone, turn the ground to quicksand (or lava), or... well, when you're fighting the Avatar, and s/he knows that you are a serious threat? You're going to find out quite quickly that everything that can be related to the four classical (Western) elements in any fashion whatsoever does not like you.

This is not a fun position for a non-invulnerable, primarily-melee fighter to find themselves in.

Is Shao Khan incredibly powerful and dangerous? Beyond question. Is he sufficiently beyond human to trivialize a smart bender's abilities to manipulate the environment to incapacitate him?

... yeah, not so much.

And if you want to argue that Shao Khan is, in fact, vastly beyond mere mortal attempts to harm him, I have just two words for you: Kurtis. Stryker. A perfectly ordinary mortal cop with a gun and a nightstick. Preeeetty sure that the embodiment of cosmic balance who can call on (almost) ten thousand years of combat experience wielding the full force of nature ranks a bit higher on the power scale than that.

[JNAProductions]

Well is it Mortal Kombat, or a full out fight? There's a difference. In Mortal Kombat, everyone is highly depowered-including Shao Kahn. In a full out fight... Not so much.

[Kyberwulf]

That's the thing. Shao Kahn's powers are never really stated. To my knowledge. He is suppose to be a pretty good sorcerer. You can't really see that in Mortal Kombat. Just from his skills alone, he sees more then enough to take out Aang.

Shao Kahn, is suppose to be so powerful. The Elder Gods had to make a deal with him so he would stop conquering worlds so fast. Again, I don't know if it's just cause of his power, or his leadership. I would say his power though, because they just don't ice the guy.

Shao Kahn has taken over a lot of worlds. Defeated a lot of opponents.

[Nerd-o-rama]

But it's all extremely vague and open-ended because it's the story of a fighting game and literslly no one cares enough to go into detail.

[-D-]

That's the thing. Shao Kahn's powers are never really stated. To my knowledge. He is suppose to be a pretty good sorcerer. You can't really see that in Mortal Kombat. Just from his skills alone, he sees more then enough to take out Aang.

Shao Kahn, is suppose to be so powerful. The Elder Gods had to make a deal with him so he would stop conquering worlds so fast. Again, I don't know if it's just cause of his power, or his leadership. I would say his power though, because they just don't ice the guy.

Shao Kahn has taken over a lot of worlds. Defeated a lot of opponents.
If Shao Kahn was fighting Aang in mortal combat, I'm sure Aang Avatar state would be banned, so he would die.

If Shao Kahn was fighting Aang for real, Aang would die the moment he gets too close to him. And since Aang can't kill Shao Kahn without major character retcon, and Shao Khan is an indomitable sorcerer fueled by several billion of captured souls, Aang probably has no way to deal with him... again. Hell, I doubt even Korra would be able to kill Shao Kahn (she has only her own power to muster).