Creating Squirrel Girl vs Pepsiman: A Retrospective On The Saga And Experiences Of My Most Wanted Death Battle Matchup

Creating Squirrel Girl vs Pepsiman:

A Retrospective On The Saga And Experiences Of My Most Wanted Death Battle Matchup

    

    I’ve been watching Death Battle regularly for about three years, give or take. Season Eight is around the time I started following the show as it was coming out, including casually tuning into Season 9, and then becoming a direct member of the community in the middle of Season 10. But between seasons in 2023, something definitely changed for me. I began to understand the idea of coming up with original matchups, where concepts and personal hopes for future episodes are developed more, and started to become interested in coming up with my own. Some of them I’ve lost any attachment towards over time (such as Dragon Ball’s Krillin vs Super Show Toad, yes really) but others have not only stuck with me, but blossomed and evolved to a point of absolute passion and grown into something that I can truly call my own. For better and worse, I’ll always stick with this original matchup of mine, and it’s always going to be a story I enjoy trying to explain to anyone willing to hear me out.

Part 1: Where did this come from?

A struggling author was once riding on a train, trying to think of a story to develop. As she describes it, an idea just popped into her head, a visual of a boy wearing glasses with a lightning bolt scar on his head. She looked in her bag for some paper, but there was none. She continued watching out the window, continuing to think about the boy.
Despite everything that’s developed long after that day, I can’t think of a better way to describe how this matchup was conceived from my memory. All I can recall is the strange visual of an army of squirrels, running forward, only for the character Pepsiman to wave his arm. As they’re running, squirrels individually start making popping sounds as they transform instantly into cans of Pepsi, briefly airborne before landing on the ground. Suddenly, a squirrel with a pink bow runs forward, leaping at Pepsiman. A flash of blue, and both Pepsiman and Squirrel Girl go silent. A Pepsi can with a pink bow wrapped around it floats in midair briefly, shining gently before falling on the ground. With tears welling in her eyes, Squirrel Girl cries out in anguish“TIPPY-TOE!!” Pepsiman loudly screams, seemingly having unintentionally transformed the squirrel, and then receives an intense double kick to the face, sending him flying through a thin steel warehouse door…
    This concept is what gave birth to the idea of Squirrel Girl vs Pepsiman for me. It was April of 2023 when I started discussing it, and I wouldn’t start seriously discussing it with people until roughly October of that year, when I became more involved with the community. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was met with a heavy amount of confusion, apathy, and disdain.
So why is this so special to me? There’s definitely other original matchups I have, as well as fight scenes or just little moments in mind for them, so why should this one stand out so much?
Put simply…it’s a personal vibe. It always has been, since the beginning. It took me over a year to even start definitively coming up with connections these characters share for the matchup, most of which still are regularly challenged by people who dislike my idea and its possibilities from time to time. Months later, I have established the connections as follows:
Two street based characters who do whatever they can to help others, even in the smallest of ways. They both regain energy and health by consuming food and drink that relates to their personas, and are considered "gag characters" with an interesting reputation on the Internet over the years. Both debuted in the early 90's and are more positive, lighthearted heroes compared to the style of many mainstream superheroes at the time. Pepsiman himself was based on American superheroes when his creator was standing in a convenience store, looking at the soda designs and their colors. He wanted Pepsiman to be someone you cheered for when he showed up, and also laughed at when something went wrong. Also, not to mention primarily, I love both characters and it's a personal vibe.

Has great potential for a comedic and some physical slapstick based choreography fight with a lot of energy, unique use of its environment, and one of the rare Death Battles where both characters could/would become friends before the final blow.
    Squirrel Girl is quite possibly my favorite Marvel girl of all time, and has been for a very long time. Her solo run in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is among my favorite comic book series that I’ve ever read, and the character herself is one of the most positive, likable, and enduring superheroes I’ve ever spent time with as a comics fan. Pepsiman is a more simple case. I personally really enjoy nonsense like food mascots, and everything about a wacky character like Pepsiman just clicks with me. I love silent characters and how they express reactions, choices, and their purposes, and there are few who have done it as memorably and entertainingly as Pepsiman, for all his limited screentime. I love this matchup because of how much I love these characters, and how much the friendship they could someday share warms my heart. 

Part 2: Why for Death Battle?

         So why do I consider this my most wanted matchup for the versus show that has to end in death? If I love these characters so much, why do I want them to fight on a versus show like this? Put simply…it’s where I want them to be. These two just have so many curious moments and fascinating powers and abilities to work with and analyze on the show, and the exceptional team of writers and animators have so much to take inspiration from, experiment with, and make their own for this matchup. When one of our two hosts refuses to drink anything but BEER brand beer and has a personal bias towards squirrels, and the other host has a history of dealing with completely bizarre characters and physiologies, (including dealing with an insanely wacky drink mascot once before) I personally feel there’s so much at play for Wiz and Boomstick to experience, and in the process we the audience get to experience as well! We’ve now gotten several episodes with emotional endings, as well as episodes like All Might vs Might Guy where the characters were extremely cordial and friendly towards each other throughout the entire fight, something I think is extremely important for these two and their highly welcoming and determinedly friendly personalities.

    There are definitely caveats, and significant preferences I have regarding this matchup. But the main one is simply regardless of who may win, I’d prefer it to be bloodless. A death involving Pepsiman being ripped apart by squirrels like in Ant-Man vs Atom would be uncomfortably out of character for Doreen, and would put an overly grim and dark ending to what should be a more upbeat and very positive, bouncy, colorful episode. As of now, I have not written a full script for this matchup, both for the fight or for an entire episode, though I have a little experience currently with writing fight scripts. (See my previous work for Ghostface vs Fisherman). With all that being said, I do have a concept for how I’d love the episode to be able to truly end, which I have written below:
Pepsiman was panting heavily, channeling every last bit of energy and strength coursing through him into his hands. He was down to a half-kneel, his legs barely supporting his weight as he tried to keep his balance. He knew if he made a move for the cans lying at his feet, she would move for the kill and probably leave him without a hand. As the last of her armor swirled around her, locking into place, Doreen tensed up and started charging all of its remaining power into the repulsors. This was the final attack. Trying to keep her strength up, focusing on the image in her head of the unconscious Tippy-Toe, lying on the ground in front of her eyes, she whispered to herself "....eats nuts....and kicks butt..." Letting out a powerful scream, Pepsiman flung his hands forward, with a torrent of Pepsi cans flying out of the portal he summoned at incredible speeds. A massive “SCWAHHHHH” sound erupted from where he was kneeling, bursting around them like a sonic boom. Doreen let out her own cry and sent out all the energy from her Iron Squirrel suit through the chest repulsor like a laser blast, directly at Pepsiman's torso. It hit him square in the chest as his cry became louder, arms suddenly wavering but refusing to back down. As his body started to smoke a little, a blackened scar beginning to form on his chest, Doreen turned on the boot jets and flung herself forward, Pepsiman responding with a powerful leap off the ground towards her with just one leg, arms shaking in immense pain. With a powerful FATHOOM the two collided, a small explosion covering the area in smoke. As the dust began to settle, a very dizzy and aching Pepsiman recollected his surroundings, having landed backwards into a massive pile of...squirrels?Looking up, he saw the dust start to fade, only to see the piercing eyes of the Iron Squirrel suit glowing through. He started to try and back away with his feet, terrified, but the cushion of squirrels he was laying on gently prevented him from backing up. Then, the eyes suddenly faded. A few whirring clicks and snaps, and suddenly it opened up, with a bruised and slightly bloodied teenage superhero stepping out. Doreen kept her determined expression, but had a slightly inviting smile on her face as she stumbled forwards. Pepsiman backed away, truly terrified, expecting the worst. But then, as he looked back at her, what was facing him was a squirrel. No, not just any squirrel. A beautiful gray squirrel with a pink ribbon around their neck. Sporting a small bruise on their forehead, the squirrel was standing on SQ's hands, looking at him curiously. Then, Tippy-Toe reached out and gently licked Pepsiman's forehead. Carefully reaching out his own hand, he let the squirrel gently walk onto him, gently caressing him. He looked up at Doreen, whose smile had only widened. She offered her now free hand, and helped him to his feet. "You're a really, really tough guy. And you hurt Tippy-Toe. But it was an accident, wasn't it?"

Pepsiman nodded, continuing to pet Tippy-Toe and looking down at the group of

squirrels that had cushioned his fall. Doreen looked back at their fight.

"I think we made a little mess. You wouldn't mind helping me clean up a little,

right?" Pepsiman nodded even more, expressing his apology as best as he could.

Doreen smiled, extending her hand to him. "Then it's a deal....friend." Suddenly,

Pepsiman moved forward and embraced her in an honest hug. Surprised, but

happy, she returned it. Pepsiman quietly said “schwaah…” as the camera went

black, a familiar sound of bubbles fizzing just barely being audible.

                       

Part 3: Who Else Could They Both Fight?

    To be completely clear, I wasn’t familiar with Squirrel Girl and Pepsiman’s opponents when I first came up with PepsiSquirrel, as evidenced by me also coming up with Krillin vs SS Toad before I learned about Bandana Dee (A matchup I’m quite fond of). It's hard to get a good feel for Doreen’s overall matchup pool, but the most significant ones I do have opinions on.
Sandy Cheeks is currently my least favorite. I don’t like the idea of it as it boils down to “squirrel” (even though their personalities would pair well in general) and it’s just never been one I’m even vaguely sold on. Yes, I’m aware that matchup has a Death Battle Cast that I have yet to watch, but it’s not going to sway me very much. Also, I’ve seen Saitama vs Squirrel Girl once and from what I know it was made before Saitama vs Popeye happened. I see no reason to discuss it and personally feel it’s her worst matchup idea that I’ve seen.
Squirrel Girl’s other matchups are difficult to determine honestly. I haven’t yet seen My Deer Friend Nokotan, but I’m open to the idea from what I know about her. Arale is a fun idea, but I’m hesitant putting Doreen up against the likes of casually punching the Earth in half. With that being said, her obligatory Marvel vs DC matchup is Ch’p, the Green Lantern squirrel because of course it is! In all seriousness, I love the idea of Doreen meeting a squirrel from another universe and learning about his powers, but I’m not familiar with Ch’p and anything he personally has done.
Squirrel Girl matchup characters I currently know nothing about: Inugami Korone, May from Guilty Gear (I believe), and Makoto Nanaya from BlazBlue.
Pepsiman, on the other hand, I’m far more familiar with as a whole and I actually made my first tier list for him. It’s certainly gone through some changes, and here’s my current thoughts.
Thanks to animator Luis’s recent posts on X, the community’s interest in Sportacus vs Pepsiman has heavily grown over the past few weeks, and I’m among those fans. It’s currently my favorite alt for Pepsiman, and I do have a feeling Sportacus wins in the end. Cool Spot is my other favorite, it’s a typical response but they’re a great pairing as far as I’m concerned. Not much else to it currently.
Bud Knight I’m not really sold on. I can see why people are so fond of it but I’m not a beer guy at all as is, so it’s just not a pairing I’m enthused about. If it happens, I’ll be happy to see Pepsiman on the show. The one other major Pepsiman matchup I want to go particularly in depth on is Soda Popinski, though. To be honest, I don’t think it works as a Death Battle episode. However…I think it would be an amazing DBX idea. A simple, 3D round in the ring between Soda Popinski and Pepsiman, obviously promoting their sodas, could lead to a great little comedic fight with some great hand to hand interactions.
Pepsiman’s many other MUs chumps like me and Nemesis Bloodryche have come up with:
Like - Chester Cheetah, Kool-Aid Man, Vendor Knight Hirano Great, The Burger King, The Noid
Indifferent or Dislike: Mr. Clean, Coca-Cola Bear(s), Captain Falcon, Rooty the A&W Bear, Segata Sanshiro, etc.

Part 4: What’s Next For PepsiSquirrel?

As of now, it has been over a year and a half since the conception and earliest evolution of Squirrel Girl vs Pepsiman. In that time, I’ve expanded on the idea, developed a proper list of connections, put together multiple versions of a thumbnail montage celebrating the matchup with the help of work created by the community, personally gone to a convention as Squirrel Girl to help promote Death Battle, watched an entire documentary about Pepsiman available on YouTube, printed the one piece of official Pepsiman advertisement artwork to poster size and hung it up on my wall as well as coloring it by hand, made a few short fighting GIFs playing with MUGEN sprites for the first time, and most significantly of all… officially decided to do Squirrel Girl vs Pepsiman (Marvel vs Pepsi Co.) as a Kickstarter Gold Requiem Matchup Pitch to the creators of Death Battle themselves, Ben Singer and Chad James. That presentation is still in development and the date is unscheduled, but I’m still moving forward to be ready for it and spread my love for this matchup and these characters.
I have never pretended my chances of this episode or matchup ever being officially featured on Death Battle in any capacity even exist. It has not been submitted for a Kickstarter Cast, and Pepsiman’s many other options are far more likely to get a debut Cast and even episode if the team becomes more interested. But regardless of what happens, I hold my head up high and stand proudly with these two and everything I’ve done with them to this point. For every confused look and dismissive reaction, I eventually meet someone who gets a good laugh out of the idea or understands where the idea comes from. In the end, I am Paul. I created Squirrel Girl vs Pepsiman. So if there’s ever going to be someone who supports the strange, the ridiculous, the oddball yet extremely cool and fun-loving possibilities that can come from a little Pepsi and nuts, I’ll be that someone.