Death Battle Predictions: King Kong (1933) VS Donkey Kong (1981)

(Beeg)

(Dura)

"A beast does not know that he is a beast. And the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it." - George MacDonald

King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Donkey Kong, the King of the Jungle.

Humanity has had to live alongside the beast for millennia, we have grown and evolved alongside each other. It'd be mighty hard to truly understand a world where man and animal didn't rely on each other for their continued existence, but that mutual understanding can be easily abused. Taken from their homes and set up as a mere roadside attraction, these tragic apes have rebelled against their captors, but in the process found love (legal or not). Even after the rather tragic endings of their stories, these two great apes have inspired a lineage to follow in their footsteps, as well as pioneering an entire genre.

But right now, it's time for East and West to meet in a brawl for the ages: the original iconic movie monster VS one of the pillars of the old gaming market. So without further ado, let's begin this rumble in the jungle and see who'd win a DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Begin...

While the media covered for either should be rather obvious, there are a few things to clear up first. For King Kong, we'll be including the original 1933 film and the 1932 novelization, as well as including additional information from Son of Kong. We will also be including the two biggest comics tied to the original 1932 novel – Gold Key and Monster – as well as the Broadway musical. All three are direct adaptations of the source material and are officially recognized by the copyright holders of King Kong, so for our purposes we have deemed them fair to use. However we will not be including things like the 1976 film or its 1986 sequel, the Toho Kong duology, or the 2005 remake and the MonsterVerse films. Those are remakes/reboots and not supposed to be the same continuity, unlike the musical and comics which were only direct adaptations and not complete remakes.

For Donkey Kong, we'll be including the original arcade game as well as the two sequels – Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong 3 – and the Donkey Kong Circus spin-off. Donkey Kong for the Gameboy will also be included for additional research and, perhaps most controversially, the Saturday Supercade cartoon will also be brought in for consideration. While most of Saturday Supercade is currently lost media, a majority of the episode segments related to Donkey Kong have been found and are free for viewing on YouTube and the Internet Archive. As such, they are being included as well. What is not being included, however, is the Donkey Kong Country series. While it has since been confirmed that the original DK is actually Cranky Kong, information from those games are being left out since Cranky Kong no longer possesses the title of "Donkey Kong" in that series, and has since grown. Also it just makes for a better debate, because to be completely honest Cranky would kick King Kong's ass six ways till Sunday. No Pixels either, I know I know… I was looking forward to it too.

Background

King Kong

"He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive, a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!"

Skull Island is a world alien from our own. Far off the Indonesian coastline, this massive landmass sits full of creatures both modern and prehistoric: large dinosaurs, mutant bugs, and a group of natives who call the island their home. But there is only one who stands above it all. Some call him their god, some call him their enemy, and others simply know him as a protector of the island. But if you ever happen to hear the rumbling of trees and the pounding of fist-on-chest, followed by a loud, prideful roar, you can just refer to him as your King: Kong.

Not much is known about how Kong exactly came to be, but one thing is for sure: he was the mightiest. No one on his island could ever actually challenge him, so King Kong was left to his lonesome. Sure, being a god for a time was interesting, but even total worship eventually lost all meaning, especially when he was an animal. But that didn't matter to him, he was on top of the world, and there was going to be no one to topple him. That is, until the outsiders invaded his island. The movie producer Carl Denham was looking to find something new to spice up his act, and along with him came the crew of the S.S. Venture. Most importantly, among them was the (rather misogynistic) firstmate Jack Driscoll and the leading lady herself, Ann Darrow.

Darrow in specific Kong took a liking to, as upon arriving to the island and having a run-in with the natives and various creatures of the estranged landmass, she was offered as an unwilling sacrifice to the big ape. Kong took Ann and escaped with her into the jungle and back to his mountainous cave, with the giant gorilla slowly forming a genuine attraction to the woman. Unfortunately, this loving gaze was rather understandably not reciprocated by Ann. However, King Kong still defended his captive from the many creatures who wanted to take her from him. Not even the powerful jaws of the Tyrannosaurus Rex or the potent venom of a giant serpent was enough to stop the God of Skull Island, and for a time it seemed as though Kong would have the woman all to himself. That is, until Driscoll arrived and took her away from him while he was distracted fighting a pterosaur.

Kong pursued them, but as a result he was lured into a trap and bombed with gas bombs. This knocked the great ape out cold, causing his body to go limp for a time. Turns out, Denham had hatched a plan to bring King Kong back to mainland New York City, where he would be put on display at a theater and made into a money-making machine. So, the entire crew loaded the downed gorilla onto the Venture and hauled him all the way back to NYC, where Carl would put his act on display. Announcing Kong as the "Eighth Wonder of the World", everyone watched on with great awe and terror as the eponymous ape was revealed, looming over the crowd and becoming increasingly irritated at the constant flashing lights. And when he saw Ann (or rather an actress who was in the place of Ann) in front of him, his fury exploded in a divine showing of might, snapping the supposedly unbreakable chains holding him back. Running amuck through the streets of the concrete jungle, the former king tried his hardest to find Ann – the real Ann – and eventually tracked her down. With his lady in hand, he barreled through Manhattan and approached the tallest point, something that could take the place of his mountain: the Empire State Building.

Though, this would ultimately prove to be King Kong's downfall. A bunch of airplanes were scrambled to gun the beastly god down, and that they did. Falling off the Empire, perhaps Kong's last thoughts were that of sorrow. A last pained wail to be heard by none, a final goodbye to the woman who had led to his demise, or maybe even damnation to those who had wronged him. Whatever these last thoughts were, one thing was sure: it wasn't the airplanes that got him. Though they may have been ultimately what gunned him down, none of that would have happened if Kong hadn't fallen in love. It was Beauty who killed the Beast.

Donkey Kong

"How high can you climb?"

Super Mario, you know him well. He's Nintendo's mascot – the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom and red-clad plumber from Brooklyn. This mustachioed Italian is always ready to step in and help where he can, and alongside him is usually his cowardly yet fiercely loyal brother Luigi. They've fought against many threats to their home, and made many friends and foes along the way; however, before their days of stomping… KOOPAS, and kicking Bowser a new shell, they were mere laborers in their hometown, working multiple jobs to supposedly just reach ends meet. However, despite this lifestyle, Mario "Jumpman" Mario was able to afford to keep a gorilla as a pet. And this pet's name was… Donkey Kong. Real original there, I'm sure that you won't run into any copyright issues.

This relationship was not to be modeled after though, because it was all underlined in a hint of abuse. Donkey Kong was kind of forced to perform tricks and whenever he would fail, Mario would punish him by just laughing in his face. So yeah, Mario pretty much started out as a kinda douchebag at first, but either way it led to Donkey Kong breaking out of his owner's hold. In a fit of rage at his mistreatment, the ape kidnapped Mario's then-girlfriend, Pauline, and scaled to the top of a construction site. Ever the daring "hero", Mario scaled the structure, as DK attempted to escape his pursuer. The two encountered one another all around Brooklyn (with Donkey Kong somehow even having the time to fight against this guy named Stanley), and even after the gorilla's attempts to fight back, it didn't seem to help his case at all. This all eventually led to Mario cornering the ape and defeating him by sending DK plummeting to the ground. The red (at the time) carpenter took back his pet, further abusing him as time went on.

However, Donkey Kong Jr., the son of Donkey Kong, soon arrived at the scene and began his trial to get his father back. Eventually he succeeds, and Mario is driven away which allows for the two Kongs to head to their real home: Kong Island. The two beasts thrive here, and alongside them the other Kongs do as well, with our good ol' DK living till he was old and wise. Hell, he even got the chance to assist his lineage with fighting back against their new enemies: the Kremlings. Also, eventually Mario apparently turns over a new leaf and forms a friendly rivalry with DK's grandson… uh, Donkey Kong! Though no matter who holds the title, the Cranky old Kong will never stop reminding everyone who the REAL big dog was back in his day; and for good reason.

Experience & Skill

King Kong

Kong is quite good at fighting, as you would expect from a wild ape worshiped as a god. King Kong has survived on Skull Island for millions of years, and has never succumbed to the dinosaurs living alongside him. He's agile and intelligent enough to know how to exploit the weaknesses of a Tyrannosaurus, such as knocking it off its feet and jumping on its back to keep out of its reach. Additionally, he learns from his fights, as he has discovered the technique to dispatching the meat-eating dinosaur from his previous encounters with the species. Kong is capable of using tools and weapons, even making makeshift bats out of trees and in general just using the environment to his advantage. When Jack and Ann were escaping his cave, he was smart enough to pull up the vine they used to get down and use it as a pulley to heave them back up. Previously, the great ape was shown knocking down his island invaders into a ravine using the log they were moving across (and in turn gave us one of the most sought-after hoaxes of all time).

The Eighth Wonder is also capable of understanding and feeling human emotion, as one of the main themes of the film and novel is how lonely Kong is living on his island. He falls in love with Ann, and even protects her from the creatures of his island, proving that on some level King Kong has human-level emotion.

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is a shockingly skilled fighter, even if he doesn’t do it directly all too often. In the cartoon, he was able to win a pseudo-sword fight against an evil orangutan and foil Mario’s attempts to capture him again, and again, and again, and again, pretty much every episode. He’s even been able to sneak into boats, fancy restaurants, an auction, and so much more! Generally, DK is more of a trickster than a direct fighter, opting to use clever strategies to fool his foes instead of fighting them directly.

He’s also shown to be pretty good at improvisation as well, such as creating a makeshift glider out of a sail, using multiple barrel-substitutes based on what he can find, along with using the general environment around him to either climb around, or screw up his foes. Heck, the very premise of the original game and his most popular weapon IS improvised!

Equipment

King Kong

Tree Branch

Kong can use a tree branch as a bat/club. Perfect for fending off those dastardly lizards who want to eat his lady. Likely inspired the funni King Kong VS Godzilla meme.

Boulders

During a run-in with some triceratops, Kong decided to chunk a boulder at one of them. It killed it instantly, and he does the same thing to another one. Has since become a staple of Kong's weaponry.

Logs

Y'know, I think I'm starting to sense a pattern here… Anyways, yeah Kong is resourceful enough to toss a bunch of people down off a large log that they came over on. Should also be capable of using it in the middle of battle as a weapon.

Donkey Kong

Barrels

Donkey Kong’s most popular and primary weapon of choice. They are… barrels. There’s really not much to say here, they are regular-ass barrels that DK tosses around. The most interesting part is that there’s a blue one which seems to be filled with some flammable substance, as it can light an oil drum on fire and spawn weird fire creatures.

Jacks

DK took a liking to hurling these around in Donkey Kong '94 for the Gameboy. They bounce along, and Mario dies of death if he touches them. There’s not much to say.

Tsutan'ōmen

DK decided to start tossing these guys at some point. They’re pretty much just Egyptian Goombas.

Rokkun

More guys DK decided to throw. They behave exactly the same as the Tsutan'ōmen.

Insecticide

DK used this during his run-in with Stanley on the Game and Watch. This can spray away any nasty bees that go after the big ape, sending them toward some unlucky person instead, though he does have to occasionally refill, which can leave him wide open.

Bubble Gun

During his shoot-out with Mario in the “modern” version of the G&W DK3, DK used this to push fireballs toward Mr. Video, though he has to refill it at points, just like the insecticide.

Hockey Stick

DK used this when he played hockey with Mario. I don’t know why he did this and he never did it again.

Super Mushroom

The one and only iconic staple of the Mario franchise. Upon consumption of this mushroom, its consumer can grow in height and in turn gain a huge strength boost. In Donkey Kong '94 for the Gameboy, DK ate not just one, but several Super Mushrooms and grew to an enormous size.

Motorbikes

DK used these multiple times in Saturday Supercade. They range from one he probably got from the circus, to one borrowed from a biker gang, and finally one a rich-ass child got for his birthday. There isn’t really much to say here outside of mobility I guess.

Disguises

Donkey Kong must've taken a page out of Scooby-Doo's book, because he loves to equip wild and out-there disguises. And most shockingly, they're enough to fool even highly trained gangsters and frequently dupe Mario - despite the latter having fought him several times and seen the disguise trick before. Don't know how he does it, but he does.

Bananas

Not gonna lie, I think this is where the Kong's fascination with bananas first began to become public knowledge. He somehow always manages to find some lying around. He also likes using the peels to lay traps, making any poor shmuck who comes across one slide and slip around.

Roller Skates

Big ol' roller-skates for his big ol' feet. Similar to many things in this series, it’s never explained where he got these and he never uses them again.

Binoculars

Good for observing things from far away. Oh yeah and uh, they can also function as a cage for humans, for some reason.

Parachute

What war did bro fight in??????

Stick

So, after this evil orangutan kidnapped Pauline, Donkey Kong got a stick and had a sword fight with said orangutan. He was pretty good at it too, shockingly enough.

Wings

Monke FLY. He fashioned these out of the sails of a pirate ship.

Shaving Cream

DK found this in a cart that was being loaded onto a boat. He used it to fill up a sack to throw at foes, covering them in shaving cream.

Straw

I don't know what we should focus on more here. The fact that Donkey Kong has a straw large enough to drink an entire pool, or the fact his bladder didn't explode from drinking said pool.

Shark

(Oh hi BigShark!)

DK got himself a big ass shark and can ride around on it. Eat your heart out Bruce the Shark from hit 1970's thriller film Jaws.

Chair

It's... it's a fucking chair. What do you want me to say? He uses it to fend off some lions ig.

Sharp File

A filer that Donkey Kong used to puncture a balloon. This is, of course, never brought up again.

Football Balloon

After being tricked into breaking a few inmates out of prison in a plan disguised as a football game to fool poor DK, the big monke kept the football. Pauline and Mario convinced DK that his partners were actually bad people, and subsequently he disposed of them by trapping them in a makeshift cage. Mario attempts to catch DK, but he escapes by blowing up his football like a balloon and managing another escape.

Golf Club

Used when he was playing golf with a kid, it’s a fucking golf club I have nothing to say here.

Lasso

WOOOO COWBOY MONKE! DK used this in a rodeo, and used it to tow a truck.

Bull

A bull that DK used in said rodeo.

Unicycle

You remember the motorbikes? Yeah, this is them, but with only one wheel and not as fast. Great style points though.

Knight Outfit

A knight get-up, complete with armor, a horse, and a lance!

Cymbal

Monke SPIN! He can spin a cymbal and make it spin so fast it carries him in the air like a helicopter. It is never really explained how he can do this, but this is an 80's cartoon sooooo...

Biplane

WATCH OUT KING KONG!!!

DK got this from another ape named Sonny. He broke it down to use as a boat to Africa for some reason but it just kinda… got fixed later on. I don’t know if he has a pilot’s license.

Abilities

King Kong

Superhuman Agility

King Kong is very experienced with his island's landscape, and to get around his home so fast he had to master how to most quickly travel through it. This led to him becoming superhumanly athletic, able to leap giant ravines in a single jump or entire city blocks in only a few. He's adept at climbing as well, capable of scaling super tall structures like his mountain or the Empire State Building without much trouble.

Large Size

(Multiple hundred-meter-tall Kong and Ann my favorite)

A rather controversial topic is how tall this iteration of King Kong actually is. The animatronic bust that the film used would have had Kong end up at 40 feet tall, however there is a large hand prop used several times that would actually be more in line with Kong being 70 feet, and many more examples. However, according to Merian C. Cooper (Kong's creator) and several official sources, Kong is regarded as standing 50 feet tall. The latter-most end is the most consistent throughout the film, and is usually the height attributed to him. So, for our purposes, this blog uses Kong's 50 feet height.

Still fuckin' enormous regardless of what end you go with, though.

Enhanced Senses

As shown above, Kong is extremely well-sighted. He's capable of spotting a giant serpent from within a "black pool of water", even when Jack couldn't make it out. King Kong has also shown capable of detecting scents, following Ann's scent to track her down hiding in a hotel.

Intelligence

As you would expect, Kong is very intelligent. He's been around for millions of years, and has been adapting to his environment ever since he was young. Kong is capable of formulating plans to take out his enemies and shows some basic problem skills. When the crew of the Venture were making their way across Skull Island to take back Ann, he used the log they were crawling across to launch them into the spider pit below. King Kong is also intelligent enough to use different objects around as weapons and tools, like trees and rocks.

Natural Weaponry

King Kong, as an ape, frequently uses his teeth to deal damage. He bites into the Tyrannosaurus, and does so again with a Skull Island native.

Immortality

King Kong is… immortal apparently. He's survived for millions of years, and even upon being riddled with bullets he still kept fighting until he physically couldn't anymore, being called "deathless". If you use the comics, this is even further backed up as the bullets themselves may not have even been what killed him.

Resistances

Chemical Manipulation/Gas Manipulation: Required multiple gas bombs in order to knock him out.

Donkey Kong

Superhuman Agility

Due to being trained by Pauline, DK is extremely agile. Being able to hop between buildings, scale virtually anything, perform nigh-impossible circus stunts, and land on his feet after massive falls.

Levitation

He just kinda does this when he sees a girl he finds really attractive. He just like me fr.

Intelligence

DK is a pretty smart ape. He’s figured out how to drive, can quickly learn basically any skill, and has successfully outwitted Mario and Pauline at every twist and turn.

Toon Force

While it may not be on the level of SpongeBob or Bugs Bunny, Donkey Kong has some of this toon force stuff going on. Such as stretching his body (pictured above) or making his body very round when drinking pool water.

Resistances

Gas Manipulation/Sleep Manipulation: Was not only able to inhale sleeping gas, but could also exhale it back out and make it hit Mario.

Extreme Heat: Can survive being lit on fire.

Forms

King Kong

Animatronic

Haha lol, funny monke face.

Donkey Kong

Giant DK

After eating a whole heapin' spaghetti pile of mushrooms, DK gained this new, massive form. Its height is unclear, but it’s way larger than Mario. He mainly attacks by using his hands, but his head is a major weak point.

Feats

King Kong

Overall

• Reigns Skull Island as its king and god
• Managed to evade the crew of the Venture several times
• Even when he did finally get captured, he managed to escape
• Survived for millions of years and has racked up experience to boot
• All things considered, he adapted to New York fairly quickly
• Defeated a Tyrannosaurus, Elasmosaurus, a giant snake, a pteranodon, and more all while trying to keep Ann away from them
• The 1933 film is commonly considered to be one of the greatest movies ever
• Inspired and paved the way for countless movie monsters
• Totally fought Godzilla that one time

Power

• Can casually knock down wooden structures
• Fought and wrestled an Elasmosaurus, killing it by slamming it to the ground
• Knocked over a large tree in his fight with a Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Broke said T. Rex's jaws in his iconic finisher
• Broke down a large wooden door and stone wall with a single arm, even when they were fortified by several grown men
• Snapped the chrome steel chains holding him in place (45.7 mJ)
• Bent a metal door (11.68 - 502.86 mJ)
• Severely damaged a subway train
• Punched through the entrance to a theater
• Kills a giant snake by smashing it on the ground
• Broke out of this same snake's tail wrapping all around his body
• Shook Skull Island on at least a Magnitude 4 scale with just his roar (At least 17.15 Tons of TNT)
• Rocked a huge log
• Smacks a plane out of the sky
• Does so again in the comics

Speed

• Evaded bites from a T. Rex
• Grabbed a pteranodon before it could escape from him
• Knocked a plane out of the sky
• In the comics, this was a Curtiss Falcon Model 37H (62.3 m/s)
• Can leap across buildings casually
• Caught up to and surprised Jack and Ann with how fast he reached them
• Caught himself after being launched off a ravine
• Should be capable of moving the same speed as a gorilla relative to his size (92.76 m/s)

Durability

• Is fine after getting knocked down by a T. Rex
• Can take the T. Rex biting into him
• Gets a chair thrown at his arm and he's fine
• Could take multiple gas bombs detonating around him
• Grenades which can take down multiple elephants at once do nothing to him
• Got bitten by a pteranodon and was fine
• Got stabbed in the hand with a knife and didn't care
• Is riddled with bullets from airplanes and keeps on fighting for a while
• In the comics is implied that it isn't actually the planes that killed him, but rather him being so tired that he fell from the Empire State Building

Donkey Kong

Overall

• Fought Mario, Mario, Stanley, and Mario
• Is really, really fucking good at the dupe
• Put away a bunch of criminals
• Successfully escaped Mario and Pauline after a while
• After being freed by Donkey Kong Jr, managed to let go of his past with Mario and move on
• Is one of the most famous video game antagonists of all time
• Was the first ever Mario villain (eat your heart out Bowser)
• Beat King Kong in the copyright dispute

Power

• Slowly breaks down a 25 meter tall structure by jumping
• Throws a barrel onto a see-saw hard enough to send Mario flying
• Was able to rip a stone pillar out of a wall, before carrying and throwing it
• Ripped off a bus roof
• Prevented a plane from taking off and eventually snapped it in half
• Managed to yank some people with a lasso hard enough to ricochet them off of an awning into a western-styled building, destroying it
• Grabs an anchor and uses it like a lasso
• Shook an indoor golf course by jumping
• Stops and tips over a truck via lasso
• As giant DK, shook his tower (0.253 Tons of TNT)

Speed

• Catches up to an airplane during takeoff (66.6 - 79.1 m/s)
• Runs on a boat’s propeller fast enough to rapidly speed up the boat and cause it to crash
• Hops between buildings fairly quickly
• Caught up to motorbikes
• Outran Mario’s van for a while

Durability

• Can survive falling from varying heights
• Is fine after hitting a wall hard enough to crack it
• Fell through a roof
• Relatively unfazed after driving through a billboard at high speeds
• Survived being rammed by a high-speed boat
• Survived firing himself out of a cannon
• Survived his plane crashing into a tree

Scaling

King Kong

Tyrannosaurus Rex/Meat-Eater

Kong fought and even defeated the T. Rex, therefore he should be pretty damn comparable to it.

• The Tyrannosaurus Rex can bite with a force of 12,800 pounds
• Can run up to 16 km/h
• Shoved Kong into a tree which knocked it over

Little Kong

You should be able to compare Kong to his little boy, Little Kong (or "Kiko"). They are father and son, of the same species, and Kong has lived and fought much more than his boy has. Safe to say, King Kong would upscale from Kiko.

• Knocked down a stone wall
• Fought with a giant cave bear and defeated it
• In that same fight, picked up a tree that was larger than himself and effortlessly lifted it over his head, using it as a club
• Fought with "the Dragon"
• Is apparently aware of the fourth wall…… ok.

Miscellaneous Skull Island Creatures

On Skull Island, Kong is King. The natives worship him as their god, and he hasn't been bested by any of the natural wildlife there for millions of years. As such, Kong would either scale to or upscale from any and all feats regarding Skull Island's fauna.

• A stegosaurus' tail can produce a force of 35 kilograms
• A brontosaurus can run up to 30 km/h
• A pteranodon can fly at 8 m/s
• Cave bears are on par with the likes of polar bears
• Polar bears have a bite force of 1,200 psi and a kinetic energy of 25.3 kJ

Donkey Kong

Mario "Jumpman" Mario

Given how Mario and DK are constantly at odds, it would only make sense for DK to scale to him. However, for the sake of being fair in the debate, we will only be scaling DK to Mario's feats directly from the original Donkey Kong series.

• Mario can smash apart barrels with the Super Hammer
• Mario could swing around and toss an anchor
• Mario outran a bull
• Mario ripped a statue out of the ground
• Mario survived flying through a wooden crate
• Mario survived impacting a cart at a fair hard enough to destroy it
• Mario survived a mast falling onto some barrels

Donkey Kong Jr.

Y’know what they say, like father like son! Or… like son like father in this case, I guess.

• Donkey Kong Jr. caught his dad while he was falling
• DK Jr. ripped off part of a truck roof
• DK Jr. destroyed a table by slamming a large man into it
• DK Jr. picked up a water tower
• DK Jr. ripped up and held a large stone pillar
• DK Jr. picked up a large boulder
• DK Jr. broke down a large wooden door
• Jr. ripped off a train roof (A lot of roof ripping in Saturday Supercade for some reason)
• Was able to eat a large amount of bananas at a high speed
• Was able to rapidly chop a tree into pieces
• Was able to blow a door down (what)

Weaknesses

King Kong

While it is undeniable that King Kong is among the mightiest, he does have a few glaring weaknesses. For one, although he has shown some resistance to them, Kong has been knocked out by getting exposed to enough sleeping gas. While he has tough skin, being damaged enough by bullets will in fact kill him (though the comics seem to have them do nothing to him, and he just slips). In the Musical, he's shown to be especially vulnerable in his neck area, as that's where the airplanes aim to kill him. His intelligence also only takes him so far, as he has been outsmarted by humans before and has even been lured into a trap. Granted, this was only done because he was laser-focused on getting Ann back, but that leads into his biggest weakness of all: he's really, really attached to Ann Darrow. Like, on some unhealthy levels.

He will actively put himself in harm's way just to protect Ann. This is what led to his death at the hands of the airplanes, Kong being unwilling to give up his lady. Truly, he makes stupid decisions when blinded by love, and in a way that makes him even closer to human.

Donkey Kong

Though Donkey Kong is undeniably pretty intelligent, he does have his shortcomings. Mainly in how easy he is to manipulate, his strong basis for intelligence seems to collapse. You can coax DK into doing basically anything if you either have a lovely lady, or make it sound more fun than it actually is. Plus, due to being, y’know, an animal, DK doesn’t fully understand the difference between right and wrong, at least not yet. He’s also shown to be vulnerable to hypnotism.

Though he is durable enough to take a long fall, it will also heavily stun him for a while, especially if the fall is anything approaching 100 meters. He eventually got over this though and he can recover pretty quickly as of Donkey Kong '94. Speaking of DK'94 though, while his giant form gives him more strength, his head is a major weak point.

Summary

King Kong

"The earth trembles as Kong announces his conquest! For miles around, it is clear who is king... Kong!"

Advantages:

• Takes stat trinity pretty handedly
• Much more experienced
• Far greater skill when it comes to combat
• Greater size would make it harder to damage him
• Could shut down most of DK's dupes through smell and general instinct
• Takes battle intelligence by a mile
• Is one of the greatest movie monsters of all time

Disadvantages:

• Less versatile
• In general has not fought anyone like DK before
• Greater size would make for a larger target
• A big pervert
• His copyright history is really fucking brutal
• Like seriously holy shit

Donkey Kong

"Doooonnnkkkkeeeyyy... KONG!"

Advantages:

• Greater versatility
• Probably more book smart
• Has more mobility and maneuverability
• Equipment could likely slow Kong down...
• He won the copyright battle
• Actually lived
• Nintendo

Disadvantages:

• Loses out in the stat trinity
• Going giant would make him lose mobility
• Many of his dupes could be seen through
• ...but not by much
• Ann (or any woman for that matter) on the battlefield would seriously detriment him
• Nintendo

Verdicts

Dura

Greetings one and all, Dura here.

Let's start off with power. They both are easily well above real world gorillas, and have similar feats of bashing in walls and tearing up vehicles. Kong has shown some impressive strength feats, like forcing open a T. Rex's mouth and breaking its jaws, or breaking out of chrome steel chains and tearing through large doors - both wooden and metallic. This would mean Kong is capable of outputting a little over 500 megajoules worth of energy. Impressive, however DK has shown some very impressive feats like shaking an entire tower with just a punch and collapsing a 20-meter-tall construction site by jumping. This is far beyond anything the God of Skull Island has, right? Well, not really. While yes, just examining the original 1933 movie and 1932 novel the Eighth Wonder would be outmatched, the comics paint a different picture. So, several times throughout the comics made by Gold Key, Kong's roar and several casual actions shake Skull Island, with several other people on the island feeling the quake. At bare minimum this would make him scale to 17.15 tons of TNT. Simply put, this feat would make King Kong over 67 times stronger than the best things DK could scale to. Safe to say, the Eighth Wonder of the World takes the strength/durability category.

However, what isn't so obvious is speed. Both of them have feats of keeping up with airplanes, with Donkey Kong's feats being far more impressive due to the era in which the planes were likely manufactured. King Kong smacking down Curtiss Falcons at 62.2 m/s is less impressive than even the lowest end for DK catching up to an airliner during takeoff, being 66.6 m/s. However, you can make a case for this being even higher by using the higher end of 79.1 m/s. Though ultimately, this falls short of King Kong's maximum sprinting speed, being calced (by yours truly!) to be over 90 m/s, over 10 m/s for whatever you want to bring out for DK. So King Kong is faster, but comparatively speaking the difference is so negligible (it's only like a 1.3 times difference at worst) that it doesn't really matter all too much. With that said, the only way DK is going to be actually win against King Kong is through any potential hax that he may be able to get off in the fight. So... let's look at that, shall we?

In terms of hax, its no surprise DK has King Kong beat. I mean, Toon Force alone already gives him that edge, even if it isn't to the same level as someone like Bugs Bunny, Popeye, or Mickey Mouse. He's no slouch in equipment and weapons either, and has his larger opponent beat there as well; with people like the Tsutan'ōmens and Rokkuns, he also has a distinct numbers advantage. However, I do want to point out that DK having the numbers only gets him so far against someone like King Kong. I mean, having multiple enemies who could fight Mario aid you is cool and all, but all of that is doing nothing when your opponent can just roar and they instantly die from the sheer power imbalance. Donkey Kong could likely keep King Kong away for a time, but it wouldn't really help him in the long run; once again, that 67 times difference in physicals is nothing to scoff at. DK's Toon Force isn't going to help him survive the attacks either, as it has never shown to help repair DK of damage done at that level. All the Eighth Wonder needs is just one well-placed hit, and the King of the Jungle is going to be done for.

Beyond this, while King Kong doesn't have directly shown skill fighting against people like DK, we can assume he generally knows how apes fight (due to being one himself, and also having apparently met another one before due to having a son) and use that to exploit any potential weaknesses DK may have. All this isn't even mentioning how DONE FOR Donkey Kong is in terms of raw years of experience (a few million years compared to like a few decades at most) or how any beautiful girl being on the battlefield (like Ann, which I'd imagine would be who the fight would start over) will distract Donkey Kong just as much, if not even more, than it would King Kong.

With all of this in mind, while I don't think it'd necessarily be easy thanks to DK's wider array of combat-applicable equipment in addition to his more slippery nature, ultimately the Eighth Wonder just has the mon-key to victory. It ain't nothing to get Cranky over.

Beeg

So! This is an... interesting matchup, to be sure.

Going over stats, it's obvious that the god has a fairly large advantage here, with his roar feat being far, FAR above any of DK's best feats, including the tower shaking as giant DK.

Speed is a bit closer, but King Kong still mostly takes it unless you assume Mario's van/the motorbikes were going at TOP speed, which is fair, I suppose. Personally, I do think this is the case (it makes sense, given the context), and DK is slightly faster, but the speed gap isn't too big, so it wouldn't matter all too much on either end. However, it does matter a bit more on DK's end, which I'll be getting into now with the arsenal section.

This is where DK really shines, with his gigantic arsenal being way more than anything the Skull Island ape has ever had to deal with. HIs mobility items are easily his biggest thing here, with motorbikes, wings, balloons, helicopter cymbals, and especially the plane allowing DK to keep his distance, which is crucial for him here. It would take a while, but DK could likely eventually wear down KK with enough thrown shit. Especially if he starts throwing the Tsutan'ōmens and Rokkuns, which'll only slow KK down more as he takes time to kill them.

Assuming the fight takes place in a city, which would make sense, DK would also have an advantage, given how he's far more used to cities and climbing around them. Another environmental-based advantage for DK here is his fighting style itself. The general trickster moves he opts for would be perfect against someone where he can't out-muscle them, though KK's scent shit would make a potential dupe useless, I'll admit.

Funnily enough, going giant would be the worst thing DK could do here, as it would make himself a massive target and strip him of all of his mobility stuff, which is, again, his biggest thing here.

A few more things I wanna bring up here before I end this, while it's true that King Kong is more experienced, he's not experienced with someone like DK specifically, and was even defeated by being outsmarted, which is something DK would pull. Also, DK being smaller would allow him to hide inside buildings and such, only further distancing himself and making it even harder for King Kong to get his hands on the smaller ape. Another thing I'd like to bring up is the shaving cream (Yes, really) which would allow DK to escape even if he is grabbed. He could potentially do a similar thing with the Bubble Gun too.

In the end, while this showdown in the city would be a long, LONG one, I ultimately think Donkey Kong's arsenal, smaller size, and general fighting style would make him the winner of this brawl, even if he does monkey around a bit during it. (I'm so sorry)

Smaggle

Hello, everyone, Smaggle here.

Both of these primates are real strong, there’s only ONE who can come out as the king.. 
So let's get this done, starting with their smarts!

While both are equally crafty and capable of improvisation, King Kong’s experience outnumbers Donkey Kong’s by about a million years! While Donkey Kong is somewhat of a sword fighter, and exceptionally sneaky, being able to learn new skills at every twist and turn, I’d believe that the Eighth Wonder of the World takes this, although very high in difficulty, being smart enough to make makeshift weapons, to fighting countless battles, quick learning, and his ability to exploit the weaknesses of his foes combined with DK’s vulnerability to manipulation, it paints a picture that while it’d be difficult, he’s smarter.

But now, let's get to the real reason you came to see this.. Big ass monkeys fighting each other! Now – both of them scale to their sons, who’ve knocked down some stone structures and done some heavy lifting, but none of this would really matter when the dads themselves have way more impressive stuff, at a glance DK seems stronger, snapping a plane in half, causing an old western building to collapse into planks, and even shaking a whole TOWER!

While this comes in at 0.253035 Tons of TNT, real impressive for him, buuuut, it utterly pales in comparison to Kong’s strongest feat. Shaking all of Skull Island with his roar alone, at the very least causing a Magnitude 4 Earthquake at around 17.15 Tons. Meaning there would be a hulking 67.777 difference. So yet again, Kong takes this one without much difficulty.

And for the final two, let’s see how much tricks they can pull out the bag… King Kong is weirdly really agile, jumping across buildings and scaling them really quickly, and DK – can do this too! Performing nigh-impossible stunts, hopping between buildings and landing on his feet after some tough falls, and back to King Kong, he’s somehow deathless, and as mentioned before, living for over a million years, backed up by how it’s not really certain that the bullets are what killed him. Furthermore, the King’s perception is quite remarkable, being able to spot a giant serpent from within a supposed black pool of water, also being showcased tracking down Ann in a hotel by following her scent – in a deleted scene that is. But.. While King Kong yet again takes abilities – DK blows him out of the water with his equipment, from Biplanes to Unicycles, Sharks, Wings, Rollerskates, and much more, including Super Mushrooms, Donkey Kong takes it pretty easily.

Now, last but not least.. Speed! Didn’t expect giant apes to be fast, did you? Well – they are!
This was ironically the closest stat I believe the two took in the trinity, from DK running on a boat propeller fast enough to catch up to it and make it crash, catching up to motorcycles, and even planes on take-off, getting him to 79.1 m/s, DK is fast, but King Kong – once again – takes it, even if not by much. With gorillas of his stature being able to move up to 92 m/s, and him swatting away a Curtiss Falcon Model 37H that can move at 62.3 m/s.
So, in conclusion… Hail to the Kong, baby.

Shark

Time for my verdict. While both of these klassic kongs were very strong, one of them ultimately had to top the other.

For starters, King Kong was definitely stronger, with his greatest feat of strength being his roar shaking the entirety of Skull Island, which seems much more powerful than DK shaking a tower in his giant form. However, King Kong was much less equipped than DK, with his jungle scenery outnumbered by Donkey Kong’s power-ups, assorted sports equipment, minions, barrels, etcetera. Despite King Kong’s size advantage, he could be matched by Donkey Kong’s giant form.

They were oddly close in speed, with similar feats of jumping across buildings and grabbing moving planes. Donkey Kong’s plane feat did edge out, given that the average speed of the airplane he caught is more than the one King Kong caught. King Kong was more durable, surviving giant grenade explosions capable of knocking elephants over and, y’know, the fact he’s literally immortal.

King Kong’s durability wouldn’t be too much of a problem for Donkey Kong, because he is surprisingly durable as well and has more weapons and tools that can tire the King out (which was also how he was defeated) and deliver a finishing blow.

If you account that one time Donkey Kong inhaled sleeping gas and shot it back, he can force his opponent to sleep. Regardless, DK is strong and tough enough to banana-slam King Kong hundreds of times until he’s worn out, declaring Donkey Kong the new king of the jungle.

StarManatee

Idk anything about the real result and I wasn’t involved in the creation of the blog BUT I do want to note that King Kong should win because of Citizen Kane scaling

Afterword

Hello everyone! It's me, your friendly neighborhood One-Above-All: Dura. I'm the owner of this blog and I'm really excited to be finally doing one of these things. This matchup wasn't our first pick but I'm glad we eventually decided on it. The debate has been surprisingly interesting with how much went into it, and none of this would've been possible without all my boys being here to research (more specifically Beeg for DK's side; thanks man!). I want to give a special thanks to the VSBW pages for DK and King Kong respectively, in addition to multiple respect threads used for both characters. Also, like I said previously, major props to Beeg for sitting down and watching through the Saturday Supercade cartoon.

I wanna say before this blog ends that I hope you had a great time reading it, and I hope you return for future entries. Speaking of which...

ROLL IT!

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