Honestly, mismatches in the movies are kind of fun since they tend to put some of the smallest people up against the biggest, or some of the biggest up against some of the most giant-sized people they can find. This list isn’t about smaller characters taking on giants, as someone like Yoda taking on a Wookie would be interesting, but it is showing a few characters in the movies that really didn’t belong in the same vicinity since they weren’t really that equal in terms of raw strength and power. They’re the type of David vs. Goliath matches that are kind of hard to see going the big person’s way since the smaller individual has a hidden reserve of power or skill that can cut a person down with ease, but then there are moments when both combatants are both skilled, but size does end up mattering in a big way since the bigger individual is just as skilled, a lot more powerful, and isn’t concerned with the idea of whether or not the smaller person will get hurt. When that bigger person knows what kind of damage they can do and has no compunctions about it, well, that’s when the mismatch is the most obvious since something’s about to go down, and it’s only movie magic that tends to save the smaller person a lot of times.
Here are some of the most classic mismatches in movies.
5. Captain America vs. Thanos – Avengers: Infinity War
The lack of balance among the heroes and villains in the MCU has been well-documented since as strong as Captain America is, there’s no way he should have been able to stand up to Thanos like this, even for an instant. In the comic version of Infinity War, Cap was immobilized with a flick of Thanos’ will and then backhanded after he managed a single hit on the mad titan. He was dispatched as an afterthought by Thanos, as the backhand he delivered snapped Steve’s neck without any real effort, meaning that Thanos could annihilate Captain America, but likely didn’t in this movie since Cap was meant to come back and not suffer the effects of the Snap.
4. Rocky Balboa vs. Thunderlips – Rocky III
This kind of thing has been seen in the UFC as well since the idea of who would win in a fight between a boxer and a wrestler is kind of easy to answer. If the boxer can move around keep the wrestler at a distance then it could work in their favor. But if the wrestler gets hold of the boxer and starts in on submission holds and grapples then it’s all over. That’s been made clear in the UFC, but in this instance, it was simply the fact that Rocky wasn’t taking the fight seriously until it was almost too late that made a huge difference. Had he entered it like a street fight he might have won pretty quickly, but that might not have been as entertaining.
3. Marty McFly vs. Biff Tannen – Back to the Future
One thing that can be said for shorter folks that stand up to people that tower over them is that they’ve got a lot of courage or no brains. It kind of depends on the reason why they’re standing up to the bigger folks since if there’s no good reason for it, meaning the bigger folks aren’t doing anything wrong, then it’s likely an inferiority complex, which might actually be part of Marty’s problem. But in this case, Biff does need to be knocked down a few pegs, even if it takes an eventual beating at the hands of the guy he’s been tormenting for so long to do it. But Marty does his best, even if it’s not quite enough.
2. Hai Tien vs. Mantis – Game of Death
Fighting someone with this kind of reach requires both skill and speed since otherwise if that individual is big and has a serious reach advantage then they can keep you away from their soft spots all day. If not for a light sensitivity that was exploited eventually, this fight might have kept going. But every movie has to find some way for the good guy to triumph and take out the other guy, so there was bound to be some gimmick that could be used that could allow Bruce Lee’s character to win.
1. Deadpool vs. Colossus – Deadpool
Some folks might want to say that this didn’t really count considering that Colossus wasn’t really doing much fighting. But let’s put it this way, he initiated contact by flinging Wade into a nearby car. Wade did the rest by breaking both his wrists and his lower leg after attacking Colossus, who didn’t really need to retaliate since there was nothing Wade could do to hurt him. In fact, the only thing Wade can do to Colossus is hurt his feelings, which appears to be kind of effective.
Mismatches are fun in fight scenes, admit it.
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