The Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC‘s movies and TV shows have seen several superheroes fight versions of themselves, and many of those battles happened for unique reasons, making them exciting. With the arrival of the multiverse to live-action superhero stories, some of the MCU’s biggest movies and shows have turned to it for exciting crossovers and actor returns.

While DC has not used the multiverse as much in theaters, the Arrowverse’s live-action series explored it in depth. Time travel, dream sequences, and more have also led to superheroes fighting alternate versions of themselves. As such, while the multiverse is key to that, heroes fought themselves well before it in movies and shows. Here are the best fights, in no particular order.

The Flash Fights Himself

Ezra Miller’s The Flash might have been a box office bomb. However, there is some excitement to be had with its multiversal storyline. Key to that is the fact that Miller plays two versions of Barry Allen. Sadly, one of them has a dark ending.

The younger version of the DCEU Flash ends up growing bitter due to not being able to stop Michael Keaton’s Batman and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl from dying. His repeated attempts to do so turn him into the Dark Flash. The villain fights the older Barry, being destroyed as he kills his younger self.

Captain America Vs Captain America

Avengers: Endgame used time travel to put major MCU heroes back in key events from the franchise’s Infinity Saga. Thinking that Chris Evans’ older Steve Rogers was Loki trying to escape from Avengers Tower with one of his illusions, the 2012 version of Captain America fights him.

It is one of the MCU’s most iconic fights. The sight of the Captain America shields clashing and how each version of the hero has an edge over the other in a certain area made the battle thrilling. With one-liners, the moment is also funny.

Superman Fights Ultraman

DC has the two most recent entries on the list, with the first being from James Gunn’s Superman movie. As it was revealed that David Corenswet also played Ultraman in the film, who was a failed Superman clone in a way, not as intelligent as him but quite powerful, their fights gained new context.

Corenswet’s Superman and Ultraman fought multiple times in the DCU movie. However, their best fight came at the end, when Ultraman’s idenтιтy was revealed. It made Superman beating him all the more impressive, as he defeated a clone of himself with Lex Luthor in control.

Peacemaker Kills His Alternate Universe Self

The second DC Universe entry on the list comes from Superman‘s DCU follow-up, Peacemaker season 2. The HBO Max series is as bloody as it was in its first season. Peacemaker season 2’s first episode ended with John Cena’s DC character shockingly killing himself by accident.

Well, he did not actually kill himself, but a version of Peacemaker from an alternate dimension. Just like how Superman had Lex Luthor use a pocket dimension, Peacemaker season 2 explores another reality where Christopher Smith’s brother and father are alive. The alternate Peacemaker finds the DCU one in his house, and they fight, leading to him being impaled.

Doctor Strange Faces Himself

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could have explored more of the multiverse than it did. Still, the MCU movie was able to use a few creative character pairings. One of them came in the form of two versions of Doctor Strange, the main MCU one and Sinister Strange, fighting,

As one of the MCU’s most powerful magic users, Doctor Strange’s powers are immense. They are visually stunning and creative, as seen in his fights with characters like Thanos and Spider-Man. In the Doctor Strange sequel, the characters fight by using musical notes, one of the MCU’s most unique battles.

Spider-Man Faces Half The Spider-Verse

The Spider-Verse movies are visual marvels, pushing innovation in the medium. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse does so with unique animation styles for different characters, and they all come on display as Miles Morales fights to get out of the Spider Society’s headquarters, with variant Spider-Men on his trail.

At the end of the Spider-Verse sequel, Miles would be caught by a variant of himself: Miles G. Morales. This sets up the characters to have a formal fight in the trilogy finale, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. As it stands, it is hard to call a possible winner.

Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man Faces Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man

Spider-Man: No Way Home brought the three movie versions of Spider-Man together. When heroes first meet, it is somewhat common for them to fight before teaming up. While Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man do not have a full-on brawl, that happens to the heroes.

After both versions of Spider-Man come out of portals opened by Ned Leeds, they study one another for a moment. After that, the Peter Parkers try to hit the other with their webs, also jumping as they do so. As the veteran of the two, Maguire’s Spider-Man hits Garfield’s.

Wolverine Fights X-24

Logan is an incredibly emotional movie. X-24 made for its perfect physical villain, as it allowed fans to see an older, grizzled Wolverine fighting a younger version of himself with all the power that he no longer has. It makes for a tense-filled fight to end the film.

There are two main beats to it. The first is that Dafne Keen’s Laura is able to kill X-24. However, that comes after Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was mortally wounded. This superhero fight leads to the death of one of Marvel’s most popular live-action heroes.

The Flash Fights Savitar

Another TV show entry on the list comes from DC. The Arrowverse shows featured many heroes coming face-to-face with alternate versions of themselves. Those are all represented here by the biggest clash between two versions of the same character in the Arrowverse.

Savitar is easily one of The Flash‘s best villains. The DC series had one of its darkest seasons when Savitar was its main threat, as Team Flash had to race against time to find a way to stop him from killing Iris. Every moment felt urgent, and the reveal that Savitar was a version of Barry made the conflict more personal.

Scarlet Witch Faces Her Variant

Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch left a path of destruction behind in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The hero went full-on villain in the movie, killing Earth-838’s Illuminati and spilling blood everywhere she went. That included scaring her twins from another universe.

The moment happened as she clashed with the Wanda Maximoff of Earth-838. Seemingly a regular mother who loved her children, she was no match for the MCU Scarlet Witch, who threw her around the home she lived in with her sons. The moment ended with forgiveness, which was a beautiful ending.