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John Tones
WriterI've been writing about culture for twenty-something years and, at Xataka, I cover everything related to movies, video games, TV shows, comics, and pop culture.
Karen Alfaro
WriterCommunications professional with a decade of experience as a copywriter, proofreader, and editor. As a travel and science journalist, I've collaborated with several print and digital outlets around the world. I'm passionate about culture, music, food, history, and innovative technologies.
Everyone on the Internet wonders who would win a fight between a gorilla and 100 men. It’s a mental puzzle with no correct answer, meant to spark discussion. That’s why it has become the meme of the moment. Users are approaching it from different angles, from biology to ethics. As they say, the answer matters less than the path to get there.
A war for everyone. The meme is simple: debate who would win in a battle under these conditions. The question went viral in late April. TikTokers like @tredouglass, @lov3charlee, and @rationalsniper have all weighed in (mostly in favor of the gorilla). The dilemma became a global phenomenon when Tesla CEO Elon Musk and influencers like MrBeast tweeted about it.
Origins of the meme. In February 2022, TikTok user @yuri5kpt2 posed the question, generating more than 3,000 comments. Previously, in 2020, Reddit users discussed the scenario in a thread that caught the attention of some media outlets.
Legendary confrontations. Hypothetical battles between mismatched forces are nothing new. Classical military theory often explores asymmetry between combatants—think David vs. Goliath. More recently, games like Age of Empires and Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator have turned such ideas into fantasy warfare, with simulations generating millions of views on YouTube.
Some are hilariously excessive:
- 100 Teutonic knights vs. 100 monks
- 100 elephants vs. 100 monks
- 100 modern soldiers vs. 20,000 Spartans
- 1,000 imperial soldiers vs. 450,000 zombie women
- 20,000 giant spiders vs. 120,000 Nazi zombies
Now, the meme has taken on a life of its own, with street interviews, animations, AI experiments, simulations, and countless opinion videos.
Why do people love this debate? We like this meme because we like to argue. As social creatures, we enjoy taking sides—even when the stakes are imaginary. The meme also touches on deeper themes: brute, individual force vs. coordinated, strategic effort. Nature vs. civilization. Memes help us explore big ideas in simple, funny ways.
Evolutionary psychologists told Rolling Out that these kinds of hypothetical debates are modern expressions of ancient survival planning behaviors. In other words, we talk through how we’d face a gorilla—just in case.
Yes, but... who would win? Most experts agree: In a straight fight, the gorilla would win easily. But humans are toolmakers. We’d probably find a way to win, even if it meant improvising weapons. A gorilla is four to 10 times stronger than a person, making it nearly unstoppable in hand-to-hand combat.
Still, the real fun is in the argument—not the outcome.
Image | Amy Reed (Unsplash) | Foto de Bao Menglong en Unsplash
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