Ever since primitive man invented the spear, it was only a matter of time until we would take that technology to its logical conclusion: robotic gladiators designed to murder one another in televised bloodsport.

This past weekend, Battlebots made its triumphant return (and brought along our own Jessica Chobot as one of its totally awesome judges). But Battlebots isn’t the only shining example of metallic automatons clobbering each other for our entertainment; there’s a rich canon of robot-on-robot combat out there just waiting to be explored. So, in honor of this grand tradition of robots doing righteous battle on our screens, on today’s episode of The Dan Cave we are celebrating the best robot battles in film history. 

Obviously, not every bot battle could make the cut, so let me know which metallic melee is your favorite in the comments below. Oh yeah, and buy a The Dan Cave t-shirt because why not?

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Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of 100 Things Avengers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. You can follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).