Warning: some spoilers for M3GAN are in play. If you haven’t set your playdate to see the movie just yet, consider this a playful warning.
Dear readers, the wait is over. 2023’s new movie releases have kicked off thanks to the sassy automaton known as M3GAN finally dancing her way into theaters. If you’ve seen director Gerard Johnstone’s movie, you know she’s a force to be reckoned with. However, there’s a recent feud that’s inspired a healthy bit of competiton.
Now that the finished product is in the world, we can revisit the social media feud between M3GAN and another killer Universal playmate: Chucky from the Child’s Play movies. What began as some harsh burns over Twitter can now be weighed out a rather different way: physical combat. Even though writer Akela Cooper was inspired by that classic, her creation is different enough to be a valid and wily competitor.
Asking the question of which killer doll would emerge victorious in a fight, a thorough evaluation of both of these deadly companions through several criteria will determine who’s the deadlier doll. If you don’t want to know anything about M3GAN until you’ve taken her out of the box in theaters, that’s understandable and you’ve officially been warned. It's time to unbox the pain, and see whether M3GAN or Chucky is the greater threat. And to be clear, we're strictly talking about the original Chucky here, not the one from the 2019 Child's Play remake.
Round 1 - Attitude
We’re going to start of with an easy round, as the attitudes of both dolls are a good foundation to what they’re capable off in the field. Right off the bat, Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), better known as Chucky, seems to pull ahead in this field. His trademark combination of wit and insults has kept him going for over 30 years now, reinforcing that while he’s become an ally by accepting the gender fluid Glen/Glenda for who they truly are, he can still kill without being a monster.
M3GAN, on the other hand, is a sophisticated AI that’s built her own personality, and even feels quite similar to Charles Lee Ray in some scenarios. She doesn’t exactly value human life, except for that of her best friend Cady (Violet McGraw), whom she has imprinted on. Anyone else who gets in her way is expendable; even her creator Gemma (Allison Williams).
Though that patience is also tested when Cady eventually sees how dangerous M3GAN truly is, putting her on the target list as well. That leads to Chucky winning this round, as the Child’s Play killer can keep his ego in check to play the long game; whereas M3GAN gets continually erratic throughout her journey of self discovery.
Round 2 - Durability
The difference between M3GAN and Chucky’s material build is night and day, which is in part due to doll manufacturing being so different in the modern. Throughout the Child’s Play movies, Chucky’s doll build was nothing more than plastic limbs with some metal plates to support that mechanical face of his. Compared to M3GAN's sceramic composite skin covering a titanium core, this matchup could be called right then and there.
However, a greater weakness knocks Chucky down a couple more pegs, and it’s thanks to one of his special abilities. Using black magic to posess the dolls he’s inhabited through the years, if Charles Lee Ray stays in a doll body for too long, it starts to become human again. While that plot point doesn’t seem to be brought up all that much in the Chucky series, it’s still canonized as a concern. In which case, the advantage goes to M3GAN’s titular time bomb.
Round 3 - Special Abilities
Chucky’s magical powers are a good entry point for us to discuss the special abilities that both he and M3GAN possess in the the name of killing. As previously discussed, Charles Lee Ray was a practitioner of the dark magical arts, and as such could possess a doll or human body if he chose to do so. This might actually be more of an advantage, as this field seems to come down to physical versus digital.
M3GAN sees her special abilities coming from the digital realm, as she’s the most impressively movie AI since Finch’s Jeff. A hungry intelligence, M3GAN’s sentience grows rather quickly and without a moral compass. We see her make false phone calls and faking other people’s voices to lure in her prey, plus she’s able to hijack anything with electronic components.
So as long as M3GAN can keep Chucky away from her, she can potentially this round. Which means that Chucky really wins as all he’d have to do is possess a better body to gain her powers. Oh, and seeing as both of them presumably know how to make copies of themselves, a theory M3GAN’s ending would support, that loophole only spells more trouble for the human race.
Round 4 - Stealth/Detection
If you’re going to make a life out of killing, you need to be good at it. Even as a human, Charles Lee Ray’s days as the “Lakeshore Strangler” saw him evade capture for quite a while. But as a doll, Chucky had a huge advantage when it came to his smaller stature. Though it may have reduced his ability to kill like he was used to, he had the all-too important aspect of stealth on his side: making sure he could strike in ways that would leave the authorities baffled.
M3GAN is no slouch when avoiding detection either, and she’s been known to sneak up on people rather well. However, she remains undetected through more sophisticated and modern means. Manipulating security systems and any digital data that can trace her, M3GAN is good at covering her tracks and getting people right where she wants them. She’s even proficient at falsifying crime scenes and motives, which gives M3GAN another leg up on her competition.
Seeing as Chucky had specially branded shoes that could give him away in the first Child’s Play movie, it was only a matter of time until people started questioning if a doll could murder. Meanwhile, it looks like M3GAN gets away with murder at the end of the movie, with the company that built her not catching wise to her abilities just yet. M3GAN wins this time, as she’s able to engineer an alibi so perfect it’d be even harder to catch her.
Round 5 - Killer Instincts
Here’s where the ultimate showdown takes place, as both Chucky and M3GAN are proven to be stone cold killers. The only question that remains is how dedicated are they to getting the job done, and where do they draw “the line?” For M3GAN’s antagonist, she’s pretty loyal after imprinting, but even turns against her “family.” It takes her a while, but it looks like she’s ready to kill anything that stands in her way, which sets up a potential sequel to M3GAN Universal is already talking about. Should she come back, M3GAN will be ready to go Skynet on her former family’s asses.
And yet, Charles Lee Ray was basically born a killer. He didn’t have to be scorned by someone to have a taste for violence, because as we saw in Season 1 of Chucky, all it took was a chance encounter with a serial killer to really dig in. To this man/doll, the world has always been, and always will be a target. The Chuckster wins this round, as he’s pure evil from the word 'go.'
M3GAN Vs. Chucky - Who Walks Out Alive?
While M3GAN has introduced a modern killing machine for our times, the classic approach of Chucky actually saves him in an overall fight. With no compunction when it comes to killing, his size and experience still keep him competitive. All he needs to do is fight M3GAN long enough to incapacitate her, and then he can possess her advanced doll body and become basically a living god.
And yet, even though Chucky is the winner of this match, it’s going to be a hell of a fight. What the Model 3 Generative Android lacks in stealth and humanity, it makes up for in durability and technological knowhow. So while Charles Lee Ray wins on paper, there's room for future sequels and more comprehensive simulations to further refine the argument for either side's supremacy.
It’s enough to make you want to weigh the battle over and over again, and you can do that with the help of the first season of Chucky being available in the same place that M3GAN will presumably make its streaming home. All you need is a Peacock subscription, and you can be prepared to continue discussing this matter on your own terms. But don’t forget to check out M3GAN, as she’s currently waiting to play at a theater near you.
