Which Jason Statham character would win in a fight, Lee Christmas of The Expendables series or Deckard Shaw of the Fast & Furious franchise? In his many movies as an action hero, Jason Statham has channeled his tough-guy chops across several popular franchises. As both Lee and Shaw, Statham played a highly trained mercenary and s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed martial artist, leading to obvious comparisons between the two characters. Looking at their many battles in their respective franchises, both Lee and Shaw bring a lot to a head-to-head fight.

In the case of Lee Christmas, his missions with the Expendables show that despite his stated dislike for “tight spaces“, he knows how to fight his way out of situations stacked against him and exploit an opponent’s weaknesses to win. In both the tunnel fight in The Expendables and his brawl with Scott Adkins’ Hector in The Expendables 2, Lee shows his s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 in using his surroundings to his advantage in a fight. As seen in Lee’s many fight scenes in The Expendables franchise, he also knows how to keep his cool even under the direst and most challenging of circumstances.

Shaw is a similarly s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed fighter and mercenary, as seen when he goes on the hunt for the crew of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) after they left his brother Owen (Luke Evans) in Furious 7 in intensive care. In his role in the Fast Saga, Shaw shows himself to be a more s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed hand-to-hand fighter than virtually any of Dom’s crew, even holding his own against the Fast Saga‘s towering lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). As Shaw eventually became an ally to Dom and his family, he continued to be a formidable fighter in The Fate of the Furious and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

In terms of their training and s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁, Lee and Shaw are quite evenly matched. As a character inhabiting the Fast & Furious universe, Shaw is also accustomed to being in life-and-death situations of a far more outlandish nature than Lee. While this gives him an advantage in expecting the unexpected, Lee has his own in his temperament, as seen in his basketball court confrontation with the ex-boyfriend who struck Charisma Carpenter’s Lacy, the girlfriend of Lee. This could be the key determining factor of the fight.

While Lee gave him and his friends a quite punishing beating, he stopped short of 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing him when he pulled out his knife, instead stabbing a basketball on his chest and leaving him with a stern warning. This is a notable contrast to Shaw’s vengeful pursuit of Dom and his crew, eventually leading to his awkward meeting with Han (Sung Kang) in F9, after his return from his ostensible 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing by Shaw. Additionally, Shaw’s rivalry with Hobbs is largely based on the stalemate of their initial fight in Furious 7. This exemplifies that his own honor and that of his family is something Shaw will defend to the death, and shows Shaw is more vulnerable than Lee to having his personal and familial pride overtake him.

In all, Lee Christmas vs. Deckard Shaw would be a close fight indeed, both having fought many great enemies and Lee even facing Iko Uwais in the upcoming The Expendables 4. Nonetheless, the grizzled Expendable would be the most likely victor. In both The Expendables movies and the Fast & Furious series, Lee Christmas and Deckard Shaw show themselves to be fighters and Jason Statham action movie characters not to be underestimated. However, Lee’s more cool and reserved mindset compared to Shaw’s would give him an advantage that he could likely use to carry him to victory.