If you've ever overheard a schoolyard conversation, you know nothing captures the imagination

quite like the daring fights of a brave warrior.

I remember spending countless hours as a kid debating whether Goku or SpongeBob would win in a fight.

But today I'm here to explore real warriors who committed utterly awesome feats that put anime and cartoon fights to shame.

From Aztec Beast Men to one-armed gunmen, let's investigate some of the greatest warriors that have ever existed.

You're listening. You're listening. You're listening to be amazed.

You may recognize Leonidas the burn from his oily glistening portrayal by Gerard Butler and Zach Snyder's action film, 300.

Existing between 900 and 132 BCE in ancient Greece,

the Spartans were a notoriously hard and warlike people. From the age of seven, Spartan boys were forcibly taken from their homes and began the agug. A militaristic state-sponsored

training regiment designed to turn them into unbeatable soldiers. Here, food was scarce,

fighting was encouraged, and because all Spartan men were expected to be lifelong soldiers,

the very concept of surrender was considered the ultimate disgrace.

Leonidas, though royalty, was no exception. He, like many others, survived the Agoogs,

but he never expected to rule. His half-brother Cleo Menz was king originally,

but after going mad, the crown fell to him. And boy,

did he inherit a mess. In 480 BCE, the Persians led by the cunning King Xerxes were on

a warpath across Greece. Many Greek city-states had already submitted to Xerxes overwhelming numbers, but not Leonidas.

Legend has it that at the Battle of Thermopylae, Leonidas, and just 300 Spartans successfully fended off 2 million Persians in a narrow mountain pass over three grueling days.

While all Spartans were eventually slain,

their sacrifice rallied the rest of Greece into action,

ultimately repelling Persian forces.

The story is heroic, inspiring, and genuinely unbelievable.

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