Who is Better Gundam Pilot? Heero Yuy or Zechs Merquise?

Short Answer: Heero Yuy, holding the moniker of Perfect Soldier, is a better Gundam Pilot than Zechs Merquise because Heero has gone through a genetic modification that made him a New Type, an advanced being with spatial awareness and supernatural abilities. Even If we neglect the idea of Heero being a New Type still, He is a better pilot than Zechs Merquise because Heero doesn’t suffer from internal personality conflict, which is considered a major weakness of Zechs Merquise.

On the other hand, Zechs has also served in the military from a very young age and has developed good skills, but he cannot beat Heero, who has transcended the limited potential of humans long ago. The fight between of Heero and Zechs have an insane amount of hype, and it is difficult to pick the winner as both of them are equally matched in most of the fights.

Today, we are going to put together facts and events that show why Heero Yuy is the superior pilot. Let’s Dive into the lives of Zechs and Heero from the very beginning to end this debate once for all.

Heero Yuy Background

Heero Yuy is the main protagonist of the Gundam Wing Series and his background isn’t as bright, joyful and easy as it is for young children on Earth. He’s a child of space colonies, which was currently under oppression for Earth’s military and while that’s happening, his biological father (Odin Lowe), left him and his mother (Aoi Clark).

He spent the early days of his childhood under the care of his foster father (Seis Clark) and mother. Just when he was about to experience a peaceful life, some unknown assassins killed his parents. Odin took him in after this tragic incident, and they began to live together.

As Odin was a freelance assassin, he trained the young boy about the tools of the trade when it came to survival and combat. On their first assassin mission together, Heero brilliantly executed his duties, but unfortunately, his father got heavily wounded. Shortly after, Odin died in the hands of his son, advising him to live his life by following his true emotions.

From that day onward, he took on the name of Heero Yuy, who was a peace-seeking politician of colonies. Heero also assumed the role of a ruthless soldier living and fighting for the colonies. Eventually, he would met Doctor J, who would entrust him with the Wing Gundam and have him execute operation meteor on behalf of all the people living in the colonies.

Since Heero has gone through a tragic background, You might be wondering about his personality and these tragic events might have affected him. Here is a brief overview of his personality.

Heero Yuy Personality

Although Heero is a teenager, his personality seems to be more mature than many adults featured in the Gundam Wing anime.

On the battlefield, he is renowned as the perfect soldier because of his ability to suppress his emotions. Heero believes that being emotional on the battlefield will only result in his demise. However, with the progress of anime, we see Heero change. With Relena Peacecraft persistently involving herself with him, her words slowly get to him. Eventually we see Heero say words like “I can’t do that because Relena would be sad.”. The Heero we met in episode one would never say this, instead the Heero from back then wanted Relena dead!. The other Gundam pilots also managed to warm up Heero’s stone-cold heart. However, even he’s not the stone-cold soldier he once was, I can’t recall a moment where his emotions affected his fighting skills.

Despite his stiff and hard-to-approach personality, Heero is kind at heart. We have seen that in his final battle against Zechs Merquise, he decided to let him live. After all, he is the brother of Relena and he knows that she’ll be devastated if his brother ends up dead. Things like this show the kindness in Heero’s heart.

Heero Yuy has spent most of his life fighting to bring peace to the world. Let’s shed some light on some of his best fights.

Heero Yuy Fights

Heero has been fighting even before descending to the Earth for operation meteor. On Earth, he has fought countless battles with “do and die” scenarios.

Heero’s first notable fight is featured in Episode 6 (Party Night), when he saves Relena Peacecraft from OZ mobile suits sent by Lady Une (Secretary of Treize Khushrenada). He uses his Gundam to face off the Aries and Leo mobile suits of OZ. Heero takes out the big shield of Gundam Wing to defend himself from constant firing of mobile suits and uses his beam saber to destroy the enemy mobile suits with insane accuracy and strength. Enraged by the fighting, he uses the sharp edge of shield to destroy the last mobile suit. The way he destroys the main vision of the enemy mobile suit is just amazing.

To be clear, he didn’t save Relena intentionally. He believed the mobile suits to be after him, and he simply destroyed them, nothing more.

In episode 19 (Assault on Bridge), He decided to kill Duo Maxwell because he got caught by the OZ organization but ended up saving him as he can still fight. While Heero escapes with Duo, we can see just how much faster this guy is compared to the average human. To add more to his superiority, Heero jumps off from a high building with Duo and manages to land with just a few scratches. Clearly Heero is stronger and more agile than most but the most impressive thing here is his ability to keep his cool while under immense stress.

In Episode 25 (Heero vs Quatre), he fights with Quatre, another Gundam pilot, over conflicting views. Despite having Mercurius Mobile Suit, Heero managed to put on a great fight against Quatre with the Wing Zero. He used the ultimate defense of Mercurius to his advantage which shows his high intellect.

In episode 31 (The Glass Kingdom), Heero ends up in the Sanc Kingdom, where Relena is staying. He again ends up saving her from a group of enemies equipped with OZ mobile suits. He brilliantly managed to destroy the large fleet of enemy mobile suits by strategically engaging them at different places.

In short, the fate of Heero Yuy was to become a fighter for his entire life. Fortunately, God has given him the liberty to choose the battles himself.

Since we have talked about Heero Yuy, let’s get into the life of his most powerful foe, Zechs Merquise.

Zechs Merquise Background

Zechs Merquise is a major antagonist appearing in the Gundam Wing series. He serves the military OZ organization as an elite soldier. Zechs has been serving the military from a very young age. Treize Khushrenada took him in his elite group to train him as a soldier.

When it comes to heritage, Zechs was actually the heir of the Sanc Kingdom, a kingdom famous for its pacifism, under the name Milliardo Peacecraft. You guessed it right. This guy is the brother of Relena Peacecraft.

His father Marticus Rex, the king of the Sanc Kingdom, was murdered by an Earth Alliance general because of the Sanc Kingdom’s potential threat to their authority. From there, he ended up in the military and took on the name of Zechs Merquise. Despite abandoning his former personality of Milliardo Peacecraft, he was never able to escape from the karma that frequently comes to haunt him as Milliardo Peacecraft.

To help him keep his real identity in check as well as to hide his face, he wears a mask all the time.

Just imagining the hell Zechs carried all around himself while fighting is a tragedy in itself.

Since Zechs has gone through a tragic background just like Heero, You might be wondering about his personality. Here is a brief overview of his personality.

Zechs Merquise Personality

Zechs is always in a conflicted state during battle because of his former identity as Milliardo Peacecraft. Despite his prideful personality on the surface, he hates himself to the core for abandoning the ideals of his father. You can imagine the intensity of his internal conflict by remembering that he belongs to a family full of pacifism, yet his actions are far from the very definition of pacifism.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens if you betray your own lineage and oath? The answer is you get a Zechs Merquise emerging within yourself. In the entire Gundam Wing anime, we see Zechs transitioning from one identity to another, forming a cycle of internal conflicts with no way out.

Zech’s fighting skills have been compromised throughout the anime several times because of identity conflicts. One great example is when he was kicked out of the OZ organization mainly because of his internal conflicts that were hampering his abilities as a relentless soldier.

Now that we’ve seen his background and personality, let’s have a look at the fights fought by Zechs Merquise.

Zechs Merquise Fights

As an elite member of the OZ organization, Zechs has fought numerous battles through the Gundam Wing Series. In episode 4 (The Victoria Nightmare), he faces off against the pilot of Gundam Shenlong (Wufei) when the Gundam Pilots attack the Victoria Alliance Base. At this point, Zechs piloted an ordinary mobile suit, but still, he was able to put on a good fight which shows his remarkable skills as a pilot.

In episode 18 (Tallgeese Destroyed), the OZ organization orders the destruction of the Tallgeese mobile suit as Zechs is considered a traitor. Zechs fights a horde of mobile suits with Tallgeese, but in the end, his suits end up getting destroyed. Despite the loss of Tallgeese, it is important to note that Zechs piloted the Tallgeese Mobile Suit that comes with intense G-Force. You need insane strength and flexibiility to bear it and Zechs managed to do so that agains shows his remarkable strength.

In In episode 13 (Catherine Tears), Zechs returns to the Lake Victoria Base where he meets two previous students of Noin’s. He decides to join them in a military operation but when they show their callous attitudes toward war, Zechs is obliged to execute them. Later on, Zechs decides to attack the Noventa Base with Tallgeese Gundam. Although he sustained a lot of fire from enemy heavy cannons, he survived by utilizing the modified super vernier engine. While dodging enemy fire, Zechs manages to destroy the enemy base with his mighty rifle. Such feats are far beyond the reaches of the average Mobile Suit pilot and only proves that Zechs, with his unbelievable talent and skills, is a top tier Mobile Suit pilot.

Up to this point, you might have found some similarities between the character of Zechs Merquise and Heero Yuy. Let’s talk about it.

Heero and Zechs Similarities

Heero and Zechs share some similarities, although their role in the series is quite different from each other. The following are some similarities between our beloved Heero and the legendary soldier, Zechs:

Both of them have been fighting since a very young age.
Heero and Zechs are the only Gundam Pilots that have managed to master the Zero Cockpit System.
Heero and Zechs suffered the loss of their parents in early childhood.
Both of them care about Relena as they always rush to save all the time.

Heero and Zechs Fights

Heero and Zechs have been fated to battle each other since the very beginning of Gundam Wing anime. In episode 1 (The Shooting Star She Saw), Zechs intercepted the Wing Gundam that was descending into the Earth’s atmosphere and managed to shoot it down.

After being shot down, Heero ends up crash landing into the ocean. In episode 2 (The Gundam Deathscythe), Zechs locates the submerged Wing Gundam in the Pacific Ocean and attempts to claim it for OZ, but Heero uses stolen torpedoes to destroy his Gundam and prevent OZ from obtaining it. However, Duo Maxwell, pilot of the GundamDeathscythe, foils both of their schemes. In episode 10 (Heero, Distracted by Defeat) Zechs with his Tallgeese mobile suit fights the Wing Gundam piloted by Heero.

Both of them experience an intense battle, but soon they are interrupted by Lady Une’s warning. Heero self-destructs his Gundam on the command of Doctor J. In episode 37 (Zero vs Epyon), Zechs arrives too late at the Sanc Kingdom with his Gundam Zero ends up facing Heero (piloting the Epyon). The battle finishes in a draw and both sustain minimal damage to their suits. Afterwards they both decide to trade Gundams as before parting ways once more.

In episode 49 (The Final Victor), Zechs (Piloting Epyon) fights Heero (Piloting Zero). Both of them use their all resources to destroy each other under the influence of the Zero System. As both of them run out of ammo, they switch to their beam sabers for a final clash.

In an instant, they have their final clash. The Epyon’s arm falls off, making Hero the final victor of their long-running battle.

The final battle between Heero and Zechs clearly tells us that Heero is definitely a better pilot than Zechs because he is a New Type with advanced senses. He managed synchronize with the Zero Cockpit system more than Zechs without falling prey to the hallucinations shows the supremacy of Heero over Zechs as a pilot.

Another reason behind Zech’s loss might be his conflicting personality that influenced his actions many times leaving him in an unbalanced state. After admitting his defeat, Zechs was finally able to merge his identities to emerge as a warrior of peace.

Our Final Thoughts

Heero Yuy was able to beat Zechs because he was both physically and mentally strong as he’s a Newtype. His conscience and vision of peace were also more realistic in terms of implementation.

We’ve seen Heero debating with Zechs while fighting over the views of hope and peace. Heero believes that weak people give rise to conflicts because of weakness in their hearts while Zechs believed that strong people made them do so. As they exchanged their final blows, Zechs losses and he finally acknowledged Heero’s ideals of peace.

Interesting Fact!

The intensity of the final battle between Heero and Zechs is surely irreplaceable, but you might be wondering if there are other mecha battles with the same energy.

Here is a mecha fight that is quite thrilling and worth watching. I am talking about a battle that happens in Code Geass, another mecha genre anime.

The fight is between KallenStadtfeld (Member of Black Knights) and SuzakuKururugi (Elite Soldier of Holy Britannia Empire).

Kallen fights with her new Knightmare (Mobile Suit) called Guren while Suzaku faces her off with his mighty Lancelot. She attacks him with the special arm of Guren equipped with extreme level heating ability. She even managed to destroy one of his arms, but Suzaku uses a buster rifle of Lancelot to counterattack her. Suzuka emerges victor of this battle as his suit and skills are quite advanced as compared to Kallen.