It's the fight no one asked for, but one that apparently everybody wants to see: 100 men vs. one gorilla.
Yep. That’s the hypothetical match-up blowing up feeds across X, TikTok, Reddit, and every group chat filled with overconfident friends and dodgy battle strategies.
What started as a weird online thought experiment has spiraled into a full-blown internet phenomenon, with viral posts, digital simulations, expert analysis, celebrity hot takes — and even MrBeast and Elon Musk getting involved.
Let’s get one thing out the way: silverback gorillas are absolute units.
According to Tara Stoinski, president and CEO of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, they weigh in at over 400 pounds and are “estimated to be about four to 10 times as strong as humans", she tells Forbes.
That’s not gym bro strength — that’s rip-a-banana-tree-from-the-earth strength.
But Stoinski isn’t here to fuel the fantasy. She says that while a gorilla is way stronger than any single human, “it’s just an issue of sheer numbers.” Add in the fact that humans can strategize, coordinate, and attack from all angles, and suddenly the beast isn’t looking so unbeatable. Even if the men win, she warns, “they probably wouldn’t all walk away alive.”
If you’re picturing this giant silverback plowing through a human sea like King Kong on a bad day, you’re not far off. Assistant anthropology professor Stacy Rosenbaum told Forbes the gorilla would have “a fighting chance,” especially against humans attacking in waves. But she added one crucial weakness: stamina. Gorillas “are not endurance athletes,” she said, and would “certainly get tired, and probably fairly quickly.”
On TikTok, the debate is thriving. @flossybaby told her 4.5 million followers that the men would win because the gorilla is “severely outnumbered,” but she didn’t sugarcoat the cost. “There’s going to be at least 10 of y’all that die,” she predicted.
Another user suggested victory is possible — if everyone is “dedicated” and “willing to die for the cause.” That’s right. No quitters in this hypothetical deathmatch.
Then there’s Joe Bartolozzi, who has nearly 25 million followers. He’s on team gorilla. He doesn’t think 100 men could take it down, arguing the gorilla could wipe out waves of humans before they had a chance to retaliate. And if you’ve ever seen one in action, he’s probably not wrong.
One post on X racked up 250,000 likes just by telling people to “be serious,” alongside terrifying photos of gorilla teeth and muscle that look like something out of a monster movie.
But it’s not just fans chiming in. ESPN host Stephen A. Smith weighed in, suggesting 100 men could win—if every single one of them was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Pat McAfee hosted a panel on it. And former NBA star Quentin Richardson even broke down a plan: 25 guys per limb.
As the chaos spread, MrBeast joked about running a real-life version of the fight. “Need 100 men to test this, any volunteers?” he posted. Elon Musk replied: “Sure, what’s the worst that could happen?” (Spoiler: probably a lot.)
PETA, unsurprisingly, wasn’t amused. They clapped back at MrBeast, writing, “100 men vs. a gorilla? Maybe try 100 reasons to leave animals out of your content instead…” (Okay, PETA, it's just a bit of banter.)
So where did this madness start? According to Know Your Meme, the earliest trace of the debate dates back to 2022, when TikTok user @yuri5kpt2 posed the question. But it didn’t explode until X user @DreamChasnMike reignited it with a now-viral post that’s been viewed over 287 million times.
For all the fun and fantasy, Stoinski made one final, sobering point. Gorillas “have not fared well against people,” she said, citing threats like poaching and habitat destruction. With only about 1,000 mountain gorillas left in the wild, Stoinski added: “That’s the more important conversation to be having.”
My input? I think it's clear that 100 men could easily take down 1 gorilla - the only problem is, who are gonna be the first 10 guys to charge the ape? Because... they ain't walking out with all their limbs.