Neon Genesis Evangelion featured some of the most lethal mecha ever imagined. The Evangelion Units are more like animals than mechs, being bio-organic lifeforms contained underneath plates of armor. Barely controlled by their pilots, there's something truly grotesque about these living titans who, at any moment, can enter a Berserker Rage or, as shown in Rebuild of Evangelion, enter BEAST Mode, giving in fully to their animalistic urges.
Evangelion is an anime about deep, psychological themes and philosophical discourse. However, part of the fun of any mecha anime, even the most intellectually stimulating ones, is watching absurd, violent fights. Which Evangelion Units might be the most terrifying titans of bio-engineered machinery imaginable, and which ones might leave you feeling cold?
Evangelion Provisional Unit-05
The Provisional Evangelion Unit-05 is one of the weakest Evangelions in the entire franchise. Piloted by Mari in the prologue of Evangelion 2.22, Unit-05 is an Evangelion on wheels, with four spider-like legs. In its fight against the third Angel, Unit-05 is essentially torn apart. The fight ends with Mari blowing up the Evangelino to destroy the Angel. Unit-05 is an overly complicated, fragile machine that Mari doesn't seem all too upset to see go.
Evangelion Unit-00
Evangelion Unit-00 is one of the first Evangelions seen in the anime. However, being the prototype, it is far less equipped than the other Evangelions to engage in combat. It is difficult to control, since most pilots who enter it for the first time, be it Rei Ayanami or Shinji Ikari, end up losing control of Unit-00. Unit-00 often takes a support role in missions, be it holding up a shield to protect Shinji, fetching a gun or just blowing itself up to stop Armisael, the Sixteenth Angel.
Unit Null
Unit Null is an odd Evangelion to place on the list since it only appeared in the short film "Evangelion: Another Impact." During a test, Unit Null goes berserk. Rather than contain it in a padded room as they would for Unit-00, they instead fire it up to an abandoned city, where it throws a tantrum. It is hard to rank its lethality since we only see it attack buildings, not people or Angels.
Evangelion Unit-08
Mari's Unit-08 appears in Evangelion 3.33, but not much of it is shown during the course of the film. There are two iterations of Unit-08, with the latter version, Evangelion Unit-08β, having some pretty significant upgrades to its design. However, in all cases, Unit-08 seems to function as a support unit to Evangelion Unit-02. Its attacks are hardly effective against anyone it fights, be it the Evangelion Mark.09 or the Mark.04s floating around the Tesseract containing Evangelion Unit-01. Much like Unit-00, Unit-08 serves as a support unit.
Evangelion Unit-03
Depending on the continuity, Evangelion Unit-03 is piloted by Toji Suzuhara or Asuka Langley Sohryu. In both cases, it becomes overtaken by an Angel, and Unit-01, controlled by the Dummy Plug System, destroys it. However, while this fight is incredibly emotionally gripping, Unit-03 seems somewhat underwhelming power-wise. In the series, it only beats Unit-02 because Asuka was trying to tell Shinji who was piloting Unit-03. Shinji just refuses to fight Unit-03, but, when the Dummy Plug System is activated, Unit-01 makes short work of it. Despite being a highlight in the series, Unit-03 is somewhat weak.
Evangelion Unit-04
Evangelion Unit-04 only appears in video games and as an action figure. In all versions of the anime, Unit-04 disappears, taking out its entire crew with it. For the sheer level of destruction it causes, Unit-04 is clearly more lethal than Unit-03, which is ironic considering Unit-03 ultimately became an Angel.
Mass Production Evangelions
Few Evangelions are as genuinely nightmarish as the Mass Production Evangelions. Piloted by the brutal Dummy Plug Systems, each Mass Production Evangelion can just keep fighting, regardless of what injuries are incurred. Because they fight as a pack, they gang up on a target. They are brutal and efficient. However, each Mass Production Evangelion on its own is fairly ineffective. Unit-02 takes them down for a while with limited power in a matter of minutes. The difficult thing, however, is keeping them down.
Evangelion Mark.06
Despite a lot of build-up in the first half of Rebuild of Evangelion, Evangelion Mark.06, piloted by Kaworu Nagisa, proves to be a somewhat under-utilized Evangelion. The Mark.06 manages to stop Evangelion Unit-01 as it triggers Third Impact, sure, but it never really does anything after that. Ultimately, Mark.06 merges with Lilith in Central Dogma. After the Lance of Longinus is removed from Lilith, Mark.09 decapitated Mark.06, summoning the Twelve Angel. Beyond being used as a means to summon the Angels, Mark.06's destructive power is difficult to measure.
Evangelion Mark.09
Mark.09 is one of the more powerful and bizarre Angels around. Much like the Mass Production Evangelions, it can regenerate, change form and seems fairly difficult to put down. However, while it can hold off Evangelion Unit-08's Anti-AT Field bullets, it ultimately ends up taking a lot of damage over and over again thanks to Unit-02. None of this is to undercut the sheer lethality of the Mark.09, which contributes to Fourth Impact. However, if its whole body wasn't a Core, it probably would have been taken out when Unit-08 shot its head off during its first appearance.
Evangelion Unit-02
Evangelion Unit-02 is one of the most powerful Evangelions. From its first appearance, it becomes Unit-01's equal in terms of power. In one of the most awesome mecha fights ever animated in End of Evangelion, Unit-02 holds off the entire Japanese military and nine separate Evangelions. And that's before Rebuild of Evangelion, which introduced fans to the super-powered alternate form of Evangelion Unit-02: Beast Mode. Unit-02 holds off even the all-powerful Evangelion 13 in battle. Whether it's piloted by Mari or Asuka, Unit-02 is one of the most dangerous mecha ever constructed.
Evangelion Unit-01
Evangelion Unit-01 probably isn't as dangerous in battle as Unit-02. Even its Berserker Rage is surpassed by Evangelion Unit-02's Beast Mode. However, it makes up for that with the ability to trigger Third Impact. In the original series and Rebuild, Evangelion Unit-01 is designed to trigger the apocalyptic forces of Instrumentality. It manages to trigger Third Impact in Rebuild through the sheer force of the pilot's will.
Evangelion Unit-13
Unit-13 is essentially Evangelion Unit-01 made even stronger. This powerful Evangelion requires two pilots -- Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa -- to simultaneously pilot it. It triggers Fourth Impact all on its own, after fighting off Unit-02. Ultimately, Evangelion Unit-13 is never bested in battle, but rather ends up self-sabotaging itself when Kaworu aborts Fourth Impact, to his own doom. Unit-13's true levels of lethality have yet to be determined since there remains one film in the series yet to be released. However, all signs indicate that Unit-13 might prove to be even more dangerous in its second outing.
