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Most epic comic book fight of all time?

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I've been getting into comics a lot more lately after getting a Marvel Unlimited subscription and finding some good DC stuff. A big part of the appeal comes from the battles. Comics can often give you some pretty great fights.

What are your favorite individual battles in a comic book?

Batman vs Superman in The Dark Knight Returns is pretty high up there and might be the GOAT for me. With that said, it's a pretty easy choice, so I want to list a few dark horse contenders.

The Avengers vs The Black Order in Infinity #6

After reading this issue, I had to sit back for a minute and take it all in. It's most of the Avengers team vs Thanos and his most elite soldiers, who are called The Black Order. These people are not to be fucked with, and this fight has just about everything. Out of context scans don't really do it justice, but here are a few of my favorites:

ooh-fancy.jpg



Iron Man vs Mallen Round 2 in Extremis

This is one of the best choreographed comic battles I've seen, and coming at the end of a pretty awesome story, the battle has a lot of weight.




As I'm just scratching the surface of what comics have to offer, I'm sure there are tons of others that eclipse these (although I think we can all agree that Batman vs Superman is pretty goddamn amazing).
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Every fight in Fist of the North Star. But Ken walking through a collapsing building because he didn't give a shit was formative.
 

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
American eagle, the relative unknown putting the boots to bullseye medium style, and overall making the thunderbolts look like chumps after civil war.
 

Ophelion

Member
The fight between Invincible and Omniman near the beginning of Invincible was one of the most epic beatdowns of all time. I remember thinking at the time that I'd never seen a hero get his shit kicked in that hard without dying before. It's brutal.

Edit:
Miracleman vs. Kid Miracleman.
Also a contender.
 
In recent memory, Avengers World #3 (Hickman/Caselli) has an awesome Shang Chi vs Gorgon fight. It's pretty much the entire issue.

My all time favorite is probably that Orion issue (17 or 18 IIRC) by Walt Simonson dedicated to an Orion vs Darkseid fight.
 
The post-Civil War beatdown that Thor gave Iron Man was cool.

Can you even call this a fight? There wasn't really a "fight" to speak of. Thor with the full power of the Odinforce against an Iron Man who was written as a complete idiot. IIRC, Iron Man launches one completely ineffective attack and then gets brutally dismantled. This one felt like a spite battle.
 
It lacks the epic scale of a lot of these, but I've always been fond of Jaime Reyes vs. The Reach (pre New 52). For a hero that generally got by on brute force and leaning on the AI in the suit, seeing him go full guile hero was a nice touch.
 
Can you even call this a fight? There wasn't really a "fight" to speak of. Thor with the full power of the Odinforce against an Iron Man who was written as a complete idiot. IIRC, Iron Man launches one completely ineffective attack and then gets brutally dismantled. This one felt like a spite battle.

The strangest thing about that fight was that it took place in new orleans two years after hurricane Katrina but it for some reason was still flooded
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Cosmic Marvel comics have crazy epic shit going on most of the time. One particular battle only showed the involved hugeass entities frozen in place because the brains of humans/lesser beings couldn't process the information.

The scale is usually deliciously ridiculous in general. Transition panels will have a "Meanwhile, a few light years away from there..." blurb like it's nothing.
 

rbenchley

Member
Miracleman vs. Kid Miracleman.

Winner winner, chicken dinner. Just an absolutely brutal look at what would happen to ordinary people when superhumans fight, and as someone else pointed out, not many people have had an opportunity to read it, as Miracleman 15 is ridiculously scarce due to Eclipse Comics' warehouse sustaining heavy flood damage. Fortunately, the Marvel reissue is due out next month.


Another candidate would be Thanos vs everyone from the Infinity Gauntlet series. In addition to Thanos tearing through every Marvel cosmic entity, it has a top notch scene where Captain America make a heroic, if futile, stand against Thanos:

infinity-gauntlet-caps-walk.jpg
 

MC Safety

Member
I have a few:

Fantastic Four #12 -- Hulk vs. Thing. This is the first battle between Hulk vs. Thing and it is awesome. It's a two-parter, and done way before Hulk became a mindless brute with almost unlimited strength. It's Lee and Kirby, so it's absolutely brilliant.

Amazing Spider-Man # 270- Firelord comes to Earth for a slice of pizza and gets into a huge brawl with Spider-Man. What works well here is showing exactly how capable and determined Spider-Man is.

Daredevil #181 - Bullseye vs. Electra and then the winner goes on to fight Daredevil.

Defenders #151 and #152 - Manslaughter and the Interloper join the New Defenders for their final battle against Moondragon. This was a wonderful end to a magnificent monthly book.

Daredevil #3 - Daredevil holds off the Sub-Mariner. Almost.

(I'm not sure I got all the issue numbers right.)
 

rbenchley

Member
Marvelman was some cool shit, will there ever be more?

Yes! As soon as Marvel is done reprinting the existing material up through issue 24, Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham are supposed to finish up The Silver Age storyline that was interrupted by Eclipse's bankruptcy and then Neil will write one more arc called The Dark Age (not sure if Buckingham is doing art for that one as well or if someone else will take over once The Silver Age is done).
 

E the Shaggy

Junior Member
You mean you actually took it literally? That was Batman begrudgingly admitting he wouldn't win the fight. Relative to Batman, Cap's stamina is limitless while his very much will run out at some point

Yeah this is how I took it.

Batman admitted he would lose while still trying to save face.
 
I have a few:

Fantastic Four #12 -- Hulk vs. Thing. This is the first battle between Hulk vs. Thing and it is awesome. It's a two-parter, and done way before Hulk became a mindless brute with almost unlimited strength. It's Lee and Kirby, so it's absolutely brilliant.

Amazing Spider-Man # 270- Firelord comes to Earth for a slice of pizza and gets into a huge brawl with Spider-Man. What works well here is showing exactly how capable and determined Spider-Man is.

Daredevil #181 - Bullseye vs. Electra and then the winner goes on to fight Daredevil.

Defenders #151 and #152 - Manslaughter and the Interloper join the New Defenders for their final battle against Moondragon. This was a wonderful end to a magnificent monthly book.

Daredevil #3 - Daredevil holds off the Sub-Mariner. Almost.

(I'm not sure I got all the issue numbers right.)


Always loved Thing vs Hulk. Ben knows he's got no shot but does it anyway.
 
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