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Solid list. Alas not as much variety as I'd have expected, or hoped. Only two none Marvel or DC battles (at my count) in the list. I was hoping with so many to choose from that a number of dark horses would sneak in there and the some of the main stream chooses might be split.

I kinda knew my top choose wasn't going to make it BUT I'll hold up the British end and suggest that everyone go check it out and see it for can track down (it's not hard at all) Nemesis vs Torquemarda from 2000ad. They have had so many classic battles over the years. I went for the one at the end of Book 1 with glorious art by Kevin O'Neill. Treat yourself America and go check it out.

For me a delight to see so many classic Avengers battles make it (including the one that got my vote) and a little surprised that one of the fights from the Watchmen didn't make it given the comments on the original post (didn't vote for any myself just surprised).

Anyway fun list and as ever thanks for all the hard work Brian.

Supes vs. Bats can be the only choice. Everyone's dream battle is the two greatest heroes against eachother. Frank Miller's depiction of the battle is spot on and blazed into the memory of all who've read it.

I will say, however, that with two entries from The Ultimates, I was surprised to not see the battle from Ultimates 2. That super-centerfold alone is better than many battles on the list.

Pretty good list. Most of the battles I would have listed were on there, as well as several others I hadn't thought of but should have. Aside from the two Ultimates entries, I think they're all worthy of being in the top 25.

Yeah, a pretty solid list. I only hate three of those mentioned - I was expecting to hate a lot more.

Superman/Doomsday - was really far too long and had no variation.

Avengers/Masters of Evil - the Masters of Evil's USP in that story was that they outnumbered the Avengers, but that was never played out. The Avengers whittle them down one at a time, so that by the last issue the battle's outcome is never in any doubt.

X-Men/Marauders - I always pinpoint this story as the moment the X-Men became the mess it is today. At least half the Marauders have metal weapons or are wearing metal armour, but Magneto stays at home guarding the mansion throughout the whole arc. Also Claremont never came up with a good reason why the Marauders wanted to slaughter the Morlocks - it was just grim for the sake of it.

Anyone else surprised that the Executioner v the armies of Hel didn't make the top 25?

i wish the list was posted on the blog instead! it took me forever to click thru the damn thing! i thought it was alright, but it had a bunch of stuff i didn't expect to be so popular (and a bunch of stuff i was kicking myself for leaving off my own list).

No Daredevil vs Punisher? Too many Ultimates. But it's a list no one can argue with.

My choices include Superman vs Ambush Bug (it happened!) and anything Lobo. But I'm a weirdo.

I'm rather kind of disappointed, for several reasons, despite that 4 or 5 of my choices were on the list.

With the exception of 1, all the choices were split into two groups: Marvel and DC. (many of which I've never read, so I can't say whether I agree if those should be on the list or not).

Specifically, this list were all super-heroes battles. What about those who weren't super-powered?
(i.e. Jesse Custer vs Cassidy, one emotional knuckle-down drag-out fight, that signified the end of a long friendship).

Anyway, it was a fun list to participate in.

Any chance of seeing a more comprehensive list, like, 100 or 150 list?

Ha! We found something Grant Morrison can't do!

I'd be quite happy if comics would just agree to forget that stupid "this A on my head" line ever happened.

Meh, i hoped Miracleman vs. Kid MIracleman would be the first one. Still you have to admire how a comic that isn't even reprinted managed to make it all the way to number 4

What, no Watchmen? I would have thought Ozymandias smacking up Nite Owl and Rorschach while calmly explaining his plan would have been a shoo-in.

This list needs some Nextwave. But I was pleased to see Invincible vs Omni-Man on there.

I'm surprised that Superman/Doomsday made the list- reasonably nice art from Jurgens, but the whole thing was so thrown together for the cash grab it was, I didn't find it emotionally captivating or dramatically interesting, particularly as we didn't even know a thing about Doomsday to wonder at his motivations (except he liked Pro-Wrestling- ugh.)

The battles in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, Superman versus the three Kryptonians in Byrne's run, hell tons of great Superman battles, were so much more fraught with history and pathos (and no small amount of action), I am really astonished people could pick such a vanilla moment. But then again, one can't argue taste. And at least two of my choices made it up, so no more complaints from me.

The only reason the Miracleman fight isn't #1 is because not enough people have read it. Nothing even comes close to it, and I like the list, for the most part. I agree that I wish some more obscure fights had made it (Captains Britain and UK fighting the Fury, for instance), but that's why they're obscure, after all - as Brian pointed out, these aren't the best, just the most popular.

Miracleman vs. Kid Miracleman is by far the best, though. Anyone who hasn't read it should seek it out somewhere!

good list, but things like jack frost vs the king of all tears and we1-3 vs we4 are definitely both up there for me. and thanos vs all the heroes can't be any lower than no2 on such a list, really. fun exercise though. surprised that batman vs prometheus didn't make it.

Funnily enough Greg one of the more obsure fights I went for was the Captain Britain vs. Fury one. Though I went for the one before the final confrontation, the one with the Special Executive. Maybe the split vote hampered even the dark horses!

Minor quibble, but I'm pretty sure the Mutant Leader from Dark Knight Returns wasn't named Dick. Bruce was just flashing back to Dick Grayson as he was being beaten to death.

It's pretty sad how many of these are heroes fighting each other. Especially the Ultimates/Hulk battle, which (if I'm remembering right) was Banner injecting himself essentially to give the Ultimates someone to fight for publicity.

That said, JLI is my favorite comic book in the whole world, and I wouldn't have thought to vote for Batman punching Guy in the face (I didn't vote at all). It's a terrific joke and a wonderful moment in the series. But a great battle? Really?

Should we just list-dump? I wanna list-dump.

1. Captain Britain vs. the Fury (Collected in X-Men Archives 1-7)
2. Dreadstar and Company vs. The Instrumentality (Dreadstar 1-31)
3. Secret Wars (Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 1-12)
4. Avengers vs. the fourth version of the Masters of Evil (Avengers 270-279)
5. The Ultimates vs. the Chitauri (sp?) (Ultimates 1-13)
6. The Legion of Super Heroes vs. the second version of the Legion of Super Villains (Culminating in LoSH #5)
7. The Universe vs. Thanos over the Infinity Gauntlet (Culminating in Infinity Gauntlet #6)
8. The Legion of Super Heroes vs. Darkseid (LoSH 290-294)
9. Warlock vs. Thanos (culminating in Marvel 2-in-1 Annual #2)
10. The Defenders vs. the Six Fingered Hand (Defenders 92-100)

Yes, I, like VH1, love the '80s. I only got three on the list. Really surprised that Secret Wars didn't make it. Captain Britain and friends vs. the Fury should be handed out free to everyone who enters a comic store, just to show them how it's done.

No future JLA vs. Darkseid from Rock of Ages? I thought that was a pretty epic battle, way more than Deathstroke vs. JLA in Identity Crisis.

Overall though pretty solid list. I was surprised/pleased to see two Ultimates entries.

I make stabby.

That scene has no business being on that list.

I wouldn't have ranked Superman vs Doomsday on the list at all-- no matter how emotionally effective the Death of Superman sometimes is, as a multi-issue fight scene it's not very impressive and often doesn't make sense.

I would've thought that Wolverine vs. Sabretooth, either Round 1 or Round 2, would stand out enough to be ranked independently of the X-Men vs. Marauders.

Spider-Man vs. Firelord; Levitz LSH vs LSV; Levitz LSH vs. Darkseid and a world full of Daxamites; Wally West vs. Professor-Zoom-as-Barry-Allen; The battle of the wooden soldiers in Fables; Ozymandias vs. Rorshach and Nite-Owl; the magical DC Universe against the darkness beyond in Swamp Thing #50; Suicide Squad vs. Jihad (either the battle from SS 1-2 or the later one in New York); Suicide Squad vs. the People's Heores.

Some strange stuff here. Identity Crisis and Sinestro Corps War are quite baffling choices.

Found Captain Britain/Special Executive v Fury to be bum-clenchingly scary as a youngster, but my vote went to Fury v Jim Jaspers. It just tied up the whole story so beautifully.

Only one of my votes made it into the final 25 - Elektra v Bullseye - I like to think that's because I'm so cutting edge.

Instead of Superman/Doomsday, the best all splash page fight scene is Thor vs. The Midgard Serpent at the end of Simonson's run. That is some epic stuff there. Just my 2 cents.

I have to agree with Dan Larkin about the odd choices of Deathstroke vs. the JLA. That had to have been one of the wussiest fights in the last 20 years. The depiction of it seems so far fetched. I would've placed something like Batman vs. the White Aliens in JLA 1-4 over that, or LoSH vs. Darkseid.
Odd seeing the Ultimates fights to me since I don't remember then due to the 13 gap betweens issues at times. Something like Annhilation, where Marvel Cosmic took down Annhilius was more memorable that that!

I'll probably at least fill out the Top 50 some time in the fairly near future!

A couple of points, though, for people discussing two fights that didn't make the list:

- Wolverine had two separate major fights with Sabretooth that likely split the vote, keeping either out of the Top 25.

- Watchmen also had a decent amount of votes, but for a few different fights.

Ugh. I really wish I'd voted, although I don't know if that would have made much difference. At first I was wondering when the DC stuff would show up, then when it did, I wished that most of it would go away.

Hey, there's another Ryan who posts here . . .

. . . So I was surprised that the We3 v. We4 battle didn't make the list with all of the support it seemed ot have in the initial blog posts before the list was generated. However I am glad to see that Supes v. Batman made number one, as it was my vote for that spot.

Yes! Deathstroke Identity Crisis fight made the list! as for whoever said Nextwave, let it be known that i voted for the Drop Pandas! Ha Ha.

I do believe that I read all of Identity Crisis, but I don't remember any fight with Deathstroke, so I would have to say that one wasn't very memorable. To be fair, I did actively try to forget the whole thing after I got to the end.

Ooh-- yes, Thor vs. Midgard Serpent.
Also: Batman vs a houseful of cops, Year One.

Re: Watchmen-- huh. There aren't that many distinct *fights* in the book.

Adrian vs Rorshach & Nite-Owl
Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre vs. muggers
Rorshach vs. cops
Rorshach with a vat of frying oil; with a toilet; vs. doggies-- all of which are written and drawn very skillfully, none of which seem like the kind of epic fights for the ages one would vote for on this list.

Dr Manhattan doesn't really have any fight scenes at all, for obvious reasons.

An awesome fight not yet mentioned: (Uncanny X-Men #113) Magneto vs. X-Men in Magneto's collapsing volcano fortress. Did that get any votes?!?!?!

Ouch, only three of my picks and one of my runner-ups made the list. Maybe they're in the top 50...

I dig the layout and interface used for this list.

It should be the standard for all future lists.

Very easy to navigate and professional-looking.

Reminds me of the lists on Entertainment Weekly's website.

Thumbs up.

I knew it was a longshot, but I was hoping to see Judge Dredd vs. Judge Fear on here. I guess that the Batman/Guy fight is kind of in the same vein, but the Dredd/Fear fight is one of the greatest badass moments ever written.

In retrospect even though I didn't vote, most of my choices wouldn't have made it anyway, considering that I included 3 mangas in my preliminary list, and Berserk was the only one of those that has an official English release at this point.

I would've appreciated it more if the top fight wasn't one where the protagonist CHEATS at every turn.

It's not like these are sanctioned boxing matches. If there are no rules then it's impossible for anyone to cheat.

I think We3 versus the Government should have gotten on the list.

Have seriously not that many people read We3?

Also, JLA versus Mageddon? C'mon, people!

Is Deathstroke v the JLA anywhere near as good as Deathstroke vs the Teen Titans (from the 80's) which I loved as a kid?
Any ideas where to get Miracleman vs Kid Miracleman?
I too was a bit disappointed with the lack of variety in the list, mostly as it only shows a fraction of what comics're capable of, not sure how to explain but alot have the same theme of 'more power' even for a superhero list.
X-Men 137 is a fantastic conclusion to the saga, the fight itself was a bit mundane though?

Oh, but I loved Batman vs Supes at number 1, helluva fight.

I keep seeing fights I wish I had put on my list! Some great stuff there.

I loved the We3 fight!

So, yeah. Solid list but largely EXTREMELY predictable battles. I've never been a real "every hero in the multiverse dogpiles on the Space God/Devil" kind of fan, as those battles are too impersonal to be affecting or memorable (I mean, the Sinestro Corps War? Really?).

My list-dump (with original descriptions for the truly bored):

01 - “Beyond the Farthest Star!” (Uncanny X-Men #162, 1982) Wolverine fights EVERYTHING on Broodworld, aborts the hatching Brood egg that’s gestating in him with his healing factor and then vows to kill all of his friends before their eggs hatch. It’s violent, disturbing and ridiculously hardcore all at once. Now I’m more than willing to concede that since X-Men #162 was my first-ever X-Men comic that I may be a bit biased. I’ll also cop to being easily as burnt out on Wolverine as most long-time comics fans are, but sometimes its good to remember that there’s a reason that the character got as popular as he did. This may not be one of the most popular solo Wolverine stories but it’s one of the first and one of the best.

02 - “The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin!” (New Gods #8, 1972) Dan Turpin takes on Kalibak mano-a-mano. Hardcore!

03 - “A Small Loss” (Fantastic Four #267, 1984) The arms of Doctor Octopus escape their confinement and venture forth to liberate their master as a desperate Reed Richards enlists Otto Octavius’s help in treating his pregnant wife Susan, whose cosmic ray-powered body is rejecting her baby. Chaos ensues. This is a fluid and visually interesting battle between two opponents whose powers and backgrounds are so similiar that it makes you wonder why they aren’t pitted against one another more frequently. That the stakes are so high and the consequences are so potentially dire only sweetens the pot. Great issue from a great run.

04 - “Days of Rage” (Incredible Hulk #300, 1984) A mindless, Nightmare-fueled Hulk fights (and beats) EVERYONE. Seriously, the only way the heroes could stop him was to exile him to another dimension. Story beats from this era would be revisited and expanded on in the more recent Planet/World War Hulk saga, but this one was first (and more frightening, to boot).

05 - “… A Man’s Home is His Battlefield!” (Iron Man #127, 1979) Justin Hammer looses an army of supervillains on an Iron Man already besieged by murder charges in one identity and an out-of-control drinking problem in the other. Another old-fashioned free-for-all Marvel donnybrook that helps progress a larger story but is also a hell of a lot of fun on its own. Why can’t Marvel (or DC) make ‘em like this anymore?

06 - “Anything You Can Do!” (New Mutants Annual #3, 1987) It’s Warlock vs. The Impossible Man in a unpredictable shape-shifting round-the-world throw-down. Fun!

07 - “Gray Life Gray Dreams” (Justice League #5, 1987) It’s Batman vs. Guy Gardner in a battle that could have been fought over fifty times in the time it took you to read this sentence. One punch!

08 - “Wild Hunt” (JSA #10, 2000) A freshly-showered Wildcat foils an invasion of JSA Headquarters by the Injustice Society using nothing but his fists, his wits, a laser grid, a well-aimed motorcycle and live bees. This comic is so manly that the very act of reading it will automatically increase your sperm count by at least 18%, even if you’re a woman. Science!

09 - “Mjolnir’s Song” (Thor #380, 1987) In a run that consisted of nothing but mind-bending ideas and big action comes this issue; a story so mind-breaking and huge it could only be told in full-page splashes. In one corner: Jormungand, the World Serpent, a world-sized dragon fated to kill (and be killed by) Thor at the end of all that is. In the other corner: Thor, God of Thunder, fighting his prophesized destroyer in an age when, thanks to a curse placed on him by a vengeful Lady of the Underworld, our hero cannot die no matter how grave and fatal his injuries. It seems unfair that anyone should have to pick just one Simonson-era issue of Thor as an example of a great fight as there were so many in his run. This is definitely one of the most memorable of them, though.

10 - Rorshach and Nite Owl take on Ozymandias in Watcmen #11. He’s not a Republic serial villain.

What about the Colossus Vs. Juggernaut bar fight after Peter breaks up with Kitty Pryde and Wolverine and Nightcrawler take him to a bar. Juggernaut happens to be there just looking for a drink, and a great fight (and hilarity) ensues. It ends with Juggernaut knocking out Colossus, paying his bar tab and leaving, pissed that whenever he goes anywhere the X-Men seem to pick a fight.

No Lee/Ditko Spidey stuff like the Master Planner saga, but Meltzer makes it up? Ugh!

"I knew it was a longshot, but I was hoping to see Judge Dredd vs. Judge Fear on here."

Much like the Captain Britain vote which also seems to have been split I always figured that the Judge Dredd vote would be far to split to make any head way., even if the vote wasn't incredibly American focused as the runs list (which as I said then is fair enough given its an American poll).

I had two fights from The Cursed Earth and the whole of the Dredd and Anderson vs the Dark Judges in my short list and then stoped thinking of any more Dredd stuff. In the end I pumped for Dredd and co vs Legion of the Damned 'cos I remember that really frecked me out when I read it as a kid and having re-read it not to long ago still think its the best example of an 'Alamo' type last stand in comics.

There's just too many great fights in Judge Dredd for any of them to have made it - well that was my reckoning at least.

The most epic battle of all time:

Bat-Mite vs. Mxyzptlk, World's Funnest.

"Is Deathstroke v the JLA anywhere near as good as Deathstroke vs the Teen Titans (from the 80’s) which I loved as a kid?"

God, no. The Identity Crisis fight is one of the more stupid moments in a miniseries packed with stupid moments as Deathstroke beats up the JLA (including the Flash and Green Lantern) singlehandedly by standing in the open and the other characters acting like complete idiots specifically so he can win. I was shocked to see it on the list since I've heard nothing but complaints about how terrible it is.

I don't recall my exact vote set up but the only one I voted for that made the list was Elektra vs. Bullseye. I expected Superman vs. Mongul from "For the Man who Has Everything" to make the list. It looks like LSH vs. Darkseid and Turpin vs. Kalibak. were more popular choices than I thought they would be. My most outside vote was Ogami Itto vs. the Buddhist monk in volume 4 of Lone Wolf and Cub which features a lot of zen mysticism.

Did anyone at all vote for the fight between Jesse and Cassady in Preacher? Issue 65? Did anyone even consider it?

Oh, I liked the Identity Crisis scene.

Um, Shingen vs. Wolverine? Given the rest of the content of this list, you'd think something that's both a Chris Claremont fight and a Frank Miller fight would have been somewhere in the top 10.

I think of that fight, rather than the Hellfire Club deal, as the reason why Wolverine is so regrettably popular today.

We3 vs. We4 was awesome and on my list, but given the hugely mainstream-superhero content here, I'm not surprised by its exclusion.

Sandman and Watchmen probably got a lot of split votes, as they had no really defining fights. But I think Rorschach vs. Big Figure would have trumped Ozymandias vs. Rorschach/Nite Owl.

The Deathstroke fight is just stupid. He can overpower a Green Lantern and move his sword so fast that someone who can approach the speed of light can't see it in time to stop? Sure, right...

Miracleman vs. Kid Miracleman can't be topped. Not only does it have pages of the most horrifying carnage, it also resulted in the world learning that there are superheroes and aliens and Miracleman becoming a god. I don't think many other fights can say that.

The Legion's Great Darkness Saga should be on the list. Taking a whole world of Superman-level beings, brainwashing them to fight our heroes, and making them turn their entire planet into a bust of Darksied is also pretty hard to top as well.

"What about the Colossus Vs. Juggernaut bar fight after Peter breaks up with Kitty Pryde and Wolverine and Nightcrawler take him to a bar."

It was my top choice.

The Punisher Vs the Russian from Welcome Back Frank is still the funniest fight scene I have read and showcases the best of Ennis' and Dillon's dark comedy and even showcases some toilet humour (in a literal sense)

The best though is probably Bullseye VS Elektra, a, fluent, well crafted and vicious battle that just leaped off the page and changed a character forever. The ensuing fight with DD is just as powerful and should have been in there also, especially with the final act of Daredevil letting Bullseye drop into a crumpled mess on the pavement. A superhero not saving someone from possible death was unthinkable at the time and even now this is still a shocking moment to read. What really got me though was the fact that the book was told from the villian's point of view and the reader still felt an emotional punch and great empathy from the death of Elektra and Matt's cold and detached reaction was fully felt in this exchange of blows.

I expected a few more Kirby battles as well, maybe the Wonderman one from issue 8 of the Avengers, as some people consider Marvels 60's books more "punchy" because of his talent for well drawn fight scenes.

Didn't expect to see Miracle/Marvel man in there as well but man, what a fight that was. And also lets not forget the classic of Robin VS Jubilee from DC VS Marvel - Shocking, physically frightening and monumentally groundbreaking!

"Did anyone at all vote for the fight between Jesse and Cassady in Preacher? Issue 65? Did anyone even consider it? "

I did vote for Jesse vs Jody from the All In the Family. Can't say I considered anything else since that's my favourite fight of all time, though the one with Cass was good too.

For Preacher, I like the assault on Masada better than either of those.

An underappreciated minor classic: Grey Hulk vs. Freedom Force.

And I think we'll look back on WWH: Hulk vs. X-Men as a minor classic as well.

I'm mildly surprised that the Avengers-Defenders war didn't make the list, given some of the other older vintage listmakers.

A few suggestions for what other battles should have appeared on this list...

The Thing vs. Doctor Doom from FF #40. The Thing, fighting mad after having been forced to give up being plain old Ben Grimm, beats the tar out of the "good" doctor.

Daredevil vs. the Sub-Mariner, from DD #7. Classic Wally Wood. One of Stan Lee's favorite stories.

The Wedding of Reed and Sue, from FF Annual #3. Almost every Marvel hero and villain show up for the party, and engage in a giant melee.

The Hulk vs. Sub-Mariner, from Tales to Astonish #100. 22 pages of epic fisticuffs.

Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Six, from Spider-Man Annual #1. Ditko at his finest, illustrating confrontation after confrontation.

'Terrible" Turpin vs. Kalibak, from New Gods #8.

I for one greatly prefer the old way of stretching the list out over several days of excruciating suspense. I love how we commenters whip ourselves into a hysterical frenzy as number one approaches. EW lists have always bugged me for the endless clicking and lack of comments.

Yeah, Ozy vs. Nite Owl & Rorschach just missed my list. Love that one. And I cannot believe I forgot to include the JLI vs. The Suicide Squad, truly a favorite.

I'm gonna wait till' we see a more full tally before I list dump- but where's our resident statistician at? That's one of my favorite things about these votes.

It does seem that some entries made such an impact on the list for being so well known, like the Superman/Doomsday fight; which I didn't think was so grand, except when he sadly (and unbelievably) took out The Justice League with LITERALLY one hand tied behind his back . But I also held little hope that my choice of Blue Beetle, Black Canary & Robin fighting The Condiment King in the pages of Birds Of Prey would show up.

The Kingdom Come finale and Batman/Guy Gardner (my #1) were choices of mine which made the cut.

-Citizen Scribbler

Hmmm... I just suddenly remembered this book called "300" by some guy called "Frank Miller " probably should have been in there somewhere...

"God, no. The Identity Crisis fight is one of the more stupid moments in a miniseries packed with stupid moments as Deathstroke beats up the JLA (including the Flash and Green Lantern) singlehandedly by standing in the open and the other characters acting like complete idiots specifically so he can win. I was shocked to see it on the list since I’ve heard nothing but complaints about how terrible it is."
Have you actually read the issue in question or did you decide to make that comment after everyone else complained how bad it was? As for Superman vs Doomsday - I can't think of a more brutal fight pre or post Crisis.

right... and brutality per se isn't that interesting, or in-character for Superman, or remotely intelligent for someone with superspeed, fight, and heat vision...

"Have you actually read the issue in question or did you decide to make that comment after everyone else complained how bad it was?"

I have the trade which I picked up mainly due to the hype. I strongly regret the purchase.

"Right… and brutality per se isn’t that interesting, or in-character for Superman, or remotely intelligent for someone with superspeed, fight, and heat vision."
If it wasn't that interesting, in-character or remotely intelligent as you say, then why did it come in 2nd place behind the Superman / Batman battle from DKR 4?

I would've liked it if the number one fight wasn't one where the PROTAGONIST cheated at every turn, using help from wherever he could get it.

I'm fine with him being prepared, but the fact that Arrow and Robin were there at all kills it for me. Be prepared, but do it one on one.

Cool. Four of the fights I nominated not only made the list, they were in the Top Ten.

List Dump (not that anyone really cares)
01-Green Lantern Corps vs. Sinestro Corps (Sinestro Corps War)
02-Superman vs. Doomsday (the first fight, not the rematches)
03-Batman vs. The Joker (The Dark Knight Returns)
04-Legion of Superheroes vs. Legion of Supervillains (from LOSH vol. 3 #1-5)
05-Kenshin Himura vs. Hajime Saito (Rurouni Kenshin)
06-Spider-Man vs. Kraven The Hunter (Kraven's Last Hunt)
07-The Justice League vs. The Gulag Inmates vs. Batman's Team (Kingdom Come)
08-The Avengers vs. The Masters of Evil (Avengers vol. 1 #273-277)
09-Thor vs. Iron Man (Thor vol. 3 #3)
10-Black Adam's team vs. The JSA (JSA "Black Reign" storyline)

I had a hard time coming up with some and of course after I sent in my list, I thought of a few others. Oh well.

I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of non-superhero fights here, too, but not really surprised. I was still holding out hope for Dream vs. Choronzon, though.

Flex Mentallo vs the Pentagon. I didn't think about it until right now. Man, it would have been amazing to see that on the list.

Heh - there's a whole load of Marvel ones here I've never even heard of...

Minor quibble, but I’m pretty sure the Mutant Leader from Dark Knight Returns wasn’t named Dick. Bruce was just flashing back to Dick Grayson as he was being beaten to death.

Tha's right

Wolverine had two separate major fights with Sabretooth that likely split the vote, keeping either out of the Top 25.

There were two separate major fights with The Anti-Monitor in CoIE, but from the description in the list it looks like those votes were merged into one. Personally I had very specifically the fight in CoIE #7 on my list at number 12 (so just missing my vote).

I would’ve appreciated it more if the top fight wasn’t one where the protagonist CHEATS at every turn.

I was going to respond, but I'm lost for words here....

I'm really surprised that no-one seems to have even mentioned my #2 which is Batman vs the SWAT team in Batman: Year One, but I also would have expected to see Jesse Custer vs Cassidy (my #5) and Captain America vs Hank Pym in The Ultimates (my #8).

Not a single pick of mine made the list, which wasn't too shocking since I'm an old fart, but I was surprised not to see the final battle from The Golden Age on the list.

And where was Skurge holding the bridge at Gjallerbru?!?

Honestly, people!

I too think Ultimate Cap vs Giant Man was the ebst fight in the Ultimates.

If I had gotten rounf to voting I would have gone for Sandman/Choronzon as well.

The Deathstroke/JLA fight is only good if you look at it as Slade being a hard-ass rather than the League being incompetent (which it really is, GL tries to punch him? Really?)

I just didn't get the Superman Doomsday fight.

Batman/Catman from the Secret Six #2 will one day be a classic though.

Considering the huge variety of lists (the un-hidden ones) that we saw on the voting link, I'm actually amazed that the Marvelman/Miracleman fight was there at all! It must have been weighted by being so high up on peoples lists...

I really liked the interface though, nice design there!

I do wonder whether "Stare into the face of Fear"/"Stare into the fist of Dredd!" may have actually inspired "One Punch!!"...

Some drops:

Doctor Doom versus the Beyonder was one of my big ones, but I knew the chances of it making the cut were slim- still, it just went to show how indomitable the will of the man was, and Zeck's art... breathtaking, plain and simple- you saw the protagonist's effort and agony sweating off every panel.

Also on the slim to none chance on my list was Captain America 300 where Cap and Skull, both elderly men (Skull had counteracted the affects of the Super-soldier serum), just sit there ripping each other apart until it becomes apparent that the Skull just wants Cap to beat him to death.

As others have pointed out, Thor vs. Midgard Serpent was Superman versus Doomsday done right and with far more pathos and weight to it. Simonson's Thor versus Surtur also had that majesty- Mijolnir actually blistering Thor's hands as he hits the demon with more force than I have ever seen Thor hit anyone. Then again, Simonson spent his whole run schooling folks on how to show a fight.

but my Ultron Unlimited made the list as did Bats vs. Superman from DK. And I absolutely love the taking of Avengers Mansion by Helmut Zemo's Masters and the stellar battles that ensued.

Well, two of my choices made the list. Overall, the list is good with a few odd choices -- Superman/Doomsday just reeked of a cash-grab event and didn't have any heart to the story, so there's no emotional interest for the reader, and as such I'm surprised it's had any legacy to it beyond the commercial aspect of Superman #75 and it's symbol of all that was wrong with the investing-in-comics bubble of the '90s; and "One Punch" doesn't seem like a battle to me, imho.

Now is the time on Sprockets where we list-dump:
01. X-Men vs Magneto (UXM #112-113) - a classic story and my intro to the X-Men.
02. Colossus vs Juggernaut (UXM #183) - Peter shows his fightin' spirit, and Wolverine's a dick
03. Godzilla vs Mega Monsters (Godzilla #12-13) - sentimental favorite from my childhood
04. Ultimates vs Ultimate Hulk (Ultimates #5)
05. Rom vs Hybrid (Rom #17-18, #31-32) - Rom is the bee's knees and Hybrid is a monster in the truest since of the word; plus it combined my two favorite childhood titles: Rom & X-Men
06. Rom vs Wraith Witches (Rom #48-65) - brutal and violent, but the ending is marred by too cartoony art by Ditko
07. X-Men vs Imperial Guard (UXM #137) - ...yes, I cried...
08. Mighty Avengers vs Ultron (MA #1-6) - this is probably a result of new-itis and may not stand up to time, but I really enjoyed the story and Frank Cho's art
09. X-Men vs Cassandra Nova (NXM #114-116) - great start for Morrison on the X-Men (...though I didn't care for how his run on the title ended)
10 Generation Next vs Sugar Man & horde (AOA: Generation Next #1-4) - dark & depressing, but I love it.

I just noticed that everything on my list is Marvel - YEESH!

Dream vs Choronzon is great-- but Dream vs. The Corinthian gives a whole new meaning to "one punch."
"

It may be mainstream, but the Batman/Azrael fight at the end of Knightsend lasts for five or six issues, and it good the whole way through, and a year's worth of stories have been leading up to it. I'd think any single fight that lasts for six issues should at least be brought up.

Also, Hitman/undead penguins. "Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium" is just hilarious.

Have to say, it's a good list. I wish the gun battle at the cabin between Snake Eyes, Destro, Firefly and Fred from the Marvel Gi Joe series had made it. It wasn't a big city smashing fight, but it was tense and punchy and and left your head zinging.

There was also an issue of Thor shortly atfter Simonsons run that, if I recall correctly, featured an excellent inventory story of Thor fighting The Hulk in which the Hulk belted Thor with a freight train at one point. Mint.

I didn't expect to see Walt Simonson dominiate the contest or anything, but I was quite surprised to see nothing by him at all on the top 25. My own list was very Walt -heavy: the Reed/Doom time battle, Thor and the Midgard Serpent, the Darkseid/Orion throwdown, and Cyclops vs. the Mastermold from the early X-Factor days were all on there. For my money, he draws better superhero battles than anyone else.

Second the Reed-Doom time battle. I've tried and fialed to explain it to people: they have ot see it to realize how cool it is.

I had half my list show up.

http://uotocomics.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-10-comic-book-battles.html

But I think I lament the fights that didn't show up more than I cheer the ones that did...

For "Best snark delivered stealthfully in three words", I nominate "for some reason".

I'm surprised that only one of my list made the top 25; I expected the Sandman one to be a shoo-in and the Suicide Squad and Hulk ones to at least have fighting chances.

Listdump:

1. Kid Miracleman vs Miracleman (et. al), Miracleman #15

2. Destroy!, by Scott McCloud

3. Princess Projectra Vs. Nemesis Kid (Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #5) (I expect legion votes wound up split nineteen ways to sunday here...I just barely picked this over the Dark Circle fight from Waid's first reboot, and could probably think of may other candidates)

4. The Incredible Hulk vs. the Maestro in Rick Jones' trophy room (Future Imperfect #2) (I'll take this over any of the Hulk fights that made the list any day.)

5. Swamp Thing vs. Anton Arcane (Saga of the Swamp Thing #31 IIRC)

6. Cerebus vs. Necross/Thrunk (about 1/3 into Church and State V. 2)

7. Hunter Rose versus Argent on the rooftop (Grendel, Devil by the Deed)

8. Suicide Squad vs. the Jihad (First encounter, Suicide Squad #2 IIRC)

9. Sandman vs. Chronozon (Sandman #3 IIRC)

10. The Villain War (Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 IIRC)

I think I voted for Jesse vs. Cassidy.

I *know* I'm the only one who voted for Joshua "Wolverine" MacAllister vs. a bear in Journey #1.

Hulk vs. Freedom Force was good fun. Hulk vs. Maestro... wish I'd remembered it when I was making my list. Oh well.

I was surprised not to see the Thing vs. The Champion from Marvel Two in One Annual #7 or the Skurge at the bridge at Gjallerbru, but it's a pretty good list.

But Batman never fights Superman in The Dark Knight Returns because while I don't know exactly who that is dressed as Superman in TDK it certainly isn't Superman.

I'm not surprised that most of my list didn't make it, but am shocked at the omission of the finale of Squadron Supreme! I thought that was going to make it for sure.

Also surprised that there hasn't been one mention in any of the comments regarding Fables 26, "The Battle of Fabletown". A great battle. But then, Vertigo didn't fare too well in general (in fact it didn't get any in the top 25, did it?).

Also surprised at no Walt Simonson. Executioner, Surtur, Midgard Serpent and Beta Ray Bill must have split the votes big-time.

Heck, I'll just drop:

1. Fables 26 (Battle of Fabletown)
2. Kid Miracleman vs. Miracleman
3. Squadron Supreme vs. Redeemers (Squadron Supreme 12)
4. X-men vs. Magneto (X-men 112-3)
5. X-men vs. Hellfire Club (X-men 132-4)
6. Avengers vs. Korvac (Avengers 177)
7. Hulk vs. everybody (Hulk 300)
8. Galactus vs. everybody (Fantastic Four 243)
9. Silver Surfer vs. Thor (Silver Surfer 4)
10. Mr. Fantastic vs. Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four 200)...this one's from long ago, but I remember being really into it. Great Perez art too.

Thanks for the fun list(s) in any event...

There were two separate major fights with The Anti-Monitor in CoIE, but from the description in the list it looks like those votes were merged into one.

Those fights were separated by a couple of issues in the same series.

The Wolverine fights were separated by ten years and even different comic book titles.

The best fight I ever read in comics was between Montoya and Corrigan in Gotham Central 24. It was drawn perfectly and got my heart pumping like no comic before or since.

Hmm. By Wolverine vs Sabretooth Round 1 and Round 2 I meant Uncanny #212 and 213. Separated by hours, and by an intervening fight with Psylocke, but maybe meaningfully treatable as one fight.

While I loved reading this list, I've enjoyed the comments even more, because everyone has his/her own answer to the question: what makes a great fight?

To me, a great fight has to have something really important at stake -- the Hal Jordan vs. Guy Gardner fight, in which the loser had to give up being Green Lantern, is a great example.

But a great fight should also be a defining moment for one or more of the characters. Thus, while Batman vs. the White Martians or Captain America vs. Prometheus both involve some impressive ass-kicking, they're not really great fights in my book, because both of those characters had long been established as serious ass-kickers.

On the other hand, when Daredevil stood up to the Hulk... well, sure, he'd always been the "Man Without Fear," but that battle really showed what the term meant. My respect for -- and interest in -- the character went up several notches after reading that issue.

I felt the same way after reading the Doctor Doom vs. The Beyonder battle in "Secret Wars." Doom is shown to be a man who's still looking for ways to win the fight while his enemy is DISSECTING HIM. I've rarely been as inspired by a hero, let alone a villain.

My favorite battle will always be the first match-up between Doctor Fate (the Eric/Linda Strauss incarnation) and Typhon, Lord of Chaos, who had physically, mentally and spiritually abused Eric Strauss in the Doctor Fate mini-series. Typhon challenges Fate to fight his champion... and Fate declines. Not because the hero is frightened, but because Fate realizes there's nothing at stake except for his/her pride.

The idea that a super-hero could win a fight by walking away blew my mind back in '88, and still resonates with me now.

" I wish the gun battle at the cabin between Snake Eyes, Destro, Firefly and Fred from the Marvel Gi Joe series had made it. It wasn’t a big city smashing fight, but it was tense and punchy and and left your head zinging."

Ibwib- that's probably my favorite Joe issue ever. The characterizations were beautiful, and Destro walking away much to Fred's disgust after having his wrist rocket deflected by the Soft Master with seemingly no effort was one of the best cappers to a confrontation ever. I recall the art being one of the stronger entries of the series as well. Damn, thanks for reminding me of that.

And yes, Rob R. cuts to the heart of why Doom versus the Beyonder is such an amazing battle- outclassed at every turn, Doom fights on - hell, even Mark Millar introduces 1985 with admiration for that moment- though I will state for the record that Doom's victory happening off panel with his chestplate McGuffin might lead one to call foul- but to me, its Doom fighting when he's got nothing left but will under an assault rendered with such cataclysmic violence by Zeck that brings it home.

Hmm. By Wolverine vs Sabretooth Round 1 and Round 2 I meant Uncanny #212 and 213. Separated by hours, and by an intervening fight with Psylocke, but maybe meaningfully treatable as one fight.

Yeah, I counted Wolverine vs. Sabretooth during Mutant Massacre as one fight.

But a later Wolverine vs. Sabretooth fight got similar support, so neither one made the list.

No Marv vs. Kevin in Sin City? The lengths that lummox goes through to plan out his rematch and the state he leaves Kevin in are grizzly as hell.

As for Preacher, I'd nominate the Jesse vs. Jody fight from the "Until The End of the World" arc.

Also a longshot that probably got little love was John Cloud vs. the dinosaur in New Frontier.

Well, I didn't vote but here's a few that I wish had made it.

Dr. Strange vs Dormammu - the one where they fought with those cool pincers of power. (Strange Tales #140 and 141, I think.)

The Golden Age Superman vs the Golden Age Woman over their little disagreement 'bout the Manhattan Project . (All-New Collector's Edition #C-54.)

Brainiac 5, Duo Damsel, Mon-El, and Saturn Girl vs the Time Trapper - and Rond Vidar, GL, to the rescue! (LoSH vol. 3 #50)

And my absolute favorite comic book battle, Muhammad Ali vs Hun'Ya, the Scrubb champion, in Superman vs Muhammad Ali. (All-New Collector's Edition #C-56.)

Obviously, that should read "Golden Age Wonder Woman". Ooops!

"Superman/Doomsday just reeked of a cash-grab event and didn’t have any heart to the story, so there’s no emotional interest for the reader, and as such I’m surprised it’s had any legacy to it beyond the commercial aspect of Superman #75 and it’s symbol of all that was wrong with the investing-in-comics bubble of the 90's".
Can all the people who disliked the Superman / Doomsday fight in this thread (see above quote for an example) list 1 DC battle in a mainstream title that was more brutal than that one?

Hmm - I thought the following would be on there:
Flash vs. Zoom
Hal Jordan vs. the Green Lantern Corp.
The Legion vs. Darkseid
or even:
Milestone Heroes vs. DC Icons

These were epic status quo changing battles.

Rob hit a few, but let me continue...

Anything in Crisis on Infinite Earths
Terra vs. the New Teen Titans
Desparo vs. The Giffen/DeMatteis era JLA

Superman/Doomsday was poorly written, poorly drawn, and poorly executed overall. Just because two people hit each other hard doesn't make it "brutal"; it's the emotional punch that is important. Superman/Doomsday was undercut by the fact that no one who read comics really expected the death to stick. The only good thing to come out of it was the actually interesting Funeral storyline.

David--

Off-hand Simonson's Darkseid vs. Orion has more impact, better fight choreography, and genuine emotional resonance than Superman vs. Doomsday. Kirby's Turpin vs. Kalibak in New Gods is also brutal and again, has real emotional power. Same thing with the LOSH vs. LOSV that climaxes with Projectra killing Nemesis Kid with her bare hands. All three of those are DC fights that I'd rank well above Superman vs. Doomsday, which I dislike for many of the reasons people have listed. If you've read all three of those examples and still think the Doomsday fight is the best, then that's your opinion, but if you haven't read the fights I've mentioned yet, well you have some good reading ahead of you that might make you realize where us people who criticizing that fight are coming from.

Odd that I can't think of any one Milestone fight that stands out, even though the action and battle sequences in Icon, Static, Shadow Cabinet, and Blood Syndicate were uniformly terrific. Static vs Tarmac, Icon vs Holocaust, Icon vs Blood Syndicate, and Superman vs Blood Syndicate all leap to mind., but none strikes me as being For The Ages-- just good, solid, consistent superheroics. Holocaust vs Tech-9 was great as a character piece, and 'brutal' to use the word du jour, but a little lacking in interest purely as a fight scene (part of what was often so good about Milestone fights was the interesting and varied uses of powers, whereas Holocaust and Tech-9 just blast away at each other for a while).

"Off-hand Simonson’s Darkseid vs. Orion has more impact, better fight choreography, and genuine emotional resonance than Superman vs. Doomsday. Kirby’s Turpin vs. Kalibak in New Gods is also brutal and again, has real emotional power. Same thing with the LOSH vs. LOSV that climaxes with Projectra killing Nemesis Kid with her bare hands. All three of those are DC fights that I’d rank well above Superman vs. Doomsday, which I dislike for many of the reasons people have listed. If you’ve read all three of those examples and still think the Doomsday fight is the best, then that’s your opinion, but if you haven’t read the fights I’ve mentioned yet, well you have some good reading ahead of you that might make you realize where us people who criticizing that fight are coming."
The three fights you've listed are good but Darkseid has omega beams and having normal humans go up against god like characters seems too silly to put them on my list.

"The three fights you’ve listed are good but Darkseid has omega beams and having normal humans go up against god like characters seems too silly to put them on my list."

And so you demonstrate that you have never read it.

Damn - I've just realised I forgot the fight between Batman and the leader of Suicide Squad (Rick Flagg??) in that Justice League/Suicide Squad crossover. That was great. The problem was the whole issue was a battle and the rest of it wasn't so good.

Oh and I forgot to say - I liked the Deathstroke vs JLA fight (though taking out The Flash was a bit unconvincing) but it didn't make my final list.

Oh and as everyone else is doing... List-dump (the number in brackets is where they placed):

1 - Batman vs Superman in The Dark Knight Returns (1)
2 - Batman vs Swat team in Batman Year One
3 - Batman vs Guy Gardner in Justice League (16)
4 - Rorshach vs Prison in Watchmen
5 - Jesse vs Cassady in Preacher
6 - Miracleman vs Kid Miracleman (4)
7 - The Ultimates vs The Hulk in The Ultimates. (7)
8 - Captain America vs Hank Pym in The Ultimates
9 - Rorshach vs Police in Watchmen
10 - Green Arrow and Atom vs Darkseid in Rock of Ages

Don't agree with the top 3. X-Men Vs Maurauders should be No 1 and Infinity Crusade No 2. The deathstroke part was pretty funny though. The whole "Jla" Defeated by a Deadpool wannabee.

Those fights were separated by a couple of issues in the same series.

The Wolverine fights were separated by ten years and even different comic book titles

Fair point - I guess you have to draw the line somewhere. I guess it's just that the fight in CoIE #7 is an all time classic that made people actually care that Supergirl (who hardly anyone actually liked) died, whereas CoIE #12 is an over the top replay of "we've beaten him" "no we haven't" "now we have" "no we haven't" "now we have" "no we haven't" "now we have" over and over to unintentional comedy effect.

Well, if someone said "Supergirl vs. Anti-Monitor" or "Flash vs. Anti-Monitor," I counted them separately, but if someone said "All the DC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitor" or "Golden-Age Superman and a lot of DC superheroes vs. the Anti-Monitor," I lumped it into a general "DC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitor" vote.

Deathstroke premiered before Deadpool.

I'm sad that John Byrne is so unpopular nowadays that he made the list just by the Dark Phoenix Saga fame. The Avengers vs. Nefaria battle he drew on the 70s is my fave superhero slugfest ever! He drew many other memorable battles, though, and has a knack to show wanton destruction that few other comic artists can match.

Also, Walt Simonson not being on the list is just absurd. No one can show the raw power of godlike beings in battle as well as he does! He did the very best Orion vs. Darkseid battle (one of my votes), but any other of his legendary battles could have been on the list.

But the greatest injustice is the paucity of Jack Kirby. Only two battles?!? What's wrong with you, people?

Of the ones I voted for, only made it the Superman/Batman battle on DKR, the Infinity Gauntlet and the Avengers vs. Michael battle, so maybe my tastes are way too old-fashiioned.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

It's time to come clean and reveal a shocking secret:

I don't like The Dark Knight Returns.

There. I said it.

Richard hit the nail on the head with his first suggestion.... Battle for the Baxter Building. The rest of the FF hang back and watch Ben take every nutty weapon and scornful insult that Doom throws at him. He should just stay down, but he's too plain stupid to know when he's beat. He then shatters Dooms gauntlets with his bare hands (wouldja expect him to wear kid gloves??). What does Doom feel? HUMILIATION!!!

'Nuff said

The one that I'm still really shocked about is the lack of Thing/Champion in that Marvel Two in one Annual. I can only guess that not enough people have read it.

I loved that Thing/Champion battle in MTIO Annual, but we were allowed only ten battles, man!

Seeing a lot of the stuff you guys had picked makes me wish that we could have voted for more (25?). Any chance that we could see the next 25 (or even 75) battles, even if it's just done as articles on this blog?

Well, here's my dump. Only the Kingdom Come fight made the top25, but then I tried to go outside the norm.
Many of my runner-ups did make the list tho. Lobo vs Santa not ranking is probably the most surprising one to me.

1-Marshal Law vs Public Spirit

2-Lobo vs Santa Claus

3-Hulk vs Abomination (Hulk #25)

4-Wolverine vs the Gorgon (Wolverine #30-31)

5-Nextwave vs Beyond Corporation (#9-12)

6-Superman vs Shazam (Kingdom Come)

7-Mr Sensitive vs Iron-Man/naked Guy Smith vs naked Tony Stark (X-Statix #24)

8-SonGoku vs Frieza (gotta have a manga one)

9-New Warriors vs Terrax (New warriors #16-17)

10-Daredevil/Elektra/Bullseye (Elektra Lives Again)

"And so you demonstrate that you have never read it."
Did you read all my posts in this thread beforehand?

Nice to see a couple of mentions of the awesome Terrible Turpin.

1 - Steppenwolf, Darkseid and Apokolips vs. Izaya and New Genesis– New Gods 7
2 - FF and Daredevil vs. Doctor Doom – FF 39/40
3 - Orion vs. Kalibak vs. Terrible Turpin – New Gods 8
4 - Avengers vs. Michael, the Enemy/Korvac – Avengers 177
5 - Thor vs. Pluto – Thor 130
6 - Avengers vs. Defenders – 1973
7 - Shang-Chi vs. Shen Kuei, the Cat – Master of Kung Fu 38/39
8 - Legion of Super-Heroes vs. the Fatal Five – Adventure 366
9 - Dream vs. John Dee – Sandman 6/7
10 - Wedding of Reed and Sue brawl – FF Annual 3

11 - Avengers vs. Egghead, Henry Pym and the Masters of Evil - Avengers somewhere in 1982 or so
12 - Orion and Lightray vs. the Deep Six - New Gods 6
13 - We3 vs. We4
14 - Swamp Thing vs. Arcane - Swamp Thing 29-31
15 - Batman vs. Superman - Dark Knight 4

Well, if someone said “Supergirl vs. Anti-Monitor” or “Flash vs. Anti-Monitor,” I counted them separately, but if someone said “All the DC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitor” or “Golden-Age Superman and a lot of DC superheroes vs. the Anti-Monitor,” I lumped it into a general “DC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitor” vote.

If people vote like that without specifying then that's all you can do. (unless you fancy taking on the job of chasing them all down and asking them which battle they meant - which I certainly wouldn't)

Another nit about The Dark Knight: "In this book, things take a turn for the worse for Batman in terms of public support when he finally kills the Joker while all of America is following the situation."

Batman doesn't kill the Joker. The Joker kills himself.

Ah yes - I'd have picked that nit myself if I'd read the write-up properly

I think this whole exercise was a lot of fun, and thanks to Brian for putting it together. I do empathise with the commenters who keep seeing other battles they would have included if they'd thought of it, but I guess with 70+ years of comics to chose from (and thats just the US ones theres a lot of great british stuff as well) then we're spoiled for choice. It would be fun however to do this again next year and see how much the top 10 would change, which I believe it would do.