Vote for the Top 25 “Versus” Countdown!

CSBG Archive

by Brian Cronin | January 6, 2009 @ 3:41 AM | 77 Comments |

The Top 100 Comic Book Battles Countdown was a blast, but you know what, looking at the Top 25, I noticed that the list did not have a single battle between the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom, the X-Men and Magneto, Batman and the Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor or Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus.

That’s probably because those characters have SO many good fights that they all split the vote (I know that happened with the two notable Wolverine and Sabretooth fights).

But these are the rivalries that everyone knows! These are the rivalries that keep people coming back for more! These are the rivalries that film franchises are built upon!

So I’ve decided to have a new countdown of just the Top rivalries that you folks like to see repeatedly – who do you like to see fight the most? Spider-Man and Green Goblin? Hulk and Wolverine? Batman and Joker? The Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom? Superman and Batman?

Vote for your top 10 top (and by top, I mean your favorite) comic book rivalries by 11:59 Eastern on January 21st, and we’ll reveal the Top 25 in a special feature on CBR soon after (and a little bit later, I’ll fill in the rest of the Top 100).

Simply list your top ten (and please pick 10 – less than ten and I won’t count any of your votes) from your top choice to your bottom choice, in the comments below (please include the word ACBC in the comment, that way your ballot will appear invisible to other readers).

Your top choice will be given 10 points, your second choice 9, etc.

Here are the following guidelines:

1. Vote for a specific rivalry from a comic book.

2. The match-up has to have occurred at least twice – so Hulk and Thor is okay, but not, say, Superman versus Thor – this list is for the fights that keep coming up over and over again because the fans keep clamoring for them! This is to celebrate Rogues Galleries (as well as those hero fights that are so fun to see, like Hulk versus Thing and Superman versus Batman).

3. List ten choices.

4. Remember, please include the following word: ACBC – on your ballot. It will make it so your ballot appears invisible to other readers, so only I can read it (and count your vote secretly).

Most importantly, have fun!

Now vote!

Comments below

77 Comments

alastair

January 6, 2009 at 6:21 am

wasn’t maestro send back to real time in the main series after future imperfect so there were two match ups, more is you include brain fights

Rusty Priske

January 6, 2009 at 6:56 am

Speaking of these countdowns:

I am currently using the ‘greatest runs’ list to build up my comic library and I wodnered if we had done one for limited series and I had just forgotten.

Colin

January 6, 2009 at 7:21 am

I’d love to see one of these for limited series. Except I think we all know what the number 1 would be. Not a reason not to do it but still.

Scott MacIver

January 6, 2009 at 8:19 am

I’m guessing that a lot of people will shy away from the big rivalries, as many of them can feel a little played out, and aren’t held as dearly as they might have previously been.

I expect this top 25 to be quite eclectic.

Matt D

January 6, 2009 at 9:09 am

I tend to agree. Since this is subjective, it’s really easy to feel like Batman vs, Joker is played out and leave it out.

I think I’m also going to have a lot more in the way of what interests me now as opposed to all-time favorites. Right now Stark (or Fury) vs. Osborn and Hercules vs. Ares are more interesting to me than… I don’t know Spider-Man vs Green Goblin and Thor vs Loki.

The Mutt

January 6, 2009 at 11:53 am

This is the toughest one yet. I’m not going to let the “played out” factor sway me. Just because there have been a bunch of crappy Batman vs Joker stories doesn’t mean I’m not always eager for another good one.

And I’m reminded of the time a letter writer complained about the “played out” Orion vs Darkseid fight and Walt Simonson rather pointedly pointed out that it was the first timed they’d fought.

Technical question: Does the antagonist have to be a person? Could someone vote for Superman vs Natural Disasters? Soldiers vs Dinosaurs?

Also: Is a vote for Superman vs Batman the same as a vote for Batman vs Superman?

Seriously.

Blackjak

January 6, 2009 at 11:56 am

Can we have a broad one like:
“One person takes on an entire team and wins in less than two pages”?

I can think of a few of those, but each only occured once… e.g. Kev vs. the Authority, Batman vs the rest of the JLA, Deathstroke vs. JLA…

Lord Paradise

January 6, 2009 at 1:23 pm

WHOO SPIDER-MAN VERSUS THE SHOCKER

Black Manta

January 6, 2009 at 1:24 pm

I think one of the problems with this is it does get teidious when the FF has beaten Doom for the 50th time. I love it when they end up fighting other heroes. Lex has gone against Batman a few times, and those stories were a little bit more interesting.

Ritchard

January 6, 2009 at 3:10 pm

I’m voting under the assumption that licensed comics that were self-contained and separate from other versions of the properties (most notably Transformers and GIJoe) are permissible.

Also, I’m assuming any votes involving Stegron the Dinosaur Man will be thrown out, since we all know already that he is the greatest foe in any comics universe. =)

Brian Cronin

January 6, 2009 at 3:14 pm

I’m going to say “no” to fights against stuff like “Depression” “Natural Disasters” “Bruce Banner vs. his Purple Pants” etc.

Brian Cronin

January 6, 2009 at 3:15 pm

But otherwise, yeah, all comic books, even licensed ones, count.

Snake-Eyes vs. Storm Shadow is fine.

And it doesn’t have to be superheroes!

Jesse Custer vs. the Grail, for instance, would be a good one.

I AM FeAR

January 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm

Lord Paradise, that’s one of my votes too!
Shocker rules!

Richard

January 6, 2009 at 3:42 pm

“Paste is the ULTIMATE weapon!”

the villain former known as Paste-Pot-Pete

Gehrigan

January 6, 2009 at 4:33 pm

My favourite match-ups have been teams against their greatest foes. eg Avengers vs. Ultron mainly because
each time there will be different players in the mix to keep the re-match interesting . ” How will this team beat Dr.X ?”
A shame it couldn’t be top 15 picks. Well next time Flash vs. Gorilla Grodd and Capt.Marvel vs. Black Adam

Cliff Jumper

January 6, 2009 at 6:25 pm

You know, as a Flash fan, I’m surprised there weren’t that many classic one on one battles with my all time favorite villain Captain Cold. If any, his best one-on-one match ups were with either Zoom or Grodd. With The Reverse Flash, it’s legacy vs legacy. And it’s quite personal. Professor Zoom killed Barry’s wife and Zoom killed Wally’s kids. Both murders were eventually undone though.

The best Flash vs Grodd fight in recent memory was the one back in 2001 when Grodd hurled a car at some college kids through an apartment!

khamla

January 6, 2009 at 7:55 pm

Wolverine vs The Hulk never gets OLD!

stealthwise

January 6, 2009 at 9:36 pm

http://www.craveonline.com/articles/comics/04652575/4/comics_greatest_rivalries.html

Ten bucks says this list includes all but one of these.

Brian Cronin

January 6, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Damn!

RIVALRIES!!!

Why didn’t I think of that term!?!? That describes this a whole lot better than “match-ups”!

Thanks for the link, stealthwise! I’ll use that term when I discuss this in the future!

And sure, I’d imagine that most of those would be in the Top 25 – a lot of the match-ups are pretty clear – it’s just a matter of who ranks where that is the fun of it all (plus surprises, of course)!

fourthworlder

January 7, 2009 at 12:36 am

Submitted for your approval, to my left, wearing assorted insectoid bits, one Mister Anton Arcane.
And to my right, wearing mossy green, a muck-encrusted mockery of a man.

They were born to rumble.

Lightseid

January 7, 2009 at 1:16 am

Grendel vs Argent!!!!

Atman00

January 7, 2009 at 2:07 am

Is there any chance we could get the number of points and first place votes each rivalry gets? I liked that about the top 100 comics list, but it was absent from the top battles.

Also, The Great Machine vs. Jack Pherson.
It’ll never make the top 25, it just might have a chance at the top 100.

Scott MacIver

January 8, 2009 at 8:01 am

I’m curious to see which will rank higher, Batman/Superman or Batman/Joker.

Carl Henderson

January 8, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Can we post our top ten here with comments as well as submitting them to the vote?