WRECKING CREW versus DEADPOOL, SPIDER-MAN & PUNISHER

(Marvel)
Where: Deadpool: Suicide Kings #5 When: October 2009 Why: Mike Benson & Adam Glass How: Carlo Barberi

The Story So Far...
A standard job for the Merc' with a Mouth becomes a battle for life & death as a hit on Tombstone turns in to a double-or-nothing bet that Deadpool won't survive the next twenty-four hours!

It's the high-stakes gamble of client Conrad O'Shea: who's counting on his mercenary to escape a frame-up for blowing up his apartment building, and the heroes who responded to take him down.

Fortunately for Deadpool; Daredevil helps convince The Punisher and Spider-Man of his innocence -- providing the patsy some much-needed assistance when Tombstone sics his newest bodyguards on him -- The Wrecking Crew!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: The Wrecker 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Thunderball 5 (Professor)
Speed: Spider-Man 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: The Wrecker 6 (Generator)
Agility: Spider-Man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Punisher 4 (Trained)
Energy: Punisher 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

My X (nee Twitter) feed recently threw an interesting critique my way that piqued my interest -- so it's about time we expanded the file on The Wrecking Crew!

The Wrecking Crew are: The Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball, and Bulldozer.

They aren't just a pack of my favourite goons and yours -- they're a super heavyweight team possessing powerful weapons that were enchanted with Asgardian magic!

This enchantment was first bestowed upon petty burglar Dirk Garthwaite, when Karnilla the Norn Queen mistook him for Loki, during a home invasion and robbery of the Norse god's New York abode. The crook soon decided to share the wealth, recruiting three of his pals into a deadly team of powerhouse thugs!

At first, sharing his power drastically reduced The Wrecker's super-human strength and stamina, but over the years, all of The Crew have found ways to become powered-up opponents for the mighty Thor, as well as other major heroes of the Marvel Universe.

This was the source of Jered McCorkle's assertion that recently losing to Daredevil & Elektra was a career low for The Wrecker -- and despite being a personal favourite, we've only briefly touched upon the misdeeds of The Wrecker and his Crew. Something we aim to correct today!

The Wrecking Crew were the first opponents for The Thunderbolts when the villains-in-disguise went public. Citizen V showed that agility and fighting prowess were sufficient to tangle with The Wrecker, but it took the strength of Atlas to truly deal any damage. A concentrated gas delivered straight to the gullet by Mach-V and Songbird was ultimately responsible for putting most of the team down.

It was a different story when The Wrecking Crew were challenged by a lone Sasquatch, however. The gamma-irradiated hero put up a pretty good fight without his Alpha Flight teammates, but was ultimately out-numbered, out-muscled, and brutally beaten.

So, what do these two cases tell us? That The Wrecking Crew are double-tough, but not untouchable. Citizen V made the best case for surviving a wild mismatch with guile and agility -- something Deadpool and Spider-Man both possess.

We know Spidey can fight above his weight class, having lived to tell the gale after going toe-to-toe with the Hulk. We've even seen him outwit the Juggernaut not once, but twice -- with a little help from Wonder Woman!

Wouldn't you know, but Deadpool has achieved fairly similar feats as well! He defeated Hulk under slightly special circumstances for the jolly green goliath, and likewise survived Juggernaut long enough to get an assist from Siryn for the win!

Mach-V shows us that The Wrecking Crew aren't necessarily impervious to the threat of high-powered inhalants, which is the kind of all-purpose tactical weapon you might find in The Punisher's arsenal. He isn't there at the start of the fight, but will show up soon enough - and you know he isn't afraid to fight dirty!

Punisher isn't afraid to use the weapons of the enemy in his one-man war on crime. He may or may not be able to find a magically charmed option to best The Wrecker, but we know he levelled Rhino with the Satan Claw, and took down a cadre of super-villains, including Mister Hyde, with a stolen Ant-Man helmet and alien guns!

We clearly need more data, and since reviewing & analyzing fights is kinda what we do around here, let's dive in and find out how the street-level heroes fare!

The Tape: The Wrecking Crew Ranking: Spider-Man (#2)

What Went Down...

Deadpool & Spider-Man find themselves facing an unexpected, Asgardian-powered roadblock in their chase of Tombstone -- also known as The Wrecking Crew!

The Wrecker figures any one of them could handle "these stinkin' pipsqueaks" alone, but that won't stop the Merc' with a Mouth and his web-swinging cohort making the quartet earn it. The Crew are happy to oblige.

Bulldozer gets the fight started by charging at a leaping Spider-Man, while Thunderball swings his deadly ball & chain into an impact right at Deadpool's feet! Only the sole of one red boot is visible, but it's safe to say Carlo Barberi knows what he's doing when it comes to drawing anatomy past the ankle.

Spidey's an old hand at vaulting over charging powerhouses, but his leap takes him right into the path of The Wrecker -- whose enchanted crowbar smacks him high into the air and out of the park! [It's actually a construction site.]

Deadpool admires the shot with katana drawn, grateful that it wasn't him who was launched into the sky. Alas, he has no spider-sense to warn him of Bulldozer coming back around to run right through him with a rear assault!

The helmeted headbutt to the spine adjusts the mercenary across the battlefield, but he manages to make a neat landing -- and narrowly avoids being clobbered by Thunderball's ball, awkwardly dragging himself clear of the impact!

The dodge becomes a full frontal assault as Deadpool twists his body to bring the end of his blade arcing towards Piledriver -- but the overhead strike is caught between his enchanted hands. The Wrecker does the honors from there.

An enchanted crowbar smashes Deadpool in the face -- and for a moment he's knocked so silly he drifts into another plane of existence. A simpler reality, where dinner's getting cold and it's a Wednesday -- time for reading new issues.

As Deadpool groans in a crumpled mess -- Spidey comes plummeting back down to Earth with an unceremonious "wwhhhaamp".

Wrecker hoists Deadpool's mangled body by the collar and dangles him for Bulldozer to run armored head to chest right through him again. "The Wrecking Crew's tangled with Norse gods. You sissies never had a rat's ass chance."

Things look grim as Bulldozer encourages Piledriver to finish him, but a couple of well-placed web balls send the bruiser's left hook off course into The Wrecker's face!

Back on his feet and ready to rumble - Spidey blasts The Wrecker's eyes with web and his ears with an innuendo that would make Aunt May blush.

The quipping heroes go back to back and prepare for the riled-up Wrecking Crew to bring the fight to them. They compare notes on the Lethal Weapon franchise and The Warriors references as they brace for battle when suddenly -- a third player enters the fray with a powerful energy beam and focused sonic blast!

Bulldozer and Piledriver tumble destructively through the construction site as The Punisher arrives on a Goblin Glider with the Unicorn Power Horn still smoldering at his forehead, and one of Klaw's sonic disruptor blasters on his right hand!

He swoops over the two heroes with pumpkin bombs at the ready, tossing a trio of the explosives at The Wrecker and Thunderball. They're quickly engulfed in thick green gas, but remain unimpressed by the "minor league wannabes".

Spider-Man clues them in that Hobgoblin's "jack-o'-lanterns pack enough knockout gas to put down a herd of elephants."

The Wrecker hangs his head and drops to his knees as Thunderball falls face first to the ground. Deadpool sees that Wrecker joins his teammate, turning the enchanted crowbar against him with a smack to the face!

The Hammer...

In this house we love The Wrecking Crew, so when a doubt about a recent battle between The Wrecker and Daredevil & Elektra [in Daredevil (Vol.8) #24] came across my feed -- I was already primed to want to explore the subject more.

Daredevil himself was actually a part of this little 'Deadpool Team-Up' in earlier issues of Deadpool: Suicide Kings, but he manages to skip out on this chapter, remaining elsewhere until the fighting's over. By that time, the battle has moved on to another of my personal favourite bad guys: the man who hired The Wrecking Crew and essentially started this whole mess -- Tombstone!

So, while we couldn't quite source an exact comparison to The Wrecker's most recent indignity; Deadpool, The Punisher, and Spider-Man provide an interesting case study for street-level heroes taking The Wrecking Crew down.

It's interesting to note that Suicide Kings ostensibly repeats the same strategy that took The Wrecker down in Thunderbolts #1 -- one of the few previous entries we've actually recorded for the villain and his teammates.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any significant earlier examples of knockout gas taking The Wrecker and his crew down. I wonder if writers Mike Benson and/or Adam Glass were influenced by the earlier T-Bolts issue, or just reached a similar conclusion for dispatching them. Perhaps we'll discover a pattern of vulnerability as we explore their various misdeeds in future updates.

I have a few Wrecker battles that have been burning up my desk over the years, but in those examples we'll establish more of the heavyweight brawling he's best known for. Not a lot of tactical tranquilizer gas in those issues, as I recall.

Obviously to address the claim in the inspiring tweet - I'd have to look at that particular issue, but one of the functions of Secret Wars on Infinite Earths is to provide abundant reference for historical precedent, and tangential examples. These records can support or dispute a result - real or imagined. Something that the current trend of so-called "AI" isn't necessarily so good at...

When I asked Google if The Wrecker had succumbed to gas in any Marvel Comics, its "AI" result claimed he hadn't. We know that's not true. We now have two very clear examples of that. You might like to keep that in mind next time you're looking for answers to comic book questions, or genuine 100% man-made sources to support. There's a Patreon for that, and I'd really appreciate it.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has supplied an archive of well over 700 in-depth results & reviews -- ranking more than 1,000 of your favourite characters in the process! You can find them all, and flex your mind muscle, by diving in to the Secret Index for a complete appendix in order of publisher, series, and issue.

I'd also encourage you to live life to the fullest, expanding your horizons and feeding your curiosity, with a rich diet of links to your favourite topics. You can find them throughout most entries on the site. It's a great way to see if I've come back to something interesting, or ventured into new & exciting tangents.

In the spirit of this latest entry -- I'd like to dig in to the other side of the equation. There are a lot of Daredevil and Elektra battles still waiting to be reviewed, but I have a particular example in mind that revisits Daredevil's penchant for tackling much bigger & stronger foes, from an era I've been taking an interest in. It'll be another good comparison for the fight with The Wrecker.

Of course, I presume part of the inciting social media grievance isn't just who defeated The Wrecker - but how.

It's fair to say not all comics are created equal, and I tend to be prone to sharing skepticism about the quality of editorial consistency in more recent issues. It doesn't seem like every writer and editor knows their stuff, or respects the process of building on the past with consistency and restraint, to create enduring iconic characters, and a cohesively developed shared universe.

2009 is a year I look back upon very fondly, but it's also one of the last years that I enjoyed consistent interest and enthusiasm for comics published by Marvel and DC. In my estimation, it's around then that the wheels start getting shaky, the stories are a little hit & miss, and the quality just isn't always there. [Something I'm willing to challenge through actual hands-on reviews, mind you...]

So where does Suicide Kings fit into that? Well, it does feel awfully convenient to dispatch bad guys who regularly throw down with Thor with a little gas, but it's delivered in the spirit of fun, and I don't feel that my intelligence, or the characters themselves, are being insulted by this. Their threat level is well represented, and barring any uncited contradiction, I don't really see any reason their enchantments should protect them from hostile inhalants beyond a general enhanced resistance -- something The Wrecker kinda demonstrated.

We could quibble minor details, like whether or not Spidey should be reduced to a purple stain by The Wrecker's crowbar, but let's just chalk it up to Spidey-senses, fast reaction times, and agile rolling with the "punches". Relax. Sometimes the needs of the story are what actually determines the outcome, and the mountain of overwhelming odds provided by powerhouse villains like The Wrecking Crew exists purely to be overcome. That's just fine and dandy. Get a hold of yourself.

Incidentally, Google's AI did suggest a 2010 episode of the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes animated series, where The Wrecking Crew endures a gaseous dome of gamma irradiation without any issues. It's a series I'm familiar with and enjoyed very much, but wouldn't look to for precedent, because as we all know, adaptations are secondary sources, and prone to playing things fast and loose. Fans concerned with the degradation of The Wrecking Crew need only look at the barely recognisable group seen in Disney+'s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Just don't be deranged about it. Alright? Focus. Don't be strange.

Looking more broadly: I was a fast fan of Deadpool in the nineties and got a real kick out of his first on-going series with Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness. Their combination of tights and comedy was a real blast, and set the ship off to a cult favourite start. The character got a little obnoxious throughout the 2000s, but I found Suicide Kings a pretty decent levelling out.

Deadpool: Suicide Kings #5 appeals to me very specifically with the four main heroes, and focus on The Wrecking Crew and Tombstone. Made that much more appealing by Carlo Barberi's clean pencils, and slick inks & colour from Sandu Florea and Marte Gracia, whom I'm assured aren't pseudonyms.

As someone who's enjoys it when Punisher is more than a psycho with sidearms -- I love the absurd visual and fitting tone of him cruising in on a stolen Goblin Glider, wearing Unicorn's suit & headgear, with a Klaw hand and lobbing Hobgoblin pumpkin bombs. A superb way to level the playing field and have a whole lot of freakin' fun.

The five issue mini isn't going to be a definitive representation for any of these characters, or one of the must-read tomes from Marvel, but if you're familiar with the characters, or curious to dip your toe in with no strings attached, it's a raucous ride through the borderland between organized crime and super-villainy. Worth your time -- and worth us coming back to in the future.

So what more do you need? I think I've covered all the bases and made this the most boring thing you've read all day! My work here is done!

Get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to X (aka; Twitter)! Don't forget to smash that like, fave, and share -- and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday on X & Discord! The lively Discord chat is one of the bonuses of becoming a Patreon subscriber, so give it some thought won't ya?! A guy's gotta eat! You want me to eat, right? Don't you?!

Winners: The Punisher & Deadpool (w/ Spider-Man)
#55 (+33) The Punisher
#21 (+2) Deadpool
#2 (--) Spider-Man [+1 assist]
#439 (-47) The Wrecker
#440 (-47) Piledriver
#443 (-29) Thunderball
#444 (-29) Bulldozer

BLACKHEART versus DAREDEVIL & SPIDER-MAN

Blackheart! (Marvel)
Where: Daredevil #270 When: September 1989
Why: Ann Nocenti How: John Romita Jr

The Story So Far...
It began in 1658, with the brutal murder of a woman named Abigail Housman.

Her body lay undiscovered on a gentle, but lonely hillside, soaking the land with blood for hours, as crows circled knowingly over the site. This was to be the first vile crime committed to the place known as Christ's Crown. 

The hill would host centuries of unspeakable horrors, growing unnatural tangles of thorny rose plants, and a mythic foreboding, as further acts of murder and carnage came to drench it in anguish and agony. Reputation that would arouse the irreverent interest of romantic thrillseekers such as amorous Peter and reluctant Sarah. A final betrayal that prepares the land for harvest and the birth of a son to the devil Mephisto -- a thorny demon called Blackheart!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Blackheart 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Spider-Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Spider-Man 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Blackheart 6 (Generator)
Agility: Spider-Man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Daredevil 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Blackheart 5 (Lasers)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

Blackheart is the spiny hellspawn of notorious devil Mephisto, born to a crown of thorns atop a gentle hillside. A desolate place, soaked in centuries of blood and tragedy, first growing a wild thicket of roses and grim foreboding, before bearing the newborn demon from deep within its grassy heart.

A final act of evil - of unromantic violence - brought forth the Blackheart, whose immense power appeared to twist and torment him from the moment of his birth.

This is evil as only 1989 could envision it: A gothic horror, blindingly dark in its poetic beauty and sadness, stinking of burnt ink and the sweetest of roses, with weeping eyes like burning red flowers. Blackheart craves sacrifice and recognition, gratefully receiving the death of the good and wicked in equal measure, before lashing out at the father who encourages and callously dominates his existence.

If you only know Blackheart from his unlikely appearance in Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes video game, or its eventual sequel Marvel vs Capcom 2, then you've got as much to learn as the infant demon. Don't worry - it's not complicated.

Daredevil is the kind of tortured soul that a demon loves to play with.

Matt Murdock's heart is stained with tragedy as well, but his resilience makes him the perfect prize for demonic connoisseurs. He's a worthy adversary teetering close to the edge -- the perfect prey for Blackheart to learn a more sophisticated brand of evil than the lowly act of merely killing like man. DD must be corrupted!

We've seen him come close before, like when he tracked down Slade -- one of the men responsible for killing his father, Battlin' Jack Murdock. Or when Mysterio turned his life upside down, and when he decided to stop Bullseye and Kingpin to declare himself the Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen.

No matter how close he got, whether fighting a demonically possessed Jester or super-human foe like Tombstone, Daredevil always managed to stay on the side of angels. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he has friends to back him up in times of need too, like when he faced Klaw & Killmonger, tangled with Jigsaw, and fought the murderous Carnage during the breakout at The Raft.

Spider-Man knows what it's like to be tormented too. Like Daredevil, he's been the subject of Mephisto's infernal interest, sacrificing his marriage to Mary-Jane and enduring a twisted Christmas.

Spidey's demon days have pitted him against the self-righteous Demogoblin, a Dormammu enhanced Hood, and mystically compromised Luke Cage! So you can bet he'll swing to the aid of his buddy DD, just like Daredevil did when Spidey was up against the Sinister Twelve! Will friendship win in the end? Let's find out!

The Tape: Daredevil & Spider-Man Ranking: Spider-Man (#2)

What Went Down...

Reflecting on the turning of his fortunes and return to a lighter mood; Daredevil lands perched on a fairground rollercoaster track.

His senses have never been sharper, but as he detects the blend of foul burning and rose incense, he finds he cannot home in on the ghostly movement that triggers his radar sense. The more he tries to 'see', the more the figure becomes elusive, moving without a detectable heartbeat. Suddenly -- it strikes!

With the grace of a high jumper -- Daredevil leaps across the streaming darkness that blasts against the coaster bracing.

Daredevil asks what the being wants with him, but Blackheart stares in silence and responds with another wave of his shadowy black power. This time the interlaced wooden struts supporting the rollercoaster shatter as DD leaps clear!

He cannot discern what the creature is, whether its power is mutant or mystic, but he can tell that it means to kill him. So amidst the falling debris of splintered amusement park wood - he flings his billy club and 'plays the trickster'.

The rope wraps around Blackheart's spiny shins and calves, pulling away the sure footing of idle feet still new to walking the Earth. Blackheart falls -- sending his next blast of dark energy errant.

The mere presence of Blackheart's energy begins to make Daredevil sick.

He knows this feeling, though rare, to signal the presence of pure evil. He maintains his focus, finding the precarious wreckage of the rollercoaster vulnerable to tipping. With a toss of his billy club -- he brings it down!

For a moment Blackheart is buried in the wreckage, but an ominous "ka-thoom" is harbinger for an explosion that sprays the debris across the park!

Sensing that Blackheart is stunned and moving slower now -- Daredevil takes his shot and rushes his silent opponent!

A high kick to the face. A right hook. A straight left. The demon is unfazed.

Blackheart regards the agony with curious amusement, but the novelty of these sensations can only last so long.

The demon's left hand becomes jagged and thorny, surrounded by the dark anti-glow of his black energy. Daredevil senses it, but knows he cannot get clear. It's over. The one shot that could finish him off. He can't avoid it. He doesn't have to...

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the spectacular Spider-Man swings across the amusement park and delivers a kick to the side of Blackheart's head!

The web-slinger had witnessed the smoldering smoke of the battle from a passing bus, and excused himself to take a closer look. It's a good thing he did!

As the pair exchange pleasantries, Spider-Man keeps himself in the line of fire, distracting Blackheart to give Daredevil a clearer leap, as he uses his own proportionate agility of a spider to jump over the streaming dark energy.

While leaping, Spider-Man sprays webbing into the featureless face of Blackheart -- covering his dark eyes to the mortal world around him.

As the demon desperately pulls at the webbing -- Spider-Man grabs hold of a nearby ticket booth and lifts it overhead. He doesn't know that 'bringing down the house' over Blackheart will have no effect. He tries his luck. It comes up short.

Once again the demon blasts the wreckage from his body and Daredevil scoops up a sheet of corrugated iron to shield the heroes from the blast!

The feat saves Spider-Man from a point-blank deluge of splintered wood and nails, but the impact of the blast has taken its toll on Daredevil.

Concerned for the reckless abandon shown by his friend, he tells DD to rest, and summons his superior spider-strength to take the fight to Blackheart head-on with an all mighty uppercut!

Spider-Man's fist 'kraks' against Blackheart's jaw, but Daredevil can sense that its having no effect. The only thing keeping them alive is Blackheart's animalistic, child-like confusion.

Ancient knowledge fills Blackheart's infantile mind as he gazes repeatedly out to the crowd forming at the edge of the amusement park.

He sees visions of a holy savior, a son like himself, making a supreme sacrifice for crowds just like those. The creature is compelled to make mockery of the noble sacrifice, but to what end?

The crowd speculates whether Blackheart gazes upon them with hatred or fear. Daredevil and Spider-Man aren't any more certain, but the pause allows Daredevil time to sense the crackling of a downed powerline, and the thatched network of metal extending beneath Blackheart's feet.

Daredevil calls the situation to his partner's attention, but Spider-Man is reluctant to resort to lethal force. His spider-senses warn him of danger and he wonders if Daredevil is acting like himself. Something seems off. Before DD can put electric wire to twisted steel -- Spidey dives on him!

Blackheart wants them to kill him. Wants them to choose the easy, wicked way out. To corrupt their spirit and souls. Just as his father suggested of the innocent woman he'd murdered upon his birth. Only - the heroes aren't falling for it!

They don't need to kill him. They just need to knock him out!

Daredevil and Spider-Man are united in seeing the sense of things and together they reel back and deliver and almighty double-team blow!

The punches rock Blackheart, but he doesn't fall. Instead, he reaches an epiphany.

Gazing back upon the amassed crowd, Blackheart remembers another thing told to him by his father: "Avoid the eyes of man".

He may have been right in believing Daredevil was a worthy foe to expose his true self too, but in bearing witness to his evil, the surrounding crowd may have taken his power. So instead of enduring further indignity, the demon chooses to leave -- an explosion taking him from the place of battle.

Daredevil grapples with the strange familiarity of the evil, and the lingering presence of one of the onlookers, as Spider-Man greets a grateful crowd, and DD finally realises the entity that must have been behind it all...

The Hammer...

Although not really defeated, Blackheart slinks back to the bristles of his cradle on the hillside of Christ's Crown, cursing his father's absence, and unwanted birth. He crawls and melts into the earth that first expelled him, wanting only to suffer and die, to wither from a dark and cruel world, hoping Mephisto will forget he even exists.

Break out the eyeliner and jangly guitars. I told you in The Tape that this was evil as only 1989 could envision it! The same year that unleashed Hot Topic and Jason Takes Manhattan upon an unsuspecting world.

Sure, How Soon Is Now? came out in 1984, and Blackheart literally 'goes home, cries, and wants to die', but I'd say the synthesis of flavours that make up his first appearance skews late eighties, if not '89 specifically. At the end of the day, this isn't about The Smiths. Maybe The Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim...?

There's no punctured bicycle on this desolate New York hillside, but the pages of Daredevil #270 feel sticky with the lifeblood of music-infused counterculture of the time. The vitality of goth and post-punk is the real spillage that birthed Blackheart onto the page -- a walking shadow of rose thorns and loathing, rising in angst like a personification of every goth teen's poem-filled notebook.

There are other flavours in there, too. The violent lore behind Blackheart's origin has a vaguely literary quality, with its centuries of American gothic murder and injustice. While the setting of a New York hillside reminds me of urban legends about kids finding dead bodies in the grass or forests of New Jersey. It feels of a piece with the eighties slasher flicks that dominated the decade and had reached a point of being slick, colourful, sugary blockbuster versions of themselves.

Like a lot of those movies, there's a tremendous spirit of fun in this issue, despite its dark matter, as there is in all of Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr's collaborative run. A favourite series we've touched upon in previous entries.

It's the kind of issue I would've delighted at picking up on a whim at the newsstand. It serves as a simple introduction of a new super-villain, while also furthering the on-going struggle between Mephisto & Daredevil, and giving us a good old fashioned team-up between DD and Spider-Man!

I wish comics were still reliably enjoyable like this. Nostalgically noting that spare change would've got me this satisfying chapter off the newsagent rack.

I think this still might be the definitive Blackheart comic, but I probably need to do a little more reading before I confidently make those kinds of proclamations. At the very least, DD #280 provides a convenient tonal key to understanding the core concept beyond its striking appearance -- providing you have some sense of the magical concoction of the times.

For reasons I'm still not clear on: Blackheart may be best remembered for his unlikely inclusion in the Capcom fighting game, Marvel Super Heroes, where he inexplicably replaced Mephisto in the loose adaptation of The Infinity Gauntlet, and subsequent series sequel, Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

The games do a good job of selling the visual, but the stylistic texture of the comic is missing, and gamers have almost certainly come away with a skewed perspective of the character. Not that comics of the time were much help, either.

If you left the arcade in 1995 in search of answers your only options were the original few appearances in Daredevil, a handful of uninspired cameos in '93 issues of Wonder Man, or a couple of splashy prestige specials starring the oh-so early nineties attention-seeking trio of Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and Punisher.

Those characters, especially in gratuitous appearances, always have a whiff of pubescence about them, but at least the stories followed up on some of the rich material left behind by Nocenti, leveraging the reference to cult activity at Christ's Crown for some devilish, nineties adventures.

Of course, if you ask me, I think Blackheart is better served by staying tethered to the angsty, soggy, rose-scented dark wave emocore of the late eighties. A slightly contemptible brand of darkness, as opposed to the samey edginess of 'bad boys' and hellspawn of the nineties.

Blackheart is more than just that beguiling visual. Beneath the design beats the heart of a mood, a vibe, a moment in time that was powerful and real. Every writer & artist tackling the character should be issued with a copy of DD #280 in its original pulpy printed format, and a playlist of period appropriate music, preferably curated by the great Ann Nocenti herself.

I think it would go a long way to making sure the character is more than just another bad guy covered in spikes and thorns and ordinary cliches.

I'm still looking forward to getting my disc copy of Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics on November 22nd, but it was nice to get ahead of the retro gaming fun by digging back into a favourite comic reference.

As ever, I enjoy coming back to 1989, and wonder what type of significance Marvel's output at that time had to Japan, and the Capcom game developers. A reference that made even less sense in Marvel Super Heroes than it did three years earlier for The Punisher.

If you enjoyed it as well, consider becoming a supporter on Patreon. That's where you can get in my ear and influence future topics, such as speeding up a return to some of the subjects raised here, or just generally help make it possible to keep on keeping on and maybe make some other cool stuff as well.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1,000 of your favourite characters! You can find 'em all by diving in to the Secret Archive for a complete index in order of publisher, series, and issue number -- or by following links throughout each post to discover more from your favourite characters, creators, series, and categories!

Get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to X (aka; Twitter)! Don't forget to smash that like, fave, and share -- and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday on X & Discord! The lively Discord chat is one of the bonuses of becoming a Patreon subscriber!

Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#514 (new) Blackheart
#2 (--) Spider-Man
#8 (--) Daredevil

KRAVEN THE HUNTER versus SPIDER-MAN

The Coffin (Marvel)
Where: Web of Spider-Man #31 When: October 1987
Why: JM DeMatteis How: Mike Zeck

The Story So Far...
Sergei Kravinoff is an old man. A man sustained by herbs & roots and an iron will. A man whose family left behind a Russia with no room for his aristocratic dynasty. Whose only purpose now is to pursue the wild hunt.

Kraven the Hunter has suffered many indignities in his long life. A life he is quite certain must end soon -- but not before another hunt. Not before he consumes the many poisons of the arachnid and uses them to fuel domination of his ultimate foe.

While Spider-Man pays one last visit to a two-bit crook in a dive bar open casket -- he has no way of knowing his preoccupation with death is shared by a predator who has him in his sights. For he is the target of Kraven's Last Hunt!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Spider-Man 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Spider-Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Draw 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Spider-Man 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Spider-Man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Kraven 4 (Trained)
Energy: Kraven 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

Sergei Kravinoff is an expert big game hunter who refined his body and senses to the peak of human ability. Further enhancements from an herbal formula created by Calypso allow him to wrestle the deadliest game into submission with his bare hands -- graduating Kraven the Hunter to super-human prey!

Kraven most famously stalks Spider-Man, but he's also had memorable run-ins with the likes of Tigra, Man-Wolf, Vermin, Daredevil, and Ka-Zar.

Many of these opponents are a little out of his weight class, but the thrill of the hunt lies in the challenge, and Kraven's skill & tactical acumen more than makes up for any natural advantages his target might possess.

Kraven's exploits have been adapted across multiple mediums, most recently appearing in PlayStation's Spider-Man 2 video game, and soon to feature on the big screen in a live-action Kraven the Hunter movie.

We previously took a look at an incarnation of Kraven from the MTV Spider-Man animated series, which ended, as it so often does, with Spider-Man victorious, but today's battle is a little different. This time Kraven is driven by every past indignity and humiliation he's ever suffered. This time Kraven is playing for keeps.

Will ritual preparation -- and a driven belief that this holdover from a forgotten age must soon die -- finally deliver Kraven to the ultimate victory? This isn't Kraven's final hunt, but it is leading him towards it. Let's see what happened!

The Tape: Spider-Man Ranking: Spider-Man (#2)

What Went Down...

Caught in the night's rain and deep thought: Spider-Man is alerted to a coming danger by his preternatural spider-senses.

He leaps clear of an incoming dart, leaving it to poke harmlessly into a nearby billboard -- while also jumping into the path of a second shot! It hits its target!

The projectile sticks into Spider-Man's neck, administering a poison that rushes through his body. For a moment he has a vision of Joe Face: a two-bit crook who used to feed him information, but is lying flat in a wooden box in a local dive.

Death is on his mind, but Spider-Man refuses to yield when he's confronted with Kraven the Hunter on an adjacent rooftop enclosure.

He shoots a web to pull himself across the divide with a mighty leap.

Again the toxin causes Spider-Man's mind to drift to visions of the recently deceased. A dangerous distraction Kraven is all too ready to seize upon!

The Hunter strikes with a wooden staff -- smacking Spider-Man off the enclosure to a lower rooftop level!

The Spider lands hard on his back & shoulders, precariously balanced on the edge of the roof. His muscles begin to stiffen and he can hardly move himself -- effects of the drug now coursing through his veins.

Kraven aims to further immobilize his prey -- ensnaring him in a weighted net!

Whatever the mesh is made of, it's tough enough to resist the weakened Spider.

Kraven drops from the enclosure, brandishing a rifle as he calmly approaches.

Spider-Man's addled mind races wildly between reassuring thoughts of Kraven's usual non-lethal modus operandi -- and the danger of a hunting rifle.

Spidey continues to try to free himself from the net. He can see there's something different about the look in Kravinoff's eyes. This isn't the Kraven he's usually faced. No matter how many times he reminds The Hunter of his usual desire to win with his bare hands -- this time something is different!

Kraven lines up his shot as Spider-Man desperately continues to struggle against the net and more visions of Joe Face. The thought that tomorrow it might be somebody else who dies eats at him. Somebody he loves. Aunt May, Mary-Jane, or...

With a wild-eyed gaze and deranged, toothy grin -- Kraven takes the shot.

It's over.

The Hammer...

I can only imagine if & how shocking the conclusion to Web of Spider-Man #31 might have seemed to a regular reader back in 1987.

It's a smidge before my time. When I finally got around to reading for myself -- there was little surprise to be had. It was already canonized as one of the legendary Spider-Man stories, and I was well prepared for the shocking turn of events that would follow Kraven the Hunter's victory. I had it on a trading card.

I was never left guessing what would happen after Kraven & his cronies end the issue lowering Spider-Man's coffin into a freshly dug grave.

I didn't endure any agonizing wait when Spidey remained six feet under in the next chapter, published in Amazing Spider-Man #293.

You can probably tell from the images included in this article - I had the benefit of a collected trade paperback. The entire story in my hot little hands, ready to consume. A format for convenience, but lacking the majesty of what I imagine the first run on newsstands would've been like. It was actually a little under whelming after all those years of hearing about it, but I've come around over the decades. Still I wonder about the wait in real-time...

Mike Zeck's pencils, with Bob McLeod on inks, and a trio of colorists -- Janet Jackson (not that one), Bob Sharen, and Zeck himself -- are pretty marvelous and moody, but the heavy tone that hangs over the issue doesn't feel particularly unusual to me, in keeping with other Spider-Man comics of the era.

It's a visually dark New York City, with the black suited Spider-Man prowling across its muddy blue and purple hues. It has the urban grit of a late eighties B-movie. I wonder if a regular reader might've overlooked the stakes, conditioned to always assume Spidey will come out on top, no matter the mire. And of course - he does. The rifle was loaded with some exotic tranquilizer or knock-out potion.

The enduring image from Kraven's Last Hunt becomes Spider-Man pulling himself out of his own grave on the cover of Web of Spider-Man #32, but there is still the lasting legacy of Kraven not only burying Spider-Man alive, but also supplanting him -- to the psychological horror of Peter Parker, and his then-wife, Mary-Jane.

Back in those days, it wasn't often that villains would secure such decisive and mind-bending victories. It reminds me of more recent affairs, like Otto Octavius assuming control of Peter Parker's body, or the countless comic book deaths that last a few years of suspended disbelief, before inevitably restoring the icon.

Kraven's Last Hunt only spans six issues, lasting a couple of months of print, which might not leave the reader a long time to stew, but sets about planting similar seeds without needing to burn a few years of publication. It seems to me far more impactful and efficient in its delivery of a memorable moment.

Update: Over on Twitter (aka; X), Sammy Younan was nice enough to respond to this entry, noting: "The danger in Kraven's Last Hunt felt real. Sometimes with these stories it's phony. I read these comics "live;" you instantly grasped this was BIG." Given the fast reputation of the story - I don't doubt it.

I'm interested to explore the story further and see how it sits within Kraven's legacy. As of Chapter 1, it reads like an opportunistic win for a heel villain, but once Kraven becomes Spider-Man, it takes on a very different context. That, more than today's victory, is probably what makes this one of the enduring milestones.

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Winner: Kraven the Hunter
#433 (+297) Kraven the Hunter
#2 (--) Spider-Man