4. Batman VS The Hulk in Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk (1981)

Just look at these:









On paper, it's a mismatch. Batman is capable, but has no powers. He has not the strength of the Hulk. Very few do. At that point in time, the Batman had never faced anyone as tough as the Hulk (but had Hulk faced anyone like Batman?).

It was a short fight. And quite scary. I mean, as Bats knows, the Hulk can break his spine. Thinking quickly, Batman incapacitated the Hulk - and took the wind out of his sails. Very convincingly.

I'm not sure I could have accepted anyone else doing that to the Hulk. But Batman is, well, Batman.

4. Batman and the Earth2 Robin vs. Hugo Strange
Brave and the Bold # 183 
January 1982


Batman is transported mysteriously to Earth two in a violent thunderstorm and Is thrust into a contest between Hugo Strange and oddly enough, a resentful Robin from earth two. Strange puts the two ( joined by Kathy Kane Batwoman) through a gauntlet of weapons taken from the bat cave which include the first Batmobile, the Dinosaur and a few other items that was collected by Earth 2's duo. The battle between them and Stange is not the highlight from this great issue , as much as , Robins resistance to Bruce from the other earth. It is painful for him to see a version of Wayne that is alive and he has great difficulty working with him as a team mate. It breaks your heart seeing Dick struggle with his appearance and at the same time, have to destroy items that were part of his growing up as Batman partner.  The trio make it to the Batcave and Batman realizes that Strange concocted this Attack in order for the two to end his life. It appears that Strange survived his last encounter but only barely and lives as a broken misshapen shadow of his former self.  
One of my favorite comics of all time.

4. Iron Man versus Hawkeye the Archer

by Stan Lee and Don Heck
Tales of Suspense #57, June 1964

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry...step right up and the wonder of the ages as the world's greatest marksman dazzles you with his amazing skills and aiming for the bulls-eye Iron Man has so conveniently placed in the center of his chest!!!After having his act totally upstaged by the Man of Steel the jealous archer decides that all it takes is having a lot of mechanical gimmicks and a colorful costume to garner attention, so over a day and 2 nights crafting the world is about to experience the arrogance and accuracy of HAWKEYE> 

Stopping a jewelry robbery he is mistaken as the actual robber and the lusciously evil (then as a Russian spy) Black Widow enlists the clueless archer who is immediately and fatally in lust with her to attack Iron Man, her enemy. Brother Hawk breaks into a Stark factory and when Iron Man shows he is quickly struck with quick acting rusting action arrows and Shell head is forced into hiding to escape. After donning a spare suit of armor, the rust bucket is back in action searching for the bowman and finds him driving along a road where Iron Man turns his car into so much scrap for the junk yard (or into spare parts for his next Iron Man suit?) and the fight continues. Using his handy dandy Repulsor ray Iron Man easily deflects all of the arrow shots Hawkeye shoots his way until a nylon rope arrow tangles him up for a moment. Breaking loose as Hawkeye stands on a pier Iron drops down onto the pier bursting the wood frame to pieces and leaving Hawkeye clinging to a post. Our Iron clad hero bends back the post (made of rubber from the Acme company?) and slingshots the archer into the water and winning the day before Hawk can drown. 

Waking and taking Shell head off guard Hawkeye fires his most devastating weapon, an explosive arrow which bounces off the Golden Avengers armor blowing up and the blast grazing the nearby watching Black Widow. Grabbing the unconscious spy Hawket escapes into the mists of the ocean eluding capture and gaining time to fight another day...

Perhaps not really much of a slugfest or battle, but an exciting confrontation none the less. Proving that being a man of Iron doesn't guarantee you always winning and that natural human creativity and guile can sometimes upset any hero. A brash and incredible debut for the purple archer who will eventually show his abilities and skills, proving himself a true hero and not a villain as an Avenger in the near future (with Shell head's backing) and being a mainstay and heart of the team (if not still brash, arrogant, over confident, dizzily in/out of love, reckless, prideful, stubborn and so on and so forth) making his way into the movies alongside his more powerful partners! 

4. Maddie Pryor vs Scott Summers
Uncanny X-Men #174, 1983, Claremont/Smith/Wiacek

This issue was called “Romances” since it dealt mainly with several love affairs: Kitty Pryde/Peter Rasputin, Xavier/Lilandra, Logan/Mariko, Kurt Wagner/Amanda Sefton, and Scott Summers/Madelyn Pryor. This last pairing takes a sudden turn for the worse, when Scott can’t let go of the notion that his new girlfriend might somehow be the reincarnation of his old girlfriend, and he makes the mistake of telling her his misgivings. This yields to an extremely brief but extremely kinetic rumble:



At the time, Claremont intended Scott to be wrong, but later events retconned the situation so that Scott was right, so I guess Maddie owes him an apology for that sucker punch. And for her role in Inferno.

Next on the hit parade is Starman #5, Jack Knight vs brother David. Sort of. Now, I originally intended to include Jack's first climactic battle with Kyle, the son of the Mist. Kyle has killed David Knight, stolen the Cosmic Converter belt, nearly killed Jack and is terrorizing Opal City. Jack makes it out of the city, then turns back to help stop the chaos, with an older form of the Cosmic Rod. It culminates ina gunfighter-like showdown between Kyle and Jack, which juxtaposes memories of Jack and brother David, from their youth. However, that got me thinking of the first Talking with David and the fight there. I think it has more power and here's why.

The story begins with Jack entering a cemetery, with everything black and white. Jack is confused and looks around warily, as he goes down steps. he wanders around, then hears his name called and turns to see his dead brother, David, in his Starman costume, in full color...



As we had seen previously, Jack and David had a volatile relationship. David was a bit of a bully, growing up (he's the older), and he took up the mantle of their father, while Jack ridiculed the idea of dressing in a costume to catch street criminals and psychos. Jack was more like their mother, into art. However, as we saw in the flashbacks during the fight with Kyle, those were surface memories.

Jack is shocked and asks David how he is there and David, quite frankly, acts like a Richard and won't tell him. Instead, he attacks. They fight like brothers, with it spilling out all over the cemetery...



It appears that Jack has destroyed David, as he sees his dead corpse...



Turns out, David changed his appearance to fool his brother and get in a cheap shot. The fight stops when they see the destruction that have wrought over the cemetery...





They go clean up the place and begin just talking. Jack tries to make amends for their parting words, before David went off to chase after the bank robbers, who were a diversion to draw him out, so Kyle could shoot him, from a distance. David cuts him off, as the sun is coming up and his time is ending...



David admits to envying his brother. David spent his life trying to be his father, without ever really developing his own identity, while Jack followed his own path and became his own person. Jack also shares traits with their mother, who both seemed to adore.



It's part of why Jack and Ted fought so much, and why Ted was uncomfortable around Jack; he reminded Ted of his late wife, a woman he greatly loved and missed. Ted was a man of science and emotions were hard for him to deal with. Jack was emotion, just as his mother had been.

They part and Jack gets to see David as the hero he never got a chance to be...



He also gained closure with the loss of his brother.

The issue's fight is a great visual piece; but, it is what it symbolizes that elevates it. Two brothers fighting, with reckless abandon, because they don't communicate.  Then, they do and they come to understand one another far better than they did, in life. As David says, he doesn't have to deal with all of the past anymore; it's gone. he can only see what is. Jack is the one who has to deal with life and David gives him a present of being able to see beyond what he thought and see what is. Jack grows from the encounter. he comes to understand his father more and their relationship grows closer and stronger, over the series. Jack and David meet again, every year, with new revelations, new discussions and new presents. Some will bring a tear to the eye, such as when David, after giving Jack a pirate adventure, gives him a few moments with their departed mother, who looks just as she did, when she was young and beautiful. Jack runs off to her, tears in his eyes, profusely thanking his brother. The final time they meet, David helps Jack solve an old mystery and heal their father.

Talking with David became the anticipated story, every year. It would sum up what had occured and point to the future. It usually involved sparring, of some kind, whether a brother fight in a cemetery, a battle on a pirate ship, a dinner with much verbal sparring with Golden Age heroes, encounters on alien worlds, or a time-travel adventure. However, it also involved bonding that was robbed of them, in real life. That is why this fight is so important. It doesn't stop a villain, or prevent a disaster; it gives the hero a relationship with a brother that he missed in life. That's a fight with a purpose and an emotional resonance lacking in so many others.

4. THOR VS. THE FULL POWER OF HADES
Thor #130 - "Thunder in the Netherworld!"

Written by Stan Lee
Art by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta

Thor #130 is the last chapter in my favorite Thor storyline!

Pluto has tricked Hercules into signing a contract that makes Hercules the new ruler of Hades … for all eternity! (Hercules is a notorious ding-dong, so this is not something to brag about.) The only way Hercules can be saved is if somebody will step up and be his champion and fight all the forces of Hades and thus negate the terms of the contract.

But Hercules is such an arrogant boob that nobody will be his champion! Ares is downright RUDE in turning him down, and Hermes has his own errands for the day.

Oh, who will be the champion of Hercules?!

If you've ever read a comic book, you've probably already guessed that Thor will answer the call!

So Thor then proceeds to walk around in Hades, beating up everybody he meets.




(And every so often, we shift to Earth where Jane's roommate Tana Nile has just revealed herself to more than what she seems! I think Christina Ricci should play Tana Nile. But that's not important to Thor's battle with the minions of Pluto.)

The ending is a bit anti-climactic. When they run out of pages, Pluto calls a halt to the battle because, well, he worked so hard for all those millennia getting Hades juuust right, and now Thor is trashing the place! Pluto realizes that he probably wouldn't have been content outside of his nether-realm.

So Hercules and Thor wander into the sunset, Hercules eventually ending up in the Avengers and Thor heading back to Earth to deal with the next few years' worth of insane King Hell Capers involving Tana Nile, the Colonizers, Ego the Living Planet, the High Evolutionary and Jane's new vocation tutoring a classroom right out of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

It's not just a great fight. It's the first Thor storyline where the god of thunder encounters a magical realm outside of the Norse Asgard and Midgard. And it's a harbinger of many great Cosmic Capers to come in the next few years.