In this feature, I examine comic book fights that were particularly notable in the wrong side winning (or at least that the fight wasn't won the "right" way). This really isn't a big deal, of course, as it doesn't really matter if the "wrong" person won a fight. But it's fun to talk about!

If you want to suggest a fight for future inclusion in this feature, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com. Don't suggest a fight in the comments!

Today, we take a look at the time Daredevil defeated Spider-Man in a punching fight!

As always, the first page spotlights their power levels and the second page examines the fight itself.

And as always, the first question we need to ask is...

How did these people do when they fought Spider-Man?

First off, let's look at Daredevil. In Amazing Spider-Man #287 (by Christopher Priest, Erik Larsen and Art Nichols), they tussle and while Spider-Man is clearly the winner of the fight, DD holds his own...

There are a couple of important things to note in that fight, though. One, the only way Daredevil has a serious shot is if Spider-Man is out of it, which he is in this instance. Second, Spidey's Spider-Sense is a huge advantage with a fight with a guy like Daredevil, and again, it is not working correctly at this point in time. Third, Daredevil is barely fazing Spider-Man with his punches. That's important, too. So yes, under a very specific set of circumstances, Daredevil sort of holds his own. Which is impressive on Daredevil's part, while still making it clear that Spider-Mn would normally win this fight.

As for Spidey, when he fought his clone in Amazing Spider-Man #149 (by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito), you would figure such a clash would have caused thunder in the skies, but in the end, they were just pretty evenly matched, but that, of course, says a lot about Spider-Man, as if he can be evenly matched against SPIDER-MAN, then Spider-Man must be pretty darn tough!

Now if Wasp ever fought a clone of herself, then WATCH OUT, universe!

Okay, on to the fight!

The battle took place during the classic storyline, "The Death of Jean DeWolff" in Spectacular Spider-Man #110 by Peter David, Rich Buckler and a bunch of inkers. It's a great storyline, and the basic idea is that Spider-Man is so angry that he wants to kill the Sin-Eater (who just almost killed Betty Leeds and had recently murdered Spider-Man's friend, Jean DeWolff, who Spidey then had the double gut-punch of learning that she was totally enamored with him without him ever knowing) but Daredevil doesn't want to let his friend do this...

From a story standpoint, I love the whole sequence. It's powerful and it pays off well later in the issue when Daredevil is trying to protect Sin-Eater from a riotous crowd trying to basically lynch the Sin-Eater and Spidey steps in to save his friend and, yes, Sin-Eater, too. This is a good comic book story. So the fact that I think Spidey is taken out by Daredevil too easily here is not a shot at the story as a whole, as it is a really, really good storyline. That said, even "enraged Spidey" shouldn't just get repeatedly punched by Daredevil until he loses consciousness. Notice how most of the most important parts of the fight are off panel, because it would have looked ridiculous, Spidey just laying there while Daredevil repeatedly pummeled him. David obviously lays on thick the whole "this is not normal! this is not normal! Daredevil would not normally be able to do this! He's only BARELY knocked out!" but it still seems a bit off (and really, the repeated qualifiers just make that even clearer). The sort of odd thing is that all Daredevil really "needed" to do was occupy Spidey until Sin-Eater was taken into custody, right? A sort of standstill in this situation (like the above Amazing Spider-man #287 bit) would have worked well, here, as well, I think.