Since Marvel and DC Comics have always been considered direct competitors of one another, it has been assumed that there has never been a crossover between the two of them because the two companies are each other's competition. In reality, that could not be further from the truth. Yes, they are rivals and competitors in terms of marketing, but they do not hate each other. Not when their main goal is to unite fans within the comic book community. In fact, not a lot of people know this, but DC and Marvel have actually crossed over with each other quite a few times.
It may not have happened recently -- in the last 20 or so odd years -- but there are a good handful of Marvel/DC crossovers out there. There have been company wide crossovers like DC vs Marvel, All Access, Unlimited Access, and JLA/Avengers, which showcase the entire roster of both companies, and there have been one-on-one one shots against their best characters. Such crossovers between DC and Marvel date all the way back to 1976's Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man: The Battle of the Century, which was the first of many examples where beloved household names in comic book culture either team up, or square off with each other. Because that crossover was so successful, DC and Marvel could not wait to share the pages with each other again, and did so many times. For our readers who may have forgotten about some of these crossover fights pitting the comic book community's finest against each other, here are a few entries to remind everybody.
20 PHOENIX VS SUPERMAN
The fourth issue of DC/Marvel: All Access sees Jean Grey run into Superman while she is possessed by The Phoenix. Superman actually finds himself overwhelmed by the power which The Phoenix wields, struggling to even break through her psionic shield.
Because he was more concerned with helping Jean rather than fight her, Superman was nearly vanquished by the Phoenix. Lucky for Supes, Phoenix trails off when she's distracted by Cyclops right before she has the chance to crush Superman once and for all.
19 LOBO VS WOLVERINE
In another DC vs Marvel match up that was too much of a no brainer to not include in the mini-series, two of the most anti heroic, destructive, over the top bare knuckle wisecracking brawlers on either side of comic book town had a throwdown as Lobo took on Wolverine.
Disappointingly, much of the fight takes place off-screen, but Wolverine nonetheless comes out of his bar room brawl against Lobo with his hand raised. Hopefully, we get a rematch that we get to see in its entirety next time.
18 SUPERMAN VS SPIDER-MAN
During the first ever modern superhero cross-company crossover -- aptly titled Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man: The Battle of the Century -- the two icons mistakenly blame each other for the disappearances Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson thanks to a ruse from Lex Luthor.
Out of this misunderstanding, the two duke it out, dodging each other's attacks until Luthor uses a machine to allow red sun to radiate off Spider-Man's costume, making Supes vulnerable. When Supes is again invulnerable and Spidey's punches stop leaving damage, Spidey calls off the fight and they realize they've been tricked by Luthor.
17 DAREDEVIL VS BATMAN
In the story Daredevil and Batman, Batman is on the hunt looking for Two-Face, and tracks the criminal down to New York City. When he arrives, he runs into the Man Without Fear. Due to a misunderstanding, Batman is under the impression that Daredevil is a culprit behind some recent crimes, and the two tussle before talking things through.
They trade punches, and are pretty much evenly matched. Before a winner is ever decided, they finally realize that they are working the same case and decide to work together.
16 BATMAN VS HULK
During the 27th issue of the DC Special Series - -in a story titled "The Monster and the Mad Man" -- Bruce Banner is working at WayneTech as a researcher in hopes of finding a cure for his "disease." When The Joker storms in and steals the gamma gun that Banner needs to help himself, he turns into the Hulk.
Batman tries to stop him, but obviously, a mere human is no match for a juggernaut like the Hulk. Batman can only knock Hulk to his feet after he sprays the beast with some knockout gas.
15 VENOM VS SUPERMAN
In the first issue of the Marvel vs DC event series All-Access, Venom found himself in Metropolis and immediately started wrecking havoc on the city. Chaos ensues until Superman swoops down to stop him, but within moments, Venom starts throwing the Kryptonian around like a ragdoll.
Even with help from Spider-Man, Superman is no match for the symbiote monster. If Access did not arrive in the knick of time to blast Venom away with a cannon, Venom would've been chewing Supes like he was chopped liver.
14 JUBILEE VS ROBIN
When it came time for Jubilee and Robin (Tim Drake) to take each other on in a fight in DC vs Marvel, the two preferred to go on a date instead. They went for a walk, and after a kiss agreed that "whatever happens, happens."
Their fight commenced, and moments later, Robin came out on top after using his cape to produce a distracting shadow, then tripping her with his batarang and tying her up. Robin didn't even have to throw a single punch.
13 STORM VS WONDER WOMAN
Moments after Wonder Woman lifted Thor's hammer, she is confronted by Storm for a fight. Out of respect, Wonder Woman drops Mjolnir and faces Storm in a fight that many comic fans were very curious about. These two actually respect each other too greatly to even want to spar, and Storm tries to give Wonder Woman a way out when she electrocutes her.
Refusing to ever surrender, Wonder Woman passes out from the lightning blast, and Storm -- as the winner due to the extreme popularity of the X-Men -- carries the Amazon away to shelter.
12 BATMAN VS PUNISHER
In a one shot story called Batman and Punisher: Deadly Knights, Frank Castle pays a visit to Gotham expecting to find Jigsaw. Instead, he runs into Batman, who after seeing Punisher punish and interrogate one too many civilians, orders Castle to leave his town.
Not one to take orders without a fight, Punisher pounds on Batman in their first fight. In their second throwdown, moments after Batman stops Punisher from punishing Joker, Batman gets the upper hand. Now that they're even, Punisher willingly leaves Gotham, telling Batman that him and "that giggling idiot deserve each other."
11 SPIDER-MAN VS SUPERBOY
Right off the bat in this one, a sneaky Spidey gets the advantage by coating Superboy's signature shades with webbing. Superboy takes over when he uses his telekinesis to counter Spider-Man's stealth offense. Superboy puts up a good fight against the older hero, but Spidey picks up a victory when the rookie mindlessly charges at Spidey while soaked in water.
Spidey took the opportunity to trap him in his signature impact webbing while Superboy was in front of a high voltage electrical transformer.
10 QUICKSILVER VS THE FLASH
When DC and Marvel came together in 1996 for their much anticipated versus crossover event, it seemed like a no-brainer for the companies to pit the two fastest men alive of their respective universes against each other. The Flash -- the Wally West version -- takes on the Avengers' resident runner, Quicksilver.
It doesn't take long before we find out that The Flash is not only the fastest man between the two, but he's also the better fighter. He beats Quicksilver pretty easily, and in record time.
9 BATMAN VS CAPTAIN AMERICA
In the DC vs Marvel crossover, the fight between Captain America and Batman is treated something similar to a main event of the series. The two are evenly matched and spend hours upon hours fighting in the sewer.
The sewer is flooded, and after Batman dodges Cap's shield, he hits the super soldier with a batarang that knocks him down into the sewage water. Batman dives down into the dirty water to retrieve and revive Cap. In the few minutes that Cap was left unconscious, Batman was declared (voted in as) the winner.
8 SUPERMAN VS HULK
Superman and Hulk have faced off against each other twice. The first time came during the DC vs Marvel crossover event in 1996, where Superman won the fight after hitting Hulk with a blast of heat vision. Their second ever encounter came in the story Incredible Hulk vs Superman.
In their second match up, Hulk deals the final blow, but after Superman uses his last ounce of strength to save the Hulk from a cannon missile, Hulk spares Superman's life and walks away.
7 DARKSEID VS GALACTUS
In 1995, John Byrne satisfied nerds around the world when he gave us all a much discussed dream match via Darkseid vs Galactus: The Hunger. The story sees Galactus starving to devour another planet, and he has his sights on Darkseid's home planet of Apokolips for his next meal.
Darkseid sends all of his minions to fight off the gargantuan , but it proves no use. Galactus won the battle with ease, eliminating Darkseid with one shot, but unfortunately for Galactus, after it's all said and done, he cannot consume Apokolips because the planet has no life-giving energies.
6 BANE VS CAPTAIN AMERICA
At the end of the first issue of DC vs Marvel, Captain America catches up with Bane, and the two have a fight that bleeds into the start of the second issue.
Captain America throws his shield, but before he could retrieve it, Bane picks him up and is preparing to break Cap's back, similar to how he broke Batman's back during the infamous "Knightfall" story. Before Bane can do so, the shield comes back around like a boomerang and knocks out Bane, leaving him unconscious.
5 SUPERMAN VS FANTASTIC FOUR
When Superman is met with the threat of Galactus, he calls The Fantastic Four for help. While they investigate, Superman is imbued with Galactus's Power Cosmic and is mind controlled to become his new herald. This leads to an all out fight pitting Superman and Galactus against The Fantastic Four.
When they realize they are no match for the might of the duo, the Four retreat. Luckily for them, the destruction left behind is able to disturb Superman enough to snap out of Galactus's conditioning. Now back to normal, he rejoins the Fantastic Four to stop Galactus once and for all.
4 GREEN LANTERN VS SILVER SURFER
Since Green Lantern and Silver Surfer teamed up to defeat Parallax prior to DC vs Marvel, the two were not too chuffed to find out they had to suddenly fight each other. With that said, that doesn't mean they don't give it all they've got during the fight.
In the conclusion, the two charge at each other, producing a giant green explosion. Silver Surfer is the only one to emerge from the rubble, but he remarks he never regretted defeating an opponent more than he did in that moment.
3 HAWKEYE VS GREEN ARROW
Well, sort of. In this scenario, it was more like a tag team match featuring Hawkeye and Green Arrow, but this is the closest we ever get to seeing the skilled marksmen go toe to toe with each other.
In JLA/Avengers, Hawkeye and Iron Man go to Smallville to retrieve the Casket of Ancient Winters before they are met by Green Arrow and Captain Atom, who want the same thing. Hawkeye and Iron Man defeat and dispose of the DC characters with relative ease.
2 THANOS VS DARKSEID
In the middle of the DC vs Marvel crossover, Darkseid comes face to face with Thanos. They were not chosen to face off by the two guys running the whole DC vs Marvel shindig, but they want to fight anyway just for the hell of it -- especially Darkseid, who accuses Thanos of being a poor man's version of Darkseid himself.
Unfortunately, because this fight wasn't an official part of the whole DC/Marvel shebang, Thanos vs Darkseid didn't get a proper conclusion, but it's nice to know they at least faced off after their dream match has been long debated.
1 THOR VS SUPERMAN
Thor and Superman crossed paths during the JLA/Avengers event, and their encounter proved to be a battle for the ages. As far as their strength is concerned, they were both more or less evenly matched, but the deciding factor in their fight was Thor's hammer.
Thor was looking to pound on Superman with Mjolnir, but in a worthy moment surprise, Supes stopped the hammer and pushed back Mjolnir itself. Superman then stood over a stunned Thor with Mjolnir in his hand. Superman was battered, but not broken, and the deciding victor of this contest.