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!

This is a bit of a odd one, since it really isn't a matter of a particular character even WINNING a fight, but more so how the fight went period. A ton of you wrote in about this one, though (of the ones I haven't featured yet, this is the clear #2 suggestion), so I figured I might as well feature it. So here we see the time that the Black Panther put Silver Surfer into an armlock...

As always, the first page we look at their power levels and on the second page, we look at the fight itself.

Also, as always, we answer the age-old question - "How did they do when they fought Spider-Man?"

Black Panther, oddly enough, has only really fought Spider-Man once, in the pages of Marvel Team-Up #87 (by Steven Grant, Gene Colan and Frank Springer - that's an interesting art pairing there). Black Panther has been framed for some crimes (including the attempted murder of Spider-Man), so Spidey shows up to take him into custody...

So Panther actually acquits himself pretty darn well against Spidey. Years later, they tussled again in a very similar exchange (mostly Spider-Man being amazed at how fast T'Challa is).

Spidey and the Surfer tangled in Surfer's first series (in an issue by Stan Lee, John Buscema and Dan Adkins) and Surfer basically treats Spider-Man as a nuisance he can't even be bothered with...

Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there, Spidey! More powerful than a dozen Vultures!? Those are strong words. I think that should be part of Surfer's tagline now. Sort of like how Superman is more powerful than a locomotive, Surfer should now and forever be referred to as "more powerful than a dozen Vultures!"

Since the Surfer barely messed around with Spider-Man, I figured another example would be better to show his power. See his encounter with the Hulk here from Incredible Hulk #250 (by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema)...

Notice how the Hulk didn't even faze Surfer.

Okay, with this in mind, let's look at the armhold heard 'round the world!

In Fantastic Four #545 (by Dwayne McDuffie, Paul Pelletier and Rick Magyar), McDuffie attempted to pick up some plots from his earlier, highly enjoyable mini-series, Beyond!, where the young hero known as Gravity had been killed. Epoch, the cosmic entity that worked with Quasar in the past, stole Gravity's body. The Fantastic Four (who were made up of Human Torch, Thing, Black Panther and Storm at the time) and Michael Collins (formerly known as Deathlok, who had been involved in the Beyond! adventure with Gravity) go to find Gravity's body. Meanwhile, Silver Surfer and his fellow herald, Stardust, come across Epoch as Galactus considers feasting on Epoch (as Epoch is basically a giant planet).

So anyhow, at this point in time, the FF shows up and runs afoul of Surfer and Stardust...

First off, how freaking awesome is that shot of the Panther riding Surfer's board? SO COOL!!!

But yeah, the infamous armhold. After fan outrage over the issue, McDuffie defended it thusly...

"Read the scene again and this time pay attention. The Surfer allowed the Panther to "restrain" him in the hope of finding out what the FF was up to. A panel later, the Surfer's assistant blasts the Panther unconscious. The Surfer is irritated because he wanted the Panther to talk, which he thought he might do if the Panther believed he had the upper hand. Most of the people who bitch about this have only seen a scan of one page, or have poor reading comprehension skills."

I don't think the incident is nearly as egregious as fans have made it out to be over the years, but at the same time, McDuffie's explanation really doesn't follow, either. Surfer's "un-hand me" line was just him allowing Panther to restrain him? Come on. I just don't buy it. It seems much more likely that McDuffie figured that it wasn't a big deal for Panther to very briefly have Surfer in an arm hold. After all, Panther gets blasted right after this, so it is not like the Panther actually WON the fight. Or, perhaps the intent WAS for the Surfer to be faking the whole time, but if that was the intent, it was not a problem with reader comprehension to not see it that way, it was a problem with the depiction of the scene.

Anyhow, like I said, it wasn't nearly as egregious as fans make it to be, but it was still either unrealistic for the Panther to hold Surfer in such an armlock (by the way, the fact that McDuffie later expressed that the Surfer was just faking suggests that even he is conceding that it would be unrealistic) or it was poorly expressed that the Surfer was faking it. Either or.

In either event, this was still an excellent run on Fantastic Four by McDuffie, Pelletier and Magyar. One snafu like this isn't really a big deal. I'd have just avoided featuring it here at all, but since so many of you wanted to see it addressed, I figured, eh, I might as well get it out of the way!

If anyone else has a fight they'd like to see address in The Wrong Side, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com