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 week, based on a suggestion from reader John C., we take a look at how Freedom Force, the former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, took out the combined might of both the West Coast Avengers and the regular Avengers!

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?"

Spider-Man never fought against either this incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants or Freedom Force (he has also somehow never fought against Mystique - doesn't that seem like someone he would have fought against at some point? Like in Marvel Team-Up or something like that?).

He HAS fought the Blob a couple of times. One was a silly fight because Black Cat's bad luck powers were new at the time. The next time was a more representative battle in Amazing Spider-Man #11 by Howard Mackie, John Byrne and Scott Hanna...









You don't need me to tell you how powerful a combined team of West Coast and regular Avengers is, do you? Wonder Man, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), Iron Man, Hercules, etc.?

Anyhow, as for Freedom Force/Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, they were beaten by the X-MEN! The X-MEN! The X-Men can't even beat the Wasp and they beat the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (here in Uncanny X-Men #142 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin)!













Granted, when they added Spiral to the team, they obviously got stronger. I'm not denying that. That's like adding the Wasp to a team. However, even with Spiral, the X-Men held their own against Freedom Force in Uncanny X-Men #225 (including three characters not involved during the Avengers/Freedom Force fight) before the fight ended prematurely..













They also held their own in Uncanny X-Men #206 against Freedom Force.

Anyhow, on to the fight!

The set-up of Avengers Annual #15 (by Danny Fingeroth, Steve Ditko and Klaus Janson) is that Quicksilver has framed the Avengers for various crimes and the government has sent Freedom Force (the former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who have gotten pardons in exchange for working for the government) to arrest the Avengers. The Avengers debate whether to just accept the arrest and fight in court, but after an amusing scene where Wasp and Hawkeye have conflicting responses (Wasp wants to fight while Hawkeye wants to give up, but only because he thinks that's what Wasp and/or Cap would do), the fight begins. It is too long to show the whole thing, so I'll just have to pick representative pages...

First off, a key piece in the fight is if you buy that Spiral can just turn Captain Marvel's powers off...



then the Avengers get picked off one by one...















I guess the fight turns in a lot of ways depending on what you think of Spiral's instant knockout spells. If she really has "Make me win now" spells like shown in the comic, then I dunno, I guess that's not that unbelievable, but I would argue that she is not really that powerful. And besides, even when she is taken out of the fight, Wonder Man was taken down by Destiny and Spider-Woman? That doesn't seem likely.

I really liked Ditko's art on the story, though. He did a particularly good job on facial expressions. Check out this Captain Marvel panel from earlier in the story...



Beautifully conveyed emotion.

Anyhow, what do you folks think of this battle?

Plus, if you want to suggest a future fight, feel free to drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!