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, we take a look at perhaps the most unlikely victory you've seen so far in these columns (something that even the story featuring the fight would agree with)...

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?

Hawkeye is no fool. He knows that he wouldn't last a second against Spider-Man, so when they first sort of fought, it was due to a mind-controlled Hawkeye sort of attacking Spidey in Marvel Team-Up #92, but Spider-Man settled that quickly before they then teamed up...



Spider-Man assumes that Hawkeye fainted from fear of Spider-Man due to Mr. Fear's drugs, but if you ask me, I would imagine most superheroes in the Marvel Universe would faint if they thought Spider-Man was going to punch them. I know Wolverine certainly would (NOTE: Hawkeye later retroactively fought against Spider-Man in Kurt Busiek's Untold Tales of Spider-Man).

As for Spider-Man vs. Hulk, we've covered this one before, but suffice it to say that the Hulk is so powerful that even Spider-Man is afraid of him. The Hulk to Spider-Man is like the Wasp to the X-Men. He's constantly worried that he might get smashed.



Here's Hawkeye's interactions with the mindless Hulk in Incredible Hulk #321-322.

First off, he nearly gets himself killed...



Then he tells Cap that they're basically screwed...





Finally, he, Mockingbird and Tigra jump into the fight for no real good reason ("He's shrugging off blows from Hercules, Wonder Man and She-Hulk! Quick, I'll stab him with an arrow and you hit him with a stick! Tigra, maybe you can lightly scratch him!")



That was the extent of his involvement in that particular fight because, well, honestly, what do you expect Hawkeye to do with the Hulk?!?

Well, in one classic Avengers tale, the answer was apparently "beat him"...

In Avengers Annual #2 (by Roy Thomas, Don Heck, Werner Roth and Vince Colletta), the then-modern day Avengers were forced to face off against the ORIGINAL Avengers, who the Scarlet Centurion has convinced that the modern-day Avengers are evil.

Hawkeye and Black Panther are fighting old school Iron man and old school Hulk. Panther is not doing anything with the Hulk, but at least he's not getting his ass kicked, which is very impressive, while Hawkeye uses his modern-day arrows to take out Iron Man's inferior older armor...





This sets up the main event, Hawkeye vs. Hulk...





Clearly, even Thomas essentially shrugged his shoulders there and said, "Well, whatever, we needed Hawkeye to win. Deal with it."

I suppose you could say that this was Hawkeye and Black Panther vs. the Hulk, but no offense to T'Challa, this was won pretty much just by that arrow, ya know? Similarly, it could be called Hawkeye vs. Iron Man AND the Hulk, but Hawkeye fighting Iron Man was pretty normal at the time (he started his career as an Iron Man foe), so I didn't feel like mentioning that. If you want to think of this fight as either of those combinations, I certainly wouldn't hold it against you.

Since Thomas nicely hung a lampshade on the win IN the comic, this one is obviously not nearly as annoying as other wins, but it is still a pretty ridiculous way to win. Sonics turn the Hulk back to Banner...but just this one time!

Okay, that's it for this week! Feel free send in suggestions for future installments to bcronin@comicbookresources.com!