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!

I figure we'll open up with a fight that I imagine many of you would end up writing in about, Spider-Man's battle against Firelord.

The way this'll work is that I'll spend one page establishing the power levels of the opponents and then on the next page I'll examine the fight itself.

We all know Spider-Man well enough. Proportionate strength of a spider. Gotcha.

So how about Firelord? Introduced in Thor #225, he actually didn't tussle much with Thor OR Hercules in his first appearance. He fought them both, but they were quick fights that didn't really establish much.

Thor #246 (by Len Wein, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott) was a bit longer of a fight...





As you can see, Firelord acquits himself very well against Thor.

Next up in X-Men #105 (by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Bob Layton), where Firelord (who has been tricked by Erik the Red into believing that the X-Men are bad guys by having a mind-controlled Havok and Polaris attack him) wipes the floor with three groups of the X-Men in an instant...







He then holds his own against the Phoenix (you might recognize the cameos of Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum from this past weekend's Comic Book Easter Eggs spotlighting Claremont cameos in X-Men comics)...







And even when she ultimately defeats him...



He's back on his feet in minutes (but she's off on an outer space adventure)...



Finally, in Thor #306 (by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Keith Pollard and a bunch of inkers), when Firelord thinks Thor killed his very close friend, Air-Walker (I don't know if Gruenwald and Macchio intended it or not, but they sure seemed to be suggesting that Firelord and Air-Walker were more than just friends), he goes nuts on Thor and more than stands up to Thor...













This, then, brings us to Amazing Spider-Man #270...

In Amazing Spider-Man #269, Firelord is on a bit of a rampage in New York City (as he said in one of his very first appearances, his initial instinct when he gets mad is to destroy things) and Spidey feels that it is his responsibility to stop Firelord. So in #270 (by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Bob McLeod), he does just that.

Spider-Man spends most of the issue having Firelord chase him around the city. This sets up Spidey's final three attempts to end the battle. First up, he lures Firelord into a building about to be demolished, and asks the explosives crew to blow the building on the count of 1,000. This leads to a BRILLIANT piece of character work by DeFalco, as he captures the heart of a New Yorker so well...



How awesome is that? We gotta do it! We owe him! And eh, if he dies, so what?"



Okay, so the first try didn't work.

So now Spidey lures him to a gas station, with the plan being for Firelord's fire blasts to set off a massive explosion...





Okay, the second try didn't work.

So what is there left to do? How about "Hit him a lot!"





It's a great moment for Spidey and Frenz does an amazing job capturing the frenetic nature of the attack and I love the way DeFalco has Spider-Man not even know that he's won.

Buuuut...it still doesn't really make sense. Firelord should be able to take those punches, and even if you want to go with Spidey being able to use his Spider-sense to get out of the way of Firelord punching him back, Firelord should be able to fly off or go to an energy attack. He just dropped a building on him and it didn't do anything and he just destroyed a city block on him and it didn't do anything, so punching him a bunch of times really shouldn't have had such an effect.

But I'm sure some of you liked how the fight turned out, so feel free to suggest that the "Right side" won!

And, again, as I noted, if you have other fights you'd like to suggest, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com. DON'T suggest future fights in the comments section!