10 Comic Book Cover Gimmicks That Cheapened Great Characters

6. Superheroes Fighting Each Other

You know how superheroes are supposed to help people? Well screw that, let's just have them fight each other instead, in as many different variations as possible, because there's nothing fans love better than a cover dust-up between iconic characters. As previously mentioned, this was a particularly popular trope during the 60s and 70s, when the idea of a shared universe began to be focused on at Marvel and DC, so crossovers became more common. There's no better fable on living together in harmony than your childhood heroes beating each other's faces because of a funny look. Unlike superhero/supervillain battles, hero match-ups leave room for suspense. Could Superman lick Thor? Would Thor like the licking? Would this be an unexpected and uncomfortable tangent for the audience? Example: The Avengers/X-Men Now, there's nothing wrong with this cover technically, but the sheer obviousness of the fight's direction is just sad. Fun fact: Gambit used to be my favorite superhero - he was like a Wolverine who could get tail in real life - so you can imagine how depressing it was knowing he was going to get the gumbo beaten out of him by Captain America. It's obvious. No, American would write a comic where the living symbol of the nation loses to an effete french-speaker. The writers don't even pretend as if he had a chance: at one point in this issue, Gambit literally blows up Cap's armor, which Cap casually gets up from and then knocks out Gambit in one punch. Thanks a lot Marvel, you have officially ruined my childhood.