10 Most Brutal Villain Beatdowns In All Of Comics

The most brutal times supervillains got what was coming to them.

Mysterio Beat Down
Marvel Comics

Superheroes beating up on supervillains is a tradition literally as old as comics themselves. It's a power fantasy that pretty much anyone can get behind, taking someone who is doing something objectively wrong and evil, and just wailing on them until they stop.

But sometimes things can go a bit far, even when the target is a supervillain. Beating them senseless and leaving them for the police is all well and good, but a proper superhero should make sure that they can sign their name or form coherent sentences when they do so. Even so, there are just as many times when a superhero can't take it anymore, and so must bring the hammer down hard, both figuratively and VERY literally.

This has happened a lot more than you might think, so much so that narrowing down just ten picks from Marvel and DC's history was quite a task. What that says about the medium as a whole is up for debate, but for now, let's find out which supervillain beatdown made you wince, shield your eyes, or just recoil in horror the most...

10. Spider-Man Vs Kingpin - Spider-Man: One More Day

Mysterio Beat Down
Marvel Comics

There are many words to describe One More Day: stupid, nonsensical, horribly written, contrived, just to name a few. But one scene in particular stands out as being one of the few actually bright spots in an otherwise god awful event. Namely, the time Spider-Man takes the Kingpin apart.

To be honest, considering the kinds of feats Spidey pulls off on a regular basis, it should not surprise us when Peter comes in to savage Fisk, and ol' butterball can barely land a single punch. Spidey holds himself back so much so as to not kill anyone he fights, that he allows Fisk to beat him senseless before and after this moment.

But with his aunt's life on the line and Wilson being the one behind it, Peter suddenly has little sympathy for the crime boss, and cuts him down to size instantaneously. And in front of all of his cronies locked up there with him, just to drive in the humiliation further.

As heinous as the rest of this story might be (and by god on a unicycle is it freaking HEINOUS), it was nice to see Spidey make it clear to the so called Kingpin of crime that if you step on this spider's web, expect to be eaten alive.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?