12 Most Iconic Battles In Comics

8. The Marvel Universe vs. Thanos

Marvel Comics/George Perez

From: Infinity Gauntlet #4

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is on a crash course to adapting the early-1990s Infinity Gauntlet miniseries, so it is only a matter of time before millions of people witness this iconic (and decidedly one-sided) battle.

Thanos first acquires the Infinity Gauntlet, a cosmic MacGuffin that provides its owner with omnipotent power over space, time and reality, in the Thanos Quest limited series by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim. In the opening pages of the Infinity Gauntlet mini, Thanos attempts to court the love of Death by snapping his fingers and wiping out half of the Marvel Universe. When the surviving gang of superheroes confronts him, Thanos wields the power of the gauntlet and systematically wipes out each of them in brutal fashion.

By the end of the battle, Thanos stands triumphant over a sea of dead Marvel icons such as Captain America, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk and Spider-Man. The heroes are ultimately resurrected when Thanos allows the gauntlet to be stolen from him by his granddaughter Nebula.

More than 20 years later, Infinity Gauntlet remains one of the most famous events Marvel ever produced. It inspired countless sequels such as Infinity War, Infinity Crusade and Jonathan Hickman's Infinity.

In this post: 
Batman bane
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.