11. Spider-Man Faces The New York Blackout A Week Early
From one near-future prediction to another, Marvel Team-Up #60 featured the second part of a tale where Spider-Man and the Wasp pool their abilities in order to take down Equinox the Thermodynamic Man - basically he's Iceman and the Human Torch at the same time - who had "killed" Wasp's husband Yellowjacket in the previous issue (it later transpired this was no more than a comic book death). Whilst most of the story is given over to fighting and Wasp mourning Hank Pym, Husband Of The Year, it does also feature a pretty eerie event that happened just one week after it was published. During their fight with the supervillain, Equinox somehow manages to mess with the power to the whole of New York, causing a city-wide blackout. This was but seven days before the real-life 1977 blackout, which resulted in widespread panic, looting and arson. The latter not caused by the guy who can shoot fire out of his arms, but a pretty weird coincidence nonetheless.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
