5 Times Spider-Man Overcame Great Odds (And 5 Times He Quit)

2. Stopping The Juggernaut

During his phenomenal run as lead writer on Amazing Spider-Man in the early 1980s, Roger Stern had a penchant for taking villains better associated with other superhero series and seamlessly dropping them into the world of Spider-Man with great results.

For Amazing Spider-Man #229-230, Stern wrote arguably his greatest story of all, Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut, pitting Spidey against the X-Men villain, Juggernaut. In addition to his incredible strength, Juggernaut's power is that once he is in motion, he can not be physically stopped. Stern smartly frames this confrontation as Juggernaut's unstoppable force vs. Spider-Man's unbreakable, never say die spirit.

Spidey is drawn out into battle against the mutant when Juggernaut critically injures Spider-Man's friend, the psychic Madame Web. The X-Men, Avengers and other supergroups are out of town, which means Spidey is on his own against the villain. Spidey is instantly shown as being above his weight class as Juggernaut swats off all his attacks like he's annoying gnat.

Over the course of two issues, Spidey keeps raising the stakes, and at one point even drives a gasoline tanker truck into Juggernaut (jumping out at the last second) and causing an explosion. Spidey feels guilt and remorse for half a second until he realizes Juggernaut survived the collision. With that behind him, Peter is finally able to subdue his opponent when he jumps on Juggernaut's back, blocking his vision and steering him into a pit of wet cement. As the cement dries, Spider-Man is satisfied to know that while he didn't technically defeat the Juggernaut, he did stop him in his tracks, proving that something can, in fact, stop the Juggernaut.