8 Times The Marvel Vs. DC Rivalry Turned Ugly

Marvel's 50-year battle with DC has been so compelling that somebody wrote a book about it. Author and journalist Reed Tucker's Slugfest takes a deep dive into the comic book rivalry and exposes a few closet skeletons along the way.

According to Tucker, both publishers have accused the other of spying at some point over the years, alleging that they've planted moles in the hope of uncovering secrets.

In 1971, DC is said to have learned that one of its employees was leaking information to Marvel, and in response launched a spying operation of its own. Tucker went into detail about this during an interview with Newsweek.

"The head of DC launched an honest-to-God counter-espionage operation, code-named Blockbuster, in which he created a fake memo about the company’s plans to publish gigantic 500-page comics. He then left it in his outbox. Sure enough, the spy took the bait, and soon there was talk over at Marvel of doing 500-page comics."

If DC really wanted to get its hands on Marvel's secrets so badly, as is claimed, perhaps they should have called on Batman writer Tom King, who spent seven years working as a CIA officer before establishing himself in the comics industry.