TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES: # 6

#6.The Sinestro Corps War

Throughout the years, the tarnished former Green Lantern, Sinestro, has always served as a uniquely qualified nemesis for Hal Jordan and the other Green Lanterns thanks to his yellow power ring, which the Green Lantern's green rings were powerless against. After both he and Jordan returned to active duty in “Green Lantern: Rebirth,” Sinestro re-grouped and returned in “Sinestro Corps Special” #1, this time in charge of a whole corps of allies specifically recruited for their ability to instill great fear. The ensuing Sinestro Corps War was written mostly by Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons, with art by Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis and many others.

Their first task was to launch an assault on Oa and free two of their prisoners, Superboy Prime and the Cyborg Superman, and in the attack, they also captured Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, who was at the time host to the powerful Ion entity. Sinestro and his group manage to separate Kyle from Ion and then use the Parallax entity that had corrupted and turned Hal Jordan into a villain to corrupt and turn Kyle Rayner into a villain! They take Parallax to their new headquarters, on the planetary attack device now containing their central power battery– Warworld!

Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Guy Gardner travel to rescue Kyle, but are themselves captured, with Jordan sent to Sinestro and his allies. Ultimately, they are rescued by the remaining members of the Green Lantern Corps and they discover that Sinestro is also in league with a resurrected Anti-Monitor! At this point, Hal realizes that Warwold is on route to the Milky Way – Sinestro's main target is the planet Earth!

Hal manages to free Kyle from the control of Parallax, and the pair head for Earth.

The Guardians of the Universe take this time to determine a few important things. First, they determine that the Daxamite Green Lantern, Sodam Yat, will be the new bearer of the Ion entity. Next, they will for the first time amend the Book of Oa! Their first change – Green Lanterns can now use lethal force!

The ability to use lethal force makes a significant difference in the Green Lanterns battle against the Sinestro Corps, and soon they have most of the Sinestro Corps under control. The more pressing problem is Superboy Prime and the Anti-Monitor, not to mention Sinestro himself!The

final battle takes place in “Green Lantern” #25.

Sodam Yat, with aid from most of the superheroes on Earth, fights Superboy Prime to a standstill, but ultimately one of the Guardians sacrifices his life energy to propel Superboy Prime to another dimension.

Guy Gardner and John Stewart manage to destroy Warworld and the central yellow power battery, and the ensuing explosion destroys the Anti-Monitor, as well.

In Coast City, Kyle and Hal (with an assist from the people of Coast City) defeat Sinestro and arrest him. At the close of the war, we learn another effect of the change to the Book of Oa – before the change, Sinestro would have just been sent to prison, but now that lethal force has been authorized, he is to be given a sentence of death!

TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES: # 7

#7. The Ultimates vs. the Hulk

Almost half of the Ultimates' original line-up consisted of people who gained powers while attempting to recreate the serum that gave Captain America his original powers during World War II. Hank Pym's experiments resulted in him being able to grow to giant sizes, and his wife shrink to the size of a wasp (hence her nickname, the Wasp). Later, it was discovered that Wasp was actually a mutant and Hank just used her powers to reverse-engineer his growth abilities. Dr. Bruce Banner was slightly more talented, and his attempts to replicate the original Super Soldier Serum led to him creating a formula that he tested on himself. Instead of making him a Super Soldier, it instead turned him into the rampaging green monster known as the Hulk.

When the actual Captain America is found and the Ultimates were formed, Banner's curiosity got the better of him, and in “Ultimates” #4, he injected himself with a mixture of his formula and Captain America's blood (which they now had ample supplies of). The resulting formula transformed him into the even more monstrous and powerful gray skinned Hulk.

He then went on a monstrous rampage in New York City, angry that Banner's ex, Betty, was dating Freddy Prinze, Jr. The Ultimates found themselves on their very first mission – to take down one of their own!

Writer Mark Millar and especially artist Bryan Hitch went to town with the battle in “Ultimates” #5. Each of the Ultimates took a turn with the Hulk and he handled each of them pretty easily. First he teaches Giant-Man about the whole "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" routine. The Wasp distracts him for a second with one of the more unusual fighting techniques – she flashes her breasts at him. This sets up Iron Man's battle with the Hulk, which does not end well for Iron Man.

The whole time, the battle is doing tremendous property damage to New York.

Surprisingly, Captain America manages to hold his own against the rampaging behemoth, especially as Cap is not particularly inclined to fight fair, including a kick to the groin.

Ultimately, it is the Wasp who saves the day by crawling into the Hulk's ear and using her sting power to blast his skull repeatedly from the inside until he collapses and reverts back to Bruce Banner. As SHIELD agents come by to arrest him, Captain America gets in one last shot, kicking the helpless Banner in the face.

The Ultimates had faced their first public battle and came out on top!

TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES: # 8

#8. Spider-Man vs. Juggernaut

Spider-Man lives by the credo "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility," but often, Spider-Man's sense of responsibility will conflict with his common sense, getting him into trouble when he tackles problems that are seemingly beyond his grasp. In few occasions is this more evident than when Spider-Man took on the unstoppable Juggernaut in “Amazing Spider-Man” #229 and 230 in a story (written by Roger Stern and drawn by John Romita, Jr.) appropriately titled "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut."

During this time period, Spider-Man was friends with a psychic known as Madame Web, a blind woman stuck in a chair that worked as a life support for the frail woman. In “Amazing Spider-Man” #229, Juggernaut and his partner in crime, Black Tom Cassidy, have traveled to New York City to capture Madame Web, figuring that with a psychic on their side, they could not be beaten. Before their ship docks, Juggernaut gets bored so he leaps from the ship and just walks to the city. Juggernaut is a walking behemoth who is covered in a powerful suit of armor. Due to a magical ruby that gave him his powers, the Juggernaut is super strong and nigh invulnerable.

Meanwhile, Madame Web has had a vision of someone coming to harm her and she enlists the aid of Spider-Man. He sees the Juggernaut coming, but although he gives it his best, he cannot slow him down. At Madame Web's apartment, Spidey uses the building's backup generator to shock Juggernaut with thousands of volts of electricity. It does nothing. Juggernaut proceeds to Web's apartment where he takes her from her chair, not knowing it serves as a life support for her. When he realizes his mistake, he drops her and then turns to rejoin Cassidy on the boat.

Spider-Man is distraught that he let Web down. As she is taken to the hospital, he vows that he will make Juggernaut pay for what he did! The next issue is filled with Spider-Man's attempts at holding to his promise.

Spidey uses an I-beam and a wrecking ball from a local construction site against the Juggernaut. They achieve nothing.

Spider-Man's next plan is to drive a gasoline truck into the Juggernaut, with Spidey leaping from the truck before it hits, causing a giant inferno. Spider-Man's first instinct is horror – he feels that he just murdered the Juggernaut! However, his fears are allayed as the Juggernaut calmly walks out of the inferno, but now he has a new fear – he's finally made the Juggernaut mad!

With his webbing depleted, Spidey's only hope is to cling to Juggernaut's back and try to slow him down, which does no good, especially as the Juggernaut uses this time to continually pummel Spider-Man.

Suddenly, Juggernaut realizes something – he's sinking! During the melee, they walked into a patch of quick drying cement! In the muddy concrete, the Juggernaut cannot get any traction to pull himself out, and only sinks deeper! Spider-Man leaps away as the Juggernaut sinks fully into the concrete – the unstoppable Juggernaut was finally stopped!

For now, of course.

BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM

This is beginning to look like a Batman game I might actually buy. Based on the Batman universe we know and love from the comics, it takes place in Gotham's famous nut house who's residents are a who's who of the caped crusaders rogues.

The game play looks to be part open world exploration inside the asylum and part stealth action, think die hard only in a looney bin filled with villains that he put in their ready to do the old batsy in.

Plus they've signed Kevin Conroy ( the voice actor for Batman from T.A.S ) and Mark Hamill as the Joker ( also reprising the roll he mad famous in T.A.S )

here's a clip, enjoy:

TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES: # 9

#9. Avengers vs. the Masters of Evil

A variety of Masters of Evil battled the Avengers over the years, but it was not until the fourth installment of the group that they finally achieved a taste of victory little seen by earlier incarnations.

The seeds of the group were seen well before they sprung into action, as Baron Zemo, the son of the original Baron Zemo (and founder of the first Masters of Evil), put together a group that he truly felt could compete with the Avengers on a level that his father's Masters of Evil never could. His strategy was based the notion that to compete with the Avengers, you had to outnumber them, so he slowly collected a practical army of super villains.

In “Avengers” #273 (by writer Roger Stern and artists John Buscema and Tom Palmer), Zemo's plan was put into action once he added the villain Blackout to the team, who was finally someone who could neutralize Captain Marvel, as Blackout was able to access an extra dimensional black matter that traps energy, which is what Captain Marvel consists of.

The Masters lure Hercules out of the Avengers Mansion via a date with a woman, leaving it to Jarvis alone. They then attack the mansion and overpower the defenses and at the end of issue #273, they have control of the Avengers' very home! When Black Knight returns home that night, he is quickly overpowered.

Their next move is to fake an emergency call to Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel shows up quickly, but Blackout sends her into the darkforce dimension he taps into, trapping her (and seemingly killing her).

Captain America gets into contact with the Wasp after he is also lured by an emergency message that he felt seemed odd. They both realize that someone has taken over the mansion! They go to warn Hercules, who has arrived home from his date heavily intoxicated. He insists on barging into the mansion, where he is overpowered by the sheer numbers of the Masters of Evil and is beaten to the point of near death. Cap and Wasp are forced to follow him in and Cap is taken prisoner, as well.

While in the mansion, the Masters force the captured Cap and Black Knight to watch as they pummel the defenseless Jarvis in front of them.

Finally, the Avengers begin to fight back. First, Wasp gains aid from Thor (who had recently moved to New York) and the heroes Doctor Druid and Ant-Man II. They begin an attack on the mansion while Cap and Black Knight eventually escape custody and begin fighting back within the mansion, taking down the Masters one villain at a time. Eventually, even Captain Marvel escapes from the darkforce dimension.

The battle eventually comes down to Baron Zemo using Cap's famous shield versus Captain America himself. It is here that we learn the real reason for this whole Masters of Evil plot – Zemo just wanted to get at Captain America. Meanwhile, Cap is driven by his anger over seeing Jarvis beaten to a pulp in front of his eyes. Ultimately, Cap defeats Zemo, but in the fight, Zemo is accidentally knocked off the mansion's roof. Cap shouts for him to grab his hand to be saved, but Zemo refuses, and falls to the ground, seemingly dead.