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Andrew Bitner
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Posted: 26 March 2026 at 3:11am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

The Acts of Vengeance crossover event has been discussed here and I won't rehash any of that, except to wonder what great switcheroos of heroes and villains could have been.

My favorite? The Fantastic Four versus Ultron. I think the homicidal robot could have given Reed a run for his money. Imagine if Ultron subverted HERBIE or Roberta to get intel, then launched an attack that blew apart the Baxter Building. It could be one heck of a battle.

Throwing it open to the Forum, are there any hero/villain swaps you'd like to see? Bear in mind that Dr. Doom has fought most of Marvel's heroes at one point or another.
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David Miller
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Posted: 26 March 2026 at 4:12am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Andrew, you're in luck:

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Jason K Fulton
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Posted: 26 March 2026 at 12:35pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I'll say - I had been reading comics for a little over 3 years or so when ACTS OF VENGEANCE came along, so I was around 10 years old. That crossover did its job, I picked up a lot of different books after the fact. I also hadn't read an AVENGERS #1 reprint at that point, so the "Loki as mastermind" revelation was new!

Ultron versus the FF does make a lot of sense, kind of surprised that didn't happen more often.
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 27 March 2026 at 6:35am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

The first story that came to mind was "Who Remembers Scorpio?" in the pages of DEFENDERS #48-50 in 1977 (really started in #46-47), one of my all-time favorites, by Roger Slifer & David Kraft and art by Keith Giffen doing his best (and earliest?) Kirby impression.

The story (for those who don't know) had the depressed super-villain Scorpio (who was Nick Fury's brother), the brand new (android) version of the Zodiac super-villain team, and guest-star Moon Knight, all in a series that previously had two years of Steve Gerber's (wonderful) weirdness which included a healthy dose of Dr. Strange magic, a murderous Elf with a Gun, and the Bozo Cult.

Scorpio himself was last seen in NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD and the (original) Zodiac in THE AVENGERS, neither of which seemed at first glance your usual MOON KNIGHT or DEFENDERS foes.  But it practically became THE Defenders story!


Edited by Eric Jansen on 27 March 2026 at 7:25am
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 27 March 2026 at 8:18am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Kingpin migrating over to DAREDEVIL is a perfect example!  He was an okay Spider-Man villain, but Frank Miller "stole" him and made him the perfect match-up for Daredevil, vastly improving him at the same time.

The Sandman is another great example, and another character who was practically reinvented (redesigned certainly) whenever he traveled over to FANTASTIC FOUR as a member of the Frightful Four.

Some obvious match-ups have never happened (as far as I know), like--

Vulture vs. Falcon
The Leader vs. Mr. Fantastic
Batroc vs. Shang Chi
Gladiator vs. Shang Chi (I can just picture Paul Gulacy's take on Gladiator!)
Madame Hydra vs. Shang Chi and/or Black Widow
Kang vs. the future Guardians of the Galaxy
Magneto vs. Iron Man
Dr. Faustus vs. Moon Knight
Arcade vs. Daredevil or Moon Knight
The Prankster vs. Captain Marvel
Mr. Mxyzptlk vs. Plastic Man
Many of the Legion of Super-Heroes' galaxy-spanning villains vs. Green Lantern

Mixing companies a bit--
I'd like to see any of the Fantastic Four's more cosmic enemies go up against Superman
Clayface would be good against Spider-Man or the Defenders
I think I'd rather see the Spectre interact with most of Dr. Strange's otherworldly villains and entities
Marvel's Mr. Hyde would be interesting to see go up against almost anybody at DC

I could go on and on!


Edited by Eric Jansen on 27 March 2026 at 8:21am
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