Superman vs. Spider-Man
UP UNTIL THE MID-1970s, the rivalry between DC and Marvel Comics, the two largest comic publishers in North America, meant that any collaboration was unthinkable. There were plenty of stories showing Batman and Superman working together, but fans of, say, Batman and Spider-Man hoping to see the two of them work together were just plain out of luck.
But in this oversized book, the first-ever major crossover between Marvel and DC, comic fans finally got to see the companies' top two heroes in the same story. Billed as "the battle of the century," the story saw Superman and Spider-Man apprehending their respective archenemies, Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus. The two criminal geniuses promptly escape from jail to plot a new evil plan. After the requisite misunderstanding and fistfight between Superman and Spider-Man (whose strength was temporarily boosted to Superman's level by Luthor), the two heroes join forces to foil the villains' scheme, save their girlfriends, and avert a planetary disaster caused by Luthor's latest evil device.
