15 Best Encounters Between Spider-Man and The Avengers

Spiderman has had many team-ups with the Avengers in the past.

With Captain America: Civil War around the corner, there’s no better time than now to explore the magnanimous history between our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and members of the Mighty Avengers.

In the Marvel comic books, Spidey has historically been known to be a loner by trade. He’s never felt totally comfortable being on a team and typically preferred to work alone. That being said, he’s put those feelings aside more times than not and collaborated with many of Marvel’s canon of crime fighters. He’s even occasionally become a member of various teams, like The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Secret Defenders and the Outlaws, despite his personal preferences.

Alternatively, throughout their illustrious comic book history, the Avengers have had more members come and go than one can count. Almost all of Marvel’s greatest heroes have either crossed paths with them or have joined their team. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Spider-Man has had his share of run-ins with members of Earth’s Mightiest.

This list covers some of those legendary encounters between our friendly wall-crawler and various members of The Avengers. This list focuses more on the one-on-one brushes the webhead has had with the team and its members rather than the larger Marvel crossover events (like Civil War).

So without further ado, here are the 15 Best Encounters Between Spider-Man and The Avengers.

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15. MARVEL TEAM-UP #106 (CAPTAIN AMERICA/SPIDER-MAN)

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This story has so much going for it. Not only is this one of the rare times that Spidey goes on a solo mission with Captain America, but they do so against the Scorpion, who is one of Spider-Man’s most powerful arch-enemies. We also get to see J. Jonah Jameson chew both of them out in his typical fashion while they’re posing as their alter egos, Steve Rogers and Peter Parker. At this time in the Marvel Universe, Steve Rogers is Captain America’s secret identity. Rogers is looking for employment as a freelance commercial artist for the Daily Bugle (If only JJJ knew he was chewing out the legend himself).

We find Scorpion at his most crazed and maniacal, breaking into the Daily Bugle and attempting to kidnap Jameson. Cap and Spidey show up to stop him. Scorpion actually defeats them simultaneously, leaving both unconscious. He kidnaps his least favorite person, J. Jonah Jameson, and heads uptown. Damaged and bruised, both heroes track Scorpion back to the South Bronx where they get into a brawl with Scorpion’s crew. Ultimately, they both knock out a game Scorpion and afterward, Cap suggests removing the gag from JJJ, but Spider-Man refuses.

As icing on the cake, this comic comes with cover art by the legendary Frank Miller.

14. MARVEL TEAM-UP #103 (ANT-MAN, SPIDER-MAN)

This happens to be a team-up between Scott Lang’s Ant-Man and Spidey, not Hank Pym. An old time friend of Scott Lang, Gus Sweezer pays a visit to recruit him for a top secret criminal operation. Lang declines the job, telling him he’s gone legit. Some time later his friend is run over by a mysterious sports car. Lang decides to find out who killed his friend and why.

Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson sends Peter on an assignment to find out why, despite the East coast experiencing all-time high crime rates, a particularly bad neighborhood on the lower east side of Manhattan hasn’t experienced so much as a jaywalker. Parker walks around the dark shady neighborhood when suddenly his spider-sense goes crazy. It’s a giant warehouse that gets his attention, and he heads inside to investigate. He finds himself center stage in a massive auditorium where thousands of villains are attending a training academy demo for criminals run by the Taskmaster. Taskmaster, utilizing all the skills he’s learned from Captain America, Daredevil, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, makes quick work of Spider-Man.

Lang infiltrates the warehouse as an ex-con and rescues a captive Spider-Man. This is the first time Spider-Man meets Scott Lang, and then they take on the Taskmaster together. It’s quite a good read.

13. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #123 (LUKE CAGE VS. SPIDER-MAN)

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Luke Cage made the list because he was a member of the Avengers for a short time, and even led them at one point. This issue directly follows a story that made comic book history, where two of Spider-Man’s most important supporting characters, his old girlfriend Gwen Stacy and the original Green Goblin, perish. Luke Cage taking on Spidey is part of the direct fallout from that very tale.

Norman Osborn’s dead body is found and the city is in shock. J. Jonah Jameson is distraught by the death of an old friend and fellow financier. He assumes (this time correctly) that Spider-Man had something to do with it. He enlists the aid of a unique character named Luke Cage who runs a Hero-For-Hire service out of a crumbled movie house in Times Square. He offers Cage five thousand dollars (which was worth a lot more at the time) to capture Spider-Man. Cage takes him up on the offer and what follows is a classic fist-a-cuffs between the two.

In a moment of comic relief during their battle, Cage references DC’s Batman by telling him “Some dudes have to do this number for a livin’- we ain’t all rich playboys like Bruce Wayne.” Spidey takes round 1, and in round 2 Spidey immobilizes Cage long enough to get him to change his mind about Jameson. John Romita Sr.’s artwork is in top form on this issue.

12. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #86 (BLACK WIDOW VS. SPIDER-MAN)

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Spidey and Black Widow have teamed up a number of times. This is the first appearance of Natasha Romanoff in her famous black costume. In this issue, Romanoff is trying to find a way to reinvent herself, and turn a new page in her troubled life. She seeks to reinvent herself and become a better version of the one that once worked alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.

As she’s traveling above the rooftops, she notices Spider-Man swinging by. It dawns on her to incorporate some of Spidey’s abilities into her own repertoire. She redesigned her costume to a sleek black and added some venom-sting bracelets. Unwilling to play second fiddle to anyone, though, she attacks the webhead to see how she fares against him. She gets him at a bad time, though, as he’s struggling with an illness. Despite being sick, he shows her enough of his spider-power, speed, and agility that she retreats. She comes to the realization that she can never train enough to match the spider-powers that he possesses, so she decides to hone and utilizes the skills that are uniquely hers alone.

11. MARVEL FANFARE #47 (SPIDER-MAN VS. HULK)

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The artwork in this storyline is unique and the final battle between Spider-Man and the Hulk is emotionally resonant. Mochael Golden perfectly captures the pain of the Hulk when he’s about to be caught.

S.H.I.E.L.D. takes on the Hulk in New York and Spider-Man gets caught in the crossfire. This isn’t the first time Spidey’s sympathies for the Hulk makes him conflicted on what side he should be on. In this issue, you also get to see Spider-Man looking more like a young kid than anything else. It’s one of those rare occasions especially since this comic book came out in ‘89 that you see Spider-Man more like a high schooler rather than the older college student he is in the ‘80s.

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