Look, we all appreciate an engrossing story and compelling displays of character development, but sometimes we just want to see these powerful and skilled characters entertain us by smacking each other around for a little bit. They can take it, after all. Well, most of the time. Anyway, comic book characters end up getting into fights quite often and every Friday, we'll highlight some of the most enjoyable action sequences that went down. Now, let's not waste any more of your time and jump right into all of the glorious madness!
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #18
The first highlight is from writer Brian Michael Bendis, inker Mark Farmer, colorist Justin Ponsor, and artist Ed McGuinness' latest issue of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Cosmic fans know Thanos, Drax and Peter Quill, a.k.a that guy from Marvel Studios' latest movie with the awesome dance moves, returned from the Cancerverse, but everyone's left wondering what happened to the former Nova, Richard Rider. He went into the dimension with the others, but he was the only one not to return (or so it seems!). Well, it looks like Bendis is finally going to answer that question... or at least begin to answer it. This chapter doesn't give us any jaw-dropping answers just yet, but it does have a really, really fun fight with Thanos. Quill and Rider want to save their universe from Thanos and they're willing to sacrifice their own lives to accomplish it. They're noble like that. Anyway, they're giving Thanos everything they've got and they send the big guy soaring.
As you can see, Quill's holding the Cosmic Cube. With it, you'd imagine this duo has what it takes to bring Thanos a whole lot of pain, but Quill admits to Gamora that he's afraid to unleash the powerful weapon. If Thanos possibility didn't have control over it, who knows what he could cause if he lets loose. As you can also see, the art team makes sure this space brawl is an oh-so-pleasant experience for our eyes. McGuinness' definitive style compliments the huge displays of action extremely well and the work with the ink and vivid colors makes it even more appealing to our eyes. Anyhow, Quill and Rider are prepare to face Thanos again, but that's when Drax shows up and he wants nothing but revenge. Prepare for powerful punches!
Yes, they're smacking Thanos around, but come on, this is Thanos we're talking about. The Mad Titan! The Avatar of Death! The... the purple movie villain much of general audience is still waiting to learn about! Saying he's a force to be reckoned with would be an understatement, so even though it looks like the trio is embarrassing the mighty villain, he's still in one piece and ready for more. Luckily for us, the trio is going to hit him more and Rider delivers one heck of a tackle.
Okay, Nova isn't beating Thanos on his own and that doesn't take the foe down for the count, but it sure looks cool. Even though we're not given any big answers (yet), this was a fun way to bring the character back and enthrall us with some crazy cosmic action. Now we just have to wait and see what comes next. Keep in mind, we're only showing you part of the fight, so be sure to buy the issue if you want to check out the rest of the brawl. Oh yeah, you'll also get all of the context and story details, and we hear that's pretty important stuff, too..
AQUAMAN #34
It's time for The King of Atlantis versus... wait, what the heck is that thing?! Arthur Curry's latest challenger certainly is an interesting one (and you'll have to read the issue if you want its origin story). Dubbed the Creature King, this opponent has Aquaman outclassed in the water. The enemy is still discovering all of his abilities and so far he's bit, stabbed and electrocuted the Justice Leaguer. Needless to say, it isn't going well for the hero, so he calls in some much-needed backup. It's not a flatter displaying, so you can't exactly blame him calling in some reinforcements.
It turns out Creature King also has control over aquatic life and his influence is more powerful than Arthur's ("Creature King" is a fitting name then, isn't it?). Unfortunately, the villain doesn't exclaim, "The hammerheads betray you, because they belong to me!" when he sicks the sharks on the hero. What were once Arthur's allies are now attacking him and the Atlantean has no choice but to defend himself. Upon hitting the two sharks with lethal blows, Arthur realizes he can't win this fight in the water and takes action to change their location.
What happens next is crazy. We're only showing you three highlights, but a majority of this issue is just these two duking it out. We don't want to spoil the fun, but we will say the encounter spills into populated areas and it turns into a massively dangerous spot. Police attempt to get involved, pieces of the environment are turned into weapons, and the fiend's origin is swiftly explained. We will, however, show you Creature King getting punched through a bus because it's full of win. You've totally earned the punch of the week, Arthur.
If you've been following Jeff Parker's storyline, then you know who the villain is, but this issue reveals its origin and how it's linked to Arthur. Plus, there's a ton of punching and slaming that we haven't shown you, and don't you want to witness even more of that?
WOLVERINE #12
Ladies and gentlemen, it's Paul Cornell's final issue with Wolverine and ends his run with quite a bit of action. Logan vs. 3 Hand Ninjas? No problem. Even without his healing factor, Logan can slice through this fodder with ease. But they're just the warmup and he still has to face the main event: Victor Creed, a.k.a. Sabretooth. But before we get to that, let's give the Wolverine fans something that isn't painful for them to look at. Because, trust us, it's going to go downhill very quickly for the X-Man.
Wolverine and Sabretooth have had so many memorable clashes. From Sabretooth completely humiliating Wolverine in the forest to a vicious stalemate that sends them tumbling over a cliff to Logan humiliating Sabretooth in the X-Mansion, these two have punched, kicked, stabbed and slashed each other a ridiculous amount of times. Well, the time has come to see them rip each other apart one more time. Unfortunately for James, he doesn't focus on using his superior technique and it looks like he attempts to match Sabretooth strike for strike. Yeah, that's not going to go well without his healing factor, is it? Apologies in advance to the Wolverine fans.
Wolverine knows he's getting wrecked and, according to the captions, he tries to block but it's just no use. Creed's perfectly fine and Wolverine's slowly bleeding out. Every blow Wolverine lands is soon repaired and every strike Creed lands brings Logan one step closer to facing a very ugly defeat. It's just not a fair fight and, even though Wolverine has those lovely claws, Sabretooth refuses to let up and continues to slash away at his longtime enemy.
Seeing as DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1 comes out next Wednesday, it's not exactly a secret that the mutant survives this encounter. But how does he endure? Is he able to overcome and beatdown Creed or does someone else save the day? As always, we won't spoil it for you here, so if you want to see how Cornell's run concludes, go ahead and read the issue!
What are your top three fights from this latest round of new comics? Support what you love and tell the world below! Also, don't forget to make nominations every week in the official thread or tell us via Twitter. See you next Friday and have a good weekend!
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