Who are Marvel's "World's Finest"?

[Heretic]

Artie and Leech

 

[Majik1387]

Artie and Leech

 

[The Geek Vault]

Ant-man and Wasp?

 

[Fading]

One I neglected to mention.

The only problem is that much like some of the aforementioned ones, this hasn't been nurtured by Marvel in ages. After the Silver Age these guys barely hung out much, and when they did, their dynamic went nowhere beyond one-uppmanship into seeing who can be more immature. Usually, Johnny has won as most writers deathly fear abandoning the one gimmick he's clung to for 40+ years and letting him grow up and be mature. One writer or run may do it but then another sends him two steps back again, almost like Iceman (ANOTHER "jokester founding team member" who should have grown up ages ago).

Slott's brilliant mini aside, Spider-Man & Human Torch just haven't teamed up recently enough to really claim that spot of "Marvel World's Finest". Plus, where is the ideal clash? Wisecracking each other isn't the same as different beliefs. They both have the same approach to heroism.

Like I said, I really wish Spider-Man & Wolverine wasn't so obvious; frankly a Cap/Spider-Man thing could be cool. But those two have allied consistantly since the late 80's and they have that light vs. dark appeal. Plus, well, like Batman & Superman, they're also Marvel's Top Hottest characters.

I agree Torch and Spidey need to team more. Their angst against eachother as rivals just sets well with me for some reason, like when Spiderman said that him and Torch have teamed as many times as they've fought, but that Spiderman would help him no matter what.

As for the Wolverine and Spiderman thing, I agree with you on that too. Their my two favorite characters (tho I enjoy some of their older stories to their newer ones and both are over exposed), I will say tho they prob fit the bill most. They've teamed up and have obvious opposing views on how to handle a situation. Heck I have one of Wolverine trying to find a murdered and acts like he kills a cop to do it and it getting the job done, but Spiderman afterwards saying that he hates Wolverine, Punisher, and others ways of doing things but that they get the job done and it scares him. So they fit the opposing view, two most popular slot that DC's World's finest is. It's just that neither is the most powerful in their respective universes that that name implies to me.

 

[Anubis]

Ant-man and Wasp?

Nah, they're the Ike and Tina of Marvel Comics.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[Artistsean]

Marvel's "Worlds Finest" would of coarse have to be some big hitters, their popular characters who sell books.
I think it could be Spider-Man and Captain America, maybe Spider-Man and Wolverine. Spider-Man would be like Superman. Having the more posative view and being more of a boy scout. Then again maybe Spider-Man would be Batman, he is motivated by the death of his uncle and parents. And he has an extreme feeling of responcibility for everyone and everything like Batman.
In terms of popularity Wolverine and Spider-Man might be Marvel's "Worlds Finest"
but
I'm leaning towards Captain America, the symbol of America and patriotism and what everyone should try to live up to,
and definatly Spider-Man.

 

[Max J Power]

Spiderman, Iceman, & Firestar.

That show was awful.

 

[Dread]

Marvel's "Worlds Finest" would of coarse have to be some big hitters, their popular characters who sell books.
I think it could be Spider-Man and Captain America, maybe Spider-Man and Wolverine. Spider-Man would be like Superman. Having the more posative view and being more of a boy scout. Then again maybe Spider-Man would be Batman, he is motivated by the death of his uncle and parents. And he has an extreme feeling of responcibility for everyone and everything like Batman.
In terms of popularity Wolverine and Spider-Man might be Marvel's "Worlds Finest"
but
I'm leaning towards Captain America, the symbol of America and patriotism and what everyone should try to live up to,
and definatly Spider-Man.

I agree a Captain America & Spider-Man as "World's Finest" would really work, especially that while their morals may be simular, Cap is a soldier and would/has killed enemies if he really had to, a line that Spider-Man has avoided. Considering both are New Avengers and still on the same side, I would enjoy this more than Spider-Man & Wolverine. Cap still has "old school" values while Peter would be more modern. The problem is that as a duo, they haven't teamed up as often recently as Spidey & Logan, despite being on the same team. Nor have they even had most interpersonal interaction beyond recruitment, something to blame Bendis for. He loves "talking heads" but half the time he uses a lot of words and exchanges to say very little. In terms of the number of recent alliances, popularity, and the way Marvel has built them up together (heck, they teamed up at least 3 times over the course of MTU alone, not counting them having a mini together), I still think unless Marvel seriously nurtured another duo, it's Spider-Man & Wolverine.

And how could I forget Cap & Falcon? No one'd better dare call Falcon a "sidekick". Still, they're not in the same popularity league.

 

[PhotoJones]

Kind of a shame that Spidey wasn't taken under Cap's wing a little during his run at New Avengers. Y'know, some training, etc? I mean Spidey's always looked up to Cap, but on NA we saw none of that. That's just one of the many problems with that title. We're supposed to buy them as cohesive characters interacting, but little of their interactions were beyond "jokey one-liners" or plot-centric dialogue. Where was, say, Luke & Peter discussing their shared perspectives on being heroes, husbands, and possibly fathers? I'd rather see THAT for pages than just yet another "Spider-Woman is hot" cheesecake spread.

have we been reading the same new avengers? because the one i've been picking up makes good use of peter's role model admiration for cap. so did the issues of asm that dealt with the avengers.

 

[PhotoJones]

I agree a Captain America & Spider-Man as "World's Finest" would really work, especially that while their morals may be simular, Cap is a soldier and would/has killed enemies if he really had to, a line that Spider-Man has avoided.

uhhhh...what?

when has captain america knowingly killed someone? the main reason cap disagrees with the punisher, is because the punisher uses lethal force.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

uhhhh...what?

when has captain america knowingly killed someone? the main reason cap disagrees with the punisher, is because the punisher uses lethal force.

Lethal force as his primary method, rather than method of last resort.

 

[PhotoJones]

Lethal force as his primary method, rather than method of last resort.

who? the punisher?
he stopped using "mercy bullets" a loooong time ago.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

who? the punisher?
he stopped using "mercy bullets" a loooong time ago.

And now he kills all the time.

 

[PhotoJones]

And now he kills all the time.

i'm sorry, i can't find your point.

yes, the punisher kills people. a lot.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

i'm sorry, i can't find your point.

yes, the punisher kills people. a lot.

I'm sorry. For some reason, I had the notion you DIDN'T understand why Cap disagreed with Punisher.

My apologies. It's pretty early in the morning where I am, and haven't been sleeping well lately. x.x

 

[PhotoJones]

I'm sorry. For some reason, I had the notion you DIDN'T understand why Cap disagreed with Punisher.

My apologies. It's pretty early in the morning where I am, and haven't been sleeping well lately. x.x

ooooooooooookay.

i just thought you were crazy.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

ooooooooooookay.

i just thought you were crazy.

No, I AM mentally unstable, don't worry about that. I just didn't read it right due to exaustion.

 

[King Ruler]

I still like the idea of Daredevil and the Punisher. While Matt Murdock plays by the rules as a lawyer, Daredevil goes outside of the law and does what he swore to his father he wouldn't do. The Punisher just doesn't give a **** and kills whatever to get his point across, and Daredevil can't give him a reason for why he SHOULDN'T do that because he'd kinda come off as a hypocrite.

 

[Dread]

uhhhh...what?

when has captain america knowingly killed someone? the main reason cap disagrees with the punisher, is because the punisher uses lethal force.

Baron Blood. Chopped his head off with his shield. Sure, he was a vampire, but has Spidey ever killed one?

Plus, he mowed down some Nazis in WW2 with an uzi at least in one depiction, and Brubaker has even burried the notion that Bucky got through the war without killing people, much less Cap. Admittedly, I'm not a huge Cap fan but I am sure one could find other battles or enemies were Cap may have been forced to go that "final mile". My point wasn't that Cap knowingly and wantonly slaughters enemies like Punisher or Wolverine do. My point was that, as a soldier, that option to "permanently neutralize" a target, if it is absolutely required, is there. Spider-Man, on the other hand, would never do that. He's not a soldier. Cap saves that as a last option, but for Spider-Man, murder is never ANY option, period. That was my point. Aside for that and generational difference, they're not terribly dynamically opposed, but serperate enough that a "World's Finest" could probably work. If Marvel nurtured such a relationship. But out of the ones Marvel's actually nurtured recently, in more than one book, it'd have to be either Spider-Man & Wolverine, or, by a longshot, Spider-Man & Daredevil.

As for NA, after his recruitment speach from NA #3, when have Cap and Spidey talked without it being a team mission, without it being a fight, or so on? Where was the training? Yeah, of course Spidey is going to harbor doubts about pummeling Cap in ASM, but that's not the same. Marvel expects us to be gasping in horror about the "disassembling" of the New Avengers, but the cold truth is that they were hardly a cohesive, member-friendly team yet before the hammer lowered for CW and pit half of them against each other. If anything, Spidey hung around Luke Cage more than Cap. Which, in itself, could be another sort of dynamic that, while it's nice to see it established, after about 2 years we should see more of it. But, whatever. Bendis is flawless, right?

At least his NA issues have improved dramatically due to CW as it's caused him to write one-shot character studies instead of attempting 4-6 part team arcs, where he's usually floundered.