Since essentially reinventing the superhero genre in the early '60s with titles such as The Fantastic Four, and The Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel has introduced all manner of ideas that have gone on to become cornerstones of the genre: Superheroes who are unlucky losers in their personal lives? Heroes who are hated and feared by the people they’re trying to protect? Villains who are benevolent dictators of fictional European countries and have a collection of robot duplicates to protect themselves from danger from any ungrateful whelps? (Okay, that one might be a bit more specific than other examples, I admit.) All of them come from Marvel.

Above all of those, however, there’s an innovation when it comes to superhero stories that is 100% a Marvel creation and something that needs to be applauded at every given opportunity: the superhero vs. superhero slugfest.

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