Favourite Gang War

[Nefarius]

Although we have street heroes like Daredevil,Punisher,Moon Knight etc,many of the most vicious gang wars had happened in Spiderman's titles.Here are the contenters.

Hammerhead/Dr Octopus gang war(ASM#113-115,#130-131 and #157-159): The first big rivalry for the control of NY's crime scene.Octopus had been established from his first stories as a major force,first making a sort-term alliace with Bucky Gaxton and later as "Master Planner"establishing his own gang and crew.With the absence of Kingpin,he was ready to become the top boss,until Hammerhead entered the scene as a rival.A fierce feud,that lead into the infamous Ock/May marriage and the even more bizzare "Ghost of Hammerhead" story that ended that war for good.

Owl/Dr Octopus gang war(Spectacular Spiderman#73-75):Owl wanted a coalition with Octavius in order to topple the Kingpin but Octopus declares that he doesn't need Owl's alliance.That started a sort-lived but fierce war between Owl and Doc Ock and involving a scheme to use a neutron bomb.Owl wanted the bomb to blackmail the city while Ock to blow the city and proving that Dr Octopus is the most dangerous man in the world.Octopus here is at the peak of his infamy,with his mad plot scaring even the mighty Kingpin,who gives info to Spiderman,in order to save NY(and his business)from Ock's mad plans.

Gang War arc(ASM#284-288):Kingpin,after the Nuke fiasco in Daredevil:Born Again story,he left the city and his absence caused a bloody gang war with every gang boss trying to eradicate both Fisk's empire and other rival crime bosses.While we see Hammerhead and Silvermane in this story and Punisher trying to kill mobsters in a peace meating,it was mostly Rose/Hobgoblin alliance that took the spotlight,with Rose trying to dethrone his father.The story ended with Fisk back in the city,Richard Fisk would abandon later his Rose identity,accepting his defeat,and Hobgoblin would be killed by Foreigner's goon under Mackendale's order(of course,we'll have to wait years before learning about the true Hobgoblin story)

Lobo brothers/Kingpin gang war(Spectacular Spiderman#143-146,#149-154 and Web of Spiderman#47-56):Propably,the longest in term of issues gang war.After Kingpin's Arranger failed into expanding Fisk's empire in Texas(using a brainwashed Punisher to kill Lobo brothers,a plot that was a failure)Lobo brothers(two brothers who were powerfull drug lords and werewolves alltogether)seek to avenge for such audacity.Chameleon tried to use that in advantage,forming an alliance with Hammerhead and trying to kill both Fisk and Lobo brothers at the end of this arc.

Fortunato's rise to power(Spiderman#70 and #73-74):After the fall of the Kingpin in DD#300 and the post-Onslaught era,NY's crime scene was still without a big boss to keep things in check.Don Fortunato was an old mafia don who return to the city and tried to become the top crime boss.All the major crime bosses allied an tried an assault at Fortunato's mansion which failed,thanks to Hydra,who is the true supporter of Fortunato.This sort term gang war ended with Fortunato being the top boss,but we'll have sporadic battles for control,considering that Hammerhead was the major rival of Fortunato.

Rose/Black Tarantula gang war(ASM#419-428,#432-436)Black Tarantula's debut was trying to establish a powerbase in NY,a move that lead him in a struggle with Rose(who was Jacob Conover,Bugle reporter).This arc was responsible for bringing back 2 classic villains(a recharged Electro and the ressurection of Dr Octopus)as Rose's efforts to fight Tarantula's organisation.

Return of Kingpin(Spiderman#94-95 and Spiderman:Made Men one-shot issue):Although we saw Fisk re-establishing his powerbase in Daredevil titles,it was in Spiderman's titles that we saw Fisk's moves against his rivals and potential contenters for NY's top crime boss.Fisk's presence already shaken Fortunato's reign,but after a well executed bomb assaults that put out of action many crime bosses(Fortunato and Hammerhead),Fisk was back on his throne.

[Kevin Nichols]

Good thread!

I'll go for the 'Gang War' story in ASM 284-288. A great story featuring lots of street-level heroes and villains without being overbearing.

The Lobo Brothers story is also one that I enjoyed a lot. In fact, I may go and reread them. It's been awhile.

Two honorable mentions that I'd like to add (not strictly gang war mega-arcs, but still Spidey gang stories): 'Mysterioso' & 'The Tablet of Time'

[Patrick Hultquist]

The Gang War arc was my favorite, too. It had everything one might want in a street-level story. It's too bad Richard Fisk gave up being the Rose, because he was a gang leader with style.

[whiteshark]

Wow.
Good list of Gang War storylines in Spider-Man stories.

I enjoyed Gang War and Owl/Dr Octopus gang war,but the Lobo brothers/Kingpin gang war was my favorite.

Spider-Man against two gangsters werewolves in the scenario of a gang war was original and worked really well as a cool storyline in the Spidey stories.

[Kevin Nichols]

Wow.
Good list of Gang War storylines in Spider-Man stories.

I enjoyed Gang War and Owl/Dr Octopus gang war,but the Lobo brothers/Kingpin gang war was my favorite.

Spider-Man against two gangsters werewolves in the scenario of a gang war was original and worked really well as a cool storyline in the Spidey stories.

I loved the angle of Glory Grant dating one of the Lobo Brothers (Eduardo?) during that story.

[whiteshark]

I loved the angle of Glory Grant dating one of the Lobo Brothers (Eduardo?) during that story.

Yeah that was a cool part of the stories too.

I think the mix of two diferent genres of stories worked really well.
There was the horror genre because of the werewolves and the more gang war story genre and turned out to be a cool and interesting Spider-Man story arc as well.

A really under-rated story arc i think.

[The One and Only]

Lobo Brothers/Kingpinwas a favorite of mine from back in the day. With how it had its beginings in the opening arc of Gerry Conway's run on Web of Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man, and finally wrapped up about two years later. Introduced Tombstone to the Marvel Universe, along with Eduardo and Carlos Lobo. Two Mexican gang leaders that turned out to be werewolves, and when the assassination attempt ordered by the Kingpin using a brainwashed Punisher failed. The Lobos came up to take a large chunk of El Gordo's empire, with the Chameleon(disguised as J. Jonah Jameson) and Hammerhead slithering around to pickup the pieces. One big result of this was the Kingpin having his right-hand man, the Arranger, killed for screwing this operation up. Also the death of Eduardo Lobo at the hands of his beloved, Gloria Grant, who he originally used as a source of info on the Kingpin. But fell in love with her. Which resulted in his death. I'm surprised, especially nowadays with how crazy it is South of Border with the gang violence, that no one has thought to use Carlos again.

[arachnid-guy]

No love for the "Crime Master" storyline in the Ditko era?

[Aziz Abbasi]

Endearing as Ock/Owl gang war is, my favorite is the Lobo gang war, enjoyed it the most

[Nefarius]

No love for the "Crime Master" storyline in the Ditko era?

It wasn't a gang war in a sense that we have 2 or more gang bosses fighting for supremacy.That's why i said Hammerhead/Dr Octopus war was the first gang war in Spiderman mythos.

[Nefarius]

I'm surprised, especially nowadays with how crazy it is South of Border with the gang violence, that no one has thought to use Carlos again.

True.Especially with Black Tarantula who is out of the picture,it would be nice to see Carlos back and re-establish Lobo's gang in NY.

[AXL]

I can't believe you all forgot about the three-way gang war between Master Planner, Big Man, and Silvermane in Spectacular Spider-Man! That was the best one!

http://images.wikia.com/marveldatabase/images/0/01/SSM-Gangland.png http://screencap.bogge.tv/the-spectacular-spider-man/the-spectacular-spider-man_S02E10_gangland.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kz41n4gY-6I/SuND8JD99kI/AAAAAAAAEEY/42wfNg7FhRU/s320/the+spectacular+spider-man+23+2.jpg

And my vote also goes out to the "Warriors" storyline in Ultimate Spider-Man #79-85, with Kingpin and Hammerhead. That was awesome too.

[Nefarius]

Well,the poll is based on 616 continuity,but i agree that Gang War arc in "Spectacular Spiderman" series is one of the best gang wars in animated history.

[Scott Taylor]

I'm really fond of the DeFalco Gang War. Mainly, though, its because of the last page and the conversation between Daredevil, Spidey and the Kingpin. Just lays out everything I love about Spidey and draws a very cool distinction between his and Daredevil's approaches.

My man Theo said it best (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=11774298&postcount=104):


Yeah, it's definitely a great "Spider-Man out of his element" story. I especially enjoy the exchange at the end, where Kingpin essentially says to DD, "One day he'll be like us." And DD is like, "God help us all." It went a long way toward showing why I think the heroes like (and are simultaneously frustrated by) Spider-Man. He's impetuous and naive, but the flipside of that is he's idealistic.

[Nefarius]

I'm really fond of the DeFalco Gang War. Mainly, though, its because of the last page and the conversation between Daredevil, Spidey and the Kingpin. Just lays out everything I love about Spidey and draws a very cool distinction between his and Daredevil's approaches.


A small hint from that story arc.They used the broken image of Vanessa in the end(connecting Daredevil:Love and War one-shot).Kingpin hide it and played an important role when Murdock wanted to mess with Fisk's mentality.It's not something important,but i loved how connected seemed the MU,especially in street level stories.

[Hatut Zeraze]

The only one I really read and followed was the old Owl/Octopus war from back in the day. It was brutal. I loved it.

[Stantheman23]

Wasn't Kingpin going to kill most of his employees in that issue?

[Stantheman23]

A small hint from that story arc.They used the broken image of Vanessa in the end(connecting Daredevil:Love and War one-shot).Kingpin hide it and played an important role when Murdock wanted to mess with Fisk's mentality.It's not something important,but i loved how connected seemed the MU,especially in street level stories.

Wasn't the Kingpin going to kill most his employees in that issue?

[Nefarius]

Wasn't the Kingpin going to kill most his employees in that issue?

Yes,but he was stopped at the end from Spiderman and other street heroes.After that we had an angry Spiderman who said that he would wait for Fisk to make a big mistake and enrage him,while we had a small dialogue between Fisk and Murdock about Spiderman turning being like them.Spiderman,no matter what,he is an idealist.Daredevil,while he has a strong sense of justice,he was more ground to earth in compare with Peter.

[Nefarius]

The only one I really read and followed was the old Owl/Octopus war from back in the day. It was brutal. I loved it.

As a Dr Octopus story,it's in a Top Five list,but as a gang war,it's a little bit weird and not as "realistic" as other gang wars that would follow.Propably is the image of both gangs having henchmen in colorfull costumes.It was as Spiderman described the battle "like a James Bond flick".

[Hypestyle]

C. Priest was heavily involved in the Gang War plotting/script.. under-rated gem of the era..

[BillCarson]

The Gang War Gang War (the one from the 80s I mean) was such a mess behind the scenes that it's actually shocking how well it turned out.

[brundlefly]

As a Dr Octopus story,it's in a Top Five list,but as a gang war,it's a little bit weird and not as "realistic" as other gang wars that would follow.Propably is the image of both gangs having henchmen in colorfull costumes.It was as Spiderman described the battle "like a James Bond flick".

Yeah, that's why I went with the Gang War from late-80s ASM. I like Owl-Octopus War better as a story (it's one of the Doc's finest moments), but it's not really a war between Marvel's proper organized crime syndicates as much as it is a feud between two particular supervillains over a WMD. Thus I went with Gang War, which really had it all in terms of both its cast and being a great climax to all the building crime syndicate rivalries that had been going on beforehand.

I also really liked the Lobo Bros/Kingpin/Hammerhead & Chameleon war (that was a really great Chameleon arc there; I loved the subplot of him impersonating JJJ) as well as the Black Tarantula vs Rose 3.0 War, since I really dug the original incarnation of Black Tarantula and this storyarc had the added benefit of bringing Ock back from the dead.

As for the rest, I'm not that big a fan of the Hammerhead/Ock War and I scarcely recall the specifics of other two options (the Don Fortunato thing or the Kingpin's umpteenth return to power post-DD #300).

[dcarner]

80s Gang War was one of the first Spidey stories I ever read. I absolutely love it.

[Corey W]

Really good idea for a thread. And good reading eye to note how many gang wars took place in Spidey. Even though I had read most of those arcs, I would have thought that Punisher or DD got more of the gang wars.

[Nefarius]

Really good idea for a thread. And good reading eye to note how many gang wars took place in Spidey. Even though I had read most of those arcs, I would have thought that Punisher or DD got more of the gang wars.

And imagine,i was focused only on gang wars.If i would stretch the list about any significant "organised crime" story,we would have "Green Goblin's efforts to be the top crime lord","Kingpin's first appearence",Third Green Goblin vs Silvermane" etc.Not to speak if i included gang wars in other Spiderman continuities.The choices are so many.As for Punisher and Daredevil,it's true that for more down to earth street heroes,they have less big gang wars.Punisher has gang wars with small time mob bosses and mostly is him vs them,rather trying to stop a mob war.As for Daredevil,considering that most of his stories had Kingpin as the undisputed leader of NY's organised crime scene,we never had a big gang war.The only one i can recall was Michah Synn's attempt to challenge the Kingpin and HYDRA destroying Fisk's organisation(which is so one sided,i couldn't even call it a gang war).But,even when Kingpin was absent,we never saw crime bosses fighting in DD titles.We mostly saw an unrest in the crime scene,or a new(or old but upgraded)villain trying to fill the void.Spiderman till now,has the record for the most gang wars in Marvel Universe.

[Nefarius]

As for the rest, I'm not that big a fan of the Hammerhead/Ock War and I scarcely recall the specifics of other two options (the Don Fortunato thing or the Kingpin's umpteenth return to power post-DD #300).

The main problem that Fortunato's rise to power and Kingpin's return had,is that are sort story arcs compared to "Gang War" and "Lobo Brothers gang war" stories.It's a shame that Fortunato's short reign as the top crime lord wasn't noticed outside of Spiderman titles(i mean,he was never mentioned in other titles like Daredevil or Punisher).He was a great crime boss.In contrast with Fisk's "more corporate style and business aproach",Fortunato was more "old school type Mafia boss".

http://images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/07/3/7/7/5036087673178132.jpg

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/229/93007-38037-fortunato_large.jpg


As for Kingpin's return,while we saw him re-establishing his powerbase in DD,we never saw the impact of his return to the other crimelords.Spiderman handled Fisk's return much better that DD title IMO.

[The One and Only]

One thing I liked about the Fortunato Arc was we were introduced to old man's son, Jimmy Six, who ended up after being helped by Ben Rielly after an attempted hit on the mobster. He ended up becoming Rielly's roommate. Kind of an Odd Couple deal going there. Especially when being stunned by the size of Six's boxer shorts being draped over the curtain rod in the shower.

[Gemini no Saga]

The Original Gang War is the best, but I´m here to show some love to Black Tarantula v.s Rose 3.0.

After Shadow Land, Carlos has been out of the picture, it will be nice to bring him back to spidey´s world, after all I think Spidey still needs to beat Carlos in a one on one.

Dan Make it happen!!!

[Beacon]

I think Spidey still needs to beat Carlos in a one on one.

I love that, not only has Spidey never beaten Black Tarantula, BT has walked all over Spider-Man every time they fought.

(Brubaker’s awful take on Carlos was my only real problem with his otherwise excellent Daredevil run. He’s not a slowwitted gang member. He’s a cunning South American mob boss. He’s a Hispanic Kingpin with superpowers.)

If anything, he needs to beat Spider-Man (or Venom or some other powerful non-cosmic/non-god type) AGAIN to reestablish his badass credentials.

[Nefarius]

(Brubaker’s awful take on Carlos was my only real problem with his otherwise excellent Daredevil run. He’s not a slowwitted gang member. He’s a cunning South American mob boss. He’s a Hispanic Kingpin with superpowers.)


For a writer who showed that respect continuity,Brubaker really misused BT.If he needed a villain to play the "boss of hispanic gangs",he could use Carlos Lobo.Also,it would be a nice add for Daredevil's rogue gallery.

[Nefarius]

Let's put some pictures from those gang wars,to make the thread more interesting.

Kingpin's return speech in Spiderman:Made Men

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Lamashtar/SpidermanDaredevil/MadeMenPage39.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Lamashtar/SpidermanDaredevil/MadeMenPage41.jpg

[Nefarius]

Black Tarantula humiliating Delilah(Rose's Henchgirl)

http://spiderfan.org/characters/images/delilah/delilah4.jpg

http://spiderfan.org/characters/images/delilah/delilah5.jpg

[Nefarius]

Hobo-Octopus!!! (Beginning of the third and final act of Hammerhead/Octopus war)

http://www.spidervillain.com/SpiderManCovers/Amazing/ASM156/Page4.jpg

[JGC]

The Owsley/Priest Gang War storyline gets my vote. Love 80's Spidey!