When I was growing up I was really into comics. I had Spider-Man 1 through 100. Same with the Fantastic Four, and all of the X-men. I also read Iron-Man, Hulk, Thor, Submariner, Captain America and the Avengers, as well as any of the new comics like Lucas Cage. Now I also read DC comics, Superman, Batman, the Flash and Green Lantern. They were just too powerful for my tastes though, except for Batman, who had no powers at all. Superman, the Flash and Green Lantern were more akin to Gods than people with special powers. I guess the Hulk might have been a God as well, but he didn’t possess the intellect of a conqueror. Anyway, Marvel advertised their characters as Superheroes with problems. And boy did they ever have some problems.
Peter Parker was probably the one most identifiable to a child. A teenager himself, starting the tale while he was still in high school, Parker was picked on by the bullies and didn’t have much luck with the girls. Parker was smart, a science wiz in the manner of comic book scientists who can whip up a great discovery in an afternoon. And then he received his gift at the hands of a radioactive spider (since then they have modernized the tale to give it more of a retrovirus from a genetically engineered spider feel). And his gift included superpowers, great strength, agility and speed, a danger sense, and the ability to stick to things like walls and ceilings. Not strength in the class of the Hulk, or even Iron Man or the Thing, but enough to make him stronger than normal people. Not speed like the Flash, or even the water downed Marvel version, Quicksilver, but fast enough to allow him to dodge most assailants. Agility and wall clinging were his greatest abilities, coupled with the web shooters that he built for himself. Spider-Man turned into a wisecracking crime fighter who was so unlike the shy teenager he was in real life. His most common opponents were street criminals, though he soon graduated to villains with either superpowers or some kind of gadget which gave them a leg up over ordinary cops. Against the unpowered Spider-Man was almost unstoppable. Against those with super abilities he often had to use his brains to supplement his powers. I thought of Spider-Man as sort of Batman on steroids, though Batman never did anything as cool as standing on the ceiling while knocking out two hoods with a double punch.
Enter the Rhino in Marvel Tales 32, about the time the art work of Spider-Man was settling into good quality renderings. The Rhino was very strong, powerful enough to run head on into a moving eighteen wheeler and knock it backwards, while destroying the engine and cab. Maybe not quite the strength of the Hulk, more like in the Thing class. His skin made him bulletproof. And he was into using his size and strength to steal things. Just what Spider-Man was meant to stop, leaving saving the world and the Universe to groups like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. At first things didn’t look good for Spidey, who could punch away all he wanted without hurting the Rhino. Unfortunately for the Wallcrawler, the Rhino could hurt him, and did. Until Spider-Man used his brains and his agility against his more powerful opponent. Using the slings and arrows of his verbal barbs, Spidey kept the Rhino pumped on anger and kept luring the big guy into charging him, and missing. The Rhino ran into walls, lampposts, vehicles, over and over again until he started to show the wear. He wore down, as Spider-Man jumped and taunted. Then Spider-Man finished him off. Now why do I consider this the best hero villain match of all time? For one thing it is still memorable to me forty some years later. For the other it was a hero who the villain could crush in a toe to toe fight. And the hero beat the villain using brains, strategy and agility. Sure, it wasn’t the Hulk against the Submariner. And most of the battles by DC’s Godlike heroes were the other way around, their villains were weaker and used strategy and trickery to beat their more powerful opponents. It always easier to cheer for the outmatched one, and Marvel gave us one of those fights.
I learned a lot about plotting from this comic, though I didn’t realize it at the time. The villain should be more powerful than the hero, stronger, better equipped, etc. And then the hero should use his or her brains to outmaneuver the villain, letting the villain beat himself up so to speak. That is the stuff of drama. No Dudley Doright using his strength and good looks to beat the smarter Snidely Whiplash. Great stuff from Stan Lee.