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40 Random Bits of Comic Book Trivia That Need Protective Sleeves of Their Own

Better get your white gloves for these

40 Random Bits of Comic Book Trivia That Need Protective Sleeves of Their Own

February 14, 2025

These really leapt off the page and into our sword collection! Once we gathered them without getting cut to pieces like a high-stakes game of Operation, we stacked them neatly in this list and invited all you fellow comic book nerds over for a viewing.

Handle with care!

40

Spider-Man and Superman

Spider-Man... MEETS SUPERMAN. The two heroes team up after a brief battle, as ex Luthor and Doctor Octopus attempt to control the world. They would again later meet up in a pseudo-sequel, in which Superman fights Hulk and Spider-Man fights Wonder Woman. CRACKED.COM — Source: DC Database

39

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange CRACKED.COM THE COMIC THE MOVIE Legendary Marvel artist Steve Ditko really came into his own when he designed some acid-trippy environments for Doctor Strange. The Dark Dimension in the film is an homage to Ditko's technicolor mindfreak. — Source: 15 Iconic MCU Scenes Lifted Directly From The Comics

38

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 MILLER LUCAS RAPMUND IRCE IAN THE BEST ULFENSE GRACKED.COM THE COMIC THE MOVIE Artist Adi Granov coined the quintessential Superhero Landing on the cover of Invincible Iron Man #76. It first appeared in the MCU when Tony Stark swoops into the Stark Expo. — Source: 15 Iconic MCU Scenes Lifted Directly From The Comics

37

Comic Books

Collectible Bubbles NINE '90s comics Back in the '90s, X-Men #1, Superman #75, and Avengers #200 were wildly popular. Nowadays they're not worth much, because they were made in massive quantities and are pretty easy to get. CRACKED

36

The Punisher

WTF PUNISHER MOMENTS WHO-- WAIT A MINUTE, WHAT'S THAT? Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe КЧК NUKING THE X-MEN ON THE MOON. Castle convinces the X-Men and their enemies to come to the moon for one final battle. As both sides bicker, Frank proceeds to destroy them all with a nuclear bomb he stole from Dr. Doom. CRACKED.COM — Source: CBR

35

Hulk #181

THE TRAILER FOR MARVEL'S WOLVERINE GAME HAS A HULK COMIC EASTER EGG. COKA Made ALE 585 SINCE - BLK 181 A license plate with HLK 181 can be spotted behind the bar. It's a reference to the 1974 Marvel issue, Incredible Hulk #181-And Now... The Wolverine! CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Kirby and Simon

STAN DENTES RATTING OUT KIRBY AND SIMON SMASHING THRU, CAPTAIN AMERICA CAME FACE TO FAC CRACKEDCH IN 1940 JACK KIRBY AND JOE SIMON WERE MOONLIGHT. AT DC COMICS AND SOMEONE TOLD THEIR CAPTAIN AMERICA BOSSES KIRBY AND SIMON GOT CANNED. JACK ALWAYS THOUGHT STAN HAD TOLD: SAYS SIMON. HE NEVER GAVE UP ON THAT IDEA AND HATED HIM FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. — True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, p. 56

33

The Avengers

Stan Lee created the Avengers because that was the easiest way to get a comic book out in time. AVENGERS The art on Daredevil #1 was running't late, a

32

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

SPIDERAA EASTER EGGSTRA! INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE The Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval I The film opens with a shot of this seal, an inside Stan Lee joke. Fearing the APPROVED BY THE amorality of comics, COMICS these guys vetted CODE comic book stories A for almost 60 years. Lee — Vanity Fair

31

Stan Lee

CRACKED MARVEL SCREWED OVER STAN LEE Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man, had to take Marvel Comics to court and eventually won a huge victory. Не was awarded 10% of the profits from any movies or TV shows based on his Marvel Comics superheroes. — The Guardian / Looper

30

Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War MO VB MONIVEN CRACKED.COM THE COMIC THE MOVIE The final battle between Cap and Iron Man directly mirrors the cover of Civil War #7, the 2006 comic event that the film is pretty faithfully based on. — Source: 15 Iconic MCU Scenes Lifted Directly From The Comics

29

U.S. Avengers

Patriotic Superheroes A U.S.Avengers assemble! The U.S. government put together Citizen V, Cannonball, Squirrel Girl, Red Hulk, Enigma, and Iron Patriot into their own Avengers team. The oddly Captain America-less team lasted about a year. CRACKED.COM — Sources: DC Database, IGN

28

Endgame

A vault number in Avengers: Endgame is a small comic-book homage. The van that has the entrance to the Quantum Realm is in vault 616, and Marvel's default universe in the comics is Earth-616. CRACKED.COM — Source: Vulture

27

Snickers

Weird Superhero Endorsements Doomsday is deafeated with a Snickers. In Action Comics #959, Batman saves Superman from being deathpunched by Doomsday by handing him a Snickers. Then it turns out it wasn't Doomsday at all, but a hangry Wonder Woman. PRO SNICKERS CRACKED.COM — Source: Superman Homepage

26

The X-Men (Again)

The X-Men almost ended up not being called X-Men at all. Stan Lee wanted to call them The Mutants, but his publisher nixed the idea, claiming that readers just wouldn't be smart enough for that. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Leather Boy

LEATHER BOY GRAGKED.COM A ball gag, leather chaps, and zero superpowers. In Marvel's Great Lakes Avengers, Leather Boy mistakes Mr. Immortal's men and woman of action ad for a BDSM ad, having fans wonder if his entire existence was one bad, unaware joke. — Source: fortressofsolitude

24

Civil War

Captain America: Civil War H WHEN ANT- MAN AND HAWKEYE JOIN FORCES... SOMEBODY'S GONNA GET IT! CRACKED.COM THE COMIC THE MOVIE Ant-Man launches off of Arrow Guy's arrow to disable the Taskmaster's weapon in The Avengers #223. They do pretty much the same thing in the film, only this time, they infiltrate Iron Man's suit. — Source: 15 Iconic MCU Scenes Lifted Directly From The Comics

23

The Incredible Hulk

40 Random Bits of Comic Book Trivia That Need Protective Sleeves of Their Own

22

The Comics Code

A DRUG-THEMED SPIDER-MAN COMIC PERMANENTLY CHANGED THE COMICS CODE. VERBAL ABUSE YOU'RE SO OF CHILDREN! PRETTY... I HATE YOU! CRACKED COM Starting in 1954, the Comics Code banned certain topics from appearing in comic books, like drugs. In 1970, Stan Lee was contacted by the government to make an anti-drug PSA with Spider-Man, and Lee assumed the code wouldn't have an issue with it. The Comics Code Authority refused to approve the comic, so Marvel released it without the Code's stamp of approval on the cover. The comic sold fine, so the Code decided to make a bunch of changes

21

Beast Boy

BEAST BOY CRACKED.COM Marvel And DC should compare notes. DC's young, green Beast Boy is sadly not the sidekick of X-Men's big, blue Beast. Experimental animal DNA allowed Beast Boy to morph into almost any animal, and I wonder if he every chooses platypus. — Source: DCcomics

20

Wolverine

Wolverine was almost a literal wolverine. Marvel took their sweet time to come up with an origin story for Logan. One of the ideas writers tossed about was that he was an actual wolverine, mutated into human form. That never came to happen, as Stan Lee hated it. CRACKED.COM — Source: 16 Random Facts That Will Increase Your Approximate Knowledge of the World

19

Stakar

Sly Stallone's character in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is an old comics name. Stakar first showed up in Marvel comics in the mid-70s-but they changed him massively for the movie (in the comics, he was born in 2002). CRACKED.COM — Source: Vulture

18

Deadpool 2

In Deadpool 2, Deadpool's angst about committing suicide is from the comics. He gets pissed off all the time in the comics at the fact that he's suicidal but can't actually kill himself (due to his healing factor). CRACKED.COM — Source: DenOfGeek

17

Blaze Comics

Source: Collider.com

16

Ultron

AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON The Marvel comics: Ultron was created by Hank Pym, and his mind is based on Pym's brainwaves. The movie: Ultron is Tony Stark's — Source: CBR

15

The Flash

Rainbow Raider's lair in The Flash has an homage to his comic-book origins. In the comics, Roy Bivolo is a color-blind painter-and, on the show, his supervillain lair is stacked full of really, really bad paintings. CRACKED.COM — Source: DenOfGeek

14

WandaVision

A winery name in WandaVision actually has a big hint about the source material. MARVEL HOUSE ASTONISHING X-MEN NEW AVENGERS 1 OF M OF GAMAY MAISON MEPRIS E The winery Maison du Mepris, or House of Contempt, is probably a reference to House of M, a 2005 story that the show heavily drew on. CRACKED.COM — Source: Vulture

13

Black Widow

The North Institute from Black Widow has a storied past in the comics. NORTH INSTITUTE KING NORTH INSTITUTE FIRE But it's a different one than the movie version's - in the comics, it's an agency that attempts to assassinate Red Room defectors. CRACKED.COM — Source: Vulture

12

The Black Suit

The black suit Superman wears in Justice League wasn't chosen accidentally. In the comics, he wears it after he gets back to life so, in the movie, it's what he wears after he comes back too. CRACKED.COM — Source: Vulture

11

Rise of the Silver Surfer

Stan Lee's cameo in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a nod to an old comic. During Reed Richards and Sue Storm's wedding, the Marvel comic

10

DC Comics

DC Comics tried to have their own Fantastic Four. While Marvel was neglecting their First Family because of licensing deals, DC launched The — More: 5 Forgotten Times Marvel and DC Trolled Each Other Hard

9

Ultimate Comics

The Green Goblin from Into the Spider-Verse is based on the Ultimate comics. In that comic book series, the Green Goblin is a literal gigantic green goblin rather than a regular human (Norman Osborn) in supervillain get-up. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Comic Book Movies With Sneaky Shout-Outs To Their Source Material

8

X-Men

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST The comic: Kitty Pryde is sent into the past by psychic Rachel Summers. The movie: The more lucrative Wolverine is s — Source: Comic Book

7

Wonder Woman 1984

In Wonder Woman 1984, the way Diana uses her tiara is a nod to her old comics. She takes out security cameras with her tiara, and using it that way is one of her powers in the '40s comics (the tiara was even telepathic at one point). CRACKED.COM — Source: DenOfGeek

6

Stan Lee

Before Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, or his mustache, STAN LEE spent three years in the U.S. Army. If he ever had to chase any big green guy, that remains classified. — Source: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service

5

Dawn of Justice

The Wayne graveyard in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has an Easter egg. One of the names is Solomon that's Bruce's s great-great-great-grandpa in the comics (who was part of a story influenced by Tim Burton's Batman). CRACKED.COM — Source: DenOfGeek

4

Negasonic

Deadpool NEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD The original Negasonic never gets to meet Deadpool - she dies almost immediately (along with millions other mutants) after her first appearance in X-Men comics. — Source: CBR

3

Punisher

BATMAN CROSSED PATHS WITH THE PUNISHER. Punisher and Batman: Deadly Knights comic book features Frank Castle coming to Gotham in order to apprehend th

2

Wonder Girl

Wonder Girl was the result of the writer not reading Wonder Woman comics. When DC writer Bob Hanes was putting together Teen Titans, a comic book about superhero sidekicks teaming up, he included Wonder Girl as Wonder Woman's sidekick - but she was actually a young Wonder Woman, and the two only met in the same comic thanks to time travel. CRACKED.COM — 6 Shockingly Dumb Reasons People Invented Famous Characters

1

Fantastic Four

2005's Fantastic Four took many liberties with the mythos of Marvel's first family. The changes weren't all bad, FOR instance, it made their exposure

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