Comic Book / Superman and Spider-Man

Superman: I want answers, Doom! I gather that you're up to something very big!
Doctor Doom: Why, of course I am! I am "up" to gaining absolute dominion over this entire planet! Can it be that this is a surprise to you?

Superman and Spider-Man (July, 1981) was a Superman/Spider-Man crossover one-shot issue by Jim Shooter and John Buscema, published in the Marvel Treasury Edition #28. It was the second and last crossover between both characters^note Technically, they would team up again in one of the Marvel Versus DC crossover comics in the 90's.

Spider-Man is catching a group of bank robbers during a routine night patrol when his spider-sense is triggered by the very construction site where he is fighting. Spidey dismisses the warning as indigestion and swings away, much to the relief of Doctor Doom, who is monitoring the scene and does not want the hero to snoop around the place where his latest secret project is being secretly built.

The next day, JJ Jameson turns Peter's pictures down. He is not interested in more Spider-Man's pictures, but since Hulk has been spotted heading towards Metropolis, he might buy pictures of a fight between the Emerald Giant and the Man of Steel.

Peter Parker travels to Metropolis, where he witnesses Superman and Hulk brawling. After a brutal clash, Superman manages to calm Hulk down, but later he finds out that his old enemy Parasite broke out of containment during their battle. Obviously, Hulk's rampage was an elaborate gambit to release one of his most dangerous enemies for some sinister purpose. Superman only knows of two persons who are intelligent enough to pull such a scheme off and one of them is in jail, so he flies to New York City to confront Doctor Doom in the Latverian Embassy. Predictably, Doom yields no answers, so Superman decides to move to NYC as he figures out his gambit.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker has moved to Metropolis and started working in the Daily Planet. Shortly after the battle between Superman and Hulk, Peter was feeling weak and dizzy due to Parasite draining his power. Jimmy Olsen ran into Peter about to faint, helped him recover, and as they talked over a cup of coffee, hinted Perry White would pay actual decent money for Peter's pictures.

Several days later, while swinging around Metropolis, Spider-Man finds a construction site identical to the one which triggered his spider-sense back in New York. Peter decides to crawl into the place and investigate, discovering a huge mechanical complex built underground, wherein Wonder Woman is fighting a group of masked henchmen who have been armed with weaponry able to take her down. After knocking her out, the mooks put Wonder Woman in some kind of subterranean vehicle and drive off, unaware that Spider-Man has attached himself to the rear of the vehicle.

Spider-Man leaps off the vehicle when they arrive at New York's central complex, and he begins poking around the place, witnessing Doom reveal his real plan to Parasite. Spider-Man knows he must stop Doom, but he will need help.

Fortunately, a very powerful hero has who is already invested in discovering and thwarting Doom's scheme has recently moved to NYC.

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Tropes:

• Alliterative Title: The crossover's full name is "Superman and Spider-Man: The Heroes and the Holocaust".
• Anti-True Sight: So that Superman cannot find his underground installations built around the globe, Doom invented an invisibility screen to foil his X-Ray Vision. Even if Superman looked underneath the construction sites he would only see earth and rock (a necessary and wise precaution, as it has often been noted that Superman can tell when lead is blocking his X-Ray Vision; a lot of construction sites with way too much lead under them would start making him very suspicious).
• Apocalypse How: Doctor Doom develops a new kind of fusion reactor which produces abundant clean energy. Unfortunately, the core is very unstable and is building towards an explosion that will atomize Earth unless someone finds a way to stop it.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Wonder Woman tries to bind Spider-Man with her magic lasso. While dodging her, the hero who has fought alongside Doctor Strange several times and faced plenty of magical threats declares he does not believe in "magic lassos".
• Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Invoked. Parasite finds out that Superman's friend, Clark Kent has come to New York, and suggests kidnapping him and using him to bait Superman into a trap. However, Doom dismisses Parasite's plan, arguing that Clark Kent is obviously bait to trap them.
• Bullying a Dragon: Doctor Doom spends the whole story taunting and mocking Superman, even after his anti-Superman measures fail, believing he is protected by diplomatic immunity and Superman would not dare to violate international law. Doom does not even listen when Superman dares him to keep on trusting that imaginary lines will protect him from a pissed Man of Steel.
  • Steve Lombard keeps wearing down the patience of Clark Kent and later Peter Parker with his bullying and pranks, blissfully unaware that either of them could snap him in half.
• Closest Thing We Got: When Doom's reactor starts to overload, Superman has to try and contain the reactor core until Spider-Man can find a way to deactivate it, even though the energy being generated by the core mimics red sun radiation that weakens Superman and the machinery is so complex Spider-Man is briefly afraid to even touch it. Fortunately, his spider-sense ultimately allows him to confirm which lever is safe to adjust to resolve the crisis.
• Complexity Addiction: Doctor Doom's plan to release Parasite involved too many variables: he built an endlessly screeching micro-drone to drive the Hulk mad(der), lead him into Metropolis and goad him into punching the ground in one exact point to break Parasite's cell, which was located several miles underground. Doom knew the effort of climbing back to the surface would reduce Parasite's energy to dangerously low levels, but Doom planned on Hulk still being around, or Superman cleaning up when Parasite crawled his way to the surface. Parasite could have died right there and then, ruining Doom's greater scheme, were it not for Peter Parker taking pictures nearby.
• Continuity Nod: Peter Parker mentions he met Lois Lane once in New York... which happened in the first Supes/Spidey crossover.
• Crossover: Both companies' then-most popular characters cross paths for the second time.
• Crossover Alternate Universe: The universe where this story happens - as well as "Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man", "Batman Vs. Hulk", "Batman Vs. The Punisher" and similar crossovers - was called Crossover Earth by DC in The Official Crisis on Infinite Earths Indexes and Earth-7642 by Marvel Comics in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
• Crushing Handshake: When Peter Parker arrives at the Daily Planet, Steve Lombard shakes his hand, gloating he will try to not squeeze too hard. At the same time, Peter ponders that he is talking to a stupid, arrogant bully who does not know Peter can crush bricks with his bare hands.
  Jimmy Olsen: "Steve Lombard...Peter Parker!"
  Steve Lombard: (shaking hands and grinning) "I'll try not to squeeze too hard, little fella!"
  Peter Parker: "Uh, yeah thanks, Steve!" (thinking) What a jerk! If he only knew that I can crush bricks with my grip—!"
• The Dog Bites Back: Despite Parasite being crucial to his scheme's success, Doctor Doom openly and contemptuously treats his so-called ally as a dumb slave who needs a blast to the chest to learn who his master is. Parasite pretends to obey meekly, while inwardly swearing that Doom will pay for this humiliation, which he does when he uses Spider-Man's stolen strength to slam Doom into a wall.
• Evil Plan: Doctor Doom intends to conquer the world by using his network of underground "Omega" installations to destroy all kinds of fuels in the world, and then unveiling his newly-developed, abundant energy source which everybody can get if they bow down to him.
• Exact Eavesdropping: As Doctor Doom finally explains his plan to Parasite - conveniently leaving out that his scheme's success requires his ally's death - Spider-Man (who is crawling among the machinery lining the ceiling) hears every word and decides to crawl out of the complex in search of reinforcements.
• Good Is Not Soft: Clark Kent notices his bullying co-worker Steve Lombard intends to pull a water-squirting flower prank on him. Clark briefly wonders whether his meek, gullible persona should fall for it before deciding he is not in mood for indulging Steve's assholery, and he sabotages the flower so that it squirts Steve instead. In a more serious note, Superman later warns Doom that the armored tyrant is gravely mistaken if he thinks international laws will protect him from Superman's wrath if he keeps pushing him.
• Ground Pound: In order to leave a company meeting to go out and fight the Hulk, Clark Kent stomps the floor hard enough to make the building tremble, making everybody believe Hulk is approaching, and they evacuate the building.
• Hurl It into the Sun: When Doctor Doom tries to use a piece of Kryptonite to weaken Superman, the Man of Steel wraps himself in lead to grab it safely and tosses the lethal rock into the Sun.
• "Kick Me" Prank: Steve Lombard sticks an "I struck out with Lana Lang" sign on Peter Parker's jacket while pretending to give him an encouraging pat on the back after Peter has made a fool of himself when talking to Lana. Steve hopes Peter will walk all around town wearing that sign, but Peter notices it straight after, and pranks Steve back by discreetly webbing Steve to his chair.
• Kryptonite-Proof Suit: Superman improvises one when he goes into Doom's embassy and Doom greets him with a Kryptonite ray. Since Superman knows Doom has the walls and floor lead-lined, he rips out a chunk of floor, rolls himself up in it and spins at super-speed until the heat from air friction melts the lead into a skintight covering, and gets rid of the Kryptonite before Doom can stop him.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Doctor Doom breaks Parasite out of containment and enlists his help, but their alliance is not congenial. Doom treats Parasite as a slave and refuses to reveal his scheme, despite Parasite supposedly playing a key role in it. When Parasite gets mad and attempts to absorb Doom, Doom just blasts him in the chest, reveals he obviously insulated his armor against his power and commands his "ally" to return to his chambers and wait for Doom's summons. Parasite pretends to obey meekly, while inwardly swearing that Doom will pay for this humiliation.
• No-Sell: Variant. Superman◊ challenges Hulk to hit him when he is ready, after Hulk knocked him across the river when he wasn't. Superman is easily tanking the Hulk's punches — at first. However, his endurance is getting Hulk madder, hence progressively stronger, and Superman realizes that he must find another way to stop him soon.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When confronted by Superman, Doctor Doom states they are much alike: men of great power, who could change the world. However, he chooses to impose his will upon the world, whereas Superman refuses to, letting people suffer famines, wars...Superman replies he would become a dictator by doing that, which would effectively turn him into another Doom.
  Doctor Doom: "Surely you understand...for philosophically we are much alike! You and I are the mightiest beings on this planet! I choose to exert my power to impose my will upon the world— You choose not to! And yet, even that choice does, indeed, affect the lives of every man, woman and child on Earth— condemning them, in fact, to poverty, disease, famine...and the hideous suffering they inflict upon one another! You cannot escape it, Superman! You dictate the fate of mankind...one way or the other!"
  Superman: "I know! But...What can I do? Seize power and try to remake the world into a utopia? That would put me into a class with men like Hitler...and you!"
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Downplayed example. Peter Parker is not amused when he realizes Steve Lombard played a "Kick Me" prank on him, so he coats Steve's chair with webbing, ensuring that the Daily Planet's bully will be unable to stand up for one hour.
• People Jars: Doctor Doom manages to capture and put Hulk and Wonder Woman in transparent stasis tubes.
• Race Against the Clock: Variant. In order to halt Hulk's rampage, Superman challenges the Emerald Giant to punch him again, hoping Hulk will wear himself out trying. At the beginning, Superman simply tanks Hulk's savage blows, but he realizes that Hulk's fury-fueled strength is growing geometrically with each second, so that he must find another way to calm him down before losing the advantage.
• Rage Against the Reflection: While dwelling on the accident which ruined his face, Doctor Doom removes his mask, stares at his disfigured, naked face in a mirror and angrily smashes the reflecting surface to bits. Putting his mask back on, Doom considers banning mirrors after conquering the world.
• Rampage from a Nail: Hulk is on a rampage and Superman discovers a tiny little machine is emitting a sound that is driving the Hulk crazy. Superman destroys it and soon after Hulk begins to calm down.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: When Doctor Doom taunts Superman for not imposing his will upon the world and ending poverty, disease, famine, war... Superman replies that "imposing his will upon the world" entails becoming a dictator like Doom himself.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Superman has never faced Doctor Doom before, and Spider-Man is not one of the heroes who usually tangles with him (though they squared off as early as Amazing Spider-Man #3, and Doom is one of those enemies who can show up in almost any Marvel story with a little reasoning).
• Secret Identity Change Trick: Hulk is approaching Metropolis, but Morgan Edge wants Clark Kent to cover the news as his anchorman. However, Clark's super-vision has already spotted the green giant, so he uses a ventriloquism trick to make his co-workers hear someone screaming the Hulk is out on the street. Right away, Clark stomps the floor tough enough to make the building tremble, causing Edge to order everybody to evacuate the building. As everybody is rushing towards the stairs, Clark easily slips into a storeroom to change clothes.
• Sheathe Your Sword: Superman defeats the Hulk by allowing him to whale on his indestructible body until Hulk wore himself out and reverted back to Banner. Doubly so, he also spotted and destroyed a microscopic irritant that was keeping the Hulk enraged.
• Shooting Superman: Superman moves to New York City for a short time and finds that NYC criminals are just as stupid as their Smallville and Metropolis' ilk, shooting at him even after seeing that, yes, bullets bounce right off him.
• Spanner in the Works: Doctor Doom fails because he did not expect Spider-Man's intervention. While the captured Spidey used his webbing to remove the Kryptonite dust coating Superman, his stolen Spider-Sense warned Parasite that he should NOT put on the harness which Doom designed for him (Doom claimed the harness would enhance Parasite's power so that he could permanently absorb power from others but in reality it would "overload" Parasite and reduce him to a lump of unknown material that would allow Doom to control his new reactor).
• Squirting Flower Gag: Steve Lombard tries to pull one on a baffled Clark Kent, who cannot believe Steve thinks someone will fall for such an old, dumb trick. Not being in the mood for putting up with Lombard's foolish antics, Clark subtly manipulates the fake flower so it squirts Steve instead.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Defied. Doctor Doom leads Hulk to Metropolis, causing Superman to move to New York City as he figures out what Doom is planning. Meanwhile, Peter Parker, who had gone to Metropolis to take pictures of Hulk, finds himself working for Perry White for a while until he gets homesick and goes back to New York.
• Take Over the World: Lampshaded. Superman confronts Doctor Doom, stating he knows Doom is up to something big. Doom retorts OF COURSE he is up to something: conquering the world. He then snidely asks whether Superman had not yet figured that out.
• To Be Lawful or Good: In the second Superman/Spider-Man team up, when the heroes have just stopped Doctor Doom from conquering and almost destroying the entire planet, but Doom has fled to the Latverian embassy, Supes says he can't arrest him because he's legally on Latverian ground...but Doom is sadly mistaken if he thinks he can try his patience forever.
• Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Superman calms down The Hulk by planting himself on the ground and letting the Hulk hit him, thinking that when he decided to become the Immovable Object, no Unstoppable Force could move him. However, it is hinted that as he gets angrier, the Hulk might become more than even Superman could handle, and he has to figure out another way to end the fight.
  Backcover blurb: Irresistible force meets immovable object as the Incredible Hulk clashes with the Man of Steel!
• Unwitting Pawn: Doctor Doom uses a screeching micro-drone to lead Hulk towards Metropolis and starts tearing the city up. Naturally, Hulk knows nothing about Doom or the drone, and he does not even notice his mad rampage has allowed the Parasite to break out of containment (which is exactly what Doom wanted).
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When Parasite destroys Doctor Doom's fusion reactor controls, Doom tries to flee to a rocket to escape from Earth, but he discovers Spider-Man has disabled the controls. Seconds later, when he realizes the heroes have prevented the world's destruction, he rushes towards the nearest Latverian embassy because his sovereign status will protect him (at least for now).
• We Will Meet Again: After being defeated, Doom proclaims his next meeting with Superman will be the last one. Subverted because they didn't meet again in that continuity.
  Doctor Doom: "Here in my stronghold I am invincible— And when next we meet, it is you who shall be destroyed!"
• Wire Dilemma: A variation occurs when Superman and Spider-Man work together to stop Doctor Doom's super-reactor from going critical and threatening to destroy the world. While Superman tries to contain the reactor elements from within, Spider-Man has to shut off the reactor, but if he throws the wrong switch it will only accelerate the meltdown. When he touches one switch it triggers his Spider-sense, making him realize he needs to trigger the other switch.
• Worthy Opponent: The duel between Superman and Hulk ends with the latter deciding to trust the former and calm down, reasoning that someone who can withstand one of his enraged beatdowns is not a puny human and deserves respect.

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