SPIDER-MAN

Firelord, former herald of Galactus, came to Earth in Amazing Spider-Man #269–#270 (1985) by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz for the most herald reason imaginable: he wanted a pizza. Workmen who mistook the flaming alien for a mutant attacked him, he retaliated, and Spider-Man stepped in — starting a running battle across New York against an opponent carrying a share of the Power Cosmic, while every heavier hero was conveniently out of town.

Peter threw the city at him. He lured Firelord through office blocks and subway tunnels, put him in the path of an oncoming train, arranged for a condemned building to be demolished on top of him, and finally detonated a petrol station around him. Firelord walked out of every single trap unmarked, and Spider-Man was left believing, sickeningly, that the last explosion might have killed a man who could not be killed.

So he stopped being clever. With nowhere left to run, Spider-Man attacked head-on for the first time — a relentless flurry of punches and kicks that Firelord, who expected another trick, never braced for. It worked. When the Avengers finally arrived, they found the herald of Galactus flat on the pavement, beaten unconscious in single combat by a hero who had not landed a telling blow all day — and they had to pull Spider-Man off him.