Thanos is one of the most fearsome villains in the Marvel Universe. The Mad Titan is known for his obsession with the Infinity Stones, with Thanos intent on collecting all six Infinity Stones in order to wipe out half of all life in the universe. The villain is incredibly difficult to defeat, with scores of heroes struggling to defeat him, even more so when he has powerful, cosmic weapons such as the Infinity Gauntlet in his grasp. Marvel fans may be surprised to learn, then, that Thanos was once defeated by a normal human boy with a skateboard (and then arrested by the NYPD).
This story takes place in issue 39 of Spidey Super Stories by Nick Sullivan, Michael Sipoin, Jim Salcirup, Win Mortimer, and Mike Esposito, with the tale opening showing a conflict between the Cat and Thanos. The Cat has the Cosmic Cube and Thanos, in his iconic ‘Thanos-copter’, is chasing her. As a result of the conflict, the Cat drops the cube from the top of a building. The comic cuts to show Speedy the Skateboard Hero, a young boy, finding the cube just before the Cat appears again. She asks Speedy if he’s seen the cube and Speedy lies, pretending that he hasn’t seen it; with the unlimited power of the Cosmic Cube Speedy manifests one ice cream for himself.
Unbeknownst to Speedy, Thanos is watching him from afar and follows the boy to a park where a scuffle ensues between a small boy and the Mad Titan. This brief scuffle is seen by Peter Parker, who then leaves Mary Jane (as he does) to become Spider-Man. Thanos managed to wrestle the Cosmic Cube from Speedy and, wielding the unlimited power, creates a giant dog to take on Spider-Man and the newly arriving Cat. The Cat jumps up a tree to keep away from the giant dog and Spider-Man delivers a strong kick that causes the dog to run away (seriously, couldn’t Thanos have at least made the big dog braver?).
Perhaps wary of his error in crafting a big dog, Thanos decides that manifesting an earthquake is the best way to defeat Spider-Man and the Cat (though he could’ve just struck the two heroes down with lightning or launched them into space). While the earthquake does indeed floor both Spider-Man and the Cat, Thanos failed to take into that he would also be affected by the earthquake. This leads Thanos to drop the cube, exclaiming “oops, I’ve dropped the cube” and Spider-Man follows this up by saying “you were too tricky for your own good, Thanos.”
After dropping the cube, Thanos, Spider-Man, the Cat, are all crawling towards the powerful object, with the first to reach it bound to win the fight. Then, as quick as a flash, Speedy the Skateboard Hero skates in and picks up the Cosmic Cube. Thanos tries to bargain with the boy, but Speedy isn’t listening and wraps up Thanos in vines manifested from the Cosmic Cube. The following scene shows Thanos being arrested by NYPD officers as Speedy gives the cube back to the Cat.
Despite the fact that Thanos is one of the most powerful and intelligent villains in the Marvel Universe, capable of holding his own against the likes of the Hulk and Thor, the Mad Titan is unable to handle a young boy (and the NYPD). It's definitely the most embarrassing defeat Thanos has ever suffered.
