The X-Men vs. the Avengers #3

The penultimate chapter of this 1987 Marvel limited series crackles with inter-team tension as Captain America hurls himself shield-first into battle against Magneto, who tumbles dramatically in the foreground amid a burst of churning energy — with two tiny airborne figures visible in the fiery background, suggesting the conflict is far from contained. Marc Silvestri's pencils and Joe Rubinstein's inks give the confrontation a kinetic, almost elemental force, perfectly suited to a story titled "The Soviets Strike Back!" With Earth's mightiest heroes and Marvel's mutants still at odds heading into the final issue, this one promises the kind of clash that makes four-issue series feel genuinely consequential.