Silver Surfer (1987 series) #88

The lead-up:-

Thor's gone mad (in his #460) and he's intent on destroying Asgard and then the universe. Now that he's got the Power Gem off Drax The Destroyer (Thor #469) he's got a good chance of doing it. Which Pip says is why he teleported the Asgardian to the space ship of Thanos (in Th#470), someone who's of equal universe-destroying power. He brought Surfer along as well to keep the Valkyrie busy. She used to just exist in the Thunder God's deranged mind but Moondragon accidentally made her real (Th#469 again).

The flashback:-

Pip teleported himself, SS, Thor and Val to Thanos' spaceship. The Mad Titan sicced armoured robots on Thor and Val while he grasped the Troll warmly by the throat and demanded to know what was going on. Presumably Pip explained the above and Thanos thanked him by not killing him (as he's done before in Avengers Annual #7). There was also bad blood between the Titan and the Surfer (most recently because Thanos used SS as a human bomb in Infinity Crusade #4). But all this has to be set aside as Thor and Val destroy the attacking robots. That's when the pair of 2-person fights began.

Thanos really doesn't like fighting beside 'heroes' and resents being put into a situation where it's in his own best interests to do just that. So he takes it out on Thor with a blast that sets him on fire. The Thunder God survives that and strikes back with Mjolnir, shattering the Titan's force shield. Meanwhile Valkyrie's not faring so well against Surfer. And Pip decides to hide and wait for an opportunity when he can make a difference.

Now it's Mad God vs Mad God. Power blasts vs Mjolnir. In normal times Thanos might have won but now with the added Power Gem the Asgardian gets the upper hand and smashes his opponent into a metal wall. But that just seems to make the Titan enjoy the combat more, and he comes back with a big scary smile. Which is where we came in.

Now:-

Thanos punches Thor in the face and declares him a worthy opponent, but now they'll *really* fight. The Thunder God punches back but then the Titan hammerfists down through the decking and gloats over the hole. Until a hammer-in-fist rises up and hits him in the head.

Silver Surfer has been holding back because now that Valkyrie is real he wants to cure *her* madness as he does Thor's. But she is a personification of the God's paranoia and sees him only as an enemy so she attacks without mercy. But the cosmically powerful Surfer easily disarms her of her sword so the angry manifestation resorts to bare-handed battle. Except that SS uses the Power Cosmic to blast her unconscious.

Then he sees Thanos saying he's weary of the conflict and exiting the room, leaving Surfer to face Thor alone. The Asgardian is angry that Thanos has quit before he was able to vanquish him. And angry at SS for hurting his beloved Valkyrie. So he decides to kill *him* instead. But then Thanos returns with a gun that is a *little* bit on the big side and zaps their foe with it, trapping him immobile in a box of force.

The Titan is mildly pleased that it worked because the weapon was only in the experimental stage. Surfer congratulates him but expresses his distaste at owing Thanos a favour. The other responds by pointing the gun at him and they have a glaring contest. Then the Mad Titan discards the gun saying that the current version was only good for 1 shot anyway. Surfer asks why he didn't use it earlier. Thanos replies that he found Thor an 'invigorating' opponent but he eventually got bored. Norrin Radd can't help getting in a dig that Thanos is making a habit of doing 'good', and perhaps he's growing soft. The big guy responds that it is true that he no longer seeks ultimate power, but he still detests heroes.

Their face-off is interrupted by Dr Strange magically transporting himself and the Infinity Watch from Asgard to here. Apparently Adam Warlock figured out where Pip would have taken the others. Pip decides now is the time to come out of hiding and take control of the situation, but Thanos threatens to kill him again if he doesn't shut up. The Titan tells them that the force field won't keep Thor imprisoned for long so they'd better work out what to do with him quickly.