Important Marvel Comics Events:
Marvel Comics has come a long way ever since they began back in the 1940s. A busload of characters and pivotal storylines later, Marvel is now one of the two comic book giants of the superhero genre, the other being DC Comics. But it is in the last couple of years that Marvel has truly tried to revolutionize their legacy. Unlike DC Comics, Marvel has had trouble taking the bold step and venture out into the unknown. That is no longer the case. Marvel Comics has introduced some very significant changes to their universes via specific, universe-altering events that changed the very face of the Marvel Continuity for many years to come.
10. Chaos War
The Chaos War was God’s wrath given meaning. When the Japanese God of the Void and Darkness – Amatsu Mikaboshi, decides to plunge the world into eternal chaos so that he could become the new ruler of creation, his plans come into conflict with the interest of all of Earth’s Mightiest Superheroes. The arc also saw the active participation of the Gods of different pantheons. Hercules, Zeus, Odin, Thor and a host of other major and minor Gods participated in the globally coordinated campaign by the good guys against Amatsu Mikaboshi. The arc saw the introduction of major changes in many characters that are now very popular superheroes in the Marvel Comic book universe like Hercules and Thor.
9. X-Men: Schism
X-Men: Schism was pretty much like Civil War but within the X-Men. There was a clear clash of ideals and this led to the creation of boundaries between major X-Men founding members. The world was at a turning point. The governments all over implemented Sentinel technology en masse and sent the hunter-killer robots to track and murder mutants. Cyclops, who was against the government initiative, started training and sending mutant children into the battlefield to perform various life-threatening missions. Wolverine did not like Cyclops using Child Soldiers to wage his little war and so left along with a huge portion of the mutant populace and settle outside Utopia. The in-fighting began soon after.
8. Secret Empire
Secret Empire may have been a good storyline but one infamous scene in the comic book was enough for the arc to break into the news headline. Captain America’s Hail Hydra moment is as memorable as it is cringe-worthy. Secret Empire completely rewrote the backstory of Captain America, the Super Soldier who was a symbol of hope and freedom in the Marvel Universe since time immemorial. The fact that Marvel could change the legacy of such a huge character like that sent chills down everybody’s spine. Captain America’s Hail Hydra moment is going to have major implications for him as well as the Avengers in the years to come. The brutality of the storyline also took fans by surprise.
7. Infinity Countdown – Infinity Wars
The Infinity Countdown and Infinity Wars storylines are two separate events that happen one after the other. The Infinity Stones were gone and the universe was recreated from scratch to ensure the Infinity Stones of Power, Space, Mind, Soul, Time and Reality could again be reconstructed. Some gens were found out and the wielders tried using it for their own gains. In the end, Gamora got hold of the Infinity Gauntlet and while frantically looking for a way to get her soul back, killed Thanos and created the Infinity Warps event. Alternate dimensions within the Soul Stone’s Soul World lead to the fantastical turn of events with long-lasting consequences for Marvel Comics.
6. Spider-Island
One day, out of the blue, all of New York residents find themselves as superhumans. Each New Yorker now had Spider-like powers just like Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. Nobody knew how and why this unprecedented event took place. Spider-Man kept searching for answers the whole time. It was later revealed that the Jackal was working with the Queen to turn all of New York into an army of drone spiders, with the manifestation of spider-powers being just a temporary phase before each New Yorker turns into a slave spider sized foot soldier. Things escalated way too quickly and Spider-Man was then forced to use the help of the Avengers to bring things down to normal. The event saw Venom sacrificing his life to save the day – one of the most pivotal moments in Venom’s character development arc.
5. Infinity
While Infinity Wars was supposed to take things up to a cosmic level, Infinity was supposed to show us a very down to Earth perspective of things. Infinity hit the stores 5 years before Infinity Wars. The comic book arc was one of the highest-grossing publications for Marvel Comics. It saw the return of Thanos to Earth, who wanted to exploit the absence of major superheroes to attack Earth and take the planet down for good. The entire storyline is shown from the perspective of the superheroes – Earth’s last line of defense against Thanos’ might army. The arc was the reason several other major events like Inhumanity and Inhumans vs. X-men happened.
4. Original Sin
Original Sin will always be remembered for two things – the return of the original Nick Fury, who was now called “The Unseen” and what it did to Thor. The storyline involves the investigation of the murder of Uatu the Watcher, and Nick Fury tracks down a group of superheroes who will try to find out who is the culprit. Black Panther and Punisher lead their own team into trying to find out the murderer. While the return of the original Nick Fury was a surprise, the storyline really did a number on Thor. When Thor realizes it was Fury who was pulling the strings all along, he tries to stop him and Nick Fury, in a bid to stop him, whispers a deadly secret to him, and Thor suddenly becomes unworthy of Mjolnir, due to being forced to hold a secret that could potentially destroy the world.
3. Avengers vs. X-Men
The X-Men realized that the Phoenix Force is coming to Earth. Everyone believed that the Phoenix Force wanted to possess Hope Summers next, the mutant messiah. The Avengers soon entered the scene and tried to take Hope Summers into protective custody. The X-Men were none too pleased at that proposal and initial skirmishes began. When the Phoenix Force came to Earth, it revealed its plan to divide itself into five parts and infect five mutant superheroes. Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik and Namor became the Phoenix Five and started taking over and solving the world’s many problems. The Avengers knew that things will boil over the brim too soon and a war began. In the end, Professor X died and Cyclops was killed. Captain America publicly acknowledged the plight of mutants and announced he will help them in whichever way possible.
2. Civil War II
Civil War was a major event in the history of Marvel Comics. We would never know why Marvel Comics would try and create a sequel out of it. The storyline was a disaster and very repetitive. After the existence of Ulysses, an Inhuman with the ability to see the future and predict criminal events even before they happened, Captain Marvel tried to use his power to arrest dissidents before they did something bad while Iron Man believed that the future is fluid and they should try to change it instead of thinking in such concrete terms. Civil War II ended with Iron Man in a self-induced coma, the death of the Hulk as well as She-Hulk and Marvel Comics publicly apologizing for using characters of color as scapegoats and martyrs (after War Machine’s death) and promised to never repeat it again.
1. Secret Wars
It was in 2015 that the most impactful storyline of the decade in Marvel Comics came into existence. Secret Wears directly followed the Incursion story arc. The Multi-Verse was dying. Universes were colliding and destroying one another. The two last surviving universes – Earth 616 and Earth 1610, were the final bastions of life anywhere in the cradle of creation. Secret Wars followed God Emperor Doom, who had acquired the powers of the Beyonder and had merged the two remaining universes to form Battle World – an alternate timeline which was an amalgamation of different realities. Superheroes from different realities co-existed and vied for control every day in Battle World, ruled by Doom. The arc ended with the total and complete reboot of the Marvel Universe. In more ways than one, Secret Wars was to Marvel what Crisis is to DC – a chance to start afresh, a clean slate.
