Icons Explained

Written By Tommy

Maybe you don’t want to read every issue in this guide, maybe you just want to follow Spider-Man and the Avengers? Then the icons are for you. The icons help you narrow the guide to the path you want to take. Choose which parts of the Marvel Universe you’re interested in and then just follow the icons.

HOW TO:

  • Choose at least one of the “stand-alone” icons; like Avengers, Spider-Man and/or X-Men. Note that most big events are heavily based on Avengers, so if you’re into reading the events you should be reading Avengers for sure.

  • Then choose whatever icons you like to add. The “add-ons” is connected to a stand-alone icon, for example the add-on icon Wolverine is connected to the stand-alone icon X-Men, so check the list below.

  • I strongly recommend reading all the issues marked with the Event icon, if you’re interested in the events, and continue the titles if you like them.

Event Icon

All the major events has this icon. There are other events, but they are more connected to one or two major icons and are not as impactful.

You will also find this icon on the right side of a few arcs or titles throughout the guide, these are great to read leading up to one or more major events. They might not always be a 100 % connected to the event, but I guarantee you, they will enhance your experience.

Always keep an eye out for this icon!

BIG NOTE THOUGH:

Following the icons instead of reading the whole guide might open up some questions along the way.

For example: If you’re reading X-Men and not Wolverine, some events in Wolverine might be mentioned in X-Men - and you won’t know what it means.

Marvel comics are interwoven, characters and teams appear in different titles and form new teams along the way and that means they’ll cross different storylines. If you’ve just followed one of those storylines with the help of the icons, you won’t know the others. That’s just the way Marvel works.

YOU DO YOU:

The icons are there as a helping tool. You don’t have to abide to anything. If you follow a character and that character makes a guest appearance in another title and you find that title interesting, keep reading it even if it doesn’t have the icons you’ve previously chosen. Most important thing is to enjoy yourself :)

- STAND-ALONES -

The huge Avengers story is pretty much the heart of the Marvel universe, especially between 2000-2015. Most icons will enrich the Avengers if you add them to your reading order. Especially:

  • Avengers World

  • Captain America

  • Cosmic

  • Iron Man

  • Secret Agents

This follow the story of Daredevil. A character that has been blessed with amazing writers and artists for many years. Be aware that some of the Daredevil titles are on the darker side of Marvel universe. Great icons to add are:

  • Marvel Knights

  • Mystic

  • Spider-Man

Yes, Deadpool has his own major icon. Guy stands on his own (like it or not, but you can technically just read Deadpool and get away with it). But great icons to add are:

  • X-Men, because Deadpool would really like to be a mutant

  • His best friend Spider-Man

  • Oddballs, kindred spirits

All the important arcs featuring the members of the Fantastic Four or that impacts the team in an important way. The first family has a tremendous impact throughout the Marvel universe. Great icons to add:

  • Avengers

  • Cosmic

  • Kings

  • Spider-Man

Yes, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has a huge web of stories and characters. This icon follows our Earth-616 Spider-Man. Great icons to add:

  • Avengers

  • Daredevil

  • Spider-Verse

  • Symbiotes

The X-Men story is a huge part of the Marvel universe, and it stands a lot like it’s own thing with big events of their own. This icon follow the main X-Men teams. Great icons to add are:

  • Mutants (highly recommend you adding this, because most X-titled crossovers and events does invite most X-titles)

  • Wolverine

- ADD-ONS -

This icon widens the huge story of the Avengers. Following certain characters and branch teams more closely. This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers

  • This is often connected to the add-on Cosmic

Prominent characters/teams:
- Avengers Academy
- Blue Marvel
- Captain Britain
- Champions
- Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)
- New Warriors
- Runaways
- Sentry
- Young Avengers

This icon enriches the story of Cap with his stand alone titles and other important appearances. This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers

  • This is often connected to the add-on Secret Agents

Prominent characters/teams:
- Bucky
- Captain America
- Falcon
- Invaders (excluding Sub-Mariner)
- Nomad
- Red Skull

This follow the stories, teams, characters and beings of the great beyond the stars. This icon is read together with:

  • You can add this to the Fantastic Four, but it is even more connected to the Avengers.

  • This is often connected to the add-on Avengers World

Prominent characters/teams:
- Adam Warlock
- Captain Marvel
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Darkhawk
- Ms. America
- Noh-varr (Marvel Boy)
- Nova
- Quasar
- Thanos
- Silver Surfer

Hulk gets his own icon so you can follow his stories beyond his various team affiliations. Banner Hulk isn’t always the main player in these stories. This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers, which is the team the different Hulks often belong to.

Prominent characters/teams:
- Amadeus Cho
- Bruce Banner
- Doc Samson
- Maestro
- Red Hulk
- Rick Jones
- She-Hulk
- Skaar

Iron Man has huge arcs on his own. This icon is great to enrich the story of Tony Stark, his friends and enemies. This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers

  • This is often connected to the add-on Secret Agents

Prominent characters/teams:
- Iron Man
- Ironheart
- Mandarin
- Rescue (Pepper Pots)
- War Machine

This icon is for our heroes in the streets. Be aware that some of these titles are on the darker side of Marvel universe. This icon is read together with:

  • Daredevil

  • This is often connected to the add-on Mystic

Prominent characters/teams:
- Ben Urich
- Bullseye
- Cloak & Dagger
- Echo
- Electra
- Heroes for Hire
- Iron Fist
- Jessica Jones
- Luke Cage
- Moon Knight
- Punisher
- Shang-Chi

Follows our favorite outsiders, the Mutants. Of course these are heavily X-Men related, so much that most X-titles are interconnected in their own events and crossovers, so if you want a thorough x-perience don’t skip this icon:

  • X-Men

Prominent characters/teams:
- Most X-Men character outside of main X-Men titles
- Cable
- Domino
- Fantomex
- Generation X
- Juggernaut
- Magneto
- Mutant Academy
- Mystique
- New Mutants
- Quicksilver
- X-Factor

This path will give you a great dive into the mystic side of the Marvel universe. This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers

  • This is often connected to various other icons

Prominent characters/teams:
- Agatha Harkness
- Blade
- Doctor Strange
- Doctor Voodoo
- Elsa Bloodstone
- Ghost Rider
- Hellstrom
- Hood
- Man-Thing
- Mephisto
- Satana
- Scarlet Witch
- Werewolf by Night

The oddballs are not a vast amount of characters but they are often interwoven in different ways. This icon is best read together with:

  • Avengers and/or Deadpool

  • This is often connected to the Avengers World icon

Prominent characters/teams:
- Howard the Duck
- Moon Girl
- Squirrel Girl
- Gwenpool

This covers most of the various Gods and Eternals.This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers

  • This is often connected to the Mystic icon

Prominent characters/teams:
- Angela
- Ares
- Beta Ray Bill
- Enchantress
- Eternals
- Hercules
- Jane Foster
- Loki
- Thor
- Valkyrie
- Warriors Three

This follows characters that rule their own empires (or similarly). This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers and/or Fantastic Four

  • This is often connected to the Cosmic icon

Prominent characters/teams:
- Black Panther
- Doctor Doom
- Inhumans
- Shuri
- Storm
- Sub-Mariner

This follow the characters, teams and stories that work in secret or undercover. This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers

  • This is often connected to the Avengers World, Captain America and the Iron Man icons

Prominent characters/teams:
- Agents of Atlas
- Black Widow
- Hawkeye
- Maria Hill
- Mockingbird
- Nick Fury
- Phil Coulson
- Quake
- Sharon Carter
- Spider-Woman

This icon adds on all the various Spider-characters. This icon is read together with:

  • Spider-Man

Prominent characters/teams:
- Black Cat
- Gwenpool
- Osborns
- Scarlet Spider
- Silk
- Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
- Spider-Man 2099

This icon follows all the characters of the symbiotes. This icon is read together with:

  • Spider-Man

Prominent characters/teams:
- Carnage
- Flash Thompson (Agent Venom)
- Mania
- Venom

Our favorite villains questionably trying to be heroes! This icon follows all the major characters of the Thunderbolts. This icon is read together with:

  • Avengers

Prominent characters/teams:
- Atlas (Erik Josten)
- Baron Zemo
- Ghost
- Moonstone
- Radioactive Man
- Songbird

Wolverine has a lot going on, and this icon is also for the Wolverine-related characters. Be aware that the Wolverine titles are often really dark and bloody. This icon is read together with:

  • X-Men

Prominent characters/teams:
- Daken
- Lady Deathstrike
- Logan (Wolverine)
- Omega Red
- Sabretooth
- X-23

Tommy