Ready to dive into the Marvel universe? At the turn of the century, legendary writers like J. Michael Straczynski, Grant Morrison, Bruce Jones, Mark Waid, and Brian Michael Bendis delivered fantastic comic arcs that are ideal for new readers. Amazing Spider-Man, New X-Men, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Daredevil—these titles were truly remarkable.

I have divided the guide into chapters, and each chapter contains a major event. The chapter "Planet X" refers to the end of Morrison's New X-Men run, which connects to other X-titles in a crossover. The following chapter, "Disassembled," marks Bendis' exciting conclusion and rebirth of the Avengers. In chapter three, we read “House of M” and so on.

Prepare for a rollercoaster ride filled with diverse stories, characters, and teams. Some will leave a lasting impression, while others may not be your cup of tea. That's okay—read what you want, take your time and enjoy at your own pace.

If you notice anything off in the guide, feel free to let me know in the comments.

Let's jump in and explore the incredible world of Marvel Comics! We’ll begin with a little prologue.

CHAPTER ZERO: PROLOGUE 1960’s - 2000’s

Marvels is beautifully written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by none other than Alex Ross, following the rise of the superheroes from the perspective of journalist Phil Sheldon. Marvels originally came out in 1994, but was rereleased in 2019 as Marvels Annotated with a bunch of bonus material.

Busiek also wrote a 6-part sequel called Marvels: Eye of the Camera in 2008, and rejoined with Ross in 2019 for an epilogue to their original run. I highly recommend starting with this title as an introduction to the world and history of Marvel and many of the main characters.

Begin the prologue by reading the issues linked below:

In 2019, Mark Waid penned an amazing summary called "History of the Marvel Universe." Issue #3-4 gives you a clear overview of the stories through the 60’s up to where this guide begins (some of which you have now experienced through the eyes of Phil Sheldon in the Marvels series). We will not read #1-2, as a lot of that earlier and ancient history will be revealed in the comics of the modern era, and we will not be reading #5-6 as those are spoilers of the stories ahead.

Once you’ve read those issues, I have some complementary background info here to set you up:

Heroes Return:

As described in the very end of History of the Marvel Universe #4, Avengers and Fantastic Four disappeared when defeating Onslaught. Franklin Richards had created an alternate earth where the heroes lived on, while back on the real earth life carried on without them.

Before the heroes eventually managed to return from the alternate earth, a new team of heroes called the Thunderbolts emerged, later proven to be disguised members of the Masters of Evil lead by Baron Zemo. In the end the team parted ways with Zemo and fought to turn a new leaf under the leadership of Hawkeye (Thunderbolts (1997) #1-83).

Hawkeye is now back with the Avengers, and the Thunderbolts are back with Zemo but they are still going for heroics (at least publicly). You’ll see more of the Thunderbolts in chapter 2: Disassembled.

Spider-Man:

After the “Clone Saga” mentioned in the last pages of #4 (page 19), Peter didn’t carry the mantle of Spider-Man for a while, instead the clone Ben Reilly had his place - now Peter has reclaimed his role as the one true Spider-Man, but his life and relationship with his wife Mary Jane, isn’t going amazingly.

X-Men:

History of the Marvel Universe #4 mentions that the villain Stryfe released the Legacy Virus on the mutants which plagued them for years. The first victim was Illyana Rasputin, a member of the New Mutants (Xavier’s junior class of mutant students) and little sister of X-Man Colossus. In the end Colossus sacrificed his life to stop the deadly virus (Uncanny X-Men (1963) #390).

Apocalypse, long time enemy of X-Men, tried to make Nate Grey “X-Man” his new host (Nate is Cyclops and Jean Grey’s son from the alternate reality “Age of Apocalypse”, and he’s also the half brother of Cable). Cyclops took Nate’s place and merged with Apocalypse. X-Men managed to defeat the new threat, which ended with the disappearance of Cyclops/Apocalypse (X-Men (1991) #97). Even if Jean and Cable eventually saved Scott from the brink, the question remains - how did this merging with Apocalypse change Scott going forward?

The island nation of Genosha was once a country where mutants were turned into slaves by the ruling government. The X-Men liberated Genosha and many years later the country was given to Magneto by the U.N. to rule. Recently, Magneto tried to expand his reign but were stopped by the X-Men, and almost killed by Wolverine (X-Men (1991) #113). As you begin to read chapter 1: Planet X, Genosha is a stable and advanced country with sixteen million mutants living there.

After the battle with Magneto, the many members of X-Men splintered and have gone in different directions. Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters is still a central meeting place for some.

Scarlet Witch:

Scarlet Witch, who was a member of the West Coast Avengers at the time and married to the Vision, wanted to have children and created twin boys Tommy and Billy out of magic. It was revealed that the magic came from the devil Mephisto, who reabsorbed the children. Wanda’s mentor Agatha Harkness removed her memories of the two boys to ease her pain (West Coast Avengers (1985) #52).

Thor:

Avenger and Asgardian god Thor recently accepted the throne and became King Thor when the all-father Odin fell in battle against the fire-giant Surtur (Thor (1998) #42). Thor has since had the Odinpower, and let it go to his head, even ruled humanity for hundreds of years before changing back time so that it never happened. Now he has returned his kingdom to the realm of Asgard.

These icons help you focus on specific teams or characters and provide a sense of each story's genre. If you’re not going to read every issue in the guide, I strongly advice you to take a minute checking out the icon system. What ever route you go, you should always follow at least one of the “stand-alone” icons.

Now, you might wonder which titles in this guide are “essential”? It depends on your interests. As a general rule, titles marked with the "stand-alone" icons—Avengers, Daredevil, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and X-Men—are more essential than the "add-on" icons. Additionally, the major events often revolve around the Avengers, followed by X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Deadpool in that order. So, if you're invested in the events, closely follow the Avengers icon.

The dates tell you when the first and the last issues were released, the guide follows the release dates unless the story’s continuity moves an arc before another.

I’ve added notes if there’s anything you need to be aware of, I try to keep these to a minimum.

Let’s go ahead and read the last part of the prologue: The Sentry!

When you have finished a collection of issues, like the Sentry arc above, you can check the box and mark your progress. This will be saved on the device you’re using until you clear your cookies. If you accidently do, you can just check the boxes again.

And that’s pretty much it really. Of course, there’s no end to the massive backstory of all the characters and stories, and you won’t know every single detail that will be mentioned. But unless you have a photographic memory you wouldn’t remember everything you read up to this point anyways even if you read every single issue ever written. Don’t worry too much about that, most things will be explained along the way. Now let’s go on and enjoy the journey :)

All the best! /Tommy