Marvel Is Finally Doing Right By the MCU’s Trinity (& It Could Be the Key to Future Success)

Marvel Comics has been deposed from the top of the sales charts for the first time in ages. There are numerous reasons for this. DC Comics’ Absolute line lapped the Ultimate Universe, with readers enjoying the Absolute books more than the Ultimate ones. The Spider-Man and the X-Men lines aren’t nearly as successful as the House of Ideas wants, the Avengers have been DOA for years now, and even the Hulk isn’t nearly as popular as he once was in the not-so distant past. Being a Marvel fan isn’t exactly great right now, but there are some bright spots of the line in a somewhat surprising place: the books of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor.

For fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this isn’t entirely too surprising. Cap, Iron Man, and Thor were the most popular characters in the movies, with millions loving them. In the comics, the three of them were portrayed as the greatest heroes of superhero community, the equivalent of DC’s Trinity. However, in real life, they were never actually the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe, despite being legends. Marvel is flailing in every direction right now, trying to get back to the top of the sales charts, and it may be doing what they’re doing on Captain America, Iron Man, and Mortal Thor on the rest of their line is the key.

Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor Are Each Going in the Perfect Direction

We’ll start with Thor because he’s honestly had a better run of things in the 2020s than Cap or ol’Shellhead. The God of Thunder got a boost in 2020 when superstar writer Donny Cates was put on his book. Cates had a catastrophic car accident and was forced to leave the book, replaced by Torunn Gronbek. Once her run ended, Al Ewing joined the character with Immortal Thor, going hard with the Norse mythology elements of the character, and it was a hit. The book ended with #25 and came back as the excellent Mortal Thor, telling the story of what happened to the god after his death.

Mortal Thor takes classic elements of the character, but goes in new directions with them. This approach is also what has made Captain America and Iron Man work in 2026. Captain America is fantastic issue after issue, writer Chip Zdarsky taking readers back to when Cap was first unfrozen and then bringing them to the present day, with the book playing a major role in the next big Marvel story. Iron Man is going in a more classic direction, with writer Josh Williamson going back to a well that creators haven’t gone to in ages for awesome stories.

All three of these books are taking the concepts of the characters and taking them in new directions. Mortal Thor is yet another story about Thor dying and coming back, but it does it completely differently. Captain America is all about the soldier superhero working with the military and superheroes, and it’s using real-world issues and events to inform its stories. Iron Man is just good old-fashioned Marvel superhero brilliance, something that hasn’t really done with the character in a long time – no gimmicks, just solid storytelling that uses the best parts of the character. All three of them have superstar writer and artist teams.

Marvel is in a funk right now for several reasons, but one of the biggest is that too little of the line has been doing anything different. The X-Men and Spider-Man books are held rigidly in stasis right now, the Avengers are just doing the same old stuff, and the legions of lower level titles are just there. Captain America, Iron Man, and Mortal Thor are all moving the characters in new directions. Fans want more of that and not just holding things in stasis until the next bit of MCU synergy comes down the pipe. These three books have dynamic stories that pay homage to what always worked, but are each doing something new.

Marvel Needs More Books Like These Three

Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor were never the bestselling characters in the comics, but they were always important. They formed a nucleus around which the rest of the heroes orbited. They became superstars because of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but have always sold less comics than Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, or the X-Men. They were rarely pushed as the biggest parts of the line and rarely got the best creative teams (nothing against the ones they’ve had, but the books usually didn’t get the A-list creators).

However, right now, all three books are being pushed and have amazing creative teams. They’re easily the best superhero books that Marvel is putting out. They’re all redefining who the characters are, using the cores of them to take them in new directions. Their books are exciting again, and that excitement is missing from the rest of Marvel’s line. The House of Ideas needs more books like these. Marvel’s Trinity is at the top for the first time in a while, and it’s awesome.

What do you think about Cap, Iron Man, and Thor right now? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

10 Longest Running Marvel Comics Series