Marvel Comics is the biggest purveyor of event comics, and it makes sense. DC does events as well, and laid the groundwork for them with their Silver Age multiversal crossovers, but the House of Ideas created the modern event comic with series like Marvel Super Heroes: Contest of Champions and Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars. The publisher kept experimenting with the event comic form throughout the ’80s, doing everything from crossover events to annual issue-focused events, and in the ’00s the publisher kicked off their event cycle, creating some of the most popular event comics of all time. Since then, they’ve started doing numerous events a year, and the quality varies wildly.
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There are some Marvel events that everyone knows and they get praised (or jeered) as much as they deserve. However, there are numerous events that don’t get the love or credit that they should. These ten Marvel events are the most underrated, each of them better than they get credit for.
10) AXIS
Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 1) was an Avengers classic, and it built up to this event. Avengers vs. X-Men: AXIS, by Rick Remender, Adam Kubert, Leinil Yu, Terrydodson, and Jim Cheung saw the Avengers, X-Men, and villains team up to battle Red Onslaught, the Red Skull with Professor X’s mental powers transformed into the ultimate villain of mid ’90s Marvel. A last ditch plan changes everything and leads to another conflict unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. This book has been maligned for years for various reasons, but reading it in a vacuum reveals a fun superhero yarn. It’s just big dumb spectacle, and it’s honestly a lot of fun.
9) Marvel: The End
Marvel: The End, by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom, saw the Starlin return to Thanos to tell a story that truly ends the Marvel Universe. Egyptian pharaoh turned cosmic godlike entity Akhenatan attacks the Earth, with Thanos trying to figure out how to sto himp from destroying everything as the heroes do their best to fight against the godlike being. This story is the kind of big spectacle that you expect from the guy who wrote Infinity Gauntlet, and it even had a pretty big effect on the ’00s Marvel Universe that most fans don’t even realize. It’s a forgotten classic.
8) “The Twelve”
The ’90s belonged to the X-Men, and the mutants ended the 20th century with a bang. “The Twelve” had been built up over 1998 and 1999 in X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, and ran through those two books, Wolverine, and X-Man at end of ’99. Apocalypse makes his final attack on the world, trying to gather the Twelve, a dozen mutants who can make him into a god, so he can take his place as ruler of the Earth. This story gets a lot of flack, but it’s honestly a really fun X-story that pays off numerous ’90s plots, and ended the team’s greatest decade in style.
7) Secret War
2004’s Secret War, by Brian Michael Bendis and Gabrielle del’Otto, is one of the most important events in Marvel history and most fans don’t even realize it. This was the first event of Marvel’s ’00s event cycle, beginning a story that would run across New Avengers, Civil War, The Mighty Avengers, and Secret Invasion. As an army of upgraded tech villains start attacking several heroes, they begin to regain memories of a battle in Latveria that none of them remembered until then. This is a Bendis event, so it’s more about the drama than the action, but its short length doesn’t allow him to waste as much page space as he would in other longer events. The painted art by dell’Otto is gorgeous; it meant that the book didn’t come out monthly, but it gives the story an amazing visual identity.
6) X Lives of Wolverine
X Lives of Wolverine, by Benjamin Percy and Joshua Cassara, was the first X-Men comic after Jonathan Hickman left the X-office during the Krakoa Era. It was the sister book of X Deaths of Wolverine, and this one told the story of Wolverine sent back in time by Xavier and Jean Grey to stop a time-traveling Omega Red from killing Xavier in the past. This is peak Wolverine goodness, full of awesome fights and cool moments from his history. Percy is a brilliant Wolverine writer, so he nails the character, and Cassara’s art is amazing. X Deaths is maligned, and X Lives often gets tarred with the same brush, but if you love Wolvie, this is the event for you.
5) A.X.E. Judgment Day
2022’s A.X.E. Judgment Day, by Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti, could have been a disaster. It was advertised as a battle between the Avengers, X-Men, and the Eternals, yet another event where heroes fight each other, and even Gillen’s fans groaned that he had been forced to write it. However, the writer had a shock for readers. This book dealt with the Eternals, now under the command of Druig, attacking the mutant nation of Krakoa, believing them to be related to the Deviants. The Avengers try to mitigate the damage, but their solution starts a whole new conflict. This story goes one way and then turns brilliantly, giving readers a tale they never expected. Gillen’s script is a treasure and when you add in Schiti’s amazing art, you get Marvel event perfection.
4) Infinity
Jonathan Hickman’s run on Avengers gave readers Secret Wars in 2015, but there’s another event from his run that is also awesome. Infinity, by Hickman, Jim Cheung, Jerome Opena, and Dustin Weaver, saw the Avengers get involved in an intergalactic war as the Builders return to kill every race in the universe while the Illuminati deal with an attack on Earth by Thanos. This is a fantastic melding of a sci-fi war in the stars with amazing superhero action, buoyed by great writing and awesome art. The Avengers and New Avengers tie-ins are also awesome, and sold in the event’s collected edition, fleshing out the story perfectly.
3) Avengers vs. X-Men
Avengers vs. X-Men has aged beautifully. The 12-issue event from Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel, and Adam Kubert pit the two teams against each other as the Phoenix Force approaches Earth, with Cyclops wanting to try to use it to help mutants, and the Avengers not wanting something so dangerous under his control. This story is basically just the creators bashing action figures against each other and that’s what makes it so much fun. The art is fantastic and the writing will keep you glued to the book til the end.
2) Original Sin
Original Sin, by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato, bit off more than it can chew in a lot of ways but it’s still pretty great. The book kicked off with the mystery of the death of the Watcher, with the heroes searching for who did it and his missing eyes, which contained every secret he ever saw. It was supposed to reveal secrets that would change the Marvel Universe forever, but every event promises that. It failed there, but the main event book is honestly a joy to read. Aaron does a fantastic job with this superhero whodunit and Deodato’s art brings it all to life perfectly. The main story is awesome, and that makes up for its lack of impact.
1) Infinity War
Infinty Gauntlet is often considered the best Marvel event by many (partly because some are MCU-only fans and have never actually read the comic), but its sequel Infinity War is actually a better story. Re-teaming the Infinity Gauntlet team of Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, this books tells the story of the return of the evil alternate reality Adam Warlock known as the Magus, with Warlock teaming up with Thanos to stop his plans. This book is a much richer story, dealing with the history of Warlock and Thanos, pulling in characters like Galactus, Doctor Doom, Kang, and the greatest heroes of ’90s Marvel. This is pitch perfect Marvel event storytelling, and more fans need to read it.
What’s you favorite underrated Marvel event? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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