Marvel started pushing the bounds of what a superhero can be almost immediately, and that kicked into overdrive in the Silver Age. Part of the storytelling style that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby pioneered was all about making things more realistic and connected, and creators at the House of Ideas kept that up in the ensuing years. The Bronze Age would see the publisher push anti-heroes and start to tell more mature stories, with the X-Men pushing that further than anyone else from the beginning of their 1974 reboot. Throughout the ’80s, stories got more and more dark, and the publisher was part of the epicenter of grim and gritty comics in the decades to come.
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Marvel has always taken things in some extremely dark directions. They’ve told some pitch black stories, taking readers in directions they never would have guessed. These are the seven darkest Marvel stories ever, and they’ve pushed the bounds of what it means to be a hero in the Marvel Universe.
7) “Days of Future Past”
“Days of Future Past” was a gamechanger, and it made Marvel darker than ever. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” could also be here, but it can’t match the meat grinder that is “DoFP”. This story by Chris Claremont and John Byrne took readers to a future where all the heroes failed and were killed, the Sentinels ruled everything, and mutants and humans alike were held in concentration camps. One of the climaxes of the story involved the surviving X-Men of the future in a hopeless battle against the mutant-hunting robots, with their deaths a focus of the story. It made the dark future trope popular, and allowed every dark story after it to happen.
6) Avengers: Twilight
Avengers: Twilight is peak Avengers, and it is undeniably dark. This story by Chip Zdarksy and Daniel Acuna took readers to a future where the Avengers were killed, heroes were nationalized, the government became fascist, and Captain America’s supersoldier serum was taken away. The story sees him rejoin the fight, and reveal the darkness of their world. This story feels like a plausible dark future, using real world ideas, which makes it a lot scarier in its own way. Finally, the book’s big twist reveals just how dark this story is. Hopeful ending but undeniably dark.
5) Squadron Supreme
Marvel in the ’80s was insane, and it gave readers loads of dark stories. However, the best of them is easily Squadron Supreme, by Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall, John Buscema, and Paul Ryan. This story sees Marvel’s Justice League pastiche decide that the best way to save the world is to institute a benevolent fascist society with them at the center. It’s a story about the greatest heroes of the world trying to do right by doing wrong, and it leads to one of the coolest superhero fights of the ’80s. It doesn’t seem dark on the outside, but it’s pitch black on the inside.
4) Earth X
Earth X is the best of the best, but most people forget it exists. The story by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, and John Paul Jones takes place in a future where everyone mysteriously gained superpowers. As Captain America fails to stop an army led by the mysterious Skull, the Inhumans return to Earth to unravel a mystery they found in space that will change the way you look at the Marvel Universe forever. This story takes the shiny example of the classic Marvel Universe and injects it with the kind of stakes and darkness you never would have gotten in the Silver Age. It was Marvel’s first answer to DC’s Kingdom Come (Avengers: Twilight is the other), and it stands up even 27 years later.
3) Hulk: Future Imperfect
Hulk: Future Imperfect, by Peter David and George Perez, took the Jade Giant to a dark future. The heroes of the world have been defeated, and the world is a wasteland, ruled over by the Maestro. The Hulk learns that at some point in the future, he goes bad, his power enhanced by the radiation from a nuclear war, going on a killing spree among the heroes and villains of the world. It’s the most terrible future for the Hulk, showing just how dangerous he can be when everything human about him is gone.
2) The Last Avengers Story
The Last Avengers Story, by Peter David and Ariel Olivetti, is yet another story that takes place in a dark future (Marvel is lousy with dark futures). In this one, the Avengers have been destroyed over the years in battle with the Hulk, Ultron, and their other foes. However, when Ultron and Kang team up one final time, Hank Pym is forced to bring together a new incarnation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for a seemingly hopeless final battle. This story has all of the trademark dark future grimdark, and has a tragic, bittersweet ending.
1) Ruins
Marvels took readers back to the beginning of the Marvel Universe, focusing on the grandeur of the rise of the superhuman, and a few years later, the publisher released something of a parody of it. Ruins, by Warren Ellis, Terese Nielsen, Cliff Nielsen, and Chris Moeller, follows Marvels star Phillip Seldon on an alternate Marvel Earth were everything goes wrong. Men and women we know and love are twisted into terrible things, their lives ruined by what that made them titans on Earth-616 (mainly radiation; Silver Age Marvel was lousy with radiation). It’s everything bright and shiny about the Marvel Universe ruined, and it’s easily the darkest story from the House of Ideas.
What’s your favorite dark Marvel story? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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