Marvel didn’t create the superhero, but many feel that they perfected them. Marvel brought some realism to their heroes, allowing readers to see themselves in their favorite heroes. While an argument can be made that DC Comics has put out better comics in total than Marvel, Marvel has still given readers some of the greatest moments in comics. Marvel has given us amazing heroes and villains, and their stories have changed the way the world looks at superheroes. Marvel has created some moments in comic history that can’t be matched, and those moments have been absorbed into the greater pop culture because of shows like X-Men: The Animated Series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Over the years, I’ve witnessed some amazing things in Marvel comics. There are so many moments that have stuck with me over the years, and I’m sure it’s the same for other readers as well. Marvel has created a lot of special moments, and they’ve been able to leave their marks on all of the publisher’s fans. Some moments are easier to get over then others, but there have been some things that happened in Marvel that have resonated across the decades. There are moments that every Marvel fan has been affected by, and some of those moments we still haven’t gotten over. These seven Marvel moments have stuck with fans, both in positive and negative ways.
7) The End of Peter and Mary Jane’s Marriage from “One More Day”
“One More Day” is widely considered the worst Marvel story, and it’s given us one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of the Marvel Universe. Aunt May was accidentally shot by an assassin when Kingpin was trying to kill Spider-Man after the hero revealed his identity in Civil War. Spider-Man did everything he could to heal Aunt May, going to Doctor Strange and even Iron Man for help (the two of them weren’t friends anymore). In the end, Peter went to Mephisto to ask for help and the devil agreed, but demanded the marriage of Peter and MJ. They agreed, and Marvel made one of their worst decisions ever. I grew up with the marriage between Peter and MJ; it gave me hope that a nerdy loser like Peter could get with someone like MJ. Their love was amazing to me, and many other fans, so Marvel editorial’s hatred of the marriage has never made sense to me. They decided that Spider-Man would be more popular as a single loser, like he was when they were younger, and so they took away something that most loved. Since then, Spider-Man comics have never been the same, and fans have let their outrage be known in the ensuing years.
6) The Death of Jean Grey in “The Dark Phoenix Saga”
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is a Marvel classic, and it was the story that truly made the X-Men into stars. Jean Grey, thanks to the machinations of the Mastermind and the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle, falls to darkness and becomes the Dark Phoenix. She beats her friends and flies off, destroying a star and killing billions. The X-Men, desperate to save their friend, come up with a plan and when Dark Phoenix returns, they are able to get their friend back. However, she is forced to answer for her crimes by the Shi’Ar Empire. The X-Men have a trial by combat and lose. Jean, knowing that the return of the Phoenix could mean the destruction of the universe, ends her own life. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is a story that is full of emotion, capped off by this moment. She says goodbye to her love, and then kills herself for the fate of everything. Jean Grey has been resurrected and been killed several times since this moment, and has been through a lot of Phoenix shenanigans. However, this moment is still one of the most sad in the history of the Marvel Universe. It’s a moment unlike any other we had experienced up to that point, and it’s never been matched even over 40 years later.
5) Ultimatum
As you may have noticed, not all of these moments are going to be ones that are sad or touching. With that in mind, it’s time to talk about Ultimatum, by Jeph Loeb and David Finch. Ultimatum is a story full of death and destruction, and there are a lot of very tragic deaths in this story. However, that’s not why I’m not over it. I’m not over it because it was one of the worst decisions that could have ever been made in Marvel history. The original Ultimate Universe wasn’t perfect and maybe went a little too far with the grim violence, but Ultimatum took this to a ridiculous extent. It was mean-spirited in the extreme, and basically took the potential of a lot of charactera and threw it away. There’s nothing wrong with rebooting superhero universes and such, but there is something wrong with a story like this. It’s sad and depressing that Marvel would ever allow a story like this to happen, and it really makes me question the leadership of late ’00s Marvel.
4) The Depowering of the Mutant Race from House of M
House of M is a terrible event book, a long boring slog that should have been so much better. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel, this story took place in an alternate universe where mutants were the dominant species. This was all because of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, who were trying to stop the heroes from killing Scarlet Witch. There’s a battle and Scarlet Witch confronts Magneto, blaming him for all of her problems (honestly, that’s pretty valid; Magneto’s action played a huge role in Scarlet Witch’s mania). So, in order to solve the problem, Scarlet Witch says three words — “No more mutants.” Scarlet Witch depowering the mutant race is a huge moment in the history of the Marvel Universe. Marvel wanted to push their non-mutant heroes, and the only way they could think of doing this was by pushing them into their own little corner and getting rid of many mutants. As an X-Men fan, this is the moment I point at when I’m talking about the fall of the X-Men from Marvel’s grace and it’s had a huge affect on the X-Men comics ever since. While it’s been undone for over a decade, it’s still a moment that no X-Men fan has forgotten, one that we still all look at with enmity.
3) Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver No Longer Being Magneto’s Children
Speaking of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, let’s talk about one of the most mystifying moments in their history. Back in the day, the parents of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were a big mystery and we eventually found out that Magneto was their father. It all made sense, and it created one of the weirdest family dynamics in the Marvel Universe. However, Marvel’s lack of the X-Men’s film rights and their continued marginalization of the mutants, combined with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s debut in the MCU, saw Marvel make the worst decision they could. They revealed that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver weren’t Magneto’s children. This took away a huge part of all of their characters and instead of replacing it with something that was not nearly as cool, Marvel didn’t do anything interesting with it. It’s one of those moments where you have to wonder why they didn’t make some kind of plan to replace it with something just as iconic. Fans want Marvel to undo this moment — Marvel now has the film rights back, so there’s no reason to keep this retcon extant — but for some reason, this is still infuriatingly canon.
2) Jonathan Hickman Leaving the X-Men Books
This isn’t technically a comic moment, or really even a moment, but like many X-Men fans I’ve never gotten over Jonathan Hickman leaving the X-Men books. The X-Men’s Krakoa Era was brilliant and made X-Men fans actually excited again for the books. Hickman had a plan for the X-Men books, but that plan would get changed as the other X-Men writers worked with Hickman. Eventually, Hickman’s ideas just couldn’t work anymore, and he left the books. At the time, there was a lot of talk about how amicable it was, but more recent interviews with Hickman have revealed that he wasn’t as happy with the situation as it once seemed. Now, this whole thing wouldn’t have been a problem if Marvel had stuck the landing of the Krakoa Era, but they didn’t. Despite the efforts of creators like Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, Simon Spurrier, and Benjamin Percy, the Krakoa Era ended terribly. We’ll never know just what we would have gotten, and it’s something that I’ll never get over.
1) Iron Man’s Betrayal in Civil War
Civil War was a massive change for the Marvel Universe, and it was defined by one central conflict — Iron Man versus Captain America. Iron Man sided with the US government, fighting for the Superhero Registration Act, with Captain America going in the opposite direction. Iron Man embraced fascism and went hard after his friends, using every dirty trick he could to hurt the heroes who didn’t want to follow him. Bill Foster, known as Goliath, was killed, and Iron Man completely threw away his friendship with Captain America. Iron Man has never really made up for it in my eyes. He decided that his way was the best way and instead of working with Cap to find a middle ground, the two of them using their prestige and influence to find another way, Iron Man chose violence. Iron Man did what no villain had ever done — he broke the superhero community.
What Marvel moments are you not over? Sound off in the comments below.
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