Seventeen Stories For New Avengers Fans

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Ok, you’ve just come from seeing The Avengers and have helped make it one of the top grossing flicks ever. You’ve also been watching the movies that lead up to it, but you still want to know a bit about these characters. What are some of the best stories to read in the decades- long history of the heroes from Marvel and Timely comics? Well, this is a listing of some of their better storylines from over the years. To a newcomer, it may be a bit overwhelming as there are more than a few of them, but that’s ok. You don’t have to read and collect these all at once. Just grab them at your leisure and learn what struggles and deeds have made these heroes so iconic.

1. Essential Avengers – For decades, comic fans have worshipped Marvel comics creators such as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Now see why as the iconic characters you came to like in the recent Marvel movies are brought together for the first time in the 60s. It was a different time and so writing and art styles are probably not what folks in 2012 are used to, but these characters still remain fresh in the minds of many comic readers and are timeless to them. So study up on that history, true believers, learn why you might hear comic fans mention characters like Ant Man and The Wasp, watch them face the likes of Baron Zemo and Loki… and most of all, have some accessible old school fun!

2. The Ultimates 1-2 – In the early 2000s, Marvel created a universe outside of their normal timeline called the Ultimate universe as it were with Ultimate Spider-Man. Basically this was a new take on somewhat familiar heroes and their stories. The Ultimates is a re-imagining of The Avengers with modern world ideas and more militaristic settings. Some of the heroes like Captain America (whose hellified final WW2 mission is the focus of the first story) remain more or less the same. Others like Tony Stark (who has a bigger brain than you can possibly imagine), Hawkeye (AKA Agent Barton), and The Hulk have more radical revisions. (If this were written by Sigmund Freud, Hulk would be one big ‘Id’, totally unrestrained.) Also, see why Samuel L. Jackson wound up being cast as Nick Fury in the recent Marvel films. The action gets rather intense and all the heroes get awesome moments (and suffer somewhat terrible lows) in both stories. Oh, did we mention the unconventional direction Thor’s feud with Loki takes? Yeah, pretty good stuff there.

3. Planet Hulk / World War Hulk – Writer Greg Pak devised some crazy times for ole Greenskin while the events of Marvel’s mega crossover Civil War took place, and poor Hulk… well, Planet Hulk starts off with Iron Man, Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four), Black Bolt (leader of The Inhumans), and Doctor Strange all conspiring to get rid of The Incredible Hulk by dumping him on a distant planet where he could live out his life and harm no one else. Thing is, he winds up on a different planet where he’s tossed into arenas, made a gladiatorial slave, and winds up on this Conan–styled adventure. Things work out to a degree until he is made so angry, he returns for vengeance in World War Hulk. He takes the slow way back to Earth and since the madder he gets, the stronger he gets….. um yeah. LOTS of butt kicking ensues and thanks to some really good artwork by Carlo Pagulayan and John Romita Jr, the results are devastating.

4. Captain America: Winter Soldier / Red Menace / Omnibus – For fifty years, the Russians / Soviets have had a mysterious operative called The Winter Soldier who’s been used to execute the most impossible missions, and he’s prevailed every time. Captain America winds up on his trail while investigating the murder of The Red Skull, and comes to face the likes of Hydra, A.I.M., the ruthless Russian General Alexander Lukin, and Sin, the daughter of the Red Kull, who is driven thoroughly insane by the brutal Crossbones. Most importantly though Steve must endure personal torment when he faces off against the Winter Soldier himself, in a series which propelled writer Ed Brubaker to the top as one of the comic industry’s best modern storytellers.

5. Iron Man: Demon In A Bottle – in the late 70s / early 80s, writers David Michelinie and Bob Layton decided a man as perfect as Tony Stark with millions, women friends and fun lifestyle, needed a greater menace than any supervillain could provide, and decided on alcoholism. This happens as we are introduced to competitive arms dealer Justin Hammer, who employs deadly malfunctions of the Iron Man armor while providing resources to many of his villains. This storyline was the start of Tony’s battle with alcohol for years to come, though the true effects wouldn’t be realized until later when Obadiah Stane used this weakness to utterly destroy Tony. Unfortunately, those issues written by Denny O’Neill haven’t been collected into any form of trades for whatever reason (except for the last few in a book called Iron Man: The Iron Monger), but if you want to read this compelling storyline after finishing Demon, pick up the first run of Invincible Iron Man #160-200, which also gave Jim Rhodes his first taste of action in the armor.

6. Iron Man: Prelude to Armor Wars / The Armor Wars – One of the character’s most defining story arcs had Tony turn rogue after finding out that Justin Hammer (the villain in Iron Man 2) has sold stolen technology used in the Iron Man armor to various people around the world. Feeling guilty for the harm his tech has caused to innocents, Tony sets out to destroy that technology be it in the hands of foes or friends. This quest costs him greatly on personal and professional levels and leads Tony to question his future as Iron Man. Great action and artwork.

7. The Invincible Iron Man: The Five Nightmares – After the Iron Man movie was released in 2008, writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larocca worked to merge elements from the film with the mainstream comic so that newer readers could relate to this character and the results were amazing. At this point, Tony Stark is the director of SHIELD and he’s dealing with a major problem in Ezekiel Stane, an evil prodigy who wants to finish what his father Obadiah started by using a destructive new technology designed to make the Iron Man obsolete, killing thousands in the process. The battles take their toll on Stark and cause a major change for one of his closest friends.

8. Captain America: The Captain – One of the better story arcs was written during the 80s by Mark Gruenwald. A mysterious government commission calls Cap and tells him that they want him to take special black ops missions from them permanently and to stop being a superhero. Steve deliberates and ultimately resigns as Captain America, and soon a character named John Walker (also known as USAgent) is given the costume and shield. This sets up a really good arc as Steve gets help from Tony Stark and is outfitted as a new hero called The Captain. Much patriotism and betrayal ensues as Steve Rogers must persevere to remind readers why being true to the American ideal is more important than any one group’s agenda.

9. The Mighty Thor – Visionaries: Walter Simonson – For several years during the 80s, Walt Simonson wrote and drew some of Asgard’s most astonishing tales, such as The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill, in which Thor battles an alien who is able to lift Thor’s hammer. There’s a goofy storyline in which Thor is turned into a frog and he makes new friends in the sewers. There’s also the heartwrenching final stand of Skurge The Executioner, as well as Odin’s awe-inspiring battle against Surtur, and interesting machinations by Loki, The Frost Giants, and Hel The goddess of Death, which lead to Thor’s fated battle against Jormungand – The World Serpent. This is considered one of if not the absolute best runs for the character. If it’s more convenient to get the separate trade collections, go ahead and grab those but the single coffee-table tome is equally great to flip through.

10. The Incredible Hulk – Visionaries: Peter David – For 14 years, this man wrote The Incredible Hulk and gave readers one heck of a compelling character. In dealing with Bruce Banner’s battles with and against his alter ego, we see how these battles take their toll on his relationship with Betty Ross, his friendship with Rick Jones and varying incarnations of the behemoth himself, who at one point becomes a crafty grey skinned mob enforcer named Mr. Fixit, as well as an out-of control example of green savage fury. His eventual psychiatrist Doctor Leonard Samson (yes, the guy Betty dated in the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk movie) figured out The Hulk is one gigantic multiple personality disorder and managed to help combine the personas into a green-skinned powerhouse with Banner’s personality and the grey Hulk’s craftiness, which made for even more interesting (and sometimes funny) adventures as Hulk began to work with a mysterious organization of super humans called The Pantheon. There are currently 8 volumes of these trades with more to follow. Check ‘em out for some hellified action that gave rise to artists such as Todd McFarlane (Spawn) and Dale Keown.

11. The Incredible Hulk – The End / Future Imperfect – This GN combines two different stories (both written by Peter David) about the Hulk’s possible final days. Future Imperfect finds him 90 years in a post-apocalyptic world where he’s traveled through time to stop a green-skinned dictator called The Maestro who rules (what’s left of) humanity in a cruel fashion with no Marvel heroes to stop him, except one amazingly old man who concocts a daring plan. As to The End, Doctor Bruce Banner is the last man on Earth, and he’s not alone. The universe awaits the final word on humanity’s legend as the good doctor finds he can’t stop living, because his alter ego won’t let him, even with the nightmarish horrors he must periodically face.

12. The Mighty Thor – J. Michael Straczinsky, Oliver Copiel / Kieron Gillen – This was done after the Avengers: Dissasembled story arc that saw Thor and Asgard perish after Ragnarok. He’s reawakened and begins rebuilding his home (one foot above open land in Oklahoma) while reviving his friends and family in the process (even some unwanted ones). He manages to re-combine with his alter ego of Dr. Donald Blake and sets into crazy schemes and battles against his brother Loki, Latveria’s monarch Doctor Doom and several others. Writer J. Michael Straczinsky (creator of the sci-fi series Babylon 5) created an interesting set of storylines before leaving the series, for which Kieron Gillen wrote a pretty satisfying conclusion. If you manage to grab both of their collections, you’ll be in for some thoughtful Norse-inspired Marvel mayhem.

13. The Kree -Skrull War / The Life and Death of Captain Marvel /Marvel Masterworks: Warlock Vol. 2 – In the 70s and 80s, The works of legendary creators Roy Thomas, Jim Starlin, Sal Buscema and Neal Adams (among others) showcased The Avengers on a cosmic scale as they’ve wound up having to save Earth from alien races trying to kill each other and possibly destroying humanity in the process. Two unlikely heroes emerge named Captain Mar-vell, and Adam Warlock, whose heroic (yet tragic) exploits involve all the Marvel heroes at one point or another, eventually coming to a head against the death-loving Titan known as Thanos. These stories set up much of The Avengers’ place in the universe for years to come.

14. The Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos / The Thanos Quest / The Infinity Gauntlet – During the 90s, Jim Starlin continued to do cosmic based stories, focusing on The Silver Surfer (former herald of Galactus who was recently freed from being imprisoned on Earth). Eventually, he’s witness to Death (who’s a physical entity in the Marvel universe) deciding that there’s an overabundance of life. To that end, she resurrects the one being who’s always served her faithfully for a seemingly never ending mission: eliminate half the population in the galaxy. Unfortunately for everyone, Thanos acquires and assembles six mystic gems into a single Infinity Gauntlet, which gives it wearer the power of a god. The Surfer book sets things up for new readers, while The Infinity Gauntlet story itself depicts awesome action and high tension with even higher stakes, as all of Earth’s heroes (including what’s left of The Avengers) must face a nihilist with unlimited power (which sharp-eyed viewers may notice is sitting in the halls of Asgard during the Thor movie).

15. Avengers Forever – A longtime fixture among the Avengers is Rick Jones, an ordinary human who has helped the heroes many times in addition to traveling as a sidekick for Captain Marvel, Captain America, and most notably The Incredible Hulk. So when a futuristic villain named Immortus decides to try and kill Rick, various Avengers are plucked from the timestream to help save the day in what was a truly epic storyline that became a major turning point for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Writer Kurt Busiek (Astro City) wove a tale from many of their greatest moments for a hell of an experience.

16. The Avengers: Assemble (Kurt Busiek, George Perez) – Soon after the events of Heroes Reborn (where The team was sent into an alternate universe and presumed dead), Captain America calls upon EVERY Marvel hero who was ever an Avenger up to that point, because of dire warnings from an exhausted, battle-weary Thor. The ensuing battles have the team battle the reality changing sorceress Morgana Le Fay. Eventually, a final roster is set (with two new and enthusiastic heroes joining in) and the Avengers set out against some of their most terrible enemies during Busiek & Perez’s run. One chilling moment has them take on the ever-evolving A.I. known as Ultron who begins his plans by murdering every man woman and child in an eastern European country. This run is available in 5 volumes and makes for great reading.

17. Astonishing X-Men Trade /Omnibus – Yes, I stuck an X-Men title on here and no these characters didn’t appear on The Avengers movie (thanks to Marvel’s deal with Fox). However, this was a title that the movie’s director and screenwriter Joss Whedon got to start up and write for two years. There’s not much need to know the backstory on the X-Men at this particular point in time, and he makes characters such as Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Kitty Pride, and Emma Frost very accessible, while throwing in a surprise or two for longtime X-Men fans. There was some great characterization, humor and action which made many movie fans super-excited upon hearing the news that Whedon was going to helm the Avengers movie. See how the Buffy / Firefly creator was able to win comic fans over with his skill and knowledge of comic lore.