From time to time Outright Geekery brings you a slanted and biased opinion on some trivially specific topic of geekery. We call it Outright Geekery’s Top o’ the Lot.
I’m sure by now some form of social media has informed you, or if you are like me and just read it the old fashion way, you know the Marvel Universe has come to an end by way of Secret Wars #1 last week. Well this week to honor those we lost in the beginning of this event, we here at Outright Geekery are here to countdown the best events of Marvel!
Honorable Mention: Secret Wars(1984)
In lists like these you cannot avoid the nod to the one that really started it all. Secret Wars was unlike any event at the time. In many ways it’s every comic reader’s fantasy. A being beyond all imagination takes the best of Marvel’s heroes and villains and pits them against one another. The original is just plain fun. It may not hold to the standard of events Marvel Readers expect nowadays but it’s so much fun. Jim Shooter writes the story many of us first imagine as kids when we enter this world of heroes and villains, and it’s a prefect introduction to the Marvel mythos. This event lays the framework of many crossovers we have found common place in our Marvel now. Secret Wars paved the way to the absurd, connected the Marvel Universe, and was the original Summer long event you waited patiently for. We take events for granted today, but the original is still a spectacle to behold.
Get Secret Wars
5. Infinity
Before Secret Wars(2015) Jonathan Hickman started the Marvel Universe on a path toward falling apart. Infinity did a great job of putting into perspective where the Avengers place in the 616 Universe really was: the center. As the mysterious Builders begin a warpath towards Earth to destroy the constant center of trouble that infects the entire universe, Thanos has come to collect the head of the last of his living children. This event can be described in a single word for me, glorious. Hickman’s use of his massive Avenger’s roster is not only put to the test but he pulls strings on the Marvel Universe that had not been tugged at in a decade or so. Infinity is a moment in the Marvel Universe where everything felt mortal and nothing felt infinite. All of Infinity simply looks gorgeous, Hickman pulled the best of the best to make sure this entire event looked beautiful. Infinity for me is arguably one of the best Avengers events, and most certainly one of the best Marvel events.
Get Infinity
4. House of M
Not really since Onslaught had both the Avengers and X-men gotten together to face something. House of M is an awesome story told worlds apart about some of our favorite heroes. What if Mutants were the dominant species instead of humans? This event is glorious for those of us who are bigger X-Men fans. This event provided moments that only an X-Fan could understand(OR CRY ABOUT). House of M came at a dark time in the Marvel’s Mutant history and was a light of hope for a moment. It was a totally new moment to see the Avengers at the bottom of the dog pile and acknowledge there are just some things they can’t understand or handle. Brian Michael Bendis knocks out the confusing world Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver must live in being Mutants and being a part of the Avengers instead of the X-Men.
Get House of M
3. Annihilation
The Marvel Universe is massive, and sometimes we all forgot how much it has expanded over the years. Annihilation is that reminder. Annihilation was the Cosmic Marvel characters gathering together to take on the terror that is the Annihilation Wave. Always looming as a terrifying threat, Annihilus has brooded in the shadows. Background noise for many of Marvel Universe’s finest, here he comes to be the premier villain for all those spread throughout the cosmos. Nova, Drax, Starlord, Silver Surfer, Ronan the Accuser, and so many favorites are banded together to take on the wave of destruction that could be the end of all life in the galaxy. This event marks a great chapter in the modern Universe and was overshadowed by the next event in the countdown.
Get Annihilation, Book 1
2. Civil War
If you haven’t heard or read this event you have been avoiding the Marvel Universe for too long. Many would argue with me that this is the best Marvel Event. I will say it is certainly one of the most effective. One of the many status quo changing events the House of Ideas has produced for the 616, Marvel’s Civil War was the eruption of a long time speculated rift between Iron Man and Captain America, the two constant figures in Marvel’s Avengers. With the Superhero Registration Act a reality after a major tragedy, Marvel’s heroes are split down the middle and many readers, like myself, had to ask, “Who’s side are you on?” Hero pinned against hero, and unlike Secret Wars, there was no Beyonder; this wasn’t Battleworld. This was Earth. This was their choice. Civil War changed the way many of us looked at Marvel, especially what could be done within an event that affected the entire 616.
Get Civil War
1. Infinity Gauntlet
I know what you are thinking. Infinity Gauntlet, of all of them! Really? This is an epic that should not be denied its place in the Marvel Universe. Thanos is many things to many of us, but this is the story that defined his character and made him the real Mad Titan. Thanos brought back to life by his lover Death, puts together the Infinity Gauntlet, giving him power over the entire Universe which he uses to render all we understand in the name of love. Jim Starlin solidifies a constant knot in the pit of every Marvel Heroes stomach that Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet is a masterpiece that seems like a tale of old spun in the Marvel Universe. A tale where a mortal can bring the gods to their knees if only for a moment for love. Infinity Gauntlet is a must read for me for any Marvel Reader new or old.
Get Infinity Gauntlet
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