Welcome to the Comic Book Herald Complete Marvel Reading Order Guide. Some quick words of explanation that should help answer the most frequent questions.
In the years I’ve worked editing and updating this guide, I’ve focused primarily on the modern era of comics from the late 90’s through the 2000’s. If you’re interested in every year of Marvel, I recommend ‘My Marvelous Year‘ the Comic Book Herald reading club that takes you through every single of year of Marvel comics. You can also check out the individual character reading orders below for a quick dive into a favorite (or new favorite!). For the most part the list below is for the Marvel Universe around the launch of Marvel Knights and up through present day.
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Otherwise, I believe the list is largely easy to follow. If you have questions, or guides you’d like to see, let me hear about it here.
This list is continually updated as new events occur, and as new trades are released, so if you’re interested in the power of reading your Marvel books in a chrono-logical order, you can subscribe to the Comic Book Herald Reading Club newsletter. This way you’ll be the first to know when the guide is updated! Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!
Image copyright Marvel ComicsFast Tracks & Other Reading Lists
* 1961 to 2000 Essential 25 Trade Collections Fast Track *
* 2000 – 2012 Essential 25 Trade Collections Fast Track *
* The Best 100 Marvel Stories From 1998 to 2015 *
* Marvel Cosmic Comics From 1963 to Present *
Dave’s Note: You do not need to read Star Wars comics as part of the Marvel reading order, and vice versa! That said, Marvel Unlimited offers a GREAT selection of Star Wars comics.
* Marvel Ultimate Universe (2000 – 2015) + Marvel Ultimate Universe 2 (2023 – ) *
Dave’s Note: Important for new readers to know that Marvel in the 2000’s has two primary Universes. You have Earth-616, which is the main continuity that began all the way back in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1 (links below). And then you have the brand new Earth-1610 (the Ultimate Universe) which was launched to reimagine Marvel for the 2000’s (link above). They do not need to be read together, and only rarely cross over!
Marvel Earth-616 (Full Main Universe Continuity)
* Early 2000s Until Avengers Disassembled *
* Avengers Disassembled and Tie-Ins (July 2004 – Jan 2005) *
* When Should I Read Secret War? *
* Comics Getting You From Disassembled to House of M (July 2004 – December 2005) *
* House of M and Tie-Ins (2005) *
* Decimation and Tie-Ins (2006) *
* Comics Getting You From House of M to Civil War (Nov ’05 – July ’06) *
* Read Spider-Man: The Other Crossover *
* What about Marvel Cosmic? (Annihilation Goes Here) *
* Civil War and Tie-Ins (July 2006 – Jan 2007) *
* Comics Getting You From Civil War to Secret Invasion (Dec 2006 – June 2008)
* Read Silent War *
* World War Hulk and Tie-Ins (July 2007 – Jan 2008) *
* World War Hulk: Aftersmash – Red Hulk, Skaar & Hercules *
* X-Men Events Fast Track (2007 to 2012) *
* Secret Invasion and Tie-Ins (June 2008 – Jan 2009) *
* Comics Getting You From Secret Invasion to Dark Reign (June 2008 – Dec 2008) *
* Dark Reign and Tie-Ins (Dec 2008 – Dec 2009) *
* Fall of the Hulks & World War Hulks (Dec 2009 – August 2010) *
* Comics Getting You From Dark Reign to Siege (Dec 2008 to Dec 2009) *
* Siege and Tie-Ins (Dec 2009 – May 2010) *
* Comics Getting You From Siege to the Heroic Age (Jan 2010 – May 2010) *
* The Heroic Age and Tie-Ins (May 2010 – November 2010) *
* Shadowland (Daredevil) and Tie-Ins (July 2010 – Dec 2010) *
* Chaos War and Tie-Ins (Oct 2010 – March 2011) *
* Comics Getting You From Heroic Age to Fear Itself (May 2010 – April 2011) *
*Fear Itself, Shattered Heroes, and Tie-Ins (April 2011 – April 2012) *
* Comics Getting You From Fear Itself to Avengers vs. X-Men (April 2011 – April 2012) *
* Avengers Vs. X-Men and Tie-Ins (April 2012 – Sept 2012) *
* Comics Getting You From Avengers vs. X-Men to Marvel NOW! (April 2012 – October 2012) *
* Marvel NOW! Reading Order (October 2012 – 2015 ) *
Dave’s Note: The Marvel NOW! reading order includes every Marvel comic from AvX Aftermath, Marvel NOW!, All-New Marvel NOW!, and series launched in 2015 leading up to Secret Wars. It is inclusive of below events, and is quite possibly the only guide you’ll ever need. I blacked out for like 3 weeks and this is what happened. I also have a Marvel NOW! fast track for the essentials only.
* Age of Ultron (March 2013 – June 2013) *
* Infinity and Tie-Ins (Aug 2013 – Dec 2013) *
* Original Sin and Tie-Ins (March 2014 – September 2014) *
* Death of Wolverine & Tie-Ins (September 2014 – 2015) *
* Axis and Tie-Ins (September 2014 – December 2014 ) *
* Spider-Verse and Tie-Ins (September 2014 – February 2015) *
* Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex (January 2015 – ) *
* Secret Wars: From The Original to Present Day (1984 – 2015) *
* Secret Wars to Marvel Legacy Fast Track (2015 to 2017) *
Dave’s Note: The All-New All-Different and Marvel Now 2.0 era of Marvel Comics is controversial, divisive, and at the end of the day, just a general downward slope from 2015’s Secret Wars. Nonetheless, there are still very good comics produced during this time, and I’ve provided a link above to the 20 essential reads getting you from Secret Wars to October 2017’s Marvel Legacy!
* All-New All-Different Marvel * (October 2015 – May 2016 )
*Avengers: Standoff!* (Mar 2016 – April 2016)
*X-Men: Apocalypse Wars* (Mar 2016 – June 2016)
* Civil War 2 * (May 2016 – December 2016)
* Spider-Man: Clone Conspiracy (October 2016 – February 2017) *
* Inhumans vs. X-Men (December 2016 – March 2017)
* Marvel Now 2.0 (October 2016 – October 2017 ) *
* Monsters Unleashed (January 2017 – March 2017) *
* Secret Empire (April 2017 – September 2017 ) *
* X-Men: ResurreXion (April 2017 – October 2017 ) *
* Venomverse (July 2017 – October 2017) *
* Generations (July 2017 – October 2017) *
* Marvel Legacy (October 2017 – April 2018) *
* Infinity Countdown + Infinity Wars (February 2018 – December 2018) *
* Marvel Damnation (February 2018 – May 2018) *
* Hunt for Wolverine (Jan 2018 – February 2019) *
* Fresh Start Pt. 1 (May 2018 – 2021) *
* Marvel Fresh Start Fast Track! (May 2018 – ) *
* X-Men Extermination (August 2018 – December 2018) *
* Spider-Geddon (September 2018 – December 2018) *
* Age of X-Man (February 2019 – May 2019) *
* The War of the Realms (April 2019 – July 2019) *
* Hickman X-Men (July 2019 – ) *
* Absolute Carnage (August 2019 – December 2019) *
* Iron Man 2020 (January 2020 – February 2020) *
* Empyre (July 2020 – August 2020 ) *
* X-Men: X of Swords (September 2020 – November 2020) *
* King in Black (December 2020 – February 2021) *
* Reign of X (December 2020 – ) *
* Heroes Reborn (April 2021 – June 2021) *
* Infinite Destinies (Summer 2021) *
* The Last Annihilation (July 2021 – September 2021) *
* X-Men Inferno (September 2021 – December 2021) *
* The Death of Doctor Strange (October 2021 – January 2022) *
* Complete Fresh Start Pt. 2 (2022 – ) *
* Devil’s Reign (January 2022 – April 2022) *
* Reckoning War (February 2022 – July 2022) *
* Judgment Day (May – November 2022) *
* Dark Web (Fall 2022 – Jan 2023 ) *
* Sins of Sinister (January 2023 – April 2023 ) *
* X-Men: Fall of X (May 2023 – ) *
* Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X (Jan – June 2024) *
* Blood Hunt (May 2024 – July 2024) *
* One World Under Doom (2025) *
Image copyright Marvel ComicsIndividual Character/Team Guides
Brian Michael Bendis Marvel-Verse (2000 to 2018)
Donny Cates’ Marvel Universe Reading Order
Hawkeye (Clint Barton, Kate Bishop)
Infinity Trilogy (Gauntlet, War, Crusade)
Jonathan Hickman’s Marvel-Verse (2008 to 2016)
Ms. Marvel (All)
Original Graphic Novels (OGNs)
The X-Men (Modern Era) — Modern X-Men Event Fast Track
The X-Men (Chris Claremont Era)
Notice: Comic Book Herald is not in any way associated with Marvel Comics. The site has never even been to New York. This guide is simply my personal attempt to catalog their materials for avid readers like myself. For official Marvel products and opinions, you can visit their website at Marvel.com.
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