The Green Goblin’s Dark Reign
If your lone exposure to the Green Goblin is Willem Dafoe’s sinister, short-sighted movie version, a Marvel Universe overtaken by good ol’ Gobby might seem like a stretch. Yet in the aftermath of Secret Invasion, the Green Goblin, aka Norman Osborne exacts a systematic political takeover so thorough that superheroes and villains completely reverse roles.
It’s another fantastic concept, one that takes a look at the world of Marvel through the lens of the bad guys on top. With great power comes great responsibility; but what happens when great power is augmented by the power of the people and there’s no responsibility to be found?
Technically speaking, Dark Reign is not another Marvel event. That said it’s a thematically connected segue between Secret Invasion and Siege, and there is without a doubt an order to the reading of these events.
Unlike the issue-by-issue reading lists for Secret Invasion or Civil War, Dark Reign operates in a slightly less connected state. As a result, you can read entire clumps of story arcs at once and not feel like you’re missing much of anything chronologically. This makes trade reading of Dark Reign substantially easier, although there are a LOT of arcs to try and get a handle on.
See below for a complete list by issue & trade reading order. As always, if you have any questions or concerns about this list, I can be reached here.
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Previous: Secret Invasion & Tie-Ins
Dark Reign Trade Collections
You can use the list below, or check out the Comic Book Herald picks for best Dark Reign comics!
- Dark Reign: Accept Change
- Dark Reign: The List
- Collects Osborne’s Hit List issues for the following characters: Spider-Man, Avengers, Daredevil, Hulk, Punisher, Secret Warriors, X-Men, & Wolverine
- Agents of Atlas (vol. 2) #1-5
- The Amazing Spider-Man #595-599
- Avengers: The Initiative #20-25 (seems early) + 26-30
- Black Panther #1-6
- Captain America Reborn #1-6
- Dark Avengers #1-12, Annual #1 + Vol 2
- Dark Avengers: Ares #1-3
- Dark Reign: Elektra #1-5
- Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1-5
- Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1-5
- Dark Reign: The Hood #1-5
- Dark Reign: Lethal Legion #1-3 + Dark Reign: Made Men #1
- Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1-3
- Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man #1-4
- Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1-5
- Dark X-Men #1-5
- Dark Reign: Zodiac #1-3 – out of print
- Dark Wolverine #75-80 + Vol 2
- Deadpool (vol. 2) #6-12
- Incredible Hulk #601-605
- The Incredible Hercules #126-131
- The Invincible Iron Man #8-24 + Vol 3 + Vol 4
- The Mighty Avengers #21-34
- Ms. Marvel (vol. 7) #35-46 + Vol 8
- New Avengers #48-60, Annual #3 + Vol 11 + Vol 12
- New Avengers: The Reunion #1-4
- Punisher #1-10
- Savage She-Hulk #1-4
- Secret Warriors #1-10 Volume 1 + Vol 2
- Skaar: Son of Hulk #11-12
- Skrull Kill Krew #1-5
- Spider-Woman #1-7
- SWORD #1-5
- Thor #600-606 + Thor: Latverian Prometheus
- Thunderbolts #130-131 – trade includes deadpool tie-ins
- Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men Utopia
- War Machine #1-12 + Vol 2
- Wolverine: Origins #31-36
- Vengeance of Moon Knight #1-5
The Complete Issue by Issue Reading Order List
- Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1 (One Shot)
- New Avengers #48
- Thunderbolts #126-127
- Invincible Iron Man #8
- Avengers: The Initiative #20
- Avengers: The Initiative #21-23
- Secret Invasion: Requiem #1 (One Shot)
- New Avengers #049
- Dark Reign Files #1 (One Shot)
- Dark Avengers #1
- Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1-2
- Wolverine Origins #33-36
- Thunderbolts #128-129
- Deadpool #6-7
- Avengers: The Initiative #24
- Deadpool #8
- Thunderbolts #130
- Deadpool #9
- Thunderbolts #131
- Dark Avengers #2-4
- Dark Reign: Young Avengers #3-5
- Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1-5
- Dark Wolverine #75-#77
- Ms. Marvel #35-46
- Dark Reign: Elektra #1-5
- Spider-Woman #1-7
- Captain America #49-50
- Dark Reign: New Nation #1 (One Shot)
- The Skrull Kill Krew #1-5
- New Avengers: The Reunion #1-4
- Secret Warriors #1-6
- Agents of Atlas #1-8
- Black Panther #1-6
- Dark Reign: The Hood #1-5
- Dark Reign: Mr. Negative #1-3
- The Punisher #1-10
- Dark Reign: Zodiac #1-3
- Savage She-Hulk #1-4
- SWORD #1-5
- Vengeance of The Moon Knight #1-5
- War Machine #1-5
- The Mighty Avengers #21-23
- Incredible Hercules #127-128
- MODOK Reign Delay #1 (One Shot)
- Dark Reign: The Goblin Legacy #1 (One Shot)
- Dark Reign: Made Men #1 (One Shot)
- Dark Reign: The Cabal #1 (One Shot)
- Thor #600-603
- Mighty Avengers #24-26
- New Avengers #50-54
- Mighty Avengers #27-#31
- Dark Avengers #5-6
- Captain America #600
- Amazing Spider-Man #595-599
- Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man #1-4
- Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1-5
- Dark Reign: Lethal Legion #1-3
- Dark Wolverine #78-80
- Invincible Iron Man #9-11
- War Machine #6-10
- Avengers: The Initiative #25
- War Machine #11-12
- Invincible Iron Man #12-13
- Avengers: The Initiative #26
- Avengers: The Initiative #27
- Deadpool #10-12
- New Avengers #55-58
- Mighty Avengers #32-33
- Uncanny X-Men Annual #2
- Dark X-men: The Beginning #1-3
- X-Men Legacy #226-227
- Dark Avengers X-Men Utopia #1
- Uncanny X-Men #513
- Dark Avengers #7
- Uncanny X-Men #514
- Dark Avengers #8
- Dark Avengers X-Men Exodus #1
- Dark X-Men: The Confession #1
- Dark Reign The List: X-Men #1
- Dark X-Men #1-5
- Planet Skaar Prologue #1
- Skaar Son of Hulk #11-12 (Skaar vs. Hulk.)
- Hulk #13
- Incredible Hulks #601-603
- Dark Reign The List: Hulk #1
- Incredible Hulk #604-605
- Avengers: The Initiative #28-30
- New Avengers #59-60
- Dark Reign The List: Avengers #1
- New Avengers Annual #3
- Mighty Avengers #34
- Dark Reign The List: Daredevil #1
- Dark Wolverine #81
- Dark Reign The List Wolverine #1
- Dark Avengers Annual #1
- Thunderbolts #132-134
- Secret Warriors #7
- Thunderbolts #135
- Secret Warriors #8
- Thunderbolts #136
- Secret Warriors #9
- Dark Avengers: Ares #1-3
- Dark Reign The List: Secret Warriors #1
- Secret Warriors #10
- Invincible Iron Man #14-17
- Thunderbolts #137
- Dark Reign The List: Punisher #1
- Dark Reign The List: Amazing Spider-Man One-Shot #1
- Invincible Iron Man #18-19
- Dark Avengers 9-12
- Avengers: The Initiative #31
- Thunderbolts #138-140
- Captain America Reborn #1-6
- Invincible Iron Man #20-24
- Thor Giant-Size Finale #1 (One Shot)
- Thor #604-606
- Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield?
Next: Siege & Tie-Ins
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Just finished making my way through this reading list, nearly 300 strong! It wasn’t easy but I’m glad I made it through. Would fully have been impossible without the effort you put into creating this list Dave, so thank you for all of the hard work.
First I have to say this site has removed any anxiety i’ve had about stepping into the comic realm. Because of your trade reading order as well as your individual comic order i’ve been able to enjoy each major event as it was happing with next to no spoilers.
That being said your trade list for this event doesn’t seem to be in order of reading but alphabetical. If i’m wrong and that is the correct order my apologies, it just seems like they wouldn’t be in that perfect of order.
Thank you so so much
Yes, but also this event is much less like an event the same way that Secret Invasion or Siege are events. You can kinda read the trades in whatever order you want and it still works here.
Invincible Iron Man #20-24 isn’t part of Dark Reign, though it does occur at the time.
is it just 8-19, or also 25-33? (first time comic reader, heard this is a good one.)
Captain America: Reborn #1-6 occurs earlier, and isn’t part of the Dark Reign event as I’ve stated before, but that means Thunderbolts #136 does as well, as Scourge’s identity was revealed in that issue, and was unknown during Captain America: Reborn. There’s also no reason for Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield? (which isn’t part of Dark Reign) to not follow on directly from the Reborn series
Avengers: The Initiative #31 is a tie-in for Siege, not for Dark Reign
Dark Avengers #9-12 aren’t actually part of the Dark Reign event, though they do happen at the time.
Also, Dark Avenger #9 deals with Ares finding out about his son’s acting with the Secret Warriors, so Dark Avengers #9-12 should come before Secret Warriors #7-10
New Avengers #59 has Bullseye and Moonstone kissing, but Dark Avengers #10, which came out before it, has them mention her not having done that but planning to, so it’s likely that issue of Dark Avengers comes before the New Avengers one.