Of the Big Two, Marvel has always been the publisher that was considered more mature. DC pulled away from them in the '80s with Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and the Vertigo imprint, but Marvel made up for it, embracing grim and gritty anti-heroes. The peak of edgy Marvel comics came in the '00s, as Marvel took their books in new directions.
Edgy doesn't always mean bad, as some of the best comic stories ever have all used their edginess to push boundaries. Sometimes, it can be entirely too much, though, as many edgy stories go way too far with it.
10 X-Men: Second Coming Is The Height Of The Grimdark X-Men Era
After House Of M, things got very dark for the X-Men and the San Francisco/Utopia era of the X-Men was the height of edgy grimdark X-Men stories. This came to a head with X-Men: Second Coming. Crossing through multiple X-Men books, it pitted the X-Men against Bastion and his Prime Sentinels over the fate of Hope Summers.
The whole story was just dark and violent and killed off Nightcrawler, long the hopeful soul of the X-Men. This story was an example of edgy gone haywire; while the plot played into what was being done in the books at the time, the execution was just way too much.
9 New X-Men: E Is For Extinction Was Cutting Edge
Writer Grant Morrison brought an edgy style to the X-Men with New X-Men: E Is For Extinction, with art by Frank Quitely. They deployed edginess in a different way than others, putting the book on the cutting edge of the comic industry. It was violent, flippant, and full of big ideas, dragging a sometimes staid franchise into the 21st century.
Morrison is an expert at taking edgy content and filtering it through a superhero lens into something very special. E Is For Extinction felt new and vibrant compared to other books on the market, and it still does in a lot of ways. It pushed boundaries over the edge and was better for it.
8 The Last Avengers Story Was A Violent Ending To Earth's Greatest Heroes
In the '90s, Marvel separated its publishing line-up into various "houses" and one of those was the "Alterniverse." Based around What If..., it also published various miniseries set in alternate realities. The best of these edgier takes on the Marvel Universe was The Last Avengers Story, by writer Peter David and artist Ariel Olivetti.
David and Olivetti pitted the future versions of the team against some of their greatest foes, while also using flashbacks to reveal how the Avengers disbanded in the past. It was an edgy story that paid off very well, as only talents like David and Olivetti could pull off.
7 Marvel Zombies Finds The Humor In Horror
The first Marvel Zombies, by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Sean Phillips, was a very surprising comic. Turning the usual superhero zombie narrative on its ear, it casts the heroes as zombies, hating themselves for their actions and yet indulging in their lust for human flesh. It's as edgy as they come but there's a lot more to it than that.
Kirkman injects the proceeding with pathos leavened with the blackest of gallows humor. It's an interesting exercise in edginess; in the hands of a lesser creative team, the story would devolve into parody but it never does.
6 Spider-Man: Reign Was A Marvel Take On The Dark Knight Returns That Went Too Far
Marvel is full of dark alternate timelines, but they don't get much darker than the one portrayed in Spider-Man: Reign, by writer/artist Kaare Andrews. Taking place in a New York City controlled by a fascist municipal authority about to activate a force field around the city called the Web to cut the city off from the outer world in order to ostensibly end crime, it stars a retired Peter Parker as he decides to fight back.
Andrews was definitely doing a Spider-Man version of The Dark Knight Returns, using storytelling methods that Frank Miller did and even changing his art style to match Miller's. The story is very edgy, made even more so when readers discover the secret of the book's portrayal of Mary Jane. It took its edginess too far in places but it's still worthwhile to check it out.
5 Dark Avengers Put Villains Into Familiar Heroic Roles
Marvel's Dark Reign was one of its most fruitful eras in the '00s and its flagship was Dark Avengers, by writers Brian Michael Bendis and Matt Fraction and artists Mike Deodato and Luke Ross. The book followed the exploits of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers, starring Bullseye as Hawkeye, Moonstone as Ms. Marvel, Akihiro as Wolverine, Venom as Spider-Man, Noh-Varr as Captain Marvel, Ares, and the Sentry.
A book starring villains is always going to be edgy, with Bendis and Deodato embracing it. Fraction and Ross took over for a crossover with the X-Men in the middle of the book's run before Bendis and Deodato returned. It's a highlight of Bendis's time at Marvel and a great example of edgy content done right.
4 Mark Millar's Time On Ultimate X-Men Brought An Edgelord Sensibility To The X-Men
Mark Millar's time at Marvel was all about being edgy and nowhere was that more apparent than in his Ultimate X-Men run. Joined by artists Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert, Kaare Andrews, and David Finch, Millar brought the X-Men's origins into the 21st century, embracing the more irreverent tone of his work on The Authority than the more thoughtful Superman: Red Son.
Highlighting some of the most powerful X-Men, Millar adapted classic X-Men stories in his own inimitable way. At times, his style was a bit excessive and his sense of humor in the book hasn't aged well but there's still some great stuff in the book.
3 Old Man Logan Is Edgy In The Best Possible Way
Old Man Logan is Mark Millar's edginess at its finest. Joined by artist Steve McNiven, Old Man Logan is edgy and violent, but it's very well done. Basically Unforgiven with superheroes, it stars a pacifist Wolverine on a cross country trip with a blind Hawkeye. Millar does a fantastic job of world-building and characterization and McNiven's art is amazing.
Millar uses violence and edginess expertly in this book and it never feels excessive. It's a brutal story, which often feels like the point, and Millar is able to capture the emotion inherent in it on more than one occasion.
2 The Ultimates Can Be Childish At Times
The Ultimate Universe was a big deal in '00s Marvel and The Ultimates was one of its biggest books. Written by Mark Millar with art by Bryan Hitch, it presented the Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers and saw Millar at his most juvenile at times. The humor was full of obvious innuendo and it often felt edgy just for the sake of being edgy.
The creative team's Ultimates 2 followed suit. Millar was still a good storyteller but the humor and violence in the book doesn't really work anymore. Ultimates 3, by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Joe Madureira, went even farther than Millar did with the edginess in the worst possible way.
1 Ultimatum's Edginess Drove It Off The Cliff
Writer Jeph Loeb wasn't done taking the Ultimate Universe's edginess to ridiculous extents with Ultimates 3. That was Ultimatum, with art by David Finch. Spinning out of the events of Loeb's previous stories, it had Magneto launch an apocalyptic attack on the world in revenge for the deaths of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, killing millions of civilians and heroes alike.
The violence was extremely brutal and the comic felt like it was written by an edgelord for an audience of bloodthirsty readers, but everyone rebelled against it immediately. It's a depressing comic that uses violence in lieu of anything else and it's went down as one of the worst Marvel stories, cutting itself on its own edge.