For over eighty years, Marvel has been putting out stories that have enthralled generations of readers. Responsible for some of the most beloved characters in comics history, the Marvel Universe has become a prime place for modern pop culture. The MCU takes its marching orders from the comics and uses their stories to become the most popular movie franchise of all time.

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Over the years, there have been some stories that every fan knows and loves, but with eighty years worth of books to choose from, some stories are definitely going to fall through the cracks. These forgotten gems deserve just as much credit as the stories that everyone has heard of, though.

10 Captain America: War & Remembrance

Captain America War and Remebrance Cropped

Captain America: War & Remembrance by writer Roger Stern and artist John Byrne, isn't a traditional story arc as today's fans would recognize it. Stern and Byrne, two of the best creators of the '80s, teamed up for a short run on Captain America that is highly underrated and throws all kinds of threats at the Star-Spangled Avenger.

Captain America battles Batroc the Leaper, Baron Blood, and more. Stern really nails Captain America as a character and introduces a whole new interesting supporting cast, while Byrne's pencils are just as good as any of his '80s Marvel work, his style bringing Cap to life.

9 Squadron Supreme

image of Squadron Supreme from Marvel Comics

Squadron Supreme, by writer Mark Gruenwald and artists Bob Hall, Paul Ryan, and Paul Neary, tells the story of the Squadron Supreme, Marvel's Justice League pastiche, as they decide to make the world a better place by taking control of it. The book looks at the danger of a few taking power into their hands and what happens next.

Watchmen gets a lot of credit for bringing mature themes to comics, but Squadron Supreme did it first. While it wasn't as adult as Watchmen in many ways, it still used the comic medium to ask a lot of important questions about power and superheroes. It's also just an excellent superhero story, one that every fan should give a chance.

8 X-Men: Hunt For Xavier

Hunt For Xavier

X-Men: Hunt For Xavier, by writers Steve Seagle and Joe Kelly and artists Chris Bachalo, Adam Kubert, and Leinil Yu, sees the X-Men look for their missing mentor, Professor Xavier, missing since Onslaught's attack. The search takes them to some pretty strange places, pitting them against foes old and new, all while a completely new, yet familiar, threat that knows Xavier and the team better than themselves also look for the Professor.

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Seagle and Kelly's X-Men run is vastly underrated, and this is one of the best forgotten X-Men stories of them all. While it does build off mid-'90s X-Men continuity, it does a great job explaining what new readers need to know and tells a fun story with great art.

7 Fantastic Four: 1234

Fantastic Four- 1234 Doctor Doom

Fantastic Four: 1234, by writer Grant Morrison and artist Jae Lee, sees Doctor Doom begin his latest attack against the FF, tailor-made to defeat each member. Morrison's second work at Marvel, it combines the big ideas he's known for with one of Marvel's oldest team for a rollicking good time.

Morrison writing the FF battling Doctor Doom, their greatest foe, is kind of a no-brainer, and he really nails it in this comic. Morrison tells a different kind of FF story, bringing both the big idea sci-fi and surreal trippiness that is their stock in trade to the book. Jae Lee's pencils perfectly complement Morrison's mind-bending magic, making this an FF tale for the ages.

6 Marvel Boy

Marvel Boy

Marvel Boy, by writer Grant Morrison and artist J.G.Jones, is another forgotten Morrison Marvel masterpiece that deserves to be remembered for just how truly great it is. Noh-Varr is a Kree soldier from an alternate universe, and when his ship is shot down on its multiversal mission, he decides to take revenge on the man who did it and just the entire world in general.

Morrison went full-on superhero anarchy on this one, touching on familiar ideas to their long time fans but completely new to the Marvel faithful. Noh-Varr is a wonderful character, a teenage titan with a chip on his shoulder. This story is the highlight of his existence; beyond his short tenure as a Dark Avengers, few other writers could make the character work as well as his creator.

5 Original Sin

original-sin-feature

Original Sin, writer Jason Aaron, and artist Mike Deodato Jr see the Marvel Universe heroes enmeshed in a massive murder mystery, as they must investigate the death of Uatu the Watcher. As heroes travel the Marvel Universe trying to follow clues, villains cause chaos using the Watcher's stolen eyes, and behind it all, the murderer has a plan for the heroes.

Original Sin doesn't get a lot of credit for just how good it is. While it wasn't exactly the universe-shattering event, it was advertised to be. It's still a great murder mystery with a cool twist that completely reconceptualizes Marvel's oldestーand shadiestーcharacters. Aaron and Deodato Jr. did an amazing job with this one, and it deserves more praise than it gets.

4 Avengers: Ultron Unlimited

Ultron with the Avengers lying in defeat behind him in Marvel Comics Ultron Unlimited

Avengers: Ultron Unlimited, by writer Kurt Busiek and artist George Perez, see the return of Ultron, one of the Avengers' deadliest foes. Ultron has always been known for doing terrible things. Still, this story sees him commit one of his most terrible atrocities, slaughtering every man, woman, and child in the country of Slorenia and taking his war against humanity to the next level. The Avengers swing into action to stop, but even they might not be enough.

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This story is the best Ultron story of all time, and yet Marvel has pretty much ignored it for years, to the extent that it's been out of print for years. Serving partly as an inspiration for Avengers: Age Of Ultron, it is vastly superior to the movie and really hits home just how dangerous and powerful Ultron is.

3 The Sentry

Reed Richards, Captain America, Spider-Man and Iron Man at Sentry's Wedding

The Sentry, by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee, tells the Sentry story, the forgotten Golden Guardian of Good. Robert Reynolds starts remembering a life he never knew he hadーone of superheroic action and adventure with the world's greatest heroes and tries to unravel the mystery of his mind, as a mysterious monster called the Void begins attacking the world.

The Sentry was a novel idea, a Superman pastiche with a Marvel twist, and his debut story is still his best. The book plays more with the character's psychological aspects than the superhero ones and does an amazing job of debuting the character.

2 Avengers Forever

Rick Jones sits in front of Avengers floating heads

Avengers Forever, by writers Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern and artist Carlos Pacheco, sees Rick Jones use his resurgent Destiny Force powers to bring together a team of Avengers from across time to unravel a mystery that involves Kang, the Kree Supreme Intelligence, Immortus, and so much more, with nothing less than the fate of humanity and all of the time at stake.

Busiek and Stern tell an amazing Avengers tale using one of the most disparate line-ups of Avengers ever. They can unravel decades of tangled Avengers continuity and make it all make sense. Add to that Pacheco's amazing pencilsーsome of the best work of his careerーand this is one of the best Avengers stories that most fans don't even know exist.

1 The Inhumans

Marvel Comics' Inhumans - Triton, Gorgon, Karnak, Black Bolt, Medusa, and Crystal

The Inhumans, by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee, sees the Inhuman Royal Family dealing with several crises at onceーa coalition of nations teaming up against them, UN pressure, and the first failed Terrigenesis in years. Behind it, all is an old adversary, one who will test the Inhumans like never before.

Marvel completely botched the Inhumans as a concept in recent years, trying to make them into the X-Men when they should have followed Jenkins and Lee's leadーembroiling the Inhumans in Game Of Thrones-esque intrigue and focusing on the characters and their strange culture.

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