Marvel leaned heavily into the event cycle in the 21st century, producing some of the best and worst events of the last twenty years. However, event stories have been a part of Marvel's publishing line for a long time; the first-ever event story was 1982's Marvel Super Heroes: Contest Of Champions. Since then, Marvel has helped change the way event books are looked at for better and for worse.
Marvel's back catalog is full of great stories and among those are some majorly underrated events. This emphasis on events, unfortunately, allowed some great stories to slip through the cracks. These overlooked stories are ones that fans should take a second look at. They deserve their chance to shine.
10 Operation: Galactic Storm Is One Of The Bright Spots Of Early '90s Avengers
The Avengers weren't living up to their previous successes in the '90s but there are some bright spots. One of those was Operation: Galactic Storm, a 19-part story dreamed up by Bob Harras, Mark Gruenwald, and Fabian Nicieza crossing through the Avengers family of titles. As the alien Kree and Shi'Ar go to war, the Avengers do their best to both stop the fighting from spilling over to Earth, while limiting the excesses of both sides.
One of the most underrated Avengers stories, this cosmic epic often gets overshadowed by The Kree Skrull War. While it doesn't have the impact or fame of that story, it's still a great story and was one of the last good Avengers stories until the 1998 reboot of the Avengers family of books.
9 Onslaught Is Grade A '90s Fun
Onslaught took place throughout Marvel's entire line in summer 1996. Revealed to be an amalgamation of Professor X and Magneto created when Xavier wiped Magneto's mind, the powerful entity set out to change the Marvel Universe forever, taking the city of New York hostage. Onslaught gets lumped in with '90s Marvel's general slump in quality but is actually a lot better than it gets credit for.
Each book was separated into "Phase" issues, which told the main story, and "Impact" issues, which were less essential tie-ins to the main story. This was a great way of letting readers know which comics to read and make it more reader-friendly than it gets credit for. Featuring talent like Mark Waid, Scott Lobdell, Larry Hama, Howard Mackie, Todd Dezago, and more, it's better than its reputation.
8 Heroes Reborn Recontextualized Legends For The'90s
Spinning out of Onslaught, Heroes Reborn saw Avengers and Captain America (overseen by Rob Liefeld and his Extreme Studios and Fantastic Four and Iron Man) taken over by Jim Lee and Wildstorm. This 52 issue line has been maligned since day one and there's some good reason behind that. They're fun, silly books that aren't going to change the world but are enjoyable.
After Liefeld had a falling out with Marvel, Lee and Wildstorm would take over all four books after the sixth issue of each and the quality got a little better. Heroes Reborn didn't have the impact Marvel was hoping for but they're still fun.
7 Secret Wars II Isn't As Good As Its Predecessor But It's Still Enjoyable
Secret Wars was Marvel's second big event and is more recognizable to modern fans as an event than Contest of Champions. Its sequel, Secret Wars II by writer Jim Shooter and artist Al Milgrom, dealt with the Beyonder taking human form, an event that disturbed the hero community immensely and pitted them against him.
Secret Wars II didn't compare favorably to the first when it was published but it's way better than it gets credit for. Seeing the Beyonder blunder through human existence is a lot of fun and when things get serious towards the end, the story works even better.
6 Maximum Carnage Was The Highlight Of Post-McFarlane, Pre-Clone Saga Spider-Man
Maximum Carnage was a fourteen-part story written by Tom DeFalco, J.M. DeMatteis, Terry Kavanaugh, and David Michelinie that crossed through all of the Spider-Man titles of 1993. Pitting Spider-Man, Venom, and various New York heroes against Carnage, Shriek, and their twisted family of murderers, it was an action-packed epic that highlighted Spider-Man when the character was in an in-between phase.
The story may seem long but the whole thing flows rather well and combines a cool roster of B-list heroes with some powerful villains that don't get a lot of love. It's one of the more underrated Spider-Man stories out there and the last bright spot before the long slog of the Clone Saga.
5 2004's Secret War Is A Forgotten Bendis Classic
Brian Michael Bendis's time at Marvel is full of big-name books that most fans have heard of more than once. The writer was the architect of so much of Marvel's line throughout his run there and a lot of it was set up in 2004's Secret War. Joined by artist Gabrielle Dell'Otto, Secret War saw Nick Fury recruit a group of heroes to tackle the new Latverian prime minister's threat and the fallout from that event.
Secret War got plagued with delays when it was first published but it was important for the Marvel Universe and Bendis's upcoming stories. On top of that, it's just a good story with great art that more people need to read.
4 The Twelve Closed Out The '90s For The X-Men
In the '90s, the X-Men were known for their convoluted continuity and long-running plot lines. One of those was the mystery of the Twelve, first revealed in 1991's Uncanny X-Men #282. That mystery would be revealed in the last X-Men story of the 20th century, 1999's The Twelve. Crossing through just about every book in the X-Men line, it pitted the X-Men against Apocalypse as he tried to assemble the Twelve.
The Twelve is one of the best forgotten X-Men stories, combining the various mutants and their teams in a battle to stop Apocalypse from conquering the Earth with the power of the Twelve. It's a great send-out for the '90s X-Men books and finally tied up a dangling plotline.
3 Siege Is Bendis's Best Marvel Event
The Dark Reign is a gem of late aughts Marvel, as Norman Osborn began a reign of terror over the Marvel Universe. The story would come to an end in Siege, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Olivier Coipel. Norman Osborn and Loki attack Asgard with the full power of the Dark Avengers and the Initiative as the heroes of the Marvel Universe come out of hiding to stop them.
Siege is probably the pinnacle of the Bendis written Marvel events because of its brevity- at only four issues, Bendis couldn't indulge his more drawn-out storytelling style, so it's all killer, no filler. Coipel's art is tremendous and it's a wonderful ending for a great story arc.
2 Original Sin's Impact Was Negligible But It Was Still A Good Murder Mystery
Original Sin, by writer Jason Aaron and artist Mike Deodato Jr., saw the murder of the Watcher and the heroes of the Marvel Universe scrambling to find out who did it as all of their darkest secrets are revealed. While it ended with Thor being rendered unworthy of Mjolnir, for the most part, fan reaction wasn't great.
This stemmed from the fact that the event's impact wasn't what was advertised and was just about non-existent. Divorced from that, it's actually a really good murder mystery that introduces some intriguing new lore to the Marvel Universe and is beautifully drawn by Deodato Jr.
1 Infinity War Never Gets The Accolades It Deserves
Infinity Gauntlet is widely considered one of the best event books of all time, but it was only the beginning of writer Jim Starlin's Infinity Trilogy. The next part was Infinity War, which highlighted the battle against Adam Warlock's dark side, the Magus. Joined by Infinity Gauntlet artist Ron Lim, the sequel is better than its predecessor in a lot of ways.
Infinity Gauntlet is a simple story but Infinity War was full of twists and turns as Starlin kept upping the ante with each issue of its six-issue run. It dug into Adam Warlock lore for fans that didn't know about it and is full of great art by Lim.