| Avengers Disassembled | 2004 | Scarlet Witch goes insane and kills or incapacitates the current Avenger-roster, bringing to an end the Avengers as we knew them (main story-arc in Avengers #500-503, Avengers Finale, September-December 2004.). Meanwhile Thor brings about the end of Asgard (Thor #80-85, 2004). |
Plot summary
The story begins when the Avengers Mansion sensors warn the residing Avengers of an intruder, quickly identified as Jack of Hearts, who had died saving the life of Ant-Man's daughter Cassie Lang. Jack inexplicably detonates, killing Ant-Man (Scott Lang) in a blast that destroys half of the mansion. The Vision crashes a Quinjet onto the site, only to attack the survivors of the explosion, carrying a small army of Ultron robots which attack the survivors. During this attack, She-Hulk goes into a frenzy, resulting in her tearing Vision apart. In the aftermath of this first wave of attacks, most of the previous Avengers (even reserve members such as Spider-Man) and other heroes such as Daredevil arrive at the mansion. An enormous battlefleet of alien warships appear in the skies and begin wreaking havoc. Finally, a wounded Hawkeye sacrifices his life to save his friends by destroying an invading Kree warship.
In the end, it is revealed that the Scarlet Witch was behind these seemingly random attacks. She had been driven insane by the loss of her children years earlier; the children who actually had been magical constructs the Witch had subconsciously created from the essence of the demon Mephisto. Due to the use of her powers causing subtle 'reality warps' whenever she uses them to any great extent, continued use of her powers has driven her increasingly closer to insanity, until, finally, she has gone insane, believing that the Avengers 'took' her children away from her, and seek to do so again. In a final confrontation, the Avengers - aided by Doctor Strange - manage to stop Wanda, and she is subsequently taken away by her father Magneto, who acknowledges the mistakes he made in raising her.
A few months later, the Avengers team gather in the remains of the mansion. Quicksilver explains what has happened to his sister (the Scarlet Witch), and Tony Stark reveals that the Avengers cannot come back together due to a lack of necessary funds to repair such a high level of disaster. As the Avengers part company, they all discuss some of their favorite moments in Avengers history, such as when they first came together, when they discovered Captain America, the Kree-Skrull War, the marriage of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, the fight with Michael Korvac, and the Ultron Unlimited crisis. As the team splits up, they are greeted by a large crowd of civilians, all of them thanking the Avengers for what they have done over the years.
In the wake of "Avengers Disassembled", two new Avengers series were created. The New Avengers title replaced the Avengers title (with a new #1 in December 2004) which ended with issue #503 and Avengers Finale (November 2004). This new title continued with the creative team of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch. The other title, premiering February 2005, was Young Avengers, which featured teenage heroes, each of whom (excepting Hawkeye) related in some way to the legacy of the Avengers. The group was revived by its creators in July 2010 with the bimonthly series Avengers: The Children's Crusade which is a follow-up to Disassembled and House of M.The Scarlet Witch's storyline continued in the pages of Excalibur, where Magneto and Professor X tried helping her, to no avail. This in turn led into the House of M mini-series and crossover, also written by Bendis.
House of M and Decimation | 2005 | The Scarlet Witch alters reality, creating a world in which mutants are in charge but ultimately resulting in the population of the world's mutants brought to near extinction (main story arc in House of M #1-8, August 2005-March 2006) |
Plot summary
House of M is an eight-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel, its first issue debuted in June 2005 as a follow-up to the events of the Planet X and Avengers Disassembled storylines, in which the mutant superhero Scarlet Witch suffered a mental breakdown and tried to alter the fabric of reality to recreate her lost children. Scarlet Witch's father, Magneto, and her twin brother, Quicksilver, played major roles in the series.Bendis, lead writer for the House of M event, stated that the series would "shake the world and break the internet wide open." Prior to the event, Bendis also mentioned in several interviews that the event would have a lasting effect on the Marvel Universe, but remained tight-lipped as to what. The reduction of the mutant community was the only rumored effect that actually came about.
The crossover was followed by a one-shot called House of M: Decimation - The Day After, a series called Son of M that depicts Quicksilver dealing with his loss of powers, and Generation M, which devoted each issue to a different mutant dealing with his/her loss of powers. Characters who appeared include Chamber, Jubilee, and Blob. Characters who lost their powers included Dani Moonstar, Magneto, and Tag. The storyline also led to the reboot of Excalibur into New Excalibur, a shift in the creative teams of several comics, and the debut of several spin-off series, including X-Men: Deadly Genesis, X-Men: The 198, Sentinel Squad O*N*E, Ms. Marvel, and a new X-Factor series.
The epilogue to the House of M and Decimation storylines, which served to answer to the mystery of the strange "energy-cloud" hovering in orbit around the Earth at the conclusion of House of M #8, was revealed in the pages of New Avengers #16-20.
Civil War | 2006-2007 | Heroes are divided when the U.S. government passes the Super-human Registration Act. Captain America seeks freedom, while Iron Man seeks to institute the 50 State Initiative (main story arc in Civil War #1-7, July 2006-January 2007). Major events in the saga include Peter Parker's revealing his identity to the public (Civil War #2, August 2006) and Captain America's death (Captain America #25 (2007)) |
Plot summary
The premise of Civil War involves the introduction of a Superhuman Registration Act in the United States. Similar acts have been used as literary devices in Watchmen, Uncanny X-Men, DC: The New Frontier, Powers, and Astro City, though never on a scale such as permanently altering an entire pantheon of established pop culture icons. Mark Millar, writer for the story, has said:
The act requires any person in the United States with superhuman abilities to register with the federal government as a "human weapon of mass destruction," reveal his/her true identity to the authorities, and undergo proper training. Those who sign also have the option of working for S.H.I.E.L.D., earning a salary and benefits such as those earned by other American civil servants. Characters within the superhuman community in the Marvel Universe split into two groups: one advocating the registration as a responsible obligation, and the other opposing the law on the grounds that it violates civil liberties and the protection that secret identities provide. A number of villains have also chosen to take sides, some choosing to side with the registration, others against it. Luke Cage (previously the second Power Man), an African American, compared registration to slavery, and did so to Iron Man's face. Others compared the act to the norms under which the police and soldiers operate.
| Messiah Complex | 2007-2008 | When the first new mutant since M-Day is suddenly born, the X-Men, Purifiers and Mister Sinister go after it. |
Plot summary
The "Messiah Complex" storyline is the climax of events set into motion in "House of M" and defined the direction of the X-Men franchise for the next several years. The storyline's main plot involves the birth of the first child with the X-gene since Decimation, sparking a race between the X-Men, the Marauders, the Acolytes, the Reavers, the Purifiers, and Predator X to see who will find the child first. The event also marked the return of X-Man Angel, who had been away from the X-Men teams for a while. Messiah Complex also involves X-Factor and New X-Men, Sentinel Squad O*N*E*, and Cable.| Secret Invasion | 2008 | A stealthy invasion by the Skrull race has gone unnoticed for years, but there is an even more secret purpose behind it (main story arc in Secret Invasion #1-8, June 2008-January 2009). |
Plot summary
The story involves a subversive, long-term invasion of Earth by the alien Skrulls. Capable of shapeshifting, the Skrulls have secretly replaced many of Marvel's heroes with impostors over a period of years, prior to the overt invasion. Marvel's promotional tagline for the event was "Who do you trust?"Writer Brian Michael Bendis stated in interviews that the motivation for the invasion is the destruction of the Skrull Empire in the Annihilation storyline. Bendis states the Skrulls believe Earth "is religiously and rightfully theirs," and that there were hints as to the plot placed in the limited series Secret War and the title New Avengers from the first issue. The limited series will conclude the plot and is, according to Bendis, "a hell of an end."
As of November 2007 several ongoing titles and mini-series were branded as tie-ins to the main Secret Invasion storyline, with the tagline: Secret Invasion: The Infiltration. In addition to the core story, the Avengers titles provide additional plot material and act as a link between titles.
Dark Reign | 2009 | In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn grows to new heights of power as a beloved public figure taking over S.H.I.E.L.D. (re-christening the organization as H.A.M.M.E.R.), forming the Cabal, and founding the Dark Avengers (story arc begins in "Secret Invasion: Dark Reign", 2008 and "Secret Invasion #8", January 2009; Dark Avengers first appear in "New Avengers #50", 2009 and "Dark Avengers #1", 2009). |
Plot summary
The "Dark Reign" storyline began with the release of the Secret Invasion: Dark Reign one-shot, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Alex Maleev, in December 2008. It then continued in a number of standalone mini-series and some individual issues of ongoing Marvel Comics titles throughout 2009. Selected ongoing Marvel titles were temporarily renamed to highlight their involvement in the event.Initial promotional images for the storyline included a series of "We Lost, They Won" images showing a severed robotic head of Iron Man, Emma Frost holding Cyclops's blood-covered visor, the second Captain America bowing to Norman Osborn's Iron Patriot form, Daken's Wolverine form looking down, Thor motionless on Loki's female form, Venom's Spider-Man appearance defeating Spider-Man, Henry Pym's Wasp alias (with Wasp's picture in the background), and the Green Goblin (which quotes that "He won").
There is no core limited series as there was in the preceding "Secret Invasion" event. Instead, the storyline is made up of one-shots that help fill in the gaps, limited series exploring the effect of the event on teams and individuals, as well as tie-ins with other ongoing series. The main storyline led into the 2010 "Siege" crossover event, although some plot elements are ongoing.
Captain America: Reborn | 2009 | The woman that "killed" Captain America is the key to bring him back. |
Plot summary
Captain America: Reborn is a six-issue (originally intended to be five issues) monthly comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics between July 2009 and January 2010. Written by Ed Brubaker, and illustrated by Bryan Hitch with inking by Butch Guice, the series promises to reveal the "truth" regarding the death of original Captain America Steve Rogers, returning him to life and to the role of the Star-Spangled Avenger.The story starts with the first anniversary of the death of Captain America. There is a dispute between people, whether to honor him as a patriot, or hate him for being a traitor. Sharon Carter is also looking for the agent to whom she gave the gun she used to kill Steve Rogers. She tracks him down, and using a device from Nick Fury, she hypnotizes him and makes him tell her where he put the gun.
As the current Captain America reflects on what's happening to the country, Rikki Barnes talks with Eli Bradley (aka Patriot), telling him that she wants to be Bucky's new partner. Patriot says that Bucky is not looking for a new partner right now, but he wants Rikki to meet him, like Steve would have wanted him to. Meanwhile, Crossbones and Sin escape from the H.A.M.M.E.R. holding facility in Colorado, and the Red Skull returns, still trapped in his robot body. In Central Park, Falcon, Natasha, Bucky, Luke Cage, Jessica Drew, and Clint Barton are there without their costumes, but have a teleportation spell ready in case Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers attempt to capture them. Osborn, Sentry and the new Ms. Marvel manage to find the group while hovering over the park, but Osborn decides not to attack them. Instead, Osborn appears in front of the crowd, and says that the gathering, thought to be illegal, was approved by H.A.M.M.E.R. He declares that they will honor Captain America for who he was, and the crowd shouts his name, which upsets the Avengers present. Sharon Carter then appears to them, saying that there is still a way to save Steve.
| Messiah War | 2009 | Learning that Bishop was after Cable and the first mutant born since House of M, Cyclops had Beast develop time travelling devices so Cyclops could send his secret wetworks team, X-Force (consisting of Wolverine, Warpath, X-23, Domino, Vanisher, Archangel and Elixir) into the future after Bishop, hoping that they'll end the threat once and for all and the future of mutant kind will be safe in the hands of his son. |
Plot summary
"Messiah War" is a crossover storyline running through the issues of Cable and X-Force with cover dates of May through July 2009 as well as a one-shot titled X-Force/Cable: Messiah War published by Marvel Comics. Writer Craig Kyle describes it as being the follow up to Messiah Complex and "the middle chapter of what I think will be a major three-part saga, which will continue to define and redefine the X-Universe moving forward". The final chapter being The Second Coming.
| Utopia | 2009 | California has become a troublesome state in the USA. The mutant riots lead to the entire area of San Francisco being put into martial law, and brings the rise of the "Dark X-Men." |
Plot summary
After the events of the Messiah Complex storyline, Cyclops ordered Wolverine to form a new X-Force team to act as his own covert black-ops squad, something Cyclops himself told no one outside the team, in particular the co-leader of the X-Men and his lover, Emma Frost. Also, in the Secret Invasion: Dark Reign one-shot, at the first meeting of the Cabal, Norman Osborn promised Emma Frost to leave the mutant community in San Francisco alone, provided she kept them under control. Emma kept the fact that she belonged to the Cabal from Cyclops. These secrets almost caused a split in their relationship, but both Cyclops and Emma eventually told each other the truth, promising to keep no more secrets.Another event of note happened at the start of Messiah Complex, when at the place of birth of the new mutant child in Cooperstown, Alaska, a battle took place between the Marauders and the Purifiers, resulting in the town being completely razed. After that, Simon Trask, the brother of the original Sentinels' creator, Bolivar Trask, a fierce political anti-mutant activist himself, has called for legislating mutant reproductive rights. Trask's influence resulted in many states supporting the anti-mutant legislation, which in turn began to cause turmoil in the mutant community.
Nation X | 2009-2010 | A mutant nation has been created on Utopia, off the coast of California. |
Plot summary
It dealt with the aftermath of Utopia and the return of Magneto. Along with the main run in Uncanny X-Men, a 4-issue anthology series title Nation X was released along with Nation X: X-Factor One Shot. Also the Deadpool arc "Want You to Want Me" acts as an unofficial tie-in to the main storyline.| Necrosha | 2009-2010 | The once Black Queen of the Hellfire Club brings forth a new Inner Circle of deadly mutants as well as a new threat to the entire mutant population as she sets her plan into motion of becoming a goddess. |
Plot summary
Necrosha had been slowly building in the pages of X-Force. However, the big event began with the one-shot X-Necrosha, released in October 28, 2009, and continued in X-Force, New Mutants, and X-Men: Legacy.Siege | 2009-2010 | In the aftermath of Dark Reign, Norman Osborn invades Asgard. |
Plot summary
Siege ran as an eponymous four-issue miniseries, with connected one-shots and associated miniseries, as well as crossovers into existing ongoing series.It deals with the aftermath of the "Dark Reign" company-wide storyline, which led to a shift of power in the Marvel Universe toward Norman Osborn, a former supervillain who, through deception and media manipulation, has become the United States' security czar. The story also depicts the Asgardian trickster deity Loki, manipulating Osborn into leading an all-out assault to overthrow Asgard.
Marvel announced in early 2010 that the company-wide Siege storyline will lead to a subsequent company-wide storyline, Heroic Age. This was first hinted by Athena to Amadeus Cho.
The end of aftermath is described as what will be the start of a new "Heroic Age" in the Marvel Universe.
The final tie-in issues of the four Avengers titles, Mighty Avengers #36, New Avengers #64, Dark Avengers #16 and Avengers: The Initiative #35 will be the last ones of those series, along with a New Avengers: Finale one-shot, with art by Bryan Hitch.
From June there will also be a limited series called Avengers Prime: Siege Aftermath. This five part series will focus on Thor, Iron Man, and Steve Rogers and will bridge the gap between Siege and Heroic Age.
Though not badged as an aftermath series, a limited series starting in May 2010 will examine the fall of Norman Osborn and examine the effects upon his son Harry. The series is called Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son.
| Second Coming | 2010 | The return of Hope Summers from the future. This event will conclude the trilogy (X-Men: Messiah Complex and Messiah War) that was focused on Hope, the first mutant born following the events of M-Day in 2005, which saw all but 198 mutants transformed into normal humans or dead.. |
Plot summary
"Second Coming" was the final part of a trilogy of stories that began with "Messiah Complex" and continued in "Messiah War". Intended as a conclusion to Cable's efforts to save Hope from Bishop, who has hunted the so called Mutant Messiah since her birth; the series also builds on the "Utopia", "Nation X" and "Necrosha" storylines of 2009 in the X-Men books.The story centers on the return of Cable and Hope Summers to the present day and Bastion's final campaign to destroy the X-Men.
| Heroic Age | 2010 | With the Superhuman Registration Act abolished, a major change in the status quo of the Marvel Universe begins. |
Plot summary
Marvel publisher Dan Buckley has said that the "Heroic Age" will be more constrained in its scope than previous storylines:
"We're trying to get a little bit more into the families of publishing, not as line-wide, to provide people with very digestible beginning, middle, and end content with top characters and top creators in conjunction with the Marvel Universe. ... It's not going across the line in the books. You’ll see that with the X-Men books, you'll see it with Spider-Man.
The storyline began in May 2010's Avengers #1, which reunited Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor as teammates. The same month will see the start of a 4-issue comics anthology limited series called Age of Heroes with Kurt Busiek writing the lead story. The idea behind the series is that, according to Tom Brevoort, "seeing as how Heroic Age will impact on characters both large and small, we thought it might be fun to do an anthology to delve into some of these stories and to touch upon some of these characters". Busiek's story will involve J. Jonah Jameson, and others include a Doctor Voodoo story from Rick Remender, with Paul Cornell writing stories involving Captain Britain and MI13 and the Young Masters.
Also, a new series featuring the Agents of Atlas launches, with the name trimmed down to Atlas, but with Jeff Parker staying on as the writer. The Thunderbolts series, also written by Parker, will see a new Heroic Age line-up, led by Luke Cage (who is also in the lineup of the New Avengers), and also including Crossbones, Juggernaut, Ghost, Moonstone, Songbird and Man-Thing. Another series that will be launched is titled Secret Avengers from Ed Brubaker. The New Avengers series will be relaunched in June 2010, the book will be written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Stuart Immonen. A new series entitled Avengers Academy by Christos Gage and Mike McKone will debut in June 2010, as well as a new Young Allies series written by Sean McKeever and David Baldeon.
Curse of the Mutants | 2010 | Vampires from around the globe descend on San Francisco to claim the city as their own causing the X-Men and Blade to team up to stop them. |
Plot summary
The first story arc centers around Dracula's son becoming a new vampire lord and Jubilee being turned into a vampire.The main writer of the storyline is Victor Gischler, who wrote the Death of Dracula one-shot which started the storyline as well as the new ongoing series X-Men (vol. 3), which forms the main part of the storyline.
There is also a 4-issue mini-series that links in with "Curse of the Mutants", Namor the First Mutant by Stuart Moore, as well as a 2-issue mini-series X-Men vs. Vampires by various creators and a number of one-shots: Blade by Duane Swierczynski, Storm and Gambit by Chuck Kim and Smoke and Blood by Simon Spurrier.
A 4-issue mini-series by Kathryn Immonen and Phil Noto has also been announced to tie into the storyline, called Wolverine and Jubilee: Cursed, starting in January 2011.
Cosmic Saga
Annihilation | 2006-2007 | Silver Surfer, Super-Skrull, Nova, and Ronan face the Annihilation Wave. |
Plot summary
Annihilation is a 2006 crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics, highlighting several relatively under-used outer space-related characters in the Marvel Universe. The central miniseries was written by Keith Giffen, with editor Andy Schmidt.Annihilation started with a 48-page one-shot issue entitled Annihilation: Prologue which was released on March 15, 2006 and then followed by four 4-issue mini-series: Annihilation: Silver Surfer (April 1, 2006), Annihilation: Super-Skrull (April 12, 2006), Annihilation: Nova (April 19, 2006), and Annihilation: Ronan (April 26, 2006). The event concludes with a 6-issue limited series entitled Annihilation, bringing the four stories together, and a Post-Annihilation 2-issue mini-series. The limited series Drax the Destroyer: Earth Fall (September 28, 2005) was a prelude to the event.
Annihilation: Conquest | 2007-2008 | After the devastation of the wake of the Annihilation Wave, Nova, Starlord, Wraith, & a new Quasar (Phyla-Vell) lead a group of cosmic heroes against the Phalanx, who threaten to conquer and annihilate all of Kree space. |
Plot summary
Annihilation: Conquest is a 2007-2008 Marvel Comics crossover storyline and the sequel to 2006's Annihilation. The series again focuses on Marvel's cosmic heroes defending the universe against the Phalanx, now led by Ultron. Nova returns once more in a title role, along with Quasar, Star-Lord, and a new character called Wraith.Other characters featured were Ronan the Accuser, Moondragon, Super-Skrull, Gamora, Mantis and Rocket Raccoon. The series also saw the return of Adam Warlock to the Marvel Universe.
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning were given the task of overseeing the story, "we were approached by Andy Schmidt, who edited the first Annihilation event, and asked to pilot the next event, which Bill Rosemann is editing." They ended up writing the Prologue, the Nova series crossover and the main Annihilation: Conquest limited series.
The remaining mini-series were focused on Quasar by Christos Gage, Star-Lord by Keith Giffen and Wraith, by Javier Grillo-Marxuach.
| War of Kings | 2009 | Vulcan is rapidly expanding the Shi'ar Empire, while Black Bolt and the Inhumans become leaders of the Kree empire following the events of Secret Invasion, and a cosmic war begins, drawing in Nova, Darkhawk, the Starjammers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. |
Plot summary
"War of Kings" is a comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics. Taking place in Marvel's main shared universe, the Marvel Universe, the series was written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. The first issue of the limited series was released in March 2009.The story revolves around a war between the Shi'ar, led by Vulcan and his Imperial Guard, fighting the Inhumans and the Kree after Black Bolt and his family overthrew their empire, assisted by the new Starjammers, who have fought Vulcan and the Shi'ar for some time now. The Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova and the new Nova Corps are involved, attempting to stop the current galactic problem. Darkhawk is also involved, but in more of a covert ops role unknown at this time. The tag line is "When kings collide, the galaxy will tremble".
The event started in December 2008 with the lead-in mini-series X-Men: Kingbreaker, which revolves around Vulcan and the Starjammers following the conclusion of the mini-series Emperor Vulcan, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, which revolves around the conclusion of their Secret Invasion tie-in, stating that Blastaar has become the new King of the Negative Zone. As well as crossing over into the DnA penned Guardians of the Galaxy, the story also appears in the new Nova series they wrote. C. B. Cebulski wrote the other War of the Kings-specific series focusing on Darkhawk.During November, the Inhumans's story in War of Kings was planted at the end of their Secret Invasion tie-in.
A complete War of Kings checklist for March through to August was released, alongside War of Kings: Darkhawk. Mighty Avengers #27 also ties in to the event - the beginning of a new arc in the series dealing with a character named The Unspoken, his return to Earth and impact on the cosmos
| Realm of Kings | 2009-2010 | The follow-up to War of Kings. |
Plot summary
A giant time-space tear called the Fault had been created by Black Bolt's T-Bomb, killing both himself and the Shi'ar leader Vulcan. The Fault becomes an immediate concern for both the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Nova Corps. They sent Wendell Vaughn, the first Quasar, into the Fault to scout it, given that his energy form would be able to survives its treacherous storms. Quasar soon finds that the Fault is actually a tunnel, leading to another universe which reeked of corruption, ruled by evil organic masses that had consumed their universe like a cancer. It is described as a Cancerverse, where "Life has won, Death has lost." He is captured by that universe's Avengers (called the Revengers), who plan on imposing their Earth on his, to enable their gods, the Many-Angled Ones, to continue to spread.| The Thanos Imperative | 2010 | Thanos has returned from the dead, which prompts an important question: "What does this mean for the entire universe?" |
No comments:
Post a Comment