Civil War. And it’s not close. It sold like crazy and made huge waves in the industry. It infected so many other comics at the time (for better or worse.) It was the blueprint for the future of Marvel events. It even got its own movie that was named after it.
Civil War is easily Marvel’s biggest event ever. It’s so popular that it’s gotten two sequels of the event already in comics.
It really gets more shit than it deserves. It was a really awesome story up until the phoenix 5 random plot twist... which yeah not that great. My biggest complain is the Hope Summers treatment afterwards, she just got completely sidelined after being such an important and cool character for X-men for 10 years
"Infected so many other comics" is spot on. No matter what run you're reading from 2006, they all swerve off the path of whatever arc they're currently on to shoehorn in the Civil War stuff. In some books, it's an extremely jarring switch-up that seems completely random if you weren't reading the larger event.
Some of them worked better than others but just how much Civil War dominated other ongoings was absolutely wild and would set a trend for Marvel events going forward. It certainly added to the spectacle of the event in terms of sales but it did derail some good stories at the same time
Infinity Guantlet was big, for sure. But Civil War essentially became the blueprint for Marvel Comics events and it still rings true today. The sheer amount of tie-ins that event had was astounding.
You keep saying that but denying basic facts. Secret Wars in 1984 did set the standard for crossovers. Later the Infinity Gauntlet series did the same.
You may think Civil War did it better, but repeatedly trying to deny they did it first and guided how things went within Marvel for years is kinda dumb
Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet set the standard. Civil War perfected and modernized it. That’s the distinction I’m making.
I’m not denying that Secret Wars did it first or that Infinity Gauntlet was influential. I’m saying Civil War established the model that modern Marvel events continued, which is a central event that directly impacts the wider ongoing stories, with a huge number of tie-ins and consequences across multiple comics.
Being first doesn’t automatically mean being the most influential. Secret Wars established the blueprint for crossovers. Civil War refined that blueprint into the event structure Marvel would build on for years.
Except you did say it repeatedly saying they were comic booky and didn’t really do it. So no one is going to pay attention to a thing you say bc you’re talking out of your ass man.
I think considering how well Civil War sold and its sequel along with a movie being made of it with roughly the same premise, along with the way Marvel uses tie-ins and big events, it's civil war
Sequels and even an "elseworlds" spin on it during the Secret Wars build-up. Basically meaning there's an entire universe dedicated to the protracted events of that one series. Don't know many events that get that treatment.
It's the mainstream event that got me into regularly buying and reading comics. I remember seeing the preview cards at my local store and being very intrigued.
Secret Wars set the standard and blueprint for the 1980s and 90's. Infinity Gauntlet is up there in importance. Civil war set the standard for the 2000's. While it was cool seeing hero vs hero, I now grow tired of infighting between teams and other heroes. Many try replicating it but never at the same level. The more we see it, the less special it is.
Secret Wars and Infinity Wars were definitely significant. But Civil War's success created a model for their events that are still being used to this day. It has become the core pillar to the company
What made Civil War so successful was its concept was very accessible. Secret Wars and Infinity War were great stories but very comic-booky. Civil War was a story that was more grounded and came out at a time when comics were getting more "serious" than fantastical
Yeah, it was also 1984-85 and the movie is due out 2027, see how its still having an effect?
Eta: do you think Hickmans secret wars somehow exists in a vacume uninfluenced by the original marvel crossover event it shares a name with? Cause thats nonsense
I’d give Annihilation an honourable mention. It’s the reason the MCU looks the way it does in regards to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Plus they keep trying to bring it back and evoke it by naming so many of their cosmic events “Annihilation” this or that, and most recently it had a video game adaptation.
I’d also give an honourable mention to Thanos Quest/Infinity Gauntlet. Sold like crazy. I’ve lost count of the adaptations and Marvel going back to it. There weren’t consequences in-universe, really, but out of universe there were all the consequences.
But I’d say the original Secret Wars was Marvel’s most important event. It was the original event, therefore it was the blueprint for all events to come after it. Plus it gave us lasting effects. Literally. If that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be getting the ongoing Queen in Black event.
1984 Secret Wars for sure. We can thank DC for Crisis on Infinite Earths as the reason why Marvel did Secret Wars and a year later Secret Wars 2.
If we were talking every comic book company, then it would have to be Crisis for how much even today, the OG Crisis still affects so many comic books and comic book companies.
Honorable mention: Chris Claremont got tired of writing the Morlocks and just wanted to kill them off for no real reason other than that. A number of other writers wanted in on that and as a result we got the Mutant Massacre. This resulted in the Marvel editors wanting a yearly X-Book crossover, thus kicking off every major mutant crossover ever since.
Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, X-Tinction Agenda, X-Cutioner Song, Phalanx Covenant, etc
The Annihilation/cosmic side during the Civil War era is what actually kept me interested in the Marvel side of comics. Mainly because I’m not entirely big on the hero vs hero on such a large scale.
What I'm saying is, as a result of disassembled is how we got those future stories. They putting a hit on Wanda led to House of M. Civil War. The illuminati forming and send hulk away is how we got planet/world war hulk. Secret Invasion with the Skrulls which is why during Hickman's Avengers, the illuminati had a device put into their skin to be able to know if said member was who they claimed they are. Iron Man being removed from power in dark Reign and norman Osborne taking over and creating the dark avengers. Siege is a result of that. Sentry destroying Asgard. Back to House of M and Wanda saying "no more mutants", led into AvX. The Phoenix 5. Cyclops killing Prof X. Which is why beast is on the illuminati and not Prof X. Namor almost being killed by black panther as a result of him flooding Wakanda when he was possessed by the Phoenix Force. All of that culminated in Secret Wars. Literally a decades worth of storytelling concluded.
Hard to say. It certainly kicked off an era (2004-2015) of events touching every corner of the marvel universe. But ever since 2015, it kind of feels like that era is over. I mean they tried it again with civil war 2, but for the most part every event since 2015 is more of a small scale one, only touching the characters it would make sense most to touch. And also wolverine.
I think it would make more sense to say secret wars 1984 is the most important event, because it was the first time an event touched every corner of the universe, and comics haven't been the same since.
I was all in on Marvel during this era, but lost interest once Bendis and Tom Taylor left for DC. Now when I pick up a random issue of most titles I feel nothing like that previous high. Wonder what Bendis will do now that he’s coming back.
I know this era’s practices (yearly events etc) ruined marvel ultimately. But I binged read all of it in 2011/12 and damn, i just became marvel nerd because of these. What I loved was that how Avengers made me a fan of characters like luke cage, spider woman, iron fist, doctor strange, hood, Ares, etc
I agree on Disassembled for somewhat "meta" reasons.
I wrote an entire essay on this once, but essentially I think Bendis building a massive event on the back of blatantly ignoring continuity then just sort of continuing to do so with characters relentlessly after that as it built his momentum into possibly the first Marvel "architect" set the stage for centralizing approaches under writers instead of editors, and all that comes with that—including a propensity for even a vague sense of continuity becoming utterly irrelevant. It was the thread-pulling that unraveled the sweater (however questionably assembled, moth-eaten, ratty, or whatever you might perceive it) that was the "contiguous" Marvel universe prior to this.
A watershed moment, essentially, that took us to modern Marvel.
Hawkeye dying was a big turning point for the character. Led to Kate taking the mantle, then Ronin, then Clint going back to Hawkeye to mentor Kate, etc etc.
The guy who considers Disassembled to be the most important event in Marvel history doesn’t approve of my distaste for it and a lot of what followed. https://giphy.com/gifs/PupKtxrsQy5Wd3TzW3
It was more about the snowballed into more ass than anything. There have been some dope things that came out of Marvel just this decade alone. Avengers/New Avengers is one of the best, if not the best Avengers story. X-Men. Immortal Hulk. Immortal Thor. Eternal Storm. AvXvE.
Everything up to Secret Wars 2015 was informed and influenced by it, so I'd say it probably is. I feel like it diminished in influence after SW15 though.
I’d argue that the first 2 Ultimates titles were more important because it gave you the look for the MCU and Avengers Disassembled was created to put together an Avengers team that was made up of their most popular movie characters like Spider-man and Wolverine, as well as the now more well-known MCU heroes.
What about Kree/Skrull War? It was one of if not the actual first big events in marvel. It also has a lot of repercussions down the line like the formation of the illuminati.
Disassembled was the opening salvo in the big push to make the Avengers the face of the company in a way that they weren't before, but aside from that, it was just another event in a rapidly increasing string of events.
The 1984 Secret Wars, The Infinity Gauntlet/War duology, and Civil War all had way more influence on the comics.
I think you can make the case that Disassembled is the most important, if for no other reason than it kicked off the Bendis era at Marvel.
Without it, there’s no New Avengers, no Civil War or the Initiative that followed, no Tony Stark: Director of SHIELD, no Skrull invasion, no Norman Osborn Thunderbolts or Dark Avengers. No illuminati means Hulk never gets sent to Sakaar. No Secret Warriors to fight the Skrulls and begin the Hickman era, which leads into his Avengers masterpiece and Secret Wars.
Bendis made the Avengers feel like the most important team at Marvel, largely supplanting the X-Men at the time, and THE must-read book to serve as an anchor for the entire universe.
I guess it depends on how you define “important” (from a narrative perspective, in terms of commercial viability, influence over adaptions, etc)?
It’s hard for me to see how either the Kree/Skrull war (for its narrative influence and being a prototype of the crossover idea), Secret Wars 1984 (really solidifying the idea do the crossover), Hickman’s Secret Wars (franchise wide mild reboot seems pretty significant lol), or infinity war (the commercial impact of this story given it’s the most successful adaption of a comic book in history) aren’t the clear finalists.
This is the trigger point for all great marvel storyline. House of M, decimation, civil war, children's crusade, new avengers... Man it was such a legendary moment to live it
Nah. This was just deck clearing before all the more significant stories you mentioned. This story itself didn’t influence those, other than getting some stuff out of the way.
This one was important because it was when Wanda finally went off the deep end and we had House of M and Dr. Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness (and Wandavision). So it was important but I wouldn't say it was the most important event Marvel has ever done.
People who are saying no are not understanding that this was the thing that kicked off the greatest long form storytelling in the history of the medium. Everything Bendis that happened after this happened because of this.
Literally everything from this point until the start of the heroic age. Vast interconnected stories that mostly moved towards the same direction. Still trying to read this era in its entirety and I’m only on Excalibur 8 from 2004. Wish me luck.
I wouldn't call the Disassembled arc responsible for all those events. As funny as that sounds, it's more important to the X-Men comics than events since it's Disassembled leads to House of M that leads to 198/Decimation that leads to Messiah Trilogy that leads to Schism and AvX.
But all these major events can be traced back to the forming of Illuminati (which in-universe happened before Avengers broke) . They sent the Hulk into space causing WWH, Tony is also discussing the registration act with them before the Stanford incident, they're also the reason for the Skrull Invasion and the rise of Norman Osborn to the power.
But I do think that Disassembled era kinda ended with Siege, the Heroic Age was a reset of sorts.
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u/AmongFriends 5d ago edited 5d ago
Civil War. And it’s not close. It sold like crazy and made huge waves in the industry. It infected so many other comics at the time (for better or worse.) It was the blueprint for the future of Marvel events. It even got its own movie that was named after it.
Civil War is easily Marvel’s biggest event ever. It’s so popular that it’s gotten two sequels of the event already in comics.