Timeline · 13 story eras

The story,
mapped.

Browse all 374 books by story era. A creator’s run stays together even when it spans several eras. Each dossier explains where its stories fit and lists reading checkpoints for crossovers. Marvel time is elastic, and many large books straddle events. The timeline gives each book its place in the big story; each book’s reading checkpoints give the practical order.

Owned Next up Unowned Alternate worlds and retrospectives branch off the line↓ The book continues into a later era

The Dawn of the Heroes

The first years of the heroic age: four astronauts changed forever, a spider bite in Queens, gods walking into Midgard, and a frozen soldier coming home.

Era 01 · 17 books

  1. X-Men: Magneto TestamentMax Eisenhardt’s childhood and survival of the Holocaust precede his life as Magneto and the formation of the X-Men.Retrospective152 pp
  2. The Marvels Project: Birth of the Super Heroes1939–1941: the original Human Torch, Namor, Angel and Captain America converge as the world enters war.Retrospective224 pp
  3. Marvels: The Remastered EditionA ground-level look back at the first age of super heroes, from the earliest costumed days through the coming of Galactus.Retrospective↓ 02248 pp
  4. Marvels SnapshotsEight original human-scale snapshots range from wartime Namor and young Scott Summers to Civil War and modern Carol/Kamala.Retrospective↓ 11264 pp
  5. History of the Marvel UniverseGalactus recounts Marvel’s cosmological beginnings through modern history to Franklin Richards; a panoramic companion that spans every era.Retrospective↓ 13232 pp
  6. Doctor Strange Omnibus Vol. 1The first Sorcerer Supreme stories, where the mystic corner of the world is mapped out.456 pp
  7. The Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1Marvel’s shared universe begins with the Fantastic Four’s first thirty issues.928 pp
  8. The Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2The Lee/Kirby invention engine reaches the Frightful Four, Inhumans, and Galactus.↓ 02832 pp
  9. The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1Peter Parker’s origin and first great rogues establish the Spider-Man foundation.↓ 021,152 pp
  10. The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 2Romita’s arrival expands Peter Parker’s cast and visual identity after the Lee/Ditko foundation.992 pp
  11. Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green GoblinA story from Peter’s earliest days links his grief over Uncle Ben to the Osborn family and the Proto-Goblin’s origins.Retrospective128 pp
  12. Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale: Daredevil — YellowMatt remembers his first yellow-costume days and his love for Karen Page; the later framing conversation keeps the story in this era.Retrospective168 pp
  13. Spider-Man and the Human TorchFive episodes trace Peter and Johnny’s friendship from teenage rivalry to their adult lives before Civil War.Retrospective↓ 07128 pp
  14. Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale: Hulk — GrayBanner’s first gamma-bomb days are revisited through a later therapy session with Doc Samson.Retrospective168 pp
  15. Marvel 1602Marvel archetypes emerge four centuries early in Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert’s Elizabethan history.Alternate world248 pp
  16. The Mighty Thor by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Larry LieberThe curated Penguin volume establishes Thor, Loki, Asgard, and Kirby’s mature cosmic scale.464 pp
  17. Silver Surfer Omnibus Vol. 1Lee and Buscema establish the Surfer’s tragic solo voice before later cosmic reinventions.576 pp