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

Heroes Return, Modern Dawn

The heroes come home to a sharper world: kings with governments to run, schools rebuilt in public, and private eyes who used to wear capes.

Era 06 · 29 books · 4 owned

  1. Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1Peter Parker’s first years, retold from scratch in a separate universe running parallel to the mainline.Alternate world1,000 pp
  2. Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 2Peter Parker’s Ultimate-era adolescence broadens into the Ultimate Six conflict.Alternate world984 pp
  3. Avengers by Busiek & Pérez Omnibus Vol. 1The Avengers reassemble and rebuild the roster once the heroes come home.1,184 pp
  4. Avengers by Busiek & Pérez Omnibus Vol. 2Busiek’s Avengers restoration culminates in Kang Dynasty and closes the full modern-classic run.1,248 pp
  5. Captain Marvel: Genis-Vell by Peter David OmnibusAvengers Forever supplies useful Genis/Rick Jones context before Peter David’s two consecutive Captain Marvel series, both kept in one uninterrupted omnibus.↓ 071,400 pp
  6. Thunderbolts Omnibus Vol. 1The Masters of Evil debut as replacement heroes at the start of the Heroes Return period.1,136 pp
  7. Avengers: Red ZoneAfter the Busiek era and before Disassembled, the Avengers confront a biological attack and government infiltration.144 pp
  8. Thunderbolts Omnibus Vol. 2The redemption experiment continues directly without an unrelated book inserted between volumes.1,168 pp
  9. Inhumans by Paul Jenkins & Jae LeeJenkins and Lee recast Attilan’s royal family as a political and cultural drama.304 pp
  10. Earth XEarth-9997 is a separate future-history thought experiment published alongside late-1990s Marvel, never an Earth-616 chronology step.Alternate world472 pp
  11. Thunderbolts Omnibus Vol. 3Busiek and Nicieza’s Thunderbolts stories conclude across the team’s changing identities.1,216 pp
  12. Deadpool by Joe Kelly OmnibusWade finally gets his own book and an uncomfortable shot at being a hero.1,160 pp
  13. Daredevil by Bendis & Maleev Omnibus Vol. 1Matt Murdock’s secret identity becomes public property and Hell’s Kitchen closes in around him.848 pp
  14. Black Panther by Christopher Priest Omnibus Vol. 1T’Challa sets up in New York as a visiting head of state rather than a guest hero.840 pp
  15. Black Panther by Christopher Priest Omnibus Vol. 2Priest’s Wakandan political saga and Everett Ross framing reach their complete conclusion.928 pp
  16. Truth: Red, White & BlackThe 2003 revelation of Isaiah Bradley’s hidden history works after a modern Captain America foundation, not before the Silver Age begins.Retrospective168 pp
  17. New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection: E Is for ExtinctionCassandra Nova’s Sentinels destroy Genosha, and the X-Men answer mutantkind’s worst day by opening the school to a new generation.Owned384 pp
  18. New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection: New WorldsRiots in Mutant Town, a Paris office for X-Corp and Scott’s affair with Emma strain the team until a murder shakes the mansion.Owned360 pp
  19. New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection: Planet XWeapon Plus secrets and Magneto’s return bring Morrison’s run to its climax, with a Phoenix coda set 150 years in the future.Owned336 pp
  20. Jessica Jones: Alias OmnibusA burned-out ex-hero works the sordid cases the Avengers never hear about.720 pp
  21. Punisher: Welcome Back, FrankA compact Earth-616 Frank Castle landmark before Ennis’s separate MAX-continuity work.288 pp
  22. Marvel Knights Black Widow by Grayson & Rucka: The Complete CollectionNatasha confronts Yelena’s claim to the Black Widow mantle in the Marvel Knights era; Pale Little Spider is Yelena’s earlier mission.224 pp
  23. Fantastic Four by Waid & Wieringo OmnibusThe Fantastic Four restored as explorers and as a family, with Doom at his most personal.Owned896 pp
  24. Amazing Spider-Man by J. Michael Straczynski Omnibus Vol. 1Peter returns to teach at his old high school just as a stranger offers a very different account of where his powers came from.1,120 pp
  25. Runaways by Vaughan & Alphona OmnibusSix kids discover what their parents really are and go on the run through a superhero world that keeps escalating around them.↓ 071,072 pp
  26. X-Statix OmnibusA mutant team becomes a celebrity product in Milligan and Allred’s caustic reinvention of X-Force.1,200 pp
  27. The Amazing Spider-Man by Michelinie & Bagley Omnibus Vol. 2The Maximum Carnage period brings this Michelinie and Bagley sequence to its conclusion.1,128 pp
  28. The Sentry OmnibusJenkins and Lee introduce Bob Reynolds and the Void; later stories revisit his forgotten past and his place among the Avengers.↓ 131,128 pp
  29. Daredevil Modern Era Epic Collection: Guardian DevilMarvel Knights Daredevil #0–15 precedes Bendis’s first omnibus, which begins at #16.440 pp