What exactly is a comic book event? Well, it’s similar to a crossover, but it’s usually executed on a larger scale and sometimes encompasses a publisher’s entire line of books. Events often have a core mini or max-series title that tell the main meat of the story, but it’s common for many of the publisher’s existing ongoing series to tie into the event as well, and they’re sometimes essential to understanding the main plot.
While events are a common practice by both Marvel and DC, it’s the former that’s particularly notorious for them, often times putting out multiple events (sometimes concurrently) in a single year. Naturally, they can’t all be winners, so we decided to look back some of the events from the House of Ideas that failed to captivate readers, breaking them down in no particular order (because let’s face it – there’s no real winners on a list like this). Here are the 10 worst Marvel Comics events of all time:
Secret Wars II
After the largely well received Secret Wars event, Marvel looked to capitalize on the hype by almost immediately publishing a sequel series titled Secret Wars II, written by Jim Shooter with art by Al Milgrom. In it, the heroes of the Marvel Universe are once again forced to battle the Beyonder, whose curiosity about the meaning of life has led him to Earth. However, the only thing that really qualifies this story as being worthy of the Secret Wars title takes place in the ninth and final issue, meaning that readers have to slog their way through eight issues of cannon fodder before they reach any semblance of satisfaction.
Civil War II
In 2006, the Marvel Universe was shaken to its very core when heroes were pitted against heroes in Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s Civil War. However, in 2016, Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez’s sequel proved to be far removed from the success of its predecessor. The story explores the moral dilemmas of precognitive justice thanks to an Inhuman named Ulysses, with the ability to foresee potential crimes and travesties that have yet to occur. While this sounds good on paper, the event features many consequences and casualties that feel forced (like the death of Bruce Banner), it does massive damage to Captain Marvel’s character (painting her almost as a fascist), and due to major printing delays, the aftermath of the event started to unfold before the story even concluded. All in all, Civil War II was an intriguing concept that missed its mark by a long shot.
Secret Invasion
Another Brian Michael Bendis-written event that failed to live up to expectations is Secret Invasion, which features art by Leinil Francis Yu. In it, we learn that the shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls have secretly infiltrated every super-powered organization on Earth. However, the premise of characters suspecting who is or isn’t a Skrull is abandoned almost immediately after the Skrulls reveal themselves, and if you only read the core Secret Invasion title and not the numerous tie-in issues, much of the “big reveals” in the story will likely be lost on you as Bendis doesn’t provide a whole lot of context. Perhaps what’s most disappointing, though, is that the conclusion of the event isn’t really a conclusion at all – instead, it’s merely a prelude to Marvel’s next big event, Dark Reign.
Age of Ultron
Despite his many positive contributions to the Marvel Universe over the years, Brian Michael Bendis is responsible for some of the company’s most disappointing events. This time, it’s Age of Ultron, which has almost nothing in common with the second Avengers film, just in case you were wondering. Taking place on not just one, but two alternate Earths, the story follows the few remaining superheroes as they fight for survival in a world where Ultron reigns supreme. However, the increasingly stupid decisions made by these characters lead you to wonder how they’ve managed to last this long in the first place, with plenty of time-travel convolution to further muddy the waters. It basically ends up feeling more like a “What If?” story, removing what little stakes were established in the beginning. What’s more, Ultron is hardly even present throughout the narrative, which is bizarre considering the story shares his namesake.
Shadowland
In 2010, longtime Daredevil writer Andy Diggle teamed up with artist Billy Tan to bring us Shadowland, which chronicles the Man without Fear’s return to Hell’s Kitchen after becoming the leader of the Hand. Building a temple/prison in the middle of the city, Daredevil’s methods start to become more and more extreme, to the point where the hero even goes as far as to kill his arch-nemesis Bullseye. It’s an incredibly, needlessly dark story whose formula seems to have been to throw in as many fights, superheroes, and one-liners as possible, while completely destroying Daredevil’s character in the process. The idea was to take him to the absolute lowest extreme imaginable before bringing him back from the depths in Daredevil Reborn, but unfortunately, this intriguing premise suffers from incredibly poor execution.
Fear Itself
In Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen’s Fear Itself, the heroes of the Marvel Universe find themselves in contention with the Serpent - an Asgardian fear deity who causes global panic on Earth. This 2011 story was said to be Marvel’s biggest event since Civil War, but despite being received more favorably than some entries on this list, it certainly doesn’t elicit that much enthusiasm from readers. Ultimately, the problem is that there isn't a whole lot of substance, as the premise doesn't allow for much leeway since the only real person who can defeat this deadly creature is Thor. Meanwhile, readers are left waiting for the God of Thunder to step up while the rest of the superheroes are left to twiddle their thumbs (which, in Marvel Comics, means engaging in massive-yet-unnecessary fight sequences).
Inhumans vs. X-Men
For years, the Inhumans have seemingly been replacing the X-Men as Marvel’s de facto genetic-based group of superhumans, so few were surprised that the two collided in Charles Soule, Jeff Lemire, and Leinil Francis Yu’s Inhumans vs. X-Men. After all, the Inhumans and the X-Men had been on a collision course ever since the link was proven between the Inhuman’s Terrigen Mist and the sickness and death of much of the mutant population. That being said, why is the majority of the series spent with the Inhumans appearing oblivious as to why the mutants are attacking them? For an event that was years in the making, this was a massive letdown, with an anticlimactic conclusion that proves that this entire event could have been wrapped up in a single issue with one simple conversation between the two groups.
Avengers vs. X-Men
Yet another event that was years in the making, Avengers vs. X-Men was supposed to be the long-awaited battle between Marvel’s two biggest superhero groups, with a talented team of writers and artists at the helm. The drama begins when the two titular teams find themselves at odds after the return of the powerful Phoenix Force, with the Avengers recalling the destruction the entity caused the last time it visited Earth and the X-Men believing its return will signal the rebirth of the mutant race and undo the damage caused by Scarlet Witch. This, however, quickly turns into a battle of morals between the incredibly bland duo of Captain America and Cyclops, coupled with fight after fight between the remaining members of the two factions with no real emotional weight behind them. In the end, the entire story felt like little more than an excuse to bring Scarlet Witch back into the fold of the Marvel Universe following House of M.
Siege
Another entry on the list, another disappointing Brian Michael Bendis event. Teaming up with artist Olivier Coipel, Bendis’ Siege spins directly out of the events of Dark Reign, with Loki manipulating Norman Osborn into leading an all-out assault on Asgard. The story claims to have been building since Avengers: Disassembled and is an attempt to rectify the division of the Marvel Universe that had been looming since Civil War, but despite such bold promises, the narrative largely fails to live up to its own, self-appointed standards. The only real payoff is that Osborn is finally exposed as the criminal that he is and the return of Steve Rogers, the latter of which feels inconsequential to the actual story. Like most of Bendis’ major stories from 2008 through 2011, Siege essentially only exists to serve as a means of setting up the next status quo change (this time, The Heroic Age).
Ultimatum
Marvel’s Ultimate Universe had its fair share of highs and lows. However, the definitive lowest of lows by many readers’ accounts is Jeph Loeb and David Finch’s Ultimatum. The story sees the Ultimates (the Earth-1610 stand-in for the Avengers) assemble to deal with an array of climatic disturbances that are wreaking havoc across the planet. It also sees almost all of the major players in the Ultimate Universe killed off, including Charles Xavier, Emma Frost, Cyclops, Wasp, Beast, Angel, Nightcrawler, Magneto, Hank Pym, Thor, Dr. Strange, Wolverine, and the Wasp (who’s grotesquely eaten by the Blob). The story exists entirely for shock value, and unfortunately, it even manages to fail in that respect.