I’ve largely tried to keep the chapters of this series A)
grouped thematically and B) under 1,000 words each. As in life, not everything
fits into such neat little boxes. With that in mind, here are some of the
events the previous chapters missed.
Acts of Vengeance (1989): It’s the old supervillain
switcheroo. A group of Loki-led nasties (Dr. Doom, Magneto, the Red Skull, the
Kingpin, the Mandarin, and the Wizard) decides the best way to thwart their
enemies is to change dance partners. And so you have Spider-Man fighting a
giant mutant-hunting Tri-Sentinel, and Rusty and Skids from the New Mutants
fighting perennial Spider-baddie the Vulture. The plot, of course, fails, mostly
because the villains can’t stop fighting each other, to the point where Loki
ends up imprisoning the Kingpin, the Wizard, and the Mandarin. Most
importantly, we get a story in Uncanny
X-Men about Psylocke being transformed into an Asian, bathing-suit clad
ninja programmed to serve regular Iron Man enemy the Mandarin. This version of
Betsy Braddock has largely stuck ever since. “Acts of Vengeance” also gave us
the first appearance of the New Warriors superhero team, who would go on to inadvertently
cause the Civil
War. Fun fact: Among the villains who declined the supervillain team-up was
Apocalypse. (Matt's aside: A personal favorite from this event is when Holocaust survivor Magneto slaps around Red Skull's Nazi ass in Captain America #367)
Operation: Galactic Storm (1992): A big Avengers-family
crossover that spanned Avengers, Avengers West Coast, Captain America, Iron
Man, Thor, Wonder Man and Quasar. The Avengers butt into a war between the
Shi’ar and the Kree because the conflict is somehow destabilizing Earth’s sun. The
story is considered a throwback to the 1970s’ Kree-Skrull War, in which the
Avengers also took part, and features a uniting of the two Avengers teams –
East and West Coast – and an overall beefing-up of their ranks (Hey, everybody,
Gilgamesh is back!). The crossover has a bit of a bummer ending: A Nega Bomb
kills billions of Kree, the mastermind of the whole conflict turns out to be
the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence and the Shi’ar annex the Kree, leaving
Lilandra’s mad sister Deathbird in charge of them.
Maximum Carnage (1993): AKA the
crossover that got me reading comics regularly. Carnage – the figurative
lovechild of Venom and the Joker – breaks out of prison and goes on a killing
spree across New York with his Harley Quinn, a new supervillain called Shriek,
and a gang of Spider-villains including the demonic version of the Hobgoblin, Spidey’s
Doppelganger from the Infinity War,
and Carrion. To stop them, Spider-Man teams up with Venom, Captain America,
Iron Fist, Deathlok, Nightwatch, Cloak & Dagger, Morbius, Firestar, and the
Black Cat. The villains are finally defeated with the power of love and hope –
in the form of a Stark-tech device apparently powered by the Star Sapphires and
Blue Lanterns. The Spidey-title crossover went on to inspire a 1994 Super
Nintendo/Sega Genesis video game that came in a sweet red cartridge (And
shortly after all that, there was “The Clone Saga,” but the less said about
that mess the better).
World War Hulk (2007): A few years back, a secret superhero
cabal called the Illuminati (Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Charles Xavier, Dr.
Strange, Black Panther, Namor, and Black Bolt) decided the Hulk was too much of
a threat and blasted him off into space. While away, he overthrew the rulers of
the planet Sakaar, took a wife and made a nice little life for himself. Then
the ship that took him there exploded and killed his pregnant wife, and Hulk.
Was. Pissed. So he makes his way back to Earth with some space friends to get
revenge. After all is smashed and done, Hulk is reverted to his Bruce Banner
form and arrested. The Incredible Hulk
is renamed The Incredible Hercules,
following that hero’s adventures with Amadeus Cho. A new series, Skaar, Son of Hulk, follows the
adventures of … well, I suppose it’s obvious. And another new series, Hulk, debuts featuring a Red Hulk who is
later revealed to be famed Hulk-hater Gen. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.
Shadowland (2010): Before Mark Waid could relaunch Daredevil
into one of Marvel’s best books, the character had to be completely run into
the ground. And how better to do that than turning him into a demon-possessed
ninja lord in a sprawling crossover with the company’s other street-level
heroes? In addition to the main series by Andy Diggle and Billy Tan, Shadowland sucked in Spider-Man, the
Heroes for Hire, Daughters of the Dragon, Punisher, Wolverine, Moon Knight,
Ghost Rider, Black Panther, the Thunderbolts, Shang-Chi, White Tiger, the Night
Nurse, and Elektra. Even the Kingpin appears to team up with the heroes in an
attempt to stop Matt Murdock and the Hand from destroying New York. Among the
series’ repercussions, Daredevil kills Bullseye (Don’t worry, he gets better); Daredevil
kills himself (he gets better AND gets a new series); a new Power Man is
introduced who looks like the one from Disney XD’s Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon; and the Black Panther, who has an
entire country to deal with, takes over patrolling Hell’s Kitchen.
Spider-Verse (2014): A reality-hopping, Spidey-chomping,
vampirish character named Morlun and his kin, the Inheritors, seek to wipe out
every Spider-Man ever, until they all team up to stop them. We’re talking Peter
Parker, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, “Mayday” Parker aka Spider-Girl, Peter
Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham, Spidey 2099, Ock-Spidey, the Scarlet Spider,
Gwen Stacy (whaaaa?), Uncle Ben (whaaaaaaaaa?), et al. Many Spiders die, but
many Spiders also live, and some even get their own ongoing series, such as
Silk, an Asian-American woman who was bit by the same spider that bit Parker;
and new fan-favorite Spider-Gwen, a Gwen Stacy from a reality where she got bit
and Peter Parker became the Lizard and died.
So there you have it. It’s not every crossover ever, but
hopefully this series gave you more than enough background headed into Secret
Wars, which if we’ve timed these right, should be starting nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnow.
Happy reading!
Dan Grote’s new novel,
Magic Pier, is available however you get your books online. He has been writing
for The Matt Signal since 2014. He and Matt have been friends since the days
when making it to issue 25 guaranteed you a foil cover.
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