Top 10 Marvel Comics Events Of All Time

1. Infinity Gauntlet (1991)

Why it was good: Both the culmination of stories that had been running through other comics and an epic tale in and of its own, it’s hard to top the first part of Jim Starlin’s Infinity trilogy. The threat was more dire than we’d seen in any event to that point, with Thanos in control of all the Infinity Gems. The response was for Adam Warlock to round up most of Earth’s top heroes and a squad of gods and cosmic beings, but none of them were enough to take down the Mad Titan. The scene where Thanos casually slaughtered all of Marvel’s top guns was chilling to read (as well as inspirational, thanks to a classic Captain America moment) even though you knew they weren’t going to stay dead. Great, great stuff, including art by the master George Perez, and some of the best work ever from Ron Lim in relief. The story is also self-contained, a big plus, making it easy to give to people to read.

How it had lasting effects: Marvel is in position to make billions of dollars off Infinity Gauntlet, as it’s unquestionably serving as source material for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s overall arc. The movies helped the general public know who Thanos is, but he never ascends to the spot where he’s the Big Bad there if not for this series. The Gauntlet itself is also a classic visual that we’ve seen in merchandise, video games, and on and on.