Top 10 Marvel Comics Events Of All Time

2. Age of Apocalypse (1995)

Why it was good: Wildly, wildly creative, always a good place to start. Not just an alternate reality but one that required new designs for nearly every mutant hero and villain while also adding some new ones to the mix. It’s hard to think of many other events as ambitious as this one. Plus, this was when the X-Men were Marvel’s premier franchise, so to do something this big with them was nearly unprecedented. And talk about a murderer’s row of artists: Joe Madureira, both Kubert brothers, Steve Epting, Chris Bachalo, Tony Daniel, Salvador Larroca, Carlos Pacheco, Terry Dodson. Simply nuts, even if some of them were still in the formative phases of their careers. Let’s not forget that the writing team included Mark Waid, Warren Ellis, Fabian Nicieza and Jeph Loeb. It was arguably the greatest collection of talent ever on one event, Marvel or otherwise.

Why it didn’t rank higher: Very X-Men-centric, obviously, so if you don’t like your mutant heroes, you might not find this your cup of tea. Also loses points for being difficult to follow in collections, at least to a point. But that’s about it.

How it had lasting effects: Several characters from the Age of Apocalypse reality made it over to the main one, including Sugar Man, Dark Beast and Blink. Most of the rest of its effects have been blunted over the years, with Marvel deciding that the story didn’t really happen in the main timeline of Marvel Earth. Still, it continues to have a larger thematic effect on super hero events as a whole. What is Flashpoint if not Age of Apocalypse taken even further, as a catalyst for lasting chance throughout a line of comics? It’s quite possible we’ll see some elements of this in Fox’s X-Men movies as well, perhaps as soon as 2016.