Marvel Comics: 50 best Marvel comic books of the 2000s
By Mark Lynch
48. Marvel Knights Spider-Man (1-12)
Writer: Mark Millar
Spider-Man has a plethora of classic stories. Most of them come from the Amazing Spider-Man stories. However, the first twelve issues of Marvel Knights Spider-Man are one of the few that didn’t come from that run.
In this series of Marvel Knights Spider-Man, you’ll see almost all of Spidey’s most dangerous villains, the people he loves, and one of Norman Osborn’s most insidious plans. Norman made Peter Parker and Spider-Man’s life more miserable and did it from prison. Then, towards the end of their series (The Last Stand), Norman has Spider-Man break him out of prison, debuts the Sinister 12, attempts to kill Mary Jane, and more. An absolutely wild twelve issues.
47. Thunderbolts
Writer: Warren Ellis
The Thunderbolts are usually a team made up of criminals who wanted to be better people. Not this time. After the Superhero Civil War, Norman Osborn led the Thunderbolts. On that team were people like Bullseye, Moonstone, and Venom (Mac Gargan). None of them wanted to be good people. They were in it for the money and the U.S. pardon.
Some of the other members like Songbird believed in the Thunderbolts program. Unfortunately, that didn’t matter. Norman just wanted to prove he was better than everyone. This leads to a bunch of unnecessary deaths, crippling, and incarcerations. As horrible as all that is, it’s a fantastic run. Especially when Norman lets the Green Goblin out.