Where/How Exactly Should I Start Learning About The Marvel Universe?

[Vanch]

I'm 30 years old and have been a Marvel fan since I was a child. I've always been extremely interested in all of the different aspects of the Marvel Universe, whether it be the inhabitants, the areas, the powers & abilities etc. I've watched every single Marvel movie that has been released in the past 20 years, and would really love to further my knowledge on the Marvel Universe. I'm always reading the Marvel wiki as well.

Unfortunately, even though I say I am a 'fan', I have not read a single Marvel comic book. I would love to get into reading the comics, and to learn as much as I can about the Marvel Universe & its inhabitants, although I have absolutely no idea where to start. I guess the best thing would be to go back to the VERY FIRST Marvel comic book and work my way from there, although I can't see this as being a viable option considering how much all of the comics cost, especially the older ones.

I did find this book on Amazon, and wondered if you guys would suggest getting this in order to start me off? - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvel-Abso.../dp/1465452621

Other than this, is there any other starting point you could recommend so that I can learn as much as possible about the Marvel Universe? Considering the vast amount of information out there, I'm not quite sure what my best option would be, so I would really appreciate some advice from you guys.

Thank you very much.

[catbellysqueezer]

I just started reading comics as well, and so far the easiest thing for me has been to focus on one character at a time and lookup summaries of the series they have been in.

I don't have a subscription to marvel unlimited yet, but you may want to look into that as I believe it has older comics.

[DragonsChi]

I would start with the older stuff of the character that you like the most and then move on from there.

Current comics are in such a flux right now that several characters aren't depicted as they once were and there are more inconsistency. If you are really looking to get into the medium you would really prefer getting into them when the characters were more in line and when the story telling was more consistently good.

This is coming from a guys who is only in his early twenties. So I'm not just some "bias old fan stuck on nostalgia" as some on this forum like to tote.

If you let us know what some of your favorite characters are I, and I'm sure some others can get you the names of some titles you may like.

[LordMikel]

Are you simply wanting information?

I'd go with this first. https://smile.amazon.com/Marvel-Ency...F7S1SYFGN5Q27T

It is an encyclopedia. From there you can begin to say, "hey, this character sounds interesting, where does he appear?"

[jb681131]

That is what I'm doing right now. I searching for the Basic stories to read to get to know the Marvel Univers. Here is what I've found so far:

Spider-Man / Venom

The Very Best of Spider-Man
Amazin Fantasy #15 - first Siper-Man appearance
If this be my destiny... The Final Chapter - Amazing Spider-Man #33
Spider-Man no more - Amazing Spider-Man #50
The Kid Who Collects Spiderman - Amazing Spider-Man #248
Whatever Happened to Crusher Hogan? - Amazing Spider-Man #271
The Sand and the Fury - Amazing Spider-Man #317
Fathers and Sins - Amazing Spider-Man #365
The Osborn Legacy - Spectacular Spider-Man #189

Spider-Man: Wizard Masterpiece Edition
Nothing Stops the Juggernaut - Amazing Spider-Man #229-230
Hyde in Plain Sight (aka Hyde & Seek) - Amazing Spider-Man #231-232
The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man - Amazing Spider-Man #248
Venom Strikes Back - Amazing Spider-Man #315-317
The Death of Jean DeWolff - Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110

Spiderman: Blue
Spider-Man Blue #1-5

Spider-Man epic collection: Kraven's Last Hunt
Man of the Year (The Iron Man of 2020 !) - Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20
Spider-Man vs. Wolverine - Spider-Man Versus Wolverine
The Hobgoblin Revealed! - Amazing Spider-Man #289
Mask - Web of Spider-Man #29-30
The Wedding - Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21
The Big Question - Amazing Spider-Man #290-292
Kraven's Last Hunt - Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, Web of Spider-Man #31-32
The Weding of the Year exclusive - The Official Marvel News Magazin: Marvel Age #54

Birth of Venom
Invasion! - Secret War #8
Alien Costume Saga - Amazing Spider-Man #252-259
Venom - Spider-Man #298-300
Return of Venom - Amazing Spider-Man #315-317
The Spider and the Ghost - Amazing Spider-Man Annual #25
Monster Mash: Part II - Fantastic Four #274
Til Death Do Us Part! - Web of Spider-Man #1


X-Men / Wolverine

X-Men: Wizard Masterpiece Edition
The Power of Proteus - Uncanny X-Men #126-128
The Dark Phoenix Saga - Uncanny X-Men #135-137
Days Of Future Past - Uncanny X-Men #141-142
Demon - Uncanny X-Men #143
I, Magneto - Uncanny X-Men #150

Wolverine: Wizard Masterpiece Edition
Wendigo - Uncanny X-Men #139-140
Wolverine vs The Hulk - Incredible Hulk #340
Wolverine and Captain America in WWII - Uncanny X-Men #268
Viper & Silver Samurai - Uncanny X-Men #172-173


Captain America

Captain America: Man Out of Time
Captain America: Man Out of Time #1-5


Hulk

Hulk: Transformations
The Incredible Hulk #3 - The Hulk Banished to Outer Space
The Incredible Hulk #6 - The Incredible Hulk vs The Metal Master
The Incredible Hulk #272 - Weirdsong of the Wen-Di-Go
The Incredible Hulk #315 - Freedom - Bruce Banner... Fee at Last
The Incredible Hulk #324 - The More Things Change... - The Return of the Grey-Skinned Goliath
The Incredible Hulk #347 - Crap Shoot
The New Incredible Hulk #377 - "Honney, I Shrunk The Hulk"

Hulk: Grey
Hulk: Grey #1-5

Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk
Incredible Hulk #92-105

If you care there is a prequel to Planet Hulk called Incredible Hulk: Prelude to Planet Hulk and a sequel Incredible Hulk: World War Hulk.


Daredevil

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1-5

Daredevil: Yellow
Daredevil: Yellow #1-5

Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson vol.1-3


Fantastic Four

The Best of the Fantastic Four vol.1
Fantastic Four #1 - Introduction
Fantastic Four #39–40 - FF / Daredevil team-up
Fantastic Four #51 - This Man… This Monster! - The most famous issue
Fantastic Four #100 - The 100th anniversary issue
Fantastic Four #116 - The Alien, The Ally, and...Armageddon!
Fantastic Four #176 - Improbable As it May Seem--The Impossible Man is Back in Town!
Fantastic Four #236 - The 20th anniversary issue (tripple size)
Fantastic Four #267 - In the arms of Octopus
Fantastic Four Annual #2 - The Fantastic Origin of Doctor Doom
Fantastic Four vol. 3 #56 - Remembrance of Things Past
Fantastic Four vol. 3 #60 - Inside Out - the 87th best single issue from Wizard Magazine
Marvel Fanfare #15 - That Night... - A very special tale starring the ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing, by comics legend Barry Windsor-Smith!
Marvel Two-in-One #50 - The Thing Battles the Thing - Big 50th issue
Marvel Knights 4 #4 - Wolf at the Door

Marvel Epic - Fantastic Four #3: The Coming of Galactus
Fantastic Four #33–51 + Annual #3

[DrNewGod]

BTW: I've got to say I'm loving hearing younger people get into the comics I've loved.

As an unconventional approach, download a range of copies of Marvel Team-Up or Marvel Two-In-One. Those titles had Spider-Man and The Thing (respectively) with a different guest star each month. That might give you some idea of what characters you'd like to know more about, and they give you a broad sense of the Marvel Universe as a whole.

[Vanch]

BTW: I've got to say I'm loving hearing younger people get into the comics I've loved.

As an unconventional approach, download a range of copies of Marvel Team-Up or Marvel Two-In-One. Those titles had Spider-Man and The Thing (respectively) with a different guest star each month. That might give you some idea of what characters you'd like to know more about, and they give you a broad sense of the Marvel Universe as a whole.

Nice to be called young, that made me smile. Reaching 30, I started to feel old, so it's much appreciated!

Anyway, I'll definitely grab myself a copy of that Marvel Encyclopedia as suggested, as I feel I can further decide on which character(s) I like the most and then work my way from there.

Thank you!

[DrNewGod]

Nice to be called young, that made me smile. Reaching 30, I started to feel old, so it's much appreciated!

Anyway, I'll definitely grab myself a copy of that Marvel Encyclopedia as suggested, as I feel I can further decide on which character(s) I like the most and then work my way from there.

Thank you!

30 was 20 years ago for me. It sounds awesome!

[Seren]

Honestly, I just picked a character, read all their comics and branched out from there. It's been a bit chaotic, but a lot of great fun XD Got myself a Marvel Unlimited subscription - it's helped a lot in letting me get caught up.

[Vanch]

Okay, well as I'm going to be buying a book and reading about the characters etc. Is there any of these three you would recommend, as they all seem to be based around the same thing. I'll most likely purchase all three of them eventually, although to begin with which would you say is the best? I can't really see a difference between the three, as they're all published by DK as well.

Marvel Encyclopedia (2014) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvel-Ency...l+Encyclopedia

Marvel: Absolutely Everything You Need To Know (2016) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvel-Abso...eywords=marvel

Ultimate Marvel (2017) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Ma...ltimate+marvel

[Rosebunse]

Am I bad for suggesting the wikis? The books are great, but there's so much to learn.

My advise would be to also look up the Celestials and the Fantastic Four and go from there. Everything else sort of leads out from there.

[LordMikel]

Okay, well as I'm going to be buying a book and reading about the characters etc. Is there any of these three you would recommend, as they all seem to be based around the same thing. I'll most likely purchase all three of them eventually, although to begin with which would you say is the best? I can't really see a difference between the three, as they're all published by DK as well.

Marvel Encyclopedia (2014) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvel-Ency...l+Encyclopedia

Marvel: Absolutely Everything You Need To Know (2016) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvel-Abso...eywords=marvel

Ultimate Marvel (2017) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Ma...ltimate+marvel

Ultimate Marvel is different, stay away from that initially until you learn more.

[DrNewGod]

Ultimate Marvel is different, stay away from that initially until you learn more.

Seconded. If Ultimate was still going, I'd say jump on it, but it really amounts to an extended run of What If... (don't look at those either, they're basically "what if the published stories had gone wrong" stories). Save those for later.

By the same token, avoid the M2 titles online for a while. They're fun, but they're stories about the future of the MU projected from what the MU was 20 years ago.

[Vanch]

I've decided to go in order of when the three books I listed were released. As I've already had the Marvel Encyclopedia recommended to me by a poster above and it's the earliest released book out of the three I listed, I've now ordered it.

I'll most likely eventually move on to the Ultimate Marvel book, although in which way is it 'different'?


Thanks for all your help so far!

[LordMikel]

I've decided to go in order of when the three books I listed were released. As I've already had the Marvel Encyclopedia recommended to me by a poster above and it's the earliest released book out of the three I listed, I've now ordered it.

I'll most likely eventually move on to the Ultimate Marvel book, although in which way is it 'different'?


Thanks for all your help so far!

Ultimate Universe is an entirely different Universe. Characters were rewritten, redesigned, reused in different ways.