Marvel Epic Collection

Marvel's Senior Vice President of Sales David Gabriel said: "When all is said and done, the Epic volumes will fit seamlessly next to one another on readers' bookshelves, presenting a complete and unbroken run of each title.

[13] In July 2020, Marvel Comics gained the rights to publish Alien and Predator in the wake of Fox's sale to Disney.

Volume 7: Ultron Unbound contains the first appearance of James Rhodes as War Machine, as well as the origin story for the Julia Carpenter version of Spider-Woman.

[19] The villain Carnage has never had an ongoing series, with all Epic Collection releases compiled of miniseries, or appearances in various Spider-Man comics.

The initial line-up contained former X-Men Shadowcat, Phoenix and Nightcrawler - as well as fellow Claremont creation, Captain Britain.

(Writer Scott Lobdell) understood that the X-Men are essentially the comic book equivalent of a soap opera, and that the real focus should always lie upon the interaction between the team members.

"[25] After a seven-issue run in Marvel Spotlight, the Johnny Blaze version of Ghost Rider got his own ongoing series.

Volume 1: The Avenging Archer includes the Mark Gruenwald miniseries, which is "particularly noteworthy for launching Hawkeye's longstanding relationship with Mockingbird, and for being an early exploration of the character's hearing loss and how he comes to deal with that.

The Master Of Kung Fu Epic Collections showcases the character Shang-Chi, who was born out of the 1970s craze for martial arts content.

[38] The character of Moon Knight debuted as a villain in 1975's Werewolf By Night, though by his appearance in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #22, he was seen as more heroic.

[14] As well as releasing new Planet Of The Apes material, Marvel's Epic Collection has republished full-color comics initially produced in 1975.

She-Hulk was "the last major character Stan Lee co-created for Marvel", with Jennifer Walters as the estranged cousin of Bruce Banner.

The series ran for 107 issues and three Annuals until 1986, featuring stories set between the original trilogy of films, as well as adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Notable storylines in Wolverine's own Epic Collection line include the character fighting sentient cocaine, and Jungle Adventure, both in Vol.

[52][53] Launched in 1986, X-Factor featured Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Iceman, the original line-up of X-Men from 1963.

Volumes 1 to 4 reprint Classic X-Men books, written by Stan Lee and Roy Thomas, chronicling the period up to the comic's cancellation in 1970, and various guest appearances in other Marvel titles between 1970-1975.

He caused controversy with the Sins Past storyline, which involved Gwen Stacy - then navigated the Civil War event, before finishing with One More Day, which saw Peter's marriage to Mary-Jane removed from history.

The storyline was not only "one of the best-selling comics of the decade" but also "perhaps one of the best moves that Marvel could have made ... (as it) provided the perfect opportunity for the gravity of the Civil War’s outcome to be felt".

It saw Norman Osborn take charge of a revamped Avengers team, crossing over with the Utopia event, before concluding with Siege.

[28] The 2008 team line-up - Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Phyla-Vell, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, and Adam Warlock - first came together during the Annihilation: Conquest event.

Launching at the same time as Marvel's first Iron Man movie, volumes three to five of the character's modern era covers the full Matt Fraction-Salvador Larroca run on the title.

Readers "were treated to a version of Tony [Stark] that embraced his mistakes and flaws", plus arcs which were "filled with stories that pushed the Armored Avenger to his limit, and revealed new layers to the tortured genius underneath the suit".

The character's first ongoing series was Spider-Gwen a year later, with the core stories taking place outside of main Marvel continuity, in the Earth-65 universe.

[72] The return of Star Wars comics rights to Marvel saw the continuity of previous releases reset to "Legends", with "any material published since April 2014 now considered canon.

"[77] The series was relaunched in 2017 by writer Charles Soule, for a separate 25-issue run that immediately follows the events of Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith.

[81] Nineteen years after Venom's debut in Amazing Spider-Man, the character received an own ongoing series, written by Daniel Way.

The first Modern Era volume of Young Avengers contains the complete 2005 series, written by Allan Heinberg, with art from Jim Cheung.

[82] While most Epic Collection releases take place in Marvel's main Earth-616 universe, the Ultimate series is designated as Earth-1610, with its own continuity.

Writers Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis worked together with artist Adam Kubert for the first six-issue arc, before Warren Ellis took on the series.

Written by Mark Millar, and drawn by Bryan Hitch, the comic blurred the lines of right and wrong, where the heroes "have no idea they are supervillains.