Ultimate Origins (2008)

Ultimate Origins is a comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics, released in June 2008. It falls under Marvel’s Ultimate Marvel imprint. It is written by Brian Bendis and illustrated by Butch Guice. It is intended to be a chapter in the development of Ultimatum, a crossover event that begun in September 2008.

Jeph Loeb stated in an interview with Comic Book Resources: “What Ultimate Origin is going to do is sort of tell us how it all began. … The Ultimate Universe isn’t very old, so this isn’t a cosmic story. You’re not going to see the birth of a planet. What you’ll see is how the superhero community was introduced into the human population. So you’ll learn the importance of things like the Super Soldier program, which has been hinted at in Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimates 1 and 2. Now, Brian is going to connect the dots.”

Star Wars: Obsession (2004)

Published by Dark Horse Comics, Star Wars: Obsession  ran from November 24, 2004 to May 18, 2005. The concept of the series was to lead directly into Episode III, but publication delays prolonged the release of the final issue until the day before the release of the film.

Batman-Spawn: War Devil (1994)

Batman-Spawn: War Devil is a 1994 graphic novel published by DC Comics and written by Doug Moench, Alan Grant, and Chuck Dixon. This is one of two such crossovers between the two characters published that year (the other being Spawn/Batman). A third meeting between the two characters, to be titled Spawn/Batman: Inner Demons and pitting Batman and Spawn against the Joker and Clown, was planned but never made.

X-Force (1991)

X-Force was created by illustrator Rob Liefeld after he started penciling The New Mutants comic book in 1989 with #86. The popularity of Liefeld’s art led to him taking over the plotting duties on the book. With help from writer Fabian Nicieza, who provided the dialogue for Liefeld’s plots, Liefeld transformed the New Mutants into X-Force in New Mutants #100, the book’s final issue. Liefeld and Nicieza launched X-Force in August 1991. Rob Liefeld obtained the name for the series from an unknown artist at a convention a few months prior to its release. With the aid of a multiple-variant poly-bagged card, the book sold a record 5 million copies, and remains the second highest selling American comic book of all time, surpassed only by Jim Lee’s X-Men book that same summer with 8 million copies. The original line-up of the team included Boom Boom, Cable, Cannonball, Domino, Feral, Shatterstar and Warpath. In later issues, X-Force’s roster would include Siryn, Rictor and Sunspot.

The main opponents of X-Force during its first year were the terrorist Mutant Liberation Front, led by Stryfe, a masked mutant with a mysterious link to Cable. Early issues also featured the wise-cracking mercenary Deadpool, the immortal Externals, and a new version of the Brotherhood of Mutants.

The Flash: Rebirth (2009)

In 2009, writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver created The Flash: Rebirth, a 6-issue miniseries bringing Barry Allen back to a leading role in the DC Universe as the Flash, much in the same vein as Green Lantern: Rebirth. When asked what Flashes would appear in the series, Johns and Van Sciver said, “All of them.”

Immortal X-Men (2022)

Writer-editor Jonathan Hickman and artist/co-plotter Pepe Larraz created the Quiet Council of Krakoa in House of X #6 (October 2019). The Council appeared in many comics in the Dawn of X and Reign of X relaunches, creating and enforcing the laws of Krakoa; prosecuting and delivering judgement on mutants accused of breaking those laws.

In March 2022, the council headlined Immortal X-Men as part of the Destiny of X relaunch. The series also served continuation of Inferno, vol. 2. It was written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Lucas Werneck, building plot points for the event Sins of Sinister. After being briefly transformed into the Immoral X-Men limited series, Immortal X-Men continued from issue #11.

Wolverines (2015)

The aftermath of Wolverine’s death is explored in the series Wolverines. Sharp, Skel, Neuro, Endo, Junk, and the “Wolverines” (a team formed from the fallout of his death by Daken, Lady Deathstrike, Mystique, Sabretooth, and X-23) try to find Logan’s adamantium-covered body, which is taken by Mister Sinister. The group infiltrate Mister Sinister’s fortress to retrieve the body, but it is taken by the X-Men after a battle.

I, Joker (1998)

An Elseworlds tale! In the year 2083, the legend of the Batman sparks a strange and deadly religion based on the Dark Knight. As the annual death race between the religion’s leader and a group of sacrificial “lambs” surgically altered to resemble Batman’s greatest foes approaches, one would-be Joker tries to break the cycle and become the true inheritor of the heroic mantle of the Bat.

Venom: The Madness (1993)

A three-part series published between November 1993 and January 1994, the series introduces attorney Beck as a love interest for Brock. When Beck pursues a lawsuit against Scarmore Industries for employees poisoned by a sentient liquid-mercury virus, Venom is injured trying to protect her from the Juggernaut‘s kidnap attempt. The symbiote is submerged and infected with the sentient virus (which heals Brock), bonding with the pair and introducing a third mind into their relationship. The virus drives Brock insane (causing him to murder a cleaning lady), and he is physically transported to the realm of insanity to confront its avatars: Paranoia, Dusk and the Necromancer. The symbiote overcomes the virus; Brock regains his senses, and Venom is returned to earth. Beck later insists on only being Brock’s friend, because his romantic feelings for her make him more violent.

Caliber Presents (1989)

The original Caliber Presents anthology title was one of Caliber Comic’s inaugural releases in the 1990s and featured predominantly new creators, many of which went onto successful careers in the comics’ industry.