7 Best Comics to Read for Avengers: Infinity War

Posted by Lorie Orum on Tuesday, April 2, 2024
With Avengers: Infinity War hitting theaters, you might want to read up on the inspiration for the big Marvel film, so we’ve assembled this list of the essential comics to read based on key elements from the movie. If you want to know more about the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos, the attack on Wakanda, and the fractured state of the Avengers, then check out these reads.

Infinity Gauntlet

If you only read one book on this list, this is the one. The definitive Thanos story and one of the most eye-popping stories in Marvel Comics’ history. Jim Starlin and George Perez’s six-part cosmic masterpiece explores the motives and machinations of Thanos with deft plotting, unfolding the Mad Titan’s quest for power like a horror story, culminating in a desperate all-out assault by earth’s heroes on a giant, intergalactic monument to death Thanos has crafted to win the heart of his true love, the personification of death.

It’s even bigger and wilder than it sounds, but the story’s genius is in the little details that have always set Starlin and Perez apart. From the uniquely odd characterizations Perez gives to even the grandest conceptual being to the grandiose monologues Starlin writes for Thanos, there’s no shortage of great moments. Based on what we know about Infinity War, this is the source material it will draw from most heavily, and small wonder. There is an actual comic series called Infinity War that followed this one, but the less said about it the better. This remains the bar not just for great Thanos stories, but for Marvel’s cosmic adventures in general.

Avengers, Vol. 2 (2010-2012)

Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita’s run on Avengers really picked up steam in this arc, which has the team facing off against the Hood — a generally containable threat who becomes considerably more dangerous when he starts collecting the Infinity Gems. This leads to a serious external challenge, made far more difficult by the fact that the Avengers are suffering from an internal breach of trust.

Yes, the Infinity Gems (or “Stones” if you’re going by the movie’s lingo), those mysterious, all-purpose MacGuffins of immense power take center stage here. In past stories, the Infinity Gems have suffered from being a little vague in their exact capabilities. Bendis wisely uses this story to show off their individual capabilities a bit here, all while picking at some old wounds between the Avengers.

While the movies have toyed around with what these gems actually can do (think of the big finale in Guardians of the Galaxy or Vision’s origin in Age of Ultron), this run is your best bet for getting acquainted with the individual gems and wrapping your mind around the extinction level threat posed when they fall into the wrong hands — something that seems to happen an awful lot in these comics.

Thanos Rising (Marvel Now)

Few modern comic book writers do grim cosmic narratives better than Jason Aaron, and his apocalyptic style is served exquisitely by Simone Bianchi. Together, they make Thanos Rising an origin story for the ages, delving not just in how Thanos came to be public enemy number one in the Marvel Universe, but why, adding layer upon layer of deft psychological characterization to their central figure, showing that the nickname “the Mad Titan” is no misnomer.

The risk with any story that lays bare the full origin story of these characters is that a lot of the mysteries that made them fun get stripped away. Aaron and Bianchi intentionally subvert this by giving answers that lead to even more questions about just who Thanos is and how he sees himself and the world around him. Bianchi’s art does tremendous work here. In lesser hands, Thanos’ purple skin and armor can look a bit silly, but it’s nothing of the sort here. Both he and the people he encounters (space pirates! Alien prostitutes!) take on a sense of dire gravitas.

But nothing is more interesting than Thanos himself, who becomes in turns a more sympathetic character and a more horrifying one than could have been imagined.

Infinity

Jonathan Hickman and Jim Cheung craft a wild ride here. Captain America and the Avengers are waging a massive intergalactic war for the fate of the universe, which leaves earth unprotected from the likes of Thanos, who heads for earth with his Black Order in tow on an ambiguous but very bad-sounding mission. Infinity follows both of these stories — each big enough to have a book all to their own — and each is dazzling in its own right.

This is a good way to get to know the Black Order — Thanos’ team of five henchmen who are each, on their own, powerful enough to hold off any number of superheroes. Also awesomely known as the Cull Obsidian, the group is made up of Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Black Dwarf, Supergiant and Ebony Maw. Yes, Hickman has a knack for badass names, and it’s matched by Cheung and Jerome Opena’s design of the characters, each of whom looks every bit as sinister and imposing as their leader.

This story also features the assault of Thanos’ army on Wakanda, a pivotal event seen in the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War.

Infinity is a complex space narrative, one that takes a lot of cues from real war strategy and requires some familiarity with various factions of the Avengers and the Inhumans. But if you’re up to the cerebral challenge, you’ll be rewarded with a grand epic.

Thanos Vol. 1: Thanos Returns

This book kicks off with a big spoiler and doesn’t slow down from there, so we won’t spoil much of the plot here and instead encourage you to dig into Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato’s ongoing series that explores Thanos’ mission to regain his place as reality’s preeminent threat.

The opening finds Thanos to be something of a disgraced mob boss who must rebuild his business and reputation. Unlike mob bosses, however, Thanos has whole planets to subdue and cosmic beings to either beat into submission or die trying. It’s pretty thrilling stuff, made all the more intriguing by the inclusion of a few rogue elements. First of all, Thanos’ lothario brother Starfox, who’s recruited into an assassination attempt on his brother’s life. And second: the Mad Titan is wrestling with a disease that could very well be the end of him.

Marvel’s had limited success with putting its villains in the limelight. Nobody really wants to root for a genocidal maniac (at least, we shouldn’t). Lemire and Deodato know this, and so they make the story less about rooting for Thanos then about seeing how he deals with threats that are as big and severe as he is. And in so doing, we learn a little more about what makes this guy tick — and why he’s the most dangerous thing in the universe.

A Visual History of Spider-Man Costumes

Despite having one of the most iconic superhero comics of all time, Spider-Man sure loves to change up his wardrobe. Here's a look at Webhead's most iconic looks from the comics, movies, games and TV shows.

Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos

A prequel to the Infinity Gauntlet that hearkens back to the days when the Silver Surfer was a — if not the — major player in Marvel’s cosmic tales, Rebirth of Thanos follows Thanos’ quest to collect the Infinity Gems from the Elders of the Universe, while giving some insights the whys and hows of his quest.

It’s wild stuff, rendered significantly moreso by Ron Lim’s artwork, which uses the emptiness of space and astral bodies to interesting effect. This also captures Jim Starlin at the peak of his skill; nobody’s better at crafting megalomaniacal dialog than Starlin, and he stretches his wings wide here. We also meet Drax the Destroyer, back before he was the Guardians of the Galaxy’s dim but affable bruiser. Starlin’s Drax was a warrior through and through, and while Dave Bautista’s performance is a delight, the Drax of Rebirth is still a treat.

It’s also a reminder of what a great character Silver Surfer was (and remains!), and how vital he once was to Marvel’s expanding universe. Dan Slott and Michael Allred recently wrapped up a Silver Surfer run for the ages, but this series gets back to the Surfer at his grim, uncompromising best.

Captain America and the Falcon: Secret Empire

Secret Empire, last year’s Marvel crossover event that turned Captain America into an agent of Hydra, was... divisive, let’s say. But the original Secret Empire, released in 1974 by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema during their Captain America and the Falcon run, is a stone cold classic.

The story follows Cap investigating a government conspiracy that, he discovers, goes up much, much higher than he could have dreamed. The story was a clear response to the Watergate scandal — a moment in U.S. politics so big that the creators of Captain America didn’t feel they could ignore it.

What followed was a period in which Cap was disillusioned with U.S. politics. He ditched the flag costume and started calling himself Nomad. It was a dark time, and it’s got a lot in common with where Steve Rogers found himself at the end of Captain America: Civil War. If you want to get an idea of what Cap’s like on the lam, this is a good place to start — and it’s a definitive Captain America story to boot. It explored the tension between duty and dissent, and showed a Captain America whose patriotic devotion to his country came second to his own principles. That’s a relevant lesson for any day and age, and it’s explored excellently here.

Tyler Huckabee is really something else. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee where he writes about comics, music, film and TV. You can read every thought that comes into his head on Twitter or IGN.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qrPNZ5qopV%2BWv7W1wqWcrGdiZX55e49sZmluX2x6o7HSrWScp52esLR506hkq52RmXqnu9FmmK%2Bdnpyys7%2BMoqWfoZ6ewbp51pqp