Year: 1987

 

Major Events:

  • Kraven’s Last Hunt
  • Peter and Mary Jane wed
  • Johnny Storm and “Alicia Masters” also get married–she is later retconned into a skrull
  • Crystal and Quicksilver divorce
  • Fall of the Mutants
  • Many New Universe series launch
  • Steve Englehart takes over Fantastic Four and turns Sharon Ventura into a rocky Thing
  • Peter David begins his legendary 12-year run on Hulk
  • True identity of Hobgoblin revealed (again) (retcon)
  • Michelinie and Layton return to Iron Man and the series gets a bit better
  • Louise Simonson takes over X-Factor and the series gets better
  • Jim Lee takes over Alpha Flight and the series doesn’t get any better
  • Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz take over Thor and the series gets worse (which to be fair was inevitable given that they took over for Walt Simonson)
  • Jim Shooter leaves Marvel and the whole company starts going to shit (
  • Marvel is bought by New World Pictures, and begins a gradual slide in overall publishing line quality that will persist through the ’90s)
  • Armor Wars
  • Captain Marvel becomes the leader of the Avengers
  • Super Patriot becomes Captain America after Steve Rogers quits

Important Deaths: Arnim Zola, Cypher, Spymaster, and the Zodiac Gang actually die, while Purple Man, Thunderbolt Ross, Snowbird, and all the X-Men merely “die,” and, finally, many Avengers die-and-are-reborn in a single story.

Best New Series:  Punisher, Silver Surfer, and Elektra: Assassin (maxi-series)

Top 10 New Characters:

  1. Apocalypse’s 4 Horsemen
  2. Mister Sinister
  3. Microchip (Punisher’s wingman)
  4. Excalibur (team)
  5. Ghost (Iron Man villain)
  6. Battlestar (aka “Black Bucky”)
  7. Rictor
  8. Kara Killgrave aka Purple Girl
  9. D-Man
  10. Rintrah

Top 10 Stories:

  1. Kraven’s Last Hunt (across all 3 Spider-books)
  2. Avengers #280 (Jarvis’ solo story)
  3. Thor #379-380
  4. Avengers #273-277 (Under Siege)
  5. X-Factor #21-26 (Fall of the Mutants)
  6. Daredevil #239-240
  7. Hulk and Thing: The Big Change
  8. Avengers #281-285 (Assault on Olympus)
  9. Silver Surfer #3-4
  10. Classic X-Men #6