X-Men

Namor the Sub-Mariner is one of the first Marvel characters, even sometimes considered the very first original Marvel character. He was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for the comic Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1. The title was never released and Namor made his real first appearance in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), next to the Human Torch. At the time, he was one of the most popular characters of Timely Comics (Marvel’s predecessor) along with the Human Torch and Captain America.

Though Namor is not as popular today as he was in the Golden Age era of comics, the character remained a historically important figure and still a popular character, with a history spanning over 80 years of publication.

Also known as the Sub-Mariner, Namor McKenzie is the mutant son of a human sea captain and an Atlantean princess. As the current king of Atlantis, he will do anything to protect his people. For this reason, Namor can be a villain, a hero, or an antihero, depending on the circumstances, for the surface dwellers. He’s almost always a hero for the people of Atlantis.

Namor is also a very powerful character, with Superhuman strength, speed, durability, agility, senses, and reflexes. He can breathe underwater like all Atlanteans and can communicate and command sea life. He possesses vestigial “wings” on both of his ankles which permits him to fly, he is capable of manipulating the weather like Storm and much more. With all these powers comes a quite volatile and arrogant personality!

He is now played by Tenoch Huerta in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making his live-action debut in Black: Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Let’s dive into the Sub-Mariner’s history with this Namor Reading Order!

Read More »Namor the Sub-Mariner Reading Order, Imperius Rex!

Few characters at Marvel have a backstory as complicated as Cable (with the exception of Psylocke). Born Nathan Christopher Charles Summers, Cable is the time-traveling son of Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Madelyn Pryor (Jean Grey’s clone). Behind his conception lurks the crazy geneticist Mr. Sinister who planned to use the child as a weapon to destroy his archenemy Apocalypse.

As an infant, Nathan was infected by a deadly techno-organic virus incurable in the present. To save him, Cyclops gave Nathan ups, sending him 2000 years into the future (Earth-493) where he could be treated and grow up. There was just no hope for Scott to ever see his son again, or so he thought.

In this future world, Nathan was raised by the Askani Clan to become the warrior Cable, an enemy of Apocalypse. The religious order was led by Mother Askani, who is a time-displaced version of Rachel Summers, Cable’s half-sister.

To defeat Apocalypse once and for all, Cable came back to the present day at least one decade before he was born. He became one of the founding members and leader of X-Force where he took young mutants under his wing and prepare them for future threats with a more aggressive approach compared to the X-Men.

Throughout the years, Cable formed the most improbable odd couple of Marvel with Deadpool, developed a complicated relationship with his alternate universe half-brother/counterpart Nate Grey, adopted and raised the first post-Decimation mutant named Hope, joined the Avengers Unity Division, and more, much more.

As if it wasn’t complicated enough, he was recently killed and replaced by a younger, time-displaced version of himself (often called Kid Cable) before being revived.

It’s no surprise then that when Cable popped up in Deadpool 2 (2008), where he was portrayed by Josh Brolin, his backstory was mostly ignored. It’s the kind of story you need a whole movie to do it justice or you know, a lot of comic books!

Read More »Cable Reading Order

Created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita Sr. in 1974 (in The Incredible Hulk #180-181) but first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe, Wolverine quickly became the most popular X-Man.

Described as a Canadian of small stature and with a wolverine’s fierce temper, Wolverine has a complicated past, multiple origin stories, and a lot of deaths and resurrections. In fact, he already had a long life before joining the X-Men, as we discovered over the years. He was born during the late 19th century, and his youth was marked by family secrets and tragedies. He already had claws, but they were not made of adamantium. He also already had his animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, and a powerful healing factor. That made him the perfect candidate for the mysterious Weapon X program that kidnapped him before having adamantium forcibly fused onto his bones.

Obviously, he escaped and found his way toward Professor Charles Xavier who recruited him into his new X-Men with Jean Grey and Cyclops (go to our X-Men Reading Order). With the team, he fought against many foes. He lost his claws, his adamantium, his memories, his loves, his family, and his friends, but he also got most of them back, joined other teams, and discovered even more about himself, his friends, his place in this world, and his powers.

Wolverine is so popular that he appeared in a lot of series. Too many in fact to the point that his story doesn’t always make sense. As a consequence, writing an exhaustive reading order is almost an impossible task to complete, but we can still try to write one that is usable. This is what we are trying to do here, with a focus on his solo career.

Read More »Wolverine Reading Order