4 Graphic Novels to Read Before Avengers: Doomsday Hits Theaters
Avengers: Doomsday opens December 18, and it's shaping up to be the biggest crossover event the MCU has attempted yet. Robert Downey Jr. is back, not as Tony Stark but as Victor Von Doom. The Fantastic Four are in it. And the X-Men are getting their proper MCU introduction, with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, and Kelsey Grammer all reprising their Fox-era roles. Marvel's official line is that "beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course."
If you're planning to be in a theater seat opening weekend, here are four books that will make the movie hit harder.
1. Fantastic Four: Books of Doom
Ed Brubaker and Mike Lark's origin story is the single best primer on who Victor Von Doom actually is. Doom is the whole marketing hook for this movie right now, and this book explains the scars, the arrogance, and the tragedy behind him better than any other single volume in the character's history. Read this one first.
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Chris Claremont and John Byrne's classic isn't just a great X-Men story, it's the closest thing in print to what the returning Fox cast is bringing to the screen. Timelines colliding, stakes that reach across decades, a team pushed past its limits. If you grew up with that era of X-Men films, this is the comic that started it.
3. Secret Wars (2015)
Written by Jonathan Hickman, this is where the multiverse-collision idea that Doomsday is built around actually comes from. Hickman's "incursions," where different universes crash into each other and only one survives, is essentially the blueprint for what Marvel is teasing with "three distinct universes on a collision course." This one also sets up Avengers: Secret Wars, which lands in theaters the following December, so it pays off twice.
4. Avengers vs. X-Men
Not required reading for the movie's continuity, but it's the sharpest comic-page version of what Doomsday is promising: two massive rosters going head to head. It's fast, it's accessible even if you haven't read either team in years, and it's a genuinely fun jumping-on point.
How to Read Them
Start with Books of Doom to understand the villain, move to Days of Future Past for the X-Men reunion angle, read Secret Wars to see where the multiverse stakes actually come from, and finish with Avengers vs. X-Men for the pure team-up energy the trailers are selling.
All four are in stock now at Alter Ego Comics, 230 N. Main St in Lima. Stop in before December and we'll help you build out the rest of your reading list.