Marvel NOW! Reading Order

Updated: January 13, 2017
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Marvel NOW! and All-New Marvel NOW! Reading Order

Below you will find a list of issues in optimal reading order for the Marvel NOW! marketing initiative from Marvel Comics.

What is Marvel NOW?

The Marvel NOW! initiative is the marketing brand associated to a series of creative shifts and new title launches for Marvel Comics following their Avengers vs. X-Men event in 2012. Issues within the initiative were clearly marked with trade dress containing a red bar on the bottom of the cover. Titles that weren’t relaunched or changed significantly also had the Marvel NOW! trade dress, though they never had the official NOW! logo on their covers. These issues are marked as “Red” in the reading order below, while true “NOW!” books are marked with NOW! for filtering purposes.

What’s part of the Marvel NOW! Reading Order?

The reading order below includes all of the above mentioned issues, as well as issues published at the same time that have important events pertaining to the Marvel NOW! books (AvX Consequences and Spider-Man Dying Wish detail important changes that occur between NOW! books). Also, recent events shed the Marvel NOW! trade dress temporarily, and marked as being considered NOW! books despite its absence. All-New Marvel NOW! titles, representing the second phase of the initiative, will also be marked to designate their distinct title.

State of the Marvel NOW! Reading Order

This is a draft with most issues included. This list has not been “audited”, though your comments are welcomed. A read-through of select runs will be completed by December for another, more complete, update. However, this reading order should be “good enough” for most readers, who are looking just get the events in right order without skipping over key moments.

Some books may seem to have a strange placement, such as Young Avengers, which has its last issue placed alongside issues that were published nearly a year before. Since the final issue takes place on New Year’s Eve, we placed it before the Hawkeye series were Kate leaves for Los Angeles (where she currently resides) and therefore alongside the FF and Fantastic Four issues that takes place at that time, and not near the year-end 2013 Avengers issues published at the same time.

And, Yes, New Avengers #1-4 is placed after Avengers #1. Chronologically, they do come before, but the reveal in New Avengers #4 is a quick payoff to seed planted in Avengers #1, and reading them in chronological order removes the mystery (and the fun).

The reading order now goes up to Last Days, but not into Secret Wars, which will be dealt with seperately -> Here: Marvel Secret Wars reading order

For those wondering about the order to read current or recently ended arcs, I would suggest just following the publication dates. The order of issues near the end of the list are subject (and entirely likely) to change. This list only gets an update every few months, so no need to inquire when/if it will be updated.