Top 10 Marvel Comics To Get Started

The ten Marvel stories we hand to new readers — the events the films borrowed from, plus the quiet classics nobody warns you about. It's a hand-picked shelf of 10 picks — never read marvel? start here.

Start with the story behind your favourite film. Recognising the characters does the heavy lifting for you. On this page the picks are listed in recommended order, so "Infinity Gauntlet" is the one to buy first.

Marvel's films pulled their biggest moments straight out of these ten books, so you already know half the cast walking in. We picked the ones that read cleanly on their own: a couple of universe-shaking events, a couple of character studies, and the runs that modern Marvel is still built on. No reading order required — the shelf works in any sequence.

No. Every pick here is beginner-friendly and reads on its own, so you can start with any of them without prior reading or continuity homework.

Picks start from around $20 and cover comics. Prices change often on Amazon, so each item links straight to its current listing — buy the whole shelf at once or work through it one pick at a time.

Every pick links directly to its Amazon listing. Explaining Superheroes earns a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you — nothing here is paid placement.