With many of their all-time best runs in full swing, the middle of the 1980s was a lucrative time for Marvel, not just creatively, but also as a business. With the rough financial patches of the late ‘70s behind them (thanks, Star Wars), the House of Ideas was ready to help forever change the comic industry with the release of 1984’s Secret Wars, for better and for worse. The list of ramifications this had on the Marvel universe and the industry at large are too numerous to count, but it was a seismic shift that would lead everyone’s favorite Marvel heroes and villains in new directions for years to come.
Other iconic stories from this period included Frank Miller’s Born Again arc in Daredevil, the return of Jean Grey in X-Factor, Walt Simonson’s Surtur Saga in Thor, and more. Today, we’ll be examining some of those new directions and other big stories from the same time period. Join us for Part 8 of our look at the essential issues of Marvel!
Frank Miller's Born Again and Walt Simonson's Surtur Saga
For truly acclaimed storylines from this era, look no further than Born Again, the grand return of Frank Miller to writing Daredevil after his initial landmark run, albeit with David Mazzuchelli handling art duties. Taking place in Daredevil #227-233, this arc is a top contender for the definitive Daredevil story. A horrifically addicted Karen Page sells Daredevil’s secret identity for heroin, with the information eventually landing in the Kingpin’s hands, who subsequently uses the knowledge to ruin Matt Murdock’s life. Stripped of his home, career, and social circle, Matt winds up at rock bottom, and is only saved by being found by his mother, a nun named Maggie.
His slow return as Daredevil, and Kingpin’s subsequent descent into fanaticism in his attempts to destroy Murdock, makes for a true masterwork starring the Man Without Fear. The story was loosely adapted in Season 3 of Netflix’s Daredevil show, and will also serve as an inspiration for the title of the Disney+ revival series Daredevil: Born Again.
But that wasn’t the only iconic saga from this period. Walt Simonson took over writer-artist duties on Thor starting in 1983 with #337, which saw the debut of Beta Ray Bill, an alien who was worthy of lifting Mjolnir. Widely considered the definitive creator on the property, Simonson returned Thor’s book to the feel of proper mythic fantasy, and delivered his best story in the year-long Surtur Saga, running from #340-353. The fire demon Surtur, ruler of Muspelheim, seeks to bring about Ragnarok with the Twilight Sword. As part of his plan, he sends Malekith the Accursed, a new nemesis for the God of Thunder, to battle Thor and buy himself time to forge the sword. The story culminates in an epic showdown with Thor, Loki and Odin standing side by side against Surtur. Although the circumstances were heavily altered, elements of Simonson’s saga were incorporated into the plots of both Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok.
Secret Wars Changes Comics Forever
In Part 4 of this series we discussed how 1973’s Avengers/Defenders War was a precursor to the event crossovers that would later become such a prevalent part of Marvel and DC’s output. Although it took a decade and change for that shift to happen, it finally did in 1984 with the release of Secret Wars, a 12-part miniseries written by then Editor in Chief Jim Shooter, with art supplied by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton. The series came about as part of a marketing gambit with Mattel, who wanted a toy line that would be advertised by an in-universe Marvel story. As setups go, it’s as basic as it gets: A cosmic being known as the Beyonder teleports a few dozen Marvel heroes and villains to a place called Battleworld and demands they fight it out to determine whether good or evil is stronger. What follows is 12 issues primarily made up of big battle scenes, setups for plot threads that would play out in the ongoing books, and the X-Men being ridiculously out of character. Also, Magneto hooks up with the Wasp. Really.
Let's face it: Secret Wars is a mixed bag. It’s a popular story because of the giant cast and the effects it had on the wider universe, but it doesn’t really have much dramatic meat. Shooter writes Doctor Doom quite well, but he doesn’t have the best grasp of where many of the other characters were in their arcs in their own series, leading to a lot of friction when trying to read the whole period as a coherent narrative. The 2015 iteration of Secret Wars from Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić is a much more satisfying take on the concept, but there’s no denying the original’s impact on comics as a whole. The runaway success of Secret Wars led to a direct sequel, Secret Wars II, taking over the entire publishing line the following year, and the nearly concurrent release of Crisis on Infinite Earths over at DC was the one-two punch that cemented the event story model as the default way comics would be published by the Big Two for decades to come.
Spider-Man’s Symbiote Suit and Other Iconic Spidey Stories
After Stan Lee and Gerry Conway’s foundational runs, Amazing Spider-Man had to wait a while for its next iconic writer, but the book finally received one with the arrival of Roger Stern. Having warmed up on Spider-Man with a stint on the Spectacular Spider-Man book, Stern took over Spidey’s main title with #224, writing the book for just over two years and returning it to the quality level fans expected from Marvel’s flagship hero. His biggest addition to the Wall Crawler’s mythology was the introduction of the Hobgoblin in Amazing #238, who instantly became one of Spidey’s most dangerous foes. Stern’s original Hobgoblin saga is fantastic, but it was unfortunately cut short because of him leaving the book after #251 due to editorial interference, with the villain’s identity still unrevealed. Later writers tried to wrap up the story to mixed success, but Stern luckily did get to return to the character and finally unmask the villain as intended in the 1997 miniseries Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives.
Right as Stern left, another major Marvel landmark happened in Amazing #252: the debut of Spider-Man’s black symbiote costume. Although Secret Wars #8 would reveal the costume’s origin on Battleworld, the alien symbiote made its first appearance here, starting a long-running subplot that would later lead to the arrival of one of Spidey’s most popular antagonists. The black costume is probably the most famous alternate look for Spider-Man, and the symbiote saga has been adapted many times, including in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2, although the Battleworld aspect is almost never kept. The other biggest Spidey story from this period is The Death of Jean DeWolff in Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110 from Peter David and Rich Buckler. The darkest Spider-Man story published up to that point, this one features Spider-Man hunting down the Sin-Eater, who murdered Spidey’s longtime police ally Jean DeWolff, as well as getting into conflict with Daredevil over how to avenge her. It’s a great arc that feels like an authentic Spider-Man tale despite how much of a different tone it strikes for the character.
Jean Grey Returns, the Rise of Apocalypse, and Other Mutant Landmarks
Not to be outdone, the mutants also had their fair share of big moments in the mid-’80s. Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4 finally revealed that Magneto was the father of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, paying off a tease from Avengers #186 four years earlier. This backstory was the default for decades until being retconned in 2015, but for most fans of the characters, Magneto will always be Wanda and Pietro’s real dad. X-Men #171 featured a major face turn with Rogue abandoning the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to join the X-Men. She became one of the most famous and beloved mutant heroines from there on out. Rogue being a hero is so prevalent that most adaptations don’t even bother including her time on the dark side. X-Men #200 did the same thing for Magneto, with the Master of Magnetism going on trial and subsequently being placed in charge of Xavier’s School for the Gifted, with his heroic turn lasting for several years in the comics. This story was adapted in the second episode of X-Men ‘97.
But the two most important mutant landmarks of this period are the resurrection of Jean Grey and the introduction of Apocalypse. Half a decade after the Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey made her triumphant return in a two-part story across Avengers #263 and Fantastic Four #286, with the two teams recovering an underwater capsule containing Jean’s body. Jean had no memory of her time as the Phoenix, with the explanation given that the Phoenix Force created another body after merging with Jean in space. Future Marvel writer Kurt Busiek came up with this concept. The returned Jean would reunite with fellow original X-Men members Cyclops, Beast, Iceman and Angel and form a new team named X-Factor. X-Factor #5-6 would then feature the first appearance of Apocalypse, created by Louise Simonson and Jackson Guice. An ancient Egyptian mutant merged with Celestial technology, Apocalypse would be X-Factor’s main nemesis and endure past that team’s tenure as one of the most prolific X-Men foes. Apocalypse quickly became a mainstay of X-Men cartoons and video games, and also appeared in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, played by Oscar Isaac.
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Bluesky.
