For a comic book newbie, the Marvel Universe can seem a little overwhelming. With so many teams, characters, and villains, there’s a lot to learn. At Sons of Gotham, we’re true superhero fans, which means we’re a little geeked to share all we know. It’s impossible to put everything into one post, but we’ll try to give you a thorough rundown of the essentials.
A Brief History
In the 1960s, comic creator Stan Lee penned what would become the first comic of the Marvel Universe. Though he’d been contributing to the comic writing business since the 1940s, “The Silver Age & Jack Kirby,” the comic that introduced The Fantastic Four to the world, was the first comic where he was a co-writer. And thus, the Marvel Universe began. After the publication of the Fantastic Four, Lee introduced the world to Spider-Man, The Hulk, and the mutants we know as X-Men.
Super Teams
You might not know the names of every single Marvel superhero, and that’s okay, but you definitely want to learn about the different some of the main players in the most popular super teams in the Marvel Universe. The super teams are responsible for taking down some of the most lethal villains like Doctor Doom, Ultron, Thanos, and Venom.
The Fantastic Four
The original super team, The Fantastic Four is a group of once ordinary people forever changed by a trip to space gone wrong. The members of Fantastic Four all gained superpowers at the same time, thanks to exposure to cosmic radiation. It took a while, but the group mostly came around to their new lives. The members of the Fantastic Four are Mister Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, and Invisible Woman.
The Avengers
Probably the most popular thanks to an awesome series of movies, The Avengers is a powerhouse team of Marvel superheroes. The team includes an Asgardian god, Thor; a genius playboy, Iron Man; an ex-Russian-assassin, Black Widow; the honorable Captain America; scientist-turned-experiment-gone-strong Hulk; and expert shooter, Hawkeye.
Guardians of the Galaxy
A team of hilarious misfits makes up the crew that travels through the stars, listening for the call of those in distress. The Guardians of the Galaxy’s leader, Star-Lord, is an earth-born human raised by a group of aliens. He’s joined by a raccoon-like creature, Rocket, and his best friend, Groot, as well as Drax the Destroyer, and Gamora, who is the daughter of one of the Marvel superheroes’ most notorious enemies, Thanos.
These are just some of the super teams within the Marvel Universe. Other teams include the Inhumans, X-Men, and Defenders, all of which are integral parts of the comic book stories.
More Names to Know
We can’t forget to mention a few of the other major Marvel superheroes like King of Wakanda, Black Panther. The keeper of Vibranium was instrumental in the takedown of comic villains like Doom and big-screen villains like Killmonger. Ant-Man, and the totally hilarious yet socially unacceptable Deadpool. The Marvel Universe would be incomplete without them (and we’d be missing some pretty awesome movies as well).
And that, fellow fans, is just the tip of the iceberg in the Marvel superhero world. Ready to commemorate your love for all things superhero with an officially licensed t-shirt? Check out our selection today!