There are very few things that are more confusing than Marvel’s comic book numbering. For a variety of reasons, what should be a simple exercise in sequential numbering has instead morphed into an incredibly byzantine system that could not be less intuitive. Fortunately, CBSI and Kornblatt’s Corner are here to help! This is an update of an article originally published in March of 2023 . All new entries are marked as “NEW” in their title. All updates to existing entries are bolded and have “UPDATED” in the title.
Understanding This Guide
In some cases, there are graphics fully explaining parts of the numbering. Those graphics were not generated by me, but rather by Marvel as a part of the Marvel Legacy initiative. Those graphics were created several years ago and thus, in some cases, are not always completely up to date. In situations like that, I have listed any missing books just below the graphics.
Whenever something is italicized , that means I am referring to a comic book series or movie. For example, if you see Spider-Man, I am talking about the character. If you see Spider-Man , I am talking about the Marvel comic book titled Spider-Man.
Throughout this article, you will see the name of a series followed by a year in parentheses. That is the year that that particular volume of the book was launched. If you see a series name without an accompanying year, that usually means I am referring to the overall issue count of the series spread across several different books and volumes.
All numberings are based on official statements from Marvel and/or cover numbering. A good example of the latter would be this partial image of the Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #49. Below the 49 is “LGY #850”, which indicates that the comic has a legacy number of 850. Meanwhile, issues from the most recent run of Alpha Flight , such as issue #5 , have no legacy numbering on the cover, so they are not included in a numbering.
In publishing, Indicia are basically the fine print that specifies things like the official publication name, publication date, editorial information, and various legal disclaimers. For some numberings, the indicia entries are very important, as they may differ from what is on a comic’s cover.
I have tried to provide explanations wherever I felt it might be even slightly confusing why a book or series would or would not be included in a numbering. If there is something that confuses you that I did not explain, please put your question(s) in the comments and I will try my best to answer.
Table Of Contents
Amazing Fantasy #1000 & Marvel Comics #1000
Amazing Spider-Man
Amazing Spider-Man Annual
Avengers (UPDATED)
Black Cat
Black Panther (UPDATED)
Black Widow
Blade (NEW)
Cable
Captain America (UPDATED)
Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) (UPDATED)
Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell)
Carnage (NEW)
Champions
Cloak And Dagger
Conan The Barbarian
Damage Control
Daredevil (UPDATED)
Daredevil Annual
Darkhawk
Deadpool
Doctor Strange (UPDATED)
Elektra
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four Annual
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Generation X
Ghost Rider
Guardians of the Galaxy (UPDATED)
Gwenpool
Hulk / Red She-Hulk
Incredible Hulk (UPDATED)
Iron Fist
Iron Man
Jane Foster
Journey Into Mystery
Loki (NEW)
Luke Cage
Marvel Team Up
Marvel Two-In-One
Miles Morales
Moon Knight
Morbius
Ms. Marvel
Not Brand Echh
Power Pack
Punisher (UPDATED)
Punisher Max
Runaways
Savage Avengers (UPDATED)
Savage Sword of Conan
Shang Chi (UPDATED)
She-Hulk (UPDATED)
Silk (UPDATED)
Silver Sable and the Wild Pack
Silver Surfer
Spectacular Spider-Man
Spider-Gwen
Spider-Ham
Spider-Man (UPDATED)
Spider-Woman
Strange Academy (UPDATED)
Strange Tales
Superior Spider-Man
Tales Of Suspense
Thor (UPDATED)
Thunderbolts / Dark Avengers
Ultimates
Uncanny X-Men
Unstoppable Wasp
Venom
Weapon X
West Coast Avengers
Wolverine
X-Cellent (NEW)
X-Factor
X-Force
X-Men: Legacy
References
Amazing Fantasy #1000 & Marvel Comics #1000
Marvel recently published issues of Amazing Fantasy and Marvel Comics , both numbered #1000. To be clear, there is no math supporting numbering that high, and Marvel isn’t really pretending that there is. It’s kind of like how the Vitamix 5200 is not the 5200th blender Vitamix has made. In both cases, they just wanted a big impressive number to help sell the product and make it seem special.
Amazing Spider-Man
#789 – 801: Amazing Spider-Man #789 – 801
#802 – #894: Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #1 – 93
#895 – Current: Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #1 – Current
Superior Spider-Man
The core premise of Superior Spider-Man is that Peter Parker is gone and has been replaced as Spider-Man by Dr. Octopus. In order to sell the idea that this was a radically different approach to the character, Marvel canceled Amazing Spider-Man and replaced it with Superior Spider-Man . Even though Superior was technically a new book, it retained the creative team from Amazing and was a direct continuation of several long-running Amazing storylines. This was the primary Spider-Man series at the time it was published, so Marvel includes it in the Amazing Spider-Man legacy numbering.
Note: There was a second volume of Superior Spider-Man that was legacy numbered at #34, meaning Superior Spider-Man (2013) counts towards two different numberings.
Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows
A core premise of Secret Wars was the idea that the Marvel Universe was coming to an end. To sell this idea, Marvel canceled all of its ongoing titles and briefly replaced them with new limited series set in the various areas that made up Battleworld. That means, at the time of publication, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows was the primary Spider-Man series at the time of its publication and thus is included in the numbering.
Amazing Spider-Man Annual
#1 – 28: Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1963) #1 – 28
#29 – Amazing Spider-Man Annual ’96
#30 – Amazing Spider-Man Annual ’97
#31 – Amazing Spider-Man / Devil Dinosaur Annual 1998
#32 – Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1999
#33 – Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2000
#34 – Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2001
#35 – Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 / 35
#36 – 39: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36 – 39
#40: Amazing Spider-Man Annual (2014) #1
#41: Amazing Spider-Man Annual (2015) #1
#42: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #42
#43: Amazing Spider-Man Annual (2018) #1
Annuals With The Years
From 1996 to 2001, Marvel decided to publish nearly all of its annuals with a year instead of an issue number. When you think about it, that is a much better way to handle annuals, right?
Devil Dinosaur
In 1998, all of Marvel’s annuals were team-up books. Typically, the annual was aligned to whichever character or group of characters was listed first in the title. For example, the 1998 Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998 is considered an Uncanny X-Men annual and not a Fantastic Four annual.
Avengers (UPDATED)
#673 – 690: Avengers #673 – 690
#691 – 707: Avengers (2018) #1 – 17
#708 – 717: Avengers: No Road Home #1 – 10
#717 – 766: Avengers (2018) #18 – 66
#761 – Current: Avengers (2023) #1 – Current
Avengers (1996) and Avengers (1998)
In 1996, Marvel was in the throws of bankruptcy proceedings and was struggling to sell its comics. To try and improve sales and reduce costs, Marvel outsourced several of its titles to Jim Lee’s Wildstorm studios to try and turn things around (they also outsourced to Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios, but later reassigned those books to Wildstorm. Marvel cited poor sales as the reason). This year-long experiment was known as “Heroes Reborn”. After the experiment ended, Marvel relaunched the Avengers in 1998
New Avengers (2005)
New Avengers was the primary Avengers series during its five-year run. While New Avengers represented a major shift in how the team was approached , it was still about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
All-New, All-Different Avengers
Marvel relaunched most of its books and added “All-New” (and, in this case, “All-Different”) to many of its titles as a part of the All-New All-Different Marvel rebranding effort . When Marvel relaunched the book once again as Avengers in 2016, the book kept most of the same creative team and core cast as All-New, All-Different Avengers
Avengers: No Road Home
No Road Home is a spiritual sequel to Avengers: No Surrender , the 15-issue weekly Avengers story. No Road Home was published concurrently with Avengers (2018), so it has no claim to being the primary Avengers series. It is completely disconnected from the ongoing narrative in Avengers at the time and has a completely different creative team and cast of characters. This is just Marvel artificially pumping up the issue count and trying to milk hardcore collectors for 10 more books.
Black Cat
#1 – 12: Black Cat (2019) #1 – 12
#13 – 22: Black Cat (2021) #1 – 10
How Did Marvel Come Up With This Numbering
This numbering only includes books from ongoing Black Cat series. The “ongoing” provision is why the various Black Cat miniseries over the years are not included.
Black Panther (UPDATED)
#167 – 172: Black Panther #167 – 172
#173 – 197: Black Panther (2018) #1 – 25
#198 – 212: Black Panther (2022) #1 – 15
#213 – Current: Black Panther (2023) #1 – Current
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear
Following the events of Shadowland , Daredevil departed from New York and asked T’Challa to take his place. In order to really sell/further the idea that Black Panther was stepping into the Daredevil role, Marvel included “The Man Without Fear”, Daredevil’s nickname, in the title of the book and opted to use the Daredevil series numbering. That being said, this was still, for all intents and purposes, a Black Panther-focused comic book and NOT a Daredevil comic. So including it in Black Panther ‘s legacy numbering makes sense, even though the use of Daredevil ‘s numbering would suggest otherwise.
Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive
So Marvel’s reasoning here is actually very internally consistent, even though it adds truly needless complexity. The whole idea of the “Man Without Fear” and Daredevil series numbering was to sell the idea of T’Challa stepping into the Daredevil role. Following the events of Daredevil: Reborn , Marvel relaunched Daredevil with Matt back in his old role. David Liss, the writer on Black Panther: The Man Without Fear , had not finished his story about T’Challa’s time in Hell’s Kitchen. So in order to allow Liss to finish his story without continuing to suggest T’Challa was in the Daredevil role, Marvel changed the sub-title of the book from “Man Without Fear” to “Most Dangerous Man Alive”. And they kept the Black Panther: The Man Without Fear numbering in order to convey that they were still telling the same story of T’Challa and his time in Hell’s Kitchen.
Black Widow
#1 – 8: Black Widow (2010) #1 – 8
#9 – 28: Black Widow (2014) #1 – 20
#29 – 40: Black Widow (2016) #1 – 12
#41 – 55: Black Widow (2020) #1 – 15
What About All The Black Widow Mini-Series?
Marvel only counted issues from ongoing series for Black Widow . I suspect it is because if they had included the limited series books, the most recent volume would have started its legacy numbering at 58, meaning they had already passed the 50 issue mark and would have needed 17 issues to reach the #75 milestone. Meanwhile, only including books from the ongoing series meant the most recent volume started at #41 and thus only needed to go ten issues to hit the 50 issue mark.
Blade (NEW)
#1 – #10: Blade The Vampire Hunter (1994) #1 – 10
#11 – 16: Blade (2002) #1 – 6
#17 – 28: Blade (2006) #1 – 12
#29 – Current: Blade (2023) #1 – Current
How Did Marvel Come Up With This Numbering?
Marvel is only counting issues from ongoing series in this numbering. That is why limited series like Blade (1998) and Blade: Vampire Hunter (1999) are not included.
Cable
#151 – 159: Cable (2017) #151 – 159
#160 – 171: Cable (2020) #1 – 12
Soldier X
Though the title changed, the book was still all about Cable. The name change came at a time when Marvel was revamping many of its X-titles. Cable become Solder X , X-Force became X-Statix , and Deadpool (sort of) became Agent X .
Captain America (UPDATED)
#696 – 704: Captain America #696 – 704
#705 – 734: Captain America (2018) #1 – 30
#735: Captain America (2022) #0
#736 – 749: Captain America: Symbol of Truth #1 – 14
#750: Captain America #750
#751 – Current: Captain America (2023) #1 – Current
What About the Golden Age Captain America Books ?
As John Jackson Miller of Comichron points out, there is a certain amount of logic to it:
It’s important to understand that Marvel’s goal was not to create a census counting all issues published under a series’ name, but rather to restore the post-1960s numbering that most of its legacy titles spent the longest amount of time under. Hence, Captain America gets the credit for Tales of Suspense issues he was not in, because the longest-running Captain America title took over the numbering of Tales and any attempt to force imaginary numbering on a plurality of the series’ issues would be counterproductive. The idea, rather, was to pretend that the wave of 1990s-and-later reboots never happened. So, too, there is no error in leaving out the first six issues of Incredible Hulk ‘s original run; they were never presumed to be part of the sequence by collectors during the hundreds of issues the Tales to Astonish -born series ran, and have no more role in its renumbering than the Golden Age Captain America title does.
Tales Of Suspense
Marvel comics used to be distributed by National Periodical Publications, who also owned and distributed DC Comics. National did not want to help a competitor, so they massively limited the number of books Marvel could publish in a month. As a result, Marvel characters often had to share books, like Iron Man and Captain America in the pages of Tales of Suspense . In 1968, Marvel was able to renegotiate the publishing contract to put out as many comics as they wanted. So they gave Iron Man his own series starting at #1 and Tales of Suspense was retitled, starting with issue #100, to Captain America .
Captain America And The Falcon
Issues #134 – 222 had a cover title of Captain America And The Falcon , but still had an indicia title of Captain America .
All-New Captain America
As a part of the Marvel Now! publishing initiative, a new generation of heroes took up the mantles of several long-established heroes. For Captain America, the mantle was passed to Sam Wilson and the book was retitled All-New Captain America to try and emphasize the change. Although the focus character was different, All-New Captain America was still certainly the primary Captain America title at the time and thus it was included in the numbering.
Sam Wilson: Captain America and Steve Rogers: Captain America
After the events of Avengers: Standoff , Marvel began to publish two Captain America series: one for Steve Rogers and one for Sam Wilson. Presumably, Marvel opted to include the issues from Sam’s series in the legacy numbering and not Steve’s because they wanted to continue to emphasize that Sam was the primary Captain America at the time. Also, Steve Rogers: Captain America was much more of a Secret Empire prelude series than a Captain America series.
Captain America (2022) #0
In 2022, Marvel once again started publishing two Captain America books. Captain America: Symbol of Truth focuses on Sam Wilson and Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty focuses on Steve Rogers. In order to set up the status quo of both books, Marvel published the one-shot Captain America (2022) #0. The idea here is that it is the zero point for both narratives.
Captain America: Symbol of Truth
Marvel opted to include Symbol of Truth and not Sentinel of Liberty in Captain America’s legacy numbering, as indicated by the legacy numbering on several issues of Symbol of Truth .
Captain America And …
After Captain America #619, Marvel began to publish new Captain America books as team-up books, while retaining the old numbering. The titles were as follows:
Captain America and Bucky #620 – 628
Captain America and Hawkeye #629 – #633
Captain America and Iron Man #633 – 635
Captain America and Namor #635.1
Captain America and Black Widow #636 – 640
Although these books kept the numbering of the Captain America books at the time, they are not counted towards Cap’s legacy numbering.
Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) (UPDATED)
#126 – 129: Captain Marvel #126 – 129
#130 – #134: The Life Of Captain Marvel
#136 – 184: Captain Marvel (2019) #1 – 50
#185 – Current: Captain Marvel (2023) #1 – Current
How Did Marvel Come Up With This Numbering?
The idea behind this numbering is to track Carol Danvers’ solo history. As a result, it ignores the numerous volumes of Captain Marvel that were about other characters and does include the issues from ongoing Ms. Marvel books when Carol helmed the book.
The Mighty Captain Marvel
Marvel was trying to give Captain Marvel a signature adjective, in the same vein as the Amazing Spider-Man or the Incredible Hulk, as well as signal the large shift in Carol’s status quo that the book would be about.
The Life Of Captain Marvel
This limited series kept the writer of the ongoing Captain Marvel series that preceded it, Margaret Stohl. This is technically the second volume of The Life of Captain Marvel – that title was first used for a reprint magazine in the 1980s. This book made several major changes to Carol’s history and was certainly the primary Captain Marvel book during its publishing run, so its inclusion in the numbering is not completely random at least.
Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell)
#1 – 35: Captain Marvel (1999) #1 – 35
#36 – 60: Captain Marvel (2002) #1 – 25
Carnage (NEW)
#1 – 16: Carnage (2016) #1 – 16
#17 – 30: Carnage (2022) #1 – 14
#31 – Current: Carnage (2023) #1 – Current
Champions
#1 – 27: Champions (2016) #1 – 27
#28 – 37: Champions (2019) #1 – 10
#38 – 47: Champions (2020) #1 – 10
What About The Original Champions (1975) series
There is no real connection between the original Champions team and the 2016 reboot beyond the team. The ’75 team famously lacked a raison d’etre and was composed of characters with no real history between them. The team was widely regarded as a failed concept and gradually faded into obscurity. The 2016 version (and every subsequent iteration), on the other hand, was specifically a young team with a strong moral message and composed of characters who already had history. So it makes sense to consider the 1975 team as a wholly separate entity.
Cloak And Dagger
#1 – 13: The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak And Dagger #1 – 13
#14 – 19: Cloak And Dagger (1990) #14 – 19
How Did Marvel Come Up With This Numbering
Marvel wanted to change the rather clunky Mutant Misadventures title to the much cleaner Cloak and Dagger , but opted to keep the former series’ numbering instead of relaunching (oh how times have changed)
Conan The Barbarian
#1 – 275: Conan The Barbarian (1970) #1 – 275
#276 – 300: Conan The Barbarian (2019) #1 – 25
How Did Marvel Come Up With This Numbering
Marvel only included books from ongoing Conan The Barbarian books published by Marvel in this numbering. The “ongoing” provision is why the 1997 mini-series was not included
Damage Control
#1 – 4: Damage Control (1989) #1 – 4
#5 – 8: Damage Control (1989 – 1990) #1 – 4
#9 – 12: Damage Control (1991) #1 – 4
#13 – 15: World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #1 – 3
#16 – 20: Damage Control (2022) #1 – 5
How Did Marvel Come Up With This Numbering
If it’s a series about Damage Control, Marvel counted it for this numbering.
Daredevil (UPDATED)
#596 – 612: Daredevil #596 – 612
#613 – 648: Daredevil (2019) #1 – 36
#649 – 662: Daredevil (2022) #1 – 14
#663 – Current: Daredevil (2023) #1 – Current
Daredevil Annual
#1 – 4: Daredevil Annual #1 – 4
#5: Daredevil Annual #4b
#6 – 10: Daredevil Annual #6 – 10
Annual 4b
Marvel mislabeled this book as #4 when it really should have been #5. The issue is often referred to as #4b to help distinguish it from the actual 4th Daredevil Annual issue.
Darkhawk
Deadpool
