Marvel Omnibus

Marvel Omnibus is a line of large format, high quality, full color, hardcover graphic novel omnibuses published by Marvel Comics. They often contain complete runs, either by collecting multiple consecutive issues, or by focusing on the works of a particular writer or artist.
The company's first experiment with a large hardcover was 2004's Ultimate Spider-Man Collection, which was exclusively published by Barnes & Noble. The 992-page book cost $49.99 and had the same contents as the first three oversized hardcovers from Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man. This release did not use the 'omnibus' branding.
Marvel's first official omnibus came a year later, with Fantastic Four Vol. 1 in June 2005. With 848 pages, it collected the first 30 issues and an Annual of the comic. It cost $45 and debuted at no.58 in the graphic novel chart.
Senior vice president at Marvel, David Gabriel, told the New York Times the idea came from “trying to come up with a product tie-in for the Fantastic Four film to be released that summer — ‘something to get the extreme collector excited‘.”
The book “sold out in a few weeks” and Kuo-Yu Liang, a vice president for Diamond Comic Distributors, said that trend for larger, more-expensive books: “reflects the demographics of the consumer, who is both older and more affluent.”
After that success, four omnibuses followed in 2006: Alias (March), Uncanny X-Men Vol.1 (May), Eternals (July), and New X-Men (December). The line has seen enormous growth, with 12 omnibuses released in 2009; 19 in 2014; 33 in 2019; and 89 in 2024.
The creation of an omnibus allows Marvel to improve its overall process of releasing collected editions. Gabriel said: “[Material has] been allowed to go out of press, say Secret Wars, in order for us to create a special Omnibus Edition which also allows us to gather new extras, redo files that need fixing and get the best possible re-creation available for all the pages. This process in turn allows us to then put out a better version of the paperback and keep that one in stock.”
The omnibus launched three years after Marvel released its first oversized hardcover (or OHC). With the lines running side-by-side while sharing the same print size, there was often confusion in regards to how Marvel classified books. In 2015, a Spider-Verse ‘oversized hardcover’ was released at 648 pages; yet, months later, a Superior Foes Of Spider-Man ‘omnibus’ came out, with only 376 pages. Both collected full runs of a Spider-Man miniseries that had been released within the prior two years. In February 2019, the Hulk: Dogs Of War ‘oversized hardcover’ was 832 pages; while, four months later, Hulk by Loeb and McGuinness was a 912-page ‘omnibus’.
The contents of an OHC and omnibus may be identical: The 2011 ‘oversized hardcover’ of X-Men: Fall Of The Mutants was re-released with the exact same page count and cover in 2022, while using ‘omnibus’ branding. Similarly, 2025’s X-Men: Fatal Attractions ‘omnibus’ has the same content to the 2012 ‘oversized hardcover’.
The smallest omnibus was 2007’s Devil Dinosaur at 184 pages, while the largest oversized hardcover was 2013’s Avengers vs. X-Men Companion at 1,112 pages.
The practice of having multiple covers for the same comic book has been a feature of the industry since the mid-1980s. This increased throughout the 1990s, with the five covers for 1991's X-Men #1 helping it to sell a record-breaking 8.1 million copies.
Marvel omnibuses have used variants since the first release of Fantastic Four Vol. 1 in 2005. The main ‘bookshop’ cover featured the original artwork from Fantastic Four #1, drawn by Jack Kirby; with a ‘variant’ version of the same image produced by Alex Ross. Variant covers are exclusive for the direct market, meaning they are only available from comic book shops, or specialist retailers.
The practice is polarising, being described as both “exciting options for readers who want a different flavor from what they’re buying”, but leading to comics companies avoiding “finding new readers... by selling more to existing ones”.
The vast majority of Marvel omnibuses released between 2005 and September 2016 had a variant. The practice largely disappeared until early 2020, although, by 2021, every new Marvel omnibus again had more than one cover.
Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, David Gabriel, said: “As long as no one is just taking advantage of customers and retailers, I think it [the production of variant covers] is going to continue to grow for a while.”
These books contain stories that take place in the primary Marvel Universe. This fictional continuity is often referred to as Earth-616, with a legacy that stretches back to 1939.
Jim Starlin's interpretation of Adam Warlock was named by Publishers Weekly as one of Marvel's 10 hidden gems. The 1975 to 1977 portion of the Adam Warlock omnibus “is a heady, trippy sci-fi epic about what happens when a lab-created ‘perfect man‘ discovers that the evil messiah of the cruel intergalactic church he's been battling is, in fact, his own future self.” The omnibus also contains the introduction of infinity gems and Gamora.
The all-Canadian team of Alpha Flight was first introduced in Uncanny X-Men #120, written by Chris Claremont, alongside John Byrne; who also provided art for the issue. The debut led to the spin-off series, with Byrne writing the first 28 issues - all of which is collected in the Alpha Flight by John Byrne omnibus.
Jed MacKay's Black Cat omnibus contains the complete series. The story spun out of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #16, where the character crossed the Thieves Guild, “leading her to go on the run both from the secret order as well as the authorities.”
That issue is collected in Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer Omnibus Vol. 1.
Marvel Comics held the rights to publish Godzilla comics for two years from 1977. The series ended after 24 monthly issues, when copyright holder Toho “asked for a large increase to its license fee after the first year of the series, and an even larger increase after the second year”. In 2024, “thanks to an exciting new collaboration with Toho International”, Marvel released the full run in a single omnibus.
Even though Godzilla is licensed, S.H.I.E.L.D. play a large part throughout the series, with Fantastic Four and The Avengers appearing from issue #20.
Brian Michael Bendis wrote the entirety of the Alias series, which introduced the character of Jessica Jones to the Marvel Universe. The character “eschews costumes, works and plays hard, and opens up a set of detective stories unlike any the comics had seen before. Bendis provided a character with real heart and a unique point of view, and it’s one that has broadened Marvel’s horizons across mediums.”
The Alias omnibus came out in March 2006. It was the second Marvel omnibus to be released overall, and the third reprint - in 2021 - was re-titled Jessica Jones: Alias.
Based on a Mego Corporation toy line, the Micronauts comics were produced by Marvel between 1979 and 1986. Marvel re-acquired the publishing rights in 2023.
Miles Morales is a half-Black, half-Hispanic teenager and was created by Brian Michael Bendis. The character first appeared in Ultimate Comics: Fallout #4.
Bendis told USA Today that he was inspired in part by Donald Glover's appearance in the TV series Community dressed as Spider-Man. Bendis said: "[Glover] looked fantastic! I saw him in the costume and thought, 'I would like to read that book.' So I was glad I was writing that book."
Between 1986 and 1993, The 'Nam detailed stories from the United States' war in Vietnam. Written by Doug Murray and edited by Larry Hama - both war veterans - the comic shied away from tales of conflict. Instead, "rather than making a statement about an extremely controversial war or musing about the nature of life and death, The 'Nam focused on just one thing: the people involved."
The series was largely intended to be separate from any Marvel continuity, however Frank Castle - The Punisher - made appearances from issue #52, and the character of Michael "Ice" Phillips went on to appear in issues of Punisher: War Journal.
After 100 issues, New Mutants became X-Force.
Marvel's original 1979 comic, Rom: Spaceknight, ran for seven years and was based on a toy line. IDW Publishing produced Rom comics from 2016, before Marvel regained the licence in 2023.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl omnibus contains the full 58-issue run of the comic, written by Ryan North, with art from Erica Henderson. The series begins with the superheroine starting college, before quickly having to face down planet-wide threats.
At the time of publication, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was the longest non-event Marvel omnibus, at 1,616 pages. Since then, The Immortal Hulk omnibus has been released with the same page count.
The first appearance of X-Force is in New Mutants issue 98. That series ended in 1991 with issue #100 and relaunched as X-Force #1.
Marvel's first major line-wide event was Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars in 1984. The event “capitalized on the success of previous crossovers to make an epic storyline involving most of the Marvel Universe”. It also introduced Spider-Man's black costume - and ultimately the Venom symbiote.
By the mid-2000s, large comics events had become an annual tradition for Marvel, with Avengers Disassembled (2004), House of M (2005), Civil War (2006-2007) and Secret Invasion (2008) providing enormous sales success.
Marvel have used the omnibus format to collect full events, including the main run of comics, plus all related tie-ins. The breadth of material means the company's largest omnibus is Avengers vs. X-Men, at 1,680 pages. Two more of the top-five longest omnibuses are also events: War of the Realms (1,576) and King in Black (1,568).
The following omnibuses either collect Anthology series not necessarily following one ongoing story, or collect various comics that share a unifying theme.
In 2014, The company used the format to help celebrate its 75th anniversary, by allowing fans to vote for the best comics be included in a 1,000-page omnibus. The top choice was the Spider-Man story The Death of Gwen Stacy, followed by Civil War (represented by the epilogue story The Death of Captain America), then Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt
As part of the Marvel multiverse, other fictional continuities exist. Books in this section still contain Marvel characters; however, they are alternate versions who don't, or rarely, interact with characters from the mainstream Earth-616 section.
Marvel‘s 2099 universe was a project “intended to explore the future of the Marvel Comics universe”, that was imagined by writer Stan Lee, as something for him to work on with artist John Byrne. The collaboration “fell through”; however, the line was commissioned by Editor Joey Cavalieri. He said the books “offered a chance to create the Marvel Universe all over again. At the very beginning of the Marvel Universe of 2099, there are no superheroes. We start to see them, one by one, just as you did in the ‘60s.” The 2099 universe is designated as Earth-2099.
The Earth X universe was created by Dave Kreuger and Alex Ross, and “showed a possible near future for the Marvel Universe”. The project came from “an article for Wizard Magazine and their reaction to the amazing work Alex had done in reimagining and designing the DCU for Kingdom Come.” The Earth X universe is designated as Earth-9997.
After a two-year run on The Incredible Hulk in the 1990s, writer Peter David and artist Dale Keown re-teamed for Hulk: The End, a one-shot showcasing the character's final days. The success of that book led to multiple miniseries in the following six years, chronicling the final days of various Marvel Universe superheroes.
After 12 years with no further material, a further series of one-shots was announced at the 2019 New York Comic Con.
Marvel's The End omnibus contains the full run of all material across 18 years.
The first appearance of Marvel Zombies was in Ultimate Fantastic Four #21, written by Mark Millar. He said: “I had this idea on the plane from Scotland about a superhero arriving from another dimension with a zombie plague and biting the Avengers when they showed up to contain the problem. Everyone hated it. It was so universally loathed and everyone thought I was kidding when I suggested it.”
Despite that, after the first appearance, the concept grew to launch its own series, with Marvel Zombies and Marvel Zombies 2 written by The Walking Dead creator, Robert Kirkman. The initial Zombies universe is designated Earth-2149.
Strikeforce: Morituri is a largely standalone series, created by Peter B. Gillis and Brent Anderson, that was published by Marvel Comics from 1986. It saw “an alien invasion of Earth, countered by a programme that turned humans into superhumans, but would kill them in a year.” There were disputes over the series' ownership up until Gillis's death in June 2024. The Strikeforce: Morituri universe is designated as Earth-1287.
Ultimate Marvel launched in 2000 as a response to "so much backstory that the stories (in the main books) were almost incomprehensible."
Bill Jemas, President of Marvel Enterprises from 2000 to 2004, wrote: “Joe Quesada and I started the Ultimate books because we wanted Marvel to get back in touch with kids. We wanted Marvel's great teen heroes - Spidey and the X-Men - to star in comics for 2001 kids.” The first Ultimate universe is designated as Earth-1610.
After Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, and The Ultimates, Ultimate Fantastic Four was the final core book to launch in Marvel's new universe. Writers Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis worked together with artist Adam Kubert for the first six-issue arc, before Warren Ellis took on the series.
Compared to the main universe counterparts, the new series saw: "The more "superheroic" elements of the series done away with, as the Ultimate Fantastic Four book focused more on science fiction and exploration. Doctor Doom was given a less cartoony characterization than his more well-known mainstream counterpart. Other villains such as Mole Man, Annihilus and even Galactus also received massive makeovers."
The first book in Marvel's Ultimate Universe was Ultimate Spider-Man. The title ran from 2000 until 2012, with a younger version of Peter Parker as the main protagonist. The new iteration was a response to "so much backstory that the stories (in the main books) were almost incomprehensible."
Bill Jemas, President of Marvel Enterprises from 2000 to 2004, wrote: “Joe Quesada and I started the Ultimate books because we wanted Marvel to get back in touch with kids. We wanted Marvel's great teen heroes - Spidey and the X-Men - to star in comics for 2001 kids.”
The title went on to run for more than 150 issues and launched the character of Miles Morales.
Launched by writer Mark Millar, Ultimate X-Men saw "the superheroic side of the franchise pushed a bit to the sidelines. Instead, the prejudice mutants faced on a daily basis took center stage."
Millar was followed by superstar writers Brian Michael Bendis, Brian K Vaughan, and Robert Kirkman, and "the Ultimate X-Men comics quickly became the most popular titles at Marvel Comics, even outselling X-Men books in the mainstream continuity."
The Ultimates portrayed a version of the Avengers outside of the main Marvel continuity that "looked and sounded like a movie in a way that no Marvel story ever had."
Written by Mark Millar, and drawn by Bryan Hitch, the comic blurred the lines of right and wrong, where the heroes "have no idea they are supervillains. They think they’re merely doing what superheroes are supposed to do: defend truth, justice, and the American Way — with an emphasis on the latter." Millar conceded that point, describing the series as a "pro-status quo book" and "kind of a right-wing book, like Rush Limbaugh doing super comics".
Director of Marvel Studio's 2012 The Avengers movie, Joss Whedon, said: “It’s my feeling that Ultimates brought Marvel into the modern age in a way no other book did.”
As well as publishing omnibuses featuring the company's own characters, Marvel also releases books from other franchises. Some of these – like Star Wars – are owned by Marvel's parent company, Disney; others – like Conan or The Dark Tower – are licensed for certain periods of time.
In July 2020, Marvel Comics gained the rights to publish Alien and Predator in the wake of Fox's sale to Disney. Since then, the company has been republishing comics originally produced by Dark Horse comics.
As well as his own series, Conan appeared in Marvel's Savage Avengers series, which ran from 2019.
From 2022 onward, Marvel lost the licence to publish new Conan comics. "The trademark for the name Conan and the names of Robert E. Howard's other principal characters, is maintained by Conan Properties International and licensed to Cabinet Entertainment. This company, or new owners, now wish to publish Conan comic books themselves. And so won't be renewing the Marvel Comics license."
The licence ended up with Titan Publishing.
Crossgen was founded in 1998 and "quickly became one of the largest independent U.S. publishers of comics and graphic novels". By 2004, however, the company was "bought for a reported $1million at a bankruptcy auction by Cal Publishing Inc., a subsidiary of Disney".
When Marvel was also acquired by Disney in 2009, the rights to publish Crossgen titles fell to Marvel. Partly as an effort to maintain copyright, the company have been releasing Crossgen content as omnibuses since 2023.
Marvel held the rights to graphic adaptations of Stephen King's Dark Tower series from 2007.
The company produced five miniseries "detailing (gunslinger) Roland Deschain's early years, then adapted the Dark Tower novels themselves in a series of six books."
In 2018, the rights switched to publisher Gallery 13.
Both The Muppets and Muppet Babies omnibuses are branded as a "Disney Omnibus".
Following Fox's sale to Disney in 2020, Marvel Comics reacquired a series of publishing rights, including Alien, Predator, and Planet of the Apes.
As well as releasing new Planet of the Apes material, Marvel have republished full-color comics first produced by them in 1975.
The Powers series was published by Image Comics between 2000 and 2004, before moving to Marvel's Icon label in 2004.
The omnibus, plus a series of other collected editions, were published between then and 2017, before writer Brian Michael Bendis signed a deal to republish the books with Dark Horse Comics in 2021.
Marvel Comics gained the rights to publish Predator comics from Dark Horse in 2021; however, a dispute with the film's screenwriters led to delays with release of new material.
The company solicited two Predator omnibuses, reprinting comics first published by Dark Horse; however, the second had material removed due to “racial concerns”.
Marvel's first 1977 comic was a six-issue adaptation of the original film. The series ran for 107 issues and three Annuals until 1986, featuring stories set between the original trilogy of films, as well as adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Rights briefly went to Blackthorne Publishing, before being acquired by Dark Horse Comics. The company produced over 100 Star Wars titles until 2014.
Following the October 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, it was announced that the Star Wars comics license would return to Marvel Comics in 2015. In April 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded the majority of the Star Wars Expanded Universe as Legends, only keeping the theatrical Skywalker saga and the 2008 Clone Wars film and television series as canon.
Marvel's Senior Vice President of sales and marketing, David Gabriel, said the Star Wars releases would “be bouncing around to different periods of Star Wars history ... constructing one huge tapestry, collecting full unbroken runs of all the greatest Star Wars comics from the past 35 years.”
Outside of books dedicated to certain characters or storylines, Marvel also produces omnibuses for specific writers or artists. Some contain material from company archives; others – like Brian Michael Bendis: Crime Noir – reproduce work owned by the creator themselves.
The DC versus Marvel Omnibus is produced by DC Comics as part of a joint venture with Marvel. It includes stories with DC and Marvel superheroes battling one another, or working together. There will only ever be one printing.
The Amalgam omnibus collects stories with various DC and Marvel superheroes combined into a unique single character. It was delayed after a printing error led to multiple copies being destroyed.
A promotional magazine featuring previews and news relating to Marvel Comics.
Statistics for debut chart position and first-month sales come from ICv2. Estimates are for North American stores only, with UK purchases adding between three and 20 per cent to sales numbers.