Comic books aren't known for shying away from
strange subject matter, but over the years
Marvel has managed to whip up a few moments
that went further than we'd ever thought possible.
Some of these events caused major controversies,
while others flew below the radar, but all
of them haunted us well after we put the comics
down.
Here is but a small sampling of some of the
most disturbing moments in Marvel Comics.
Spider-Man’s Sins Past
The Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Past storyline
is a troubling, poorly plotted tale that defies
continuity and outright poisons Spider-Man's
timeline.
The story is disturbing on many levels.
First, there's the very creepily drawn image
of Norman Osborn having, uh, an adult encounter
with Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man's first love.
Seriously, nobody wants to see that, Marvel.
That was followed up by a ridiculous secret
pregnancy, and rapidly aging genetically modified
twins dead-set on murdering Peter Parker.
Arguing that Spider-Man: Sins Past is one
of the worst comics of the 2000s, one comic
book critic noted that the series: "reads
almost like a mashup of every bad idea in
comics' storied history."
Ouch.
Carnage’s power drill
The origin story of Carnage is one of the
darkest in Marvel Comics history.
The boy who grows up to be the classic bad
guy murders his grandmother by pushing her
down the stairs.
Next, he sets his sights on man's best friend
— his foster parents' dog.
The poor pup was healthy, happy, and trusting
— and Kid Carnage chose to torment it with
a power drill.
Even considering all the other terrible things
he’s done over the years, that one's definitely
one of the cringiest.
Hank Pym's domestic cruelty
For most of his life in comics, Dr. Henry
Pym, a.k.a. Ant-Man, a.k.a. Giant-Man, a.k.a.
Goliath, a.k.a. Yellowjacket, a.k.a. Wasp,
has made some pretty bad decisions.
Like, for instance, his inability to stick
to one superhero identity, or perhaps that
time he accidentally created Ultron.
But more than anything else, Hank Pym is known
for his unhealthy relationship with Janet
Van Dyne, the original Wasp, which came to
a head in 1981's Avengers #212.
During an argument, Pym punches Janet and
knocks her across a room.
Pym was booted from the Avengers, but that
incident remains one of the most controversial
moments in Marvel history.
And it continues to color fans' perception
of Hank Pym to this day.
Twincest in Ultimates
Needless to say, those are just some examples
of the insanity that went down in Marvel's
many years of comic books.
So by the early 2000s, Marvel tried to simplify
things and update its characters with the
launch of the Ultimate Marvel line of comics
— and the Ultimate version of the Avengers
were simply called The Ultimates.
The Ultimates book was often blunt and brutal,
tackling everything from a leaked tape of
a cinematic no-pants party between Black Widow
and Tony Stark, to 3D printed clones of Earth’s
Mightiest Heroes.
But that doesn’t hold a candle to swinging
on the family tree.
In the third Ultimates series, Quicksilver
and Scarlet Witch — who are brother and
sister — get down to bedtime business in
the woods.
While Wolverine watches from the bushes.
"yikes."
Ultimates 3 should have been the worst of
it.
But, then came Ultimatum.
Ultimatum's gross, weird massacre
After a few years, the Ultimate Marvel Universe
was just as confusing as the regular one,
so Marvel published a miniseries called Ultimatum
to try and tidy it up.
But all it really did was sweep the old mess
into a corner and dump more dirt all over
the floor.
In this event series, Magneto flips the magnetic
poles of the Earth, wreaking havoc and causing
the deaths of millions of people.
And if that weren't bad enough, the bad guy
known as Blob straight up eats the Wasp's
innards.
Then, in a fit of revenge, Giant Man turns
around and chomps off the Blob's head.
Uhhh...
And the horror show doesn't stop there.
Magneto uses Iron Man's suit and Cyclops'
powers to obliterate Wolverine.
Then, Cyclops blows Magneto’s head off with
his eye-beams.
To go along with those disgustingly brutal
deaths, Ultimatum also wiped out enough fan
favorites on and off panel in a bloodbath
that would put the Red Wedding to shame.
Punisher steamrolls Wolverine
From brother-sister-love to power-drilled
pooches, you'd think that there wouldn't be
too many lines left for Marvel Comics to cross.
But then, that means you probably forgot about
The Punisher.
When writer Garth Ennis reinvented The Punisher
franchise for Marvel Knights and Punisher
MAX, he gave Frank Castle new death-dealing
life.
In fact, there's a moment that stayed with
readers for a long time.
In two issues of The Punisher from 2001, our
hero gets into a fight with Wolverine — and
uses a shotgun to blast the skin and soft
tissue off of Wolverine's face, shoots him..
um... between the legs - but - you know where,
and runs him over with a steamroller, Austin
Powers style.
"Move!
Move, move!"
"Noooooooooooooo!"
When he's done, the Punisher parks the thing
on top of Wolverine's crushed frame.
Which...actually...isn't really disturbing
so much as it is completely hilarious.
Yeah.
That seems about right.
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