MARVEL UNIVERSE: 1967 READING ORDER - When Heroes Clash

The Marvel Universe reading order continues: Highlighting all the key moments, first appearances, crossovers and events in the ideal reading order. This time around, it's 1967!

As always, I'd like to thank the guys over at the Marvel Chronology Project which I use as a basis and work out my own continuity. 

MCG Note: These pages are subject to change and will be constantly updated and added to. If you feel a story has been missed or want to know where tale would sit in continuity, I'm more than happy to add these for you, though they may or may not be recommended by me. This guide is aimed more at fans who need help with continuity and the stories they need to read rather than those already obsessed with it.

Jack Kirby and Stan Lee present another unmissable year for the Fantastic Four, introducing more new character and concepts along the way and announcing the Invisible Girl's pregnancy! The surprise must-read series of 1967 has to be the stories featuring Nick Fury from Strange Tales. Jim Steranko hops aboard the title as writer and artist and steps up the titles spy game with intrigue, mystery, twists and surprises. Including the return of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker.

New characters and concepts introduced this year included the Abomination, Banshee, Blastaar, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Dreadnoughts, Emissaries of Evil, Enclave, Ghost Rider (Carter Slade), Him, Hydra Island, Kaluu, Kingpin, the Kree, Kree Sentry, the Leatherneck Raiders, Living Tribunal, MODOK, Clay Quartermain, Red Guardian, Ronan the Accuser, the Satan's Claw, Shocker, the Supreme Intelligence, Umar, Vulture (Blackie Drago) and Yandroth.

MCG NOTE - your guide to reading comics:

• Issues in blue are worth reading and often play a part in the great Marvel tapestry.
• Issues in grey are possibly of interest, stories of note that aren't essential or issues added by fan request or once-great tales that are no longer 'required reading'.

Strange Tales #150[1/2]-152[1/2] (1966-1967)
Hydra have returned and Nick Fury and the agents of SHIELD pursue their elusive new Supreme Hydra, 'Don Cabellero'.

X-Men #28 (1967)
First appearance of Banshee, Ogre and Factor Three; the X-Men first clash with the mysterious organisation led by a team of evil mutants, Factor Three.

Daredevil #25 (1967)
First appearance of Leap-Frog (Vincent Patillo).

Tales to Astonish #89[2/2]-91[2/2] (1967)
First appearance of the Abomination (Emil Blonsky); Emil Blonsky transforms himself into the Abomination and clashes with the Hulk who's been subverted by the Stranger.

Ghost Rider #1[1/2] (1967)
First appearance of the Ghost Rider (Carter Slade); origin of the Wild West-era Ghost Rider.

X-Men #29 (1967)
Following a battle with the Super-Adaptoid, the Mimic leaves the X-Men.

Strange Tales #153[1/2] (1967)
Nick Fury puts his trust in Laura Brown and Agent Bronson, not realising one of them is working with Hydra.

Amazing Spider-Man #46 (1967)
First appearance of the Shocker (Herman Shultz).

Avengers #38(pp.1-7) (1967)
Tales of Suspense #88[2/2] (pp.1-6) (1967)
Avengers #38(pp.8-9) (1967)
Tales of Suspense #88[2/2] (pp.7-10) (1967)

Avengers #38(pp.10-20) (1967)
Tales of Suspense #89[2/2]-90[2/2] (1967)
Avengers #40 (1967)
Tales of Suspense #90[2/2] (1967)
Hercules is manipulated by the Enchantress into attacking the Avengers, then joins them when he realises he's been duped; the Red Skull returns and threatens to destroy New York unless Captain America allies himself with him; the Avengers clash with Namor the Sub-Mariner during BACK FROM THE DEAD.

X-Men #31 (1967)
First appearance of the Cobalt Man (Ralph Roberts).

Fantastic Four #61-63 (1967)

First appearance of Blastaar; the Sandman attacks the Fantastic Four in a new costume that augments his powers; the battle continues into the Negative Zone where the FF first tackle Blastaar when he allies himself with the Sandman.

Tales to Astonish #90[1/2]-91[1/2] (1967)
First modern appearance of Byrrah; Byrrah tries to steal the throne of Atlantis from Namor.

Amazing Spider-Man #47 (1967)
Kraven the Hunter goes after Norman Osborn following the apparent disappearance of the Green Goblin. 

Strange Tales #148[2/2]-157[2/2] (pp.1-8) (1966-1967)
First appearance of Kaluu and Umar; following a battle with Kaluu, Umar takes over the Dark Dimension and invades Earth; the Ancient One is killed by Zom.

X-Men #32-33 (1967)
Factor Three send the Juggernaut after the X-Men.

Strange Tales #157[2/2] (pp.1-8)-163[2/2] (1967)
Strange Tales #164[1/2] (1968)
Strange Tales #165[2/2] (1968)
Strange Tales #166[1/2] (1968)
Strange Tales #167[2/2] (1968)
Strange Tales #168[1/2] (1968)
First appearance of the Living Tribunal, Nebulos and Yandroth; Doctor Strange has to stop newly-awakened mystics from turning evil and prevent the Living Tribunal from destroying the Earth; Baron Mordo leads the mystics against Doctor Strange; Strange saves Earth from the Living Tribunal, then rescues Victoria Bentley from Yandroth.

Strange Tales #154[1/2]-158[1/2] (1967)
First appearance of a Dreadnought robot, the Satan Claw and Hydra Island; Nick Fury unmasks the Supreme Hydra, revealing him to be Baron Wolfgang von Strucker; Fury fights Strucker to the death to stop him releasing death spores all over the Earth.

Tales to Astonish #92[2/2]-93[2/2] (1967)
The Hulk first meets the Silver Surfer; the Surfer wins the clash between the two outsiders and fails in his attempt to cure Bruce Banner; the Hulk swears that one day the Surfer will help him leave Earth.

Amazing Spider-Man #48-49 (1967)
First appearance of the second Vulture (Blackie Drago); the new Vulture teams up with Kraven the Hunter against Spider-Man.

Fantastic Four #64 (1967)

First appearance of Sentry #459 and Dr Daniel Damian; the Fantastic Four explore an island on the South Pacific and fight for their lives against an alien robot Sentry during THE COMING OF CAPTAIN MARVEL.

Daredevil #30-32 (1967)
Daredevil poses as Thor to attract the attention of Mister Hyde and the Cobra, earning DD a brief fight with the true Thor; Daredevil briefly loses his enhanced senses.

Avengers #43-44 (1967)
First appearance of the Red Guardian; the Black Widow is reunited with her husband, Alexi Shostakov, who has been transformed into the Russian super-soldier the Red Guardian. 

Amazing Spider-Man #50-52 (1967)
First appearance of the Kingpin (WIlson Fisk); Peter Parker briefly walks away from his life as Spider-Man; stepping back into the webs, Spider-Man gets caught in a war between the Kingpin and the Big Man.

Tales to Astonish #94[2/2]-96[2/2] (1967)
The Hulk witnesses the High Evolutionary's hyper-evolution.

Strange Tales #159[1/2] (1967)
First appearance of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and Sydney 'The Gaffer' Levine; Nick Fury and Captain America duke it out in a training bout.

X-Men #35 (1967)
Spider-Man and the X-Men come to blows due to a misunderstanding caused by Factor Three's 'Master'.

Strange Tales #160[1/2]-163[1/2] (1967)
Strange Tales #164[2/2] (1968)
Strange Tales #165[1/2] (1968)
Strange Tales #166[2/2] (1968)
Strange Tales #167[1/2] (1968)
First appearance of Clay Quartermain and the Prime Mover; Nick Fury takes on the 'Yellow Claw' with help from Captain America; the Claw is revealed to have been a robot created by Doctor Doom.

Fantastic Four #65 (1967)

First appearance of Jerome Hamilton, Ronan the Accuser, the Supreme Intelligence and the Kree; the incident with Sentry #459 has piqued the interest of the Kree's Supreme Intelligence who sends Ronan the Accuser to Earth during THE COMING OF CAPTAIN MARVEL.

Tales of Suspense #92[2/2]-94[2/2] (1967)
First appearance of MODOK; Captain America fends off the AIM agents before meeting their leader, the mutated super-genius MODOK.

X-Men #36-39 (1967)
First appearance of Changeling, Mekano and the Mutant Master; the X-Men have their final showdown with Factor Three.

Fantastic Four #66-68(pp.1-2) (1967)

First appearance of Him, the Enclave (Maris Morlak, Wladyslav Shinski & Carlo Zota along with Jerome Hamilton) and the Beehive; the Fantastic Four discover the Enclave's efforts to create the perfect being.

Avengers King-Size Special #1 (1967) (aka Avengers Annual)
Iron Man and Thor return to the Avengers to aid them against the Mandarin's army of super-villains. 

Avengers #45 (1967)

The Avengers first face the Super-Adaptoid.

Daredevil #33-34 (1967)
Daredevil vs the Beetle.

Thor #142[1/2] (1967)
Loki coerces the Super-Skrull into attacking Thor and invading Earth. Daredevil King-Size Special #1[1/7] (1967) (aka Daredevil Annual)
First appearance of the Emissaries of Evil; Daredevil fights a team of his deadliest foes - Electro, Gladiator, Leap-Frog, Matador & Stilt-Man.

Thor #146[2/2]-147[2/2] (1967)

The untold origin of the Inhumans begins during THE COMING OF CAPTAIN MARVEL.

Thor #148[2/2]-152[2/2] (1967-1968)
The origin of Black Bolt, Triton and the Inhuman Royal Family is revealed.

Amazing Spider-Man King-Size Special #4 (1967) (aka Amazing Spider-Man Annual)

Spider-Man and the Human Torch team up when the Wizard and Mysterio join forces.

Fantastic Four #68(pp.3-9) (1967)
Mister Fantastic attempts to cure the Thing of his rocky appearance.

Fantastic Four King-Size Special #5[1/3] (1967) (aka Fantastic Four Annual)

First appearance of the Psycho-Man, Shellshock and Live Wire; the Psycho-Man attacks the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans; the Invisible Girl is revealed to be pregnant.

Fantastic Four King-Size Special #5[3/3] (1967) (aka Fantastic Four Annual)

The living computer QuasiMoDO tricks the Silver Surfer into giving him a human form.

Fantastic Four #68(pp.9-20)-72 (1967-1968)

The Mad Thinker manipulates the Thing into turning against the Fantastic Four; Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl quit the team; the Silver Surfer tries to bring humanity together by giving them a common enemy, himself.

Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos #49-50 (1967-1968)
First appearance of the Leatherneck Raiders; during World War II, one of the Howling Commandos is lost on a mission in the Pacific during THE LAST BANZAI.

[1960] [1961] [1962] [1963] [1964] [1965] [1966] [1967] [1968] [1969] [1970] [1971] [1972] [1973] [1974] [1975] [1976] [1977] [1978] [1979] [1980] [1981] [1982] [1983] [1984] [1985] [1986] [1987] [1988] [1989] [1990] [1991] [1992] [1993] [1994] [1995] [1996] [1997] [1998] [1999] [2000] [2001] [2002] [2003] [2004] [2005] [2006] [2007] [2008] [2009] [2010] [2011] [2012] [2013] [2014] [2015]