10 Comics You Must Read Before Avengers: Infinity War

8. Secret Wars

Although there's little to tie Secret Wars to Infinity War, for it lacks a Thanos, a gem, or a dead hero, its scope and influence on the event genre must be acknowledged.

Written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Bob Leyton and Mike Zeck, Secret Wars was conceived as a means of bringing all of Marvel's biggest heroes together under one big storyline. Its story, chronicled for kids' TV in the nineties Spider-Man animated series, sees an entity known as the Beyonder transport all of Earth's mightiest heroes and villains to 'Battleworld', where they are to fight for the being's amusement.

Alliances are forged, broken, and Spidey even picks up some new black and white threads (later, it would transpire to be an evil symbiote, latching onto Eddie Brock when Pete has some church bell drama). It's the event comic that began all other event comics, and with a cosmic edge to boot, there's plenty that Infinity War owes to Shooter's one-time hit.

You never know, if a recent fan theory is to be believed, it could even have a hold over Infinity War's plot...