10 Comics You Must Read Before Avengers: Infinity War

3. Annihilation

Marvel Annihilation
Marvel Comics

Although both Infinity tales hold a degree of notoriety in the Marvel canon, Annihilation remains the freshest in the minds of True Believers.

Devised as a means of bringing Marvel's cosmic elements back into the limelight, the event saw everyone from that side of the universe - including the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Nova Corps and Silver Surfer - come together to avert a very literal Annihilation Wave. Instigated by Annihilus, the comic saw the death of Thanos (a second time, at the hands of Drax the Destroyer), and a whole bunch of other cosmic critters too. Undoubtedly its biggest addition to the lore, however, has to be Richard Rider, the sole survivor of the Nova Corps massacre and a hero instrumental in bringing the event to an end.

He's bound to feature in the MCU at some point, especially with the introduction of Adam Warlock inching ever closer, and while there's little chance we'll be seeing Annihilus or his ilk in the MCU anytime soon, the cosmic ballet goes on.

It's a decidedly gruesome dance, mind. But when the scale is this big, surely it's a price worth paying?

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.