Captain America, Iron Man, & Thor Omnibus Mapping for the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12th Annual Secret Ballot

Until April 5, I’ll be loosely mapping missing and most-wanted Marvel omnibus volumes every day! Today I’ll be looking at all of the omnibuses that don’t yet exist for Marvel’s holy trinity of Avengers – Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor (including other Asgardian heroes).

This post explains titles and potential Captain America, Thor, & Iron Man Omnibus Mapping for entries on the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12th Annual Secret Ballot. You can vote right now (until 5 April 2024 @ midnight US ET) or watch our mega-length announcement stream reviewing every single voting option.

All three of Marvel’s trinity of prime Avengers have had their own multiple-installment movie franchises, which means they uncoincidentally have some of the best omnibus coverage of every Marvel solo hero (except for Moon Knight!). But, each of these characters still need more than a handful of additional omnibuses to cover their entire comic lines from their debut to present day. Plus, we’ll look at a quintet of supporting Asgardian heroes – Beta Ray Bill, Thunderstrike, Valkyrie, Jane Foster, and Angela.

If you’re not sure of what to vote for, stick around for my explanations. Or, if you’ve already voted, learn why the team behind the poll decided on these books and titles – including some of my mistakes and regrets as one of the editors of the options on the final poll.

Or… just find some great comics to read!

Remember: These mappings are just my suggestion of how Marvel could assemble these books. They are meant to help you decide on your votes and build your personal reading list, but your vote on the poll is NOT an endorsement of my specific map. It’s a vote in favor of Marvel creating a book with that title or covering that period.

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Captain America Omnibus Mapping

Captain America has a strong start to his classic omnibus line, an upcoming Mark Gruenwald omnibus, and then incredible coverage from 1998 to 2021. That means we could reach TOTAL COVERAGE (outside of the Golden Age) with fewer than 10 additional omnibuses! See Guide to Captain America for how all of these comics are collected in existing collected editions.

Captain America (Golden Age) Vol. 3
This would extend the Golden Age Captain America line starting from Captain America Comics (1941) #25. We don’t have any Masterworks volumes beyond issue #24.

To date, the Omnibuses have only collected 12 issues each because they collect all the features from each issue – which were each ~60-72 pages long. Thus, a next volume would likely only contain another 12 issues, and we’d need several more volumes to collect through the end of this title with issue #78.

(However, note that it has been retconned that Steve Rogers only appears through issue #48, after which he is replaced with the Captain America of the 1950s.)

Captain America Vol. 5
The Captain America Vol. 5 omnibus only contained two Masterworks of content, since it had to directly map to the existing Jack Kirby omnibus. However, this line could absolutely return to collecting three Masterworks per volume after that.

That means this could collect Masterworks Volumes 12-14, which included Captain America (1968) #215-260, Incredible Hulk (1968) #232, and Marvel Premiere (1972) #49.

Captain America by John Byrne
Captain America by J. M. Dematteis
Each of these books are effectively one piece of Captain America Vol. 6, though you could choose to vote for either one purely as a creator-centric book.

Krisis Regrets: We should have merged these books into “Captain America Vol. 6 (includes Byrne & Dematteis),” which would have been a broader option and less mapping-centric.

Captain America by Mark Gruenwald Vol. 2
We already have a first volume solicited that perfectly captures the inclusive contents of the Epic Collections and ends on Captain America (1968) #350 at a hefty 1336 pages.

This volume should collect almost all of the following three Epic collections. I say “almost” because Epics are almost always longer than Masterworks.

Those Epics include Captain America (1968) #351-397, Annual 9-10, and Adventures of Captain America #1-4.

Captain America (Marvel Knights)
The Captain America (2002) series wasn’t a Marvel Knights side series like Fantastic Four or Spider-Man had in the period – it was the main Cap series, just like Daredevil’s 1998 series (although later Captain America & The Falcon (2004) was launched alongside it).

This book would collect Captain America (2002) #1-32 and the Captain America: Red, White and Blue OGN. It could also include Truth: Red, White, and Black #1-7

Falcon: Sam Wilson, The Modern Years (1998 – 2015) (includes by Priest)
This omnibus would collect all of Falcon’s material beginning from 1998 until he took on the mantle of Captain America in 2015.

That would include all of Captain America & The Falcon (2004) #1-15.

Captain America & Black Widow by Mark Waid & Chris Samnee
This is a book some people are specifically looking for. Waid & Samnee had year-long runs on Captain America (2017) #695-704 and Black Widow (2016) #1-12. They aren’t related, but they fit beautifully into one book. Since there is already a “Captain America by Ta-Nehisi Coates” book on the other side of this run, it might be the only way to get it collected in omnibus.

Captain America Truth & Liberty (Colin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing)
This would collect both the Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson Captain America comics from 2022-2023, which were closely intertwined.

That map could be Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (2022) #1-13, Captain America: Soldier of Truth (2022) #1-13, Captain America (2022) #0 & 750, Captain America & The Winter Soldier Special (2022) #1, and Captain America: Cold War (2023) Alpha & Omega.

Iron Man Omnibus Mapping

Iron Man doesn’t have coverage nearly impressive as Captain America. Tony Stark has fewer Masterworks-based classic omnibuses, less 90s coverage, and no omnibuses from 2000 to the present day! Yikes! Let’s get to mapping. You can find all of these individual issues and their existing collections in the Guide to Iron Man – Tony Stark.

Iron Man Vol. 4
This is the next Masterworks-driven classic omnibus. Volume 3 is out this year and it perfectly maintains the “3 Masterworks = 1 Omnibus rule.

That means this volume could collect Iron Man (1968) #68-112 and Annual 3-4. However, I suspect it could also include issues #113-114 so it lines up perfectly with the start of the Iron Man by Michelinie, Layton & Romita Jr. Omnibus. It could also collect Marvel Premiere (1972) #44, which is the only issue that omnibus skipped from the Masterworks.

Iron Man by Denny O’Neil
If we assume that the Michelinie, Layton & Romita Jr. Omnibus. is “Vol. 5” (and it is mapped perfectly to be that!), then this would be the “Vol. 6” immediately following it that begins with Iron Man (1968) #158.

Krisis Regrets: We should have named this “AKA Vol. 6 (follows Michelinie, Layton & Romita Jr. Omnibus)” and added year ranges to it.

Iron Man By Michelinie/Layton v2
This was a late add to the poll because a lot of people were saying we missed it. Michelinie & Layton returned to the title with issues (1968) #215-250. That would make this roughly “Vol. 8,” but since the Masterworks have not reached that far yet we don’t know for sure.

Based on the Epic Collections, that means this would collect something like Iron Man (1968) #215-240 & Annual 9-11, Iron Man: Crash (1987) OGN, and material from Marvel Fanfare (1982) #22-23 & 44

Krisis Regrets: Some people object to the “Volume 2” in the title since this isn’t consecutive to Volume 1. We could have made that clearer but phrasing it as “AKA Vol. 2” but this would still be the same book.

Iron Man Armor Wars (Fingeroth/McDuffie/Byrne)
We titled this book incorrectly. This is clearly meant to be the book that follows Michelinie/Layton Vol. 2. Kaminski only writes #202, 210, 212-214, and 253. McDuffie only writes #251-252. Then, Byrne takes over until the next run, but Len Kaminski. However, this only includes Armor Wars II, not the original – which is in the prior Michelinie/Layton v2.

Some people just want an “Armor Wars” omnibus collecting only those sorts of stories and others want the book between Michelinie/Layton Vol. 2 and Kaminski. It’s impossible to know which of those options people are voting for by picking this, but maybe that will get it more votes!

Krisis Regrets: We need to split this into two different entries and title each of them clearly with year ranges and creators.

Iron Man by Len Kaminski
Kaminski wrote Iron Man (1968) #278-318 and Annual 12-15. A vote for this book could stand for a creator-centric book just of his material.

In practicality, this (or a Vol. 2 of this) might also include the final 14 issues by Terry Kavanagh, so we didn’t give them their own entry.

Invincible Disassembled (Grell/Miller/Laws)
This would collect the end of the Iron Man (1998) run following the Joe Quesada “Man in the Iron Mask” omnibus.

It would include Iron Man (1998) #51-89, and maybe also Fantastic Four / Iron Man: Big In Japan #1-4.

Iron Man Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
We left this title loose on purpose. Would it begin at the start of Iron Man (2005) with Warren Ellis’s “Extremis” and follow the title as it changes to “Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.” with issue #15? Would it only start with issue #15? Would it also collect the many mini-series and one-shots in this period?

The beauty of this book is in the eye of the beholder!

Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction
This is likely two volumes worth of material, but a vote for it is a vote in favor of a first volume and whatever it would contain.

In full, this run is Invincible Iron Man (2008) #1-33, 500-527, 500.1, Annual 1, FCBD 2010 Iron Man / Thor and Rescue #1, and Shattered Heroes: Iron Man. There are also many one-shots and mini-series in this period not by Fraction which could also be included.

Iron Man by Kieron Gillen
This would collect Kieron Gillen’s Marvel Now run, which included Iron Man (2013) #1-27 and Annual 1 and the digital-first Iron Man: Fatal Frontier.

It could also possibly collect some or all of Uncanny X-Men / Iron Man / Nova: No End In Sight, Original Sin #3.1-3.4: Hulk vs. Iron Man, and Superior Iron Man (2015) #1-9 by Tom Taylor. That’s only 16 more issues, so it could work. Or, they could all be collected in their own separate “Superior Iron Man” omnibus. However, there’s really not any more material we could include in that, so I think it makes sense to stealthily include it here.

Krisis Regrets: We should have added “(including Taylor)” to this title for flexibility.

Iron Man by Brian Michael Bendis
This would collect all of Bendis’s Iron Man material, including Riri Williams and Doom both starring in the title while Tony Stark was missing.

That includes Invincible Iron Man (2015) #1-14, International Iron Man (2015) #1-7, Infamous Iron Man (2016) #1-12, and Invincible Iron Man (2016) #593-600.

Iron Man by Christopher Cantwell
This would collect the epic run by Christopher Cantwell with several artists and colorist Frank Martin that ran through Iron Man (2020) #1-25 & Iron Man / Hellcat Annual 2022.

Thor Omnibus Mapping

Thor has the best mapping status of all three of this trinity of Avengers heroes! That’s because Thor has near-perfect mapping of his post-1998 material, which is abetted by the fact that he was on hiatus from 2005-2006. What’s left to collect? Let’s take a look!

Thor: Mighty Thor Vol. 5
See Guide to Thor – Odinson. This is the next Masterworks-based book. Omnibus Volume 4 perfectly collected three Masterworks, so would this do the same starting with the contents of Masterworks Volume 14 beginning with issue #229?

ABSOLUTELY, so vote with confidence! Why am I so sure? Because there are exactly nine Masterworks that are not in Omnibus between this point and the start of Walt Simonson’s run. Marvel very rarely collects four Masterworks in one volume (let alone more than that), so I’d say there’s a 99% chance that Mighty Thor Volumes 5-7 perfectly match Masterworks Volumes 14-16, 17-19, and 20-22.

That means this would collect Thor (1966) #229-266 & Annual 5-6, Marvel Premiere #26, Marvel Spotlight (1971) #30, and material from Marvel Treasury Edition (1974) #10

We Missed It: Thor by Walt Simonson (original colors edition)
See Guide to Thor – Odinson. Soon after we launched the poll we started seeing this suggestion as an answer to the “What did we miss?” question.

I think it’s more likely this would simply be Mighty Thor Vol. 8-9, since the Walt Simonson omnibus skips a couple of issues, but the fact remains that it is in high demand.

Thor by DeFalco & Frenz
See Guide to Thor – Odinson. Tom DeFalco wrote through from directly after the end of Simonson’s run with issue #383 all the way until #490 (after which Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato took over for a year before the title ended at the end of Onslaught).

A vote for this is a vote for a Volume 1 beginning to collect that 100+ issue run. We don’t have to worry about how it would handle the brief post-DeFalco material until we get closer to that point!

Thor Omnibus Mapping: Heroes of Asgard

Thunderstrike
See Guide to Thunderstrike. This would collect Thor Corps (1993) #1-4 and Thunderstrike (1993) #1-24 by Tom DeFalco.

All of Thunderstrike’s major appearances leading up to that point would be from his time as Thor, which would be collected in a Thor by DeFalco omnibus. As a results, I don’t think it makes sense to double-dip all of them here. However, I think this could include some excerpted sub-plot pages establishing who Thunderstrike is, which might be pulled Thor (1966) #391-393, 403, 405-408, 413-414, 416-418, 423, & 433-436. Again, I don’t think any of that should be included in full (except perhaps his transformation into Thor in #433-436).

Should it also include the entire arc of Thor (1966) #450-459 where Thunderstrike transitions from being Thor? I think that’s too big of a double-dip to be worth it, though I could picture picking up some plot pages from the end of that arc.

We Missed It: The Warriors Three
There’s a case to be made for a “Greatest Hits” style book with all of the major stories and appearances of The Warriors Three. We’ll add that to the poll for next year!

Beta Ray Bill
See Guide to Beta Ray Bill. We left this loose so you could imagine it containing anything your heart desired!

Personally, I’d want Thor (1966) #337-340, #350-353 (and material from #349, 354-355, 357-359), 363, 411-413 & Annual 16, Thor War in 438-441, 442, 461 (and sub-plot pages from Silver Surfer (1987) #79 & 81-82), Thor Corps (1993) #1-4, Thor (1966) #480, Starmasters (1995) #1-3, Cosmic Powers Unlimited (1995) #4-5, Thor (1998) #30, 31-33, 40 & Annual 2001 (and material from #39 & 41), Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill (2005) #1-6, Secret Invasion: Thor (2008) #1-3, Secret Invasion Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill (2009) #1, Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter (2009) #1-3, Sif (2010) #1, maybe Unworthy Thor (2017) #1-5, maybe Annihilation – Scourge (2019) Alpha, Beta Ray Bill, & Omega, and Beta Ray Bill (2021) #1-5.

That’s already 54 issues without the maybes, so I probably can’t have them! And, we’d probably omit all of the 1998 series except for #30, which isn’t especially significant for Bill.

Valkyrie, Fearless Defender by Cullen Bunn (2011 – 2014)
See Guide to Valkyrie. This volume would follow Valkyrie into and out of Fear Itself in 2011 into Cullen Bunn’s Fearless Defenders series.

This should first collect some non-Bunn historic Valkyrie material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #168 (4th story), Valkyrie (1997) #1, Valkyrie (2010) #1, She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision (2009) #1, Heralds (2010) #1-5, and Secret Avengers (2010) #14.

Then, it would collect Bunn’s run from Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) #0-12 and Fearless Defenders (2013) #1-12.

Some would argue it should also include Bunn’s Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) #1-10. I wouldn’t say you are wrong, but I think that’s better placed in an Angela omnibus, since it has more of an Asgard vibe than a Defenders vibe.

Valkyrie: Jane Foster (AKA by Aaron, Ewing, & Gronbekk)
See Guide to Jane Foster – Mighty Thor & Valkyrie. This would collect all of Jane Foster’s post-Thor material, which is a magnificent read!!!

That could include Valkyrie: Jane Foster (2019) #1-10, King in Black: Return of the Valkyries (2021) #1-5, Mighty Valkyries (2021) #1-5, Jane Foster & the Mighty Thor (2022) #1-5, and selected issues from her time in Avengers (2018) and appearing in Thor (2020).

Angela, Asgard’s Daughter (2013 – 2020)
This could collect all of Angela’s significant material since her re-debut into the Marvel Universe!

It could include material from Age of Ultron (2013) #10, Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #5-9, Original Sin (2014) #5.1-5.5, Angela: Asgard’s Assassin (2015) #1-6, 1602 Witch Hunter Angela (2015) #1-4, Angela – Queen of Hel (2015) #1-7, Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) #1-10, and Strikeforce (2019) #1-9.

That’s 41 issues, which is the perfect size for a modern Marvel omnibus. She has some supporting appearances throughout that period, but they are already all well-collected in omnibus and don’t need to be double-dipped to make this book any longer.

Captain America Omnibus Mapping

Iron Man Omnibus Mapping

Thor Omnibus Mapping

Thor Omnibus Mapping: Heroes of Asgard

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