Superhero Movies

Peter Parker is caught in a complicated web. Working in a cutting-edge laboratory, he's a young scientist who's trying to make a difference. Yet he's constantly burdened by the responsibilities of his second career as the crime-fighting Spider-Man. Wilson Fisk - the so-called Kingpin of Crime - has returned to New York, establishing himself publicly as an altruistic entrepreneur and philanthropist. Spider-Man knows better, but he can't uncover Fisk's scheme, which, if executed, will make the crime lord too big to fail.

When the Scarlet Witch of the Avengers and Rogue of the X-Men all disappear under mysterious circumstances, each team's search leads them to more questions than answers. When the X-Men appear to attack a high-security government installation, the Avengers must track down the mutants and learn the truth behind the abductions before it's too late.

With the adamantium ripped out of his body - with his healing factor reduced to a fraction of what it once was - the man known only as Logan finds himself racing to defeat a deadly conspiracy that threatens all of mutantkind, a conspiracy that stretches across both time and space, from the ice-capped peaks of Tibet to the neon jungles of Las Vegas, from his days as an agent of the Canadian government to his years as a member of the most unusual super hero group of all time.

Journalist Rick Bowers has contributed to Time, The Washington Post, and USA Today, and his fascinating Spies of Mississippi—about the spy network that tried to take down the Civil Rights Movement—earned a starred review from Booklist. Here, Bowers examines how, in the late 1940s, The Adventures of Superman radio show struck a powerful blow to the Ku Klux Klan when Superman aired episodes pitting the hero against the Klan in an effort to teach young listeners to stand up to bigotry.

Hoping to snag some rent-paying photos of his arachnid-like alter ego in action, Peter Parker goes looking for trouble - and finds it in the form of a mysterious, mythical stone tablet coveted by both the Kingpin and the Maggia. Caught in the crosshairs of New York's most nefarious villains, Peter also runs afoul of his friends - and the police! His girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, isn't too happy with him either. And the past comes back to haunt him when the Maggia's assumed-dead leader resurfaces in pursuit of the troublesome tablet.

It's not easy for a young gay artist like Jordan Carson to grow up in Jefferson, Wisconsin, where all anyone seems to care about in middle school and high school are the sports teams. But Jordan was lucky. He met Owen Nelson in the second grade, and they've been BFFs ever since. Owen is a big, beautiful blond and their school's champion wrestler. No one messes with Owen, or with anyone close to him, and he bucks popular opinion by keeping Jordan as his wingman even after Jordan comes out at school.

The X-Men are mutants—born with extraordinary powers that set them apart from the very humanity they are sworn to protect. Now, groundbreaking research has revealed a method for reversing the genetic mutation responsible for mutant powers—whether the mutant wants it reversed or not. The US government wants to use this procedure to eliminate the so-called mutant menace once and for all—but the X-Men soon learn that the true source of the procedure is their old enemy, Sinister! And his agenda is far more complex and dangerous than even the X-Men can imagine.

This stunning collection of more than a dozen never-before-published original tales stars one of Marvel Comics' most enduring characters: the Incredible Hulk. The stories included within this anthology span the entire career of the green goliath, from his early days as an inarticulate savage to his more intelligent incarnation to an unprecedented glimpse at his future as he faces the end of the world.

The X-Men—mutant protectors of a world that fears and hates them, and the Avengers—Earth's mightiest heroes, team up with the Incredible Hulk to track down the evil Leader to his base on the moon. Fighting not only his dangerous Gamma Sentinels but also each other, each team must work through their differences in order to save not only their teammates, but the entire world as well.

They don't know who he really is. They never know where he'll show up. But the citizens of Gotham City know they have a protector. With an arsenal of amazing weaponry and a repertoire of incredible acrobatics, he is the legend they call Batman. In a toxic brew of big-city corruption, a bone-white, green-haired, eternally grinning clown is born. His name is The Joker.

The greatest super-team ever assembled tries to find out who abducted two of their teammates. With the help of the Incredible Hulk, they learn that their foe is the deadly Leader. But the search is more difficult than imagined, for the Leader has the power of the Gamma Sentinels behind him—and another surprise ally.

There's less than one week to go in the run-up to the nation's next general presidential election - a heated political contest pitting the incumbent president against a popular challenger. But all bets are off when a heinous act of domestic terrorism results in a young boy being held hostage before the eyes of America...with the ultimate demands to result in nothing short of changing the face of history. As a nationwide investigation into the boy's possible whereabouts is quickly mobilized, military brass requests that the mutant Wolverine become involved as well.

Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. They’re the Guardians of the Galaxy, turning a tidy profit as heroes for hire - or they will be if Peter Quill can get his act together. After he botches the most critical part of their latest mission - getting paid - his newly assembled crew is close to ditching him for good. Now he needs a big payday, fast.

The sequel to The Present and the conclusion of the Time's Arrow trilogy narrates the struggle of the X-Men and Spider-Man to stop the time-traveling madman Kang the Conqueror from destroying the multiverse and time as they know it.

The alien shapeshifters called the Chitauri were defeated by the Ultimates in a decisive battle, but suspicious activity leads the Ultimates to believe that not all of the aliens were destroyed in that cataclysmic attack. Stark Industries has developed means of quickly and easily detecting Chitauri DNA, but the federal government refuses to adopt the technology, claiming that if the tech is widely available, the Chitauri will find a way to fool it. Frustrated by the government’s seeming unwillingness to protect its own people, Captain America takes matters into his own hands.

An alien race calling themselves the Kh'thon descend upon the planet, announcing that they are the former occupants and rightful owners of Earth. The evidence they present is startling: Their ships are manned by Homo sapiens, supposedly descendants of human beings who served the Kh'thon on Earth countless millennia ago, and their will is enforced by the Exemplar, humans augmented with a dizzying array of powers, each the match of any one of the X-Men.

Thanos' pursuit of the Infinity Gems has always defined him. But when the Marvel heroes defeat him once again, Thanos' beloved Mistress Death grants him one final chance. Stripped of his powers and his old skin, Thanos embarks on a cosmic walkabout to reassert his power over himself and the Multiverse. Haunted by family - or the semblances of it - the Mad Titan may become something else entirely.

Natasha Romanoff is one of the world's most lethal assassins. Trained from a young age in the arts of death and deception, Natasha was given the title of Black Widow by Ivan Somodorov, her brutal teacher at the Red Room, Moscow's infamous academy for operatives.

The X-Men and Spider-Man must work together to stop the destruction of the multiverse in an adventure through the past, present, and future. Dinosaurs, knights, gunslingers, World War II heroes, old friends turned enemies, and future versions of themselves await them on this incredible adventure.

Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, the Avengers, the X-Men, Watchmen, and more: the companion volume to the PBS documentary series of the same name that tells the story of the superhero in American popular culture. Together again for the first time, here come the greatest...