Steve McNiven

The conclusion of Nick Spencer's Captain America — Secret Empire and its aftermath, collected in the second omnibus of the most politically charged Cap run of the modern era. Secret Empire sees HYDRA Cap seize control of the United States, forcing every Marvel hero to confront what Captain America means when the man inside the suit represents everything the symbol is supposed to oppose. Spencer's conclusion is as controversial as his beginning, but the scale and ambition of the storytelling are undeniable.

Old Man Logan is Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's definitive post-apocalyptic Wolverine story — set fifty years in a future where the villains won, the heroes are dead, and an elderly Logan who has refused to unsheathe his claws since the night he was tricked into killing the X-Men lives as a broken man on a continent carved up between Hulk Gang territory and Red Skull's new America. The story uses the western genre's elegiac mode — the reluctant gunfighter dragged back into violence one last time — to tell the most emotionally resonant Wolverine story since the original Miller miniseries.

Death of Wolverine is Charles Soule and Steve McNiven's four-issue event series killing Logan after the loss of his healing factor — a premise that forced the question of what Wolverine actually is without the regeneration that made him unique.

Warren Ellis's Wolverine work collects his two acclaimed storylines — Not Dead Yet and Dying Time — along with associated material from his run on the character. Ellis brought the same cold, precise approach to Wolverine that had made his Iron Man Extremis arc so effective: stripping away the mythology to find the essential character underneath, then using that distillation to construct high-concept action stories that worked as character studies simultaneously. McTeigue's Not Dead Yet storyline in particular is frequently cited as the best standalone Wolverine arc of the 2000s.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Omnibus Vol. 1 begins the controversial post-One More Day reset, returning Peter Parker to a single, struggling, unlucky status quo while Amazing Spider-Man shifts to rotating creative teams and rapid publication rhythm. It is messy history, but it is also the rebuild of modern Peter.