The Biggest Comics Coming in 2025: Marvel, DC, Collectors Editions, and More

Any reader of Den of Geek knows that 2025 sees the return of the Fantastic Four and Superman on the big screen, with Daredevil and Spider-Man swinging onto the small screen. But these big-name projects only scratch the surface of all the good things happening in the world of superheroes’ original home: comic books.

For those who prefer their capes and tights in four colors instead of live action, here are our recommendations for the most exciting stories coming over the next year.

DC Absolute

After many half-measures and misfires, DC has finally made its own version of the Ultimate Universe, and it’s even better than we expected. Introduced in last year’s Absolute Power, the Absolute Universe takes place in a world suffused by Darkseid’s energy, a bleaker world that calls for darker heroes.

While that description might conjure the worst of edgelord comics from the 2000s, the three Absolute books thus far manage to retain the hope and optimism of the source characters. Batman may now be a hulking guy who grew up in the slums of Gotham City, Superman may now be an activist mistrusted by American soldiers such as Lois Lane, and Wonder Woman may be a witch raised by Circe, but they all still fight for truth and justice.

DC hopes to build on this solid foundation by adding more characters and taking bigger swings with the line. On March 19, Absolute Flash races onto shelves, from Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. Absolute Flash features Wally West as the one and only fastest man alive, without a family or other Flashes and without even a Speed Force. One week later, Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez make Absolute Martian Manhunter into one of the line’s strangest heroes, introducing John Jones (not a misspelling) as an FBI agent afflicted with a virus called “the Martian.” Finally, Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay introduce the line’s first team book on April 2 with Absolute Green Lantern, featuring Jo Mullein, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner.

We Are Yesterday

As much fun as the Absolute comics have been, the mainline DC universe has been no slouch either, thanks to the great All In initiative. The company hopes to keep that rolling with the recently announced We Are Yesterday crossover, spearheaded by the legendary Mark Waid. We Are Yesterday sees Superman, Batman, and the Justice League stymied by Gorilla Grodd, who has somehow gained knowledge of the future.

Waid has been great for decades, but he’s really hit a new stride at DC recently, combining political commentary with old-school superheroics in Absolute Power, infusing new fun into Shazam! and Batman and Robin, and finally giving us a mainline Justice League Unlimited comic. We Are Yesterday promises to continue that vein, which makes it far more compelling than the standard summer crossover. The festivities begin this June’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #38 by Waid and Dan Mora, and will continue into Justice League Unlimited.

The Return of Vertigo

Even six years later, it’s hard to understand why DC thought it wise to shutter Vertigo Comics, the imprint launched in 1993 that gave us some of the best Mature Readers comics of all time, masterpieces such as Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman, Rachel Pollack’s continuation of Grant Morrison‘s Doom Patrol, Garth Ennis and Peter Milligan runs on Hellblazer, and more. DC’s Vertigo-like Black Label imprint has certainly had some compelling entries, but there’s something special about that Vertigo name.

So it’s nice to see DC reinstating the imprint and moving the currently-publishing horror series The Nice House By The Sea by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno under the Vertigo banner. More Vertigo announcements are coming, but editor Chris Conroy has also assured readers that Black Label will stick around, mostly for Mature Readers takes on established heroes, such as Batman: Damned and Peacemaker Tries Hard.

Tom King on Wonder Woman and Black Canary: The Best of the Best

Tom King remains one of the most divisive writers in comics, especially when he’s working on mainline ongoing books. While everyone (mostly) agrees that his limited series Vision and Mister Miracle are brilliant, people still gripe about his Batman ongoing and the event miniseries Heroes in Crisis. Yet, the Wonder Woman ongoing that King began in 2023 has been largely well received, even as it heads into a new year. King and artist Daniel Sampere’s latest storyline, “The Battle of Wonder,” kicked off with Wonder Woman #17 on January 22, in which Diana and the Wonder Girls of the past and present face off against big bad the Sovereign, the secret King of America.

While Wonder Woman continues, Black Canary: Best of the Best reaches its conclusion with issue #6 coming in April. In Best of the Best, King and artist Ryan Sook throw Dinah Lance into a brutal tournament hosted by Lady Shiva, as Black Canary seeks a cure for a disease killing her mother, the original Black Canary. Like most of King’s series, Best of the Best features plenty of philosophical inquiry and deep character work, but it’s augmented by powerful visuals from Sook.

The New Gods

For some reason, writer Ram V and artist Evan Cagle’s relaunch of the New Gods hasn’t gotten the same attention as others on this list. And that’s a shame, because New Gods is one of the best superhero books on shelves right now, a worthy addition to the Fourth World saga originally created by Jack Kirby.

New Gods picks up after the death of Darkseid, which threw the universe into chaos. While Highfather tries to keep his people calm, Orion readies for action by recovering the two people who most want to leave behind New Genesis and Apokolips, new parents Mr. Miracle and Big Barda. Ram V captures the mind-bending majesty that made the Kirby stories so indelible while retaining a human element that makes them surprisingly relatable.

Zatanna

Deticxe teg! With her old-school showstopper costume and her backwards-spoken spells, Zatanna has long been a fan favorite. Jamal Campbell, whose dynamic artwork recently graced the Green Lantern book Far Sector and Superman, hopes to raise the Mistress of Magic’s stakes even further as illustrator and writer of a new limited series.

Releasing in February, Zatanna is a six-issue series that teams the titular magician with her old Shadowpact pal Blue Devil and the mystical Madame Xanadu for a battle against new adversary the Lady White. Of course, the story will also bring new revelations about Zatanna’s father Zatara and her magical mother Sindella, making the series a family affair.

Batman: Hush 2

Normally, a decades-late sequel to a favorite series would raise more than a few eyebrows. But Jeph Loeb is doing such great work on the improbable Batman: The Last Halloween that we can’t help but be optimistic about Batman: Hush 2, which continues the legendary storyline that ran in Batman from 2002-2003.

Hush 2 begins in Batman #158 this March when Loeb and Jim Lee, superstar artist of the original story, take over from outgoing creative team Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez. At this point, we don’t know anything about the plot, besides the fact that it will revolve around Hush, the alter ego of Bruce Wayne’s childhood pal Tommy Eliot. One would expect Loeb and Lee to repeat the original series’ structure of pitting Batman against a series of rogues and, given that Loeb recently told Den of Geek that he thinks King wrote the only good Penguin story, maybe Oswald Cobblepot will be among them.

Superman Unlimited

As much as we’re trying to celebrate superhero comics for themselves here, there’s no question that the upcoming James Gunn film will have people clamoring for more Superman, and DC wants to deliver. The company’s Summer of Superman publishing initiative features several compelling offerings, none more so than writer Dan Slott’s take on the Man of Steel in Superman Unlimited.

If the name “Dan Slott” doesn’t ring a bell, then go back to comic book message boards around 2012, when he wrote a story about Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus mind-swapping, and the former dying in the latter’s body. That controversial decision led to the Superior Spider-Man, one of the greatest Spidey tales of all time. We don’t yet know what Slott and artist Rafael Albuquerque plan to do for Superman Unlimited, but if it’s half as audacious and rewarding as the writer’s work for the Marvelous Competition, we’ll love it.

DC’s Finest Re-Releases

The comic book industry has mostly shot itself in the foot while trying to keep up with readership changes, but DC deserves credit for its excellent DC’s Finest initiative. Starting in 2024, the company began producing low-priced trade paperbacks in a form factor familiar to the average reader and available in bookstores and major retailers. Even better, the releases reached beyond the obvious choices for some wonderful deep pulls, including Jimmy Olsen Turtle Man stories from the 1960s and Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes tales.

DC will continue the trend in 2025 with an exciting and surprising set of offerings. March 2025 will see the release of The Origin of Plastic Man, reprinting Golden Age issues of Police Comics by Jack Cole; John Ostrander’s legendary Suicide Squad run; and most importantly The Gorilla World reprints Silver Age sci-fi stories, including lots of tales of super-smart monkeys. And if you don’t like super-smart monkeys, you don’t like comics.

DC’s Omnibus Collections

While the DC’s Finest reissues seek to engage casual readers, the company will still serve its most passionate readers with its Omnibus Collections. Omnibuses reprint some of the most influential and important runs in the publisher’s history, giving them the high-end treatment they deserve.

In 2025, Keith Giffen’s thrilling Five Years Later run on Legion of Super-Heroes will get the Omnibus treatment, a dystopian approach to the teens of the future that somehow retains the original characters’ optimism. Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka omnibus collects the writer’s 2000s run, which brought Princess Diana into the modern world and put her in the middle of a political thriller. The DC Universe by Steve Ditko omnibus looks at the work the Spider-Man and Doctor Strange co-creator did for the Distinguish Competition, including early stories of the Creeper and Shade, the Changing Man. Finally, for those who like more modern comics, there’s the Superman by Phillip Kennedy Johnson omnibus, which includes the gladiator-inspired War World arc.

One World Under Doom

Doctor Doom has long been the best villain in not just Marvel Comics, but all of fiction, and has therefore been at the center of many major events, including 2015’s reality-defining Secret Wars. That storyline saw Doom becoming a god and recreating the world in his image, but he seeks to outdo himself in One World Under Doom, this year’s major Marvel event. Instead of creating a new world, Doom simply takes the Earth as it exists, using his power as the new Sorcerer Supreme to declare himself ultimate ruler.

In the same way that Doom’s home country Latveria loves him despite his despotic rule, the rest of the world welcomes their new conquerer. That won’t stop Marvel’s heroes from standing against Doom, as we’ll see in this summer’s offerings. The lead-up has already begun, but the Earth falls in One World Under Doom #1 by Ryan North and R.B. Silva, which is out Feb. 12.

The Ultimate Universe

Doom’s greatest rival is Reed Richards, no matter which universe they’re in. Over the past year, we’ve seen what Richards can do when an evil version from the original Ultimate Universe became the Maker and started his own reality, the new Ultimate Universe. Spearheaded by Jonathan Hickman, the new Ultimate Universe has been a runaway success for Marvel, with compelling new takes on Spider-Man, the X-Men, Black Panther, and the Avengers. The line continues to grow, recently introducing new takes on Nick Fury and Wolverine.

Thus far, all of the Ultimate books have adhered to an overall narrative about the heroes preparing for the return of the Maker after he’s been locked away within his dome headquarters called the City, leaving the world in the control of generals such as the Kingpin, the Enlightened Hulk, and brothers Ra and Khonshu. Eventually, these storylines will lead to the Ultimate Incursion event, which will see the Maker freed from the City and ready to attack the mainline Earth-616. Until then, we’re still loving Hickman and co.’s unique takes on familiar characters.

Amazing Spider-Man #1

It’s not controversial to say that the Amazing Spider-Man has been a controversial title as of late, even if it’s pretty far from the long-running series’ lowest points (you whipper snappers don’t know about the Clone Saga!). Still, the venerable ongoing would benefit from a refresh and that’s exactly what we’re getting this April with Amazing Spider-Man #1 by veteran writer Joe Kelly and artists Pepe Larraz and John Romita Jr.

For those who don’t know, Kelly was the writer most responsible for transforming Deadpool from a generic Deathstroke knockoff to the Merc With a Mouth known today and wrote some of the most transformative Superman comics of the 2000s. Kelly’s Amazing Spider-Man run will get back to basics, complete with Pete out of work and dealing with classic villain the Rhino. But it also features a newly-reformed Norman Osborn, who seeks redemption after being purged of the Goblin identity. That combination of the familiar and the new shows that Amazing Spider-Man is back on the right track for 2025.

All-New Venom

We all know Venom, the alien symbiote who overcame rejection from Peter Parker to bond with Eddie Brock. Things have been rough for the Lethal Protector ever since 2020’s King in Black and 2024’s Venom War, in which the madness of the symbiotes drove a wedge between Eddie and his adult son Dylan.

That schism sets up All-New Venom from Al Ewing and Carlos Gómez. True to its name, All-New Venom stars a fun-loving, light-hearted version of the familiar alien hero, paired to a mysterious new host. While most New Yorkers are thrilled to get a friendly neighborhood version of Venom, Dylan Brock will stop at nothing to find out who has bonded with Venom or how he can get his alien back.

X-Manhunt

The Krakoa Era changed everything for Marvel’s Merry Mutants. But with the nation’s fall long in their past, the X-Men are back on familiar ground, being hated and feared by a world they’re sworn to protect. That mission comes under new pressure in X-Manhunt, launching this March. Building off of the Raid on Graymalkin storyline, which saw the X-Men reunite after the fallout of Krakoa, X-Manhunt sees the team hunted by Corina Ellis, the Warden of a prison designed to hold mutants.

X-Manhunt begins with Uncanny X-Men #11 by Gail Simone and Javier Garrón, with Professor X escaping the Warden’s grasp, and continues across all of the X-Books, including X-Men, NYX, Storm, X-Factor, and X-Force. It all builds to X-Manhunt Omega #1 written by Murewa Ayodele and Simone and penciled by Gleb Melnikov.

Fantastic Four: Fanfare

Fantastic Four has long been the world’s greatest comic magazine, the book that kicked off the Marvel Age of comics. But with a new MCU movie about the FF coming out, it makes sense for Marvel to release a new miniseries about the First Family.

Rather than tell a coherent story, Fantastic Four: Fanfare celebrates the amazing diversity in the team’s adventures with standalone tales by legendary creators. The first issue alone features work by Mark Waid, Excalibur and X-Men great Alan Davis, and Miles Morales co-creator Sara Pichelli. The celebration begins on May 5, leading to the release of the movie in July.

Godzilla Vs. Marvel

After stomping the heroes of the DC Universe last year, the King of the Monsters comes back to Marvel for the six-issue Godzilla Vs. Marvel series. Where Justice League: Godzilla vs. Kong told a single coherent story, Godzilla vs. Marvel takes an anthology approach, pitting Godzilla, Mothra, and others against Marvel characters in different time periods.

The fun begins on March 19 with Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four, written by Ryan North and drawn by John Romita Jr. Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four tells an appropriately gonzo tale in which King Ghidorah becomes the newest Herald of Galactus, forcing the FF and Godzilla team up to protect the planet they both love. Later entries will see Spider-Man, Hulk, and other stalwarts get in on the monster mash.

Star Wars

While the mainline Disney output has been uneven in quality, Marvel’s Star Wars comics have been pretty solid, fleshing out the world with stories about familiar characters and introducing new heroes such as Doctor Aphra. Marvel’s ready to get back to fundamentals this May with the appropriately-titled Star Wars #1.

Written by Alex Segura and drawn by Phil Noto, Star Wars #1 takes place after Return of the Jedi, truly jumping into uncharted territory (at least in the current canon) for central trio—Luke, Leia, and Han. This is the story many fans of the classic Legends timeline have been waiting for since Disney bought the franchise in 2012.

Marvel Premier Collection

Like DC, Marvel has honored its past with the Marvel Premier Collection, high-quality reissues of important storylines. Given the excitement surrounding the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again, it’s no surprise that Marvel will re-release the storyline of the same name, written and drawn by Frank Miller. Likewise, the Fantastic Four get the spotlight with Solve Everything, the first major arc by Jonathan Hickman, one of the all-time best runs in the series’ history.

However, two other important storylines getting the Marvel Premier treatment also deserve attention. A Nation Under Our Feet reprints the first issues of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s groundbreaking work on Black Panther. A MacArthur Genius and respected cultural commentator, Coates brings a political immediacy to the world of Wakanda. Most fans already know the gist of the Winter Soldier’s origin, but the Premier release Captain America: Winter Soldier gives readers a chance to read Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting’s spy thriller for the first time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Between The Last Ronin and the launch of IDW’s ongoing by Jason Aaron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been enjoying a comic book rebirth lately. That’s sure to continue in 2025, with Aaron’s book getting some top-level artists to help him tell iconic Turtles tales.

Penciller Juan Ferreyra joins Aaron with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6, which reunites the brothers to deal with a familiar threat, the re-energized Foot Clan. The series promises to bring the heroes back to their roots, retaining the grittiness of the original black and white comics that introduced the Turtles while bringing the four-color fun that made them super-hits.

Star Trek: Lore War

It’s a crime that every Trekkie knows about the dismal Section 31 movie and very few have been reading the Star Trek comics by IDW. Under the guidance of creators such as Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Christopher Cantwell, and Davide Tinto, IDW’s Star Trek line has been telling some of the franchise’s best stories of late, remixing the line-ups to give us a battle against the cloned Klingon god Khaless and Harry Kim on a secret mission.

IDW will keep the big events going in 2025 with Lore War. As its title suggests, Lore War involves Data’s duplicitous brother, who had been making trouble with an underground team led by Worf. Thus far, Worf has been able to keep Lore under control, but things get out of hand this year, as he puts his positronic brain to nefarious ends in a storyline that runs across Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant.

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