Astonishing X-Men #4: Kitty Pryde discovers that Piotr Rasputin, a.k.a. "Colossus" is still alive.
The Avengers tend to have fewers wham episodes than most, but this makes them all the more dramatic when they do happen:
Issue 16. Up until Stan Lee wrote this issue, the comic had been about the adventures of some of Marvel's biggest star characters, but in this issue, all the founding Avengers, including Iron Man and Thor, leave the team indefinitely, leaving Captain America in charge of a team of new recruits. Even more shockingly, all the new recruits - Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver - had originally been introduced as villains. By the end of the issue, all the original stars are gone and the book's focus has completely changed. It's an example of how a comic can do a Nothing Is the Same Anymore episode with no deaths.
The classic "Under Siege" story arc from volume 1, issues 273-277. It starts out as a normal day at the Avengers Mansion, only for the Masters of Evil to suddenly attack and promptly curb-stomp the Avengers. They than toss the team out of the Mansion and take it as their new base. It concludes in an epic battle between the Avengers and Masters that concludes with Blackout dead, the Super-Adaptoid loose again, Jarvis in the hospital after being brutalized by Mr. Hyde, and the Mansion wrecked. It really shook things up for the team, making them feel more vulnerable than ever both in and out of universe. The events of the arc haunted the Avengers for some time afterwards, with Captain America and Hercules spending the next several issues in a deep depression because of their perceived failures.
"Ultron Unlimited", in which Ultron officially crossed the Moral Event Horizon by wiping out a country. Yeah he had been evil before than, but that made it explicitly clear that the bastard is completely beyond redemption.
Then in #600, it's revealed that Cap isn't quite dead and that there's a way to save him, leading into the Captain America: Reborn miniseries.
They made another in the next comic line at 2016, whereas at the end of the first volume... Cap is revealed to be a HYDRA double agent by normally proclaiming 'Hail HYDRA'. This renders 75 years of story time about the patriotic Captain America either annulled or going to be very awkward.note Not to worry though, it wasn't the real Cap, but a version of him from another universe.
The Fantastic Four changed its entire tone and "atmosphere" after Galactus made his first appearance. Then on, the stories and art both became "bigger". Instead of helping roust escaped inmates or reel in a bank robber, the Four were confronted by whole unknown races like the Kree and the Inhumans. Where Doom before just attacked the FF, he attacked the entire world after absorbing the power of the Surfer. Weapons got gigantic, monsters and robots were more realistic, and the drawing became more three-dimensional with Kirby Energy Spheres heaped on in abundance.
Journey into Mystery 645 suggests a very different view of all of kid!Loki's adventures up to that point
"E For Extinction": The entire course of the franchise changes. A fleet of Sentinels obliterates the island Genosha, killing everyone except for a handful of survivors. Emma Frost (who survived the destruction) realizes that she has a secondary mutation, and joins the X-Men permanently to get revenge on the culprit. Professor Xavier (controlled by Cassandra Nova) outs himself as a mutant on live television.
"Planet X" is a concentrated series of these. Xorn (who was brought onboard with the team 30 issues prior) is revealed to be Magneto in disguise. He subsequently cripples Xavier again and tries to exterminate everyone in New York. Logan and Jean are trapped on an asteroid hurtling into the sun - and he stabs her in the chest, reawakening the Phoenix. A massive battle ensures in New York, which results in the (supposed) deaths of Magneto and Jean.
The otherNew X-Men had one of its own, when the Purifiers blew up a bus loaded with depowered mutant children in the aftermath of M-Day.
Before the death of Gwen, there was The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) Vol. 1, #90, where George Stacy, her father, dies saving a kid from debris caused by a fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus.
The The Night Gwen Stacy Died storyline might qualify as a Wham Issue IF the cover had not had Tonight, Someone Dies in large letters on it. It was still pretty whammy, though, because no one really thought they would killher. Blame the Comics Code Authority - "If a major character lacking power and unconnected to the antagonist dies in the issue (back then) the death must be listed on the cover." - listing a whole BUNCH of people was an awesome cover for it. It's also universally regarded as the single GREATEST Wham moment in comicdom. Ever.
The Death of Jean DeWolff saw the death of the titular supporting character, as well as Spidey and Daredevil learning each other's identities.
In The Clone Saga, it's death of Aunt May. First issue of the JMS run does another wham with Ezekiel asking a simple question - what if Peter's powers don't come from radioactivity? — and another one when Aunt May finds out he is Spider-Man. Brand New Day does that with the beginning of The Gauntlet arc — Electro destroys the Daily Bugle.
The Amazing Spider-Man (Dan Slott) #698 gives us perhaps one of the biggest whams yet. We learn that somehow, Doctor Octopus has switched bodies with Peter. Keep in mind, that Doc Ock is at near-death and that he's essentially doomed Spidey to an undignified death, while he gets to run rampant with all of Peter's powers, abilities, and memories.
Issue #25, Peter DOES come back, though he's playing smarter than last time.
Original Sin was basically a massive Wham Episode for the whole Marvel Universe; Nick Fury murders the Watcher and takes his place as punishment, Dr. Midas and the Orb return, Ulana is going to give birth to Uatu's son soon, Daredevil learns the truth about his mother, Captain America learns about the mindwipe the Illuminati performed on him, it's revealed that Iron Man was indirectly responsible for Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk, Thor is rendered unworthy of his hammer, Peter Parker wasn't the only one bitten by the radioactive spider, the 1970's Avengers are gathering again for unknown reasons, and Dum Dum Dungan has been Dead All Along, having been replaced with an LMD after the real one died in the Sixties. Yeah.
Rom: Spaceknight had the most shocking twists occur in the 49th and 50th issues. The former had Dire Wraiths kill and impersonate Steve Jackson as well as Brandy's parents, while the latter had the same fate befall Brock Jones/The Torpedo.
The first volume of Runaways ended with Alex revealing himself to be The Mole. Immediately after that, he got himself killed. And immediately after that, all twelve members of the Pride got blown up, taking the series in a completely new direction. The end of the second volume was in some ways even more shocking, as a major character who wasn't evil got Killed Off for Real.
Sgt. Fury lost the love of his life, Pamela Hawley, after he had bought the engagement ring and went through hell to retrieve it during a battle. She died during a London air raid.
Issue 24-25: Optimus Prime seemingly dies after he sacrifices his moral beliefs to win a battle. Megatron's mental state collapses, causing Shockwave and the Predacons to try and overthrow him, a conflict that ends with Megatron missing and Shockwave leading the Decepticons.
Issue 38-39: Fortress Maximus and the Headmasters finally reach Earth, only for Scorponok to kill Prince Galen. Spike is forced to binary-bond with Cerebros and Fort Max and Shockwave is knocked into Earth's orbit, burning up and putting him out of commission for a fair amount of time afterwards.
Issue 50: Starscream manages to contact the Underbase, causing him to go insane with godlike power. What ensues is a massive battle that ends with over half the cast dead or in critical condition and Scorponok in control of the Decepticonsnote As whammy as the issue was, the basis behind the story was anything but. It was merely a "deck-clearing" excercise, meant to get rid of the old cast who no longer had toys on the shelves, leaving the new characters, who still had toys, in charge.
Issue 59-61: Ratchet and Megatron apparently die in a massive explosion. Grimlock, Bumblebee, and Jazz travel to the core of Cybertron and learn of Primus and the origins of the Transformer race. A misfire from Octopunch briefly awakens Primus and triggers a scream that alerts Unicron to Cybertron's location, kicking the Myth Arc into high-gear and sending the Classic Pretenders and Nightbeat on a race to find the Matrix before Unicron arrives.
More recent comics have taken Octopunch's blunder to an extreme level: as both Primus and Unicron are referred to as "multiversal singularities" in Transformers lore, said awakening scream is echoed throughout multiple timelines, retroactively making this a Wham Episode for the entire Transformers multiverse.
Issue 66: Thunderwing gets the Matrix, which has become corrupted and violent, and uses it's power to kill Landmine, forcing Nightbeat to blow both Thunderwing and the Matrix out the airlock. Without the Matrix, the Autobots must find a different way to battle Unicron.
Issue 69: Shockwave, Starscream, and Ravage begin scheming to overthrow Scorponok and fool Mindwipe, Triggerhappy, and the Battlechargers into joining their coup. Galvatron is sent out by Unicron as a harbinger, Grimlock goes AWOL to track down the Nucleon, and Optimus Prime and Nightbeat discover that Ratchet and Megatron survived the Space Bridge explosion, only to be fused together by it's energy.
Issue 72-75: Shockwave launches his coup just as Primus possesses Xaaron and forcibly summons the Autobots and Decepticons to Cybertron to force them into battle with Unicron. An incredible battle ensues, during which numerous castmembers are killed, including Primus himself.
Marvel Comics managed to do this with the very first issue of Thunderbolts. The Reveal is considered one of the best in the industry. In case you're wondering: The Thunderbolts were a team who first showed up in The Incredible Hulk after the whole Onslaught thing (long story short, the Fantastic Four and The Avengers are missing and no one knows how the rest of the superhero community can fill the vacuum), and made various miscellaneous appearances. They got their own book and their public debut by restoring order to the ruined Manhattan, defeat the Wrecking Crew and receive public approval even greater than even the Avengers themselves had after went public. And then we get to see Citizen V, the team leader, without his mask. And, perhaps more significantly, we get to see him with his real mask. The Thunderbolts are the Masters of Evil, the nemeses to the Avengers, led by Baron Zemo. Holy shit.
What really makes it impressive is how Marvel kept it under wraps. There was no idea that there even was a secret to give away; Peter David even had the solicitation rewritten for the team's first appearance in Incredible Hulk to keep it quiet.
They even went so far as to make the early appearances of the team and bulk of the first comic slightly dull and generic, fully intending for The Reveal to make up for the likely poor initial sales.
In an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel uses one of the most infamous events of Spider-Man to pull a massive wham episode. They parallel the Death of Gwen Stacy exactly with the minor detail of switching her out for Mary Jane Watson, the visual is so exact, even down to the way she bends as she falls, that when her head snaps back as Spidey's webline hits her, no reader of the original comic is left with even the slightest doubt that they just killed off Peter's most recognizable love interest, the flame headed Mary Jane (but they didn't).
"The Death of Spider-Man" is, as the title suggests, the biggest wham of the series. Mysterio turned out to be a robot made by the 616 Mysterio, Green Goblin breaks out of the Triskelion, forms the Sinister Six one final time, kills Doctor Octopus when he defects against him, a huge-ass superhuman war occurs, Spider-Man gets shot by the Punisher, fights off the remaining Six members in his own neighborhood while bleeding out, and then finally, Spider-Man and Green Goblin kill each other. Temporarily anyway.
The Ultimatum event was a big WHAM for the entire Ultimate Marvel line. We knew that a huge disaster would prompt a line-wide Retool, but we didn't know how bad it would get. Half the X-Men died. B-list heroes (in this 'verse) Daredevil and Dr. Strange died. Spider-Man... looked like he died. Xavier and Magneto died. Dr. Doomnote 's Body Double died. Wolverine, whose mainstream version is patron saint of From a Single Cell, died. And the Fantastic Four and surviving X-Men disbanded.
It's fairly easy to characterize Chris Claremont's famous run on Uncanny X-Men as a prolonged string of these, as he took the series to heights that defined the franchise and changed the face of the industry:
Issue #131: Colossus is forced to kill Moira McTaggert's mutant son, Proteus, when he escapes from a containment cell.
Issue #131: The Hellfire Club shows up for the first time - and captures nearly the entire roster of X-Men - then announces that Jean Grey (Phoenix) has become the club's new Black Queen, while Wolverine is the last man standing and swears to get revenge.
Issue #134: Mastermind manipulates Jean into becoming the Dark Phoenix, an incredibly powerful entity that blows up the X-Jet with the team inside.
Issue #137: The ending of the "Dark Phoenix Saga". The X-Men are forced to fight a group of Shi'ar Imperials in order to win Jean's freedom, and she ends up sacrificing herself to protect the team and stop the fighting. In the next issue, Cyclops quits the team and Kitty Pryde joins the school.
Issue #167: After foiling the Brood's plan to infect the entire team, the X-Men return home — only to discover that the Brood Queen infected Xavier, who hunches over and turns into one as the team looks on horrified. The team manage to save his consciousness and clone a new body for him - which has the added effect of letting him walk again.
Issue #200: Magneto's trial for crimes against humanity ends with him being found not guilty. He subsequently performs a Heel–Face Turn, and is asked by Xavier (who departs for the Shi'ar homeworld) to become the new headmaster for the Xavier Institute.
Issue #201: Along with introducing Madeline Pryor's son, Cable, for the first time, Scott and Storm duel in the Danger Room to see who will lead the X-Men — and Storm wins, leading Cyclops to leave the team again.
Post-Claremont Uncanny:
Issue #281: Trevor Fitzroy is introduced, and commands his Sentinels to attack the X-Men and Hellions, leading to both Jean Grey and Emma Frost being declared dead by the team.
Issue #303: Colossus' sister (and long-running supporting character), Illyana, dies from the Legacy Virus, and is the first casualty that hits close to home for the team.
Issue #370: Colossus sacrifices himself to synthesize a cure for the Legacy Virus.
X-Men: Legacy vol.2 has one in issue #5 - turns out Up until this point David was manipulated by Ruth's evil brother, allowing him to try kill his sister. Then in issue #6 it seems like David has things under control and future looks bright for him, until he is defeated in his own mind by Evil Charles Xavier, who reveals in future David will destroy all mutants and Ruth is the one who will save them - by killing him. Then comes issue #18, in which Emma Frost makes David fall into despair, allowing Evil Xavier to escape and steal Luca's body. Then comes issue #22 where David loses control and turns into monstrous entity that starts absorbing minds of every mutant on the planet.
Simon purrier's run on X-Force seems to followsuit. Issue #5 reveals Marrow was pregnant and undergoing process that gave her back her powers made her misscarriage. And only pages later it turns out she undergo this process willingly, knowing the risk very well. And in issue #6 it turns out Cable is slowly dying and prolonging his life with cloned bodies, while Meme has been dead all along - Meme characters interact with is really comatose Hope, secretly using her powers to be with her father.
Young Avengers vol.2 has three in a row. First issue #8 ending on Prodigy kissing Hulkling. In next isssue Billy and Teddy break up, Teddy quits the team, and it turns out his therapist is Leah of Hel. Final series of whams comes in issue #10 - Loki was manipulating both Young Avengers and Mother from the very begining, Leah joins forces with Mother and gives her Hulkling. Then comes issue #12 in which turns out Leah isn't real Leah, but Loki's self-loathing given female form.
The X-Men storyline "Fatal Attractions" had Wham Moment after Wham Moment. Including:
X-Force #25 - Cable returns, only for new foe Exodus to beat him senseless!
Uncanny X-Men #304 - Magneto returns and a disillusioned Colossus joins the Acolytes!
X-Men vol. 2 #25 - Magneto rips out Wolverine's adamantium and Xavier mindwipes Magneto!
Wolverine vol. 2 #75 - Wolverine discovers that there's more to his claws than the adamantium!
First of all, House and Powers of X reveals that not only is Moira Mc Taggert still alive, but she's been a mutant the whole time, and her power is to live her life over and over. She's on her tenth and likely final life, and she's getting desperate...
In addition, the same series reveals that the X-Men can now be easily resurrected when they die.
In the first Hellfire Gala, the X-Men terraform Mars, and declare it the capital of the solar system.
In the second, humans learn about mutant resurrection.
In the third, the bad guys hit back hard, and mutantkind is reduced to a bare handful of traumatised survivors, with hundreds of thousands believed dead.
