''Marvel Team-Up'' is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

series published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. The series featured two or more Marvel

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

in one story. The series was originally published from March 1972 through February 1985, and featured

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

as the lead "

team-up In superhero comic books, a team-up is a fictional crossover where two or more superheroes or superhero teams who usually do not appear together work together on a shared goal. Overview The first team-up between characters published in different ...

" character in all but ten of its 150 issues, and in six of its seven ''Annual''s. It was the first major ongoing spin-off series for Spider-Man, being preceded only by the short-lived ''

The Spectacular Spider-Man ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics. Following the success of Spider-Man's original series, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Marvel felt the character could support ...

'' magazine. Of the issues that did not star Spider-Man, the

Human Torch The Human Torch (Jonathan Lowell Spencer "Johnny" Storm) is a fictional superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. He is writer Stan Lee's and ar ...

headlines six issues (#18, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35); the

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...

, four (#97, 104, 105, and ''Annual'' #3); and

Aunt May Maybelle "May" Parker-Jameson (née Reilly), commonly known as Aunt May, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. Making her first full appeara ...

, one (#137). Publication of most of the issues starring the Human Torch coincided with that of ''Giant-Size Spider-Man'', an alternate Spider-Man "team-up"-themed series by the regular ''Marvel Team-Up'' creative team. When cancelled with #150 in 1985, the title was replaced by ''

Web of Spider-Man ''Web of Spider-Man'' is the name of two different monthly comic book series starring Spider-Man that have been published by Marvel Comics since 1985, the first volume of which ran for 129 issues between 1985 and 1995, and the second of which ran ...

''. The second series was published for 11 issues from September 1997 through July 1998 and originally featured Spider-Man;

Namor the Sub-Mariner Namor McKenzie (), also known as the Sub-Mariner, is a Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Bill Everett for comic book packager Funnies Inc., the character first appea ...

was the featured character starting with #8. From 1995 to 1997, a quarterly series titled ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' fulfilled much the same purpose as the original title. The third ''Marvel Team-Up'' series, written by

Robert Kirkman Robert Kirkman (; born November 30, 1978)Löchel, Ingo"The Walking Dead: Die Comic-Serie – Robert Kirkman" Zauberspiegel. Retrieved February 17, 2013. is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for co-creat ...

, began publication in January 2005 and frequently featured Spider-Man. This volume often reintroduced lesser-known Marvel characters that had fallen into obscurity, in addition to featuring a crossover with Kirkman's

Image Universe The Image Universe (IU) is a fictional universe in which some of the stories published by Image Comics take place. It was introduced in the early years of the publisher, shared by the various creators who formed the Image partnership. The indepen ...

series ''

Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 theatrical film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy/martial arts TV movie starring Billy Za ...

'', which in 2024 would be adapted (albeit with a Spider-Man analogue in place of Spider-Man due to legal restrictions) to the television series adaptation's second season. The spirit of ''Marvel Team-Up'' was carried on by ''

Avenging Spider-Man ''Avenging Spider-Man'' is the title of an American comic book series that was published monthly by Marvel Comics from 2012 to 2013, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. The events in the story take place in the primary ...

'' and later by '' Superior Spider-Man Team-Up''.

Publication history

Comics journalist Jonathan Miller summarized ''Marvel Team-Up'' in a retrospective article: The series debuted with a March 1972

cover-dated The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...

issue featuring Spider-Man and the Human Torch in a story by writer

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...

and artist

Ross Andru Ross Andru (; born Rostislav Androuchkevitch, June 15, 1927 – November 9, 1993) Part 1: Animation: We Leave the Army", p. 21. In 1948, Andru's first professional work as a comic strip illustrator was drawing layouts for the ''Tarzan (comics), T ...

. Spider-Man and the Human Torch were originally the permanent headliners on the series, but the creators found this format limiting, and after just three issues the Human Torch was dropped in favor of a rotating co-star slot. The main artists on the series for the first several years were Andru,

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...

Sal Buscema Sal Buscema ( ; born Silvio Buscema, , on January 26, 1936) is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he had a ten-year run as artist of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk'' and an eight-year run as art ...

, and

Jim Mooney James Noel Mooney (August 13, 1919 – March 30, 2008) was an Americans, American comics artist best known for his long tenure at DC Comics and as the signature artist of Supergirl, as well as a Marvel Comics inker and Spider-Man artist, both ...

. In 1974, Marvel started publishing ''Giant-Size Spider-Man'', which was a quarterly 68-page comic that lasted for six issues which complemented ''Marvel Team-Up''. The series featured team-ups, with each issue featuring a new story with a back-up reprint, except the last issue, which only featured a reprint. Due to the limitations of the typically single-issue team-up stories, the supporting cast of Spider-Man's other titles rarely appeared in ''Marvel Team-Up''. The series often featured non-superhero characters in the co-star slot. A multi-issue time travel story arc began in issue #41 with Spider-Man and the

Scarlet Witch The Scarlet Witch is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #4 in March 1964, in the Silver Age of Comic Boo ...

traveling to the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...

in 1692, and pushed the barriers of continuity by having Spider-Man team up with two characters who had no established connection to the mainstream

Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Superhero teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardia ...

Killraven Killraven (Jonathan Raven) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as a freedom fighter in several post-apocalyptic alternate futures. Created by co-plotters Roy Thomas and Neal A ...

and

Deathlok Deathlok (also referred to as Deathlok the Demolisher) is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first Deathlok, Luther Manning, appeared in '' Astonishing Tales'' #25 (Aug. 1974 ...

. Though the series did often team Spider-Man with other highly popular characters, it regularly gave the co-star slot to obscure characters that the average reader was unlikely to even recognize, particularly during writer

J. M. DeMatteis John Marc DeMatteis (; born December 15, 1953) is an American writer of comic books, television and novels. Biography Early career J. M. DeMatteis's earliest aspirations were to be a rock musician and comic book artist. He began playing in ban ...

's run. DeMatteis recounted, "I was always attracted to the more obscure characters, mainly because they were ripe for exploration. You could crack them open and really develop them. … I just looked at these fringe characters as more inviting than the mainstream, more established characters – who all had their set-in-stone continuity. I wanted room to play and those characters gave me all the room I wanted. And let's face it, our lead character was as mainstream as you can get, so the obscure ones made for a nice contrast." With issue #47, the series had a crossover with ''

Marvel Two-in-One ''Marvel Two-in-One'' is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring Fantastic Four member the Thing in a different team-up each issue. Publication history Original series The concept of teaming the Thing with a differen ...

'' #17, which featured the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

Jean DeWolff Jean DeWolff is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema, the character first appeared in ''Marvel Team-Up'' #48 (August 1976). Captain Jean DeWolff is a police ...

was introduced as a supporting character in the Spider-Man/Iron Man story in issue #48. John Byrne, who would later become the artist on ''The

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the List of X-Men comics, X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of super ...

'', first drew the characters in ''Marvel Team-Up'' #53. Byrne and his ''Uncanny X-Men'' collaborator, writer

Chris Claremont Christopher S. Claremont (; born November 25, 1950) is an English-born American comic book writer and novelist. Claremont is best known for his 16-year stint on ''Uncanny X-Men'' from 1975 to 1991, far longer than that of any other writer,Clarem ...

worked together on several issues of ''Marvel Team-Up''.

Captain Britain Captain Britain is a title used by various superheroes in comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Excalibur. The moniker was first used in publication by Brian Braddock in ''Captain Britain'' #1 by writer Chris Cl ...

, a character created for

Marvel UK Marvel UK was an imprint (trade name), imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint United States of America, US-produced stories for the United Kingdom, British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British cr ...

, made his first appearance in an American comic book in ''Marvel Team-Up'' #65 (January 1978).

Karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

, a character that later joined the

New Mutants The New Mutants are a group of fictional mutant superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, generally in association with the X-Men. Originally depicted as the teenaged junior class at the Xavier Institute, sub ...

, was created by Claremont and artist

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...

in #100's lead story. A photo cover by Eliot R. Brown was used for the Spider-Man/Captain America team-up in issue #128. Though published for well over a decade, the series format never truly caught on with readers. Upon taking a serious look at sales figures for ''Marvel Team-Up'', Marvel's editorial staff found that sales dramatically rose or fell with each issue depending solely on the popularity of that issue's co-star. Taking this into consideration, Marvel editor-in-chief

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor, and publisher in the comics industry. Beginning his career writing for DC Comics at the age of 14, he had a successful but controversial run as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comic ...

concluded that it would make more sense to have another Spider-Man solo series with guest stars appearing when the storyline and/or promotional needs called for it, rather than a team-up series which unnaturally forced guest-stars upon the story. The series ended with issue #150 (February 1985), to be replaced by ''

''. A Hulk and the Human Torch story written by

Jack C. Harris Jack C. Harris (born August 30, 1947) is an Americans, American comic book writer and editor known mainly for his work in the 1970s and 1980s at DC Comics. Biography Early life and career Jack C. Harris attended the University of the Arts (Ph ...

and drawn by

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko. Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular ac ...

in the 1980s that was intended for ''Marvel Team-Up'' was published by Marvel as ''Incredible Hulk and the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault'' #1 in August 2011. ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' was a brief attempt to revive the concept of the series and was soon followed by ''Marvel Team-Up'' vol. 2 which was published from September 1997 to July 1998. The third ''Marvel Team-Up'' series launched in January 2005 and ran for 25 issues which starred a variety of characters. The fourth series began with a June 2019 cover date and contains legacy numbering.

''Marvel Team-Up'' (1972–1985)

''Annuals'' (1976–1984)

''Spider-Man Team-Up'' (1995–1997)

''Marvel Team-Up'' vol. 2 (1997–1998)

''Marvel Team-Up'' vol. 3 (2005–2006)

''Marvel Team-Up'' vol. 4 (2019)

Contributors

Vol. 1 (1972–1985)

Writers

Pencilers

Collected editions

Volume 1

* Marvel Team-Up Omnibus ** Vol. 1 collects #1-30, plus ''Daredevil'' #103, ''Giant-Size Super-heroes'' #1, ''Giant-Size Spider-Man'' #1-2 * ''

Marvel Masterworks ''Marvel Masterworks'' is an American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics, with the main goal of republishing classic ''Marvel Comics'' storylines in a hardcover, premium edition, often with ...

: Marvel Team-Up'' ** Vol. 1 collects issue #1-11, 248 pages, December 2010, ** Vol. 2 collects issue #12-22, 256 pages, June 2012, ** Vol. 3 collects issue #23-30, ''Giant-Size Spider-Man'' #1-3, 272 pages, May 2018, ** Vol. 4 collects issue #31-40, ''Giant-Size Spider-Man'' #4-5, ''Marvel Comics Calendar 1975'', 296 pages, January 2019, ** Vol. 5 collects issue #41-52, 304 pages, August 2020, ** Vol. 6 collects issue #53-64, Annual #1, 320 pages, August 2021, ** Vol. 7 collects issue #65-77, 304 pages, December 2023 ** Vol. 8 collects issue #78-90, Annual#2, 296 pages, December 2024. #79 (Red Sonja issue) to be confirmed if included * ''Essential Marvel Team-Up'' ** Vol. 1 collects issue #1-24, 496 pages, April 2002, ** Vol. 2 collects #25-51, 528 pages, August 2006, ** Vol. 3 collects #52-73, #75, and ''Annual'' #1, 480 pages, September 2009, ** Vol. 4 collects #76-78, 80–98, and ''Annual'' #2-3, 480 pages, February 2013, * ''Spider-Man/Iron Man: Marvel Team-Up'' includes ''Marvel Team-Up'' #9-11, #48-51, #72, #110 and #145, 209 Pages, October 2018 * ''Spider-Man: Marvel Team-Up by Claremont & Byrne'' includes ''Marvel Team-Up'' #59-70, 75, 240 pages, December 2011, * ''Fantastic Four/Spider-Man Classic'' includes ''Marvel Team-Up'' #100 and #132-133, 152 pages, April 2005, * ''Essential Defenders'' ** Vol. 5 includes ''Marvel Team-Up'' #101, 111 and 116, 448 pages, August 2010, ** Vol. 6 includes ''Marvel Team-Up'' #119, 528 pages, October 2011, * ''Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga'' ** Volume 1 includes ''Marvel Team-Up'' #141-145, ''Annual'' #7, 488 pages, January 2012, ** Volume 2 includes ''Marvel Team-Up'' #146-150, 504 pages, May 2015,

''Spider-Man Team-Up''

* ''Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic'' Vol. 5 includes ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' #1, 424 pages, April 2010, * ''Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic'' ** Volume 3 includes ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' #2, 432 pages, January 2012, ** Volume 4 includes ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' #3, 464 pages, April 2012, ** Volume 5 includes ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' #4, 464 pages, July 2012, ** Volume 6 includes ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' #5, 448 pages, November 2012, * ''Thunderbolts Classic'' Vol. 1 includes ''Spider-Man Team-Up'' #7, 296 pages, April 2011,

Volume 3

Volume 4

* ''Ms. Marvel Team-Up'' collects ''Marvel Team-Up'' vol. 4 #1-6, November 2019,

Adaptation

The storyline "Spider-Man and Invincible" from ''Marvel Team-Up'' #14 was loosely adapted to "

I Thought You Were Stronger "I Thought You Were Stronger" is the seventeenth episode of the American adult animated Superhero fiction, superhero series ''Invincible (TV series), Invincible'', produced by Skybound Entertainment. It serves as the eighth and final episode of the ...

", the second season finale of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

television series adaptation of ''Invincible'', which aired April 4, 2024. Due to Amazon and

not having the rights to adapt any

characters from the issue to the adaptation,

consulted with Amazon's legal department to "figure out a way to keep that moment somewhat intact from the comics", ultimately creating the legally distinct

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

characters "Agent Spider" and "Prof Ock" to replace Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, with the former to be voiced by "an actor who had done Spider-Man before". On recommendation of supervising director Dan Duncan,

Josh Keaton Joshua Luis Wiener (born February 8, 1979), known professionally as Josh Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his many voice roles, including Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane in '' Voltron: Legendary Defender'', Spider-Man in various media ...

was cast to voice the parody character, after previously voicing Spider-Man in the animated series ''

'', the video games '' Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions'', '' Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' and '' Spider-Man: Edge of Time'', and the film '' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'' (with the character's dialogue in the episode alluding to the latter film franchise's events).

References

External links

''Marvel Team-Up''
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators {{Invincible 1972 comics debuts 1985 comics endings 1997 comics debuts 1998 comics endings 2005 comics debuts 2006 comics endings 2019 comics debuts Comics by Chris Claremont Comics by Gerry Conway Comics by J. M. DeMatteis Comics by Eve Ewing Comics by Len Wein Comics by Louise Simonson Comics by Roy Thomas Invincible (comics) Marvel Comics titles Spider-Man titles Team-up comics