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Where the major characters first appeared, with the issue, date and creators behind each debut.
Characters
Storm first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1, cover-dated May 1975, by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum — the issue that also introduced Nightcrawler, Colossus and Thunderbird and brought Wolverine, Banshee and Sunfire together as the new X-Men. The regular series resumed with X-Men #94 (August 1975), which began Chris Claremont's sixteen-year run as writer.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
Nova — Richard Rider, the teenager who inherits the power of a dying Nova Corps centurion — first appeared in Nova #1, cover-dated September 1976, created by Marv Wolfman and John Buscema for Marvel. The series was Marvel's deliberate attempt at a new Spider-Man-style teen hero and ran 25 issues to 1979.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
Jean Grey became Phoenix in The X-Men #101, cover-dated October 1976, by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, rising from Jamaica Bay after piloting a shuttle through a solar flare. Jean herself first appeared as Marvel Girl in X-Men #1 (September 1963); #101 is the first appearance of the Phoenix identity and costume. The Dark Phoenix Saga followed in X-Men #129–137 (1980).
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
Kitty Pryde first appeared in The X-Men #129, cover-dated January 1980, by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, as a thirteen-year-old from Deerfield, Illinois recruited by Professor X. The same issue introduced Emma Frost (the White Queen) and Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club and began the Dark Phoenix Saga, which makes it one of the most important issues of the Claremont–Byrne run.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
She-Hulk first appeared in The Savage She-Hulk #1, cover-dated February 1980, written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Buscema — one of the last characters Lee created for Marvel. Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner's cousin, receives a transfusion of his blood after a shooting. Marvel created the character partly to secure the trademark before a television spin-off of The Incredible Hulk could.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, cover-dated May 1984, self-published by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as Mirage Studios in Dover, New Hampshire. The first printing was a black-and-white, magazine-sized comic of about 3,000 copies. Later printings from 1984 and 1985 look similar but are clearly marked, and only the first printing carries the high value.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
John Constantine's first full appearance is The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37, cover-dated June 1985, by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette and John Totleben, who modelled his look on the musician Sting. He can be glimpsed in background cameos in Saga of the Swamp Thing #25 (June 1984). Constantine's own series, Hellblazer, began in January 1988 and ran 300 issues.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
Deadpool first appeared in The New Mutants #98, cover-dated February 1991, created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, as a mercenary hired to kill Cable. The same issue introduced Gideon and Domino (revealed later to be the impostor Copycat). It is the most valuable comic of the early 1990s and the standard example of a Modern Age key.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
Harley Quinn's first comic-book appearance is The Batman Adventures #12, cover-dated September 1993, by Kelley Puckett, Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett, in the tie-in series to Batman: The Animated Series. She was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for the television episode “Joker's Favor”, first broadcast in September 1992, a year before she reached print.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
Characters
Riri Williams' first full appearance is Invincible Iron Man #9, cover-dated May 2016, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato, after a cameo in Invincible Iron Man #7 (March 2016). The fifteen-year-old MIT student who builds her own armour took the name Ironheart in the relaunched Invincible Iron Man #1, released in November 2016.
Updated Sep 14, 2026