"Revennnnnge!"

In comics tales which have focused on the theme of revenge, story titles have usually been pretty straightforward in their wording in order to quickly generate anticipation and interest on the part of the buyer. Not surprisingly, cover captions were plentiful in advertising what was waiting inside, with wording such as "So-and-so's Revenge!" or "Revenge of the So-and-so!"; but while many splash pages followed suit in fashioning a phrase for the story's title that included the word "revenge," Marvel only sparingly (aside from thriller mystery stories or westerns of the late 1950s) used the single word in its story titles, perhaps to avoid the appearance of its line of books indulging in revenge stories too often and thus desensitizing the word as a story hook.

In some of the examples you're about to see, you may find yourself asking if the word was wisely applied by the story's writer; in others, you'll see it applied from a villain's perspective, a curious distinction given the fact that villains are often shown engaging in revenge, which all but renders a banner story title which draws attention to a villain's revenge superfluous. At any rate, what follows is a somewhat interesting collection of instances, offering snapshots of tales that span several decades of Marvel reading.

If I had a preference here (and, by extension, a recommendation), it would be Marc Guggenheim's story arc that featured Wolverine's pursuit of Nitro, the perpetrator of the disaster at Stamford, CT which caused the deaths of hundreds of people and spurred passage of the Superhuman Registration Act--where the word "revenge" goes beyond Wolverine's motives for his hunt and follows a trail of accountability that leads to, of all people, the C.E.O. of Damage Control, Inc. By 2006, the first page of an issue no longer merged story credits and title with the art of a dramatic splash page, instead taking the form of a synopsis that brought the reader up to date with the current issue; and so the title "Revenge" is reduced to a simple, understated word that dispenses with the embellishment of a letterer and signifies an installment title, nothing more. Yet the word, leading from here to "Justice," "Vengeance," and "Payback" all under the arc's "Vendetta" umbrella, covers a great deal of ground for this entire story, its characters, and especially for Wolverine.

Over in Amazing Spider-Girl, Rosetta, the sister of Ladyhawk, is out for revenge against the Hobgoblin for hospitalizing her sibling and putting her in a wheelchair, perhaps for the rest of her life.

The Masters of Evil know all about hospitals--or, rather, sending their victims to a hospital. In this case, they launch an all-out attack against the Avengers by invading their mansion and critically injuring Hercules, and things go downhill for the Assemblers from there. Which helps to explain a later issue cover that practically shows them becoming a team of Revengers.

If you were a fan of the "New Universe" line of books (and who wasn't? Whoa, look at all the hands going up...), we find "Scuzz" Cuzinski, one of the group of paranormals featured in the DP7 title, looking to take out his mad-on against a biker gang who worked him over pretty good just because they didn't like him looking at their 'cycles parked outside a local watering hole. In that dust-up, he was only able to inflict one or two injuries on his attackers before their numbers overwhelmed him--but in Round Two, the gloves (and, thanks to his corrosive power, his clothes) are off!

In Jim Starlin's Dreadstar series from the '80s, the cybernetic telepath, Willow, abused as a child by her father, is in the process of tracking him down to exact her own revenge. However, upon entering his home, she finds her mission has a new twist to it due to a reunion with her mother--though much has changed for her since Willow last saw her.

And when two villains come looking for revenge against the Hulk, things don't go well for the soldiers and civilians at Hulkbuster Base who are caught up in their plan.

But let's pivot to Iron Man, who has his own plans for revenge against the Spymaster for shooting his friend, Jasper Sitwell--only to add Zodiac to the list when he discovers they're the organization that hired the villain.

Another villain pairing, this time Sabretooth and the Constrictor, are looking for a little revenge against Misty Knight:

While in Secret Defenders, Nebula is out for revenge against those who inhabit the Saturn moon, Titan--as well as the Silver Surfer, who as it happens will prove useful in that endeavor.

Many of us can probably bring to mind a few stories that should have made this list but which instead had another title assigned. Off the top of my head, for instance, I would might have considered as a candidate the Thing's battle with Dr. Doom... or the Sub-Mariner's reckoning with Llyra, the slayer of his bride, Dorma... to say nothing of Thor's pursuit of Him, where the Thunder God expresses his sentiments on the subject quite clearly, and, in the process, provides a fitting closing to our post.