Avengers #31

Tied into the Original Sin crossover, Avengers #31 plunges readers into the far future with a cover that crackles with urgency — a red-haired woman levels a gun point-blank at the viewer, shards of red crystal exploding around her, while a glowing spectral figure looms to her left and a second woman and an armored form emerge from the chaos below. Leinil Francis Yu's linework gives the whole composition a sense of shattering momentum that perfectly suits the story title, "500 Into the Future." Jonathan Hickman's run continues to push the Avengers into stranger, higher-stakes territory, and this 2014 issue is a vivid reminder of why that era felt so ambitious.