Avengers: Time Runs Out [Marvel Premier Collection]

by Jonathan Hickman, Stefano Caselli (Illustrator), Mike Deodato Jr. (Illustrator)

One by one, the realities of the Multiverse have collided and been destroyed, leaving the Marvel Universe as one of the last standing. Now the final Incursion is drawing near — and in the wake of the desperate, world-shattering actions taken by the shadowy group of heroes known as the Illuminati, the Avengers are fragmented. While one group seeks to confront their former Illuminati allies, another takes the fight to a dark new threat! But what has become of Tony Stark and Doctor Strange? Will all the battles they’ve endured — and the sacrifices they’ve made — prepare the Avengers for the inevitable? Time runs out as the stage is set for SECRET WARS!

 Material from Avengers (2012) #35-44; New Avengers (2013) #24-33

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Penciled by Stefano Caselli, Mike Deodato Jr., Mike Mayhew, Valerio Schiti, Kev Walker, Szymon Kudranski, Dalibor Talajić & More

Genres: Comics

344 pages, Paperback

Published August 18, 2026

About the author

Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Josh Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s probably too much going on in this. It’s the penultimate conclusion of Hickman’s run, so it naturally is tying up all storylines in a way that leads to the singular-centric storyline of the conclusion. However, at times I found this hard to follow, and some storylines I found myself just not caring about.

The Tony-Steve stuff is really good. The Doom stuff is great. And everytime Sue was on the panels I was so locked in.

[Burns Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow… that was a lot. Lots of crazy moments I didn’t completely understand, but I enjoyed everything that I did understand. Not a fan of the New Avengers art style.
Can’t wait to read Secret Wars.

[Simon Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Premier Collection in general is the best idea marvel has had in a long time, and this piece shows exactly why.

Hickman’s Secret Wars is one of the first comics I’ve ever read. It stands well on its own, but the lead-up is difficult to follow. The Illuminati, Avengers, secret avengers, doom, dr. strange, AXIS Iron Man, the list goes on and on. I didn’t make it easier on myself by initially reading the stories out of order, but I know that many others share that experience with me. This premier edition collects the most important threads into a self-contained, affordable package. It doesn’t have everything, and marvel could really bring back its old - * As Seen in: - text boxes. But you have enough that even the most uninitiated reader can consume the story.

And what a story it is. It may be controversial to say, but the Hickman saga leading up to Secret Wars is the greatest superhero saga ever written. It is the peak of the medium. There are better individual graphic novels, there are other great runs, but nobody else has ever taken advantage of superhero comic-books ability to tell multiple stories at once in a meaningful way. Hickman is an artist, and even now, having read the series multiple times, my jaw drops. Doom, the Black Swans, Black Panther, Namor, Iron Man, Captain American, Thor, and so many others have are all character perfectly. Twisted, pulled apart, and pushed back together while still whole.

Hickmans core question - what do good (and some less than stellar) people do when confronted with an unsolvable moral conundrum? - is a fascinating one.

The edition could also have benefited from an introduction giving key background information - only in the very beginning. Other than that, I am very happy with this purchase, and cannot wait to read my copy of Secret Wars itself.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first foray into the Marvel Premier Collection, and it was for a run I've never read before. I found the format super interesting - this is 20 comics selected from the "Time Runs Out" arc, presented as one single story (no breaks between issues, and possibly part of different issues stitched together to keep the stories flowing concurrently? which does not appear to be the format for all of the Premier Collection books) and it mostly worked for me.

I definitely felt the fact that I was dropped in the middle of a story in progress, one I don't have the background for, but it was a great into to the Premier Collection, which, surprisingly, impressed me much more than the recent Spider-Man: Brand New Day compact comic - which was prettier but a complete mess. I loved the foreword from the Russo brothers, and the introduction by Jonathan Hickman.

I'm very curious to see how Doomsday pulls from this, and very excited to read the next volume, Avengers Secret Wars Marvel Premier Collection .

[Nicholas Dehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Time Runs Out” is the direct lead up to “Secret Wars”, but there is clearly a lot more context that did not fit into this book. The cast is gigantic and there are a million things happening, so it is somewhat difficult to keep up with. Once I got into it though, I found it very hard to put down. The plotting is super intricate and complicated and kept me on the edge of my seat. Doom is freakin awesome, Molecule Man is fascinating, Hyperion and Thor have potentially my favorite moment, Steve Rogers is annoying as hell, and at the end of the day, things are not looking good at all. This definitely gave a lot of context and hyped me up for Secret Wars.

[Piotr Piskorski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want whatever Hickman was smoking in 2012…

[Kevin Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many interesting ideas and character moments wrapped around in a needlessly complicated plot and some very weak artwork at times.

[Eli Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really confusing for me since I have 0 background info and don't know half the characters but still a really great story that comes together very well

[Desmond Killian · Rating 1 out of 5]

... wait, "material from" issues #35 - #44? I knew something was fishy when we skipped the Phoenix Egg scene with Cyclops and Beast. What a #### rip-off.

[Chad Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain hunts Iron Man in lead up to Secret Wars.

[Ryan Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a convoluted throat-clearing just to lead into “Secret Wars,” but the illustrations are often stunning and a shockingly bleak ending swing this into the positive.

[Noel Welsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a guy who hasn’t read a new Avengers comic in many years, I really “sure, whatever”-ed my way through this one. Happy to report that Doctor Doom is still sassy.

[Lee O Toole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy moly

[Bj Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s whacked out multiverse stuff. Some parts I had no idea what was going on. The Dr Doom stuff I was all in. Cap and Tony at the end was great.