Year of the Villain Reading Order

The Year of the Villain was an event/crossover starting in March 2019 and ending in March 2020, which followed Dark Nights: Metal.

The emphasis during this time was to give a little bit more attention to DC’s large roster of villains and supervillains throughout most of their active titles such as Batman, Superman and primarily Justice League.

Year of the Villain and its reading order is a little bit of a mess and making a reading order was tricky – Year of the Villain wasn’t the same kind of event as previous ones such as Darkseid War or any of the Crisis events, instead its more of a ‘celebration’ throughout the titles with separate events within the Year of the Villain event. Death Metal followed YoTV.

In any case, for anyone looking for a Year of the Villain reading order we’ve collated all the trades with these issues included as well as an issue by issue chronological guide (in the order they were released). Please let us know your thoughts on what we’ve produced in the comments.

Year of the Villain Trade Reading Order Checklist

As we said in the intro, the Year of the Villain was a bit messy, so there’s no “Year of the Villain’ trade with just the main series, instead its a bunch of connected tie ins without a single spine to hold them together. Instead, look at Year of the Villain as a companion to Scott Snyder’s Justice League, The Batman Who Laughs and Bendis’s Event Leviathan.

Shockingly, all the one shots and tie ins are not collected together and can only be read loose. An omnibus was solicited but there are still now new even now.

Either way, these are the trades you’ll need and then refer to the issue reading order to the order to read them. The one shots are not collected in a book.

How to use the trade reading order checklist?

This is the hardest reading order we’ve ever made as we feel DC never intended for the Year of the Villain to be read as a series in its own right, rather as the sub events contained within it. So, what we’ve done is found all the issues that tie in and what trade covers most of them. We would not expect anyone to go for all of these.

However, we’ve split them into categories –

• Main series – the core titles which are directly labelled as Year of the Villain
• Batman Who Laughs – A major arc which fits well with the theme of the villain
• Infected – A subset of the above but ties in with Year of the Villain
• Event Leviathan – Same as Batman Who Laughs, a major event which ties in nearly with YotV
• Tie ins – Tie in issues which are not connected with each other and intended to read on their own

You’ve got four choices –

1. Stick with just the main series to keep it short and sweet
2. Read the main series, Batman who laughs, infected and event leviathan
3. Read the issues within the trades in the order listed in the Year of the Villain issue by issue reading order which is ordered by release date

The issue by issue reading order actually follows an order with named plot lines which are: The Offer, Dark Gifts, Evil Unleashed and Doom Rising. This is pretty straightforward but not for the trades. For the ultimate reading order, refer to the issues and read the trades in that order.

Good luck!

Main Series

Batman Who Laughs

Batman Who Laughs is a crossover storyline in itself, which we’ve made a seperate reading order for. In the context of Year of the Villain, the main issues will be more than enough.

Infected Arc

Tie Ins

These trades go in and out of the four episodes The Offer, Dark Gifts, Evil Unleashed and Doom Rising. To get the most out of these, refer to the Year of the Villain Issue reading list.

Batman: City of Bane

Issues #75 to #85 of Tom King’s Batman is both a solo story and a Year of the Villain tie in. This story revolves around Bane taking over Gotham.

Read the City of Bane reading order here.

Wonder Woman: Loveless

#75 to #82 are tie ins and this collection has #74 to #81.

Batgirl Vol. 7: Oracle Rising

Contains Batgirl’s Year of the Villain tie ins which are #37 to #41. Story deals with Oracle’s return via Lex Luthor’s actions. Collects Batgirl #37 to #44.

Aquaman Volume 2: Amnesty and Aquaman Vol. 3: Manta vs. Machine

Collects just the two tie ins, with the other two in Manta vs. Machine. Collects #48 to #52 with Manta vs. Machine collected the other two and the Annual which are all Villain tie ins.

Batman and the Outsiders Vol. 1: Lesser Gods

Batman and the Outsiders issues #3 to #7 are Year of the Villain tie ins and this trade collects #1 to #7.

Catwoman Vol. 3: Friend or Foe?

Joelle Jones’ Catwoman had tie ins in #13 to #17. This trade collects #16 to #21. You might need to get Vol. 2 as well.

Deathstroke R.I.P.

Christopher Priest helms the Year of the Villain tie ins. This trade collects #44 to #50. Of which, #45 to #49 are the tie ins.

Detective Comics: Cold Dark World

Detective Comics has 8 Year of the Villain tie ins, #1008 to #1016. There is no one trade which has all of them, there are two you’ll need to find – Greetings from Gotham and Cold Vengeance. Cold Vengeance has 6 so if you just want the one then get that.

The Flash Vol. 12: Death and the Speed Force

The Flash’s Year of the Villain tie ins deal with Captain Cold and the Rogues in issues #75-#83. Death and the Speed Force trade #76 to #81 with Vol. 13 having #82 to #87. This is another example of how Year of the Villain has been poorly collected by DC.

Harley Quinn Vol. 4: The Final Trial

A rare perfect trade as you get ALL Harley Quinn’s tie ins and the Harley Quin: Year of the Villain one shot. Collects Harley Quinn #64-#69 and Harley Quinn: Villain of the Year #1.

Hawkman Vol. 3: Darkness Within

Issues #14 to #19 are tie ins and this trade has #13 to #18 which is just one shy.

Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour 

Justice League are the driving force beyond YoTV and Dark #13 to #17 are tie ins and this book has Justice League Dark #14 to #19 which is perfect.

Justice League Odyssey Vol. 3: The Final Frontier

More Justice League, #11 to #15 are tie ins and this trade has #13 to #18.

The Terrifics Volume 4: The Tomorrow War

Collects The Terrifics #19-#30. #18 can be gotten from Volume 3.

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy

Happens towards the end, the entire miniseries is collected.

Teen Titans Vol. 3: Seek and Destroy

Part of the “The Gift” episode. The Terminus Agenda which came before it is optional.

Batman Vs. Ra’s Al Ghul

A miniseries penned by Neal Adams. Collects Batman Vs. Ra’s al Ghul #1-6

Year of the Villain Issue by Issue Reading Order

This our best attempt at making the issues flow in a coherent way.

1. The Flash #65
2. The Batman Who Laughs #1-7
3. Year of the Villain #1
4. Justice League #25
5. Justice League #26
6. Justice League #27
7. Deathstroke #45
8. Harley Quinn #63
9. Catwoman #13
10. Red Hood: Outlaw #36
11. Superman #13
12. Supergirl #32
13. Batman and the Outsiders #3
14. Hawkman #14
15. Justice League Odyssey #11
16. Justice League #28
17. Aquaman #50
18. Nightwing #62
19. Batman #75
20. Teen Titans #32
21. Justice League Dark #13
22. Detective Comics #1008
23. Batgirl #37
24. Action Comics #1013
25. The Terrifics #18
26. The Flash #75
27. Wonder Woman #75
28. Justice League #29
29. Deathstroke #46
30. Harley Quinn #64
31. Batman #76
32. Aquaman #51
33. Justice League Odyssey #12
34. Wonder Woman #76
35. Batman and the Outsiders #4
36. Detective Comics #1009
37. Hawkman #15
38. The Flash #76
39. Teen Titans #33
40. Nightwing #63
41. Justice League #30 
42. Justice League Dark #14
43. Detective Comics #1010
44. Batgirl #38
45. The Terrifics #19
46. Red Hood: Outlaw #37
47. The Flash #77
48. Wonder Woman #77
49. Action Comics #1014
50. Batman/Superman #1 
51. Sinestro: Year of the Villain
52. Black Mask: Year of the Villain
53. Batman Vs. Ra’s Al Ghul #1
54. Justice League #31
55. Harley Quinn #65
56. Batman #78
57. Deathstroke #47
58. Action Comics #1015
59. Justice League #32
60. Aquaman #52
61. Hawkman #16
62. Justice League Odyssey #13
63. Superman #15
64. Detective Comics #1011
65. Catwoman #15
66. Batman and the Outsiders #5
67. The Flash #78
68. Supergirl #34
69. Wonder Woman #78
70. Nightwing #64
71. Teen Titans #34
72. Detective Comics #1012
73. The Flash #79
74. Red Hood: Outlaw #38
75. Justice League Dark #15
76. Batgirl #39
77. The Terrifics #20
78. Wonder Woman #79
79. Batman/Superman #2
80. Harley and Poison Ivy #1
81. The Riddler: Year of the Villain
82. Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain
83. Batman Vs. Ra’s Al Ghul #2
84. Justice League #33
85. Batman #80
86. Deathstroke #48
87. Harley Quinn #66
88. Detective Comics #1013
89. Batman and the Outsiders #6
90. Catwoman #16
91. The Flash #80
92. Hawkman #17
93. Justice League Odyssey #14
94. Supergirl #35
95. Superman #16
96. Wonder Woman #80
97. Justice League #34
98. Aquaman #53
99. Nightwing #65
100. Teen Titans #35
101. Action Comics #1016
102. Batgirl #40
103. Justice League Dark #16
104. Detective Comics #1014
105. The Flash #81
106. Red Hood: Outlaw #39
107. The Terrifics #21
108. Wonder Woman #81
109. Batman/Superman #3
110. The Joker: Year of the Villain #1
111. Black Adam: Year of the Villain #1
112. Harley and Poison Ivy #2 
113. Batman Vs. Ra’s Al Ghul #3
114. Aquaman Annual #2
115. Nightwing Annual #2
116. Justice League #35
117. Batman #82
118. Deathstroke #49
119. Harley Quinn #67
120. Batman and the Outsiders #7
121. Catwoman #17
122. Detective Comics #1015
123. The Flash #82
124. Hawkman #18
125. Justice League Odyssey #15
126. Red Hood: Outlaw #40
127. Supergirl #36
128. Wonder Woman #82
129. Justice League #36
130. Nightwing #66
131. Aquaman #54
132. Teen Titans #36
133. Action Comics #1017
134. Batgirl #41
135. Detective Comics #1016
136. Justice League Dark #17
137. The Terrifics #22
138. The Flash #83
139. Wonder Woman #83
140. Batman/Superman #4
141. The Infected: King Shazam! 
142. Harley and Poison Ivy #3
143. The Infected: Scarab
144. Batman Vs. Ra’s Al Ghul #4
145. Justice League #37
146. Deathstroke #50
147. The Infected: Deathbringer #1 
148. Batman and the Outsiders #8
149. Catwoman #18
150. The Flash #84
151. Harley and Poison Ivy #4
152. Hawkman #19 
153. Justice League Odyssey #16
154. Supergirl #37
155. Harley Quinn: Year of the Villain #1 
156. Ocean Master: Year of the Villain #1
157. Aquaman #55
158. Teen Titans #37
159. Nightwing #67
160. The Infected: The Commissioner #1
161. Justice League #38
162. Batman/Superman #5 
163. Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1
164. Action Comics #1018
165. Batgirl #42
166. The Flash #85
167. Justice League Dark #18
168. Red Hood: Outlaw #41
169. The Terrifics #23
170. Batman and the Outsiders #9
171. Catwoman #19
172. Harley and Poison Ivy #5
173. Hawkman #20
174. Supergirl #38
175. Justice League #39
176. The Flash #86
177. Justice League Odyssey #17
178. Nightwing #68
179. Teen Titans #38
180. Justice League Dark #19
181. Batman/Superman #6
182. Wonder Woman #750
183. Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #2
184. Batgirl #43
185. Red Hood: Outlaw #42
186. Action Comics #1019
187. The Flash #87
188. The Terrifics #24
189. Harley and Poison Ivy #6
190. Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3
191. Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #4

Last update on 2023-12-04 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API