Armor Hunters (2014) Reading Order

Aric of Dacia has been through more than any man on Earth. The sole surviving man of his time and place, Aric has bonded with the alien X-O Manowar armor and settled with the descendents of his people in Nebraska under the protection of MERO (Military Extraterrestrial Recon Outpost). Aric carries out missions for MERO under Colonel Jamie Capshaw in return for his people’s safety. He’s also an occasional member of the unofficial super-team Unity, alongside Livewire, Ninjak and Gilad Anni Padda – the Eternal Warrior.   But how much does Aric really know about his armour? And is it one of a kind? It looks like he’s about to find out the hard way. And the lessons he learns will impact Bloodshot, the Renegades, Unity and more of the inhabitants of the Valiant Universe. Big changes are coming!  

SCROLL DOWN to the bottom for the KEY COLLECTED EDITIONS for this event!  

Major Event: With a main mini-series, secondary minis and tie-ins with other ongoing titles, Armor Hunters can be considered a major event.  

Must Reads: Story arcs marked with a ✔are must-read stories from this time period, along with any key related stories and often-forgotten tales that are worth a read.  

Anthology Issues: When an issue contains multiple stories, the relevant story is denoted with square brackets. For example, [2/5] refers to the second story of the five stories in that issue, so you don’t need to read the other four. 

• AT WAR WITH UNITY – The formation of Unity and the evolution of the X-O

Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:

• ✔ X-O Manowar #23-25
• ✔ Armor Hunters #1
• ✔ Unity #8
• ✔ Armor Hunters #2
• ✔ Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1
•      Armor Hunters: Harbinger #1 
• ✔ Unity #9 
• ✔ Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #2
• ✔ Armor Hunters #3
• ✔ Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #3
•      Armor Hunters: Harbinger #2
•      Unity #10
• ✔ Armor Hunters: Harbinger #3
• ✔ X-O Manowar #26-28
•      Unity #11
• ✔ Armor Hunters #4
• ✔ X-O Manowar #29
• ✔ Armor Hunters: Aftermath #1

Must Reads	Title, Issue Number & Synopsis
✔	X-O Manowar #23 Colonel Capshaw sends Aric of Dacia to investigate activity in the alien Vine wreckage in Earth’s orbit. He encounters a terrified alien wearing a malfunctioning X-O Manowar suit who tries to take Aric’s own X-O armour. The creature kills three Chinese astronauts who were searching the debris. Aric blows a hole in its head, only for its armour to heal it. It gets back on its feet and demands the surrender of Aric’s suit…
✔	X-O Manowar #24 Aric tries to reason with he alien Malgam, but the creature fights back. While he’s rendered unconscious, Aric’s armour reaches out and kills him. Aric takes the alien back to MERO Headquarters in Utah. In space, on the planet Ba’ek, a band of alien Armor Hunters – Primary Reebo, Helix, Lilt, Quartz & the gigantic mech GIN-GR – hunt and kill another alien in an X-O suit…
✔	X-O Manowar #25 The Armor Hunters pay respects to their fallen comrade, Mopp, swearing to continue to hunt armours in an effort to end their intergalactic reign of terror. The team report back to Control but receive no answer – a status that’s been in effect for over a year. They depart Ba’ek to follow Malgam’s trail to Earth, unaware that a plague immediately consumes that world’s survivors…
✔	Armor Hunters #1 The Armor Hunters arrive on Earth. Helix and Quartz make short work of the secret Russian base containing salvaged, non-sentient copies of the X-O armour. Capshaw calls Aric in to MERO, only for Primary Reebo to send them a direct message, demanding the X-O Manowar. When Capshaw refuses, GIN-GR destroys Mexico City.
✔	Unity #8 (pp.1-20) A week before the destruction of Mexico City, Bloodshot tracked Livewire down in South America. Now, Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior head into the devastated Russian base. Ninjak disobeys orders and steals an alien suit before Helix and Quartz can kill him.
✔	Armor Hunters #2 (pp.1-9) Having given their ultimatum, Capshaw is under orders not to surrender the X-O Manowar.
✔	Unity #8 (pp.21-23) Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior return to MI-6 with the armour, but they’re both seriously injured. Ninjak suggests getting a bigger team… Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1 (pp.1-10) Bloodshot is assigned to MERO by MI-6. Against orders, Bloodshot antagonises Malgam in his cell.
✔	Armor Hunters #2 (pp.10) Reebo orders Lilt and his Hounds to the countries the X-O Manowar armour has set foot in.
✔	Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1 (pp.11-21) GIN-GR launches the pods containing the Hounds to the places on Earth the X-O armour has been to. Bloodshot calls back the MERO troops so he can face the Hounds alone. Bloodshot faces the first wave of Hounds while thinking back to his mission in Colombia, weeks earlier…

Must Reads	Title, Issue Number & Synopsis
✔	Armor Hunters #2 (pp.11-20) MERO scientists learn the X-O armour is essentially a tech-organic virus, replacing lost body parts by infecting and replacing its host. But Aric stops listening when reports of the Hounds come in and he rushes home to Nebraska to save his people. In London, Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior return to MI-6 to find Hounds have landed.
	Armor Hunters: Harbinger #1 Having recently escaped the Harbinger Foundation, Generation Zero arrive in Mexico City 19 hours after GIN-GR’s attack. They decide to help and are soon joined by Faith Herbert and Torque – the last of the Renegades – accompanying a United Nations supply drop. The teams soon get a report that the Mexican presidential helicopter has gone down, nearby…
✔	Unity #9  In London, Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior face the Hounds. At MERO HQ, Livewire prepares to face the news that she’s been infected by the X-O Manowar armour. A scan shows she’s in the clear, so Bloodshot doesn’t need to take her down as she requested herself. Capshaw orders Bloodshot to defend MERO from Lilt and his Hounds…
✔	Armor Hunters #2 (pp.21-22) At MERO, Bloodshot is ready to face Lilt…
✔	Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1 (pp.22-24) Bloodshot holds back the second wave of Hounds. Lilt enters MERO’s base and prepares to kill Malgam, but Bloodshot stands in his way…
✔	Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #2 (pp.1-6) Lilt’s attempt to detain Malgam is interrupted by Bloodshot. Lilt retaliates, impaling Bloodshot with his tail…
✔	Armor Hunters #3 (pp.1-2) Capshaw orders the evacuation of MERO HQ via the retro-fitted Vine ship, the Love Boat…
✔	Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #2 (pp.7-22) Bloodshot recovers, but his face is burned off by Lilt’s projectile acid vomit. Lilt escape into MERO HQ with Malgam. Bloodshot recovers and gives chase. Lilt allows Malgam to fall to his death to ensure his own safety, but Bloodshot tricks Lilt into trying to escape via the Love Boat’s exhaust ports. Lilt is burned alive while Bloodshot barely survives. Capshaw orders Bloodshot to find Malgam…

Must Reads	Title, Issue Number & Synopsis
✔	Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #3 (pp.1-12) Bloodshot remains in the ruins of MERO HQ, confronting Malgam in the underground tunnels. Bloodshot is able to converse with Livewire on the Love Boat and demands she runs a live current through MERO into Bloodshot to fry Malgam.
✔	Armor Hunters #3 (pp.3-6) Livewire takes control of the Love Boat, which picks up Aric and the few surviving Visigoths. Aric decides to surrender the X-O Manowar armour.
	Armor Hunters: Harbinger #2 Faith & Torque save the Mexican President from the still-active GIN-GR head orb in the centre of Mexico City. Generation Zero find a pregnant woman who, against all odds, survived the attack on the city. The team head inside the orb and discover an organic terraforming device. But the eggs inside it hatch, unleashing a swarm. Titan releases his monster-form. But even that is no match for the swarm…
✔	Armor Hunters #3 (pp.7-15) The X-O armour heads into space and boards GIN-GR, with Livewire emerging from it. When the Armour Hunters refuse to accept her gift of reasoning with the armours, she blows up GIN-GR’s head and leaves with the armour. GIN-GR crashes into Los Angeles…
	Unity #10 (pp.1-20) Livewire has killed GIN-GR, but also absorbed her memories and sees how the Armour Hunters manipulated her. Ninjak & the Eternal Warrior kill another Hound in Peru and head to LA…
✔	Armor Hunters #3 (pp.16-22) GIN-GR reboots and attacks Los Angeles. Observing the carnage, Aric of Dacia decides not to give up and die…
	Unity #10 (pp.21-22) Ninjak & the Eternal Warrior arrive in LA in time to witness GIN-GR’s rampage.
✔	Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #3 (pp.13-22) Malgam regains consciousness and tries to escape using a Vine ship. Bloodshot closes the bay doors, so Malgam crashes his ship and is then trapped in a force bubble. Capshaw orders Bloodshot to head for Los Angeles…
✔	Armor Hunters: Harbinger #3 Giant bugs from the swarm force themselves down the throats of Cloud and Torque. Torque’s outer form helps him survive, but more bugs burst from the infected citizens. Cloud uses her power to tap into the swarm’s hive mind and order them to ‘auto-dismantle’. Cronus drops his codename and, despite knowing the good Generation Zero did in Mexico, decides to encourage the team follow their own path.
✔	X-O Manowar #26 Years ago, Reebo and Malgam were intergalactic bounty runners. They accepted a job facing a suit of sentient armour that wiped out the population of an entire planet. When the duo thought they’d destroyed the suit with their ship’s thrusters, it self-repaired and got back up. Nothing could stop it! They escaped the planet, but no one believed their story. Until they were recruited by Control…

Must Reads	Title, Issue Number & Synopsis
✔	X-O Manowar #27  Reebo and Malgam carried out their training with Control on Gennin – a world left barren by an X-O Manowar armour. The Hunters’ life expectancy was short, though they discovered the armours’ one weakness – a tech-organic magma glass spear made from the properties of the armors themselves. Each squad leader carried a spear. Reebo was assigned leader of his squad who successfully killed an armour on their first mission…
✔	X-O Manowar #28  The armours were replicating and the older suits started returning to where they first spawned – Control’s base on Gennin. On planet Tartus, Reebo’s squad began their 21st mission, defying the odds of survival. They lost contact with Control, but Malgam was left near death when they faced another armour. Reebo killed the host, but allowed the armour to jump to Malgam to save his life. Despite protests, Reebo had Malgam brought into GIN-GR’s medical bay where he regained consciousness…
	Unity #11 Still wearing the X-O armour, Livewire tries to control the massive swarm of drones launched by GIN-GR, but it’s impossible. The drones infect Ninjak’s ship. But Ninjak has tech that introduces a virus to the drones, destroying all of them at once. Unfortunately, it also brings down a number of passenger jets. And a new swarm of drones is already coming…
✔	Armor Hunters #4 GIN-GR attacks the Love Boat as it hovers over Los Angeles. Aric recalls the X-O Manowar armour from Livewire and takes Ninjak’s ship which he crashes into GIN-GR. With the giant robot down, Aric, Ninjak, Bloodshot and the Eternal Warrior take on the Armour Hunters. Aric is speared, but he pulls it out and spears Reebo right back. Bloodshot beheads Lilt and Unity defeat the other Armour Hunters. Livewire turns off Aric’s X-O armour’s impulse to replicate while he heals.
✔	X-O Manowar #29 Capshaw officially dubs Aric of Dacia ‘X-O Manowar’ (as in ‘Executive Officer’ with the codename Manowar). MERO agents release Malgam from captivity, but are killed by a double-agent who tries to claim Malgam’s armour. Capshaw kills the agent to save Malgam and Aric cures his armour’s replicating virus. Malgam agrees to imprisonment on Earth. Capshaw secretly sends a spearhead to Neville Alcott at MI-6 and keeps one at MERO.
✔	Armor Hunters: Aftermath #1 Livewire oversees the repair of GIN-GR at NASA. MERO becomes GATE (Global Agency for Threat Excision) now that they’ve gone public. Capshaw plans to add a new member to Unity to appease the public, with Livewire trying to convince her that GIN-GR should also join them. Of the Armour Hunters, Helix survived and is on the run, while Quartz is imprisoned in the old MERO base with Bloodshot guarding him. NASA open their gates to the press so that X-O Manowar can announce the existence of Unity.

Issue & Fallout	Event / Crossover
Harbinger: Omegas #1-3 (2014) Torque and Faith are reunited with Peter Stanchek and Kris Hathaway as their war with the Harbinger Foundation continues.
Unity #12-14 (2014-2015) Faith Herbert and the sentient alien GIN-GR join Unity; the addition of GIN-GR is opposed by several countries who form their own team, the United, to wrest GIN-GR from them; an enemy of those previous versions of Unity called War-Monger seeks revenge on the modern day team.
Unity #18 (2015) Despite his apparent will to settle on Earth, Malgam poses a threat to Unity.
Bloodshot #24-25 (2014) Bloodshot returns to his campaign against Project Rising Spirit.
X-O Manowar #30-32 (2014-2015) Aric encounters the Armorines, Earth-bound soldiers using armour based on the X-O suit.
The Valiant #1-4 (2014-2015) Unity, Bloodshot, the Renegades and Generation Zero all join forces once again to face the common threat of the Immortal Enemy.
Unity #23-24 (2015) The surviving Armor Hunters – Helix & Quartz – return to plague Unity.
Generation Zero #1-4 (2016) Generation Zero gain new members and choose a new direction for themselves when they set themselves up in Detroit.

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Notable collected editions featuring Armour Hunter…

Collected Edition Title	Collects….
Armor Hunters – Deluxe Edition	Armor Hunters #1-4 Armor Hunters: Aftermath #1 Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1-3 Armor Hunters: Harbinger #1-3 Unity #8-11 X-O Manowar #23-29
Armor Hunters	Armor Hunters #1-4 Armor Hunters: Aftermath #1
Armor Hunters: Bloodshot	Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1-3 Bloodshot #0
Armor Hunters: Harbinger	Armor Hunters: Harbinger #1-3 Harbinger Wars #1
Unity: Armor Hunters	Unity #8-11

Collected Edition Title	Collects….
X-O Manowar vol.6: Armor Hunters Prelude	X-O Manowar #23-25
X-O Manowar vol.7: Armor Hunters	X-O Manowar #26-29
Unity – Deluxe Edition vol.1	Unity #0-14
X-O Manowar – Deluxe Edition vol.3	Armor Hunters #1-4 X-O Manowar #23-29

Reading Order ©OmniverseComicsGuide 2023