Those who love comics, specifically Marvel, will no doubt have already heard the news that came out of yesterday’s press conference; the Marvel Ultimate Universe and 616 Universe (that’s the regular universe) are going to come together in the upcoming Secret Wars event and the Marvel landscape will be forever changed.
Some are pronouncing “the end of the Marvel Universe” which isn’t exactly true but there are going to be some drastic changes to the current setup. The two worlds are essentially being merged into one and not all characters from each will survive the process.
Tom Brevoort and Axel Alonso made the announcement yesterday that Secret Wars, written by Jonathan Hickman, will combine the two worlds into Battleworld, which is what Brevoort described as a “melting pot where the new Marvel Universe will be created”. That new Marvel Universe has been in planning for years and apparently clues can be found way back in Hickman’s Fantastic Four run. Talk about laying deep foundations.
Some fans love the idea, many are not as keen on what they see as Marvel doing the equivalent of one of DC’s “Crisis” events or Flashpoint, which lead to DC’s “New 52” reboot. I’m actually looking forward to the event, having one universe makes sense from a continuity point of view, and I’m glad that Alonso was clear to point out this is not a reboot. “Our history isn’t broken and it isn’t something we need to fix” is how he explained it. Take that DC.
It’s widely expected that there are some dead certs to survive in the new combined MU, such as Miles Morales – The Ultimate Spider-Man, who has been so well received since his introduction to the Ultimate Universe. What that means for Peter Parker is still open to debate.
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I firmly believe that this new status quo is tied in with the ending of the Fantastic Four series, Deadpool’s upcoming death and the Death of Wolverine. When you also remember that it’s been clear for a while that the House of Ideas have been scaling back the X-Men (and increasing the spotlight on the Inhumans – a ready made mutant alternative) the motive becomes clearer; are Marvel about to create a new universe where the only characters to survive are those they have the movie rights to?
If that’s the case then are Sony and Marvel are closer on a deal for Spidey to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe than those leaked emails would have us believe? Or could we be saying goodbye to Peter Parker? Then again the Sony deal is apparently more favourable to Marvel than the deal with Fox, so it could be that Parker is the exception to the rule and the all new MU is just one big middle finger to Fox.
“If you had two things, and on one you earned 100% of the revenues from the efforts that you put into making it, and the other you earned a much smaller percentage for the same amount of time and effort, you’d be more likely to concentrate more heavily on the first, wouldn’t you?” – Tom Brevoort, August 2014
Is the new Marvel Universe the biggest proof of what Brevoort suggested back in August? Just as the new Fantastic Four film, from Fox, hits our screens the comic series will be ending. Just after the Deadpool film, from Fox, is confirmed Marvel announces their intention to kill off the character. Yet in the build up to the Ant Man film, from Marvel, the character gets a new ongoing series; just like the Guardians of the Galaxy, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Winter Soldier and even Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D have in recent years.
The big fans of Marvel’s first family, the merc with a mouth and Weapon X are obviously the losers here as their favourite books stop appearing on the shelves. What remains to be seen is whether anyone at Fox really gives a crap.
See the full Secret Wars announcement here and let us know your thoughts in the comments below: