The Marvel Comics Universe is about to get a major overhaul. Every summer, Marvel launches a story that ties all of its flagship books together – and in 2012, the Marvel superheroes are embroiled in the Avengers vs. X-Men conflict, which sees the two iconic superteams battling it out. It’s been a geek-pleaser storyline, but the aftermath is looking far more interesting: EW has dropped the exclusive that Marvel will be shuffling their characters and their creative teams, as part of an initiative that has officially been dubbed “Marvel NOW!”
Marvel NOW! will introduce new titles and re-fashion old ones; among some of the more intriguing books in the lineup will be Uncanny Avengers, which will be the first official blending of the X-Men and Avengers into one team. Scroll down to learn more about this bold new rollout – and what it may have to do with Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In an interview with EW, Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso made sure to differentiate Marvel NOW! from competitor DC Comics’ total reboot of their universe with the “New 52″ initiative. For one thing, there will not be a sudden halt to the old universe followed by a hard push into the new one – the new relaunches will be unveiled a month at a time. Said Alonso:
“This ain’t a reboot. It’s a new beginning…I feel that it’s a much more humane approach for retailers and fans to tell them: ‘Look. In the months of October through February, every week you can go into a comic book store and find a few new jumping-on points for the Marvel Universe, a place you’re going to like visiting. Or revisiting.”
For a sneak peek at the upcoming Marvel NOW! Universe, check out this artwork by Marvel CEO Joe Quesada, which contains plenty of interesting hints and teases:
CLICK FOR FULL SIZE
A few of the Easter eggs in the image:
- Thor has swords
- Cable has an eye-patch
- Hulk has space armor (and a robo-orb)
- Nick Fury is Ultimate Universe Nick Fury [Correction: Apparently that's Fury's illegitimate son(???)]
- Cyclops has a new uniform and eye-beam
- Fantastic Four member Sue Richards is out on her own (for once)
- Iron Man has new armor
- Marvel Girl (Jean Grey) is back to land of the living
- Rocket Raccoon and Nova – characters rumored for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie Marvel is developing – are (literally) being brought front and center
For details on the more cryptic elements of this picture, check out the interviews with the Marvel creative team on the following pages – and find out about the new books they will be launching. Needless to say, there are some big surprises in store…
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oookay with a risk of sounding bad I have to ask, why the hell did they change another white person black?
that did it to the King Pin(who all knows was big and white) and then they did it to Nick.. was it to please the African american community or something thing?
now I can under stand the punish when they turned him black but that was to hide who he was and there is no better way to change one’s identity than by going to a different skin color.
however they just screwed up Nick and Fisk by turning them black. now I am no way raciest nor a bigot but come on!
that would be like turning Charlies Xaver black or Logan black, ect.
if they did it just to please the minorities then they are as stupid as they come.
after all if we turned blade white I am sure we would never hear the end of it…
At the risk of sounding like a pessimist: No business ever makes such changes merely to “please” a certain group or to try and be more PC. It’s a marketing move. For the same reason universities have photos on their brochure of a black guy, white girl, asian guy and hispanic girl all sitting and studying on the lawn together.
I’d say it’s a pretty fair bet that Marvel wants to increase it’s bottom line by appealing to more groups than just white kids. I certainly don’t blame them. Last census 27% of Americans identified themselves as something other than white. Why not try to give those groups characters with whom they can identify too? As a comic reader for 20+ years, if those groups buy more comics then it helps keep the comic industry strong and in business – so I don’t mind at all.
Fury turned black with the all the Ultimate universe of Marvel comics. and to prepare for future movies with Sam L jackson playing the characther. I have no problem with a black Fury, since the white fury always looked like Mr. Fantastic with an eye-patch.
I see your point, but turning Nick Fury black is and would NEVER be the same as making Wolverine, Proff X or Superman as a black person.
as for the minority qtion that you said then i can confirm that this was the issue in DC universe and that is why a black green lantern was introduced in comics / animation.
“and to prepare for future movies with Sam L jackson playing the characther.”
Correction: the folks at Marvel used Sam L. Jackson as a template for Ultimate Nick Fury WAAAY before there was going to be any version of Nick Fury in any film. When they were casting Nick Fury, they went “oh hey, we should just use the actor we based him on!”
I guess I’m not that excited about it. I’ve always felt these comic “universes” are not good for creativity. If one character’s sales sag, they have a guest appearance by a more popular character. Maybe not all these characters should have their own titles and they should try something else besides superheroes once in awhile.
This is one of the DUMBEST ideas EVER!!!! Why can’t these publishers just leave well enough alone? A reader gets comfortable with a character or specific book for awhile and then BAM!!!! Everything changes!I get it that change can be good sometimes, but full-blown redo’s on a specific character or team is unacceptable. Take when Spider-Man got organic webbing in the comic. What was that about? And then going on to try to make the reader believe that it was more than a simple accident that gave Peter his powers? Who’s side is Magneto REALLY on? He goes from good to bad then back to good then back to bad again. Same thing with the Juggernaut. Plus all the constant “deaths” and “rebirths” are insane and I agree with the poster that said something about changing the skin color of a character, like Nick Fury or the Kingpin. To do it simply to make the character more identifiable with a wider audience is just plain lame. You lose the essence of the character, plus tons of years of backstory, for what? A bigger profit in sales? LAME!!!!
they will NOT get bigger sales numbers just because they change the skin color of a characther. so just forget that idea. plus the backstory does NOT have to be lost just because the skin color changes.
but when they make a new universe or new storyline. they are free to change the skin color as much as they want. as for black nick fury he was introduced with the ultimate universe of marvel comics.
as for black king pin; there was a good reason for the change aswell. i think they just rather change skin color for a characther then make up a new LAME one like DC comics with a black green lantern and later a ginger green lantern…
Sounds like a great idea. they should have done this YEARS ago. but i guess it is never to late.
btw: i did not know that Susan was apart of either xmen or avengers. she has her own team. so its a bit strange to have a xmen/avengers comic and then F4 member(s) are apart of it. if they dont explain it as Susan being the only surviving member of F4 and has joined xmen/avengers. that would work. i always liked her the most.
Screen Rant’s rules: “No profanity or personal attacks.”
Mongoose made a valid point and there’s no need to get offensive because of it.