By Jesse Schedeen and Joshua YehlIt seems Marvel has plans to revisit even more of their past event comics next summer. In the wake of
the recent Secret Wars announcement,
Marvel is now releasing a series of teaser images promising some sort
of revival or continuation of several event comics to take place in
summer 2015. Are these intended as full-fledged events in their own
right, or are they tie-ins to Secret Wars and its multiverse-spanning
conflict?
The first teaser image focuses on the 2006 mini-series Civil War:
Click here for a bit more background information and speculation on what this project could involve.
The second teaser promises a bizarre mash-up between the
Age of Ultron and Marvel Zombies universes:
Age of
Ultron
was a 10-issue mini-series from 2013 that saw Ultron succeed in taking
over the world and decimating humanity. While Wolverine and Invisible
Woman were able to travel back in time to save the world, Wolverine
managed to damage the Marvel timestream in the process. Marvel
previously revisited the Age of Ultron universe this year with the
mini-series What If? - Age of Ultron. The Marvel Zombies concept began
in the pages of Ultimate Fantastic Four in 2005, as Ultimate Reed
Richards encountered an alternate Marvel Universe overrun by
super-powered zombies. The Marvel Zombies have since featured in
numerous mini-series and spinoff projects, with the most recent being
2012's
Marvel Zombies Destroy.
CBR debuted this teaser, which shifts focus to the X-Men franchise.
This project is clearly some sort of continuation of the classic
"Days of Future Past" storyline from 1981. The teaser features a young
Kitty Pryde
and both the X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as they appeared in
1981, as well as an army of Sentinels and the older Kate Pryde from the
Days of Future Past reality. Could this project also tie into the
X-Men's recent time-travel woes in All-New X-Men and Battle of the Atom?
Newsarama debuted this teaser, which promises a new take on the Planet Hulk concept:
This appears to be connected to writer Greg Pak's original Planet
Hulk story in name only. This project apparently involves a literal
planet full of Hulks, with an ax-wielding Captain America and Devil
Dinosaur thrown in for good measure.
Comic Vine has this teaser, which calls back to the "Armor Wars" storylines from the 1980's Iron Man comics.
The image features a number of iconic Iron Man armors, but we're most
intrigued by what is apparently a Galactus-Buster armor blowing away
the Statue of Liberty in the background.
We had the exclusive reveal on this
House of M teaser:
Click here for more on this House of M revival.
Comicbook.com revealed this teaser, which calls back to the 1991 Infinity Gauntlet mini-series:
In addition to
Thanos
and the titular gauntlet (which is only partially completed), this
image features an unusual-looking Star-Lord and an entire nuclear family
of Nova Corps members. Are they meant to be Sam Alexander and his
family? Whatever the case, clearly this take on the Infinity Gauntlet
storyline will feature a much different cast of heroes.
Marvel released this image via Twitter:
The original Old Man Logan paired writer Mark Millar and artist Steve
McNiven for an alternate universe storyline where Marvel's villains
ruled a dystopian America and Wolverine was a retired farmer dragged
into one last mission. While Millar eventually touched on some of the
characters in his Fantastic Four run, the final issue of Old Man Logan
did leave the door wide open for a direct sequel. Is that what this is?
Could Millar be returning to Marvel?
Entertainment Weekly unveiled this Inhumans-themed teaser:
While at least some of these teasers are focused on alternate
universe storylines, this teaser appears directly connected to the
current
Inhuman
series by writer Charles Soule and artist Ryan Stegman. Marvel looks to
be giving Inhuman a new push in 2015, which makes sense given the
persistent rumors of an Inhumans film on the horizon. The question is
whether this teaser is tied to the others Marvel has been putting out,
or if Attilan Rising is a separate project.
CBR debuted this Ultimate Universe-themed teaser:
Could this actually be the end for Marvel's Ultimate imprint? Last
year's Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand also seemed to be leading to
the destruction of the Ultimate U., but instead wound up leading to
three new ongoing series. However, with two of those comics now canceled
and
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man
set to be the sole remaining Ultimate book after January, maybe this
really is the end for an imprint that started way back in 2000. At least
we know that Miles himself will be
one of many characters appearing in Secret Wars.
Newsarama debuted this
Age of Apocalypse teaser:
Age of Apocalypse was a 1995 crossover that explored an alternate
universe where Charles Xavier died and Magneto formed the X-Men to
oppose Apocalypse's North American empire. Age of Apocalypse has
actually been revisited several times in the 20 years since, first with a
2005 sequel mini-series and more recently with David Lapham's
short-lived ongoing comic. However, this teaser showcases the X-Men as
they appeared in the original crossover. Is this intended as some sort
of 20th anniversary celebration?
Update: Marvel took a day off from these teasers (probably in light of their big movie announcements), but
Comics Alliance revealed another Hulk-themed teaser:
Hulk: Future Imperfect was a short mini-series from 1993 that saw Hulk travel into the future and meet
Maestro,
an even more powerful version of himself who had killed all the world's
heroes and villains and installed himself as supreme ruler. This
wouldn't be the first time some version of Maestro has reappeared in a
Marvel comic.
Update: EW
has debuted another teaser, this time one titled "The Amazing
Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows" featuring Peter Parker, Mary Jane, and...
is that their written-out-of-continuity-and-forgotten child May?! Okay,
Hulk Hogan Hulk was one thing, but now Marvel is just getting
ridiculous.
UPDATE: Marvel's latest Summer 2015 teaser is for
Avengers Vs. X-Men. The original Avengers Vs. X-Men event was back in
2012 and featured the two teams battling over Hope Summers as the
Phoenix Force made its return to Earth.
This cover, done by Skottie Young in his signature "baby" style,
features Avengers Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Spider-Man and
Hawkeye, X-Men Wolverine and Storm (who were both Avengers at the time
of the event), and Deadpool, who is sometimes considered an X-Man but
not really. Most interestingly, Inhumans Medusa and Black Bolt are also
present. While they had nothing to do with the initial event, that
hasn't stopped Marvel from a) re-imagining the conflict with the
Inhumans choosing a side, or b) putting the Inhumans on as much
promotional artwork as possible to continue to try to make them a thing.
.
Here are our 5
theories on what these teasers could mean.
We'll keep you updated as Marvel releases more teasers and
hopefully reveals more information about these mysterious 2015 projects.
Until then, let us know what you think all of this means in the
comments below.
