Readers of Jonathan Hickman’s recent Avengers and New Avengers storylines have seen it before: the incursion. Parallel universes from Marvel's cosmology intersect. Two different Earths are put on a collision course with one another. The heroes of each Earth have eight hours to figure things out before the big impact that would wipe out both universes. Comic book chaos ensues.
If you've enjoyed Hickman’s take on universe crossovers, then you'll want to be first in line for what Marvel has in store with their rebooted Secret Wars. At a press conference held today at New York City's Midtown Comics, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor at Marvel, Tom Brevoort, along with Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, announced that the previously revealed Battleworld setting of the upcoming Secret Wars will combine the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe. Wildly different depictions of Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Thor, and many more will come face-to-face in a vast world that even includes zombies, and nothing will ever quite be the same in Marvel comics again.
"It's really simple," said Alonso at the press conference, which was live-streamed by Marvel, "the Ultimate Universe, the Marvel Universe—they're going to smash together. Imagine two pizzas—they're going to slap together. You can have all-new toppings. Some toppings are going to drop off. You're going to yell about some that are missing, you're going to love the new ones that are there, and that is the Marvel universe moving forward. It's more than just the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe—it's all the universes you can imagine."
For those unfamiliar, the Marvel Universe includes storylines generally dating back to the 1960s (though some details stretch back even further), while the Ultimate Universe, spawned in 2000, follows new takes on familiar heroes and villains, often with updated scenarios.
Battleworld was partially revealed in a teaser video from Marvel last year and the full view of the new territory can now be viewed. The new realm in which the universes and their respective characters will combine and clash comprises characters from vastly different comic book series and limited series, including Old Man Logan, A vs. X, Marvel Zombies, and many more.
Readers can get a taste of the world-melding to come in Secret Wars #0, which will be available in comic book shops on Free Comic Book Day on May 2nd, before diving into Secret Wars #1 and #2, both due out this May. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more details, and to learn more, visit:
Secret Wars #1:
Secret Wars #2 (cover via io9.com):
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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