HULK SMASH TIME LOOP. Hulk smash Marvel Universe. Actually, Hulk smash nothing, since we’re about to reboot the entire Marvel Universe. Yep, you read that correctly… the whole Marvel Universe is about to be rebooted. System failure? Nope, this is not your standard reboot.
According to Newsarama:
“During a live “Secret Wars Kick-Off” press event at New York City’s Midtown Comics, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso and Senior Vice President of Publishing and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort confirmed that the eight-issue series Secret Wars will represent the end of both the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe.
‘Once we hit Secret Wars #1, there is no Marvel Universe, Ultimate Universe, or any other. It’s all Battleworld,’ Brevoort said.
Speculation regarding the end of the Ultimate Universe has been rampant, as fans have known for some time that, as of February, Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Manwill be the sole remaining title in the Ultimate line. What has been less clear is the future of the mainstream Marvel Universe moving out of Secret Wars.
Adding to the news is Stan Lee’s reaction to the news:
“It’s probably good,” Lee said from his office in Beverly Hills minutes after Marvel’s announcement. “Anything they do that’s unexpected and different usually captures the attention of the fans. People will want to follow it to see what happens and where it will lead. Marvel cannot keep doing the same stories over and over again. You always have to come up with new angles and new approaches to things. I think it’s probably a good idea. It sounds intriguing to me.”
Hmmmmm, though that’s not necessarily a ringing endorsement, it’s definitely not a bad one either. Showing support for his own creation, he had more to say:
“Of course I have an emotional attachment to the original Marvel Universe, because I was so involved in it,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I expect it to be that way forever. It might be better under this new approach. I’m eager to see what might happen.”
“At the time, what I did, I thought was the right way to go, and maybe sometimes, even the perfect way to go,” Lee said. “I liked making the Fantastic Four superheroes without a secret identity. I liked the tragedy of Spider-Man’s origin, the ‘with great power, there must also come great responsibility.’ I thought it was the right way of doing things at the time. And I still like what I’ve done. I can’t think, off the top of my head, of anything I’d really want to change.”
He goes on to say:
“I was once the creative head of the company, but the company was smaller, I don’t know what I would do if I was the creative head of the company today. I’d have to ponder that for a bit. I know that you always have to have surprises. You always have to make the reader say, ‘Wow, I never expected this!’ You have to keep doing that. It’s kind of become the Marvel tradition. If this continues that tradition, I’m happy for them all, and I’m happy for the fans.”
Such a good sport Stan. Such a good sport indeed. Now that you’ve heard from him, we’d like to hear from you. What do you think of this change in Marvel. What do you think they are going to do? Which direction are they going to go?
The Marvel Universe is a flat circle.