Marvel History will be "Destroyed!" March 2019

[Derek Metaltron]

With blood and rage of crimson red
Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead...



In Marvel's defense, Civil War (OMD by extension) and House of M did have lasting consequences still felt to this day.

To be fair both Civil War and House Of M changed things in the present, not the past. The problem really started when Marvel kept trying to mirror what was going on in the movies clumsily, in my opinion...

[jackolover]

I’ve been toying with this concept for a few years now, in that super heroes suddenly began appearing all at the same time in the Marvel Universe, and I’d really like to know the secret behind why it started. My suspicions are it was a secret cabal of either the military, or, National Security Advisors who started seeding the community to have super powers. A secret history like this event in March 2019 is long overdue in my books.

But really, on the subject of the death of the Marvel Universe, Super Heroes became redundant in the 1990’s when President Reagan’s defence system, Star Wars, finished off the Cold War. Super heroes were created because of the Khrushchev Cold War, and when it ended, so did the super heroes. The next event was 9/11, and super heroes were absent and didn’t help, so the government then took over the role of defender of the world, and made the Civil War 2006 to subjugate super heroes, put Super Villains in charge in Dark Reign, and eventually destroy the MU in Secret Wars 2015.

Really, what role or purpose is the inspiration of super heroes today? There is no world threat hovering over the world like the nuclear annihilation of Cold War. And Marvel had to convert the idea of super heroes to represent all the different race, colour, and creeds of the modern culture, but that fell flat after a while. Destroying the super heroes is the natural progression, I feel, in this non-threatening world.

[Digifiend]

President Reagan? That's the 80s, not the 90s.

[JackDaw]

Could this be immortalising Stan Lee by making him a comic book character that did all these things ?

I like and admire Stan (as much as you can, never having met him)...but I really, really hope not.

For two main reasons...it would effectively under-value the contribution of the key artists. But also...I find idea of "immortalising" Stan by replacing key parts of the stories he laboured hard to create with inferior versions as just plain daft.

[jackolover]

Seriously, though. Why would Marvel come out with this now, as Doomsday Clock is having effects on DC's history? I would hope someone at marvel would have said, "You know, the Distinguished Competition is in the middle of something like this right now. Do we want to be seen as copying them?"

Marvel copied DC’s Superman with the Human Torch and Submariner. Marvel copied the Justice League Of America with the FF and Avengers. Marvel follow trends, they don’t make trends, so I wouldn’t put it passed Marvel to follow Doomsday clock. What would be intriguing is if Marvel were to create what happens if super heroes aren’t required anymore.

[jackolover]

President Reagan? That's the 80s, not the 90s.

Correction. The result of the 80’s was in the 90’s.

[jackolover]

we'll have to see how it goes. I doubt it will be as bizarre as people are speculating. There are soft updates every several years, based on the sliding timeline.
In the case of the FF, I doubt of "we've got to beat the Reds to the moon!" was part of their mission objective now; though in the era of SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and the like, a privately funded space expedition is already reality.

I don’t think you can update super heroes to be modern, because their purpose has disappeared. In 1961 we needed super heroes to do things we felt powerless to do. What do we need super heroes for today? We have so much people power to affect the politics of our country, we can’t feel powerless in this era. As soon as super heroes become relevant again, they can return. I just wonder what stories you can do without super heroes? I’d like for the super heroes to all lose their powers, and see what they can do then.

[jackolover]

Again, this could have been in the works for awhile.

Jason Aaron's War of the Realms is just starting next year after being teased for, what, five or six years?

So you just never know the gestation period for these things.

Also, once we have more info, it may not be as close to Doomsday Clock as it might first appear.

What would be hilarious is if this comes out and finishes before Doomsday Clock is done.

People have been saying War of the realms is starting the next month. Maybe this teaser campaign is tied to Realms?

[Prof. Warren]

People have been saying War of the realms is starting the next month. Maybe this teaser campaign is tied to Realms?

I had the same thought - that this isn't a new event but it's tied in to War of the Realms.

However, the fact that the one Marvel writer I've seen retweet these teases is Donny Cates makes me think this is something that he has cooking.

Once Marvel Knights ends next month, he just has Venom and Guardians on his plate. Usually he has at least three things going on so I wonder if this is something new from him.

I expect we'll find out more today. Or maybe they'll just keep us guessing until the March solicits hit next week.

[Prof. Warren]

What I find odd is the suggestion that anyone would want to copy the valueless knockoff that is Doomsday Clock.

Yes. Doomsday Clock is garbage. Which is why I'm sure this is no kind of knock off of it.

[Drops Of Venus]

So it's that time of the year again... Literally don't know what to think or feel about it, but I like the suggestion that it might be a tribute to Stan Lee.

Skrull related mishap?

That was my first thought! I was wondering if Meet The Skrulls would lead to something bigger, so maybe this could be it? It would be weird to do a mini-event so close to the big event of the year, though, so who knows...

Man some of the posters in this thread makes me wonder if they actually read modern comics or if they just come in to take potshots.

LOL, same. Remember Voyager being a founding Avenger? Comic books are pulling this kind of stuff all the time.

[Prof. Warren]

I guess we view things differently then because it's pretty easy to reconcile the reboots. If it saw print after COIE, it's part of that continuity. Doesn't matter if the stories eventually reference similar events from the pre-existing universe. It's a different continuity and the events can't have happened the same way. Every reboot is a re-imagining.

Marvel is constantly inserting characters and events in it's history that aren't just " events between the panels that you didn't see" but full on changes to pre-existing stories that we are still supposed to believe are canonical history except for the parts that they will change at random in some future story and then maybe change back, but maybe not.You never know. It destroys story logic in ways that reboots don't. At least for me.

I don't hate the Marvel characters. I just hate the retcon happy mess that they've made of things while pretending it's still the same universe. The creative bankruptcy of comics division, exemplified with the fact that almost ever story I read about is still more retcons piled on more retcons is pretty sad to me to. I used to really dig Marvel. Probably more than DC at times, but, it's just ruined for me. Too many retcons. Too much character deconstruction. Too many stories that have sweeping consequences that just get ignored. Too many deaths and resurrections. It's just a fictional homunculous trying to pass itself off as the real deal.

When I started reading comics in the 70's the creators built and added to the Universe that Stan, Jack, Steve, and everyone else created. It seems like all the current folks at Marvel know how to do is strip mine and rewrite the past. Over and over and over etc etc.

Sorry for the derailment. Just wanted to get that off my chest. Really down on Marvel and their creative decisions lately.

But Marvel does have the same continuity it's always had. DC doesn't.

Does the Marvel continuity requires a little fudging to make it all work? Yes, of course.

Tony Stark is still the same character he always was, even if he no longer began his life as Iron Man in Vietnam.

Aunt May is somehow not at Death's Door anymore and seems younger now than she was in the '60s and '70s, even though there's no explanation for this.

There's many examples like this where there's been invisible rebooting over the years but that's a given when you have characters that exist over decades and yet still remain the same general age.

Point being that the Marvel continuity is still intact. There aren't any actual breaks. That's not true of DC at all. You can draw a line, albeit a squiggly one, from every character today to their inception. You can't do that even a few years back for DC.

Whether that matters to someone as a reader is up to them. For some, continuity is not a priority.

But recently I read the Best of Gerry Conway Batman collection Vol. 2, collecting a run of his Batman and Detective Comics from the early '80s, and the first Marvel Masterworks of Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man, collecting the first 15 issues of that title from the late '70s. Had a ball reading both but reading them, Conway's Batman is from an entirely different DC universe than the Batman that's operating today. It's a different character, from a different world, with a different history. While the Spidey in Spectacular is the same one that I'll read about in ASM #11 today. For me, that's something I like as a fan.

And you could say, but those Batmans were before Crisis! Yeah, but today's Batman isn't the same one that was post-Crisis either. And he isn't even the same that was in the New 52, for that matter.

DC's continuity is a hot mess. And in trying to line it up, which I imagine is what Doomsday Clock is trying to do, it only becomes more of a mess.

Marvel isn't in that same boat, no matter how many retcons have come along.

[Knives]

There we go again this time no one will be spared and NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME .

At least they must undo the retcon with Wanda and Pietro if we have lucky.

Unfortunately they will not erase Secret Empire.

Funny think I'm reading something similar in DC coincidence?

[Prof. Warren]

LOL, same. Remember Voyager being a founding Avenger? Comic books are pulling this kind of stuff all the time.

And people freaked out about Voyager too - until the full story was told and her character didn't actually upend the history of the Avengers at all.

talked to a person in the know about this and i dont want to spoil anything before the intial press release but this is for a huge tribute book/limited series special event planned for stan lee

Not to doubt your person in the know but while Stan Lee would be an obvious answer to all these teases, the fact that they also make the claim that "Marvel History Will Be Broken" says to me that this is something more elaborate than a Stan tribute. And really, if this was a Stan tribute - why the need for all the mystery?

I don't know - maybe that really is all this is going to be. We'll find out one way or the other soon enough.

[Colossus1980]

Heh, watch it be tied to the Eternals at retrofit for the MCU.

I can see it being Eternals related to capitalize on the MCU movie.