Should Marvel have rebooted after Hickman's Secret Wars

[jackolover]

I would have liked a post Secret Wars reboot. Much like the sudden transition from the 616 to Battleworld was so stark, Marvel could have had the white light everyone walked into at the end, and then have this restart of all the stories at 1960’s levels, but in 2016. Start the stories in 2016 like the characters just appeared for the first time, like they did in “Heroes Reborn” TPB. Secret Wars was “Heroes Reborn”, basically, so doing a “Heroes Return” would have fit the bill nicely, as Franklin Richards instigated both of them.

The reboot after SW 2015 could have given an opportunity to update heroes to a modern 21st Century setting as “year one”. Continuity could have remained in its purest form, (without the dates), and all the baggage of Civil War could be removed to stop any animosity issues. Especially what needed removal was all greying, darkening of characters due to that period 2005 to 2015. If that could be wiped out, super heroes could have respect for each other, and we wouldn’t be plodding through all the hangovers like Steve Rogers / Tony Stark, Doom /Richards, Parker / MJ, BP / Namor. Everybody would be set in place like CW never happened, (like circa in 2003), but 13 years later in 2016. That was what I expected to happen after SW 2015.

I like the idea characters just wake up in a new day, much like after House of M finishing, or post Age of Ultron (both of which would be consigned to oblivion as never happening in a reboot). The horrible thing is that after 2003, the idea was grasped that super heroes needed to be made criminals. Readers were deprived in this whole period by having criminal super heroes pushed at them. Maybe they deserve to have them back?

Diversity and millennials do need to be addressed, so maybe a reboot could just have these new super heroes injected in this new world? I don’t think classical heroes would resist that kind of change.

[JKtheMac]

I would have liked a post Secret Wars reboot. Much like the sudden transition from the 616 to Battleworld was so stark, Marvel could have had the white light everyone walked into at the end, and then have this restart of all the stories at 1960’s levels, but in 2016. Start the stories in 2016 like the characters just appeared for the first time, like they did in “Heroes Reborn” TPB. Secret Wars was “Heroes Reborn”, basically, so doing a “Heroes Return” would have fit the bill nicely, as Franklin Richards instigated both of them.

The reboot after SW 2015 could have given an opportunity to update heroes to a modern 21st Century setting as “year one”. Continuity could have remained in its purest form, (without the dates), and all the baggage of Civil War could be removed to stop any animosity issues. Especially what needed removal was all greying, darkening of characters due to that period 2005 to 2015. If that could be wiped out, super heroes could have respect for each other, and we wouldn’t be plodding through all the hangovers like Steve Rogers / Tony Stark, Doom /Richards, Parker / MJ, BP / Namor. Everybody would be set in place like CW never happened, (like circa in 2003), but 13 years later in 2016. That was what I expected to happen after SW 2015.

I approve of the sentiment to remove the darkness, and I felt that Hickman was setting the pieces up specifically to do this. That wouldn’t have required a reboot though. All that would have taken would be a follow through by editorial. It was there for the taking. It still is IMO.

[jackolover]

I approve of the sentiment to remove the darkness, and I felt that Hickman was setting the pieces up specifically to do this. That wouldn’t have required a reboot though. All that would have taken would be a follow through by editorial. It was there for the taking. It still is IMO.

I hope you’re right. We’re still waiting.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Post-secret wars were as good a time as any to reboot. I don't think it would have been well received and we'd be complaining about it still. It will never be the magical fix-it people want it to be.

Best just keep moving forward.

On Kamala and her friends, you would just have to push them forward and give them IDs and/or powers. It be like making them less Robin and more Beast Boy if people get what I'm saying.

[Iron Maiden]

I don't think we should forget Carol's rape and impregnation because then it could happen again.

I am skeptical about that. I think Chris Claremont's follow up in an Avengers annual addressed all the reasons why that story was so wrong in the first place.

[Rosebunse]

I am skeptical about that. I think Chris Claremont's follow up in an Avengers annual addressed all the reasons why that story was so wrong in the first place.

Yes, yes it did. But we can never be too careful.

[TheMaker1610]

I am skeptical about that. I think Chris Claremont's follow up in an Avengers annual addressed all the reasons why that story was so wrong in the first place.

Out of curiousity, which annual was it?

[JKtheMac]

I hope you’re right. We’re still waiting.

I suspect it is too late. The older fans rejected the shift towards a cast sprinkled with newer less cynical, less tragic, younger characters.

[JKtheMac]

On Kamala and her friends, you would just have to push them forward and give them IDs and/or powers. It be like making them less Robin and more Beast Boy if people get what I'm saying.

I get what you are saying but it is not necessary at all. Most of them are not broken so why fix them? Champions continues to be popular enough to survive. Sure, it goes through reboot cycles but so does everything.

[leokearon]

Out of curiousity, which annual was it?

Avengers Annual #10, the first appearance of Rogue

[Chainsaw Vigilante]

Well they did reboot it but in a half assed way and only to further say "continuity doesn't matter, just make up what you want".
A hard reboot would have been a disaster and would have been reverted in little time (DC's reboots can't even stick for a couple of years these days).

[Rosebunse]

My issue with a reboot is also that some of the more obscure characters are just sort of left to rot.

Take Morbius in the Ultimate universe. He was only in a couple of issues and then we just didn't see him again.

It took decades for many of our favorites to be created.

[Prof. Warren]

The reboot after SW 2015 could have given an opportunity to update heroes to a modern 21st Century setting as “year one”. Continuity could have remained in its purest form, (without the dates), and all the baggage of Civil War could be removed to stop any animosity issues. Especially what needed removal was all greying, darkening of characters due to that period 2005 to 2015. If that could be wiped out, super heroes could have respect for each other, and we wouldn’t be plodding through all the hangovers like Steve Rogers / Tony Stark, Doom /Richards, Parker / MJ, BP / Namor. Everybody would be set in place like CW never happened, (like circa in 2003), but 13 years later in 2016. That was what I expected to happen after SW 2015.

When anyone says that there's been a darkening of Marvel characters in the modern age, it just makes me think that these people haven't read any Marvel before that time.

Or, certainly, that they don't comprehend that Marvel's heroes have always been psychologically darker and often grey in their morality.

I think because Silver and Bronze Age books automatically read as "innocent" to us now that it's hard to remember or understand that Marvel of the '60 and '70s was a jarring contrast to what superhero comics had been. The heroes were frequently jaded, angry, capable of making poor and sometimes selfish decisions. To portray Marvel characters in this way today is simply being true to the spirit of their conception. There has never been a time when the Marvel universe was an innocent place.

[Rosebunse]

It should be pointed out that it was Marvel that helped push the Dark Age by killing off Gwen Stacy...

But didn't Stan Lee want one of the draws of Marvel to be that this was a darker world than what DC was doing? That these were characters who were often lost and confused about their place in their world?

Also, like, the Carol rape baby thing, that didn't happen recently. Then you had her own alcoholism, Tony's alcoholism, everything that happened to Angel, it's not like Blade was ever a happy man, the Silver Surfer...

[seldeguerande]

I don't like reboot, but i hated the way ANAD marvel was handled. They should have at LEAST devoted ONE (just one!) issue to the aftermath in NYC: i mean, Hickman's run ends with Tony and Cap fighting it off on New-york (and technically, stark is both inverted and under extremis influence at this point), saying they will never be friends again, it ends with the illuminatis (at least beast, tony, reed, and strange) agreeing to go to jail after the battle, it ends with dr strange basically being damned and missing his soul, Tony no longer having any friends.

It ends with this, and weend up NEVER discussing it again. It's weird: just one issue, showing the illuminatis being pardoned, and steve and tony discussing, is all i asked. It was very poorly handled, and full of unnecessary mysteries (it took months before we even knew for sure that the evnt in NY did in fact happen and people remembered them. And possibly a year before we have had any follow up on things like rocket having children, for example, which lead to people believing it was retconned. That plus the mysteries around cyclops, the delays: it was awful, so confusing. A clean reboot would have been better.)