Reboot the Marvel Universe

[Harpsikord]

I know, I know: rebooting the Marvel universe is such a touchy subject. For the longest time now Marvel has been about it's past and it's history, embracing it and continuing to call it forward, however this has led to entering Marvel Comics for new readers being a bit of a problem. The books just aren't as accessible as they should be, and certainly something can be said about them seeing better days, or at the very least having gone through waxing and waning eras of quality. So, the idea behind this thread is thus: the higher ups at Dismarvel have made the call to reboot the Marvel Universe, and the line of books entirely, and you have been called upon to be the architect of this so-called reboot... so, what do you do? How do you go about it? What does this new universe look like? What books are there?

From a plot perspective I would do something that throws all of this on it's head. A villain has put the Marvel universe on its head, and there is no way out anymore - either they succumb to the villain and the mass destruction that they have caused or that they will cause, or they start all over again. The few heroes that remain on Earth 616 have a big decision on their hands, and in true heroic fashion, they still choose to attempt to stop the villain. The underdogs that they are, they are overpowered, overthrown, and for the most part fail in their job. The last hero standing flees the battle, and reaches out to some cosmic force - Order and Chaos, the One Above All, the Phoenix Force, or even the Infinity Stones - and asks for a second chance to start over. For a new beginning. For mercy. And they are granted it. Using this older universe as a base a new Earth 616 is forged, a fresher Earth 616. We join the stories a few years into their publication. Everyone relevant is established in some way or another. The universe is new, but recognizable. Almost like the New 52, except without the grim and dark feel that the majority of those books had.

This new universe would be a little bit more reflective of the modern world. While the new universe would obviously still be filled with the classic characters that people have come to know and love, the characters would be a bit more diversified, with classic characters filling minority roles where it makes sense. The books would be a mix of old and familiar, though set in the new universe. No character would be featured in more than one team book, though some would have their own solo titles. The lineup would look a little bit like this:

Marvel Comics
Telling the history of the new Marvel Universe! The Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Defenders... they're all here, and here is where you'll find out how they formed and the threats that caused them to become the heroes that they are today! Whether it's the Avengers' original battle with the trickster god Loki, the Fantastic Four's fateful flight, or the X-Men's first battle with the Brotherhood, all will be discovered her!

The Avengers
The Earth's Mightiest heroes are back! Captain America, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Thor, the Wasp, the Hulk, Spectrum, and the Black Panther make up the current lineup of the Avengers, coming together with the express purpose of taking up arms against the largest threats to the Earth and making sure that their plans are thwarted.

The Defenders
Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Elektra, Daredevil, Silk, and the White Tiger are the protectors of the streets of New York. As the villainous ninja organization known as the Hand makes their attempt on turning New York City into their own personal Shadowland, only these seven heroes (if they can be called that) can stop them!

The Midnight Sons
When a young, burgeoning witch by the name of Jennifer Kale encounters a strange creature and begins to have visions of the end of days, she brings together those most intrinsically tied to the occult to help her prevent it! Doctor Strange, Jennifer Kale, Ghost Rider, Elsa Bloodstone, Werewolf By Night, Satana and Daimon Hellstrom make up the Midnight Sons!

The Ultimates
Space. The final frontier. Or is it? A strange young woman by the name of America Chavez claims to have memories of other universes, including one that directly preceded this one. When she realizes that this new universe is missing one vital piece, she brings together Blue Marvel, Supernova, and the Silver Surfer to answer one question: what happened to Galactus, Devourer of Worlds?

The Invaders
Led by the Black Widow, the Invaders are the seedy underbelly of the Avengers, sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. to do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of the planet! Do Black Widow, The Winter Soldier, Misty Knight, Ant-Man, Colleen Wing, the Falcon, and Songbird have what it takes to defeat Hydra or will they crack under the pressure? After all, when one head is removed, three grow in it's place...

The Champions
It isn't easy being young. The Champions know this well. Relatively new to the hero scene means that they're often underappreciated and under-represented, but being overlooked is something that Ms Marvel, Spiderboy, Brawn, Viv Vision, Kid Nova, Bucky, and Ironheart are used to - and something they make work. After all, not being in the public eye makes it that much easier to protect the little guy!

New Avengers
It's been ten years since the old guard fell, and in their absence the younger heroes of have had to step up. The future belongs to the youth, and Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Lucy in the Sky, the Scarlet Warlock, the Hulk (Skaar), Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Victorious, Iron Woman (Riri Williams), Captain Marvel (Teddy Altman), and Captain America (Elijah Bradley) are the new Avengers - ready to protect and serve, and right the sins of their forefathers!

The Fantastic Four
The First Family, and the first superheroes in this universe - and every universe! The Fantastic Four (Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Thing, and the Human Torch) are the pre-eminent science heroes in the universe. When they detect an anomaly deep in the heart of the Negative Zone, they react - and become stranded!

The Future Foundation
While the F4 are away, the Future Foundation will play... so to speak! The Vision, She-Hulk, Spider-Man, and Shuri are the b-team for the Fantastic Four, taking up their protection of New York and the world proper... that is, if they can survive babysitting Franklin and Valeria.

The New Fantastic Four
Ten years after the event, Valeria Richards is (one of) the smartest people in the world. When she discovers that spatial distortions have begun to tear the world apart, she recruits her own, new Fantastic Four in an attempt to stop it from worsening! Valeria, her brother Franklin, Moon Girl, and the Wizard (Bentley Wittman) must save the world from this strange, unnatural phenomenon!

Uncanny X-Men
Cyclops, Jean Grey, Thunderbird, Storm, Mimic, Sunpyre, and Beast are the Uncanny X-Men! Protecting and serving a world that hates and fears them, but... is that enough? With tensions at an all time high and the introduction of the Mutant Registration Act, are the X-Men truly making a difference?

X-Men
Nightcrawler, Polaris, Quicksilver, Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, and Angel make up the second team of X-Men! When Mystique delivers Nightcrawler and Rogue the Will of Destiny, the X-Men are compelled to stop Destiny's prophecy from coming to fruition.

X-Force
Tasked with protecting mutantkind from its seediest threats, X-Force was brought together by the mysterious soldier known as Cable. Now, as Mr Sinister gets closer to perfecting his ultimate mutant super soldier, it's up to Cable, Domino, Wolverine, Revanche, Shatterstar, Colossus, and Shadowcat to stop him.

X-Factor
X-Factor is a government-sanctioned team of mutants that works directly with S.H.I.E.L.D. in an attempt to improve optics to the general populace. Banshee, Frenzy, Forge, Aurora, Northstar, Dazzler, and Havok have the figurative world on their shoulders... and can they really trust their handler, Cameron Hodge?

New Mutants
When young mutants are cast from their home with no place to go or to turn to, the Vanisher is always there, ready and willing to give them a home! But when Iceman, Boom Boom, Cannonball, Moonstar, Sunspot, Magik, and X-23 realize that not everything is at seems with Vanisher's Fallen Angels, it becomes their job to stop him!

Exiles
Marvel Girl, Bishop, Wiccan, Blink, Speed, Nocturne, and Morph! The children of dead universes, the Exiles are brought together with one specific task: to prevent the Multiverse from destroying itself! Hopping from one reality to the next, the Exiles' work is as necessary as it is unseen and unrecognized.

New X-Men
Ten years following The Event, things have changed for mutantkind. Mutants are no longer a minority: now, they are slowly becoming the dominant species on planet Earth, and the X-Men are recognized as some of the world’s greatest heroes - but not everyone feels the same way, and the sudden advent of the Nimrod Sentinel proves that! It’s up to Phoenix (Quentin Quire), Avatar (Hope Summers), Genesis, Surge, Indra, Bling!, and Talon (Gabby Kinney) to stop these machines, and prove that they have earned their place in the world.

[Harpsikord]

(cont'd)

The Asgardians
Tasked with the protection of the realm of the Gods, Asgard, Angela, Balder, Lady Sif, Heimdall, Sera, Volstagg, and Fandral raise their arms against the likes of Loki, the Enchantress, and more in order to ensure Ragnarok does not come to pass!

The Inhumans
The house of Boltagon - presently consisting of Black Boot, Medusa, Ahura, Crystal, Karnak, Swain, and Triton - has ruled Attilan for centuries. But what happens when one with an even stronger claim to the throne rises?

Agents of SHIELD
The heads of Hydra are many, and they spread far throughout the globe. A covert unit of SHIELD, led by the legendary Nick Fury himself, has been tasked with removing the threat of Hydra once and for all! It's up to Fury, Quake, Machine Man, Mockingbird, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, and Phil Coulson to stop them before Hydra becomes all.

Hawkeye Investigations
Kate Bishop and Trish Walker - private eyes. Together, they form Hawkeye Investigations! There is nowhere that Kate and Trish are willing to go, however when one of their cases hits close to home, they have to work together to overcome it.

Guardians of the Galaxy
The vicious aliens known as the Brood have thrown a coup. The Galactic council is dead. Now, it falls on the shoulders of the so-called heir of the Spartaxi empire, but he's an intergalactic space pirate! It's up to Star Lord, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Moondragon, Groot, Martyr, and Beta Ray Bill to stop the Brood and their queen before they take over the entire Galaxy.

Peter Parker: the Amazing Spider-Man
Peter Parker's college career has been tough. Between keeping up his grades, losing his girlfriend, and moonlighting as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, he's been struggling. The last thing he needs is to find out his favorite professor is Doctor Octopus!

Jessica Drew: the Spectacular Spider-Woman
Jessica Drew was made to be the perfect secret agent… And she is. But where did she come from before then? Adrift without her memories, Jessica uses her SHIELD assets to get to the bottom of her origin, but what she finds may be more than she bargains for!

Miles Morales: the Ultimate Spiderboy
High school is always tough, and that's no different for Miles Morales. Miles has always felt like a spider out of its web, but when he begins attending Uptown Prep, it's even worse! It doesn't help that his roommate is the grandson of the Vulture…

Gwen Stacy: the Sensational Spider-Girl
One year ago, it was believed that Gwen Stacy died at the hands of the Green Goblin… but how can that be? Gwen remembers dying, but she also remembers waking up with the same abilities as Spider-Man on the banks of the Hudson River! Now, Gwen struggles to convince those around her that she is really Gwen Stacy… and wonders herself if that is, indeed, the truth.

Black Cat
When Felicia Hardy found out that her father was the super thief known as the cat, she wanted to better than him - but when everything is ripped away from her in her first year of college, Felicia spirals out of control… and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Watch out: don't let the Black Cat cross your path.

Captain America
What happens when you take a man out of time? Steve Rogers has been forced to acclimate to a world that he doesn't recognize, or even agree with. He takes to the streets to not just right the injustices of supervillains, but of the United States at large!

Captain Marvel
Captain Mar-Vell left big shoes to fill, but Carol Danvers believes that she's up to the task! When Ronan the Accuser of the kree comes to Earth to judge Mar-Vell of his crimes, Carol is the one left bearing the brunt of it. Can she convince Ronan she had nothing to do with what came before, or will this end in all out warfare?!

Iron Man
Tony Stark originally created the Ultron program to help the world: when it went haywire, he was crucial in stopping it, but now his reputation is in ruins. When an impostor in one of the earliest versions of his suit begins to terrorize Los Angeles, Tony sets out to clear his name and find who's responsible!

Thor
Following the death of the All Father, Odin, Thor Odinson is left with more responsibility than he believes himself able to bare. Escaping the realm of Asgard, Thor takes to Midgard in order to discover - is he truly prepared to be the king of all Ten Realms?

Jessica Jones
Alias Investigations has seen better days. Forced to close her business, Jessica Jones hasn't felt this powerless since the days that she was stuck under the Purple Man. When she finds evidence that he may be involved with her misfortune, however, she is forced to reach out and investigate herself.

Doctor Strange
Stephen Strange is a man of many mysteries. When magical beings throughout the known realms begin to show up dead, Doctor Strange takes it among himself to attempt to find who is committing these heinous crimes. The catch? Strange and his partner, Clea, are next on the list!

Scarlet Witch
Caught between two worlds, one magical and one mundane, Wanda Maximoff is suddenly presented with a choice: is she a witch, or is she a mutant? Torn between the two sides of herself, Wanda sets out on a journey to discover just who she really is and if there is a way that she can be… both.

Wolverine
Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and what he does ain't pretty. When a feral man from Logan's past shows up, he finds himself up against a for that he can't simply kill. Logan must hunt this 'Sabretooth,' outsmart him, and figure out just what they are to one another!

Daredevil
Hell's Kitchen has been overrun by Black Mariah's gangsters and thugs - and it's up to Daredevil to stop them, with the help of Luke Cage and the Iron Fist! But when it turns out that Mariah is receiving help from Bullseye and Hammerhead, things become a little… complicated.

Elektra
What does it mean to be the perfect death? Elektra Natchios was taken by the hand and molded into their perfect weapon, the perfect host to the beast, but… is that all she is? What becomes of an Assassin when she no longer wants to kill?

Magik
Illyana Rasputina is a girl out of time. Raised at a hyper-accelerated rate in the hell dimension of Limbo, she tries her best to fit in and be a normal girl. But with the Hell Lord known as Belasco following her every single move, will Illyana ever truly be normal?

X-23
Laura Kinney has a past, and it is one that she doesn't like to dwell on. When a small girl by the name of Gabby shows up on the doorstep of Beat Street, bearing a great resemblance to Laura, she sets out to find out exactly where Gabby came from.

The Punisher
Lost to grief and rage, Frank Castle was a man with a purpose: destroy all crime at all costs. Now the Kingpin has taken notice of him, and has paid Frank a large sum to take down the competition! Little did he know that the Kingpin himself was on Frank's list…

Important things to note is, like I mentioned, not all of these characters are a 1:1 change from the way that they were in the original universe. Certain characters have had their races changed (such as the Storm siblings, Laura Kinney, Doctor Strange, etc) and are potentially gender and/or sexual minorities as well. Origins may be a little different than what people are used to. Stories are, perhaps, familiar but with a new and fresh bend to them.

The New line of books are, effectively, ten years later in the old universe after the catastrophic event caused most of the older heroes to retire or be killed by the Villain. The pieces have been picked up and those heroes have brought everything back from the brink, and it is also the only book that I would allow team character overlapping.

That’s what I would do! What about you all?

[jb681131]

To me rebooting is not the right solution.
A reboot means new origin stories. And redifining the vilains.
There are already too many X-Men or too many versions of Spider-Man.
This only means more confugion.

What should be done is like the Bronze Age of comics (in the 70's). The comics evolved (because the comics code disapeared) without any reboot of the Silver Age.
And let's stop with the 3-8 chapter stories. Let's do more 1 chapter stories and 12-24 chapters stories.
And maybe they should do like in europe, comics are rarely chaptered. They are one-shots. Of course some are pre-publish in flopies as chapters but it's all the same story. Not a substory part of a bigger one.

[U.N. Owen]

Reboots are a tool and never a solution.

A shitty reboot like the New 52 actually isolated many new readers since they were completely tone deaf when it came to the audience. Hence this comic.





If you reboot, you start from ground zero. Do not start with a connected universe. Build the foundations of each character or team and then build up.

Let's use the Fantastic Four for example. Start with their origin story of being bombarded by cosmic rays and becoming the team. Spend issues on them juggling the start of their business with their superheroics like Mole Man crashing charity dinners.

Make your comics one-shots and two-parters, not drawn out story arcs. Comics are way more expensive now than they were decades ago, especially for 20 pages of entertainment. You need to constantly justify to your audience that this is worth 3.99, 4.99, 5.99, or 10,000.99 or whatever the hell you're charging.

And please, for the love of all that is good and clean, stay away from "this will change everything" event comics with crossovers and tie-ins for the first year. Have a status quo before you uproot it.

[Digifiend]

A couple of these don't make sense. You have Iceman as a New Mutant... that was only a thing in the Evolution cartoon, he should be on one of the senior teams. And Champions exists, despite the fact that most of the senior heroes are themselves just starting out? You also included "Kid Nova", even though you're not using Richard Rider and Sam Alexander would therefore be the only Nova. You also included Ironheart - there'd be no reason for her to later change to Iron Woman in New Avengers, as it's not a -girl name. If Peter's only in college, then he's not much older than Miles, so no reason for Miles to suddenly be Spiderboy (besides, they can't actually use that name, it's co-owned by DC as it's an Amalgam mantle). No reason for Gwen to be Spider-Girl either. The Ghost Spider name actually works with that "back from the dead" plot.

[H-E-D]

Personally, I'll never be on board with a reboot... but, I gotta say, if there had to be one, my gut instinct is that there shouldn't be a big crisis-style story to lead to a reboot. Just have all the 616 books come to a conclusion, no cosmic disintegration or anything. And then start a new universe, no explanation needed, like the Ultimate line.

All the big Crisis-style stories do is cause confusion. What's canon? Did something from the old universe survive? On and on. Especially since comics writers can't help but play with that stuff. It actually just ends up going the opposite direction, leaving things more convoluted and less accessible.


And, let's be real – continuity isn't really the thing keeping new readers away from reading monthly comics. It's that new readers don't go to comic shops. It's that, if we're being honest, monthly comics provide a low amount of content for their cost.

You want to get new readers into comics? The answer is OGNs and accessible trade collections. All-New Spider-Man #1, with 20 pages of story? Not a great place to start somebody, no matter the continuity. But Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection #1? It's the perfect comic for somebody who's just starting out.

DC has the right idea with their Ink and Zoom lines.

[pageturner]

go for it reboot away

[Prof. Warren]

Never reboot.

Launch another Ultimate style line, maybe, but never reboot the main universe.

[XPac]

THe Ultimate Universe was a better sollution that rebooting.

Simply tell different stories with the same characters and say it's a different universe. Bang. That's your reboot for those who want it. For those that don't, you get the regular marvel universe.

[Dr. Skeleton]

I'm all for a reboot, the Marvel Universe is in such sad shape it's not even funny.

[Omega Alpha]

THe Ultimate Universe was a better sollution that rebooting.

Simply tell different stories with the same characters and say it's a different universe. Bang. That's your reboot for those who want it. For those that don't, you get the regular marvel universe.

Yes, but maybe this time don't let Jeph Loeb near it.

[Mutant God]

The Ultimate Universe was a better solution that rebooting.

Simply tell different stories with the same characters and say it's a different universe. Bang. That's your reboot for those who want it. For those that don't, you get the regular marvel universe.

I'll go with this, starting a new universe/game is a better choice then just deleting the old game/universe.

[Username taken]

Never reboot.

Launch another Ultimate style line, maybe, but never reboot the main universe.

This.

Reboots simply don’t work.

[Anthony W]

Marvel doesn't need to reboot.

Marvel just needs to cancel titles, a lot of titles.

Get the superhero line down to about twenty-five to thirty comics.