World War X

[BitParallel]

Well put, capandkirby

I, too, don’t think they will go heroes vs heroes route anymore. They’ll team up against a common enemy, could be evil mutants because the fact Krakoa has A-list villains as a council member is a bit suspicious.

Wasn’t there a theory claiming The Maker is Xavier?

[PlatinumThorns]

I haven't been reading the X-books so I take your word on that. But I do think it's potent to Marvel leading to that Marvel-wide something with Ewing at the helm of it. I mean, they've stated as such. And several of the books are becoming more and more interconnected, so I don't think the Orchis mention in Hulk, nor it's ties with Shadow Base, is casual. I'll explain:

The interconnected parts:

Cap is on the run, currently, after having been falsely framed for Thaddeus Ross' murder. Ross was the original person who was head of the Shadow Base, and was given a billion dollar budget to dissect the Hulk and make more Hulks, ostensibly by the government. It was stated in Immortal Hulk that the Avengers didn't want to turn the Hulk's body over to Ross, at all, but their hands were tied because of political pressure.

In Cap's book he is fighting a group called the Power Elite who are composed of the Lukins (with Red Skull), the Chadwicks, a terrorist group of white nationalists called the Watchdogs, AIM, Wilson Fisk, as the mayor of New York, and a new Scourge of the Underworld, whoever he/she may be. Also, Selene is a part of this group.

In this week's Immortal Hulk it was mentioned that Ross, unlike Hulk and Rick Jones, is perma dead. Another interesting part here is that the Power Elite are controlling public perception of regular folks through the Marvel equivalent of Fox News. And Ewing also wrote in yesterday's Hulk about how podcasts are used to sway public perception towards who's an enemy of the people and who is not. So again, shady government. Humanity being apathetic. The rich, like the Lukins, the Chadwicks and Fisk controlling the public and running things behind the scenes.

In Avengers, Invaders, the War of the Realms event and now Hulk, too, Roxxon, an evil corporation whose CEO is Dario Agger, the Minotaur has been a major presence. Roxxon sided with the Dark Elves during WotR. They killed Atlanteans rather ruthlessly in Avengers. They stole Namor's bomb, which turns humans into Atlanteans, in Invaders. They been hinted to have their hands in politics as well, owning several politicians. Well, not so much hinted as blatantly stated in both Avengers and Invaders. I asked Zdarsky about the connection between Avengers and Invaders re:Roxxon, he said it was absolutely deliberate. And now, in Hulk, Roxxon has become a target of Bruce Banner/Hulk and Namor, who have teamed up specifically to take them down. A bunch of us think that the real reason Namor turned Xavier down (other than the fact that Xavier and Namor have a personal beef, which was addressed in Invaders) is because Namor has his own war to rage on certain groups within humanity, and he and Hulk (Defenders!) are committed to doing it their way.

Before Ross was killed, he and Steve had an altercation in Avengers (which undoubtedly made it easier to frame Steve for his murder). It was over the fact that the Avengers voted T'Challa as chair and stated that they do not belong to any one government, thus them moving to the arctic and living in the hollowed out shell of a Celestial. Ross expressed concern that the Avengers now had firmer ties to Wakanda than the US. Steve told him to @#$% off in not so many words. Because of this, and because Namor cut the oceans off from humanity (for which no one can blame him, really), the US and Russia built their own superhero teams, both of which are eager to go after (declare war on) both the Avengers and Atlantis. All of this was orchestrated by Mephisto, who has a giant chessboard with all of these individual players on it, including a little Star Brand piece, and a little Kree Supreme Intelligence piece.

You also have that Weapon Plus solo featuring a Wolverine and Cap team-up that happened a few months back with the promise of more being involved with that story.

Yesterday's Immortal Hulk did a lot to tie this all together. The seeds are there. And like I said, I don't think Ewing name dropping Orchis, particularly in its connection to a government funded program meant to recreate the Hulk, is a coincidence. The overall reaching theme is government corruption, an Earth on the brink of collapse because of environmental concerns, the rich controlling things to their profit and their benefit, evil corporations literally ruled by devils, and humanity, as they did in Secret Empire, either not caring, or even embracing things as they are, though they are largely being manipulated into doing so or just haven't cared enough to fight it. Hell, Dario Agger said it outright in yesterdays Hulk. Humanity doesn't see it because it's easier not to.



Anyway, I believe that yes, war is coming, but I don't think it will be Avengers vs. X-Men, I believe that it will either be an Earth-is-doomed-due-to-the-greed-of-man scenario, and the Avengers and X-Men put aside their differences to stave that off, or government/evil corporations/Mephisto/etc. do everything they can to take out both groups, and supes and X-Men have to fight for their survival against them.

Ewing, Zdarsky, and Hickman, got together a bit ago. Obviously it could mean nothing besides some friends having a chat, but it sure is coincidental that these dudes in particular met up.

[BitParallel]

Ewing, Zdarsky, and Hickman, got together a bit ago. Obviously it could mean nothing besides some friends having a chat, but it sure is coincidental that these dudes in particular met up.

Can’t wait to see how things will unfold.

[Rosebunse]

Ewing, Zdarsky, and Hickman, got together a bit ago. Obviously it could mean nothing besides some friends having a chat, but it sure is coincidental that these dudes in particular met up.

If these three are together on a story, then this will be the single trippiest thing ever put down in Marvel.

Also, anyone else seen this?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/screenr...et-theory/amp/

This would actually have quite a bit of impact on the wider MU and might explain why and how the sides go to war.

[king of hybrids]

Ewing, Zdarsky, and Hickman, got together a bit ago. Obviously it could mean nothing besides some friends having a chat, but it sure is coincidental that these dudes in particular met up.

Ewing is taking over the cosmic side and also has the Korvac thing running. I can certainly see the latter plus the various Weapon Plus projects being Proto-novissima

[capandkirby]

Ewing is taking over the cosmic side and also has the Korvac thing running. I can certainly see the latter plus the various Weapon Plus projects being Proto-novissima

Interesting tidbits in today's Invaders issue that cement all this even further, courtesy of Mr. Zdarsky...



Roxxon, equipped with Namor's bomb that alters humans, is conducting human experimentation.

And according to the January solicitations for Immortal Hulk they eventually unleash their creations on the population of Phoenix, Arizona...

IMMORTAL HULK #29
AL EWING (W) • JOE BENNETT (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS
MARVELS X VARIANT COVER BY TBA
• Giant monsters have been unleashed in Phoenix, Arizona. The Roxxon Corporation is unavailable for comment.
• The people need help. They need the crusading outlaw with a heart of gold they read about in the Herald. They need their secret hero.
• Instead, they’re getting the IMMORTAL HULK.

Roxxon's motivation in all this? Apparently it's supply and demand. For a nice handy, dandy sum, anyone can buy superpowers, level the playing field, what could POSSIBLY go wrong...



More convinced than ever all these tie-ins are leading somewhere.

[Huntsman Spider]

Interesting tidbits in today's Invaders issue that cement all this even further, courtesy of Mr. Zdarsky...



Roxxon, equipped with Namor's bomb that alters humans, is conducting human experimentation.

And according to the January solicitations for Immortal Hulk they eventually unleash their creations on the population of Phoenix, Arizona...

IMMORTAL HULK #29
AL EWING (W) • JOE BENNETT (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS
MARVELS X VARIANT COVER BY TBA
• Giant monsters have been unleashed in Phoenix, Arizona. The Roxxon Corporation is unavailable for comment.
• The people need help. They need the crusading outlaw with a heart of gold they read about in the Herald. They need their secret hero.
• Instead, they’re getting the IMMORTAL HULK.

Roxxon's motivation in all this? Apparently it's supply and demand. For a nice handy, dandy sum, anyone can buy superpowers, level the playing field, what could POSSIBLY go wrong...



More convinced than ever all these tie-ins are leading somewhere.

That makes sense. Why should it be left up to chance and fate alone who gets superpowers? That being said, Roxxon taking advantage of superpower envy for riches is one of the biggest potential pitfalls of the transhumanist movement, that it will instead be left to those with money and access to engineer themselves into a literally superhuman overclass that reigns (and continues running roughshod) over the rest of humanity.

[king of hybrids]

In fairness hasn’t that been the real difference between the ever-boiling hate Marvel civilians have for mutants and the simmering hate they have for non-mutant superpowered folks: they fear being replaced by the former or being ruled by the later.

[Rosebunse]

In fairness hasn’t that been the real difference between the ever-boiling hate Marvel civilians have for mutants and the simmering hate they have for non-mutant superpowered folks: they fear being replaced by the former or being ruled by the later.

It would be nice for this to actually lead somewhere, especially given the same fear the mutants have about non-mutant supers, that they will be used to rule over them.

[Huntsman Spider]

In fairness hasn’t that been the real difference between the ever-boiling hate Marvel civilians have for mutants and the simmering hate they have for non-mutant superpowered folks: they fear being replaced by the former or being ruled by the later.

It would be nice for this to actually lead somewhere, especially given the same fear the mutants have about non-mutant supers, that they will be used to rule over them.

Or that the nonmutant supers will be humankind's proxies against mutants.

[Rosebunse]

Or that the nonmutant supers will be humankind's proxies against mutants.

Which would be a problem and the narrative does support it. Oh, and then we have the aliens.

[king of hybrids]

Or that the nonmutant supers will be humankind's proxies against mutants.

Non-mutant supers, probably. But not the existing superhuman population, since most would probably qualify as ‘failed prototypes’ compared to the presumably mass-produced Novissma of Moira 6, both in the fact that they were never mass produced and because superheroes are notoriously fractious and prone to bucking the leash (even the Winter Guard and China Force slip the leash too often to be relied on)

Any mass-production of superheroes and subsequent attack on Krakoa would probably require Orchis/whoever to hit the heroes and villains first; thus like the AI revolution probably makes that even more difficult

[Hybrid]

Do you think Reed Richards will be important as an anti-Krakoa character? It’s established that he’s very much against giving scumbag criminals like Sabretooth amnesty *just* for being mutants, and it’s clear he doesn’t like the situation in general. Of course, there’s the upcoming X-Men/Fantastic Four mini building off of this and showing Reed’s conflict over the mutants due to his son.

[king of hybrids]

Do you think Reed Richards will be important as an anti-Krakoa character? It’s established that he’s very much against giving scumbag criminals like Sabretooth amnesty *just* for being mutants, and it’s clear he doesn’t like the situation in general. Of course, there’s the upcoming X-Men/Fantastic Four mini building off of this and showing Reed’s conflict over the mutants due to his son.

Reed’s not happy about the X-Men allowing scum like Creed go free (on Krakoa) as Part of the amnesty, and considering Xavier’s previous attempts, Scott’s line about Franklin was probably taken in the worst possible terms; but I don’t think any of the heroes are anti-Krakoa, per se. While there’s certainly an ever-growing contempt between the X-Men and at least the NYC hero scene, they do grasp the need for the mutants to have somewhere marginally more safe, even if they don’t necessarily ‘get’ it.

I would also suggest that it would be really unwise for us (as fans of non-X franchises) to invite a big franchise battle, when the X-Fans can and have organised boycotts, it’s definitively proven that the tens of billions made by the MCU do not translate to comics sales at the best of times and the comics side did/still wishes to distance itself from the movies where they can.

[BroHomo]

Do you think Reed Richards will be important as an anti-Krakoa character? It’s established that he’s very much against giving scumbag criminals like Sabretooth amnesty *just* for being mutants, and it’s clear he doesn’t like the situation in general. Of course, there’s the upcoming X-Men/Fantastic Four mini building off of this and showing Reed’s conflict over the mutants due to his son.

As if RR hasn't worked with shady chars before. He's like best friends with Dr Doom lol.
What about the situation would RR not like tho?

Reed’s not happy about the X-Men allowing scum like Creed go free (on Krakoa) as Part of the amnesty, and considering Xavier’s previous attempts, Scott’s line about Franklin was probably taken in the worst possible terms; but I don’t think any of the heroes are anti-Krakoa, per se. While there’s certainly an ever-growing contempt between the X-Men and at least the NYC hero scene, they do grasp the need for the mutants to have somewhere marginally more safe, even if they don’t necessarily ‘get’ it.

Which is a lot more empathy than what some X-MEN "Fans" have expressed concerning the X-Men and Krakoa

I would also suggest that it would be really unwise for us (as fans of non-X franchises) to invite a big franchise battle, when the X-Fans can and have organised boycotts, it’s definitively proven that the tens of billions made by the MCU do not translate to comics sales at the best of times and the comics side did/still wishes to distance itself from the movies where they can.