Alonso, Brevoort Discuss Universe-Melding "Secret Wars," Address the Reboot Question

[jackolover]

no doubt WW2 characters will be erased or updated, and Frank Castle too.

No more Vietnam Vet

It's hard to say. The nostalgia with Operation SIN of the 1950's, seems like just a last gasp of the way the MU used to be, but yes, the references to Vietnam war for Stark and Castle will be consigned to the retcon library backlog. See, I don't get that. How can Marvel still uphold their view that Marvel history is not broken? They have blinkers on.

[Ambaryerno]

They are not getting rid of mutants!!! Uncanny and All-New sell too well. Despite all the paranoia, Marvel is a business and a businesses likes profit. I see two things that could happen:

1) They will streamline the X-Titles to 4-5 titles (including individual character titles) as opposed to 10+ titles. I'm OK with that. The franchise is currently in need of being streamlined.
2) They can incorporate the Ultimate version of the origin of mutant kind and thus sidestep some of the licensing woes with FOX. What characters can Fox use and what characters can Marvel Studios use, that sort of thing... I have just learned to accept movie synergy and move on.

Changing the origins of mutants in the books will have NO impact on the licensing deal. Changing origins of individual CHARACTERS will have NO impact on the licensing deal.

ANY attempt to "sidestep" anything is going to get Disney/Marvel beaten to a bloody pulp with a lawsuit the first vaguest hint that they may try to violate the license.

[Godlike13]

so is it a reboot or not

Doesn't seem like it. It doesn't seem like they're restarting their characters or their history, but more like they're salvaging characters from others realities and making them part of the main reality, forming a new reality.

[jackolover]

If they start merging or replacing characters with alt-universe versions that have different pasts, the distinction between this and a reboot becomes fairly meaningless.

Would they replace MU Peter Parker with Miles Morales?, or MU Steve Rogers with UU Steve Rogers?

Marvel could replace 2015 heroes with 1968 heroes and do it that way.

[Godlike13]

Would they replace MU Peter Parker with Miles Morales?, or MU Steve Rogers with UU Steve Rogers?

I think those guys will be fine, but they might replace characters like MU Fury Jr. with UU Fury.

[jackolover]

The difference is that in Flashpint some characters had histories that were VERY SIMILAR to what came before, (Batman, Green Lantern, mostly) but they weren't the SAME. There were some differences, often fairly big ones, once things began to be revealed. once you make it so that no superhero had appeared more than 5 years prior, no matter how superficially similar some aspects of a character may be, they can't possibly be the exact same version. That is not the case here. Every character participating can keep the entirety of their past 100% intact.



But there has been no mention at all of 'merging' characters. Just... Secret Wars, everyone fights (presumably, Battleworld and all) and then the victors are the characters in the main MU going forward. I somehow doubt that the majority of characters afterward won't be the 616 versions, it's just a way to fold in some of the more well liked alternate universe characters, like probably Miles Morales, but Peter Parker will most likely still be around as well.

SW -They will fight and the winners go forward? That's a pretty business oriented plot device. Seems awfully pathetic if that's what is going down.

[jackolover]

I think those guys will be fine, but they might replace characters like MU Fury Jr. with UU Fury.

That's fine. What other ones?

[Xalfrea]

Personally, I can't muster up caring about Secret Wars right now.

Between the dozens of people crying foul at there being a reboot, and just as many arguing back that it WON'T be a reboot, frankly both sides are just as rabid I find myself rather uncaring about Secret Wars and what kind of impact it could have at the moment.

Especially considering that, when it comes to Marvel, I really only care about one hero and book. Her story seems to be avoiding Secret Wars. So far, anyway. Something could end up happening, but until that comes, I can't muster up caring about Secret Wars, especially when there's the implications of "REBOOT! DEAD 4EVER!" written all over it.

The freaking Newsarama obituary is also pushing it and a little too much, IMO.

[xcoijoi]

Personally, I can't muster up caring about Secret Wars right now.

Between the dozens of people crying foul at there being a reboot, and just as many arguing back that it WON'T be a reboot, frankly both sides are just as rabid I find myself rather uncaring about Secret Wars and what kind of impact it could have at the moment.

Especially considering that, when it comes to Marvel, I really only care about one hero and book. Her story seems to be avoiding Secret Wars. So far, anyway. Something could end up happening, but until that comes, I can't muster up caring about Secret Wars, especially when there's the implications of "REBOOT! DEAD 4EVER!" written all over it.

The freaking Newsarama obituary is also pushing it and a little too much, IMO.

Not with you on this one. I'm really looking forward to Secret Wars.

As far as what Marvel is calling it in public, we can just wait to see what they label it, after the main event is over. Doesn't really matter, as long as they make it worth our while.

[Xalfrea]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disparaging the Secret Wars event itself. Pretty sure it'll be entertaining for what it is, and no matter how controversial it might get people will still find some entertainment out of it, similar to the divided opinions on Civil War.

My uncaring of the whole thing comes from two things: One, the seeming conspiracy paranoia at how Marvel as we know it is ending. Two, the fact that, so far, the only Marvel hero I truly care about has no involvement whatsoever so far.

Until Ms. Marvel starts getting involved in Secret Wars, or if the event itself will effect her, or the worst case scenario, Secret Wars completely eradicates her character, that's only when I'll either pay attention to the event or be pissed that my gateway comic character may be gone forever.

[jackolover]

This doesn't seem to be a reboot. Which is good as I don't want one of those.

As a total Marvel Zombie I will be getting this and I do hope to enjoy it. But:

A) Battleworld looks rubbish. The MU is great because of the recognisable locations. A sci-if crazy planet does not appeal at all (loved Secret Wars back in the day but nobody (except Ben Grimm) really wanted to stay).
B) If this is just a lame way to resurrect a bunch of characters or leave us with multiple Wolverines (or whoever) kicking around then that's also dull.

What was the Secret Wars to start with but a commercial interference in the MU, so what can we expect with this latest venture? Secret War is just another excuse to do what was done in 1986. It seems a little unimaginative like going back to old tropes. What was the purpose of the first Secret Wars? To install the Black suit in ASM?

[jackolover]

"The Ultimate Universe and the Marvel Universe are going to smash together," editor-in-chief Axel Alonso explained. "Imagine there's two pizzas. They're going to smash together. You're going to have all-new toppings. Some toppings are going to drop off. You're going to yell about some that are missing. You're going to love the new ones that are there. That's the new Marvel universe moving forward."

Two pizzas? I didn't read that quote. Was it in the lead article?

[xcoijoi]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disparaging the Secret Wars event itself. Pretty sure it'll be entertaining for what it is, and no matter how controversial it might get people will still find some entertainment out of it, similar to the divided opinions on Civil War.

My uncaring of the whole thing comes from two things: One, the seeming conspiracy paranoia at how Marvel as we know it is ending. Two, the fact that, so far, the only Marvel hero I truly care about has no involvement whatsoever so far.

Until Ms. Marvel starts getting involved in Secret Wars, or if the event itself will effect her, or the worst case scenario, Secret Wars completely eradicates her character, that's only when I'll either pay attention to the event or be pissed that my gateway comic character may be gone forever.

Well, you never know Xalfrea. She might be in there, somewhere.

My hopes are for Cap, Parker, and Thanos. Whatever version we end up with, I'd like them to have fundamentally the same moral character (or lack of it, in the case of Thanos). And if they can amp up Doom some, that's icing on the cake.

[GlennSimpson]

To me, if things like "the entire planet is destroyed and replaced with a battleworld and then at the end a new merged Earth is created" then I would dearly hope that it is a reboot. Because reading about a comics world where everybody has such an event (the destruction of the entire planet and moving as refugees to a new world) in their past, that's just a bizarre setting. That should result in an incredibly different society and culture.

The good thing about a reboot is that most of the time, the characters don't realize there WAS a reboot and they can continue with a fairly normal super-hero setting.

I'm actually inclined to think this will be a reboot. They are just doing the same thing DC did - downplaying the reboot-ness to the comics press up front, presumably trying to soften the blow for the old-timers.

[jackolover]

Knowing that they've been planning event for this for several years of retreats makes sense. In retrospect, for many franchises you can look at the AvX/MarvelNow dividing line as when character-driven stories stopped really being the point with a renewed focus on convention-breaking, since Marvel had a possible out hovering in the near future.

Avengers > Went from team as family to a meta-story about fighting the reboot
X-Men > Went from focus on species survival to mutants as actual terrorists contrasting with the purity of the original five
Captain America > Aging the character a decade and then entirely, new Cap
Iron Man > Sent him to space, made him adopted, turned him evil
Thor > Made him unworthy, new Thor
Spider-Man > Turned him evil (and successful), reversed that, had him battle a multi-versal threat
Wolverine > Took away his healing factor; killed him

Plus, lots of risk-taking that can be reversed if it backfires - killing young characters in Arena, making Inhumans a franchise, new Ms. Marvel, and tons of throwing unlikely series at the wall to see if they stick.

I don't know how I feel about Secret Wars yet, but at least some of the character choices leading up to it make more sense now!

Make more sense?

What do you think Marvel will do from here, revert everything back to before Marvel NOW?

But I do see your point that nothing matters anymore, from Marvel Now onwards, because Marvel can change it with a big event. Was that the point? Make stuff up for no reason and then flush it away?