Unless you've been living under a rock (or just don't f*ck with comics), you'd know that the Marvel Universe is currently engaging in some Secret Wars, which spelled the end of the Marvel Universe as we once knew it. The third issue of this mega Marvel event dropped this week, and we got some insight into how the final incursion between Marvel's main universes changed the entire landscape into one mysterious world: Battleworld. This new world finds Dr. Victor Von Doom as it's god, with many familiar faces from Marvel eras past and present in new, interesting (and at times, totally different) roles. While you'd think that fans would love to just watch the story unfold without an idea of what's to come, the comic book powerhouse has already started dropping hints at what the Marvel landscape will look like (and who it'll feature) post-Secret Wars.
In an interview with Mashable, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso confirmed that every Marvel title will be reset to #1, effectively rebooting the entire Marvel Universe. Falling under the "All-New, All-Different" banner (which we caught a glimpse of via the Free Comic Book Day All-New, All-Different Avengers book), these books are to be a great start point for those who may be interested in picking up a Marvel book for the first time. The entire new line of books (which will be 55-60 titles) will pick up the story eight months after the events of Secret Wars, and will find our heroes changed in some way—while some might be rocking different gear, others could end up having to deal with entirely new changes.
Alonso hinted at a few of those changes: first, Wolverine returns from the adamantium bath that merked him back in late 2014, although Alonso does drop a "who is Wolverine?" tidbit in there. As you can see in the image above, there are two Spider-Men—one being Miles Morales, the other maybe not being Peter Parker? There's also a change coming to the Hulk; Alonso only mentions that "the same people who went crazy with female Thor will have a field day with this one."
As you can see, some of the key characters featured are some of the biggest to emerge over the last few years: Miles Morales, aka the former Ultimate Universe's Spider-Man, the female Thor (who was recently revealed to in fact be Jane Foster), Sam Wilson—fka Falcon—as Captain America (with old man Steve Rogers still kicking), Spider-Gwen S(tacy), and Ms. Marvel are all in tow. Also featured are Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD, Spider-Woman, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Iron Man (is that Tony Starks in the suit, or nah?), and Vision. Notice how many of those characters are either in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or will be in the MCU?
Another interesting note from this image is that aside from Wolverine, there's been no talk of mutants or X-Men, nor are there any Fantastic Four mentions. The Internet has been speculating that Marvel not owning the movie rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four properties, coupled with the growth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, spells doom for those properties in the comic book realm. It's not like the X-Men are gone, but Secret Wars #3 does shed some light on what's going on with three of the Fantastic Four. It'll be interesting to see how all of this plays out.
We have an entire summer of Secret Wars to get through, but one key about this is that it's much bigger than your normal "we got a new staff, let's restart this comic"—Marvel's making a huge shift (Alonso is quoted as saying Secret Wars "ends a chapter in Marvel Publishing") in their Universe(s); once the Secret Wars ends, now is the PERFECT time for new, interested readers to hop on board.
UPDATE 7:17PM: Remember all of that talk earlier of the X-Men and Fantastic Four possibly not being in the Marvel Universe due to their films not being a part of the MCU? Welp, it looks like some of those characters will be in the "All-New, All-Different" Marvel Universe:
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As you can see, we have what appears to be a new Wolverine—aka X-23, a young woman who was actually cloned from the original Wolverine. Old Man Logan, who has his own Secret Wars tie-in comic, also appears, so it looks like he might survive this mega event and live on in whatever the new Marvel U becomes. Fantastic Four member Thing is featured along side Rocket Raccoon, both wearing what appear to be matching outfits, while the Star-Lord looks the exact same as he did before the Secret Wars went down. Daredevil is also included, although he's rocking a new outfit (which we have to assume is a wink at the fire Netflix series), as is Baron Zemo as the "heroic" Citizen V.
You can check out CBR for the full run-down of who's included, and get your speculation regarding what this all could mean in the comments.
