This morning, Marvel has unveiled what its main superheroes will look like in the new Marvel universe — the one to be born after Secret Wars ends this fall.
There are some things we expected to see (hiya, Miles), and some we definitely didn't (long time no see, Red Wolf). But what's most conspicuous about the image isn't who's in it. It's who's missing.
Firstly, let's take a look at the image.
As you can see, the House of Ideas is branding its new universe "All-New, All-Different Marvel." We were hoping for something a bit more original — Marvel's used the "all-new, all-different" moniker many times in the past. But whatever.
Who's In
From left to right, we've got Agent Phil Coulson, star of ABC TV's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Swinging around above him is Spider-Gwen, the relatively new but popular character borne out of Spider-Verse. Until now, she's been relegated to an alternate universe where she was bitten by the radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker, but her inclusion here means she's jumping over to the new 616 — or whatever they end up calling it.
Spider-Woman: getting that
Above that trio is the original Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker. But is this the single Peter Parker from before Secret Wars, or the married one from Renew Your Vows? (Please be the second one, please be the second one...)
Next to Sam is Old Man Steve Rogers, who's still in the mix despite losing his super-soldier serum. He's not in bad shape for a 90+ year old. Front and center is Iron Man, who we're assuming is still Tony Stark. Will it be the Tony we're used to, or one of his alternates from Battleworld? Either way, that suit is new and different, especially with the weird straight edge running down the center of his helmet.
Down at Iron Man's feet is tiny little Ant-Man, who's not at all included solely because of his upcoming movie. Jane Foster is still Thor, though we think Marvel could've gotten a little more creative with her superhero name. She-Thor? Thorette? FemThor? C'mon. Doesn't she deserve her own identity?
The Vision floats above Thor, wearing a nicely-detailed new outfit. His prominence surely has nothing to do with...
Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel shows off her shape-shifting abilities next to Thor, followed by the surprise return of the Native American Avenger known as Red Wolf. We're also not reading anything into the fact that Red Wolf is the only archer in the image. No sirree we are not.
Lastly, in the top right corner, there's Miles Morales' Spider-Man. We're very curious to see how it's going to work to have two major heroes use the exact same name in the same universe. Might Miles get a new super-name? Spider-Teen? Then there's the fact that in this one image there are four Spider-heroes — two of whom are new to this universe. That's kind of a lot of Spiders.
Who's Not
Keeping in mind that this is a promotional image intended to show off some of the most prominent figures of the All-New All-Different Marvel universe, we can't take it as a comprehensive list. This is a universe with thousands of superheroes, and there are only fourteen in the image. Do the math.
That said, there are some major figures missing here. Hulk and Wolverine spring instantly to mind, but IGN is reporting that both heroes will be a big part of ANAD-MU, but there's a big twist: new characters will be taking on those mantles, much like Jane Foster did with Thor and Sam Wilson did with Captain America. Bruce Banner will no longer be the Hulk, though he will still be around, and Logan will not be Wolverine.
Hm.
But even more than that, there's one major omission from the image that's impossible to ignore.
There are no X-Men. A cynical person might believe that Marvel is ditching the X-Men altogether, for reasons related to the movie universe. That's hard to imagine, given how much money the various X-Men comics bring in for the publisher.
But it's hard to get past the fact that not a single mutant is included in the promo image. Back in 2012, when the publisher launched its "Marvel NOW!" initiative, a similar image was released and circulated. It looked like this.
There are no less than four mutants in that piece of artwork: Wolverine, Cyclops, Cable and young Jean Grey. Far be it from us to infer too much from one image. We're trying really hard not to.
But we're failing. Is this... goodbye?
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