Marvel Universe to End With Secret Wars

Back when that trailer for Secret Wars came out, there was some speculation going around that this whole thing could be leading towards a universe wide reboot in the vein what DC does every time they get bored. I scoffed at the idea. Marvel is currently crushing it in the comics world, why would they risk that on something this huge that could potentially backfire and fuck everything up? I mean, Ms. Marvel (the character and the book) haven’t even been around for 20 issues yet. But fuck me, I guess, because that’s what they’re doing.

During a live press event at Midtown Comics in New York, Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso and executive editor Tom Brevoort confirmed that with the end of the eight issue Secret Wars series comes the end of the mainline Marvel Universe as well as the Ultimate Universe. The two said that in Secrets Wars, the Ultimate and main universes will be smashed together, with every world in the multiverse being used to make up Battleworld. Brevoort said…

Once we hit Secret Wars #1, there is no Marvel Universe, Ultimate Universe, or any other. It’s all Battleworld.

Alonso went on to say that all of the Marvel Universe will be Battleworld, “and every single piece of those worlds will be building blocks for the universe.” He also said that with this new universe, anything is possible. Anything, in this case, is a tease that maybe Gwen Stacy won’t be dead.

The pair said that Secret Wars is “the culmination of Jonathan Hickman’s plans from when he first came onto Avengers and New Avengers,” and that Secret Wars #0, being released on this year’s Free Comic Book Day, will catch readers up in preparation for the actual event.

So this is it. Over 50 years of the same universe, gone. And for what? Really, I’m asking you, the folks at home, what is all of this for? As I said at the top of all this, Marvel has been doing pretty well. They dominated the year end sales charts for 2014 and have been putting out books that make DC look even worse than they already did. So why do this? Maybe I just don’t know enough about the industry, but I cannot see a purpose here.

Secret Wars, and with it the end of the Marvel Universe, kicks off this May.

Source: Nrama