“Imagine 2 pizzas—they’re gonna smash together … and some of the toppings are going to drop off.”
And that’s how the Editor-in-Chief describes Marvel’s Secret Wars, their big event of the year.
At 4am (GMT +0800) today, Marvel held a live kickoff at Midtown Comics which was broadcast on YouTube. Featuring Senior Vice-President Tom Brevoort and Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, the kickoff discussed some of the finer point of the mysterious Secret Wars and Battleworld titles.
Related: Marvel Set To Announce Event Of 2015!
Two Earths go in and one of them comes out … or none of them comes out.
Or so Brevoort promises. Thanks to Axel Alonso—who is also credited with this idea—we know that the series mostly concerns the mainstream Marvel Universe (designated Earth-616) colliding with the Ultimate Universe and this will lead to a combination of the two universes… only in comics, eh?
The duo go on to promise that “there is no Marvel Universe; there is no Ultimate Universe—there is only Battleworld.” A little melodramatic perhaps, but, as Tom Brevoort so enthusiastically put it, there’s “nothing wrong with typical Stan Lee hyperbole.”
Most crucial of all, is the information that while the ramifications of the event will be felt as early as the current issues of Avengers and New Avengers, readers will still be able to jump on with FCBD’s Secret Wars #0 on May 3rd. Described as a “primer for new readers,” #0 will be quickly accompanied by the first and second issues within the same month. Uniquely, the second issue will be the thicker of the two, although #1 will still “be bigger than an ordinary comic,” according to Brevoort.
By the time both of these issues hit the stands, both 616 and the Ultimate Universe (and a bunch of other realities) would have ceased to exist and will only exist on Battleworld.
So what, then, were all of those other titles about? With both classic and modern hits like Days of Future Past and Age of Ultron name-dropped in the teaser late last year, many are expecting Marvel to revisit these plot lines. Which they are… kinda.
Apparently, Battleworld, best described as a “melting pot,” will feature the various revisited plot lines inhabiting their own “countries” on this metaphoric planet as they face off against each other and eventually re-assimilate itself back into the main Marvel reality—now a singular definitive universe.
Various characters will live their lives, and contend with this new situation, and set up all the building blocks and the bedrock of what the new Marvel Universe will be going forward.
The event, which supposedly began in the pages of Marvel Now!, will also be the basis of a ton of licensed products from Hasbro, Upper Deck, Gentle Giant, Funko, Mattel, Diamond Select and more. An interactive game by Marvel’s game team was also mentioned but information is being kept hushed for now.
Nevertheless, fans will be kept busy with other things leading up to the arrival of toys and games—Axel Alonso not only confirmed that the titles announced thus far are just half the planned titles, but also said that the remaining titles will be revealed by way of an interactive map on their site. (While the link to the map can be found here, there still seems to be some problems with loading it up.)
For fans concerned about the longevity of their finance, however, the editorial team have some words of comfort: a reader only has to keep up with tie-ins relating to characters they are interested in to get to know more. I.e., if you’re a Spider-Man fan, you’d just have to read the Amazing Spider-Man tie-in to understand what’s going on instead of purchasing every single title… ’cause seriously, who does that?!
While the feed was abruptly cut due to technical problems (or Hydra agents) we can be sure that the next couple of weeks will be filled with new announcements from the House of Ideas.
Till then, check out the video of the editors below (start at the 13:30 mark) and let us know what you think is gonna happen.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7L6mDjQHNs&w=640&h=390]