The Elseworlds’ DC vs. Vampires saga is one of the best crossover events that DC Comics has published in recent years. Its brilliance lies in taking the well-worn idea of turning heroes into villains and adding a creative twist, where their unethical actions are less a question of pure evil intent, though there is certainly an element of that, and more a result of the need for survival. As in real life, when one is forced into a situation of survival or demise, there are incredible acts and compromises to long-held values that one will make to stay alive. DC vs. Vampires‘ exploration of how “turned” heroes and villains navigate these choices is top-tier content.

While this Elseworlds saga is a DC Universe-wide event, certain characters, such as Wonder Woman, play a more prominent role. To be sure, once she’s turned, Wonder Woman eventually becomes the second most important vampire in their community. As a result, the DC Universe’s toughest warrior is transformed into its most brutal enforcer. Given broad authority to carry out her duties, she performs them with heart-crushing singularity. Her transformation exemplifies just how extreme a new convert can become, especially when their survival is on the line.

Vampire Wonder Woman Strikes Fear in the Hearts of Humans and Heroes

Wonder Woman is the DC Universe’s preeminent combat specialist — and this isn’t just empty praise. In Justice League of America (2006) #13, the Caped Crusader himself called Wonder Woman the best melee fighter in the world. So it’s no surprise that her presence on the battlefield gives any opponent pause. But whatever fear they may have felt before is nothing compared to the terror they’ll experience when faced with Wonder Woman as a vampire, completely unbound from the values, principles, and discipline that once restrained her warrior’s urge to crush her enemies and see them kneel before her.

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In Matthew Rosenberg and Nikola Cizmesija’s DC vs. Vampires: World War V – Darkness and Light, one of the most terrifying expressions of Wonder Woman’s brutality as a vampire occurs when she literally tears the Green Lantern Corps’ Guy Gardner in half with her bare hands. This enraged reaction is triggered by Guy Gardner killing her disciple Harper, despite his best efforts to avoid taking action. It’s a shocking scene that fans could never envision her committing under normal circumstances, even while fully understanding her immense potential for such violence.

If her unleashed pugilistic prowess wasn’t scary enough, what’s even more terrifying is how skewed her moral compass has become as a vampire. Indeed, whereas before it acted as a guardrail that ensured Wonder Woman chose honor over success, compassion over aggression, and justice over injustice, now her life is dominated by her selfish desires, without regard for how they impact others. Outside of fulfilling the commands of her master, the Queen of the Vampires, Barbara Gordon, Wonder Woman’s actions are driven solely by self-interest.

Drawing again from Rosenberg and Cizmesija’s work in Darkness and Light, we see Wonder Woman slaughter a man while letting her underlings feed on his wife. Then, upon discovering their children hiding, she takes the daughter – Harper, to serve as her pet vampire. She even initially parades her around the community with a dog collar and leash. While she ultimately comes to regard Harper as a sort of daughter, one of the reasons she brutalizes Guy Gardner for killing her. Nevertheless, she always treated Harper more like a slave than an actual family member. It’s hard viewing for Wonder Woman fans, but this portrayal shows just how terrifying she’s become as a vampire.

Wonder Woman’s Corruption Shows Us Just How Good She Was Before Being Turned

Before her transformation, Wonder Woman was one of the foundational pillars of the DC Universe. She was celebrated as a symbol of truth, justice, hope, and compassion. At the same time, she was raised as a warrior, and ultimately became one of the greatest in history. As such, Wonder Woman has always possessed an extraordinary capacity for violence, ferocity, and brutality. In fact, bloodlust is a defining trait of the Amazon tribe, and Wonder Woman epitomizes the ideal Amazonian.

So, the rage and ferocity she shows in DC vs. Vampires – her true danger – was never about the supernatural abilities she gained by becoming a vampire. She always possessed those intense emotions. The crucial difference is that her vampiric transformation liberated her from the virtues and practices that once served to control her raw, monstrous power. The only true “force multiplier” was the addition of a vampire’s inherent survival instinct, which amplified Wonder Woman’s transformation into a truly terrifying force of nature.

Seeing her as the unstoppable predator she becomes in DC vs. Vampires is a testament to her unmatched discipline and the immense mental strength she exerted to suppress such primal urges. It retroactively proves just how much effort it took for her to remain true to her principles before her transformation, revealing the depth of her honor, courage, and strength as a warrior.

The post From Amazon Princess to Vampire Thug: How DC vs. Vampires Created Diana’s Most Terrifying Form appeared first on ComicBook.com.

While Planet Hulk dispelled the notion that Bruce Banner’s rage-fueled alter ego lacked the patience, intelligence, or strategic insight to lead effectively, it was not the first time the “Green Goliath” found himself at the center of political power. Years earlier, the Hulk played a typically outsized role in the politics of the sub-atomic world of K’ai. Much like his time on Sakaar in Planet Hulk, his involvement on K’ai not only brought about a period of political stability, but also led to him finding love — and a partner who would stand by his side through thick and thin. One key difference between his romantic relationships on Sakaar and K’ai, however, lay in the nature of the bond itself. In that respect, K’ai proved to be a far deeper experience.

Indeed, the connection he found on K’ai with the warrior-empress Jarella was more than just romantic — it was deeply transformative, just like true love. It gave him a sense of peace and purpose that he rarely experienced anywhere else.

Who is Princess Jarella of K’ai?

Like many great love affairs, the Hulk met Jarella quite by accident. As detailed in The Incredible Hulk (1968) #140, the supervillain Psyklop captured the Hulk to serve as an offering to his masters. Before presenting him, Psyklop decided to examine the “green behemoth” more closely by shrinking him to a compatible size for closer study. However, during this reduction process, the Avengers —who had been searching for Psyklop— burst into his laboratory, disrupting his “shrinking and compression” of the Hulk. As a result, the Hulk was miniaturized to microscopic size and eventually ended up on the sub-atomic planet of K’ai.

[ RELATED: The Imperial Hulks Smash Into Marvel’s Cosmic Crossover Event With New Looks ]

While wandering the lands of K’ai, the Hulk stumbled upon the capital city — which, at the time, was under attack by a pack of Warthos – giant “pig-dogs” that had previously tormented him when he first landed on the planet. After fighting them off, the city’s green-skinned inhabitants welcomed him as a hero. It was there that he met Empress Jarella, the leader of K’ai. For both, it was love at first sight, and Jarella soon chose the Hulk as her mate. There was just one problem: he didn’t speak the local language.

To resolve this, she summoned the realm’s finest sorcerers to cast an incantation that would grant the Hulk the ability to communicate. The spell not only succeeded but also allowed Bruce Banner’s mind to merge with the Hulk’s body. As their relationship deepened, Banner confided in Jarella, revealing his true identity — and the duality of the man before her: both the brilliant Bruce Banner and the mighty Hulk.

Princess Jarella – the Hulk’s Greatest Love of All

Historically, while the Hulk and Bruce Banner share the same body, they are two completely distinct personas. Banner is the ultra-intelligent, rational, geeky scientist. The Hulk is the childlike, impulsive force of nature. Naturally, his two personas are attractive to different types of people. On Earth, Betty Ross was attracted to Banner’s intelligence and brilliance, his moral integrity, kindness, and vulnerability. Betty tolerated the Hulk because she knew that he was connected to Banner.

Conversely, on Sakaar, Caiera was attracted to the Hulk’s physical and mental strength, his warrior mentality, his wildness, and his childlike compassion for others. Caiera never truly met Banner, so she has no opinion of him. The warrior-empress Jarella, however, was the only love interest who knew and loved both the Hulk and Banner – and that is why she is his greatest love.

As the Hulk, Jarella accepted him unconditionally for who he was. Where others saw a raging beast, she saw a vulnerable being with noble intentions — someone in need of support and inclusion, not hatred and manipulation. Through her love and understanding, Jarella gave the Hulk a soothing sense of security and belonging, calming his “savage beast” tendencies. As Banner, Jarella found a kindred spirit — someone who shared her compassion and thoughtfulness. For Banner, she was someone whose feelings did not depend on “curing” him of his Hulk side, but rather someone who loved him equally as both Banner and the Hulk. In essence, Jarella completed them both — Hulk and Banner. For both sides of the “Green Goliath,” she was the love of a lifetime.

Why Princess Jarella Deserves a Comeback?

Psyklop eventually finds the Hulk and involuntarily returns him to Earth, separating the couple and ending what Banner/Hulk had considered the best time of his life. However, both Jarella and Banner/Hulk did not forget each other and were actually able to visit each other on Earth and K’ai several times afterwards. Each time they were together, it brought them ever closer. This culminated when, needing to save the life of Glenn Talbot, Doc Samson miniaturized the Hulk, who again ended up on K’ai – this time rescuing Jarella from a coup attempt. Ultimately, this resulted in the Hulk bringing Jarella back to Earth and breaking any current means of her return.

While this meant Jarella could no longer visit her home, she was finally united with Banner/Hulk, and the couple began making plans for their future on Earth. Unfortunately, as told in The Incredible Hulk (1968) #205, a date between Banner and Jarella was interrupted by an attack from the villain Crypto-Man. When Crypto-Man targeted Jarella, Banner transformed into the Hulk to stop him, despite Jarella’s own warrior instincts to protect Banner. In the ensuing battle, Jarella tragically died saving a child from falling debris. With the help of Captain Marvel, the Hulk was eventually able to return Jarella’s body to K’ai for a proper burial, as depicted in The Incredible Hulk (1968) #248.

Jarella’s sudden and shocking death came far too soon. Not only had she become a central part of both Banner’s and the Hulk’s lives, but she also seemed to be the answer they had both been seeking — the one person who could bring out the best in them. Beyond her role in their story, Jarella had an intriguing life of her own, one the narrative was just beginning to explore. Taking her away so early removed a character with the potential to guide the story in new and exciting directions. Indeed, Jarella was briefly resurrected in The Incredible Hulks #619 to help the Hulk battle Zom and the Abomination. She ended up being the cavalry, arriving just in time to save everyone from defeat. It was a powerful and heartfelt moment — one that underscored how much the Marvel Comics Universe could benefit from her return.

The post Hulk’s Greatest Love was Microscopic (And She Deserves a Comeback) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

In 2013, writer Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark brought what has since become one of Image Comics’ landmark series to life: Lazarus. Set in a near-future dystopia, the world of Lazarus is one in which society has settled into feudalism, ruled by sixteen extremely powerful Families. The story follows Forever Carlyle, the genetically enhanced super-soldier military type enforcer for the powerful Carlyle Family who is controlled by her father Malcolm Carlyle. However, a dozen years later, Lazarus is entering a new — and final — chapter, one that changes everything and could see the end of not just the Carlyle Family but the social order as the world knows it. That chapter is Lazarus: Fallen, the first issue of which will hit stores on June 25^th. ComicBook had the opportunity to do an early review and, without getting into spoilers, the final chapter of the Lazarus story is one that fans of the series won’t want to miss and one that newcomers to the story will quickly find themselves engrossed in as well.

When Lazarus: Fallen #1 picks up, the Carlyle Family is on the hunt, specifically for Forever Carlyle. She’s finally broken free from her family’s control and has a new mission: burn it all down, even if that means burning her own Family down as well. It is an exciting premise and issue #1 pays off on it, wasting no time dropping readers into the situation as it sets up the early hours after Forever is declared rogue by the Carlyle Family. This is not a spoiler; first looks at Lazarus: Fallen reveal a strike team infiltrating the Hock Wellness and Preservation Facility 074 on the hunt for Forever only to find that she’s not there, having been aided by her own mother in escape. From there, the story moves forward to reveal time passing with Forever still rogue and the brutal lengths Malcolm is willing to go to get her back, lengths that include manipulation and control of his own family.

[RELATED: No, The Power Fantasy Isn’t Watchmen (But It Might Be Better)]

I can’t get into more details about what those lengths entail — or about the twist in the final pages of issue #1; we’re doing this spoiler free. What I can get into is how seamless the story is. It’s been three years since the last issue of Lazarus (Lazarus: Risen #7 arrived in 2022,) but Rucka hasn’t missed a beat with the storytelling. For those already familiar with Lazarus, this latest installment fits in perfectly with everything readers already know and one can nicely hit the ground running. For readers coming to the world of Lazarus with Fallen #1 as their starting point, while going back to the beginning is an absolute must so as to get the full story, you still get an intriguing hook and the turn on the final page will have you quite literally trying to turn the page to get more (don’t worry, a second issue will follow in July, you’ll get more and what Rucka is doing here is already very much worth the wait.)

But while Rucka’s writing is impeccable — The Old Guard creator is highly regarded for a reason — it’s not the only element of Lazarus: Fallen #1 that stands out. Lark’s art here is superb. The book has a look and feel that is both realistic — there are moments when Lark’s work almost looks like a photograph, it’s so crisp and clean — and beautifully textured. It’s the balance between these two elements that give the book a cinematic feel, reminding readers that this is a big story told on a big scale even within the more intimate parameters of the comic book format. That, interestingly, is particularly noticeable when you get into the details: freckles smattered across a character’s nose, the way a body crumples on the floor, the look of resignation in the eyes of one character and the sort of conspiratorial gleam in another’s. Lazarus has always been good, with both Rucka and Lark delivering fantastic work, but Fallen is not only the story at its peak, but both creators doing some of their absolute career-best work. The result is something that is gritty and elevated in equal measure.

To put a finer point on things, Lazarus changed what is possible with sci-fi dystopian stories in comics and created something really special when it arrived in 2013 and now, the final chapter Lazarus: Fallen is not only starting off as a very worthy next part but is poised to perhaps be even better than the original. With excellent writing and art that may be some of the best of both creators to date, Lazarus: Fallen #1 may see Forever Carlyle on a mission to burn everything down, but it looks like this story is going to go out in a blaze of glory.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Lazarus: Fallen #1 goes on sale June 25th from Image Comics.

The post Lazarus: Fallen #1 Is an Epic Beginning of the End appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A hero that fans briefly met in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is dead, and their death is the catalyst for Imperial, a cosmic event from mastermind Jonathan Hickman. Imperial is a four-issue event series by Hickman and artists Iban Coello and Federico Vicentini. Its purpose is to set the foundation for a new wave of cosmic titles, with Hickman shaking up the status quo in a similar fashion to his work on the X-Men. Heroes such as Hulk, Black Panther, Star-Lord, and Nova will take center stage in Imperial, but a hero close to one of them has perished even before the battles begin.

ComicBook has the exclusive preview of Imperial #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Federico Vicentini, Iban Coello, and Federico Blee. The preview begins with a spacecraft entering through Gateway 231B from the Milky Way to Andromeda. Amadeus Cho and Jennifer Walters are sitting together on the ship, trying to understand why they’ve been called from their home million light-years away. There’s been an unexpected death, and someone’s attendance at the funeral is mandatory.

Jennifer hates space, but if there’s one thing Amadeus has learned, when the Big Guy insists you do something, it’s best to keep questions to a minimum. The Big Guy in question is Hulk, though it’s Bruce Banner who is sitting next to them. He says that he asked Amadeus and Jennifer to come with him because they’re family, and his son, Hiro-Kala, is dead.

Bruce Banner, Amadeus Cho, and Jennifer Walters are taken to the ship’s holding area to change into the proper regalia for the funeral ceremony. They’re heading to Sakaar en Nevo, the planet that replaces Sakaar. Much like its predecessor, Sakaar en Nevo is a war planet where only the strong survive. Once they land, we see our heroes in their Hulk forms, with Amadeus and Jennifer changing into Brawn and She-Hulk, respectively.

People are rioting in the streets instead of mourning their fallen king. Brawn uses a tech pad to look up the funeral process for a fallen regent, which includes a ceremonial funeral followed by a mourning period. After that, the Dominion Games of ascendancy begin. This is interrupted by a gladiator who begins to talk badly about Hiro-Kala, and how he wasn’t a true warrior king. The consul attempts to stand up to the gladiator, but suffers a quick death instead. The gladiator then points his sword at the Hulks and asks if they have any words to speak. Hulk has no time for words and launches the gladiator out of the city, crashing to the ground outside.

Hiro-Kala is the twin brother of Skaar, whom MCU fans briefly met in the season finale of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Hulk brought him to the cookout that Jennifer Walters and her family were throwing. She-Hulk set up the story arc of Hulk traveling into space to go to Sakaar, and there were rumors that a Planet Hulk or World War Hulk project was in the works. With Disney dialing back the number of Marvel Studios films and TV shows released in a given year, news on Planet Hulk/World War Hulk has dried up.

We’ve been told that assassinations of galactic leaders are the lightning rod for Imperial, and it appears Hiro-Kala may be its first death. With space in chaos, empires will start to accuse each other and go to war. Charles Xavier and Lilandra’s daughter, Xandra, also gets tied up in Imperial, with the finale of X-Manhunt sending Professor X and Lilandra into space to save their daughter.

There will also be five one-shots spinning out of the event, with the first two being Imperial War: Black Panther and Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk. Imperial War: Black Panther finds Hulk raging war against Black Panther and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, while Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk follows Bruce Banner’s cousin, Jennifer Walters, on New Sakaar as she looks to keep the peace.

“JONATHAN HICKMAN, FEDERICO VICENTINI AND IBAN COELLO TAKE ON THE UNIVERSE!” the description of Imperial #1 reads. “A sweeping Marvel cosmic event! Imperial is a story of intrigue, mysteries and war, which takes place against the backdrop of the formation of new galactic order in the Marvel Universe. Featuring HULKS, BLACK PANTHERS, NOVAS, GUARDIANS and COSMIC KINGS and QUEENS. It’s the must-read book of the summer!”

Imperial #1 goes on sale Wednesday, June 4th. Let us know your thoughts on the preview in the comments!

The post The Death of an MCU Hero’s Son Kicks Off Marvel’s Cosmic Space Event (Exclusive) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

In the DC Comics Universe, superheroes come in all shapes and sizes, with diverse power levels, skills, and abilities. Even the weakest heroes typically possess fighting capabilities that far exceed those of an average human. However, in a universe where superpowers –like flying, running at super speeds, and possessing godlike strength — are commonplace, heroes who lack such abilities are rarely considered “meta.” Nowhere is this distinction more evident than with characters like Black Canary — a hero who consistently punches above her weight class yet is rarely recognized as an “A-list” hero, that is, until now.

Tom King and Ryan Sook’s Black Canary: Best of the Best series not only chronicles how Dinah Lance proves herself to be the DC Comics Universe’s most dangerous melee champion, but also argues that hand-to-hand combat specialists like herself, her mother Dinah Drake, and even Lady Shiva deserve greater recognition and respect as true experts of the ultimate superhero skill, namely taking out opponents.

The Black Canary Has Always Been A (Low-Key) Contender

Black Canary has long been at the forefront of DC’s unarmed, non-superpowered heroes. Beginning with Dinah Drake — the original Black Canary — she has, pound for pound, stood as one of DC’s greatest vigilantes for over eight decades. Unlike Batman, whose limitless resources can fund advanced technologies to augment his abilities, Drake relied solely on her martial arts mastery, unwavering determination, and police training to fuel her crime-fighting prowess. These skills not only made her a formidable hero but also earned her a place in the era’s premier superhero team — the Justice Society of America. As such, she brought a different type of mentality — a grittiness — to “superheroing” that no hero with superpowers could ever understand.

[ RELATED: I Think Black Canary Is DC’s Most Underrated Hero (Here’s Why)]

As the saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — and such is the case with Drake’s daughter, Dinah Lance, the current Black Canary. Not only has she carried on her mother’s distinctive hand-to-hand combat style, but she has also elevated it to new heights. Like her mother, Dinah’s exceptional skills have earned her a place on this generation’s premier super-team, the Justice League. However, as Best of the Best suggests, the key difference between mother and daughter lies in their mindsets. Having witnessed her mother’s struggles as a hero — and endured the intensity of her mother’s training — Dinah grew into a more mentally resilient hero. Yet, her brand of heroism is also shaped by a healthy dose of skepticism and pragmatism.

Despite their determined efforts to serve and contribute to the fight against crime, neither Dinah Drake nor her daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, has ever been considered “blue-chip” hero material by editors or fans. During her tenure as the Black Canary, Drake remained a capable but junior superhero, often stepping in when the narrative required. As for Lance, despite clearly surpassing her mother in martial prowess, recognition of Black Canary’s combat abilities has remained limited, rarely elevating her to the status of a top-tier hero. For many fans, her defining trait has been her unique superpower — her “Canary Cry” — rather than her impressive fighting skills.

Black Canary Didn’t Just Win She Dominated

King and Sook’s Best of the Best finally gives Black Canary the recognition she deserves for her non-superpowered combat prowess. Though it took everything she had, she defeated Lady Shiva — even if, bound by her agreement with Savage, she ultimately surrendered the fight. This victory stands as the clearest testament to her hand-to-hand combat skills, which Sook’s artwork vividly portrays throughout the series. From her grueling training sessions with Wildcat to sparring with Batman himself, every drop of blood, sweat, and tears underscores her relentless dedication to the art of fighting. More than anything, it proves just how badass she is when “throwing hands.”

Beyond showcasing Lance’s physical prowess, the series also highlights the other qualities that define the greatest melee fighters: mental toughness, tactical acumen, and resilience. After all, simply choosing to fight a “stone-cold killer” like Lady Shiva is bold enough — but having the willpower to endure Shiva’s brutal onslaught, ultimately outlast her, and break her after securing a “side win” over Savage speaks volumes about Lance’s mindset. Her toughness is undeniable, but so is her healthy skepticism toward heroic titles. The series proved that not only is Lance Shiva’s physical equal, but she is also her mental superior.

Black Canary Proves That Non-Superpowered Heroes Matter

The series wasn’t just about Black Canary’s ascent to becoming the greatest hand-to-hand combat specialist in the DC Universe — it also explored the role of non-superpowered characters within the hierarchy of the DC superhero community. The fight itself presents a compelling case for significantly elevating the status of heroes like Black Canary, who rely on skill rather than superpowers. Lance demonstrates that, with rigorous training and unwavering dedication, an elite fighter can stand toe-to-toe with even those considered superpowered.

Black Canary also demonstrated that common human traits such as courage, determination, and loyalty could be superpowers under the right conditions. In some ways, this serves as a tribute to her mother. It highlights the unwavering dedication, hard work, and considerable luck required to be a hero without relying on inherent superpowers. Moreover, it honors Drake’s legacy as a formidable hero who, through training, ingenuity, and experience, could dish out punishment as effectively as anyone else.

From a fan’s perspective, Best of the Best also proves that there is a lot more story left to be told about Dinah Lance’s Black Canary — and other non-superpowered superheroes. There is no need to infuse these stories with cosmic threats or world-ending stakes. Simply focusing on the personal and, at times, brutal challenges of characters who rely solely on their innate abilities and training can be just as compelling and engaging as the more fantastical stories.

The post Black Canary is Officially DC’s Most Lethal Fighter (But There’s a Catch) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Comics are littered with storylines that captivate readers, with some even in contention for the greatest comics ever told. These tales can come in the form of short stories, one-shots, and expansive stories that take up multiple issues. Fans always remember the great stories, but what about the storylines that begin but never come to a satisfying conclusion? There are a lot of factors affecting a comic book storyline being abandoned, from creative issues behind the scenes or a publisher deciding to end a title prematurely. These storylines end up being forgotten about by the general public, but not by the most loyal of fans.

We’re tracking down the seven storylines in comics that wound up being abandoned. Some of the entries will be familiar to superhero fans, while others took place in creator-owned comics. What they all share is a collection of fandom that would love nothing more than to see these stories get a proper ending.

7) Meet Alpha, Spider-Man’s New Sidekick

Before Spider-Boy, there was Alpha, a young teenager named Andy Maguire, who just happened to be named after live-action Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Alpha debuted in 2012 for Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary, and gained his powers after an accident during one of Peter Parker’s experiments at Horizon Labs. Instead of gaining the strength, agility, and stamina of a spider, Alpha was seemingly as powerful as Superman.

This power went to Alpha’s head, as he quickly became a hated figure in the eyes of Spider-Man fans. Marvel had big plans for Alpha when you look at how he was promoted and pushed in marketing materials. The publisher wound up dialing back Alpha’s powerset while also giving him a limited series that ended up going nowhere. Alpha eventually faded back into obscurity, never to be heard from again.

6) Batwoman’s Marriage to Maggie Sawyer

Batwoman was one of the early success stories of DC’s New 52, with the creative team of J.H. Williams III and Haden Blackman helping to redefine Kate Kane and firmly establish her as a member of the Bat-Family. Much of the praise came from their storytelling and the types of stories being told within Batwoman, like her relationship with her girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer. In fact, their partnership was leading to the two characters getting engaged and married, but DC put a stop to it before it could happen. This left Williams III and Blackman frustrated, leading to their decision to step away from Batwoman.

Williams III and Blackman stated that the changes to their planned story arcs in Batwoman came at the last minute, causing them to have to alter over years of planning and plotting. That romantic relationship in Batwoman was one of its key storylines, but wound up on the cutting room floor.

5) Whatever Happened to Morning Glories?

The early 2010s saw the release of Morning Glories from writer Nick Spencer and artist Joe Eisma. The comic starred kids who attended Morning Glory Academy. Our lead of six teenagers were brilliant but troubled, and Morning Glory Academy also dabbled in nefarious affairs that included murder, torture, and the supernatural. The series ran for 50 issues split up into two seasons, but Season 3 has yet to be released.

Morning Glories was a success with critics and readers alike, though Season 3 was never released, with the creators saying the title is on an extended hiatus.

4) Someone Is Pretending to Be a Mutant in the X-Men

There was once a time when Wolverine was very much dead. Never one to turn down a reason for an event comic, Marvel milked The Death of Wolverine into several spinoff titles and miniseries, one of which was Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda. The comic followed Wolverine’s teammates on the New Avengers — Iron Man, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage — as they kept their promise to Wolverine that if anything bad should ever happen to him, they’d make sure his body wasn’t used for evil purposes.

Of course, if stolen DNA is involved, then Mister Sinister is never too far behind. There’s also a database that contains the DNA of all mutants, but our heroes discover that the DNA shows that an unknown member of the X-Men isn’t a mutant, and that they have a sleeper agent in their ranks. This was an exciting development at the time, but the storyline was dropped as the X-Men comics continued to move towards Wolverine’s revival.

3) Miles Morales Was Supposed to Become a Spy

Brian Michael Bendis, one of the co-creators of Miles Morales, ended his run on the web-slinger and at Marvel Comics by setting Miles Morales up to get a codename and a new status quo as a super spy. Miles was wrestling with growing up and deciding what kind of hero he wanted to be. Miles’ father had a past that included being an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, and it looked like Miles was going to follow in his footsteps.

Cable from the X-Men even tried to recruit Miles, and stated that he had “seen the future of international espionage,” and Miles was at the center of it. You’d think there would have been a payoff to all of this, but alas, there was not. It’s a shame, because after Bendis departed Marvel, the publisher relaunched a new Miles Morales Spider-Man series and forgot all of that espionage setup happened.

2) Duke Thomas and Gotham Girl Live Happily Ever After

When Tom King started his run on Batman, he introduced two new superheroes to Gotham City — Gotham and Gotham Girl. The siblings got their powers through experimental treatments. The side effects of this treatment meant that the more they used their powers, the quicker their life spans would decline. Gotham eventually died after fighting Batman and the Justice League, with Gotham Girl falling under the same evil influence of Bane and Psycho Pirate.

An interesting development from Gotham Girl’s time with Batman is the relationship she built with Duke Thomas/Signal. King even teases that Duke and Gotham Girl end up together in the future, but it’s a future that readers never got to see happen. You would think there would be a story arc where we jump into the future to see what happens to these young heroes, but it’s something we miss out on.

1) R.I.P. to the X-Men’s Krakoa Era

Last but certainly not least is the Krakoan era of the X-Men comics. Jonathan Hickman revolutionized the X-Men franchise when he kicked off a bold new era of storytelling, transplanting the X-Men and the majority of Marvel’s mutants to the soverign island nation of Krakoa. Hickman stated that he had a long outline of stories planned out, with House of X and Powers of X setting up several plots that could be picked up at any point, such as the previous lives Moira MacTaggert lived through using her mutant powers of reincarnation. There were also threats from Earth and space, like the anti-mutant organization Orchis and the alien Phalanx.

Marvel abruptly ended Jonathan Hickman’s run on X-Men with the four-part Inferno series. Several creative teams picked up the story threads that Hickman set up, bringing them to a close in the Fall of X after the Hellfire Gala. So you can say that the Krakoa era got a proper send-off, but it wasn’t the finale that Hickman envisioned.

The post 7 Comics Storylines That Were Totally Abandoned appeared first on ComicBook.com.

After more than two decades since DC’s Wonder Woman and Batman last shared the page with Marvel’s Thor and Iron Man, fans of both publishers, who have contributed more than anyone else to the development of the superhero comic genre, were thrilled earlier this year by the announcement of a new DC-Marvel crossover. While details of the event are emerging, the rich history of collaborations between these two comic book titans promises a legendary tale that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on both universes. With the collaboration set to drop sometime this year, there’s no better time than the present to revisit past DC–Marvel crossovers, which were once a frequent occurrence, to understand the potential impact of the upcoming event on both universes.

A great place to start a review is with the Amalgam Comics series — arguably the most creatively ingenious fusion of DC and Marvel characters in the history of their collaborations. It’s a concept that undoubtedly deserves a second chance to showcase how exceptional these two superhero universes can be when combined with imagination and flair.

What are Amalgam Comics, and Why Did They Work?

The Amalgam Comics series was unprecedented, not only as a crossover event, but also in the way it was organized. It was an extreme crossover event that happened in the midst of a broader, more standard DC-Marvel collaboration. Specifically, in 1996, DC and Marvel collectively published a crossover mini-series entitled DC vs. Marvel (for DC fans) and Marvel vs. DC (for Marvel fans), which pitted the heroes of the two universes against each other, with the loser having their universe erased from existence. Naturally, the series featured some of the strongest and most popular characters facing off against one another. Needless to say, the series was an exciting bit of fan service, exploring stories that fans had been debating amongst themselves for decades and giving them a voice in the outcomes of specific battles.

[ RELATED: Marvel and DC Are Getting a Brand-New Crossover (and Sooner Than You Think) ]

However, in a major twist to the crossover genre, DC and Marvel introduced a “sub-crossover” event between the third and fourth issues of the main series, collectively known as the Amalgam Comics series. In this unique storyline, several superheroes involved in the larger contest were literally merged together to create entirely new characters. For example, Batman and Wolverine were combined to form Dark Claw, Darkseid and Thanos became Thanoseid, and Spider-Man and Superboy fused into Spider-Boy.

There were a total of twelve character combinations, each given a one-shot comic book to explore their stories in depth. However, in DC vs. Marvel #4, the merged heroes and villains were separated back into their original individual forms. In 1997, Amalgam Comics returned with a new 12-issue series that further examined the possibilities of combining DC and Marvel heroes. Like the first iteration, the 1997 series offered an exciting glimpse into the compelling superhero storytelling that emerges when DC and Marvel bring together their collective experiences and expertise.

Why It’s Time for the Return of an Amalgam Comics Series

With DC and Marvel already in agreement to bring forth another inter-universe event, the Amalgam Comics universe model would be ideal. It’s the perfect tweak to the traditional crossover model for a superhero comic book fandom that’s grown accustomed to the multiverse concept. More than just a crossover, it’s a fusion of styles, concepts, and characters that brings a genuinely fresh take on long-held ideas. This approach gives creators maximum creative freedom to come up with intriguing hero-villain combinations that resonate with both DC and Marvel’s contemporary fan bases.

Moreover, is there a better way to revitalize a title or character than by injecting a fresh take on an old vibe? Take Amalgam Comics’ hero Super-Soldier, a fusion of Superman and Captain America. He perfectly combined their “goody two-shoes,” patriotic hero personas. Fans familiar with Clark Kent and Steve Rogers as the “boy scouts” of their respective universes could easily see how their archetypes complemented each other. Naturally, Super-Soldier’s nemesis – the Green Skull – is an equally compelling mix of Lex Luthor and the Red Skull. Indeed, the combinations proved far more interesting than the individual parts alone. Indeed, Super-Soldier’s popularity with fans played a significant role in his appearances in both iterations of the Amalgam Comics series.

What this all means is that the Amalgam Comics series is the perfect choice to fulfill the promise of a brand-new DC-Marvel collaboration. It has all the essential elements of a classic crossover series: high-stakes threats centered around a compelling conflict, epic action sequences, and intense battles. Most importantly, it features fascinating characters who truly embody the spirit of a crossover. Indeed, with Amalgam Comics, the creative possibilities are endless. DC and Marvel—bring it back. You won’t regret it.

What Amalgam characters do You want to see? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel and DC Need to Bring Back Amalgam Comics appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The beautiful thing about fictional stories is that they don’t need to follow the same rules as real life. Stories are artistic expressions where it never matters if something is accurate. Stories can still hold weight and express fundamental emotional truths about reality, yet they don’t have to be pulled down by pesky things like physics or scientific possibilities. Superman is, by definition, a man who shouldn’t exist, making him a “super man.” It’s physically impossible for someone of relatively small stature to lift as much weight as he does, and he is literally defying gravity every time he’s flying.

What makes Superman a beautiful creation is that he can do anything we imagine him doing. He is literally the impossible man, highlighting humanity’s boundless creativity and endless possibilities. Even though we understand the difference between fiction and reality, we will still highlight certain things about Superman that make no sense. This list isn’t a criticism of the character himself, and it is more like a loving analysis of the aspects of Superman that defy everything we know about science.

1) No One Can Fly Like That

There are multiple avenues for something to fly, including wings and jet propulsion. However, the way Superman flies makes no sense. He essentially wills himself to float in the air without added appendages to help him stay in the air. He can pretty much break the rules of gravity and float above Metropolis City without a care in the world. There is pseudo-science that explains Superman’s defying gravity. Some continuity explains Superman’s flying as telekinesis or some sort of mild anti-gravity powers he emanates from within himself. One of the most widely accepted pseudo-sciences for Superman’s power is that he surrounds himself with an invisible aura, or particles, that give him the capabilities to do anything he sets his mind to.

2) Superman Has an Impossible Grip on Heavy Objects

Superman’s super strength is improbable as it is, but his grip and balance defy science. Many strong, normal people can lift heavy things, yet you always need a good grip to hold onto things. You can’t just lift a car with the palm of your hand, the vehicle will tip over without a strong grip or good balance. Superman holding up collapsing buildings wouldn’t work because, even if he has the strength to hold it, the building would fall apart around him unless he’s pushing forward its fortified spot. The pseudo-scientific invisible aura also explains how Superman can accomplish these feats. Superman subconsciously expands his aura to surround whatever he’s carrying or holding so that the things he’s in contact with have his durability. The object he touches becomes an extension of himself, allowing Superman to hold everything intact.

[RELATED – Superman: David Corenswet Celebrates Wrapping Filming]

3) Aliens Wouldn’t Look Like Us (At Least Theoretically)

We and the other living things on Earth look the way we do because we evolved into something suitable for this specific planet. Our limbs, organs, and facial features are the results of what was needed to live specifically in the World. Even though we haven’t met other life on other planets, the odds of aliens looking exactly like us should, theoretically, be nearly impossible. The odds of another planet that is exactly like Earth are low, and the odds of aliens evolving the same way as us are even lower. We are the result of cosmetic coincidences that have led to us becoming cognitive beings with complex thoughts. The possibility of aliens like Superman and Kryptonians almost feels like an impossibility.

4) Kryptonians Should’ve Just All Lived Under a Yellow Sun

Superman was sent to Earth because he looked human, and the radiation of the yellow sun would imbue him with superpowers. Most of the Superman canon establishes that the citizens of Krypton are normal people without superpowers. Nonetheless, if the effects of the yellow sun on Kryptonians were common knowledge, why wouldn’t Krypton find a planet with a yellow sun they could all live on?

Certain continuity attempts to explain this situation, with the most likely assumption being that there was no hospital planet close enough to Krypton that had a yellow sun. Another theory is that the wider Krypton population didn’t know the effects of the yellow sun, yet somehow Jor-El knew about it in most situations. If someone like Jor-El knew about yellow suns, looking for a planet with one would certainly have been top priority for Krypton.

5) His Random Powers are Nonsense

As mentioned before, whatever powers a writer can think of, Superman has them. This motto was especially true during the Golden and Silver Age of comics, when creators would come up with random abilities to give Superman for the sake of the plot. While his superstrength, flight, durability, super speed, enhanced senses, and heat vision are core principles of the character, creators would often add in a random ability like hypnosis or memory-wiping kisses to his arsenal. The only limitations were the writer’s imagination, so as long as they could think of it, Superman would will himself to have these powers.

The most ridiculous random power Superman displayed in classic comics was being able to shoot out miniature clones of himself from his palms. These mini Supermen would have the same powers as he. The power is not only nonsensical, but the comic also doesn’t explain how it works. The Superman cloning powers have rarely, if ever, been brought up again, and for good reason; it’s silly. Nevertheless, these superpowers exemplify Superman’s endless possibilities and how the character works as a symbol for creativity.

The post 5 Things About Superman That Make No Sense appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Bruce Wayne and Jason Toddd have had a pretty rocky relationship ever since the latter’s death and prodigal return. The two have clashed several times over the years, usually because of Jason’s anger over how Batman chooses to handle Gotham City’s laundry list of villains. Red Hood has been all over the morality spectrum, going from hero to villain and back again more times than anyone should have to count. Batman’s “Hush 2” storyline has once again pit father against son as Jason Todd joins the evil Thomas Elliot’s side in his twisted game to bring down the bat. Except this might just be their final clash, as Batman #160 revealed that Jason Todd is dying, and only Hush has any chance of saving him. If he even plans to. And if Hush lets Jason die, I’m done.

Hush Said Three Robins Die Tonight

So, how did we get here? This whole confrontation started in Batman #158, when Batman stumbled upon the Joker attempting to flood the Gotham City reservoir with Joker fish. While trying to stop the madman, Batman was knocked into the water and the Joker was kidnapped, only for the Dark Knight to be resuscitated by Talia al Ghul. Batman looked into why the Joker would be repeating an old crime, only to stumble into a conspiracy orchestrated by his childhood friend turned enemy, Thomas Elliot, Hush. Hush forced Batman to take a dying Joker to the Batcave for observation, only for Jason Todd to attack Batman and kidnap the clown alongside Hush.

The end of issue #160 showed Batman confronting one of Hush’s goons while Nightwing battled Red Hood. However, this too was all a part of Hush’s game, as Hush was able to take Damian Wayne hostage, while the Joker grabbed Jason’s guns and pointed them at the two former Robins. Hush promised that no matter what Batman did, three Robins would die tonight. Even worse, is that Joker might even have to send Jason back to the grave, as Hush revealed that Jason is dying. His brain is deteriorating to the point that not even the Lazarus Pits could save him, and his fate rests in the grimy hands of Hush, the world’s greatest surgeon. I am so mad about that.

So Jason Todd is Dying… Again

Once again, it would seem that DC wants to kill Jason Todd, and honestly? They need to stop. “Hush 2” has been nothing more than a continuity-ignoring nostalgia fest, and it would seem that they intend to keep that train going by bringing back the only part of Jason’s character that anyone seems to remember. Ever since he was quite literally cheated out of life by a phone vote, Jason Todd has been remembered as the Robin who died, something that stuck even when he returned. It’s something that left Jason bitter and when Jason first came back from the dead, this was understandable. Dying like he did gave him every right to be upset, however, the years since have not been kind to the poor boy.

[RELATED: This Fan Favorite Batman Story Isn’t The Masterpiece It’s Made Out to Be (And I Will Die on This Hill)]

Jason has been a villain, then redeemed himself, then remembered he was angry over his death and became a villain again. This cycle repeats over and over in every comic he stars in, dragging him into conflict after conflict with the Bat Family over issues that they have long since resolved or put behind them. Jason being back and an active member of the Bat Family has such incredible storytelling potential, but DC has refused to do anything interesting with it. Now they threaten to kill him again, and I cannot stand here and say nothing while they continuously torture him like this. Jason’s original death was an impactful moment because nothing like that had ever happened before, and it fundamentally changed Batman as a character, but that can only be true for the first time.

If Jason died again today, frankly speaking, it wouldn’t have a tenth of the impact it did back in the day. Not only because literally every other Robin (and most comic book characters in general) have died and returned, but the only consistent character trait Jason has had since his return is that he died. He is literally only defined by his death, and while he’s attempted to grow past it several times, he is always dragged back down to being the angry little man he was right after his resurrection. Take the end of the “Gotham War” arc, for instance. Despite its many flaws, this storyline ended with Jason and Bruce reconciling for everything they’ve done to each other, and even had Jason literally sacrifice himself to bring down Zur-En-Arrh. This was a beautifully resonant moment, because Jason faced and overcame his greatest fear and the thing that separated him and Bruce, and used it as a statement of his love and loyalty to his father. He was immediately brought back with Lazarus Resin, but the point stands.

Now, instead of Jason having overcome his death, he’s right back where he started and is dying again. Gosh, Jason Todd is a character that DC has never known what to do with, but killing him again will only make things worse. Jason deserves to be allowed to grow and change as a person beyond this one event in his life, but DC keeps dragging him back to the starting point. Killing Jason again wouldn’t give them a way to interestingly change the character, it would just make his existence way worse for no reason. If Jason is supposed to be interesting, he has to change, and literally starting this cycle again is the worst possible thing they could do.

The post If DC Kills Jason Todd Again I’m Done appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Every year, Marvel Comics introduces new heroes and villains to their ever-growing roster, and it’s safe to say that not every power is amazing. Some are downright awful, ranging from gross to terrifying and anything else one can think of. Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the (comic book) beast, as not every hero can get the best and shiniest powers — that would make for a boring adventure, and Marvel aims to be anything but boring. As such, Marvel has introduced plenty of heroes and villains with disappointing, dangerous, or outright useless powers, and these are some of the worst of them.

Everyone dreams of having strength like Captain America or flight like Storm, but for every hero with an amazing ability set, there are ten more with lackluster mutations. Just look at the X-Men or Inhumans roster, and it’s not hard to spot an upset character who has had to make do with the strange powers they’ve been given. On the bright side, this has paved the way for some memorable and beloved characters, including Squirrel Girl, Glob Herman, and many more. Their odd abilities are what let them stand out (though a good creative team behind the scenes doesn’t hurt, either).

10) Extra Skin Elasticity

Angelo Espinosa is a mutant with a rather unfortunate mutation. Angelo’s mutation gave him about six extra feet worth of skin on his body. This extra skin can stretch, deform, wrap, expand, you name it. But it took Angelo, aka Skin, years to master his ability. When he’s not concentrating, Angelo’s skin sags, giving him a distinctly melted candle look (it’s as unsettling as it sounds). When he puts his mind to it, Skin can pull his skin inward to make him look like himself. He can also do more extraordinary things with the extra skin, like grow spikes. The idea of stabbing somebody with nothing but skin sounds pretty awful, but at least Skin is doing his best to work with what his mutation gave him.

9) Becoming a Literal Doorway (And Staying That Way)

Once upon a time, Eldrac was an Inhuman politician, and while he was no member of the Inhuman Royal Family, he served a purpose. Unfortunately, the Terrigen Mist doesn’t have much need for a politician without a faction, so when Eldrac became redundant, he found himself transformed. He became Eldrac the Door, a portal built into Attilan. As Eldrac the Door, he was responsible for ensuring safe transportation for the Inhumans. As such, when Attilan was attacked, Eldrac opened the doors and got every citizen to safety. Every citizen except for one, since Eldrac cannot move from his spot. He survived, but that had more to do with luck, as it’s not like a door has the best defensive abilities.

[RELATED: 10 Weakest Marvel Characters, Ranked]

8) Always Knowing Which Way Is North

As we’ve already mentioned, not every superpower can be amazing or extreme. The manga/anime My Hero Academia helped drive this point home, giving characters all sorts of quirks, including some that are barely worthwhile. Enter Marvel’s Spider-Island event, in which Jackal was trying to give everyone in Manhattan powers (sort of, they were going to start with Spider-Man’s skillset before morphing into arachnid monsters). Thankfully, Reed Richards was there to save the day. He gave everyone in Manhattan a vaccine of sorts, as he realized only those without superpowers were affected. Thus, everyone in Manhattan who didn’t already have power gained the ability to always know which way was North. Yeah, not super exciting, but at least they’re not giant arachnids.

7) Localized Time Manipulation, With a Side of Accelerated Aging

Gabriel Cohuelo, aka Velocidad, is one of Marvel’s many speedsters — at a glance. He looks like he’s speeding around the world, when in reality, Gabriel is actually slowing down the time around him, giving him the appearance of moving quickly. This form of localized time manipulation can still be quite useful, as Gabriel himself isn’t affected by the slowing down that naturally occurs around him. Unfortunately, there is a pretty big and negative effect to this ability, as Gabriel ages every time he uses it. This is a problem considering he got stuck in his state of “superspeed” the first time he tried to use it.

6) Fire Generation But No Fire Immunity

By all appearances, Carol Campbell hit the jackpot with her superpower. She can ignite herself at will, setting her entire body on fire. However, unlike the Human Torch, Carol has zero immunity to flames. That’s right, she can set herself on fire all she wants, but it’s not exactly good for her health. Naturally, Carol refuses to use her powers, as doing so could prove fatal. Carol now lives on the fringes of mutant society, with some mutants looking down at her, believing she’s ashamed of her heritage. In reality, she’s just trying to stay alive and out of pain.

[RELATED: 7 Dead Marvel Characters That Need Resurrecting]

5) Tuning CB Radio Transmissions – No Radio Necessary

Ulysses Archer, aka U.S. Archer, is a hero from another time. He hailed from a time in comics when superheroes didn’t always need a flashy power to get attention, and that may explain a thing or two. Ulysses Solomon Archer was seriously injured in a car accident, and that could have spelled the end of his superhero journey, but it didn’t. Instead, he had part of his head replaced with an experimental alloy. This gave him lethal head-butting powers and the power to pick up CB Radio Transmissions (with his head). Okay, it’s not the flashiest power, and it gets worse. Ulysses is extremely vulnerable to magnets and other electronic scrambling devices, which can effectively put him down. His power isn’t what most people would consider worth that serious downside.

4) Creating a Massive Explosion – But No Secondary Power to Survive It

Bailey Hoskins, aka X-Ceptional, is possibly one of the more famous mutants. Well, he’s famous for having an awful mutation, that is. Bailey Hoskins is often referred to as the Worst X-Man Ever, as that’s his comic debut. It also kind of suits his ability, as Bailey Hoskins has the unique ability to self-detonate, and according to Beast, he can even control the force and size of the explosion. That would be mighty useful in battle if not for one teeny tiny little problem: Bailey has virtually no way of surviving the blast. That’s right, Bailey’s mutation, if used, will kill him. And it did, in the same comic series he debuted in. Bailey has since appeared on Earth-616, though Marvel never outright stated such. Here’s hoping things are going better for him this time around.

3) Unlimited Belly Button Lint Generation

Admittedly, there are times when Marvel intentionally makes heroes (or villains) with horrible powers. Sometimes, it’s to prove a point or make a joke. In the case of Fluff, he hails from a highly satirical series (X-Statix and X-Cellent), so it’s safe to guess why he was created. His real name is unknown, Fluff can generate as much belly button lint as he wants. Yes, really. It sounds utterly useless, and it probably would be, if not for the second half of his mutation, which lets him alter the chemical state of the lint. So he can make smoke grenades, explosives, and other useful bits. It’s still pretty gross, and it’s limited by his creativity. On the bright side, what Fluff lacks in awesome powers, he makes up for in confidence, so that’s something, right?

2) Generation and Projection of Pennies

J. Pennington Pennypacker is one of several heroes to rise up in NFL Superpro (1992). He, alongside several other people, was experimented on at Camp Runamuck, a camp meant to help people with their self-esteem, ironic, right? Well, as it turns out, it was being run by an evil scientist trying to perfect his machine that would grant superpowers. He nailed it, except for the fact that he couldn’t control the powers. J. Pennington Pennypacker gained the ability to generate and hurl pennies from his wrist, turning them into high-impact projectiles. Why did the power end up being so similar to his name? Comic book magic. He dubbed himself the Almighty Dollar and helped to take down the evil scientist, so that’s something.

1) The Ability to Be Completely Forgettable

Xabi, aka ForgetMeNot, arguably has the worst superpower in Marvel Comics. Why? Because it stinks and forces the hero into isolation. ForgetMeNot’s ability is known as umemorability, which is just a fancy way of saying that nobody can remember him. This isn’t a case of Xabi being able to pick and choose who can and cannot remember him, as literally anybody who stops looking at Xabi will forget about his existence. It’s so bad that Xavier had to install an hourly mental reminder to ensure he remembers the hero. To make matters worse, ForgetMeNot’s abilities work on a psionic level, as basic psychic searches can’t find him. Likewise, machines struggle to detect him, which is a blessing and a curse. Despite not being well-remembered, ForgetMeNot has given his life to the cause, though he was most recently revived by the Five at Krakoa.

The post 10 Worst Superpowers in Marvel (and Number 1 Is Really Bad) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It’s time to feast your eyes on a set of covers for Marvel’s Captain America series, with the highlight being a new suit for Steve Rogers. As Sam Wilson: Captain America ends, a Captain America comic featuring Steve Rogers prepares to launch. Going on sale July 2nd, Captain America by writer Chip Zdarsky (Daredevil) and artist Valerio Schiti (Avengers) puts Steve Rogers front and center in a story that spans his early days after awakening from his frozen suspended animation, to the present day. And it all ties back to Doctor Doom. Marvel is going all out by revealing a list of variant covers for the first issue from a murderer’s row of talented artists.

The main cover for July’s Captain America #1 is by Ben Harvey, with variant covers by series artist Valerio Schiti, who also contributes a Design Variant Cover showcasing Cap’s new suit, along with superstar artists Frank Miller and Pablo Villalobos. Series writer Chip Zdarsky also shows off his artistic chops with his own variant cover.

In addition, there is a patriotic Hidden Gem cover featuring John Romita Sr.’s iconic artwork from Marvel’s 1976 Bicentennial Calendar, as well as Luciano Vecchio’s recreation of the classic art in a 250th Homage Variant Cover. A Hidden Gem variant cover by John Romita Jr. is also available. Plus, Nick Bradshaw takes inspiration from a bygone era with one of the month’s eye-catching Retrovision Covers. Plus, the latest Marvel Rivals Variant Cover by NetEase Games spotlights artwork of Captain America’s design from the hit video game.

[RELATED: This Captain America & Winter Soldier Reunion Needs to Happen in the MCU]

I’m having a blast,” Zdarsky told Newsarama in a recent interview. “I’ve got the same feeling as I did when I started Daredevil, where each issue felt incredibly special, so I hope people feel the same way when they finally get to read it. Our first arc may be set in the past but it’s going to reveal some huge things that will affect the book going forward.”

The upcoming run opens with an adventure set just after Steve Rogers emerged from frozen suspended animation, but before he joined the Avengers. Returning to this pivotal moment in Marvel Comics history will reveal developments that will forever alter how the world views Captain America’s legacy. Following this game-changing arc, the series will shift to the present day where Captain America will deal with a new threat tied to this earlier secret conflict.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #1

• Written by CHIP ZDARSKY
• Art by VALERIO SCHITI
• Colors by FRANK MARTIN
• Cover by BEN HARVEY
• Variant Cover by VALERIO SCHITI
• Design Variant Cover by VALERIO SCHITI
• Variant Cover by CHIP ZDARSKY
• Variant Cover by FRANK MILLER
• Virgin Variant Cover by FRANK MILLER
• Variant Cover by PABLO VILLALOBOS
• Virgin Variant Cover by PABLO VILLALOBOS
• Bicentennial Calendar Hidden Gem Variant Cover by JOHN ROMITA SR.
• Hidden Gem Variant Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR.
• 250^th Homage Variant Cover by LUCIANO VECCHIO
• Retrovision Variant Cover by NICK BRADSHAW
• Marvel Rivals Variant Cover by NETEASE GAMES
• Blank Variant Cover
• On Sale 7/2
• While Captain America slumbered in ice, the world changed – for better and for worse. Steve Rogers awakens to a reality where battles are fought in the shadows through secrets and subterfuge, and villains aren’t so easy to identify. When a fledgling dictator named Victor Von Doom conquers Latveria, Steve faces a critical decision: adapt to a new kind of warfare, or forge his own path? And what will the choice he makes in the past mean for his future? Experience the untold tale of Captain America’s first encounter with Doctor Doom!

Captain America #1 goes on sale July 2nd. Let us know your thoughts on the covers and Cap’s costume in the comments below!

The post Captain America Cover Set Offers a New Look at Steve Rogers’ Updated Costume appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The newest Daredevil comic takes place in a dystopian future, but one familiar face saves Old Man Matt Murdock from receiving a brutal beating. It’s always fun to see what happens to our favorite heroes and villains in different, alternate futures, and the same can be said for Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell. An interesting mystery has been set up, and we’re finding out where characters like Captain America, Punisher, and Bullseye have ended up. As Daredevil looks to get back into the vigilante game, he’ll need all the help he can get so he doesn’t wind up dead. This help comes in the form of an ex-flame. WARNING: Spoilers for Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #2.

Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #2 comes from the creative team of Charles Soule, Steve McNiven, Dean White, and VC’s Clayton Cowles. The first issue saw Matt Murdock regain his incredible abilities after years of being a retired hero. An explosion at a subway tunnel retriggered his Daredevil powers, with Captain America sacrificing his life to save a mysterious young girl at the center of the terrorist attack. Readers know the mastermind behind everything is Daredevil’s old nemesis, Bullseye.

Matt Murdock dons a tattered, stitched-up version of his Daredevil costume and uses his enhanced senses to try and follow the trail of the terrorists that escaped. His investigation leads him to Times Square, where our mysterious girl unleashes a bright wave of light and passes out. Daredevil arrives just after Bullseye’s goons take her away in a stolen ambulance. Daredevil engages in physical combat after catching up with them, but the numbers game proves to be too much for the old man. Just when it appears all hope is lost, a shooter is taken out by three ninja throwing stars from Elektra.

Elektra Saves Old Man Daredevil, But Something’s Different About Her

While Daredevil is an old man, Elektra doesn’t look like she’s aged at all. She easily disarms (and beheads) their attackers, but Daredevil has her spare one of the henchmen so he can get information. Instead, Elektra clocks Daredevil across the face with the brunt end of her katana and tells the henchman to run back to his master and tell him they’re coming. Daredevil can tell by Elektra’s voice and body that she hasn’t aged a day in the long decades since they last saw each other.

[RELATED: Marvel Star Charlie Cox on a Potential Daredevil Movie in the MCU: “Write Letters”]

However, these abilities that Daredevil regained won’t last forever. They are slowly slipping away from him, which is why he’s in such a rush to to something meaningful with them. Elektra tells Daredevil that she didn’t come to him about the bomb and missing girl, but instead to offer Daredevil a chance at the immortality that she now possesses. This insinuates that Elektra has made some deal with a devil — perhaps The Hand — for life longevity. Daredevil appears to get a flashback to the past and Wilson Fisk’s death, though a white glowing star and skull logo would suggest that Captain America and Punisher — who is being tortured by Bullseye — may have been involved.

The gang that Daredevil is after is called the Triple Ring, and they answer to Daredevil and Elektra’s old friend, Bullseye. He has the mysterious girl strapped to a device that looks to feed off the energy she generates. Foggy Nelson tells Daredevil that a government-funded program called the New Warriors project is what Bullseye is after. In an effort to create superhumans, experiments with super-soldier serum and gamma radiation were being used. A whole shipment of the stuff is in an underground bunker, and Bullseye just got his hands on it.

What did you think about Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Daredevil Reunites With an MCU Street-Level Hero in Marvel’s Dark, Dystopian Future appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel helped evolve superheroes past the godlike icons of DC, bringing all-new facets to superhero comics. Sci-fi was a big part of the comic industry throughout the ’50s and ’60s, and Marvel was on the forefront of cosmic characters. Fantastic Four was the home of Marvel superhero sci-fi, and created many characters and concepts that would become extremely important to cosmic Marvel. Cosmic Marvel is one of the more interesting portions of the Marvel Universe. It’s full of powerful spacefaring heroes and villains, their trials and tribulations bringing superhero stories to an all-new level. Cosmic Marvel pushed the envelope in the ’70s, when creators like Jim Starlin (a name you’ll be seeing a lot throughout this list) created characters and concepts that would lead to some of the most defining Marvel stories of all time. From Infinity Gauntlet to Annihilation, cosmic Marvel has been the source of many of the publisher’s most beloved stories.

Cosmic Marvel is full of epic characters, but some of them are more important than others. They’ve played a huge role in the history of the Marvel Universe, with powers unlike anything more Earthbound heroes have encountered. Cosmic Marvel is defined by many iconic characters, each one playing a role in why the best cosmic Marvel comics are the best cosmic comics of all time. These eight cosmic Marvel characters are the most important, each of them making cosmic Marvel the amazing place that it is now.

8) Captain Marvel I

When people think of Captain Marvel nowadays, they’re mostly thinking of Carol Danvers, but there would be no Carol Danvers without Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel. The Kree soldier, armed with the Nega-Bands, went to Earth and helped fight against his own people’s invasion, getting his own solo book. Captain Marvel was vital to the cosmic Marvel revolution of the ’70s, battling Thanos and other cosmic threats. Jim Starlin told the best Captain Marvel stories, and even gave him the story that killed him in The Death of Captain Marvel, which would become the first in a line of oversized Marvel graphic novels. Captain Marvel began a legacy that lasted til this day, his legend being carried on by the heroes and villains he touched. Even Thanos came to like and respect Captain Marvel, which really tells you everything you need to know about the character.

7) Gamora

Gamora is the link between multiple generations of cosmic Marvel heroes. She first appeared in Strange Tales #180, joining her fellow Starlin creations like Adam Warlock, Pip the Troll, and Thanos. She was taken by Thanos after he destroyed the majority of her race, and was trained by the Mad Titan to become the most dangerous woman in the universe. She ended up in the Soul Gem, and would get out with Warlock and Pip in order to battle Thanos during Infinity Gauntlet, becoming a key part of the newly burgeoning cosmic Marvel of the ’90s. This iteration of cosmic Marvel would fade away as well, but she would also be in the next rebirth of cosmic Marvel during Annihilation, joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, where she would become more popular than ever. Gamora isn’t anywhere near the most powerful cosmic Marvel characters, but one can’t deny just how important she’s been to cosmic Marvel. Her relationship to Thanos would have been enough, but the fact that she’s played such a big role in making cosmic Marvel popular earns her a spot on this list.

6) Annihilus

Annihilus is one of the many Stan Lee/Jack Kirby creations that laid the groundwork for what cosmic Marvel would one day be. Annihilus’s home was the Negative Zone, and the insectoid conqueror was armed with the Cosmic Control Rod, a weapon that gave him great power as well as allowing him to control beings’ minds, allowing him to create a massive army. Annihilus was constantly trying to invade the regular universe, but the Fantastic Four were able to stop him every time. What really made Annihilus important to cosmic Marvel, though, was his place as the catalyst behind Annihilation. Annihilation came out around the same time as Civil War, and was overshadowed by that event, but is considered by many to be way better. Annihilus was the mind behind the Annihilation Wave, and his threat was the one that Nova, the Silver Surfer, Ronan the Accuser, Drax the Destroyer, and the Guardians of the Galaxy faced. Cosmic Marvel was going through one of its fallow periods before Annihilation came out — they usually coincided with those times that Jim Starlin wasn’t at the publisher — and that story played a massive role in reminding everyone just how awesome cosmic Marvel could be. Annihilus helped make all of that possible.

5) Fantastic Four

What many consider cosmic Marvel didn’t start until Jim Starlin took the disparate pieces of Marvel sci-fi and brought them together. However, there wouldn’t ever be a cosmic Marvel without the Fantastic Four. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s creation is possibly the greatest science fiction comic in the history of the medium, introducing multiple corners to the Marvel Universe that would get explored even more in the years to come. The Fantastic Four discovered the Skrull, broke through to the Negative Zone, and battled multiple universal conquerors. They were the first Earth heroes to deal with Galactus, and characters like the Silver Surfer and Adam Warlock all first appeared in Fantastic Four books (more on them later). They learned about the existence of Uatu and the Watchers before anyone else did. The Fantastic Four’s adventures planted the seeds of cosmic Marvel, and have been there ever since, their intergalactic/interdimensional allies and enemies taking them to new places.

RELATED: You’ll Never Believe These 10 Marvel Characters Actually Exist

4) Galactus

Galactus is basically what would happen if H.P. Lovecraft got to create a comic book character. Galactus is the definition of cosmic horror — a force so powerful that nearly every mortal being other than his Heralds is beneath his notice. Galactus’s first appearance in the Fantastic Four classic “The Galactus Trilogy” changed the Marvel Universe, as he would become the first of many cosmic beings that would define cosmic Marvel. Galactus also brought with him one of cosmic Marvel’s most important characters, the Silver Surfer, and was responsible for the existence of powerful Heralds like Firelord and Terrax. Galactus was a new kind of character in the Marvel Universe, and his existence gave cosmic Marvel one of their literally biggest stars. Galactus is one of the most powerful forces in existence, able to chew up Celestials and spit out stardust. Galactus is one of the key characters in cosmic Marvel. While there have been more powerful cosmic beings introduced — Eternity, the Living Tribunal, the One Above All, the One Below All — none of them have played as pivotal a role in making cosmic Marvel as unique and popular as Galactus has.

3) The Silver Surfer

The Silver Surfer was the first major solo star of cosmic Marvel. Stan Lee apparently loved writing dialogue for the Silver Surfer, or so the legend went, and fans loved him because of “The Galactus Trilogy”. The Silver Surfer decided to help Earth against Galactus and was trapped in Earth’s atmosphere by the cosmic giant, appearing in books like The Mighty Thor and various Silver Age Marvel anthology titles before getting his own solo book in 1968, three years after his debut, and would join the Defenders in the early ’70s. Silver Surfer would get various solo titles throughout the ’80s, including the brilliant Silver Surfer: Parable, from Lee and French artist Moebius (it’s amazing and you should check it out). Silver Surfer would get another solo series in the late ’80s, and when Jim Starlin came back to Marvel after spending some time at DC, he would begin the build-up to Infinity Gauntlet there, in the months leading up to Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #50. Silver Surfer was the standard bearer of cosmic Marvel, and when Starlin left, Ron Marz took the book over, giving Silver Surfer fans even more great adventures. Silver Surfer would disappear with the rest of cosmic Marvel, and appear again during Annihilation, getting another solo series from Dan Slott and Mike Allred that is considered one of the best Surfer comics ever. While he’s never been as important to cosmic Marvel as he once was, Silver Surfer will always be a vital part of the history of cosmic Marvel.

2) Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock first appeared in Fantastic Four #66-67, created to be the perfect man by the Conclave and first known as Him. He’d soon become known as Adam Warlock and was taken over by Jim Starlin. Starlin’s entire cosmic Marvel universe began to revolve around Warlock, with Pip the Troll (he honestly almost made this list, but that would have been more out of personal esteem than his worth), Gamora, Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, and Thanos, along with non-Starlin creations like High Evolutionary and Captain Marvel. Warlock would battle against the most powerful cosmic threats, possessing the Soul Gem, and proving that his appellation of the “perfect man” was fitting. Adam Warlock battled against his evil future self the Magus, and eventually ended up as a soul in the Soul Gem, where he would stay until Infinity Gauntlet. Warlock formed the core of the anti-Thanos force, and was able to get the Infinity Gauntlet after Nebula took it off the Mad Titan. Warlock would get a team book, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, and played a big role in all of Starlin’s ’90s cosmic Marvel stories. That would eventually end, and he’d show up again post-Annihilation, working with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Adam Warlock even made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut thanks to his relationship to the Guardians, although he was a very different kind of character in the movie.

1) Thanos

Thanos has become the key to cosmic Marvel multiple times over the years, and serves as Jim Starlin’s greatest creation. Thanos became one of the chief villains of Starlin’s ’70s cosmic Marvel books, battling Adam Warlock and the original Captain Marvel. His battles against cosmic Marvel’s two biggest heroes made him something of a star for a certain kind of Marvel fan, and he would die after trying to use a Cosmic Cube to kill half the universe for Mistress Death. She’d eventually resurrect him, and reveal to him the existence of the Infinity Gems, which would lead to Thanos Quest and the Marvel classic known as Infinity Gauntlet. Infinity Gauntlet made Thanos a star for an entire new generation of Marvel readers, leading to Thanos becoming the big bad of the first three Phases of the MCU. Whenever cosmic Marvel gets popular, Thanos is there, and he’s become synonymous with cosmic Marvel.

Who do you think are the most important cosmic Marvel characters? Sound off in the comments below.

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DC Comics has a certain reputation among superhero fans, creating heroes and villains that are much more powerful than their marvelous counterparts. Even back in the Golden Age, DC had powerful heroes and villains. People like to talk about how Superman wasn’t as powerful, but he was surrounded by heroes like the Spectre, Doctor Fate, and Green Lantern, all who could do basically anything they wanted at any time. Nearly every superpowered hero seemed to have super strength, and powers levels just kept increasing into the Silver Age, when the heroes of the DC Multiverse would reach their apex of power. Superman was throwing planets and flying through time, the Flash was powerful enough to transcend time and space, and villains like Brainiac were shrinking entire planets. All of that is before we get into villains like the Anti-Monitor.

Powers levels went down after Crisis on Infinite Earths, but they eventually started buoying back up as time went on. Nowadays, it’s closer to the days of the Silver Age, when the powers of heroes was whatever they needed to win the day, and the villains were just a little more powerful in order to challenge the heroes. These seven DC characters are among the most overpowered out there, and the fact that they’re so common in DC stories shows just how ridiculous the power levels of the DC Multiverse can be.

7) Wally West

This entry could really go to any of the Flashes, but Wally has been the fastest, most powerful Flash for a long time. Wally West’s power level is kind of insane to think about. He was the first Flash to learn the secret Speed Force and mastered the use of its powers in ways that no one else had before. Wally was able to pull feats of speed that other speedsters could only dream of, and was able to use the energy of the Speed Force in ways that were impossible for anyone else. Wally was the first person to master draining an object of its speed, a power he taught to every speedster that could do it. Wally could completely remove the Speed Force from someone, freezing them like a statue. He ran many, many times the speed of light, and can pull off the infinite mass punch, an attack that could basically kill just about anything the Justice League or he faces. He was able to become so fast that he could transcend Zoom’s ability to manipulate the speed that time moved at. Wally gained the ability to make duplicates of himself, all with his power level. Wally West is massively OP for a hero that is always around. He could beat most threats to the world all on his own.

6) Swamp Thing

Alan Moore made many characters great, but the first in the United States was Swamp Thing. Moore increased Swamp Thing’s powers to ridiculous levels. Making him the Avatar of the Green made him into a near unstoppable force of nature. The only way to actually affect him was to affect the energy wavelength that his consciousness operated on, otherwise he could move from any plant and grown it into whatever form he wanted, all while controlling all the plant life in his general vicinity. Swamp Thing has been shown beating Superman on numerous occasions, using the power of the Earth against Krypton’s most powerful man. Swamp Thing has tackled demons and monstrous forces of decay, operating on a scale that most heroes wouldn’t understand. Swamp Thing’s power level are far beyond the stratosphere; he hasn’t been in any actual danger in ages.

5) Superman

Superman and overpowered go together like chocolate and peanut butter, and have for decades. As referenced above, Superman wasn’t unstoppably powerful right away. Instead, he grew in power as creators threw more and more powerful foes at him until he reached the heights of his power in the Silver Age. Since then, Superman’s power has waxed and waned in main continuity, but he’s usually capable of still moving planets and has the potential to be a time-traveling, reality altering god like the Prime Superman is if he spends enough time under yellow sunlight. Superman is as powerful as the story needs him to be, which means that sometimes you’re getting a reasonably powered Superman and other times you’re getting a Superman who could destroy galaxies by sneezing (I’m pretty sure that actually happened in the Silver Age). Superman has faced the greatest threats and always come through, his power levels morphing whenever they need to. Superman is the definition of an overpowered hero, but luckily he’s one of the best.

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4) Doctor Manhattan

Doctor Manhattan was the only superpowered being on his Earth, gaining complete control over matter and physics. Doctor Manhattan could take apart things with a glance and was obsessed with the workings of the universe, using his powers to do experiments he never would have been able to do as a human. Doctor Manhattan’s power level grew as he came to understand more of how everything worked, and the way he perceives time means that he technically knows everything that he’s ever going to know in the past, present, and future. By the end of Watchmen, Doctor Manhattan had survived being disassembled at a molecular level for the second time and decided that he was going to explore the universe, perhaps even create some humans. This led him to the Bleed, where he passed into the DC Multiverse and reached his ultimate form. He used his powers to change space and time, removing elements from existence and using the multiverse as his petri dish, creating the New 52. This is an insane amount of power, much further beyond anything he had while he was in Watchmen. Doctor Manhattan was one of the most powerful beings to ever pass through the DC Multiverse, an all-powerful god of science missing the one thing the DC Multiverse gave him — wonder.

3) Darkseid

Darkseid is the God of Evil, a living force of entropy and control. Darkseid has one desire in all creation — to gain control of the Anti-Life Equation and take control of every living thing. Darkseid wants to be the only free will in existence, using his power to chain everything to himself. Darkseid is both a physical being of immense power, able to singlehandedly defeat any and all of Earth’s superheroes in physical combat, and a being that is enmeshed in the fabric of the DC Multiverse. You can kill Darkseid’s body, it is possible. However, you can’t kill Darkseid because he is in everything. Everyone who misuses their power to hurt others is one of Darkseid’s people. Darkseid is always there, ready to be recruited into whatever big event that creators need him for. Darkseid is constantly an existential force of destruction, and when he gets the Anti-Life Equation, he’s pretty close to unstoppable. Darkseid is just that kind of villain, an overpowered force of destruction unlike anything that the universe has ever seen.

2) The Anti-Monitor

The Anti-Monitor kicked off a fine tradition of villains who were powerful enough to destroy universes. Comics are full of villains with high kill counts, but the Anti-Monitor easily takes the cake. He destroyed every universe he came across for ages, winnowing down the Multiverse in a bid to gain enough of it to transform into anti-matter and flood all of reality. The Anti-Monitor is more powerful than the mightiest Kryptonian and can create entire armies of lackies from his shadow. He is in charge of the antimatter universe of Qward, where the Weaponeers create weapons for him that can destroy universes with one shot. He can release waves of anti-matter that can burn away everything in their path. The Anti-Monitor is basically as powerful as whatever story calls him to be, and makes even the most powerful Marvel villains look like child’s play. Sure, Galactus eats planets and chews up Celestials, but the Anti-Monitor was able to destroy entire universes and wrestle with the Spectre, a reality-altering titan, defeating him handily, and creating an entire universe as a trap for the heroes. That’s an insane amount of power, but that’s just what the Anti-Monitor at full power can do.

1) Perpetua

The cosmology of the DC Multiverse is frankly insane. There’s the various gods of the different worlds, there the Presence and his angels and Lucifer and his demons. There’s the Endless, the New Gods of New Genesis and Apokolips, and survivors of elder gods’ old wars littered across the multiverse. There’s the Monitors, the Anti-Monitor, the World-Forger. There’s the Gentry and the Empty Hand. There’s the Great Darkness. Greater than all of these, though, are the Hands. The Hands build multiverses, creating little infinite clusters of space time all over creation. Long ago, one Hand created a multiverse meant to conquer all of the other ones. This was Perpetua and her creation was the DC Multiverse. The other Hands banded together and imprisoned her beyond the Source Wall, but she was able to break when the Justice League broke open the Wall in Justice League: No Exit. Perpetua saw her creation and wanted control of it back, so she worked with Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom, as well as the Batman Who Laughs, in a bid to spread doom through the galaxy, making veryone chose her darkness. Perpetua is powerful enough to create entire multiverses. Her weapon of choice is throwing planets at foes of her scale. Perpetua’s powers are on a scale that can be hard to grasp, and it was only thanks to the actions of many, many beings that the DC Multiverse, and the greater Omniverse, was able to survive Perpetua’s wrath.

What DC characters do you think are the most overpowered? Sound off in the comments below.

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Things just got more complicated for a villain in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. The web-slinger has slowly been meeting more of his classic villains in Ultimate Spider-Man, with Wilson Fisk/Kingpin siccing his Sinister Six after Spidey and Harry Osborn/Green Goblin. This resulted in Harry’s death, though that was revealed to be a ruse orchestrated by Mysterio, who just happens to be Harry’s wife, Gwen Stacy. But there’s more to Mysterio’s identity than meets the eye, which is just how the Master of Illusion likes it. Because Gwen Stacy isn’t the only character in the Spider-Man Universe who can call themselves “Mysterio.” WARNING: Spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man #17 below.

Ultimate Spider-Man #17 comes from the creative team of Jonathan Hickman, David Messina, Matthew Wilson, and VC’s Cory Petit. The issue focuses on Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn taking the fight to Wilson Fisk and his Sinister Six. They each meet with different characters, which is where we see Gwen Stacy and Robbie Robertson together in Gwen’s office inside Oscorp Industries. Robbie brings Gwen some important information, and when Gwen asks why she should trust him, Robbie says that “we Mysterios have to stick together,” revealing himself to be one of the five individuals sharing the Mysterio identity in the Ultimate Universe.

Marvel Reveals Which Characters Share the Mantle of Mysterio

The meeting between Gwen Stacy and Robbie Robertson is interrupted by Wilson Fisk and his handler, James Wesley. With Harry believed to be dead by the general public, Kingpin wants to make sure that Gwen Stacy stays true to her deceased husband’s obligations, such as his business arrangements with Kingpin. He leaves Gwen and Mr. Wesley alone to finish signing paperwork, where we learn that Mr. Wesley is also one of the Mysterios.

Mr. Wesley helped Gwen find Harry when he and Peter Parker were being held by Kraven the Hunter. This caused some unwarranted questions from Kingpin, though Mr. Wesley was able to sidestep them. He leaves Gwen with the Mysterio amulet, meaning that it’s her turn to act as Mysterio for one week. Gwen decides to use that time to team up with Green Goblin and launch a strike against Mr. Negative and his Demons.

[RELATED: Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man Continuity Belongs in the Marvel Universe’s Main Timeline]

The duo takes out a couple of Demons, with Green Goblin helping innocents escape the building, just in time for bombs to blow it all up. Phase 1 of their war is a success, so it’s time to recruit Spider-Man for some extra backup. Ultimate Spider-Man #17 ends with Harry calling Peter to let him know that he’s alive. Peter took his family on the run after Kraven learned his secret identity. Harry tells Peter to come back home as they move on to the next phase of their plan.

The Mysterio of the Ultimate Universe is vastly different from the one on Earth-616, which is considered the main Marvel Universe. Instead of just Quentin Beck being Mysterio, he shares it with four other characters. So far we’ve met Quentin, Gwen Stacy, Robbie Robertson, and James Wesley, meaning there should be one more character to be revealed in this quintet. Things are escalating quickly, and a gang war is just around the corner. The only question is what side will the other Mysterios choose?

The post Ultimate Spider-Man Just Made an MCU Villain’s Secret Identity a Lot More Complicated appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The comic industry has lost a titan in Peter David. David’s passing is a tragedy. He was an amazing creator, and spent years working on the greatest characters in comics. Peter David was a man of multiple talents, writing everything from Star Trek novels to cartoons. David’s time on The Incredible Hulk for twelve years completely redefined what the character could be. Throughout the ’90s, The Incredible Hulk was extremely popular, and David’s opinion column, “But I Digress…” in CBG allowed readers to get to know him like they did few other creators. He was responsible for some of the greatest stories for multiple characters — Hulk, Spider-Man, Supergirl, Aquaman, Jamie Madrox — and left behind a body of work that will stand among the greatest comics of all time.

We’re here to talk about David’s work. This list will contain both entire runs and individual stories from those runs that are especially good. David’s runs were things of beauty, truly epic stories that were masterpieces of tone and character. You knew you were in for a treat when it came to his books, as he was going to take characters you never thought about much and make them into obsessions. All of Peter David’s work is worthy of praise, but these ten works are the best of them, books that you need to get your hands on.

10) Fallen Angel

David’s Supergirl ran for years, but he still had stories left to tell with the character after it was finished. This led to him and artist David Lopez creating Fallen Angel, a book that took many of the ideas behind David’s Supergirl and continued them. The book starred Lee, a superheroine known as Fallen Angel in the city of Bete Noire. The city itself is as much a character as Lee herself, a shifting landscape of perfect order during the day and complete corruption by night. Lee battles against the machinations of the Magistrate, as readers are drawn through one of the darkest and rewarding narratives ever. Fallen Angel was published by DC Comics and IDW, and it can be a bit tough to find. However, it’s definitely worth the hunt. David’s work on Fallen Angel is some of his best.

9) “The Death of Jean DeWolfe”

“The Death of Jean DeWolfe” is Peter David’s second professional comic work, and what a work it is. Police captain Jean DeWolfe, one of Peter Parker’s closest friends, is found dead and Spider-Man swings into action to find the killer. Daredevil gets involved when Matt Murdock is brought in to represent a group of muggers that Spider-Man brought in. The villain is revealed as the Sin-Eater, and Spider-Man is faced with a foe that he wants to kill. “The Death of Jean DeWolfe” is a Spider-Man classic and showed off what David was capable of with superheroes. Working with artist Rich Buckler, David created a page turning mystery that transforms midway through into a completely different story. This is one of the most beloved black Spider-Man costume series, and it led David to write for all four Spider-Man titles of the ’80s and ’90s — The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, and The Spectacular Spider-Man — and it’s all because of this classic story.

8) Supergirl

Post-Crisis Supergirl is an interesting story in itself, but the basics are this — in the post-Crisis DC Universe, Superman was the only Kryptonian. Supergirl was Matrix, a shape-shifting, protoplasmic being that took on her form after meeting her on an alternate Earth. David’s Supergirl kicked off with Supergirl saving the life of Linda Danvers, and the two beings merged. The mystery of who Linda Danvers was as a person is a major mystery in the series. Supergirl’s life as Linda changes her, and David takes the characters in directions that no fan ever thought they would have gone in. David paid homage to the Supergirl ideas of the past while completely remaking the character from the ground up. David worked with a lot of great artists over the run of Supergirl, which ran for 80 issues over seven years, but kicked the book off with his former artistic partner Gary Frank. Frank’s art is amazing, and every issue he draws looks fantastic. Supergirl is a perfect example of David taking a character that no one thought of very much and made her into a star.

7) Hulk: The End

Peter David is widely considered the best Hulk writer of all time, so Marvel gave him the honor of telling the last Hulk story. Hulk: The End re-teamed David with artist Dale Keown, to tell the story of the Hulk in the far future. Humanity is long extinct and the Hulk will not let Bruce Banner die. He is followed over the insect ridden planet by a device from an alien race, recording his actions as he tried to kill himself over and over again. It is just as dark as it sounds and is all the better for it. David captures the despair of both the Hulk and Banner, the last sentient being on Earth, trapped with the person they both hate the most. Keown’s art was at another level than it was when he worked on The Incredible Hulk with David, and Hulk: The End is page after gorgeous page of Hulk action, with images you’ll never forgot. Hulk: The End is the perfect ending for the Hulk, David’s final word on a character he changed forever.

6) Aquaman: Time and Tide

The post-Crisis DC Universe was a fertile places for new takes on old characters and David’s time working with Aquaman were one of the highlights of ’90s DC. David got the go ahead to completely reboot everything about Aquaman, starting with The Atlantis Chronicles (a truly excellent reimagining of the DC Atlantean lore) and soon got his chance to the do the same to Aquaman with Aquaman: Time and Tide, along with artist Kirk Jarvinen. Time and Tide was a new kind of Aquaman for the extreme ’90s, and David was able to use the lore that he had established before to give readers a new Aquaman. This story pit the Atlantean monarch against Ocean Master, beginning a new chapter in their decades long rivalry, and setting up the villain as Aquaman’s greatest foe, a position that was usually held by Black Manta. David’s Aquaman is the perfect version of the character, and Jarvinen’s art is fantastic, giving readers brilliant underwater action. Time and Tide was the perfect reimagining of Aquaman, and is worth the effort of hunting down.

RELATED: Aquaman’s Voyage Into the Fantastical is Paying Off in a Major Way (Review)

5) Spider-Man 2099

Marvel’s 2099 comics were one of the ’90s most beloved line, and a big reason for that is Spider-Man 2099. Peter David, kicking the series off with legendary artist Rick Leonardi. David showed off his cyberpunk chops with Spider-Man 2099, the story of Miguel O’Hara fighting against the corporation that he used to work for — Alchemax — and the changing world of the Earth of 2099. David showed the limits of what could be done with this new setting, and Spider-Man 2099 is an example of perfect superhero goodness. Miguel O’Hara is a brilliant character, one that David presents to the reader from every angle. He also faithfully recreates the villains of Spider-Man for the future, his love for the character shining through all the time. The ’90s weren’t the greatest decade for Spider-Man fans but for 44 issues, readers got some of the best Spider-Man comics of all time from a master of the character.

4) Young Justice

The Teen Titans didn’t do very well in the ’90s, the glories of the past not enough to keep readers interested. By the mid ’90s, DC had introduced an all-new slate of teen sidekicks — Tim Drake, Cassie Sandsmark, Conner Kent, and Impulse — and they got to be pretty popular. DC gave Peter David and Todd Nauck a chance to make the teen heroes a big deal again with Young Justice. As a concept, Young Justice is basically just the Teen Titans under a different name, with David taking the young heroes to a boarding school environment, which was a nice touch. Young Justice was sold as the Robin/Superboy/Wonder Girl/Impulse book, but characters like Arrowette, Empress, and Secret kept readers coming back. Unlike the Teen Titans, Young Justice got their own Justice League mentor, with David bringing in Red Tornado. Young Justice was the epitome of what teen superheroes could be, with David proving that he could do teen heroes better than anyone in the industry.

3) X-Factor

Peter David wrote three separate runs on X-Factor since 1991. He wrote X-Factor (Vol. 1) #70-89, X-Factor (Vol. 3) #1-50, 200-262 (it reverted to legacy numbering), and All-New X-Factor #1-20. The first one premiered during the X-Men line’s 1991’s reboot, and was easily the most well-written X-Men book on the market at the time. His team was a masterpiece of character, digging into each and everyone one of them, making them better heroes. X-Factor (Vol. 1) #87 was the therapy issue, a comic which completely reinvigorated Quicksilver as a character. X-Factor (Vol. 2) was the Madrox book, spinning out of David’s work on MadroX, and saw X-Factor evolve into a detective agency. It’s constantly brilliant, and probably the best of the three. All-New X-Factor was X-Factor as a corporate superhero team, now with a hundred percent more Gambit. Peter David was a master of team storytelling, and his time on X-Factor gave readers some of the greatest team comics ever.

2) Aquaman

Aquaman was basically dead by the time the ’90s got underway. SuperFriends had ruined the character for an entire generation of DC fans, and no one had been able to make the character popular again. Peter David had seemingly taken it upon himself to fix Aquaman and make him a big deal again, with aforementioned The Atlantis Chronicles and Time and Tide setting up the pieces for a new Aquaman ongoing series. David and artist Jim Calafiore were able to make Aquaman one of the best DC comics of the mid ’90s, which is actually quite impressive even thought it doesn’t seem like it should be. David immediately threw a curveball at readers by having piranhas eat off Aquaman’s hand. This new hook handed Aquaman was a stone cold bruiser, and David threw him at everything from supervillains to sea gods. It was an amazing read every single issue, 44 issues of awesome Aquaman action.

1) The Incredible Hulk

Peter David wrote The Incredible Hulk for 12 years, working with artists like Todd McFarlane, Dale Keown, Gary Frank, Liam Sharp, Mike Deodato Jr., and Adam Kubert. David’s run kicked off with issue #331 and ending with issue #448. There are so many amazing issues throughout David’s run and he changed the Hulk forever, introducing readers to some of the most important pieces of Hulk lore. He changed the relationship between the Hulk and Bruce Wayne forever, digging into the psychology of the Hulk in a way that no other writer had tried to. He was able to write every kind of Hulk over his run, from the genius scientist Hulk to the monosyllabic savage Hulk. Every Hulk writer after his has used ideas that David laid the seeds for. He found a way to make Rick Jones vital in the ’90s, which is quite a feat. There are multiple eras throughout David’s run, and there’s something for everyone in this run. Personally, my favorite issues came from Gary Frank and Adam Kubert’s time with Peter David, but it’s all amazing.

What’s your favorite Peter David series (sorry Captain Marvel and Star Trek: The Next Generation fans, those are excellent too)? Sound off in the comments below.

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The enthralling roller coaster of DC’s Absolute Universe kicks off the next chapter of Wonder Woman’s story in it with Absolute Wonder Woman #8, itself part one of the book’s new story “As My Mothers Made Me”. While not as action heavy as Diana’s literal emergence from Hell itself in the beginning of Absolute Wonder Woman, that’s by design with Diana finding her footing in mankind’s world in the aftermath of her first big battle. The issue’s biggest asset, however, are the multiple twists it introduces that set up Diana’s journey in the Absolute Universe as one that is just getting started.

When “As My Mothers Made Me” begins, Diana has made a new home for herself in Gateway City after here defeat of the monstrous creature, the Tetracide, but while she has several new human friends including Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, and Barbara Minerva, Diana still yearns to find her Amazonian sisters from her homeland of Themyscira whom she never got to meet due to her upbringing in Hell. Meanwhile, the sinister director of Area 41, Veronica Cale, prepares to throw a curveball in Diana’s direction with help from the captive Doctor Poison, the two having both a secret weapon and a tool of enticement to catch Diana off guard.

Absolute DC has excelled as a collective Elseworlds story for all of DC, and Absolute Wonder Woman #8 picks up the ball from Diana’s Absolute debut in both an understated and impactful way. If the first seven issues of Absolute Wonder Woman placed great emphasis on Diana as a warrior, the eighth is all about achieving peace in her new home as she primarily focuses on finding the sisters she never met in the home she’s building for herself.

RELATED: 7 Biggest Changes Absolute DC Has Made To DC’s Trinity

While Steve, Etta, and Barbara don’t have a big role to play other than being impressed by Diana’s big magic trick of the issue, the villainous cabal that Veronica Cale and Doctor Poison more than makes up for it. Re-imaging Doctor Poison as a sentient cloud of gas assuming a rough human form through a containment suit is just the latest brilliant DC character makeover the Absolute Universe has treated readers to, while Veronica’s role in the story shows her with a surprisingly Amanda Waller-esque persona in her talent for pulling strings to make villains into her pawns.

Hayden Sherman and Jordan Bellaire’s artwork keeps the cave painting-like quality that has been Absolute Wonder Woman‘s visual bedrock enthrallingly vivid, but like any great part one of a comic book story, “As My Mothers Made Me” saves its strongest punch for its last couple of pages. Suffice it to say, Diana being called upon to face an old enemy is just the appetizer to the real shocker of the twist in its final panel. An absolutely splendid cliffhanger is how Absolute Wonder Woman #8 chooses to wrap up part one of “As My Mother Made Me” – one that sets the stage for Diana’s new big challenge and that reminded me of how and why DC’s Absolute Universe has been consistently knocking it out of the park from day one, as it is sure to do for millions of other readers.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Absolute Wonder Woman #8 is on sale now from DC.

The post Absolute Wonder Woman Was Already Great And It’s Only Getting Better appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A new chapter in the thrilling saga of DC’s Man of Steel is now underway in Superman #26, and while all eyes are on the future, Superman never abandons the critical threads of the past. This key element has made Superman one of the most gratifying series in DC’s current library, as past events always feel meaningful without becoming obstacles to fresh concepts and ideas. It’s resulted in a book that rewards longtime readers with additive layers to characters, relationships, and alliances while also consistently pushing the story forward into new territory, and over two years in this series still feels as powerful as ever.

Superman #26 deals directly with the fallout of Mercy’s big gamble that set a murderous and crazed clone (X-El) on a rampage across Metropolis, and writer Joshua Williamson takes some time to catch up with several different areas of the Superman family and the book’s extended cast. It’s become a trademark of the series and is a credit to how much investment has been made in the rest of the cast, as Lois, Lex, Mercy, and Lena have all become just as important to the overall story and just as compelling as Big Blue.

Lena Luthor is especially great throughout the issue and makes an immediate impact during the book’s opening pages thanks to the brilliant work of Eddy Barrows, Alejandro Sanchez, and Ariana Maher. Luthor has been on the receiving end of no shortage of scoldings over the years, but you feel every painful word in Lena’s justified evisceration of him, just as you can’t shake the feeling that something is off with Lois after her back-to-business shrug-off of not having powers. Everyone feels remarkably human in this series, and it’s part of what successfully grounds the bigger superhero spectacle of it all.

That leads us to the direct threat of this issue, which isn’t actually coming from Lex or Mercy this time around. Williamson leans into other aspects of Superman and his personality that we don’t always get to see and creates a freight train of internal conflict in the process, and then we also get key characters from earlier in the run (including one of my absolute favorites) showing back up in unexpected ways.

[RELATED: DC Reveals Four New Kryptonites in Black Label Superman Series]

There’s also a grand plan in place, with two interludes building upon the two most recent arcs and setting up big confrontations down the line. Those who have been paying attention to not only Superman’s main series but also All In overall will be excited to see both of these story elements in play, and it once again goes to show how deftly the series balances its macro level storytelling and the moments in between that gets you invested in the first place. Superman has been on an all-time run over these last two years, and as the next era begins in earnest, I can’t see a future where that is going to change.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Superman #26 is on sale now.

What did you think of Superman #26, and what do you want to see next from the series? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Superman Makes the Man of Steel His Own Worst Enemy and I’ve Never Been So Excited appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The mystery behind Ms. Marvel‘s mutant powers is slowly being revealed. Ms. Marvel first became connected to the X-Men when the finale of her Disney+ series uttered the word “mutation.” The theme from X-Men: The Animated Series also played in the background to really drive the point home. The comics decided to sync with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, killing Ms. Marvel and bringing her back to life using the X-Men’s resurrection protocols on Krakoa, where they revealed to her that she is both an Inhuman and a mutant. We’ve yet to see the mutant powers that Ms. Marvel possesses, but they just manifested themselves at the most opportune time. WARNING: Spoilers for Giant-Size X-Men #1 below.

Giant-Size X-Men #1 comes from the creative team of Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Adam Kubert, and Laura Martin, with a “Revelation” backup story by Al Ewing, Sara Pichelli, Federico Blee, and VC’s Clayton Cowles. The comic follows Ms. Marvel as she’s thrown into the past to experience different, critical events in the X-Men’s history. The villain causing all of this mischief is David Haller/Legion, the son of Professor Charles Xavier. For some unknown reason, Legion has decided to travel from the far-flung future to the past to change events. For some reason, Ms. Marvel has also been chosen to follow Legion on this journey.

[RELATED: Ms. Marvel Meets the Age of Apocalypse’s X-Men in First Look at Marvel Event (Exclusive)]

They wind up at the X-Men’s home in Westchester, New York, right after Cyclops lost his team. Enter the Uncanny X-Men, consisting of Nightcrawler, Thunderbird, Colossus, Storm, Banshee, Sunfire, and Wolverine. These are the X-Men that debuted in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1. Cyclops, who recognizes Ms. Marvel from when the original X-Men were transplanted in the current day, takes Ms. Marvel with the new team for a rescue mission to the mutant island Krakoa.

While the X-Men battle Legion, Ms. Marvel convinces Krakoa to become “a Giant-Size X-Man” by taking to the sky to escape into space. Legion follows, taunting Ms. Marvel the entire time. “What’s a little girl with stretchy arms supposed to do against our Legion?” he asks. Ms. Marvel’s response is where we see her mutant powers come into play.

Ms. Marvel Unleashes Her Mutant Powers

The display of Ms. Marvel’s mutant powers comes as she delivers a knockout punch to Legion. She uses her stretching powers to form two large fists, which light up and glow with yellow/gold energy. Fireworks seem to fly off her fists as she lands the punch on Legion, with fireworks even bouncing off his face. Ms. Marvel is just as surprised as the reader at what just happened. She begins plummeting back to Earth, wondering why her mutant power isn’t flying. Legion saves Ms. Marvel by teleporting them to another point in time, where the X-Men are confronted by Jean Grey’s Dark Phoenix. The story will continue in Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1.

As for Ms. Marvel and her mutant powers, it’s not entirely clear what they are. She’s always been able to embiggen her body, but the sparkling effect and diamond shapes that appear on her hands and wrists are new. In some ways, they mirror her abilities in the Ms. Marvel Disney+ series. The show had Ms. Marvel creating hard-light constructs that were the color purple. Here, her powers are a lighter shade, so not exactly the same.

We’re left with more questions than answers. Emma Frost previously told Ms. Marvel that the awakening of her Inhuman powers kept her mutant powers dormant, though they would manifest themselves at some point in the future. It looks like that future is now, even though it takes place in the past. Time travel is funny that way.

What do you think about Ms. Marvel’s mutant powers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Ms. Marvel’s Mutant Powers Are Finally Revealed (But What Exactly Are They?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Uncanny X-Men has been setting the bar very high for the rest of the “From the Ashes” X-Men books. The book’s latest story has seen the Outliers discovering the truth about their new base, Haven House, and Uncanny X-Men #15 shows exactly what the X-Men have been sitting on since they moved her. “Dark Artery” has introduced readers to Lady Henrietta, a powerful mutant who has been around for a century, guarding a mutant secret unlike anything readers have ever experienced. Uncanny X-Men is the best current X-Men book, and this newest issue shows off exactly why, as Gail Simone and David Marquez take readers on a terrifying ride through the past.

Simone promised that Uncanny X-Men would be something of a Southern Gothic horror book, and Uncanny X-Men #15 does a tremendous job of capturing that feel. The truth about Haven House is revealed both through flashbacks and current day exposition, as Lady Henrietta tells the Outliers the story of the Penumbra, a Hell-like place for the dead who hurt mutants. A big problem with “From the Ashes” since the beginning has been the way the majority of the books rehashed Marvel’s merry mutants’ history. Uncanny X-Men has done a tremendous job of sidestepping this; while Simone has definitely captured the flavor of the past — specifically the more character focused of X-Men legend Chris Claremont — she’s been telling stories that aren’t as obviously rehashes as some of the other X-Men books. “Dark Artery” is yet another example of that.

The mystery of Haven House and why Gambit chose it as the X-Men’s newest base has been one of the major questions of the book, and the answer is so much cooler than readers could have imagined. Simone’s ability to weave together character and plot is one of the reasons this story works so well. A big focus of the issue is the camaraderie between the Outliers, as the four young mutants show just how much they care about each other when Deathdream makes a decision that could change his life forever. The Outliers are some of the coolest new mutants ever, and Simone has done a great job of giving each of them distinct personalities. They are the majority of the focus of the issue, and it’s great to see the way they work together and play off each other. One of the best things with Simone’s writing has always been her ability to do a lot with a little, and she does that with Outliers. Ransom is the leader, Deathdream is the weird one, Calico is the one with secrets, and Jitter is the group sweetheart. Simone is able to show off who each of them are with some simple dialogue, and she’s able to fit in so much character all while creating a great plot and dropping lore on the readers.

RELATED: Ms. Marvel Meets the Age of Apocalypse’s X-Men in First Look at Marvel Event (Exclusive)

Marquez’s art is fantastic, but that’s no surprise. This is a very dark issue, lighting wise, but Marquez never slacks on the detail. His character acting is amazing, really selling the emotion of every scene. There’s a moment between Jitter and Calico that works so much better because of Marquez’s art, capturing love, fear, and surprise in two panels. This issue has some great action scenes, and Marquez is able to capture the sense of motion that action scenes need to work.

The Penumbra, the otherworldly place under Haven House, has a simple design and it works so well because of Marquez’s art. Anyone entering the Penumbra gets gothed up — there’s a dress code for Hell apparently — and Marquez creates great alternate costumes for both the Outliers and the X-Men. One of the things that fans have loved about this book is the sexiness of the characters (the last issue with everyone in their underwear was talked about constantly in X-Men fan spaces), and Marquez keeps that up in this issue as well. Looking at Marquez’s Wolverine in his cut-off jean shorts will definitely make readers realize why Wolverine is such a ladies man. His Man-Thing looks sensational, and it’s enough to make readers want him to draw the character more.

There’s so much to love about Uncanny X-Men #15. Team books have gone through a lot of changes over the years, but Uncanny X-Men is an example of borrowing the structure of the past and making it work in the present. This issue has everything a reader could want — expert character work, fun lore, exciting action, and tremendous art. “Dark Artery” has been a blockbuster so far, and this penultimate issue will definitely hype readers up for the story’s end.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Uncanny X-Men is on sale now.

The post Uncanny X-Men #15 Is a Master Class of Borrowing From the Past to Tell New Stories appeared first on ComicBook.com.

When it comes to the biggest Batman comic book storylines of all time, Batman: Hush is always in the conversation. Stories such as The Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, Death In The Family, The Killing Joke, and Batman: Year One stand at the top of the food chain for the Dark Knight, with the introduction of the villainous Hush standing side-by-side with many of them. Thanks to DC announcing that the original creative team of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Jim Lee returning for a sequel storyline, many were expecting a new golden era of the Bat but unfortunately, they might get anything but with the latest issue, Batman #160.

Much like the title of this review suggests, Batman #160 throws an incalculable amount of characters, storylines, and action-packed scenes readers’ way. To start, Bruce is having some difficulty in wrapping his head around the Red Hood’s current alliance as Jason Todd and Hush seem to be working in tandem. On top of this, Tommy Elliott’s big comeback has spawned new villains for the Dark Knight to fight as Hush has been putting his surgical skill to good use. The issue also injects subplots involving Commissioner Gordon, Nightwing and Batgirl teaming up with the Riddler, Damien Wayne hitting the scene with Bane, Tommy creating new villains for Bruce to fight, and all these elements stirred into a chaotic pot. Unfortunately, all of these plotlines find themselves almost doing battle with one another by the issue’s end.

[RELATED: This Fan Favorite Batman Story Isn’t The Masterpiece It’s Made Out to Be (And I Will Die on This Hill)]

The original Hush storyline, much like The Long Halloween and its sequel Dark Victory, did an adept job of juggling an avalanche of Batman’s villains into one storyline. Specifically, it did this by typically spending an issue seeing the Dark Knight take on one of his rogues gallery within the backdrop of an overarching mystery that is unfurling. Here, Loeb takes a far more chaotic approach in that countless villains are smacking against one another for panel time in a way that might have seemed more in line with the grand finales of these respective stories. This methodology worked as something of a pay-off to what had transpired before in the original Long Halloween but unfortunately, it almost appears as though Hush 2 is throwing everything at the wall relatively early.

The Hush sequel has an issue in giving you time to breathe and percolate on the many plots that are interweaving with one another. It’s all too fast and far too furious in comparison to Loeb’s past mysteries that worked so well, such as The Long Halloween with the methodology for introducing the nefarious Holiday. To say nothing of the fact that we are once again retreading the idea of whether or not the Joker should still be alive and how far Bruce Wayne should go in saving the villain’s life. This of course leads me to my next big issue with the issue.

We really need to have a discussion about Jason Todd in the DC Universe. For me personally, I think that there has never been a good enough storyline, aside from Batman: Under The Red Hood, that felt like Jason’s resurrection was justified in the face of his initial death’s impact on the DC universe. That’s a personal preference for yours truly but it’s one that feels exacerbated here in Hush 2 because readers are once again dragged into a villainous take on the Red Hood, which is territory that has been explored time and time again. Yes, Jason wants the Joker dead but that fact has been mined to death, and seeing him once again coming to blows with Bruce over this fact doesn’t feel fresh anymore. It’s a hard sell that Jason, who is a murderer, is allowed to walk free and fight for Gotham but him switching sides again pushes the believability of the universe to its breaking point.

On a positive note, Jim Lee once again proves himself to have not missed a beat since he was drawing far more often for both DC and Marvel Comics. Lee’s work makes each of these characters truly feel as though they are gods walking the Earth, which is fantastic for the DC universe as a whole. There’s a reason why in plenty of marketing and promotional material, Jim Lee’s artwork feels like the “go-to” for Batman and his villains and the artist proves that here. Scott Williams’ inks and Alex Sinclair’s colors on the issue greatly accentuate Lee’s linework here, and if nothing else, I really am looking forward to seeing more of what Hush 2 has to offer in the art department.

Hush 2 is a storyline that I believe will need to be judged when all is said and done, ie once the arc is finished and readers can read it in a single afternoon. Reviewing the arc piecemeal feels like a tough scenario though it’s one that still needs to be done. As it stands, I wouldn’t recommend this sequel for readers looking for the next big Batman book and while it is flawed, there are good enough aspects to bring me back to see how it all wraps.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Batman #160 is on sale now from DC.

The post Batman’s Hush Sequel’s “Everything But the Kitchen Sink” Approach Just Isn’t Working appeared first on ComicBook.com.

In both reality and fiction there may be one thing that is more dangerous than power and its secrets. On their face, the idea of secrets — information withheld or concealed, usually to avoid a consequence — doesn’t seem like such a terrible thing. People keep relatively harmless secrets every day in the name of basic privacy. But not all secrets are benign and when you combine secrets with the volatility of a world containing superpowered beings it’s not just feelings that could be in the balance but the fate of the entire world. This is where The Power Fantasy from Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard brings us in issue #9 and it’s the revelation of a couple of secrets in particular that could save the world or be its entire undoing.

The Power Fantasy sees the Superpowers in a strange and strained situation. Jacky Magus has previously entered into an alliance with the U.S. government after Etienne killed the president, it’s discovered that Heavy has a secret Superpower son who could end up being a dangerous player in the mix, and Masumi is already hanging by a very delicate emotional thread. All of that threatens to blow up in everyone’s faces in the issue (potentially literally). We start to realize that Heavy may not have the biggest handle on things when it comes to his secret son and that he’s not necessarily entirely confident about his own stance. We also finally see Isabella be honest with Masumi, revealing their own bitter feelings about how the Atomics (and particularly Masumi) survive over and over while humans die in droves when things go wrong. It’s a huge risk, but opening up that secret both unburdens Isabella and seems to do some good for Masumi as well.

[RELATED: No, The Power Fantasy Isn’t Watchmen (But It Might Be Better)]

But it’s the big secret that gets revealed in The Power Fantasy #9 that may be the most dangerous thing the story has faced to date, something that is poised to be more of an issue for how it could upset the balance of power and what it means for the already delicate dance the Atomics are doing. Jacky Magus has been doing some sneaky stuff for a while and everyone’s been trying to get Eliza on their side, but as it turns out, what’s really going on with Jacky goes back to the catastrophic Second Summer of Love in 1989. It also turns out to have major, major connection to Eliza and how she’s ended up the way she is. The issue hits Eliza — and the reader — with the gut punch that Jacky isn’t exactly who he seems to be.

I’m not going to spoil the reveal — that should be read for itself — but it’s one that changes everything and not only does Gillen set it up brilliantly with the writing but Wijngaard’s art, particularly as Eliza realizes what she’s being told, is absolutely phenomenal. Gillen tees things up perfectly, with Etienne commenting on the random nature of how big revelations of truth really are. He’s speaking about Matsumi when he talks about luck and stakes, but he may as well be speaking about what Jacky reveals to Eliza except while we see how Matsumi’s luck plays out the reader is left to wonder what will come with Eliza. Wijngaard’s art gives nothing away, but somehow simultaneously captures every nuance of relief and horror in Eliza’s face as so many pieces start to fall into place for her. She’s very much our window into this moment and it in a way that feels like screaming without a sound. To put it another way, it’s a cliffhanger that hits as though you’ve already fallen right into the ground at top speed. You know something has broken, but you’re also in no position just yet to take stock of just what.

That is perhaps what makes The Power Fantasy as a title work so well generally, but this issue specifically excel. The things you expect to be catastrophic — powers, Matsumi having to deal with emotional distress, Heavy’s secret son — are somehow less dangerous than the thing you didn’t really see coming, the secret so well-kept that it’s really more of a bomb, one that no one might survive. The Power Fantasy has always been a story of layers and complicated relationships, but issue #9 takes things to a completely different level — and it may be the best of the series to date.

Rating: 5 out of 5

The Power Fantasy #9 is on sale now from Image Comics.

The post I Don’t Know How The Power Fantasy is Gonna Top That Latest Gut Punch Reveal appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC Comics set the standard for what superheroes could be decades ago. Their Golden Age superheroes made a huge impact on the comic buying public of the late 30s and 40s, and they decided to put all of them in one place. This created the comic superteam as we know it and it would reach its ultimate iteration with the Justice League. The Justice League took the DC heroes of the Silver Age — Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman — and combined them with Martian Manhunter to create the greatest team in the history of the DC Multiverse. The Justice League is on a level of their own, and took superheroes to another level. The popularity of the Justice League was so much that it got Marvel back in the superhero comic game. That’s right, the Justice League is so powerful they basically created the entire Silver Age Marvel Universe to compete with it. There is no other team on the level of the Justice League in comics. Sure, the Avengers are more popular because of the MCU, but the Avengers would never exist without the Justice League.

The example of the Justice League has been taken up by multiple heroes over the years, and the DC Multiverse is full of amazing teams. While most of them aren’t on the level of the Justice League, there are some teams that are. They’ve become icons in their own right, their legacies reaching much further than they could have possibly imagined. These three DC teams are the best the publisher has to offer that aren’t the Justice League, groups of heroes who have accomplished feats that other hero teams could only dream of.

1) The Justice Society of America

The Justice League is DCs greatest team, but they aren’t DC’s first. That distinction goes to the Justice Society of America. The original superteam consisted of Green Lantern (Alan Scott), the Flash (Jay Garrick), Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific I, Wildcat I, Doctor Fate I, the Sandman I, Hourman I, Starman I, Black Canary I, Johnny Thunder, the Atom, and Wonder Woman, with Batman and Superman joining the team. They were the protectors of the American homefront, battling the Ultra-Humanite and the Injustice Society of America, taking down Nazis, and basically helping protect the world at what many thought was its most desperate moment. The Justice Society went above and beyond the call of duty and created an entire generation of superhero fans.

As everyone but Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman faded away, the Justice Society would disappear as well, and the team’s big guns would see their mantles passed down to new heroes. Soon, the Justice League, created by the amazing Gardner Fox, the same man who created the Justice Society, would take its place as DC’s foremost team. The Justice League would presage the return of the Justice Society, as fans got the greatest crossover of the Silver Age in Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #21, beginning a raft of crossovers between the two teams that would make Earth-Two one of the most vital parts of the Silver and Bronze Age DC Multiverse. The Justice Society was a hit with fans, and soon they got their own sidekicks and teen characters, Earth-Two becoming a going concern throughout the ’70s and ’80s in books like the returning All-Star Comics and Infinity Inc. as well as back-up stories across DC’s line. However, the Justice Society wasn’t able to take advantage of the creative renaissance of Crisis on Infinite Earths and it faded away. However, as legacy became more important to the modern age DC Universe, the heroes of the Golden Age and their descendants would start to pop back up, leading to one of the best team books of all time: JSA.

JSA took the surviving heroes of the original JSA — Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, and Wildcat with Hawkman rejoining down the road, combining them with legacy heroes like Jack Knight, Hawkgirl, Hector Hall as Doctor Fate, Stargirl (although she was called Stars at first), Sands, Black Canary II (the story of Black Canary is super interesting, but for another time), Doctor Mid-Nite III, Mister Terrific II, Jakeem Thunder, Hourman II, Power Girl, and many more. It was a team of multiple generations, each one teaching the other the ropes. It was brilliant and made a whole new generation of readers fall in love with the Justice Society. Since then, the Justice Society have had a loud corps of fans, constantly taking DC to task anytime their favorites are gone for too long. If the Justice League is the current defense force, than the Justice Society is next line of defense, combining wisdom and power in a very potent package.

2) The Legion of Superheroes

The Legion of Superheroes is another team that predates the Justice League and has had arguably as large an impact on the lore of the DC Multiverse as the Justice League. The Legion of Superheroes first appeared in 1958’s Adventure Comics #247, when the team’s three main members — Lightning Boy (he’s the best of the three and I won’t hear anyone say otherwise), Cosmic Boy, and Saturn Girl — came back in time to meet Superboy, whose adventures would show them that teenagers could make a difference in the universe. The Legion of Superheroes is a force of teenagers from around the 31st (well, 30th century during their 20th century appearances) century who all wanted to be like Superboy. They used the powers their races had and took on simplistic superhero names, and so the Legion of Superheroes was born.

RELATED: 7 DC Comics Moments I’m Still Not Over

People think the X-Men are complicated, and they are, but they took a lot of ideas from the Legion (and artist Dave Cockrum, whose original designs for several X-Men came from characters he wanted to put into the Legion). The Legion is massive, with well over thirty members, and half of the fun of the team is labyrinthine network of relationships between team members. Legion stories star a bunch of beautiful hormonal teens all in the same building (and the pre-Crisis Legion headquarters had no windows), so the fireworks fly at times. There are little cliques within the Legion as well, and that’s before we get to the Legion of Substitute Heroes of the Espionage Squad. Getting into the Legion is one of the most daunting propositions in the superhero comic fandom.

The changing tides of DC continuity destroyed the Legion of Superheroes’ popularity, as all of the changes to the history of the DC made it so the team kept being rebooted. In fact, in the 21st century alone there were five reboots, with six Legions (including the Darkseid Legion appearing in the DC All-In publishing initiative) having appeared since the year 2000. Comics can be confusing enough, but the Legion of Superheroes take that to the next level. However, that doesn’t change just how amazing the Legion of Superheroes are. Are they terribly convoluted? Of course. Are some amazing stories from creators who truly have a passion for the series? Absolutely. Give the Legion a try and see (plus, the more people who buy Legion books, the better chance that we’ll get a another reboot).

3) The Teen Titans

The Teen Titans weren’t the first teen superteam — Marvel had their own Young Allies team of teen sidekicks in the Golden Age — but they are definitely the most popular. Fans loved the sidekicks of the DC Multiverse in the Silver Age, with Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy, and Wonder Girl becoming very popular with young readers. DC decided to put them together, with Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad coming together as the Teen Titans in 1964’s The Brave and the Bold #54. Soon, Speedy and Wonder Girl would join the team and they would get their own solo series after appearances in anthology books across DC’s publishing line. Soon, new members like Lilith, Bumblebee, Mal Duncan, Gnarrk the Caveboy, Golden Eagle, Hawk and Dove, and others joined the team and they became the swinging teen teams of the ’60s. Later Teen Titans mastermind writer Marv Wolfman would even write some of the issues of the original Teen Titans before the book was cancelled. However, that was only the beginning for the Teen Titans.

In 1980, writer Marv Wolfman and artist/co-writer George Perez teamed together to bring the Teen Titans back as the New Teen Titans in the book of the same name. Robin, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl were joined by new teen heroes Raven, Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy. A sensation was born and New Teen Titans became the bestselling DC book on the stands, standing toe to toe with the X-Men at the height of their powers at the top of the sales charts. The New Teen Titans were the perfect teen team, and fans loved them for it. Their popularity faded as the ’80s went on, but the Teen Titans became an important part of the superhero ecosystem of the DC Universe. The New Teen Titans would eventually become the Titans, grown up superheroes working side by side with their mentors battling the greatest threats around. The Teen Titans has also returned as a sidekick/teen team, with Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy teaming with legacy heroes and training them as superheroes.

The Teen Titans are far below their old heights, but that doesn’t change their place in the DC Universe. Trinities are a big deal in the DC superhero community; there’s Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as the leaders of the community. Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, and Hawkman are the Trinity of the Golden Age heroes. And there’s a Trinity of teams — the Justice League, the Justice Society, and the Teen Titans. Each of them play an important role — the Justice League are the stars, the Justice Society are the keepers of the flame, and the Teen Titans are the new generation. They are massively important to the whole community.

What DC teams do you think are better than the Justice League? Sound off in the comments below.

The post 3 Best DC Teams That Aren’t the Justice League appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Fantastic Four has been impressing fans since writer Ryan North took over the book, and One World Under Doom has seen the team lead the charge in the battle against Doctor Doom, who became the Sorcerer Supreme and used his powers to gain control of the Earth. Doom de-powered the Thing, leading to the eventual loss of the powers of the Fantastic Four. To solve the problem, they went through time and space to expose him to the cosmic radiation, but none from other universes worked. The Thing secretly changed the coordinates to Earth-616, and while he regained his powers momentarily, he also doomed the Fantastic Four, accidentally making it so they never got their powers. That is where the excellent Fantastic Four #32 picks up, as Valeria Richards, with her mind in the body of her counterpart on this Earth, Mary, tries to figure out a way to fix everything.

Of course, this being the eminently logical Valeria Richards, she wonders how this Earth survived so long without the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four were the first superheroes of what is sometimes referred to in-universe as the “Age of Marvels”, and they thwarted threats of all kinds from destroying the planet, from Negative Zone invasions to cosmic giants like Galactus. Valeria eventually finds out the truth — the Franklin Richards of this world gained the godlike powers and he worked with his powerless — but still intelligent — parents to save the world. However, Valeria learns the chilling truth behind the situation, one that will remind readers of one of The Twilight Zone‘s greatest episodes.

Franklin Gave Everyone a Good Life… Whether They Wanted It or Not

The Twilight Zone is one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and that’s all there is to it. Series creator Rod Serling was able to find a way to tell chilling sci-fi/horror stories, despite the strictures of network television of the time. Serling and The Twilight Zone‘s other writers were known for adapting stories from the sci-fi serial novels of the day, creating televisual plays from the best ones. There are lots of episodes of The Twilight Zone that can vie for the title of greatest episode, but one that immediately springs to mind is “It’s a Good Life”, based on a short story of the same name by Jerome Bixby and written for the screen by Serling. The episode revolved around what seemed like the perfect town, but the reality was much scarier. The town was held under the omnipotent thumb of Anthony Freemont (Bill Mumy), a young boy with the powers of a god that made sure everyone in the town was “happy” and nothing ever changed into anything he didn’t want. It’s an amazing episode, named by Time and TV Guide as one of the best episodes ever. It has a rather deep pop cultural footprint, as well, and was remade in The Simpsons episode “Treehouse of Horror II” in 1991. Ryan North is obviously a fan of it, because he lifted the idea whole cloth for Fantastic Four #32.

RELATED: A Member of the Fantastic Four Is Going to Fight the Entire Marvel Universe

Valeria and Franklin were protected by their mother’s force fields as the last universe was ending, which made it possible for parts of them to survive into the new Earth. Valeria got all of her memories and intelligence. Franklin got all of the power. Reed and Sue realized their son was akin to a god, and even at a young age were able to use his powers to save the world. This taught Franklin a terrible lesson — that he could destroy any problem and make everyone happy, creating a world looked after by an omnipotent one-man police force. He eventually even transformed himself into the largest, most powerful being he had ever encountered, Galactus, in order to cow any enemies that came knocking. This is “It’s a Good Life” with a Fantastic Four twist, and it’s honestly one of the better new comics I’ve read lately.

This Issue Shows the Terrible Reality of What Franklin Richards Could Become

Franklin Richards’ powers put him in rarefied air among humans in the Marvel Universe. Franklin’s powers, a mix of the highest level psionic abilities and reality altering, have allowed him to help remake the Marvel Multiverse after the Incursions completely destroyed it. Franklin has always been a potential danger, but his upbringing by the Richards made sure that he learned from the best people imaginable. However, on this Earth, Franklin had a very different life. He was used as a weapon by his parents, and that made him into a monster.

Mixing the Fantastic Four and The Twilight Zone is a brilliant idea, and this issue shows how well the team and their characters can fit into type of sci-fi story. Valeria Richards is forced to come up with a plan, and is able to trick her omnipotent, mind-reading otherworldly brother. This is a Valeria and Franklin issue, one that shows just what they’re capable of.

Fantastic Four #32 is on sale now.

The post The Fantastic Four Just Gave Galactus a Stunning The Twilight Zone Twist appeared first on ComicBook.com.

While it’s no secret to DC Comics fans that there is more than one Green Lantern, what is less widely known is that there was a Green Lantern who operated independently, outside the oversight of the Green Lantern Corps, and without needing its Central Power Battery. He wasn’t an intergalactic law enforcement officer with a mandate to protect and serve his “beat,” but rather followed his own personal code of conduct and crime-fighting methods – a private investigator in contrast to the Corps’ model police force. Despite being an exception to the typical role and rules of Green Lanterns as portrayed in contemporary stories, this independent Green Lantern remains an important figure in Green Lantern lore, with a long-lasting impact on the meaning of being an Emerald Gladiator.

Debuting in All-American Comics #16 in 1940, Green Lantern is one of the DC Universe’s oldest characters. While Hal Jordan is widely known as the Green Lantern of the modern era, his fateful meeting with Abin Sur wouldn’t occur for another 19 years after the character’s initial arrival on the comic book scene. The Green Lantern, who first appeared over 85 years ago, was actually Alan Scott — the original Green Lantern — whose origin story was unlike any that followed.

The Power of Alan Scott’s Green Lantern Has Strong Occult and Supernatural Elements

Alan Scott wasn’t gifted his Green Lantern abilities—they found him. After surviving a catastrophic accident involving the train he was working on as an engineer, Scott realizes that luck had nothing to do with his survival. Instead, it was the mysterious green lantern he discovered in the wreckage. Forged centuries earlier from a meteorite that struck Earth, the lantern held immense power. As Scott would later understand, the meteorite served as a repository for unstable and dangerous magic gathered from across the universe. Over time, these various forces combined, giving rise to a sentient being known as Starheart.

[ RELATED: DC Gives Alan Scott’s Green Lantern a Heartbreaking New Origin ]

The day of the accident, Starheart essentially chose to bond with Scott. As a result, not only did it protect him from the harm that other passengers and colleagues on the train suffered, but it also granted him access to its immense power. Following Starheart’s instructions, Scott forged a ring from the metal of the lantern, which he then wore. Like later Green Lanterns, Scott was able to harness Starheart’s power through the ring, but it wasn’t solely his willpower at work. Since Starheart is sentient, it influenced both what it was willing to do and subtly affected how Scott responded to certain situations.

For instance, in Justice Society of America #8, Green Lantern faces off against the villain Ian Karkull. When Karkull gains the upper hand, the Starheart itself intervenes—protecting Scott in a way his own willpower could not. This reveals a crucial distinction: Scott’s ring isn’t merely a tool for channeling his abilities but a conduit through which he and the Starheart collectively wield their combined power—his technical prowess and its ancient magic. This mystical connection sets Scott apart from later Green Lanterns, whose abilities are rooted in technology rather than arcane forces. Indeed, Scott’s Green Lantern was more like a Jujustu Kaisen sorcerer wielding cursed energy than Hal Jordan wielding a sophisticated piece of tech that digitised his willpower.

The Legacy of Alan Scott’s Green Lantern and Why It Still Matters

While all Green Lanterns tend to grow more competent as they gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their rings, and their interactions, Alan Scott’s development diverged significantly. He didn’t merely improve; he became fundamentally stronger. This is because, as Scott became more familiar with the Starheart, an entity unto itself, the more it integrated with him. This progression reached a point where Scott could tap into the Starheart’s powers without necessarily needing his ring. Conversely, as the Starheart grew accustomed to Scott, it became more willing to let him harness its power without restraint. Ultimately, as documented by his transition into the Sentinel, Scott’s powers stemmed more from his intrinsic integration with the Starheart than from the power granted by his ring.

But Scott’s legacy extends beyond being the iconic Green Lantern wielder. His presence also influenced how the DC Universe regarded the Green Lanterns going forward. To be sure, Scott was not just a hero, but a pillar of the community, as modern-day audiences would view him. Indeed, he was a founding member of the Justice Society of America – the precursor to the Justice League. He was a mentor to Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern who defined the role, and he played a significant, if subtle, influence on future generations of Lanterns.

When considering the full scope of Scott’s legacy as a Green Lantern, it’s clear he was an outlier — one whose influence shaped how the world perceives and understands the Green Lantern hero. He exemplified adaptability, proving that a hero can evolve with the times and remain relevant. The 2023 reboot of his story, which reimagines him as LGBTQ, reinforces this idea. Beyond his status as a hero with one of the biggest hearts, however, Scott stands as a perfect embodiment of timeless heroism.

The post 85 Years Later, the Original Green Lantern is Still Iconic appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Supervillains have become big business over the years. Marvel and DC Comics have been pumping out villains since 1938, giving readers every kind of enemy they can imagine. As comics have grown in complexity, villains have also grown as well. The best villains have become more multi-faceted, often more so than the superheroes they fight, and this has seen a funny little thing happening over the decades — villains getting their shots at redemption, often teaming with heroes that they tried to kill. This is just how it works when a character gets more fleshed out; fans want more and more of them, and the best way to do that is to redeem them. Oftentimes, these redemptions would end and the villains would go back to being monsters, their time as heroes a thing of the past. While this is fine with many villains, they’re better as villains usually, there are some who should give up the evil ghost forever.

These villains have shown what their potential is on the side of angels, and it’s greater than what they can do as a villain. There are some iconic villains who have been villains for so long that giving them long runs as heroes would allow them to become something completely new. They deserve for their redemption arcs to permanent, leaving evil behind and becoming heroes… or if not heroes, at least something more than they would have been as a villain.

7) Captain Cold

The Rogues are an amazing villain team. Look at every other supervillain team out there; all of them fall to problems with everyone being amoral monsters who don’t care about anyone but themselves. The Rogues face off against the most powerful heroes around, and have had to learn to work together against the Flash Family, using their powers and technology in concert to slow the fastest man alive down to a crawl. The Rogues work together, and have respect for each other, which starts at the top with Captain Cold. Leonard Snart isn’t a mass murderer, and he hasn’t ever wanted to take over the world. He’s just wanted to make money hand over fist. Captain Cold is the perfect villain for a redemption. Captain Cold is a very entertaining character to read about, a great leader who understands how to use the Rogues as weapons against the Flashes. He knows when to use the carrot and when to use the stick. Captain Cold also has an edge to him that would make the man in the parka a very dangerous villain to deal with. Captain Cold could easily slot into a heroic role — he’s done it several times and it’s always fun — and fans would be able to spend way more time with him.

6) The Lizard

Curt Connors was a professor and teacher at Empire State University, and his classes were some of Peter Parker’s favorites. Connors has lost his arm in an accident and devoted his life to bringing the reptilian ability to regrow limbs to humanity. He started experimenting on himself, and had a breakthrough, allowing himself to regrow his arm. However, it also ended up transforming him into a ravening monster. As the Lizard, Connors would gain amazing physical abilities, but lost his humanity. Sometimes, the Lizard is an amoral scientist who hisses a lot, but other times he’s a wild monster with no trace of Curt Connors inside of him. The Lizard is actually a perfect character for a redemption; he just wanted to help people and work to make life better. It wouldn’t really take all that much to redeem the Lizard — basically just allow him to keep control of his mind when he transforms into his monster form, with him struggling against the beast inside of him. The Lizard is a character that could have gone either way — his origin is the same as multiple science based superheroes — and making him a hero would give him something to do besides go after Spider-Man in a near-animalistic rage.

5) Brainiac

Brainiac is a villain that most people don’t think of in redemption arcs, and that’s why he’s so perfect for it. Brainiac is one of the most frightening beings in the DC Multiverse, a monster obsessed with knowledge who has traveled the universe, shrinking worlds, then destroying everything else in the solar system. Brainiac would seemingly be impossible to redeem, and that’s sort of why him getting a redemption would be so much fun. Imagine if Brainac decides to undo what he did to the universe, trying to help recreate the worlds he’s destroyed, all while enemies who wanted revenge tried to go after him. Brainiac is a fascinating character, and giving him a redemption arc would be very difficult. It would definitely take a lot of work, but that work is definitely worth it. Brainiac has a ton of potential in a non-villainous role and it would be amazing to see him reach his potential outside of going after Superman.

RELATED: 7 DC Comics Moments I’m Still Not Over

4) Moonstone

Moonstone is in interesting place in the Marvel Universe. She started out as a C-list villain battling enemies like Ms. Marvel, and eventually ended up joining the Masters of Evil, alongside Baron Zemo. Moonstone participated in Masters’ greatest battle against the Avengers in the story “Under Siege”, and would become enmeshed in one of Zemo’s greatest plans — the Thunderbolts con. This was the beginning of the redemption of Moonstone, a process that has gotten stutters and stops ever since. Moonstone became the leader of the Thunderbolts who didn’t want to be villains any more. Moonstone battled against Zemo and became Hawkeye’s second in command when he took over as the team’s leader, showing that she was actually pretty good at being hero. The eventual dissolution of the Thunderbolts would see the end of her time as a hero. She would rejoin the team during Civil War, but she didn’t have any of the character development that she had before. She was back to being a villain, and while it was definitely entertaining at times, she’d have been much better to have continued the redemption arc that she had started years ago in the late ’90s. Moonstone is a fine villain, but would make for an amazing hero if she was given the chance.

3) Deadshot

Deadshot is basically in the same boat as Moonstone. Deadshot was a Batman gimmick villain in the ’50s — his was gunslinging gambling dandy — but was transformed into a more high tech mercenary in the late ’70s. Deadshot became more popular as a criminal mercenary and was soon made a member of the cast of Suicide Squad. Deadshot came to shine here and eventually would even get a sad backstory and a daughter that humanized him. Deadshot has been nominally on the side of the heroes for a long time, but he’s always something of a villain. It’s honestly kind of mystifying, especially when one looks at Deathstroke and his various redemption arcs. Deadshot would make the perfect anti-hero/espionage hero. That’s basically been his role for years, but it seems like there are times when DC decides that all of his redemption needs to go away so that Deadshot can be a villain for a short time before returning to the Suicide Squad or the Secret Six. Deadshot is tailor-made for a complete redemption, and would make for a better hero than he has a villain.

2) Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom is the greatest supervillain in the Marvel Universe. The only one that comes close to him is Magneto, but it’s harder to call Magneto a supervillain than it is Doctor Doom. Doom has been a constant thorn in the side of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, battling them whenever he feels like challenging himself. A funny thing has happened to Doctor Doom over the years. He was given a tragic backstory, the love of the people of Latveria, and a softer side that made readers enjoy him as something beyond the hyperbole spouting, third-person pronoun using villain. Doom’s become something beyond what he was and the best way to keep showcasing new facets of the character is to complete his redemption. Allow Doom to be something of a hero — his turn in Infamous Iron Man and Marvel Two-In-One was supremely entertaining — with him getting to hang out with Valeria Richards, save the world to show everyone how amazing he is, and making fun of Reed Richards every chance he gets would be very entertaining. Doom as a villain hunting anti-hero is the way to go if Marvel wants to push Doom in new directions.

1) Sabretooth

Sabretooth is a brutal monster, and is Wolverine’s greatest villains. Sabretooth has played a unique role in the history of the Marvel Universe. He’s one of many superpowered mercenaries, and a mutant who loves the fact that his powers have made him an immortal that never has to face the consequences of his actions. Sabretooth’s popularity exploded, along with any character who was somewhat adjacent to Wolverine, and Marvel started to put him in more places, giving him chances on X-Factor and the X-Men many times over the years, as well as his own solo series. There are a lot of people who would argue against Sabretooth getting redemption, but giving him redemption would show that no sin is unforgivable. Sabretooth makes for an excellent hero or anti-hero, and it might be time to just pull the trigger on this change, taking the character to another level.

What villains do you think should get redemption? Sound off in the comments below.

The post 7 Comics Villains Who Deserve Redemption appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC Comics introduced some of the first comic book supervillains. These enemies took a page from the pulp villains of the pre-superhero comic industry, and were often mad scientists. The most dangerous villains of the old DC Universe were mad scientists like the Ultra-Humanite, and other foes using high tech weapons and machines to menace the heroes. Mad scientists became the key villains of superhero comics and DC kept creating villains with super intelligence. They make for good foils against most superheroes; superheroes are usually titans of physicality, so pitting them against enemies whose greatest abilities come from their mind and hard work is a perfect juxtaposition.

Over the years, DC has created super-smart villains of the highest order. Some of these villains have become world-reknowned for their intelligence, creating all manner of technology to give the heroes a run for their money. Some of these villains are the smartest on Earth, but that doesn’t mean much in a place as vast as the DC Multiverse with worlds well beyond our own. There are enemies with intelligence on an unfathomable scale, their intelligence making them a challenge for the greatest heroes. These seven villains are DC’s most intelligent, outsmarting everyone they put their intellect against.

7) The Brain

The Brain was once a mysterious mad scientist, an accident reducing him to a brain in a nutrient jar. He formed the Brotherhood of Evil and became a crimelord of the highest order, eventually giving a gorilla human intelligence, naming him Monsieur Mallah. The two became inseparable from that point forward, and the Brain began his wars against both the Doom Patrol and the New Teen Titans. The Brain was a brilliant strategist and inventor, creating weapons specifically made to menace superpowered heroes. The Brain’s more of a general intelligence than anything else. He’s smart enough to run a successful crime ring and keep a team of supervillains from killing each other, and can pull off some impressive feats of science that few others could. He’s a cunning villain, often times a little too smart for his own good, and his bombastic nature has allowed his enemies to get the best of him many times over the years. However, he’s smarter than he gets credit for.

6) Vandal Savage

Vandal Savage isn’t some a scientist, but that doesn’t make him any less intelligent. Vandal Savage is one of the Justice League’s greatest villains, a Cro-Magnon man that found a meteorite whose radiation made him into a superhuman. Vandal Savage has been able to survive over a hundred thousand years of human history, learning everything he’s needed to be a force of brutality in the world. Vandal Savage has certainly created many pieces of technology over the years — he’s known for taking credit for all kinds of things throughout human history, but it’s hard to know if he’s lying or not. However, Savage is undoubtedly intelligent. He’s been able to survive and build nearly untold resources in his time on Earth. Vandal Savage is a master strategist who knows how to trap heroes in the machinery of his intelligence. He’s proven to be a challenge for the most intelligent and skilled superheroes on the planet, and has even been shown just as powerful in the far off 853rd century. Vandal Savage has a reputation as a brute, but he’s much more cunning foe than he gets credit for being.

5) T.O. Morrow

T.O. Morrow may not seem like he belongs on this list. There are seemingly more intelligent villains out there than a cheesy old Justice League villain, right? Wrong. Morrow is the greatest roboticist on Earth, and there’s no two ways about it. Will Magnus’s Metal Men are great, but they can’t hold a candle to Morrow creations like Red Tornado and Tomorrow Woman. Morrow is best at creating the minds of robots, and there’s something about his methods that allow him to create actual sentient beings. Morrow’s creations are more than just programmed to do a certain thing and have a personality while doing it. Morrow’s creation grow beyond their programming, becoming fully-fledged humans in every way that counts. Every time Morrow designs a robot to fight the Justice League, he ends up doing such a good job of making their minds that they are able to transcend their programming and choose not to follow his orders. That’s amazing, and it makes Morrow one of the most intelligent DC villains ever.

RELATED: 10 Worst Justice League Members

4) Desaad

The most intelligent New God is Metron, but calling him a hero or villain is beyond him. Metron is sometimes villainous, but it all serves whatever his mysterious purpose is at all times. However, the next smartest New God is the chief torturer of Darkseid, the monster known as Desaad. Desaad’s skills come mostly from vivisection and creating weapons, but there are few beings in the DC Multiverse who can match him. Desaad didn’t always create the technology that he uses, but he always figures out a way to use it in the smartest ways possible. He’s learned to work with Element X, the mysterious element that basically does whatever the New Gods need it to, and is the chief creator of Apokolips’s massive stockpile of powerful weapons. Desaad makes sure parademon armor is as deadly as possible, and is constantly coming up with new ways to hurt anyone who Darkseid wants him to. Desaad is as prone to failure as the rest of Darkseid’s court — any place where the fear of the leader is paramount isn’t going to have the most efficient people around, because they’re serving instead of innovating — but seeing as how he loves to hurt people as much as Darkseid does, he’s mostly proven successful over the years.

3) Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor is the smartest villain on Earth, and one of the most intelligent beings in the entire multiverse. Lex has mastered basically every scientific discipline on the Earth and is a master inventor. He’s the best at creating Kryptonite based technology, all to destroy the Kryptonians he hates so much. Luthor has mastered every piece of alien technology that has come across his desk, all in an effort to prove that humans are the greatest race in the cosmos. Of course, it’s a little more complicated than that. Despite being the greatest mind that humanity has produced, Lex’s arrogance is such that he sees the sum totality of human achievement as his birthright. He is the greatness of humanity and his intelligence proves that he’s the greatest. Lex is at a level where he can create basically anything he needs at any time. If he needs armor that can stand up to Superman, he’ll make it. If he needs to create a new type of laser weapon powered by an exotic alien element, he’ll make it. If he needs to make a few billion dollars, he’ll create some new piece of consumer technology. Lex Luthor can do nearly anything he puts his mind to. On top of that, he’s a cunning strategist, able to come up with multi-faceted plans that take ages to untangle, as well as lead the villains of the Earth in battle against the greatest heroes. Lex’s intelligence allows him to stand even with Superman, which is no small matter. Nobody tell Lex Luthor that he’s the third smartest DC villain, he wouldn’t take it well.

2) Brainiac

Brainiac has changed many times over the years, as the shifting tides of DC continuity have wreaked havoc on Superman. However, one thing stays the same — the villain’s mind. Brainiac is usually some kind of Coluan, a race of aliens known for their intelligence, sometimes a cyborg with organic and technological parts, other times a consciousness inhabiting a mechanical body, traveling the spaceways and stealing entire cities, all in order to take their knowledge. Brainiac is, in many ways, the DC equivalent of Galactus. He’s a cosmic predator, destroying everything in his path, and keeping parts of it so that only he can have the information of entire civilizations. Brainiac’s ship is full of amazing technology that you won’t find anywhere else in the Multiverse. Brainiac is one of the few beings in the entire universe that Superman is scared of, which should rally say it all. Brainiac on other Earths is just as intelligent and frightening, using his 12th level intellect (the highest in the DC Multiverse) to come up with ridiculously powerful weapons and cunning plans that challenge anyone enmeshed in them.

1) Krona

Krona is an interesting character in the history of the DC Multiverse. Krona is a member of the Oan race, after they gained immortality and power over the emotional spectrum, but before they became the diminutive beings they are now. Krona was a scientist who was obsessed with the beginning of the universe, but was held back by the ancient stricture against looking back to the beginning of the universe. Krona decided that rules were for lesser beings and created a machine that could look back to the beginning of the universe. Krona was able to witness the Hand that created the universe, and that breaking of the rules ended up creating the Multiverse. Krona is vastly intelligent. Oan technology was light years ahead of anything in the present day even back then, and Krona was a master of all of it. It’s hard to say that Krona is smarter than someone like Brainiac, because their feats of intellect are so different. However, Brainiac has never created something like Krona has, whereas Krona could definitely create anything that Brainiac did.

Who do you think are DC’s smartest beings? Sound off in the comments below.

The post 7 Smartest DC Villains, Ranked appeared first on ComicBook.com.

60 years ago, DC introduced Goldface, who is far and away one of the weirdest rogues that the Flash and Green Lantern have ever had, let alone the weirdest they ever shared. He made his first appearance in Green Lantern #38, which released on May 27, 1965, so he’s a very old villain who emerged in the heart of the Silver Age of comics. He was Green Lantern’s recurring enemy for a good while, before eventually deciding to move to Central City and pit his mettle (and metal) against the Fastest Man Alive. Despite his strangeness, Goldface is actually a great villain and while we’ve gotten to see him come to life in live action thanks to The CW’s The Flash, he’s a character deserves to be brought back on the pages of comics as well.

Origins Against the Green Lantern

Real name Keith Kenyon, Goldface started out as a political sciences student whose father was the head of the Coast City labor union. Keith fought his father on everything, and insisted they should just take what they wanted instead of trying to make things even for everyone else. To that end, he developed and drank a gold-based serum that had been exposed to radiation, which radically altered him. It turned his skin to solid gold, granting him near invulnerability and superhuman strength, alongside the ability to turn things he touched into gold. However, he hid this transmutation ability behind a “gold gun” for many years.

Given that gold is a shade of yellow and Green Lanterns used to be entirely unable to affect anything yellow, Goldface quickly became a formidable enemy to Hal Jordan. He would commit crimes with the ability to walk right through any of the Lantern’s constructs, but was still taken down every time by the superhero. Eventually, Goldface got tired of being the Green Lantern’s punching bag and decided a change of scenery was in order. Thus came his move to Central City to prove himself against the Flash, who was then Barry Allen.

Goldface vs the Flash

Despite his desire to take over Central City’s crime network, Goldface didn’t appear as one of the Flash’s more recurring rogues, although he did have some powerful moments in his few appearances. He initially completely took over crime in the Scarlet Speedster’s hometown, with the Flash torn between fighting the seemingly invulnerable Goldface and dealing with the psychotic vigilante Eradicator. Eventually the Flash managed to throw Goldface in the path of his own gold gun’s blast, knocking him out. He didn’t appear again until the “Trial of the Flash” storyline, where it was revealed that Goldface murdered the Flash’s defense attorney Cecile Horton’s father before he released an ultimatum to force the Flash to stop fighting crime or he’d kill every police officer. Cecile thought the Flash ignored the warning, when in actuality, by his own admission, Goldface killed her father before he announced anything.

[RELATED: Absolute Flash Makes a Major Change to Wally West’s Rogues Gallery]

After that, Goldface did not appear for many years as a Flash villain, and when he finally resurfaced after his release from Iron Heights he had completely reinvented himself. Despite his history as a villain with Green Lantern, when Goldface came to Keystone City, he changed patterns altogether. Instead of putting on a costume to commit gold related crimes, he put on a normal suit and took to the streets to inspire people. He took after his dad and became a leader of labor unions, intent on making sure everyone got their fair pay and protection.

Goldface even became an ally to Wally West when he was the Flash. After Goldface learned that his ex-wife Blacksmith and the other Rogues were planning to take over both Central City and Keystone City in the five-part “Crossover” storyline, Goldface told the Flash about their plans, and even helped join in the fight against the Scarlet Speedster’s worst enemies. Just when it looked like the Rogues had finally beaten the Flash, Goldface re-emerged with the entire population of Keystone City’s unions behind him. Together, the hero and the people fought back against the supervillains and took back their city. Altogether, a massive and awesome shift from Goldface’s old Silver Age villainy days.

Why He Deserves to Come Back

Goldface has never been one of the Flash’s more prominent villains or allies, and definitely isn’t remembered as one of the greats of Green Lantern’s rogues gallery either. Still, there’s a definite charm about him. Goldface has been adapted into both animation and live action in the Justice League Unlimited and CW’s Flash respectively. While in some appearances he’s nothing more than a villain of the week, in others he’s a hilarious character who is championing unions, and that’s a great arc to see happen with any villain. He’s weird, he’s forgettable, and he’s an obnoxiously bright yellow, but I stand by that fact that Goldface deserves respect, and since this is his 60th anniversary, definitely deserves to come back to the scene in some capacity.

The post 60 Years Ago, DC Introduced One of The Flash’s Weirdest Rogues (And They Need to Bring Him Back) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ryan North’s Fantastic Four run has reminded readers of everything they love about the Fantastic Four. One World Under Doom has thrown the Marvel Universe into a tizzy, as new Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Doom has used his powers to take over the world. That’s not all he’s taken, as he robbed the Thing of his powers in a bid to take away the powers of the whole team. This has sent through the Fantastic Four on a temporal, multiversal trip to give the Thing his powers back, which fails every time. The Thing surreptitiously changed the spatial coordinates to Earth 616’s past in desperation. He regained his powers… but at the cost of the Fantastic Four’s. The issue ended with the universe ending and Fantastic Four #32 picks up where things left off, as Valeria Richards, whose mind took over Mary Richard’s (her counterpart on this Earth) body.

Valeria finds a world that’s very familiar, and immediately wonders how the world could even still exist, as the Fantastic Four stood between the Earth and doom multiple times (sometimes Doom). She gets her answer when she meets Franklin, who is in the form of Galactus. Franklin has been used like a weapon by her parents to protect the world with his godlike powers, and has created a world where any problems are solved by his powers, from supervillains’s greatest acts to the simplest acts of crime. This gives Valeria an idea, and the plan she creates is a partly from an X-Men classic, the dark future tale called “Days of Future Past”. This story is also related to Franklin, making this issue’s story work on multiple levels.

The Fantastic Four and “Days of Future Past” Have Been Linked for Years

“Days of Future Past”, by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, ran through Uncanny X-Men #141-142. The story opens in the future, a world where the US government passed the Mutant Registration Act, which led to a Sentinels arms race, which led to the mutant-hunting robots killing most mutants and superhumans, putting the remainder of humanity in concentration camps where they can make sure mutants aren’t born. The surviving X-Men form a resistance, and come up with a desperate plan — send the mind of Kate Pryde back into her young body and prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly. The plan is a success, but the Earth of “Days of Future Past” still existed. Readers learned in later stories that one of the X-Men’s most powerful — and useful — members in this future is Franklin Richards. The telepathic, reality-altering mutant helps fight against the Sentinels and even helps send his girlfriend Rachel Summers back in time to the present.

RELATED: A Member of the Fantastic Four Is Going to Fight the Entire Marvel Universe

In Fantastic Four #32, Valeria quickly realizes that Franklin is going to be a problem with her plans to restore the old universe, but she’s the only person who thinks that Franklin has gone too far. Jean Grey and her husband Namor (which is something of a funny joke in its own right for longtime Marvel fans) are the last few members of the resistance left. Valeria comes up with a desperate plan, one that takes a page from “Days of Future Past”. She gets Jean and Namor to get her parts for a time machine of sorts, to open a temporal wormhole and send her mind through it into her old body in the last universe. As I was reading the issue, I immediately thought of “Days of Future Past”, and saluted North for using this idea. There’s a little irony to it even, as later in the “Days of Future Past” timeline, Franklin would do something quite similar. However, North is too good of a writer to leave things there. It obviously doesn’t work.

Fantastic Four #32 Brilliantly Subverts the “Days of Future Past” Trope

Valeria Richards is one of the smartest people on the face of the Earth. She’s smart enough to know that Franklin is basically omniscient. She knew that he would sense the wormhole opening, and she knew that he could move at the speed of thought. There was no way for her plan to work in time. She even knew that it would be somewhat impossible to send her whole mind back in time. She made sure that everyone thought of the old plan in order to fool Franklin, though, to hide the real plan. Her actual plan was to send something much smaller back in time — just four words, leading to the next issue.

Fantastic Four #32 is an example of everything good a Fantastic Four story can be, with North combining ideas from “Days of Future Past” and the classic episode of The Twilight Zone “It’s a Good Life”. This is an amazing comic, one that shows just how frightening Franklin could have been and how efficient Valeria is. The word peak is thrown around a lot, but this issue deserves it more than most thing called it. This is peak Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four #32 is on sale now.

The post The Fantastic Four Completely Reinvents One of the X-Men’s Darkest Stories appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Frank Miller’s 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns stands as one of the most towering and influential Batman comic book stories of all time, with several of the graphic novel’s core traits helping to explain its popularity. In The Dark Knight Returns, all superheroes have been outlawed by the U.S. government, save for Superman, with the Justice League broken up and Bruce Wayne having spent the last decade retired as Batman. Despite this, a series of unexpected events in Gotham City spur the aging Bruce out of his retirement, leading him to don the cowl once more and leap back into action as Gotham City’s sworn protector Batman.

Ask most Batman fans what their favorite Batman comic book stories are, and there’s an excellent chance that The Dark Knight Returns will be right at the top for many of them, and with good reason. The Dark Knight Returns is not only a seminal Batman story, but one which all but set the standard of public perception of Batman himself ever since. Additionally, The Dark Knight Returns also introduced some new elements and characters into Batman’s canon that fans have been continually enamored with and which have helped define Batman as a character. Here are 5 major reasons why The Dark Knight Returns is so popular to this very day.

1) The Dark Knight Returns Took Batman Back to His Dark Roots

Prior to The Dark Knight Returns‘ debut in 1986, the public perception of Batman was largely synonymous with the Adam West-led Batman TV series of the 1960s. While the show was admittedly a tonally accurate representation of Batman comics in the post-Seduction of the Innocent era of the ’50s and ’60s, Batman had also become far removed from the dark, foreboding creature of the night he began as in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. With The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller sought to take Batman back to his roots and Miller, in his own words “gave Batman his b–ls back”.

With the immediate popularity of The Dark Knight Returns, Batman was once again seen in the public consciousness as dark, aggressive, and menacing, striking terror into the hearts of Gotham’s evildoers, and bringing a lot of grit and Bat-style gadgetry to the game. In turn, the success of The Dark Knight Returns helped producer Michael E. Uslan finally convince Warner Bros. to green-light the dark and moody big-screen Batman film he’d spent years pushing for, which eventually became Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989. With that movie’s monumental success, it’s fair to say that Batman’s return to the dark tone of his origins is directly attributable to the influential impact and success of The Dark Knight Returns.

2) Old Man Batman Is a Unique Angle

As one of the senior most heroes of the DC superhero community, Batman is a veteran of crime-fighting, but his age in both comics and live-action and animated adaptations tends to show him either in the ’30s to ’40s range or just starting out in his mid-20s. This helped The Dark Knight Returns stand out even more by not only centering on a 55 year-old Bruce Wayne, but one just coming out of a decade-long retirement as Batman.

Compared DC’s metahuman heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman who age far more slowly than humans, Batman’s human aging process places emphasis on both his strengths and weaknesses. In donning the cowl again at a rather advanced age after 10 years on the bench, Batman is subject to human frailties and mortality in a way the both metahuman heroes and younger human heroes aren’t. At the same time, Batman’s exceptional drive and determination more than compensate for the effects that age and retirement have had, with the Caped Crusader having no difficulty returning to his crime-fighting life, and The Dark Knight Returns giving Batman fans a real novelty in Miller’s Batman story.

RELATED: 7 Best Batman Vehicles That Aren’t the Batmobile

3) Batman Inspires a New Legion of Crimefighters (Who Were Once His Enemies)

One of Batman’s first big confrontations in The Dark Knight Returns is battling a gang known as the Mutants terrorizing Gotham City, and it takes a surprising and very unexpected turn. After Batman soundly beats the Mutant’s leader, the Mutants break apart, with one faction being greatly inspired by Batman to change their looting and gangster activities to a life of crime fighting like their new hero. They even take on the name of the Sons of Batman, but they still have a lot to learn about the Dark Knight’s ways.

As The Dark Knight Returns progresses, Batman takes the Sons of Batman under his wing, mentoring them in his crime fighting philosophy and methods and guiding them away from the reckless hooligans they once were. Moreover, after Batman fakes his death, the Sons of Batman continue to operate under his leadership, showing the greatest power of Batman and of any superhero will always be to inspire people to become the best versions of themselves.

4) The Dark Knight Returns Is a Robin Origin Story As Much as a Batman Returning Story

The Dark Knight Returns may mark a resumed superheroic career for Bruce Wayne, but it is also a superhero origin story for a new Robin, Carrie Kelley. Coming from a broken home and already in deep admiration of Batman, the 13 year-old Carrie ends up saving the newly returned Batman’s life during one of his early conflicts. Recognizing Carrie’s capacity for crime fighting even at her young age is already on the level of his previous apprentices Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, Bruce takes Carrie under his wing as the new Robin.

With The Dark Knight Returns being an Elseworlds tale, Carrie is somewhat of a one-off Robin who, with a handful of exceptions, is largely only featured on Earth-31 (the specific DC Universe in which The Dark Knight Returns and its follow ups take place), but she’s nonetheless become as iconic a Robin as any to precede or follow her. Carrie even goes on to become Catgirl in The Dark Knight Strikes Again and Batwoman in The Dark Knight III: Master Race, exemplifying the story told over the three books is as much hers as it is Batman’s. For as much canonical jewel as The Dark Knight Returns is to Batman, it is also just as significant in acting as a Robin origin story for Carrie Kelley.

5) Batman vs. Superman – Enough Said

The World’s Finest, the two greatest superheroes of all time, the core founders of the Justice League who comprise two-thirds of DC’s iconic superhero Trinity – Batman and Superman finally come to blows in The Dark Knight Returns. Admittedly, the story isn’t the most flattering one ever told for Superman, with the Man of Steel the only superhero still permitted to operate by the U.S. government and acting as their personal weapon, summoned to put a stop to Batman’s renewed activities (along with being responsible for Green Arrow losing his arm, the embittered, aging Oliver Queen becoming Batman’s ally in the story for that reason). That being said, in terms of superhero slugfests, Batman vs. Superman just had to happen sooner or later, and The Dark Knight Returns finally made it happen on the pages of a classic comic book story, with Batman emerging victorious and delivering his iconic warning to Superman to “remember the one man who beat you” before faking his death (which Superman later learns about and plays along in covering up).

The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel’s smackdown is one of the most iconic battles of two superheroes in comic book history, and one that has been adapted multiple times. Jay Oliva’s animated adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns pays tribute to Miller’s story while capturing the battle in all its glory, while Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice acts as a cinematic adaptation of sorts of the story, modifying certain elements while delivering on the epic fight itself as a foundation for the Justice League’s formation. Comic book fans, of course, understand the importance of Batman and Superman’s alliance and don’t want to take sides or see either one harmed. With that said, a good old slugfest of icons is hard to say no to, and The Dark Knight Returns is the embodiment of exactly that in its Batman vs. Superman showdown.

The post 5 Reasons The Dark Knight Is Still One of the Most Popular Batman Stories Ever appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Merc With a Mouth will clash with the Dark Knight in a comic book crossover for the ages. Perhaps the biggest announcement to come out of the ComicsPRO retailer summit in Glendale, CA, earlier this year is that Marvel Comics and DC are working on a crossover of their respective superhero universes. Seeing Marvel and DC characters interact used to be a special moment that happened every blue moon, with the last one coming in 2003 with the Justice League and Avengers. Fans have been wanting to find out more details on what DC and Marvel have cooking, and now we know it involves Deadpool and Batman.

Entertainment Weekly announced that the crossover between Marvel and DC will take place in Deadpool/Batman, a one-shot penned by writer Zeb Wells and cover and interior art by Greg Capullo. Deadpool/Batman #1 comes out on September 17th and finds Wade Wilson hired for a mercenary contract in Gotham City, bringing him into the crosshairs of the World’s Greatest Detective. There will also be a lineup of “backup adventures” featuring “exciting Marvel and DC character match-ups,” though details and creative teams will be announced at a later date.

“After writing Amazing Spider-Man for 60 issues, I told Marvel I needed a break,” Wells said. “Marvel told me I could do that or I could write a comic starring Deadpool and Batman with the best Batman artist of our generation. I no longer needed a break. In Batman we’ve found someone who has even less time for Deadpool’s antics than Wolverine, but a city-wide threat from the Joker makes strange bedfellows (literally, if Deadpool had his way). It’s been a blast letting Deadpool loose in Gotham City and watching what happens.”

“Am I dreaming? This crossover is likely to be the high point of my career…and, I’ve had a great career,” Capullo added. “Some of my earliest work (many years ago) was on X-Force, so Deadpool and I go way back. More recently, I spent 10-plus years drawing Batman at DC. The idea that I get to do a crossover event with Deadpool and Batman…If I am dreaming, please don’t wake me!”

[RELATED: You’ll Never Believe These 10 Marvel Characters Actually Exist]

November will feature the DC one-shot Batman/Deadpool by writer Grant Morrison and artist Dan Mora. The story for that comic hasn’t been officially revealed, but there will also be similar “backup adventures” as well. Morrison recently teased that they were working on a top secret Batman project, and now we know it’s Batman/Deadpool.

“I don’t do many comics these days but there was no way I could turn down the chance to work with Dan Mora again, one of my all-time favorite artistic collaborators — and definitely no way I could turn down Batman and Deadpool!” Morrison said. “Expect 4th wall-busting mayhem, owls, blood, blades, and at least one giant typewriter!”

“This is more than I ever imagined I could do in my career, and it is a huge honor to be part of this crossover: it doesn’t happen too often, and I am a huge Deadpool fan!” Mora shared. “When I first worked with Grant, I didn’t know what to expect, but it was an incredible team-up. I always hoped to work with Grant again, and working on Batman/Deadpool is like a dream come true. Grant and I working together on this once-in-a-lifetime project is going to be such a fun experience.”

What do you think about seeing Deadpool and Batman together in the same comic? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Deadpool & Batman Are Officially Crossing Over in 2025 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Mr. Terrific is about to gain a whole new audience thanks to Superman. The film is part of James Gunn’s new DC Universe and is another attempt to find a winning formula for the Man of Steel on the big screen. However, Superman isn’t the only DC hero to appear in the film. Joining Superman are Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and Mr. Terrific. This won’t be the first time we’ve seen Mr. Terrific in live action, with the hero also appearing in Arrow. The general audience may not be familiar with Mr. Terrific, so DC is providing more context with a Year One comic.

DC released preview pages for Mr. Terrific: Year One #1 by Al Letson, Valentine De Landro, and Marissa Louise. The comic will jump between the past and present, showing how the death of Michael Holt’s wife and unborn son led him down the path to becoming Mr. Terrific, one of the smartest characters in the DC Universe.

The preview begins with Mr. Terrific filling the reader in on his history, from being a member of the JSA to leading his own superhero team in The Terrifics. A member of the Terrifics, Metamorpho, is also in Superman. While Mr. Terrific may not be a metahuman, he counts his mind as his superpower. We also travel back to the DC All In Special, where Darkseid attacked the new Justice League Watchtower. Darkseid’s death opened a dangerous interdimensional rift that Mr. Terrific has made his job to investigate.

Our final pages travel back in time to the early days of Mr. Terrific, where he’s woken up from his sleep by someone close to him. Mr. Terrific has been holed up in his apartment since his wife and unborn son were killed. After their deaths, Mr. Terrific sold his company to Athena Prescott, an inventor, entrepreneur, and CEO of Prescott Industries. Having Mr. Terrific: Year One jump back and forth from the present to the past is an excellent way to craft the story, and allows readers to see how Mr. Terrific’s choices in the past are affecting him to this day.

Edi Gathegi portrays Mr. Terrific in Superman. He’s a gold medal-winning Olympic decathlete who also has multiple PhDs. He’s part of a long line of legacy heroes, with the original Mr. Terrific using the catchphrase “Fair Play,” which is something that appealed to Michael Holt. Along with his depiction in Arrow, played by Echo Kellum, Mr. Terrific has also appeared in the Justice League animated series

Mr. Terrific celebrated an anniversary in April, with Superman director James Gunn sharing a behind-the-scenes photo of Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific. “Happy Anniversary to Mr. Terrific, who has long been one of my favorite characters,” Gunn wrote in his Instagram post. “It’s been a joy bringing him to the big screen for the first time with my pal Edi Gathegi.”

“THE SECRET ORIGIN OF SUMMER’S BREAKOUT SUPERHERO!” a description of Mr. Terrific: Year One #1 reads. “Brilliant young inventor Michael Holt’s life was destined for greatness… yet everything screeched to a halt when his wife Paula and unborn son were killed in a car accident. The Holts once shared ambitious dreams of using their technology to help others, but after the tragedy, Michael retreats from society and sells Holt Industries to mysterious and craven tech billionaire Athena Prescott. The domino effect of Michael’s actions set off an explosive chain of events that take a not-so-ordinary man from the depths of despair to the heights of heroism! Meanwhile, in the present day, Mr. Terrific continues his research into what became of Darkseid after the events of the DC All-In Special…and comes to realize that his past and the present might be inextricably linked…”

Mr. Terrific: Year One #1 goes on sale Wednesday, May 28th. Let us know your thoughts on the comic in the comments below!

The post Mr. Terrific Year One Explores the Origin Story of Superman’s Breakout Character appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A compelling new fan theory leverages Jonathan Hickman’s revolutionary House of X and Powers of X saga to explain the absence of mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shared by redditor u/rOkBad7175 on the /marvelstudios subreddit, the theory also provides a seamless way to introduce the X-Men to the Sacred Timeline. The theory, gaining traction among MCU enthusiasts, centers on Hickman’s radically reimagined character of Moira MacTaggert, suggesting her unique abilities and desperate quest to save mutantkind could be the key to understanding why mutants are only now emerging in the MCU’s main timeline. This concept provides a lore-rich foundation that not only accounts for the mutants’ delayed arrival but also sets the stage for complex future narratives, echoing the intricate storytelling that defined Hickman’s celebrated X-Men tenure.

Hickman’s tenure on the X-Men titles initiated a bold new era known as the Krakoan Age, fundamentally altering the status quo for Marvel’s mutants. At the very center of this seismic shift was a profound retcon of Moira MacTaggert, a character traditionally known as a human geneticist and a staunch ally of Charles Xavier. Hickman revealed Moira to be a mutant herself, possessing the power of reincarnation. Upon each death, Moira returns to the moment of her conception, retaining all memories from her previous lives.

[RELATED: 10 X-Men Characters Who Would Be Perfect for the Thunderbolts* Director’s MCU Reboot]

House of X #2 detailed that Moira was living her tenth life, having experienced a myriad of timelines she helped shape by influencing the world events with her knowledge of the future. Unfortunately, she learned a grim, immutable truth through these nine previous lives: mutants always lose. Regardless of the strategies employed, whether it was through heroic sacrifice, aggressive dominance, or attempted integration, every path inevitably led to the persecution, subjugation, or outright extinction of mutantkind, often at the hands of humanity, advanced Sentinels, or other powerful cosmic or artificial intelligences.

Armed with this devastating knowledge from centuries of lived experience across her past lives, Moira X, in her tenth incarnation, resolved to break this catastrophic cycle. She approached Charles Xavier much earlier in his life than in previous timelines, revealing her mutant nature and the cyclical doom awaiting their kind. This revelation shattered Xavier’s initial dream of peaceful coexistence and pushed him toward a more radical strategy for mutant survival. Later, Magneto was also brought into this secret counsel. Together, this triumvirate, guided by Moira’s unprecedented understanding of future failures, orchestrated the establishment of a sovereign nation for all mutants, Krakoa, and, most crucially, the Resurrection Protocols. Through a group of five key mutants (The Five), deceased mutants could be reliably brought back to life, effectively neutralizing death as a significant threat to their species. This bold initiative united former X-Men, their allies, and even many of their long-standing adversaries under a single banner, all driven by Moira’s unseen hand and the desperate hope that this tenth life would finally be the one where mutants would survive and prevail.

MCU Fan Theory: Could Moira’s Cycles Explain Mutant Absence and Emergence?

Drawing inspiration from the complex legacy of Moira MacTaggert established in Hickman’s X-Men run, u/rOkBad7175 offers a fresh perspective on why mutants might have remained hidden in the MCU and how they could eventually emerge. As the user proposes, “We haven’t seen them because of Moira Mactaggert. This is her 9th life, maybe. She tried several times for the mutants to survive. Maybe the fox timeline was one of those lives? She orchestrated the major events there?” This line of thought speculates that the MCU’s Sacred Timeline could be another of Moira’s attempts to navigate the perilous path of mutant existence, potentially even trying to learn from events in other realities like the Fox X-Men cinematic universe.

A core element of this theory is how Moira might have adapted her strategy in this current MCU timeline. According to u/rOkBad7175, “Eventually she realised the key to mutants surviving is shutting up and not going public. It is working so far.” This suggests a deliberate decision by Moira to keep mutants entirely covert. The theorist also attempts to tie in the fate of another superpowered group, suggesting Moira might have actively worked to neutralize threats: “She also maybe got the Inhumans killed off, or just took away the terrigen mist (in the comics, terrigen mist gives mutants a deadly sickness). That is why we haven’t seen the Inhumans in the Sacred Timeline.”

Another commenter, u/rCaciulacdlac, provided a detailed integration of the TVA into u/rOkBad7175’s framework: “I can integrate the TVA in your story. Maybe for the sacred timeline to work, Moira needs to experience all those timelines that eventually lead to the doom of the mutants, so that she can eventually decide to go down the path of the Sacred Timeline. And those timelines in which she dies, they are immediately pruned after.” This suggestion reframes Moira’s multiple lives as a necessary, albeit harsh, process, perhaps even tolerated or managed by the TVA, with failed timelines being pruned, thus aligning with the “mutants always lose” theme until a stable path is achieved.

The mutants will be a key MCU element in the upcoming crossover movie Avengers: Doomsday, which is scheduled for release on December 18, 2026.

What are your thoughts on this Moira-centric fan theory for introducing mutants to the MCU? Let us know in the comments!

The post X-Men Fan Theory Uses Jonathan Hickman’s Masterpiece To Explain Mutants In the MCU (& It Makes Sense) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

With Batman: Hush 2 currently playing out in the pages of Batman, now feels like the perfect time to revisit the first one. For over 20 years, Batman: Hush has been heralded as a modern classic. And why shouldn’t it be? The story brought together one of the best writers to ever pen a Batman adventure — Jeph Loeb — and artist extraordinaire Jim Lee. On paper it sounds like a match made in heaven, and for some, it is. For me, however, Hush is a narrative mess with art that doesn’t match the tone of the story and characters that don’t feel like themselves. While I sincerely hope it doesn’t get my geek card revoked, I finally have to speak my truth: Hush is not the masterpiece you think it is, and it’s a hill I’m willing to die on.

Hush, for those who don’t know, is a 12-part mystery that brings Batman face to face with some of his deadliest foes. The story was originally published in Batman issues #608-619 from 2002 to 2003 before being collected into the graphic novel most fans know it as today. Partly told in the past, one of the story’s biggest hooks is retconning Bruce Wayne’s childhood to include a previously unmentioned best friend, Tommy Elliot, the titular Hush. And that’s where my grievances begin.

Look, I have no problem with retcons. I could hardly call myself a DC fan if I did. The problem comes when the retcon throws already established canon out the window. Before Hush, it had long been established that Bruce Wayne was 8-10 years old when his parents were gunned down in front of him. Hush raises his age to around 12-13 years old for seemingly no reason. Why does this matter? Well, for starters, it messes with continuity. DC pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths was all over the place in terms of when events happened, and comics would contradict each other all the time. Post-crisis, however, the editors made a strong effort to keep everything more or less consistent. Honestly, that’s not my biggest problem with the retcon, though. What upsets me more is that Bruce shouldn’t be that mature when his parents were killed.

Losing a parent at any age is traumatic, but there is a sweet spot — just old enough to form lasting memories but before adolescence — where their death would be impactful enough for their child to start dressing up as a flying mammal and kicking clowns in the head night after night. Bruce should also be young enough that his parents are his whole world. He shouldn’t be old enough to be distracted by girls and calculus finals. Also, as long as we’re putting it all out there, he shouldn’t have friends. Young Bruce should be a shy kind of awkward kid who spends more time with his parents than his peers because, again, his origin only works when his parents are pretty much the only important people in his life aside from Alfred — and even that relationship shouldn’t become very familial until Bruce needs a new guardian.

The addition of Tommy Elliot into Bruce’s childhood complicates things in a way that does Batman a disservice. But honestly, Elliot is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my gripes with Hush, so let’s move on to a really controversial opinion: I don’t like the art. Don’t get me wrong, Jim Lee is one of my favorite comic book artists of all time, but his kinetic penciling style is better suited to a bright and colorful team book like X-Men or even Lee’s own Wildcats. His art is too bright, too clean, too comic-booky for Batman, especially Jeph Loeb’s Batman.

Batman is a noirish pulp hero at heart, and Loeb writes him like one. One of the reasons why Loeb’s Batman: The Long Halloween is so good is because of Tim Sale’s moody art style. Sale’s linework is a bit rough, his anatomy is out of proportion, and his panels are dripping with shadow. In other words, the perfect style for Batman and his Rogues. Jim Lee is too busy making sure you can see Batman’s ears through his cowl — easily my least favorite thing about how he draws the character — to ever draw the Joker with a million teeth in his oversized mouth the way Tim Sale does. To put it in simpler terms, Lee’s style doesn’t vibe with the Batman Universe.

After the art, I suppose I should touch on the writing. Jeph Loeb has written two of the best year-long arcs in Batman’s history, Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory. Both of these stories explored Batman’s early years in new ways, recontextualized old villains, and added value to the overall Batman mythos. Hush, by contrast, feels like a weird hybrid of Batman’s greatest hits and a showcase for Jim Lee’s art. Sure, Long Halloween used all of Batman’s most iconic rogues to tell its story, but they felt like they were there for a reason. Hush shoehorns villains like the Joker and Killer Croc into its narrative basically just so Jim Lee can draw them. Croc, in particular, was subbed out for Bane in the Hush animated movie, and it barely made a difference. On top of that, the “mystery” behind Hush is so convoluted that I can’t really determine which rogues should be there. Maybe they’re all superfluous.

Perhaps Hush‘s biggest crime — besides being a pale Long Halloween imitation — is that it doesn’t get Batman right. Loeb writes The Caped Crusader out of character several times throughout the story. Take Batman’s famous line while he’s fighting a mind-controlled Superman: “Deep down Clark’s essentially a good person…and deep down, I’m not.” You mean to tell me that the same Batman who adopted a parentless tween because he didn’t want him to be alone after his parents died, the same Batman who sat with Ace and held her hand because she was afraid to die, that Batman is a bad person deep down? Sorry, but I don’t buy it. Then again, Hush also sees Batman punching Catwoman full force in her bullet-wounded shoulder to incapacitate her so she won’t stop him from murdering the Joker, so maybe he is a bad guy after all.

Almost all of my problems with Hush would have been eliminated with one simple change: making it an Elseworlds tale. By setting the story in the main Batman continuity, DC presented Hush as a sloppy, ill-fitting arc starring a not-quite-right Batman and a bunch of famous bad guys that didn’t need to be there. Overall, not exactly the modern “classic” everyone makes it out to be.

What do you think of Hush? Am I completely off base, or is it one of the weaker stories in the Batman canon? Let us know in the comments.

The post This Fan Favorite Batman Story Isn’t The Masterpiece It’s Made Out to Be (And I Will Die on This Hill) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Avengers is a combination of Marvel’s greatest heroes, battling against the most powerful threats imaginable. The Avengers have many must-read stories, created by some of the greatest names in the history of the comic industry. The best Avengers stories of all time are near perfect superhero yarns, stories that helped define and redefine what Marvel could be. There are lots of great Avengers runs out there, but there’s one that I’ve always felt was light years better than just about any of them. I’m speaking of the Avengers/New Avengers run of writer Jonathan Hickman. Hickman is one of Marvel’s greatest talents, and his work on the Avengers is widely considered one of his better works, leading into the blockbuster 2015 event story Secret Wars.

Hickman took over the Avengers at an interesting time. Avengers Vs. X-Men had changed the face of Marvel, and the beloved Avengers run of writer Brian Michael Bendis was ending. However, Bendis’s run was long past its best days, and fans were ready for something new. Hickman gave readers that over the course of Avengers and New Avengers, creating an Avengers run that is still talked about over a decade later. Hickman’s time writing the Avengers was perfect, and there’s no other Avengers run out there that can match it.

Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers Is a Cut Above the Rest

Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers were two unique books that showed off why the Avengers are such a fertile concept. Avengers was the straight up superhero book, with the largest and most powerful Avengers team ever assembled to battle universe-shaking threats. These threats are all somewhat related, as the universe itself starts to reach its end. This concept is expanded upon in New Avengers, which follows the Illuminati as they learn the truth behind all of the Avengers’ problems — the Incursions, a mysterious event destroying the various universes of the multiverses. Avengers is the big action spectacle book, as the Avengers battle threats unlike anything they had before. Meanwhile, New Avengers is the more character focused book, as the Illuminati deal with the pressure of secretly destroying entire Earths before they can destroy Earth-616. The Avengers have long been known for both spectacle and character, and Hickman found a way to use each of these aspects to tell what is simply the greatest Avengers story of all time, a compelling narrative that challenges the Avengers unlike anything they had ever faced before.

RELATED: Marvel Just Introduced A New Avengers Team (& the “Heroes” Are Very Unexpected)

Hickman realized something that many Avengers creators never really understand — that you can do Justice League stories with the Avengers. Honestly, the best way to describe Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers is that it is Morrison’s JLA in the Marvel Universe. Avengers stories during the Bendis era, were honestly pretty street level, telling stories that were more about the drama of the Avengers rather than the spectacle of the Avengers facing the biggest threats in the universe. Hickman brought his love of sci-fi to the Avengers; while the Avengers have some amazing sci-fi stories under their belt, Hickman brought that to the next level. Just look at the mid-run event story Infinity; it was a cosmic war in the stars that felt like it came out of a sci-fi novel, pitting the greatest alien empires, under the leadership of the Avengers, against the Builders, an ancient race that helped create the multiverse. Things get even more drastic when “Time Runs Out” starts, a story that ran through both Avengers and New Avengers, as the end of everything gets closer than ever. It’s brilliant storytelling as each team of Avengers deals with the end in the only way they know how. Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers is straight-up amazing; it took the Avengers to entirely new places, showing that the team was greater than anyone ever expected. Everything about it is perfect, using the Avengers in the best way possible.

Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers Is the Last Great Avengers Run

Bendis made New Avengers/Mighty Avengers/Dark Avengers/Avengers into must-read titles for the first time in years, but by the time Hickman took over Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, fans were tired of Bendis’s Avengers. Hickman had to bring the Avengers back to their roots as the greatest fighting force in the universe, and did so by doing an Avengers story with stakes at a level that no other Avengers story had reached. Hickman was able to bring the Avengers to the next level in his run, and no other Avengers story has ever reached its height ever since.

Hickman’s era of Avengers stories is the last time that the Avengers were truly great. It makes sense that the team has never been able to reach the heights of Hickman’s run; Hickman told the ultimate Avengers story. There’s really nowhere else for the Avengers to go; it’s all just same old, same old from there. Hickman showed readers what the Avengers at their best could be, and nothing has been able to stand with it ever since.

What do you think of Hickman’s time on Avengers and New Avengers? Sound off in the comments below.

The post This is the Perfect Avengers Run (& It’s Not Even Close) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Uncanny X-Men #14 is the second part of the story “Dark Artery”. The Outliers, the group of four teen mutants that Rogue and her team are training, have found themselves in the caverns below Haven House, the current base for the X-Men. Outlier Deathdream leads them to a door guarded by Man-Thing, and they meet a character that fans have already met in “Dark Artery” part one: Lady Henrietta Benjamin. Readers first met Henrietta in the flashback sections of the story, which follow Henrietta from Chicago to Louisiana in the early 1900s. It’s a trip fraught with peril, partly because Henrietta is Black and it’s the South, but also because she is what is called a mutate. Uncanny X-Men #14 tells more of her story, before introducing her to readers in the modern day.

The new X-Men “From the Ashes” status quo has been remarkably uneven, but through all of that, Uncanny X-Men has been stellar. Writer Gail Simone promised that this iteration of Marvel’s merry mutants would be more of a Southern Gothic horror story than the typical X-Men yarn, and so far “Dark Artery” has brought that to the fore. Lady Henrietta is positioned to be a major character, but there’s something about her that makes her one of the scariest mutants we’ve seen in a long time.

Lady Henrietta Comes to New Orleans on a Mysterious Mission

Readers were introduced to Henrietta in Uncanny X-Men #13, where she began her trip from Chicago to Louisiana. Henrietta seemed to be a nanny/teacher, and she was going to Louisiana for a new job. However, right off the bat, it was obvious that Henrietta had some kind of secret. As she’s traveling, she follows certain symbols that let her know she can make her trip safely and in secret, because someone is looking for “mutates” like her. There seems to be an entire system for people like Henrietta, one with its own language of terms and symbols. The whole thing has an underground railroad feel to it; that mutates have been making this particular trip pretty often. Simone does a great job of capturing that feeling — of being pursued because you’re different, of having to keep your head down so as to not arouse suspicion. The whole thing works brilliantly. Henrietta, however, is being followed, with two mysterious men named Agent Miller and Andrew trying to see if Henrietta will lead them to more of her kind, who they call “moonflyers” and “Johnny Devils”. Henrietta is met at the train station by young black man named George, who shows her the sign that he’s safe to ride with and the two of them begin their journey out of New Orleans.

RELATED: I Think Chris Claremont Is the Most Revolutionary X-Men Writer (& Here’s Why)

The two of them drive together before Andrew and Miller confront them as they’re making their way to Haven, brandishing firearms. George jumps in front of Henrietta and is repaid for this gallant action with a shotgun blast to the gut. And then, Henrietta loses it. She suddenly transforms into a new form, one seemingly made of hard rock, and summons two massive monsters to take revenge for George’s death. Just looking at this scene, it’s hard to tell exactly what Henrietta’s powers are. When she first transforms, she floats in the air, so flight might be a part of her powers. She seems to be able to control the two massive monsters she summoned, at least well enough to command them to kill whoever she wants. One of the more interesting parts of the whole situation are the monsters she’s summoned and what they look like. These monsters look very similar to Sadurag, a dragon that appeared in Uncanny X-Men #1, who showed back up in issue #13 to tell Gambit about the effect the Left Eye of Agamotto, which the mutant stole from the dragon in the first issue. What’s really interesting about that is that in Uncanny X-Men #1, Sadurag looked very different than his appearance in issue #13 and #14. Could his transformation have something to do with Lady Henrietta? It’s intriguing thought and almost certainly not a coincidence, and speak to just how powerful Henrietta can be.

Lady Henrietta Is a Frightening Picture of Things to Come

Ever since Uncanny X-Men #1, fans had wondered what exactly led the X-Men to Haven House. Gambit’s history in New Orleans with the Thieves and Assassins Guilds means that he has a connection to some of the darker sides of the city, so there was always the suspicion that Haven House was somehow related to the mystical side of things. Lady Henrietta’s trip, and her appearance in the caverns below the house at the end of the issue, show that this is more than likely the case.

Readers still don’t know why Lady Henrietta came to Haven House, although part of the reason seems to be bringing has mother’s ashes home, which means that she has some kind of connection to what’s going on there. Lady Henrietta’s powers seem to allow her to summon some kind of monsters, and seem to be quite formidable. Whatever’s under Haven House can’t be good, and Lady Henrietta’s position as guardian of those secrets makes her a very scary mutant.

Uncanny X-Men #14 is on sale now.

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Absolute Flash is off to the races as it wraps up its first story arc, Wally West having officially become the Flash and taking on the most adorable sidekick ever in the new version of Gorilla Grodd. The Fastest Teenager Alive has come to accept who he is and that his old life is over forever, but that doesn’t mean ghosts from his past won’t be haunting him. Issue #3 has teased the introduction of not just one, but two of the Flash’s most dangerous and deadly villains, and either one of them could easily be the end of the newly minted Scarlet Speedster. 

There’s a Thawne Working for Project Olympus

While the Rogues tried in vain to bring down Wally and his new monkey friend, Wally’s dad Rudy relied on a scientist named Thawne to handle the live feed the military group received from Grodd. Thawne, of course is the last name of Barry Allen’s arch enemy and by far and away the pettiest villain to ever live: the Reverse Flash. While we don’t know for sure that this scientist is the actual Eobard Thawne, especially considering that his mainline counterpart wasn’t born until the twenty-fifth century, there’s always the possibility that this is him, and that can only mean bad news for the Flash.

We know that whatever secret experiment Barry Allen was working on prior to his death is what gave Wally his powers. If this scientist is Eobard Thawne, then this new version of the character could be equally as obsessed with Barry as his original counterpart. Perhaps they’ve worked together for many years, but Barry has always been the smarter, more celebrated, and more beloved scientist. This could easily drive the man to jealousy, and a wild obsession with proving himself better. Following Barry’s horrific death, Thawne might be the one selected to continue Barry’s work, or he might even attempt to complete it in secret. Either way, it’s very easy to imagine Thawne “improving” the experiment and using it on himself, a final getback at Barry who died in his attempt. Assuming it goes horribly wrong, and there’s no way it couldn’t, Thawne would be gifted and cursed with speed rivaling or even exceeding Wally’s. In a final act of proving himself superior in every way, Thawne would chase down the young speedster and demonstrate his superiority by defeating, and possibly even aiming to kill our new hero.

[RELATED: Sorry Barry Allen, But Wally West is Actually the Best Flash]

Even if this scientist Thawne is not connected to the Eobard of the future, Wally’s powers are inherently tied to time in some way. The real Thawne could easily be a descendant of the current day one, and use his ancestor’s notes on Barry’s project to recreate it and travel back in time. As for why he’d do that, we’ll have to wait and see, but I don’t think it’s hard to convince Thawne to dedicate his life to making your life hell, based on past evidence. He might even be attempting to “save” the future by getting rid of Wally, as one of the potential futures Wally saw for himself is becoming a speed-monster in a ruined world. Of course, the second villain is even more dangerous than a morally-charged Thawne.

Barry Allen Might be the Absolute Black Flash

When Wally interrupted Barry’s experiment and gained his powers, he also forged a connection with Barry that he couldn’t break. Terrified of what happened, Wally ran away as fast as he could, accidentally dragging Barry with him. Barry’s body was ripped apart by the force and distance, and by the time Wally stopped he was nothing more than a skeletal husk, his final words begging for Wally to help him. Obviously this image and death are very reminiscent of Barry’s sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but I don’t think that’s the only callback here. Based on his design, he also looked a lot like Black Flash, the speedster entity of death.

There is precedent for this, as Barry became the Black Flash immediately following his return from his twenty-year long death in The Flash: Rebirth. The 2006 miniseries, not the 2016 DC-wide relaunch of the same name. I’m all the more convinced Barry might be the Black Flash because of the manner in which Absolute Barry died. He formed a powerful connection to Wally, and Wally’s powers are very tied to the fabric of time. While Barry’s body was ripped apart, it could be that his soul has been lost between the timestream, both dead and living and always connected to Wally. Barry wouldn’t want to hurt Wally or anyone else, but if he is nothing more than a lost soul with a form that’s constantly being torn apart and drawn to Wally, he may not have a choice. If Wally begins to see a dark shape running behind him, then we definitely know who it will be. 

Even if these two classic villains aren’t connected to these two versions of the characters, we still have a lot to look forward to in Absolute Flash. Wally West is kicking it into overdrive with his new friend and new way of life, and I am definitely excited to see where he goes from here.

Absolute Flash #3 is on sale now!

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The world of science fiction opened the doors to many subgenres, from cyberpunk to dystopian fiction and everything in between. Then there are time travel tales, and when done right, these stories can be such a mind-bending experience. People love time travel, and there have certainly been plenty of movies and shows on the subject (Back to the Future and Doctor Who are two that quickly come to mind). Likewise, there are dozens of time travel comics, and frankly, they deserve more credit. Regardless of whether you want to dive into the past or delve into the future, there’s a read for everyone.

Obviously, there are far too many time travel comics to list in a single article. Franchises such as Marvel and DC Comics love experimenting with time travel, sometimes for quick events but often for larger universal moments. That alone could warrant its own list. As such, we tried to pick some stories with variety, though there are still one or two superhero stories to be found, for those craving them.

10) Patience

Love, grief, time travel, and psychedelics. What do these four elements have in common? They’re all core concepts of Patience. The story follows Jack, who has been thrown down a well of grief and more following the untimely death (read: murder) of his girlfriend, Patience. Naturally, when he stumbled across a time machine, he felt compelled to make things right. Anybody who has read the classic novel knows how well that attempt would go, but this comic takes a slightly different spin, instead enabling readers to learn more about Patience herself. It’s a trippy and obsessive tale about love and loss.

Patience is written and illustrated by Daniel Clowes. Published by Fantagraphics Books, it was nominated for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Graphic Album-New and Best Lettering (2017).

9) Earthdivers

Beloved horror writer Stephen Graham Jones (My Heart Is a Chainsaw and The Only Good Indians) took a spin at writing for comics. Earthdivers merges time travel and hard-hitting historical moments and makes them feel deeply personal. Consisting of three volumes, Earthdivers has three distinct focuses (and goals). The first volume (Kill Columbus) revolves around the era of Christopher Columbus, with a group of indigenous outcasts determined to kill the explorer and save the future. Ice Age introduces a new complication, as missing children cause one couple to fall through time in the hopes of bringing their family back together again. Finally, 1776 brings the story full circle, raising questions about violence and the ability to change time. Did the first team complete their mission, or is time less flexible than they hoped?

Earthdivers is written by Stephen Graham Jones and illustrated by Davide Gianfelice, Joana LaFuente, and Patricio Delpeche. Published by IDW, there are three volumes to this complete series.

[RELATED: Ms. Marvel Begins Her Time Travel Journey at a Critical Point in X-Men History (Exclusive)]

8) Displacement

Displacement is another tale involving a character unwittingly heading backward in time. It begins with a vacation, as Kiku and her family are learning about her grandmother’s time in Japanese internment camps. What should have been a somber learning experience quickly became more immersive, as Kiku found herself hurled back to the 1940s. As such, Kiku ends up surviving the experience alongside her grandmother. It’s a beautiful time travel tale with a real historical lesson to impart to the readers. Displacement has familiar earmarks to social justice time travel stories, as it’s becoming a bit of a niche subject, even within the subgenre of time traveling.

Displacement is written and illustrated by Kiku Hughes and published by First Second.

7) Life Is Strange

If you saw the name Life Is Strange and did a double-take, don’t worry! You’re not seeing double. Life Is Strange is the comic book tie-in to the famous video game. As such, you really want to finish the game before diving into the comics (unless you don’t mind risking spoilers). Life Is Strange continues the story from where the game left off, with Max and Chloe trying to move forward, which is easier said than done for this time-traveling duo. New realities and timelines flow into the mix, adding new adventures and concerns. Meanwhile, things seem to be blending and merging in odd and mysterious ways. If you find yourself wanting more from the game, the comics are a must-read.

Life Is Strange is written by Emma Vieceli and illustrated by Claudia Leonardi, Andrea Izzo, Richard Starkings, and Jimmy Betancourt. It’s published by Titan Comics and has six volumes of content to dive into.

6) A Girl Called Echo

Much like Displacement, A Girl Called Echo has a lesson to teach the main character – and the readers. Echo Desjardins is a Métis teenager struggling to feel motivated at school. It doesn’t help that she’s dealing with a new home and school. However, the lessons she learned in her history class opened the door to the past in more ways than one. What began as a shocking revelation of truth in the classroom ended up being a much deeper and more personal journey for Echo, as she kept getting pulled into the past to see how her predecessors experienced pivotal moments in Métis history. A Girl Called Echo is rich in history and raw emotion, with a time travel style similar to Octavia Butler’s Kindred.

A Girl Called Echo is written by Katherena Vermette and illustrated by Scott B. Henderson and Donovan Yaciuk. It’s a complete series, with an omnibus available by HighWater Press.

5) Trillium

Love and time travel go hand-in-hand, though sometimes with heartbreaking results. Enter Trillium, a love story about two characters from different points in time. William Pike is an explorer and a WWI vet. His mission is to find the lost temples of the Incas, and it’s safe to say he was not expecting what he found. Nika Temsith hails from 3797, a far-flung future. As a botanist, she’s dedicated to researching flowers, yet somehow that places her on a path with William. Their love grows against all odds, but that doesn’t mean it comes without cost, as these two were never meant to meet, let alone fall in love. Readers who have enjoyed Jeff Lemire’s other works (Sweet Tooth, All-New Hawkeye, Gideon Falls, etc.) should consider checking out Trillium. Likewise, fans of Saga will feel right at home, as Lemire hasn’t been shy about its influence on his work.

Trillium is written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire and colored by José Villarrubia. Published by Vertigo, there are eight issues to binge.

[RELATED: Image Comics Reveals Its New Multiverse]

4) Chrononauts

If love and time travel are a destined combination, so are scientists and time travel. It’s almost like they can’t resist the temptation, right? Chrononauts follows two physicists, Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly. They’ve finally unlocked the code to time travel, and their first major mission is going to prove that. Of course, nothing goes quite to plan, as they find themselves bouncing around time and space. Making it back home is going to be a challenge, and even if they succeed, they’ll then have to face the corporate repercussions for the snafus they’ve faced. Readers should check out the first volume for historical shenanigans, while the second volume throws the two headfirst into the future.

Chrononauts was written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Sean Gordon Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth, Eric Canete, Giovanna Niro, Peter Doherty, and Chris Eliopoulos. Published by Image Comics, there are two complete volumes.

3) X-Men: Days of Future Past

It’s probably safe to say that X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the more famous events in X-Men history, and that’s saying something. Tucked into the run of Uncanny X-Men, the story has been adapted a few times since then, including the 2014 movie of the same name. The event ties the present with a dangerous future, one that sees mutants placed into internment camps. Kitty Pryde is at the forefront of the tale, with her future self popping into the mind of her present self as a means of warning the team of what is to come.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a six-issue event that ran in the Uncanny X-Men (1981) run, issues 138-143. It’s written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, and illustrated by John Byrne and Terry Austin.

2) Paper Girls

Realistically, Paper Girls is probably the second most famous time travel series on this list, but it can’t be overlooked. Paper Girls is pure ’80s nostalgia wrapped up in a mind-bending time travel adventure, complete with a generational war, future selves, and the lot. The story follows four teenage newspaper delivery girls, Camryn Jones, Tiff, Mac, Erin, and KJ. What started as an ordinary day, with a side of training the new girl, became something out of this world, as the four are thrown into a time travel war, flinging them to far extremes of time, from the past to the future, and back again. Meanwhile, each character has her own bit of personal drama to work through. Paper Girls was adapted by Amazon Prime Video, but only lasted one season, failing to capture the charm the comic series is known for.

Paper Girls is written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher. Published by Image Comics, there are six complete volumes of the series.

[RELATED: 10 Comics to Read If You Loved Giant Days]

1) Daytripper

Last, but certainly not least, there’s Daytripper. Daytripper is the story of Brás de Oliva Domingos, a writer by day and a dreamer by night. He’s the son of a famous writer, and of course, he has dreams of becoming a famous writer in his own right. Unfortunately, his days are mostly spent writing obituaries for others, but that hasn’t stopped him from dreaming big. Brás has always felt like he’s waiting for his real life to begin, and thus the story starts. Daytripper is a time travel tale, but it is also shockingly human and deep, asking profound questions about the importance of daily moments and how they merge to create a complete human being. Daytripper is a must-read for introspective bookworms.

Daytripper is written and illustrated by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, with colorist Dave Stewart and letterer Sean Konot. Published by Vertigo Comics, there are ten issues to the series.

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The Justice League is the ideal that every other superhero team strives to meet. They are the best of the best, the pinnacles of heroism that join forces to protect their world and every other one from all manners of threats. They are the greatest heroes in the DC Universe, and are the ones everyone looks to for leadership and stability in times of crisis. That being said, the Justice League’s roster hasn’t exactly remained the same across its storied career. While there are some heroes that it’s impossible to imagine not being in the League, DC’s premier superhero team has been known to be as flexible as Plastic Man. And with the newly minted Justice League Unlimited manning the Watchtower, their ranks are open to just about every hero across the universe.

However, just because their membership requirements are fairly loose does not mean that every Justice Leaguer is created equal. While every hero has their place on this illustrious team, some can be said to be much more deserving of their seats than others. Even among the gods that man the League, there are some that simply stand above everyone else as fantastic members and the embodiments of what it means to be superheroes. Today, we’ll take a look at the ten best, most important members of the Justice League.

10) Booster Gold

When he first arrived in the present day from the far-flung future, Booster Gold was the farthest thing from a hero. He was a self-centered egoist whose only concern was becoming famous by tricking as many people as possible into thinking he was cool. However, over his many years in our time, Booster learned what it really meant to be a hero. Now he willingly charges into any danger, no matter how deadly, if it means there is a single chance he can help someone. He’s matured into a real hero, and that transformation is exactly why he’s on this list. Booster is an inspiration, showing that it doesn’t matter what your past is or where you’re from. If you’re willing to learn and help then you too can be a hero, and isn’t that the message the Justice League teaches all of us?

9) Black Canary

Black Canary is indisputably one of the greats. Not only is she one of, if not the best hand to hand fighter in the DC Universe, but she is almost indisputably the mom of the Justice League. She was one of the first characters added to the original team’s roster, although her placement in the Justice Society of America demanded some classic comic complicated retcons. Over the years, Canary has not only served as a member more times than almost any other hero, but she’s led the League as its chairperson for plenty of those years, too. Dinah is one of those heroes that never gets as much recognition as she deserves, but she has earned her place among the best.

8) Green Arrow

More so than anyone else, Green Arrow is the everyman of the Justice League. Even compared to other non-powered heroes like Batman and Mr. Terrific, Green Arrow feels much closer to the average man than his fellow heroes. Ollie is constantly in over his head and punching up against cosmic beings and immortal gods with boxing gloves strapped to arrows, and yet through it he keeps the League grounded. He reminds the League that they exist to help the little guy, stopping them from getting lost in the never ending battles and going too far. Not only was he the first hero added to the League’s original roster, but he also heavily petitioned for the League to open up to be more inclusive and progressive. Heck, he petitioned for Black Lightning to be the first Black hero added to the League, and when they rejected him the Emerald Archer was so mad he quit. Green Arrow always keeps an eye out for ordinary people, and that’s something the League will always need.

7) Aquaman

To most people nowadays, Aquaman is a joke character. He’s the guy who talks to fish and is practically useless outside of the water, except none of that is true. Not only is Aquaman a founding member of the original Justice League, but he has more than proven himself as a leader and a badass. When the Earth was threatened by a Martian invasion while the main Leaguers were busy handling a crisis on Earth-2 it was Aquaman who assembled the Justice League Detroit to save the world. Aquaman is a lot stronger than anyone gives him credit for too, considering he’s even been able to stagger Superman with a well placed smack. He is a king who always looks out for his people, and that includes everyone when he’s in the League. Besides, I think we’ve reached a point as a society where we can move past the Aquaman is useless jokes. And besides, psychically commanding any sealife is an awesome power! I said it and I believe it.

6) The Flash

This spot can go interchangeably between both Barry Allen and Wally West, whose tenures on the League are about equally important in my eyes. No matter who the Fastest Man Alive is, you know for sure that he’ll be running alongside his other Leaguers towards any and all danger. Flash is here because he has shown time and again that he is willing to give up anything and everything in order to save the day. Nobody can ever forget Barry Allen’s sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths, which saved the entire multiverse, or Wally West’s more recent solo battle against Eclipso and the sacrifice of his new duplicates. Flash has broken through the barriers of time and dimensions for the sake of helping people, and shows no sign of slowing down now. The Flash is a bastion of hope that always keeps marching forward, and that is exactly what makes a Justice Leaguer a Justice Leaguer.

[RELATED: 10 Greatest Justice League Villains]

5) Green Lantern

Every incarnation of the Justice League needs a Lantern of some kind, and more often than not that void is filled by a will-powered space cop from the Green Lantern Corps. While any Flash could fill the previous slot, I’m going to have to say that our number five spot goes specifically to Hal Jordan. When the team first formed and Superman was more of an ancillary member, Green Lantern was their heavy hitter. Beyond being a longtime and founding member, Hal has been through his own fall from grace. He once became the monstrous villain Parallax, and although that was later retconned away, Hal put everything he had into redeeming himself for his actions. Ever since, he’s pushed himself to be a better hero than ever. Nowadays, Hal represents a true bastion of will that always stands up for justice. No matter the impossible odds or guaranteed failures, Hal flies up with the determination to make something good out of terrible circumstances. Sometimes he needs a little direction, but one thing is certain; Hal Jordan never quits, and neither does the Justice League.

4) Martian Manhunter

For many, it’s impossible to imagine a Justice League without J’onn J’onzz. While Martian Manhunter isn’t a founding member in some incarnations, he is a core and important member. Following his introduction to the team, the only times that Martian Manhunter has not served on the Justice League have been his satellite years where he was pushed to edges of relevance in DC (between 1970 and 1984) and the New 52 reboot. Beyond those times, Martian Manhunter has been a staunch member of the team. Throughout his many years of service, Martian Manhunter has developed from an ordinary hero into the heart and soul of the team, especially in recent years. He is the ultimate representation of one of the League’s core aspects; that anyone can be a hero. Martian Manhunter is a stranger from a much different land than Earth, and unlike Superman, he has always been an outsider in his second world. Still, despite never fitting in or looking anything like earthlings, Martian Manhunter gives his all to save everyone. He helps people because they need it, and he wants to make other people feel a peace he probably never will. That is true, selfless heroism.

3) Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is the archetypal superheroine. Although she wasn’t quite the first, she defined what it meant to be a superheroine, and set a standard that I would argue no other character has ever lived up to as of yet. She has been a member of the Justice League since its inception and has always been one of its powerhouses, but beyond that she is the embodiment of the Justice League’s compassion. Wonder Woman wants nothing more than to bring an end to conflict everywhere, she is an emissary of peace. And yet Diana does not turn away from the evils of the world, but neither does she allow that evil to dissuade her. She sees the universe as it is, all the ugly and beautiful bits that mix together, and chooses to continue fighting for every piece of it. Wonder Woman is amazing, and the shining example of a champion for truth.

2) Batman

The importance of Batman’s place on the Justice League has nothing to do with his longstanding membership, that he is one of the greatest heroes in history, or even that he’s usually the one bankrolling the entire operation. No, Batman is one of the most important members of the Justice League because he is a dark, brooding, vengeful hero who everyone thinks should be a massive loner, except he isn’t. Batman built his legend on fear and operating in the shadows, but he chose to throw that all away to join the Justice League. He stopped focusing on terrifying criminals and thought about how he could inspire everyone to be better, and that’s what the League is. It is a group of people who stand up against injustice no matter what, and inspire others to do the same. Batman is just a man, a man who wanted to bring dark justice to his home, but he became a hero who will fight the incarnation of evil itself to save everyone, and that is the beautiful tale that earned Batman this second place spot. He shows not just that everyone can be a hero, but that everyone can be an inspiration.

1) Superman

There could never be anyone else who stands as the shining example of a Justice League member. Superman is the first superhero, and he is still far and away the best one there is. He is endless kindness, bottomless strength for the weak, a living and breathing better tomorrow. What can be said about Superman’s dedication to helping others that you can’t already quote yourself? He’s more than a hero, more than an inspiration. Superman makes us better people. He is the pinnacle of what a superhero should be, so it’s no surprise that he is the one to stand as the greatest member of the Justice League. Of course, I’m sure he’d argue against that, but that just proves my point even more. 

So there we have the ten greatest members of the Justice League, each who embodies the League’s mission of saving everyone in their own special way. Still, this list is far from able to contain every incredible hero that has made up its ranks. Let us know down below who you think should have made the list!

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DC Comics created the modern concept of superheroes, taking the pulp heroes of the early 20th century, mixing them with the two-fisted detectives of noir, and creating something entirely new. Since then, DC has constantly redefined what a superhero comic can be. They created the superteam, made teen heroes important, created the sidekick, had the first mainstream mature readers comics, and many, many other firsts. DC has employed some of the greatest creators of all time, and they’ve given readers stories unlike anything they’ve experienced before, introducing them to characters and situations that stayed with them for years. These stories have often included plot twists that made them even more memorable, changing the game on readers.

Plot twists are something that is very misunderstood in modern critical discourse. A lot of the times, people think of plot twists as just “anything I don’t like”. However, plot twists used correctly can stay with readers forever, and those are the ones we’re discussing today. These seven DC plot twists are the best of all time, taking stories in directions no one would have guessed, making these some of the greatest superhero stories of all time.

7) The Reverse Flash Reveal in “The Return of Barry Allen”

Wally West is the most popular Flash, but that wasn’t always the case. Wally inherited the Flash mantle after years of no one liking the Flash very much. DC had an uphill battle to get fans to like the Flash again, and Wally-mania wouldn’t truly take until the classic story “The Return of Barry Allen”, by writer Mark Waid and artist Greg LaRocque. Fans were shocked by the return of Barry, and Wally had to deal with the return of his mentor just as he was finding his way as the Flash. However, Barry suddenly decided that he didn’t want to be a hero anymore, and became a criminal, beating Wally down. Wally had to train with Jay Garrick, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury to find the power to defeat Barry, but he soon realized this wasn’t actually Barry. And then came the plot twist — this was actually Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, come back in time to replace Barry Allen after his death. This was a mindblowing plot twist: fans were already dealing with the idea of evil Barry, but then this reveal changed the story all over again. Wally’s defeat of Barry’s greatest enemy cemented his spot as the greatest Flash, and this plot twist is one that will never get old.

6) Terra Working with Deathstroke in “The Judas Contract”

“The Judas Contract”, by writer Marv Wolfman and artist/co-writer George Perez, is one of the greatest DC stories of all time and for very good reason. Deathstroke’s attack on the New Teen Titans, using new member Terra as his scalpel, is amazing, the Terra plot twist taking a story that would have just been a standard good Teen Titans story and making it a tale that no DC fan will ever forget. Terra was a fan-favorite character who could be mouthy and a bit of a problem, but it seemed like she was lightening up, gelling with the team more; she even kissed Beast Boy. Readers were ready for her to finally become a true Teen Titan… and then it was revealed that she had been working with Deathstroke the whole time. This is one of those plot twists that retains its impact even when you know it’s coming. It’s an amazing moment not just in DC Comics, but superhero comics in general.

5) The True Enemy in “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”

“Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, by Alan Moore, Curt Swan, and George Perez, is the last story of pre-Crisis Superman. Superman’s enemies start to make some very violent attacks against Metropolis, which is completely unlike them, with even Bizarro killing. Superman’s secret identity is revealed in an attack by Toyman and the Prankster, while Brainiac takes control of Lex Luthor’s body, all of this leading Superman to take his friends and allies to the Fortress of Solitude. This leads to a showdown at the Fortress, one which costs Krypto, Jimmy Olsen, and Lana Lang their lives. Superman is triumphant over the Legion of Supervillains, Kryptonite Man, and the Lex/Brainiac team, and the true enemy shows up — Mr. Mxyzptlk, the Fifth Dimensional imp that had long entertained himself by messing with Superman. Mr. Mxyzptlk then reveals that he changes things up every hundred thousand years to keep himself from getting bored; he’s going from playful to brutal, and he’s been responsible for everything that’s happened to Superman so far. It’s an excellent plot twist, one that no one saw coming when they picked up the book. It’s the most Alan Moore plot twist ever, taking a character that no one thought twice about and adding complexity to him in the most brutal fashion possible.

RELATED: Absolute Superman Tease Brutally Rewrites The Origin Of An Iconic DC Villain

4) The Batman Mindwipe in Identity Crisis

Identity Crisis is one of the most maligned DC events of the 21st century. Written by Brad Meltzer with art by Rags Morales, the book gets a bad reputation because of its fridging and sexual assault of beloved DC character Sue Dibny. The book used the latter development to introduce a major DC plot twist — the Justice League mindwipes. It was revealed that the League had wiped the minds of multiple villains who had learned their secret identities, including Dr. Light, Dibny’s attacker. This was already a massive plot twist, but the book would go further when Wally West realized there was something that Green Arrow wasn’t telling him about the night Light was mindwiped. It was revealed that Batman showed back up to check on Sue while the League was mindwiping Dr. Light. Batman took this very badly, and Zatanna froze him, forcing the League to vote to mindwipe Batman. This took an already pretty big plot twist and took it to another level. Identity Crisis gets a lot of deserved flack for its treatment of Sue Dibny, but the Justice League mindwipes, intensified by the situation with Batman, is a cool DC idea.

3) The Return of Darkseid in “The Great Darkness Saga”

“The Great Darkness Saga”, by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, and Larry Mahlstedt, is widely considered the greatest Legion of Superheroes story. “The Great Darkness Saga” sees a group of strange beings with amazing powers attack the Legion and the worlds of the United Planets. The team is constantly trounced by this new threat, before they realize that these beings are based on powerful alien races like Kryptonians, Oans, and the New Gods themselves. The planet Daxam is transformed into an army for these forces, and this billions strong army uses their heat vision to carve their planet into the likeness of their new master — the returned God of Evil Darkseid. This plot twist took an already epic story and brought it to the next level, as the Legion has to team up with the gods of the past to defeat the greatest threat they’ve ever faced. There’s a reason this story has such an amazing reputation, and this plot twist is a huge reason for that. While the Legion isn’t nearly as beloved as it once was, this plot twist is one of the most remembered in Legion history, and gave them a story that is easily among the best DC stories of all time.

2) Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime’s True Purpose in Infinite Crisis

Infinite Crisis, by Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, is one of the most important DC events of the ’00s. It planted the seeds for the return of the DC Multiverse, as well as more Silver/Bronze Age ideas to the publisher’s characters. It did this by heavily homaging Crisis on Infinite Earths, even bringing back the four heroes of Crisis — Earth-Two Superman and Lois Lane, Earth-Three’s Alexander Luthor, and Superboy-Prime. At first, the quartet seemed like they were still the heroes of old, with Earth-Two Superman recruiting Power Girl to help them save the world from the forces arrayed against it. However, there’s something rotten in Denmark, and soon fans learn who has been behind all of the problems that had been rocking the DC Universe in the days leading up to Infinite Crisis — Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime. They had decided that only they could save existence by creating the perfect universe, and the only way to do that was to harness of the energies of the old multiverse through the heroes that had come from those Earths. Infinite Crisis kicked off with the reveal of the heroes of the Crisis, and its reveal of Luthor and Prime’s true actions and motivations change the course of the story completely.

1) The Dark Future of “Rock of Ages”

“Rock of Ages”, by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter, is one of the greatest Justice League stories of all time. The story kicks off with the Justice League battling the Injustice Gang — Lex Luthor, Joker, Mirror Master, Circe, Dr. Light, and Ocean Master — in a winner takes all battle, one instigated by Lex after he found an object of great power. However, partway through this, Kyle Rayner, Wally West, and Aquaman are pulled away from the fight by the New God Metron, who takes them to WonderWorld, and tells them that the Justice League are going to destroy something called the Philosopher’s Stone and it’s going to lead to the most terrible future imaginable. They’re sent home to warn their teammates, but instead of going to Earth in the present, they go to the ruined Earth of the future. Suddenly, the entire tenor of the story changes as Wally, Kyle, and Aquaman have to figure out not only how to get home, but also how to stop the Justice League from making this future happen. It takes an already brilliant story and makes into something even better, which is quite a feat.

What DC plot twists stand out in your mind? Sound off in the comments below.

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If you are an avid fan of the Marvel TV series, or at least made it a point to watch all of the good ones, then you probably remember the arrival of White Vision in WandaVision. This mechanical monster nearly killed the Scarlet Witch, only for her false copy of Vision to restore the robot’s memories and for him to fly off to a mysterious fate. Now, perhaps to coincide with his own upcoming TV show and the release of Avengers: Doomsday, the white version of Vision has returned to comic books as a part of the new The Vision and The Scarlet Witch comic, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of their wedding. However, the return isn’t exactly a joyful celebration – and might just tease what fans can expect when see the character in live action again.

What Exactly is the White Vision?

White Vision is a special form the hero Vision took after the events of the “Vision Quest” storyline. In West Coast Avengers volume two issues #42-45, the Vision was kidnapped and mind-wiped by the evil organization named Vigilance, which wanted the information stored in his mind after he briefly connected to every computer on Earth. His then-wife Scarlet Witch led the West Coast Avengers to save Vision, who had been completely dismantled. They are able to assemble him and restore his memories, but he lacked the human brain pattern that allowed him to feel emotions, meaning he could not feel or return the love Wanda felt for him. His skin had turned fully white with the mind-wipe, and this new more machine-like Vision chose to wear all white as well, fully showing the famous White Vision look.

This lack of emotions led to the eventual annulment of Vision and Scarlet Witch’s marriage, and of course the revelation that their children were merely projections created by Wanda. Overall, this change to Vision caused a massive schism in their relationship, one the two still haven’t fully recovered from even decades later. Eventually Vision would regain his emotions and return to his normal red color, but now his white form has returned, and it could have major consequences for him, Wanda, and his daughter.

[RELATED: Marvel Confirms Scarlet Witch’s MCU Fate (But Is It Canon?)]

White Vision Returns

The Vision and The Scarlet Witch #1 started by showing a Death Door, strange black doors that have opened in every city and town around the world. Dead relatives and loved ones call from within, promising closure and that they can be together again, and nobody who has entered has ever returned. Scarlet Witch investigates these doors, thinking they have some connection to the recently escaped Elder God Cthon. Her magic shop is attacked by cultists dedicated to Death after a door opens up near it, and in the scuffle the Vision arrives to assist Wanda. The romantic tension between the two is so thick even Vision couldn’t phase through it, but they repel their attackers, save for one who slips inside the door. He meets his dead uncle on the other side, only to be killed himself to feed his uncle’s mysterious boss.

Meanwhile, Vision’s teenaged daughter Viv leaves to go on a road trip with her friends, leaving Vision to ruminate on the past. He remembers when his robotic wife Virginia killed the Grim Reaper, one of Vision’s enemies, and a man who had control over death. Suspecting he’s behind these doors, Vision calls Wanda, only for the Grim Reaper to show up at his house and attack him. The Scarlet Witch arrives, but is too late to save Vision from being blown apart by Grim Reaper, who slips away behind another Death Door. In what looks like his final moments, Vision thanks Wanda for everything she’s done for him, apologizes for not being there for their sons, and asks her to watch over his daughter.

Vision dies, but Wanda is the Scarlet Witch. She is capable of defying all probability, of making hope from the charcoal remains of despair. She magically grabs onto the remains of his function, his soul, and forces it back inside his body as she repairs it. Vision rises, but screams out in anger and asks what the hell Wanda did to him, as Vision has turned completely into the White Vision.

White Vision is Back, But He Could Be Very Different

Unlike the last time Vision turned as pale as alabaster, this time he seems to have retained his emotions. In fact, he seemed to lose his cool entirely at the prospect of what Wanda had done. This indicates that the new version of White Vision vastly differs from the original, and could mean that he lost something entirely different in this conversion. Maybe it was his ability to use unfeeling logic, or perhaps his emotions were heightened to such an extent that he can’t control them, which would be a cool reversal from the last time. No matter what happens, I’m totally excited to see one of Marvel’s best couples finally return to their own ongoing, and their 50th anniversary should be celebrated in no less than this grand of a fashion! 

The Vision and The Scarlet Witch #1 is on sale now!

The post White Vision Returns to Comics (But What Does It Mean For the MCU?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Spider-Man’s Brand New Day comic book story was a somewhat divisive soft reboot for fans of the Web-Slinger, but it also introduced one great new ally of Spidey’s into Marvel Comics. The beginnings of Brand New Day are traceable back to Marvel’s Civil War story, in which Peter Parker publicly unmasks as Spider-Man to comply with the Superhuman Registration Act. Unfortunately, this eventually leads to the Kingpin ordering a hit on Peter’s beloved Aunt May after his secret’s out. After exhausting every possible option to save Aunt May, Peter and his wife Mary Jane strike a bargain with the malevolent Mephisto, who agrees to save Aunt May and restore Peter’s secret identity in exchange for wiping Peter and MJ’s marriage away.

This bargain, which forms the basis for the Spider-Man: One More Day story, was met with widespread backlash by comic book readers, with many perceiving it as a ploy to reset Peter to his pre-marriage status quo. Nonetheless, One More Day and the follow-up of Brand New Day did a lot right, with the former even serving as heavy inspiration for 2021’s big-screen mega-hit Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the latter to serve as the basis for its upcoming sequel, also titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day. However, one thing that Brand New Day did extremely well was the introduction of the new superheroine Jackpot, who went through multiple women holding her mantle until she was eventually the superheroic identity of MJ herself.

Jackpot’s Role in Brand New Day Explained

Following Peter and MJ’s Faustian bargain with Mephisto, the Marvel Universe effectively resets with Peter once again single and making his way as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. Peter still leads his Web-slinging double life as Spider-Man, and eventually crosses paths with another masked hero by the name of Jackpot – a superheroine with powers of agility and superhuman gymnastics, flowing red hair, and a codename that curiously harkens back to the first words MJ spoke to Peter on their first blind date, “Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot”.

Despite this very on the nose tease that Jackpot was a disguised MJ, she was actually a young woman named Alana Jobson, who had adopted the Jackpot identity from its previous holder, Sara Ehret. While Spidey and Jackpot initially hit it off, their mission to locate the villain known as Menace ends tragically with a city councilwoman being killed. Despite holding herself responsible, Jackpot continues her crime-fighting life, until she is afflicted with a blindness serum delivered by the villain Blindside. Though Spider-Man successfully restores Alana’s vision with a serum of his own, the combination of it and the serum in her bloodstream that originally bestowed her powers to her tragically proves fatal with Alana dying.

RELATED: Can The Amazing Spider-Man Really Be Good Again?

How Mary Jane Eventually Became Jackpot

Following Alana’s tragic demise, Sara Ehret returned to her Jackpot identity. After her husband and daughter are murdered by the villain Boomerang at the behest of Rose, Sara puts a stop to Rose before retiring from superheroics for good, while adopting the pseudonym of Alana Jobson to honor her old friend. However, Jackpot was not gone for good, with MJ taking on the superheroine moniker after she and Peter are warped into the Earth of an alternate universe, upon which the ruthless god Wyep had wreaked havoc.

While Peter is able to get back home, MJ wasn’t immediately able to return, and with the assistance Paul Rabin, was able to develop a slot machine with the ability to grant its user superpowers, depending upon where a spin of the dial landed. Upon MJ’s return to her home world with Paul, she eventually learns that the two children she and Paul had adopted, Owen and Stephanie, were actually illusory constructs. Grieving their loss, this leads MJ to take up the identity of the third Jackpot. This wouldn’t be the only brush with superpowers the traditionally human MJ would have, with MJ becoming the new host of the Venom symbiote (and, at writing, the current one).

Jackpot Was a Tease Character Who Ultimately Paid Off Marvelously

Despite the rather obvious prodding Marvel was doing to convince Spider-Man readers that Jackpot was a masked MJ, immediately making her into Jackpot right after the events of One More Day would have been far too on the nose (though it admittedly would have likely mitigated the gargantuan fan backlash to the story that surpassed even that of The Clone Saga). Nonetheless, what made Alana, Sara, and MJ’s versions of Jackpot great was their shared sense of free-spirited adventure that made them naturals to pair with Spider-Man. At the same time, all three are also driven by various personal tragedies that mirror Peter’s own with the murder of Uncle Ben, and in the case of Alana, her selflessness leads her to die a heroine. Despite the darkness each is born out of, all three Jackpots brought their own level of charm and fun to their superheroic adventures.

In the case of MJ’s Jackpot, her power set was also the best and cleverest of all in being derived from a literal slot machine that could grant random powers, the usefulness of which naturally varied a lot. Additionally, MJ’s slot machine also brought with a risk not unlike that of actual gambling, with roll landing on three skulls spelling death for MJ. Despite this, the idea of Mary Jane Watson as a superheroine was too great an idea to pass up, especially with Gwen Stacy web-slinging into her own renaissance as Spider-Gwen. It may have taken over 60 years, but Brand New Day eventually set the stage for Mary Jane Watson becoming a superheroine in a lineage of two equally strong Jackpots before her – and perhaps even setting up Zendaya’s MJ to become Jackpot herself in Brand New Day‘s forthcoming big-screen adaptation.

The post I Think Brand New Day Gave Marvel Fans a Great New Spider-Man Character appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Comic books have a way of forging a connection with the readers, and this connection can linger years after the series concludes. For this group of readers, one comic with a lasting impact has got to be Lumberjanes. Lumberjanes has been over for about five years now, yet we can’t stop thinking about it. It’s a wholesome series about the power of friendship overcoming all odds, be they giant dinosaurs or the gods of lore. It’s one of those adventures that roots into hearts and never lets go. In other words, this comic series could be an absolute blockbuster hit, and we’d still say it’s an underrated gem.

Lumberjanes was created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Gus Allen, and ND Stevenson and published by BOOM! Studios. There are many things to love about the series, which is set at a scout summer camp, though admittedly, this one is a bit different from the average scout camp. You see, behind those cabins lurk all sorts of mystical critters, not to mention dozens of time portals and anything else one might imagine. It’s a virtual paradise for anybody looking for a grand adventure. Lumberjanes first hit the shelves in 2014, and that was the start of something fans have never gotten over.

The Setting and Cast

It’s safe to say that the camp for the Lumberjanes is quite the mouthful – Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types. Try saying that ten times fast. The camp is run by Rosie, a scoutmaster who grew up loving the camp, eventually stepping into the role of leader. In case it wasn’t obvious, Rosie’s character is a hat tip to Rosie the Riveter and accordingly plays around with similar themes.

Enter the current group of campers, namely the Roanoke cabin, consisting of Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley. Each character has a diverse backstory and a complete set of goals and wishes. Individually, they’re the heart of the story. Together, they’re the most adventurous group at the camp, and yes, that does mean they kick off many wonderous adventures. That may be to the dismay of some other cabins, but on the whole, these campers have learned to roll with it.

While the Roanoke Cabin is the core of the Lumberjanes cast, they’re far from the only characters. There are dozens of other campers, several of whom become the center of attention for various arcs. Likewise, the campers meet many mystical characters throughout their journeys, making friends and further expanding the cast. If it feels like there’s a lesson tucked into that element of their story, there’s a good reason for that.

[RELATED: We’re Still Waiting for This Promised Adaptation of a Beloved Comic Series]

What We Love About Lumberjanes

Honestly, there’s so much to love about Lumberjanes that it’s hard to pick a place to start. First and foremost, there’s the cast. The campers at Lumberjanes come from all walks of life, so the odds are good that every reader will feel represented when reading their stories. Even if they don’t, there’s no denying that the story is full of heart and joy. That alone can make for a compelling story.

Lumberjanes defies genre norms, playing around with many fun concepts. Their adventures have involved everything from mythological beings to sci-fi-styled time portals, and everything in between. Likewise, each story feels grounded, as it focuses on important life lessons. These lessons can range from a coming-of-age moment to the need to understand and accept one another, though these are far from the only themes discussed in Lumberjanes. At the core of Lumberjanes is friendship, or as they would say, Friendship to the max! The journey is all about growing bonds and appreciating one’s friends, and it’s so incredibly endearing. The cabin gets through all sorts of obstacles and dangers because they work together.

Stylistically, Lumberjanes feels like organized chaos. There’s always something happening on the pages, be it a dramatic twist or a visual pun. While the story intentionally leans into the world of chaos, it rarely feels overwhelming. It’s more like the series perfectly captured the energy of youth, inserting it directly into the artwork and characters, letting it burst forth. The characters are allowed to be themselves, embracing their quirky nature. It makes for a welcoming and heartening read, which may explain how often it gets reread by fans.

[RELATED: Gotham Academy to Return in New DC Story]

Lumberjanes Forever

Lumberjanes ran from 2014 to 2020, totaling 75 issues, plus a few special issues. Thanks to the readers’ loyalty, there have been a few spin-offs. For example, readers received a one-shot finale to let them say a proper goodbye. Currently, fans are eagerly awaiting any and all news about the potential Lumberjanes adaptation.

Mercifully, the reading doesn’t end there. There are three original graphic novels (created by Lilah Sturges and Polterink), plus a collection of four middle-grade novels (created by Mariko Tamaki and Gus Allen). Finally, there was a time when the Lumberjanes crossed over with DC Comics’ Gotham Academy. So while the Lumberjanes may be concluded, there are plenty of materials for readers to read again and again.

The post 10 Years Later, Lumberjanes Is Still an Underrated Gem of a Comic appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Peter David, the influential and Eisner Award-winning writer of The Incredible Hulk who redefined the character over a 12-year run referred to as David’s “magnum opus,” has died at 68. David’s wife, Kathleen O’Shea David, confirmed the news on social media on Sunday. No cause of death was provided, but the legendary comic creator had suffered from “compounded health problems” in recent years, including kidney failure, a series of strokes, and a mild heart attack per David’s GoFundMe page that was launched in 2022 and reopened in 2025.

“Since it’s out there, Peter David passed away last night,” Kathleen wrote on Facebook. “We are devastated. More when I can write about it.”

Kathleen has posted a series of updates to the GoFundMe page, which has raised over $100,000 of its $150,000 goal from more than 2,500 contributors. The GoFundMe was restarted due to mounting medical debt and living expenses, with Kathleen writing in a March 13 update, “Your contributions will go towards the bills we have, and are, accruing. This gives Peter and me much piece of mind.”

According to the GoFundMe, David was recently dropped from Medicaid, which had been supporting his long-term disability care. David underwent fistula surgery on March 18 and again on May 12. On May 18, Kathleen reported that David had been admitted to the ICU with bilateral pneumonia and that he was in his worst state since the original GoFundMe launched in November 2022.

In a final update posted on May 20, Kathleen wrote that David was intubated and under light sedation due to an inability to cough or clear his throat.

Born September 23, 1956, David’s tenure at Marvel Comics began in the Direct Sales Department, where he served as Direct Sales Manager for five years before approaching then-Spider-Man editor Jim Owlsey (AKA future Black Panther scribe Christopher Priest) to pitch Spider-Man stories. David was assigned to Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, scripting the four-issue Death of Jean DeWolff arc that pit a black-suited Spider-Man and Daredevil against one of David’s earliest co-creations: Stan Carter, the Sin-Eater. He also co-created the Spider-Man villain the Foreigner, who would become a recurring foe during David’s run on Spectacular and make his live-action debut (played by Christopher Abbott) in 2024’s Kraven the Hunter movie.

Then-editor Bob Harras offered David to take over The Incredible Hulk from Al Milgrom at a time when “no one else wanted to write the book,” David wrote in his 2004 introduction included in Marvel’s Hulk Visionaries: Peter David Vol. 1. On taking over scripting duties in 1987’s The Incredible Hulk #328, David added, “There was no foresight. No intuition. Bob wasn’t playing a hunch that matching me with Marvel’s monster-in-residence would lead to anything remotely memorable.”

As Marvel’s Direct Sales Manager, David recalled being “something of an editorial pariah” when he was offered to write The Incredible Hulk after he was fired off Spectacular over pressures stemming from a schism between Marvel editorial and sales.

“Editors weren’t exactly falling over each other to throw work my way. On the other hand, writers and writer/editors weren’t exactly falling over each other to grab the writing reins of The Incredible Hulk,” David continued of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby-created book that was canceled after just six issues in 1963. (The Hulk went on to co-star Tales to Astonish with Giant-Man, and Hulk wouldn’t have his own solo title until the retitled Tales continued as The Incredible Hulk starting with issue #102 in 1968.)

The Hulk “was a Marvel mainstay, to be sure,” David wrote in Visionaries, “but the high-profile days of his TV show were long gone. Spider-books and mutant titles were where the glamour gigs were.”

David teamed with future superstar artist Todd McFarlane on 1987’s Incredible Hulk #331, where the Green Goliath came under attack from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Hulkbusters when he was physically separated from his alter-ego, Bruce Banner.

At the end of the issue, in order to stop a rampaging Rick Jones Hulk, Banner subjected himself to another gamma bombardment to transform into another Hulk retaining Banner’s intellect. But Banner unwittingly unleashed “the real Hulk”: the grey-skinned Hulk who had debuted in 1962’s Incredible Hulk #1 as an ill-tempered brute that overtook Banner’s body at nightfall. (Hulk was recolored green by his second issue.)

“Even I wasn’t interested,” David wrote of writing Incredible Hulk with the “Hulk smash” Hulk. “My strong suit was, and is, dialogue. Writing a lead character who couldn’t even wrap himself around personal pronouns didn’t seem to be in my wheelhouse.”

But with Banner and the Hulk molecularly-separated, and the craftier, more articulate Hulk in play, David wrote in Visionaries, “Bob then told me I could go in any direction I wanted. Focus on the Rick-Hulk. Transform Bruce back into green and monosyllabic… naturally, it was the sinister gray Hulk who was of the most interest to me.”

“It mystifies me to this day that some people claim my work on the Hulk was not in the spirit of the original creation, considering the ground zero of my run was with the original creation,” David continued. “I worked longer with the pure initial concept of the Hulk than anyone, even his creators, did. So why I occasionally get tagged for not being faithful to the Hulk’s roots is beyond me.”

Indeed, David’s character-defining run would go on to inspire the acclaimed Immortal Hulk run by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett, a psychological-horror that doesn’t exist without David’s exploration of the psyche of both Banner and the Hulk. “By the end of my first year on the book, I started seeing the long-term possibilities, perceived the potential for treating the Hulk as a multiple personality disorder from groundwork laid by a story written by either Bill Mantlo or Barry Windsor-Smith, depending upon which version you believe,” David wrote at the time. “I began laying subtle groundwork for a development that I simply referred to as ‘the merge story'” in 1991’s Incredible Hulk #377, a story that used the psychiatrist Dr. Leonard Samson to mediate a meeting of the minds between Banner, the Green Hulk, and the Gray Hulk (who would take the name Joe Fixit).

“The question was, how to approach him in some way that would seem both different and yet a natural outgrowth of what had gone before? Furthermore — how do we take a monstrous character and make him sympathetic?” David wrote in a 2012 entry posted to his blog. “The way it had been generally done before, the Hulk was misunderstood and tormented by the world. A curious dichotomy, really: The underdog is not generally ‘the strongest one there is.’ But that was how the Hulk had generally been made appealing all the previous years. I wanted to try something different, find some new hook for the character.”

David’s formal training was in writing, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from New York University. “I eventually decided that being a reporter was not the type of work that I wanted to pursue,” David said in a 1998 interview for the Marvel fan magazine Marvel Vision. After publishing his fantasy book Knight Life, the novelist also became a comic book scribe.

David has published over 50 novels, including authoring and co-creating the Star Trek: New Frontier series and producing the Babylon 5 Centauri Prime novels and penning the 1996 novel The Incredible Hulk: What Savage Beast.

Besides the Hulk, David has written such titles as DC’s Supergirl, Young Justice, and Aquaman, including the 1994 relaunch that gave the aquatic hero his harpoon hand. (In 2012, David described the seven-issue limited series The Atlantis Chronicles as the comic he’s “most proud of,” however: “The Incredible Hulk nonetheless remains my magnum opus.”)

He had a lengthy run on the X-Men spinoff series X-Factor, and co-created Miguel O’Hara, AKA Spider-Man 2099, with artist Rick Leonardi, scripting a 43-issue Spider-Man 2099 run in the ’90s. David also wrote the 1999 relaunch of Captain Marvel, a run featuring the Mar-Vell version of the character and the Hulk’s former sidekick and friend, Rick Jones, in the space-spanning cosmic superhero book.

“One might ask: When you’ve lived with a dark, frightening character for so long, doesn’t that begin to affect you? Well… yeah. Yeah, it does. In many ways, the Hulk has been almost autobiographical for me,” David wrote in 2012. “Problems, things on my mind, assorted concerns have all wound up being played out in the pages of Hulk. Naturally it’s always been to a heightened degree, but the principle remains the same.”

“When a character gets that much into your head, he becomes second nature to you. You get to know his moods, he gets to understand yours. You feel loyalty to him. Indeed, one of the reasons I’ve stayed on the book is dedication and concern. For all I know, if I left the book, a new writer might come in who would undo everything I’ve done over the past decades,” David continued. “I judge situations as he would judge them. He will say the things that I dare not say… or even think. And I try not to let my temper get the better of me. Because believe me… you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

The post Peter David, Eisner Award-Winning Hulk Writer, Dies at 68 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The decision by DC Comics to bring the Elseworlds imprint out of retirement is proving to be a choice that was long overdue. Much like its earlier iteration, the return of Elseworlds has produced more than a few compelling storylines that are sure to eventually become DC classics. One standout new title generating no small amount of positive attention is Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt’s DC vs. Vampires. Embracing Elseworlds’ core principle of “out-of-continuity” exploration to the fullest, DC vs. Vampires is loaded with fascinating twists and interesting examples of beloved heroes being transformed into monstrous versions of themselves. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than with Wonder Woman.

In the story, Wonder Woman is turned into a vampire by an already transformed Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern. Once turned, she ascends the ranks of the vampire hierarchy in a way that is both captivating and controversial. While some fans appreciate the fresh take on exploring Wonder Woman’s darker side, others argue that her transformation feels awkward and inconsistent with her original character. This raises the question: Was turning Wonder Woman into a vampire a stroke of creative brilliance or a major misstep?

As a Vampire, Wonder Woman Embodies her Most Formidable Version

One of the more intriguing elements of the DC vs. Vampires series is the creative ways the story integrates a hero’s original powers with their new vampiric abilities. In the case of Wonder Woman as a vampire, the story is spot on. Rather than focus on the powers Wonder Woman already shares with vampires, such as superhuman strength and speed, immortality, and enhanced healing, the story instead emphasizes the mental changes that turning incurred on Wonder Woman. Indeed, as an Amazonian, Wonder Woman already has the bloodlust of a warrior, but when combined with a vampire’s voracious thirst for blood, she exhibited an overwhelming compulsion that helped morph her into a truly terrifying killer.

[ RELATED: DC vs Vampires Has Introduced a Radical Version of the New Gods ]

There was also her warrior’s code, which honored loyalty to one’s leader and teammates, a principle she demonstrated with brutal effectiveness throughout the series. Moreover, her position of power in the vampire leadership also rings true of her character. To be sure, vampire or not, Wonder Woman was always going to be at or close to the center of power. Ultimately, the series has effectively demonstrated how turning Diana into a vampire made her an even more formidable force.

It’s Unlikely That Wonder Woman Could be Turned Quickly

Conversely, where the story fell flat was its depiction of how easily a centuries-old, battle-hardened demigod could be duped by a classic vampire mind trick and succumb to vampirism with almost no resistance. According to the series, after an already-turned Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern kills the Flash, Diana begins to suspect his involvement when he tries to “rizz” her near the site where the Flash’s body was discovered.

Wanting to uncover the truth, Diana uses her magic lasso to bind Jordan. This, however, proves to be a mistake. While the lasso compels Jordan to tell the truth, it also appears to make Diana more susceptible to believing his version of the truth. Jordan then uses his vampire hypnosis to deepen that susceptibility, ultimately convincing Diana to submit to his bite without a punch thrown.

Given her demonstrated mental toughness, discipline, and resistance to psychological manipulation, her rapid submission feels highly implausible. Furthermore, even after being bitten, Diana’s inability to resist her bloodlust or the commands of her vampire queen feels deeply out of character for Wonder Woman, a hero who is widely regarded as one of the foundational pillars of the DC Universe.

Amazons and Vampires may be the Perfect Combination

Elseworlds titles aim to provide fans with more creative options by granting authors and artists the license to reimagine characters and themes unlikely to be explored within the mainstream DC timelines. DC vs. Vampires, for instance, delves into the question of what would happen if heroes were transformed into vampires. Within this series, Wonder Woman offers a compelling example of both the advantages and disadvantages of alternate reality storylines.

On one hand, her transformation amplifies her power and presence, establishing her as an undeniable force in DC vs. Vampires, much like her original incarnation. This creative stroke of genius deepens her character’s portrayal across both realities. On the other hand, the circumstances of her turning and the ease with which she embraced her new vampiric state present a puzzling inconsistency. This could be seen as a form of character assassination, potentially dimming the luster of the Wonder Woman legend.

Naturally, reactions to such bold deviations can be divided, particularly as the story unfolds. However, at the very least, it casts the Princess of Themyscira in an entirely new light – and that perspective can’t be all that bad – from a fan’s perspective.

The post Is DC vs. Vampires’ Vampire Wonder Woman a Stroke of Genius or a Character Assassination? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel’s Incredible Hulk is one of the single most terrifying and powerful people in the universe, always able to get stronger with a bottomless well of rage. Most other Hulks have their own set of powers that make them scary in their own way, such as Red Hulk’s blazing heat or Red She-Hulk’s chimera form. Now Marvel has introduced a new Hulk that makes every other version of the character look downright peaceful by comparison. Hellverine volume two has introduced readers to the Hell Hulk, a being that makes everyone within a certain distance of it be consumed by uncontrollable rage and tear everyone around them and themselves apart. And that’s just what one finger can do.

How We Discovered the Hell Hulk

The Hell Hulk was introduced in Hellverine, which follows the demon Bagra-Ghul after it previously bonded to Wolverine himself in the first volume of the comic. Their bond forever changed the demon, and after Wolverine freed himself it sought out a similar host, eventually finding Logan’s recently deceased son, Akihiro. Bagra-Ghul raised Akihiro’s body to once again become the Hellverine, but Akihiro eventually managed to wrest control of himself away from the demon, letting him choose when to unleash its power.

After stopping the Marvel Devil equivalent in Mephisto from taking over the minds and bodies of every mutant in the world, Akihiro was recruited by the United States government’s Project Hellfire, a special division that focuses on handling threats and weaponry that emerged from Hell. The leader, Dr. Spivey wanted Akihiro on board in order to help them track down a dangerous new demonic being that has been making its presence known, the Hell Hulk. In issue #6, Hellverine was taken back to their base, where he met the half-demon known as Severith who also worked for them. The two were sent out to investigate supposed Hell Hulk activity, and rode on Akihiro’s new custom motorcycle, fitted out with hellfire boosters.

[RELATED: Wolverine Should Never Lead The X-Men & These 5 Reasons Are All You Need To Know]

Akihiro and Severith arrived at a new neighborhood being constructed outside of Atlanta, where a family had torn each other apart. Everyone from the parents, to the kids, to the fish were all dead. Akihiro’s Infernal Sense allowed him to feel the imprint of Hell on the house, and tracked the source to the basement, where he found a red finger buried under the cement. They returned to base, where Akihiro saw that Hell Hulk has actually been torn apart into innumerable pieces, each one with an aura that drives any non-demon near it mad with rage. And Project Hellfire was reconstructing it to find out how it worked. As it turns out, the leading theory on Hell Hulk’s origins was that Bagra-Ghul created the pieces of Red Hulk as a way to honor or weapon for Mephisto. 

Before Akihiro could process that bombshell, a new report came in about everyone on a cruise ship killing each other indiscriminately. They dropped Hellverine onto the scene, and he immediately felt a far stronger ping on his Infernal Sense. He dove into Lake Michigan, where he found the living head of Hell Hulk glaring up at him. Things definitely just got a whole lot worse.

Hell Hulk is Demonically Terrifying

Based on just his name alone, we can easily assume that Hell Hulk is at least comparable to the real Hulk in terms of raw strength, so that’s already a very bad thing for a demon to have. But even beyond the notion of it being that strong, this thing can literally drive everyone who isn’t at least part demon themselves into a murderous rage. This thing’s head sat at the bottom of Lake Michigan, and since the lake is about 922 feet deep, we can assume that this thing can affect people in about a 1000 foot radius with just its head. We have no idea how much stronger the effect might be when it connects with the rest of its body.

This demon now tops the list of Hulks I wouldn’t want to run into, and that’s saying a lot considering that list is full of Hulks. This one gives everyone else Hulk-level rage, and that might just make it the most lethal Hulk yet (excluding the One Below All). Hellverine has his work cut out for him in this Hell-redo of an all-time classic Marvel Comics brawl. No matter what happens, this one is sure to be Hell on Earth for everyone who lives to see it.

Hellverine #6 is on sale now!

The post Marvel’s Latest Hulk has the Most Horrifying Power Yet appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Alan Moore‘s Watchmen is one of the most profound works of literature of the 20th century. The fact that it happens to be a comic book — Moore despises the term “graphic novel” — makes it even more impressive. Almost as famous as the work itself is the rift it created between Moore and publisher DC Comics. When DC went back on their word to relinquish ownership of Watchmen to Moore, the writer broke all ties with the company. In the decades since, Moore has publicly expressed his contempt for any and all Watchmen adaptations, including the 2009 Zack Snyder film and HBO’s 2019 sequel series. There is, however, one Watchmen spin-off that Alan Moore not only approved but even helped to work on: three Watchmen-themed supplements for the Mayfair Games DC Heroes Role-playing Game.

Dungeons & Dragons Isn’t The Only Pen and Paper Role-playing Game in Town

Tabletop role-playing Games (TTRPGs) have existed since the ’70s. While Dungeons & Dragons is far and away the most popular TTRPG, games of all shapes and sizes exist, including ones that allow players to role-play their favorite comic book superheroes. The Mayfair Games DC Heroes Role-Playing Game was released in 1985 and was so popular that by 1986 Mayfair allowed two writers, Daniel Greenberg and Ray Winninger, to put together a trio of Watchmen supplements with Moore’s help.

Who Watches the Watchmen? and Taking Out The Trash are stand-alone adventure modules containing the only Alan Moore-sanctioned Watchmen stories ever written. Meanwhile, the Watchmen Sourcebook contained character statistics and locations for players to use when making up their own Watchmen adventures.

Alan Moore Had the Entirety Of Watchmen in His Head

Astonishingly, all three books were written concurrently with Watchmen using direct input from Alan Moore via a series of long-distance phone calls. As Ray Winninger explains in the introduction to the 2019 re-release of the supplements, Moore had the entirety of Watchmen in his head before he ever put pen to paper: “I ask Alan if he can fax me his outline; it would be very helpful. There is no real outline, he tells me. The whole thing — all 388 pages and 3,000-odd panels of it — is in his head.”

During these phone calls, Moore would provide little pieces of lore about the characters and setting of Watchmen that wouldn’t appear in the story itself and were only available through the Mayfair Games Watchmen supplements. The enthusiasm with which Moore collaborated on these supplements — especially considering he was still busy writing the comic it was based on — is entirely at odds with the public perception of Moore as a curmudgeonly misanthrope who wants nothing to do with adaptations of or sequels to his work.

Who Watches the Watchmen? and Taking Out The Trash were released in 1987 with the Watchmen Sourcebook following in 1990. Sadly, by that time Moore had officially severed all ties with DC making the three Mayfair supplements the last time the writer would visit the universe of complex superheroes he created.

By the late ’90s, Mayfair Games would no longer have the license to produce TTRPG products based on the DC Universe. Batman and Co. would first make the leap to West End Games with 1999’s DC Universe Role-Playing Game before settling down with Green Ronin Publishing for DC Adventures in 2010. In 2019, the three supplements would be collected together along with a few other rare Watchmen odds and ends in a hardcover volume titled the Watchmen Companion — though without a similar reprint of the Mayfair DC Heroes Role-Playing Game, the reprint is more of a fun curiosity than a functional role-playing system.

DC Has Created Several Watchmen Sequels Without Alan Moore’s involvement

In the years since these supplements were released, DC has published several Watchmen sequels and prequels of varying quality. And while it’s hard to question the legitimacy of these sequels — DC does own Watchmen after all — one can’t help but wonder what kinds of official sequels we may have gotten had DC and Moore had a more amicable relationship.

We can only assume that somewhere in the multiverse is an alternate Earth where Who Watches the Watchmen?, Taking Out The Trash, and the Watchmen Sourcebook are not rare curiosities but rather the first of a long line of Watchmen projects that expand upon Alan Moore’s groundbreaking deconstruction of the superhero genre. It’s a shame we can’t visit.

The post There’s a Watchmen Spinoff Alan Moore Actually Worked On (And You Probably Forgot About It) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Fantastic Four are in a real bind. Not only has their greatest enemy become Sorcerer Supreme and attempted to take over the world, but they were just wiped from existence entirely after a failed time travel experiment meant to restore their powers. Young Valeria ended up on a world that was watched over and ruled by her own brother, Franklin, who had taken the form of Galactus. It’s an absolutely insane and heartbreaking story that ends in a murder that would make Valeria’s godfather Doctor Doom proud. Franklin Richards is one of the most powerful heroes of all time, and Valeria just killed him.

How Franklin Became Galactus

To set the stage, Doctor Doom recently used his unmatched magical might to strip the Thing of his powers, leaving him just a normal man. While he struggled to come to terms with that shock, the rest of the Fantastic Four were in for an even bigger one, as their own powers began to fade as well. To solve this, the group decided to try and travel back in time to reexpose Ben to the cosmic rays and stabilize their powers. Unfortunately, everything went wrong when he accidentally absorbed all of the cosmic rays meant for their past selves, resulting in a massive ripple effect in time that erased them all from existence. In her final act, Invisible Woman threw force fields around the children, which leads us to now.

Fantastic Four issue #32 begins with Valeria watching her friends and family be swallowed by the time wave, herself being taken last. She wakes up in a new world where the Fantastic Four never existed, in the body of Mary Richards, what Reed and Sue would have named Valeria without Doctor Doom’s interference. She questions how the world could have survived without the Fantastic Four there to save it when they did, and gets her answer when she finds her brother. Franklin Richards has become this world’s new Galactus, and he uses his reality warping abilities to destroy or rewrite the personalities of anyone who causes him trouble or grief, including his own parents.

[RELATED: A Member of the Fantastic Four Is Going to Fight the Entire Marvel Universe]

Valeria manages to piece together that, just like her, Franklin’s mind was transferred to this new world. However, because he disintegrated in the time stream first he arrived much earlier, when he was still a fetus. His non-fully formed body couldn’t retain his memories, but it did take to his powers. Valeria and everyone else thinks Franklin lost his awesome powers, but he actually uses them to convince everyone, including himself, that they are gone so he can enjoy being a kid before he takes on all of that responsibility. However, this version of Franklin had full access to his powers from birth, and none of the training and guidance from his superpowered parents. He stopped every major threat the world faced, including Galactus, but grew up disconnected from everyone else because of it. With the weight of the world on only his young shoulders, Franklin turned himself into the biggest thing he’s ever seen, Galactus, and proceeded to police the world.

Galactus-Franklin Rules with a Cosmic Fist

Franklin used his powers to alter the personalities of anyone who committed crime or stood against him, including his own parents. He effectively lobotomized their souls, leaving them smiling, personality-less husks of themselves. Valeria teamed up with the final resistance against this alternate version of her brother, Jean Grey and Namor, who for some disgusting reason are married in this universe. Like, seriously, why? Is it just legally required that Namor has to be in a horrible relationship in Fantastic Four comics? Either way, the three use Jean’s telepathy and Namor’s ability to convince Franklin he has a fish’s mind to hide from Franklin, and Valeria constructs a machine that will allow her to send her mind back to before the Thing absorbed the wrong cosmic rays.

Franklin becomes aware of the machine the second they turn it on, and immediately rewrites Namor and Jean’s minds. He does the same to Valeria, which reveals that she has been narrating the issue to her brother in the nanoseconds it takes for him to rewrite her mind. However, she reveals that this was always her plan. Franklin read their minds and found the plan to send back Valeria’s consciousness, but was so focused on that he missed the hidden plan of instead just sending back a single message of four words. In doing so, their timeline comes apart as the original one reforms.

Still, the original timeline returning means the utter destruction of the altered one. Franklin cracks and shatters as his sister explains that they’re both going to die so their other selves can live. He cries that this is murder, that she’s killing him, and she says that she’s willing to live with that in the few moments they have left. Cold, just like her godfather. They cease to be, and back in the real timeline, Valeria gets her message and says she knows how to fix everything. What are those four words? We’ll just have to wait until next issue to find out!

Fantastic Four #32 is on sale now!

The post Valeria Richards Just Took Out Her Own Brother (And Doctor Doom Would Be So Proud) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The power of love is one of the oldest tropes in all of literature. For as long as we’ve been telling stories, we’ve been coming to the conclusion that love is all we need to save us from our darkest hours. This can be especially true in genres that place a major emphasis on connections between people, such as anime and, important for this discussion, comic books. In a world where people can stop the Earth’s rotation with a thought, it’s no more or less plausible that love can literally change the way the world works, or at least get you out of a jam. And it turns out, love is a pretty powerful weapon in everyone’s favorite Wall-Crawler’s arsenal as well. Spider-Man just proved how strong love is, because without it he would have been slashed to itty bitty ribbons by his deranged half-clone “daughter”.

Spider-Man is in a Fight for His Life

After saving the Rhino, who went into cardiac arrest during a mindless rampage across New York City, everyone’s favorite Wall-Crawler set his mind to finding out what happened. He investigated Rhino’s apartment, only to be drugged with the same stuff that made Rhino go berserk. It makes whoever took a big enough dosage see their worst fears brought to life, and Spider-Man was hit with about a hundred times what caused the Rhino to have a heart attack. For the past several issues of The Amazing Spider-Man volume seven, Pete has been trying to keep his mind together and get to the bottom of this mystery, all while holding down a new job that he is constantly about to lose.

In issue #4, Spider-Man finally found the mastermind behind the whole chemical anxiety. Hobgoblin was back and literally selling this stuff in soda cans for some as of yet unknown purpose, because all Spider-Man could focus on was his nasty memories and trying not to die. It looks like Hobgoblin has the Webslinger dead to rights, only for Itsy Bitsy, the clone combo of Spider-Man and Deadpool, to arrive and warn her boss that Peter’s friend Brian reported their operation to the feds. Peter had Brian run a scan on his blood earlier to find a cure, and it looks like that accidentally put him in the Goblin’s crosshairs. Hobgoblin flies off to get rid of Brian before the authorities arrive, leaving Itsy Bitsy to take down the hallucinating Spider-Man.

[RELATED: Spider-Man & Wolverine #1 Reminds Me How Fun This Team-Up Can Be]

Drifting between his worst memories and fighting an enemy who is just as fast and agile as him, Spider-Man doesn’t stand much of a chance. His body is torn apart while his mind torments him with his deepest regrets. He remembers his rebellious teenage years, where he pushed away Aunt May and Uncle Ben, staying out with his bad influence friends and chugging down beer. Then, when he’s at his worst, he remembers the conversation he had with May after he ran away and got drunk. May tells him that Ben and her will always be there for Peter no matter how much he acts out, to which Peter says that’s only until they die, just like his parents. May pulls her nephew into a hug, telling him that he can’t push away the people he loves, because that’s the only guaranteed way to lose them. Peter returns the hug and begs May not to hate him, saying he loves her.

Saying “I Love You” Saved Spider-Man’s Life

Except Spider-Man wasn’t hugging his beloved Aunt, he was hugging Itsy Bitsy. While she might be a murderous clone made to ruin his and Deadpool’s reputations, Itsy Bitsy confided in Spider-Man last issue that she had a massive crush on him. Not enough of one to stop her from trying to kill him, of course, until he accidentally told her he loved her. This stopped her cold, giving Spider-Man the chance he needed to get his bearings and had the helpful side effect of throwing Itsy Bitsy off her game.

Spider-Man is able to web up the frenzied villain, who is way too mad about Spider-Man “lying” to her to fight back properly. Itsy Bitsy screams that she’ll take her revenge while Pete takes off, knowing he has to get to Rand Applied before Hobgoblin if he wants any chance of stopping another friend from dying. It’s a race against the clock, and Hobgoblin has every advantage. And that’s without counting how Spider-Man will definitely have to keep fighting his hallucinations the whole time. Still, if this issue proved anything, it’s that the power of love really can save your life. Or at least give you an opening to take down a supervillain. Tell your loved ones that you love them, it might just save your life one day.

The Amazing Spider-Man #4 is on sale now!

The post Love Saves the Day For Spider-Man, With a Twist appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Since the very beginning, Marvel Comics has been working hard to create new and memorable characters for fans to love. Every year, dozens of new heroes and villains debut but, that said, not every character is met with resounding success. With hundreds of heroes and villains in the Marvel roster, it makes sense for them to be drastically different. Some characters are bright, cheerful, and beacons of hope. Meanwhile, others are more obscure, strange, or somewhat discomfiting. Truthfully, we can tell that the creators behind Marvel have fun making these characters, even if they’re shocking to learn about.

Frankly, some of Marvel’s characters can get outright weird, and sometimes we love that. Who doesn’t love rooting for the odd little underdog? Technically speaking, Groot, Howard the Duck, and Batroc the Leaper all fall into this category. Shocking, right? Don’t even get us started on Peter Porker and his universe! But we love them all the more because of their quirks and oddities. Thanks to the growing popularity of the Spider-Verse, those characters have become more commonplace these days. So, let’s talk about some other peculiar characters of Marvel. Some of them are so weird you won’t believe they exist and yet, they do!

1) Throg

Let’s start with an easy and fun Marvel oddity! Simon Walterson, aka Throg, is a famous Thor variant. And yes, he really is a frog. He didn’t actually start out that way. Simon was originally a human being before Loki got his hands on him. Loki seemingly loves to turn people into reptiles and amphibians. Simon and Thor first met in Central Park when they worked together to save the day. Thor would leave behind a fragment of Mjolnir, which Simon could lift, proving his worthiness. One thing led to another, and now Simon, dubbed Throg, has his very own tiny Mjolnir.

Since then, Throg’s story has been told a few times, as the multiverse is vast enough to have more than one amphibian hero. Throg has even made it into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to Loki and the Time Variance Authority.

2) Ruby Thursday

It isn’t hard to see why a character such as Ruby Thursday stands out in any roster, even Marvel’s. Originally a scientist, she went the way of many villains, inducing an intentional transformation in herself. Somehow, she successfully replaced her head with organic circuitry, which is a nice way of saying she replaced her head with a computer (that also happens to look like a bright red ball). To make things even more strange, this new head can shapeshift, creating up to eight tentacles and even changing colors as needed. Ruby can also take the head off and survive, which makes more sense than it should.

If Ruby Thursday’s name rings a bell, it’s because she was inspired by the Rolling Stones song (“Ruby Tuesday”). She’s a dangerous villain because she’s as smart as she is creepy, and that’s saying something. This helps to explain why she hasn’t been left to the dust in Marvel’s history.

[RELATED: 10 Weakest Marvel Characters, Ranked]

3) Doop

There’s strange, and then there’s Doop. Doop is a character who first appeared in the X-Men series, though he’s been a menace in several places since then. Truthfully, there are more questions than answers about this odd character. Doop is a little green critter, and if we believe he was born on Earth, it might feel safe to assume he’s a mutant (or an experiment). He’s welcome on Krakoa, so that speaks volumes. That’s only the beginning of Doop’s mysterious nature, as his powers come and go as needed, and that’s not an exaggeration.

While Doop may look like a pile of goo, he’s actually pretty sharp. Doop is a genius with access to psionic abilities. He may or may not be omniscient, though it’s confirmed that he does have some of the superhero starter pack powers (strength, flight, durability, etc.). What’s more concerning is that he can assimilate objects by eating them, and that includes the likes of Mjolnir. He once infamously ate the weapon, only to spew out a dozen duplicates.

4) Bliss

Over the years, Marvel has introduced hundreds of different mutants, ranging from the awe-inspiring to the horrifying. Bliss, a Morlock, is closer to the latter category. While Bliss’ story will feel very familiar (cast to the side by society, constantly on the outside, battling for her people, the usual earmarks), her mutation certainly makes her stand out. Bliss has a few powers that work together to create her rather unique look.

To start with, Bliss has a hyperextendable jaw, letting her open her mouth significantly more than the average human. This is important for what comes next. She also has a prehensile tongue, which is freaky enough, but that tongue has a full head at the end, complete with its own mouth, nose, and eyes. It’s terrifying. Adding to that is the fact that the smallmouth on her tongue has fangs that can inject venom. No, thank you.

5) Maggott

Everyone may dream of having amazing and drastic superpowers, but that isn’t how powers are handed out in Marvel. Just ask any unlucky mutant. Japheth is an Omega-Level mutant with arguably the grossest mutation around, though he’s fully embraced that part of his life. Maggotts’s mutation gave him a sentient digestive system – really. He has two sentient slug-looking creatures, whom he named Eany and Meany.

There is a bright side to this kind of gross ability, as Eany and Meany can eat almost any material, and with a shocking amount of speed. Consuming any matter will help Maggott heal, and since the slugs are semi-autonomous, they can heal Maggott when he’s unconscious. Unfortunately, Maggott is pretty reliant on his slugs, as separation from his slugs would result in his eventual death.

[RELATED: 7 Dead Marvel Characters That Need Resurrecting]

6) Hellcow

Marvel has a pretty interesting (and sometimes dark) history with cows. In the Fantastic Four, a group of Skrulls were transformed into cows and forgotten about (yes, it goes as badly as one might expect). Then there’s Bessie, aka Hellcow. In case her name and cape didn’t give it away, Bessie is a vampire cow, transformed by Dracula himself. Naturally, this set her up to be quite the evil little cow. She became a recurring antagonist for Howard the Duck, at least for a time.

More recently, Hellcow has become more attached to Deadpool’s story. The two met in a mad scientist’s lab, and the rest, as they say, is history. She even joined up with Deadpool, Inc., and boy was that a chaotic adventure. Bessie recently had a child, whom she named Hellcalf.

7) Mandrill

The problem with introducing so many characters each year is that not every character will age well. What was once deemed appropriate for the time can later be seen as a real problem. Enter Mandrill, aka Jerome Beechman. Beechman is the result of scientific experiments and mutations, though less directly than some might expect. His parents were the ones exposed to all the radiation, but Beechman carried the results.

Mandrill is a mutant, and he was born with the appearance and strength of an ape. That alone isn’t enough to make Mandrill terrifying, but his secondary ability certainly is. Mandrill has dangerous pheromones, which he uses to control women, and we don’t need to explain how much of a problem that is. Yes, he used his powers in a very predictable manner.

[RELATED: 7 Marvel Characters With Controversial Origin Stories]

8) Hindsight Lad

They say that “hindsight” is 20/20, which is arguably true. For example, most Marvel fans didn’t anticipate a hero playing around with that phrase, yet here we are. Carlton LaFroyge is one of those classic characters who was absolutely desperate to become a superhero. While he didn’t sign up to undergo a dangerous and highly questionable experiment, he did just about everything else to get his name on the rosters. In particular, LaFroyge really wanted to join the New Warriors, and his incredibly minor superpower was enough to open the door.

Here’s the thing, Carlton LaFroyge claimed to have a basic, boring, and ultimately useless superpower – the ability to see what could have been, seconds after it’s too late to change it. It’s hindsight in a nutshell, right? We all have that ability, so it probably doesn’t seem like Carlton is all that special, and that’s true. As it turns out, Carlton lied to get into the New Warriors roster, and it only worked because they were so desperate to drum up numbers.

9) Hairball/P-Cat

Niels was once an ordinary housecat who belonged to Dr. Nicholas Benson, but that quickly changed. Following an accident at the labs, Robbie Baldwin became the new owner of Niels. Together, the two survived being inundated with a strange energy source from another dimension. As such, they both gained kinetic superpowers. Robbie would become Speedball, while his new and very loyal cat would become Hairball.

To be fair, we have no problem with a cat becoming a superhero alongside their owner. We actually would love more stories like this, as long as the pet in question is never harmed in any way, shape, or form. What makes Niels’ journey a bit strange is his insistence on sticking to his owner’s naming scheme. Speedball and Hairball make for a cute team, right? But when Robbie became Penance (it’s a long story), Niels, ever-loyal, also changed his name, this time to P-Cat, which is short for Penitent Puss. Yes, we hated having to write that.

10) The Orb

Strangely enough, there’s more than one character in Marvel with a strong and creepy eye theme, but The Orb takes the cake. In case it wasn’t obvious, The Orb has a massive eye for a head. The Orb became a mercenary pretty early in life, and his extra-sensory abilities helped him succeed in many ways. Unfortunately, those abilities didn’t help prevent damage, and The Orb has been grievously hurt several times.

The Orb has been around for a few years, but the Original Sin event changed things for this character. The Orb became obsessed with The Watcher, and after a short series of events, he shot (but didn’t kill) The Watcher, stealing his eyes in the process. As a result, The Orb now has duties similar to The Watcher, as one might expect, but he doesn’t follow the typical rules. Instead of simply watching, he let his own opinions flow into the narrative, encouraging killers to embrace their darker sides.

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