marvelrebirth-blog

[marvelrebirth-blog]

Step 1: Civil War II

The first move into this new universe was a strange choice by Marvel, choosing to capitalize on the new movie and launch a new series of comics about a new Civil War. After a reboot. Just jump straight into a massive conflict between superheroes. Instead of just letting the heroes get accustomed to the new world. Alright this is going to take some work. 

So Civil War II starts off confusing enough - by introducing a Inhuman who can see the future, Ulysses, which causes a dispute among the Avengers.

Except that doesn’t make sense. There are a dozen other Marvel characters who can see the future and do much more, characters like Jean Gray. Ulysses also isn’t that interesting of a character and is treated as more of a plot device than a character. 

So here is my revised version of Civil War II, our first jump into this new universe after Secret Wars annihilated the Marvel Universe.

First things first, replace Ulysses with the aforementioned Jean Gray. Jean Gray is a compelling, interesting character who is familiar to old readers but also can serve as a good intro character for new readers. Jean Gray can see the future but also has telekinesis, levitation, and most importantly, a connection to the Phoenix Force.

The Phoenix Force is important to the Marvel Universe in a handful of ways, but right now will be pivotal due to it’s job in maintaining the natural order of things. Now that I have proposed the first fixes, let’s head into the new edited story.

We open with Jean running through a forest, pursued by shadowy figures. As she continues to run the figures end up catching up to her and knocking her down. As she looks up, she sees that the mysterious figures are the Inhuman Royal Family: Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Crystal, etc. As Black Bolt approaches, his mouth begins to open, ready to land a killing blow as Captain Marvel descends from the sky in front of Jean. 

It’s at this moment that Jean wakes up in her bed and realizes this was a dream, or was it a vision? 

Cut to the Avengers HQ, where Iron Man is working on some new tech like usual. As he is working, Spider-Man crawls into his lab to alert him that there’s a visitor, but not before joking around and annoying Tony. Tony heads out to see who this visitor is and ends up finding Captain Marvel, back from her most recent exploits in space along with the Guardians of the Galaxy, or at least Star Lord, Kitty Pryde, Drax, and Rocket Raccoon. 

The group of cosmic voyagers call for an emergency meeting among the Avengers and gives them the rundown: the Phoenix Force has been much more active recently, has wiped out dozens of “unnatural” planets, and seems to be heading towards Earth. Star Lord cranks out some lore, explains the Phoenix Force to the Avengers (Giant cosmic force meant to uphold balance) and how it is always connected to somebody on Earth. Of course, the Avengers make it their job to find whoever the Phoenix is connected too.

Cut back to Jean Gray, living her every day life (in this version she is NOT yet an X-Men, in fact she is not certain over her own abilities yet) but as she continues day to day, these “dreams” become more and more frequent. These “dreams” include visions of the Hulk slaughtering the Avengers, a new black-suited spiderman, Captain America dropping to his knees and kneeling to a hidden figure, a great burning bird, and lastly a strange man wearing a visor clutching a hidden body, a great beam of light being shot from his eyes. 

She cannot get this man out of her head, but also begins displaying strange abilities like making regular objects move with her mind. As she continues through daily life, she sees a strange figure in the shadows while heading back to her apartment. This figure seems vaguely similar to one of the figures she saw pursuing her in the forest. She begins to run to her apartment before locking the door behind her once she’s in.

She turns around to find Iron Man sitting in front of her, drinking a cup of coffee, with Captain Marvel standing next to him. The two explain what’s happening, that they believe she is a mutant, and has a connection to the Phoenix Force. 

Of course she has no idea what that means. They convince her to come with them to the Avengers HQ, but as she is being led there, she has a new vision: a strange purple humanoid beaming to Earth wearing a golden gauntlet. This drives Captain Marvel into a frenzy, “He isn’t supposed to be here” she says. Iron Man and Jean are equally confused (remember this is a reboot). Captain Marvel rushes them to the HQ before asking Jean where she saw this being and when did she think he would arrive.

Based off all signs in the vision, Jean concludes that “Probably any minute from now, in what seemed like... Germany?”. Captain Marvel then rushes in with the Guardians, explains that they have to head there immediately with Jean. The group heads out and as they approach, Jean gets a surge inside her mind telling her where there target is. They soon find him:

Thanos with an empty Infinity Gauntlet. 

Thanos of course begins a classic villain monologue but something is off about it. He tells them “You have the wrong person. I’m here to stop somebody from using the cosmic cube for worst intentions than my own”.

They don’t believe him. They begin to fight the Mad Titan but at a cost. By the end of the fight, Star Lord is struck by one of Thanos’s punches, delivering a fatal blow. 

(Star Lord was chosen because first of all, who cried over War Machine, second of all, a first time reader probably knows Star Lord due to Chris Pratt’s amazing job, and third of all, instead of having War Machine cause She-Hulk’s death through what might be the stupidest and most inaccurate comic death, Star Lord will die in a legitimate way with enough emotional baggage that it would feel like two characters died. It also helps set up future comic arcs without actually being like HEY LOOK WHAT WE SET UP)

Thanos is defeated, the Mad Titan warps off of Earth, and the remaining members of the team rush back to Avengers HQ to try and save a dying Star Lord. Cue sad scenes of Kitty crying over her dying husband and the Guardians trying their best to save him. 

Star Lord dies that night. The Guardians refuse to support Captain Marvel and Jean, believing that its their fault Peter is dead. Iron Man begins to speak out over abusing Jean’s power. Things begin to heat up among the Avengers, some thinking they should use Jean’s power to try and prevent crime but others supporting Iron Man’s belief that a criminal is only a criminal once the crime is committed. 

Jean decides to tell the Avengers about the rest of her “dreams”, but the one that sticks with the Avengers the most is her vision over the Hulk. Iron Man and a small group of heroes that support his side quickly set out to confront Bruce Banner, the man once known as The Incredible Hulk that has fled into solitude. Captain Marvel and her followers chase after Iron Man. 

Jean Gray is left alone at Avengers HQ, overcome with worry and anxiety. The only person who didn’t head off with either side, besides Jean, is the mourning Kitty Pryde. The two begin to bond, which helps Kitty calm down. Kitty tells Jean about the X-Men, a team of heroes with powers and abilities like hers, and how Kitty used to be a member before joining the Guardians. The birth of a friendship.

Meanwhile in Oregon, Bruce Banner is living his life in peace when he is confronted by Tony Stark and his followers. Then, Captain Marvel and her followers soon arrive. The two sides begin to argue once again before a startling event occurs:

Bruce Banner is struck by a single arrow and falls to his knees, letting out one last breath, a sigh of relief, before dying in front of both sides. Than out of the woods walks Banner’s killer, Hawkeye, an ex-Avenger renowned for his loyalty. Hawkeye lets himself be captured, arrested, and tried in court for Banner’s death, but reveals that Banner told him that if he was to be confronted by any super again, to either become a hero again or otherwise, that Banner wanted Hawkeye to kill him using a special arrow tip designed to kill him. 

Hawkeye is charged with murder and sent to a prison designed for super’s, which means Hawkeye, a powerless hero, is sent face to face with many of the villains he helped turn in. Of course, the villains assault him and Hawkeye is beaten into comatose. Of course this doesn’t happen in a matter of a few days, but rather over a stretch of time. During the events of the trial, other comic arcs could fit such as Inhumans vs X-Men or whatever other Superhero vs Superhero event Marvel has planned next.

During this stretch of time, Jean’s relationship with a handful of characters is rather shaky, except for Kitty Pryde who she has become close friends with. Iron Man and Captain Marvel visit Jean from time to time, hoping to learn of new visions. Jean has become to just keep the visions to herself, afraid of what will happen next because of what she sees.

However, she decides to tell Kitty about the vision of the strange man firing a beam from his eyes. Kitty of course tells her that that sounds an awful lot like Cyclops, the former leader of the X-Men gone rogue. The X-Men continue to interest Jean more and more. 

Eventually the news of Hawkeyes beating comes out, and the Avengers begin to blame Jean for all this bad news. First Star Lord died, then Hulk, now Hawkeye of all people in a coma? Captain Marvel remains staunch in her position, believing that its for the greater good if they continue to use her to foresee events. Iron Man wants to stop Captain Marvel and accuses her of viewing Jean as property instead of an actual person. Tensions get heated and at this moment, Jean gets a new vision: Iron Man and Captain Marvel duking it out in the remains of some big city. Jean is deeply troubled by this, but decides not to mention it. In her eyes, it could only make things worse.

The argument between Captain Marvel and Iron Man continues to spike, anger rises, and soon enough, punches are thrown and the battle begins. The two sides begin to fight, people die, thousands of dollars of property damage. Jean and Kitty head out to try and stop the fighting, but soon enough the fight finds its way across the Hudson, bringing the fight from New York now to New Jersey. Heroes are knocked out or flat out killed until finally, its left to just Captain Marvel and Iron Man duking it out like the vision foretold. 

The important part of this battle is that the reader does not get to see the bombastic epic action. Nuh uh. They see the after effect, the carnage, the remnants, the destroyed buildings and hurt civilians. This battle is through the eyes of Jean and Kitty as they make their way across the scene, watching the fight unfold or at least the back end until eventually they reach the climax of just Captain Marvel and Iron Man.

Jean and Kitty try to persuade the two to stop fighting but Captain Marvel lands one pivotal punch against Iron Man’s chest, seemingly killing him. Jean Gray is deeply affected by Tony’s apparent death, and is shaken by all of this violence.

The Civil War is over, Captain Marvel won and now leads Earth’s heroes against threats. However, the Guardians of the Galaxy are left leaderless, tensions between mutants and inhumans begin to rise, somebody apparently has their hands on the cosmic cube, and the phoenix force is still on the way.

And this is how I’d handle Civil War II.

[marvelrebirth-blog]

Rules of the Reboot!

Now this blog is not just our own reboot of the Marvel Universe, instead its a blog devoted to fixing the Marvel Universe post-Secret Wars. This means we must establish some basic rules to follow!

The Rules:

1. No Origin Stories for Established Characters - Marvel has been handling the comics that take place after Secret Wars as a sort of continuation, or at least has skipped over the origin stories in favor of jumping straight to the action. Besides, most Marvel characters have recognizable backstories or do not need to be explored. Sometimes its better to just have them exist than to explain how or why they exist until later down the line.

2. No New Characters Without Linking Them To Others - This isn’t a fanblog after all, this is just a blog dedicated to following what Marvel has either already established or is establishing. Entirely new characters can only be created if there are distinct ties to established characters.

3.  Secret Wars Defines This Universe - In other words, continuity pre-Secret Wars has pretty much all been wiped from everybody’s memory. Doctor Doom’s rampage and the merging of the universes is a forgotten event to most. Most characters will not remark about their lives pre-Secret Wars, but they also may not remember the events that brought them here.