Good gravy, is Space Punisher about to join the 616 Marvel Universe proper?
On Free Comic Book Day next year, the Guardians of the Galaxy will be getting a new member in the run-up to the big movie debut, but we’re not allowed to know just yet. All we’ve got to go on is this new teaser image Marvel released today.
Who might that silhouetted figure be behind that god-awful hideous Zubaz nightmare version of Star-Lord? Well, it’s not Iron Man, because the official blurb calls him “one Mystery Marvel Superstar you’d never expect to see with the Guardians of the Galaxy,” and we’ve already seen Iron Man there. The Giant Gun tends to imply Punisher or Cable or, to a less-unexpected extent, War Machine/Iron Patriot. Who will Brian Michael Bendis choose as his random Marvel fetish to redefine this time around? Could it actually be Frank Tieri’s batshit insane Space Punisher? Will the Bendis X-dominance extend to Cable, which would seem to be implied by the giant shoulders? Or might it be the regular, actual Punisher for some reason? Oy vey, might it be Deadpool or the Flash Thompson Venom? That arm seems to imply a suit of armor, so maybe they’re overestimating the unexpectedness of James Rhodes… speculate away!
“Guardians of the Galaxy promises to be THE book that Marvel readers will be talking about all the way through to the opening of their movie in August,” says Senior Editor Stephen Wacker. “And with two new members causing all sorts of problems, the galaxy’s least likely super hero team is going to find itself in a whole mess of trouble.”
Apparently, the Free Comic Book Day GOTG issue will also include a Spider-Man back-up story from Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli – one that lays the foundation for a “top secret Spider-Man event” of 2014… and you’ll note that the blurb did not say “Superior Spider-Man.” There is a new Amazing Spider-Man film coming out next year, you know. Get ready, sports fans. Odds are, Peter Parker’s on his way back.
