In 1984, Marvel launched a 12 issue miniseries called Secret Wars which featured most of the biggest superheroes and villains of the Marvel Universe transported to another world where they were forced to battle each other on an epic scale.
Thirty years later, Marvel is revisiting the concept of Secret Wars in a brand new 12 issue miniseries. But this time, the heroes are going to war against themselves… literally!
As announced at USA Today, Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribic will be the creative team of the new Secret Wars, as the storyline spins out of Hickman’s storylines in The Avengers and New Avengers.
Marvel has also released a Secret Wars teaser image by Alex Ross which features the heroes fighting multiple versions of themselves, including a few heroes from the MC2 future of the Marvel Universe. Click on the image below to see it in full size!
While the first Secret Wars miniseries spawned a toyline and a few related merchandise items, the new Secret Wars is said to be “new consumer products from various licensees and will work in a synergistic fashion across the Marvel brand” in conjunction with Hasbro, Upper Deck, Gentle Giant, Funko and Hot Topic.
Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort hinted that the new Secret Wars miniseries may tie into the original story. He also added that the event will be “overwhelmingly huge… The scope of it is about the biggest thing we’ve ever done or attempted to do. It’s maybe not the best thing to say but I don’t know how we’ll top it a year later.”
Secret Wars will launch in May 2015. Marvel is expected to reveal more information about the project during New York Comic Con.
