Just how big will Marvel Entertainment’s Secret Wars event be? The company’s SVP of Sales and Marketing, David Gabriel, has offered a hint that goes beyond what fans have already learned about the end of the Marvel Universe as we know it — by naming the comic book series that will end as a result of the epic battle.
Talking to ComicBook.com, Gabriel said that, “in a perfect world, we’d have stopped every book with its April issue, putting out a nice clean May Previews catalog. Everyone would have seen upfront all those titles that had their finale, and all those titles that were starting fresh. But things don’t always go so easily.”
Creators were given the option to tell “Last Days” stories in their series — storylines taking place leading up to Secret Wars No. 1 — or stories that take place during Secret Wars itself, Gabriel said. The latter choice meant that their regular series would receive what Gabriel calls a “616 finale” (616 being the Marvel mythology designation for the “regular” Marvel Universe) and be replaced by a new series.
The series ending “over the next few months” according to Gabriel are: All-New Captain America, All-New Ghost Rider, All-New X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Amazing X-Men, Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, Avengers, Avengers World, Captain Marvel, Cyclops, Deadpool, Elektra, Fantastic Four, Guardians 3000, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hulk, Inhuman, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, Legendary Star-Lord, Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, New Avengers, Nightcrawler, Nova, Rocket Raccoon, Secret Avengers, Spider-Man & The X-Men, Spider-Man 2099, Storm, Superior Iron Man, Thor, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverines and X-Men.
Given the cyclical nature of comic book publishing, it should be expected that many of the listed titles will be relaunched at some point in the near future. In the last four years, Captain America alone has been relaunched three times, for example. Oddly enough, Gabriel’s list of books coming to a close doesn’t name the series announced as running “Last Days” storylines, such as Ms. Marvel, Captain America and the Mighty Avengers and Loki: Agent of Asgard.
Gabriel went on to say that Secret Wars “will affect every title in some way shape or form,” and that some series “may take a hiatus for a month or two (something the industry is accustomed to); some will reach their “616 finale” some become Battleworld transformed; and still others… Well, we’ll get to those!”
Secret Wars launches in May, with tie-in issues in various comic book series beginning that same month.
Read more Marvel Confirms Comic Book Reboot in ‘Secret Wars’ Event Series
