Heroes Reborn Event Will Be Marvel’s Next Big Epic

It seems like yesterday that we posted King in Black week one, the start of Marvel’s current event. However, King in Black came on the heels of X of Swords: Destruction, the last chapter of the massive X-Men event. But that event came immediately after Empyre. A breather would be nice, but Marvel’s continuing with their relentless onslaught (get it?) of big epics. So, of course, when King in Black ends in April, the next big event, Heroes Reborn, will start in May. And yes, we’ll cover that too…because we love these big epics (or at least, I do).

What will the Heroes Reborn Event Be About?

(Image: Marvel Comics)

The new epic from Jason Aaron and Ed McGuiness follows the aftermath of the current Avengers storyline, Enter the Phoenix. It’s only natural that after the Phoenix burns the world to ash, there should come a rebirth, and so REBORN is the next big step in the massive super-story that Jason and Ed have been crafting in Avengers,” Executive Editor Tom Brevoort said in Marvel’s announcement. “Prepare to enter a very different yet hauntingly familiar Marvel Universe!”

This “hauntingly familiar” Marvel Universe takes place in a reality where the Avengers never existed. According to the announcement:

Welcome to a world where Tony Stark never built an Iron Man armor. Where Thor is a hard-drinking atheist who despises hammers. Where Wakanda is dismissed as a myth. And where Captain America was never found in the ice, because there were no Avengers to find him. Instead this world has always been protected by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Squadron Supreme of America. And now the Squadron face an attack from some of their fiercest enemies, like Dr. Juggernaut, the Black Skull, the Silver Witch and Thanos with his Infinity Rings. Blade is the one man alive who seems to remember that the entire world has somehow been… reborn. And so begins his search for the cause behind this ominous shift in reality.

What We Know So Far, and What Does This Have to Do with the Original Event?

(Images: Marvel Comics)

Though this celebrates the 25^th anniversary of the original Heroes Reborn event, the name is about as far as the similarities go. In the classic 1990’s story, after defeating the villain Onslaught, the Avengers and Fantastic Four were pulled into a pocket universe Franklin Richards created. Here, the Avengers never existed, as the description implies. And we’re also getting some interesting mashups or alternative versions of our favorite characters. Earlier in the month, Marvel released these teasers, giving us hints at what we’ll see in the Heroes Reborn event coming this May. We have…

Doctor Juggernaut

So, Victor Von Doom gets the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak? That’s simultaneously awesome and terrifying. He certainly looks awesome. But in this event, is Doom really a villain in the Heroes Reborn universe. Since the Squadron Supreme have a villainous history, it’s safe to assume that they might not be the heroes they claim to be. And one of the tie-ins will show why, but we’ll get to that later.

The Silver Witch?

Not sure if this is the Silver Witch or not, what that name might even mean yet. Is it a different version of Scarlet Witch? Maybe it’s not even Wanda Maximoff? Perhaps the Silver Sable a witch? So many questions!

Ben Grimm and Reed Richards will be Agents of SHIELD in the Heroes Reborn Event

This is one of the most fascinating. What if Ben and Reed never went to space with Sue and Johnny? They become SHIELD agents! It’ll be awesome when we see Ben in this role when the Heroes Reborn event starts.

Peter Parker, Photographer for Daily Bugle

Wait ­– is that Peter without his Spider-Man abilities? Just a normal photographer, Jimmy Olsen style? If he’s the Jimmy to Hyperion’s Superman, that’s going to work really well. Is there even a Spider-Man in this event, or will Heroes Reborn be wallcrawler free?

Thanos and the Infinity Rings

More questions. Are these the Mandarin’s ten magical alien rings, or are they the Infinity Stones? And are there only five, or are there ten – and if there are ten, and they are Infinity Stones, what are the other four? If there are only five, which Infinity Stone is missing? Best guess? The reality stone is gone, since this isn’t the proper reality.

HULK IN SPACE!

In the world of the Heroes Reborn event, Hulk will fight alien things in space. I think that says enough, right?

Vote for Coulson!

Ben and Reed might be SHIELD agents, but one of the most popular SHIELD agents, Phil Coulson, is a politician instead. A unique politician, apparently. While funny, this teaser actually shows how big the scope of the Heroes Reborn event will be. We go from political campaigns to outer space.

The Heroes Reborn Event Reunites Wolverine with Alpha Flight

So, instead of joining the X-Men, Wolverine stays with Alpha Flight, his original superhero team. This obviously raises the question, where are the X-Men? With the X-Men universe being so popular right now, it’s hard to imagine they’d be left out of this story. However, how they show up in Heroes Reborn is quite alarming, and gets its own tie-in.

Venom Punisher?

(Image: Marvel Comics)

If there’s no Spider-Man, then the Symbiote never bonded with him or Eddie Brock. But it’s bonding to someone. This looks closer to Knull’s emblem than it does Spidey’s. There’s also another interesting clue here. In the background, we see many Hydra agents pointing their weapons at who we can assume to be Frank Castle. However, Nighthawk, the Squadron Supreme’s Batman, is also facing him. Is Hydra under the Squadron’s control?!

The Heroes Reborn Event Will, Of Course, Have Many Tie-ins

So far, Marvel has announced two tie-ins, but we should obviously expect many others. These tie-ins offer an even bigger scope of the Heroes Reborn event. However, these two series paint very different versions of the Squadron Supreme ­– and one of them leans more to their original name, Squadron Sinister.

Young Squadron

We’ll start with the Heroes Reborn twist on Champions. The names are familiar: Kamala Khan, Miles Morales, and Sam Alexander. “Jason and Ed have built an incredibly fun premise in Heroes Reborn,” Jim Zub said in an interview with ComicBook. “It’s a twisted mirror that reflects the characters we know and love set against both the familiar and the wildly unexpected. Taking that core idea and pulling it further out to show how it affects the Champions trio of Miles, Kamala and Sam is a blast, and getting to do that with my Champions collaborator Steven Cummings makes it even more fun.” So, who will these young heroes be in the Heroes Reborn event?

Miles Morales, the Falcon

(Image: ComicBoom.Com)

Instead of Peter Parker taking Miles under his webs, Nighthawk mentors him. It’s a very “Batman and Robin” scenario. And much like Robin, Miles is actually the second Falcon, taking the name of Nighthawk’s first sidekick, who died before the Heroes Reborn event begins.

Sam Alexander, Kid Spectrum

(Image: ComicBoom.Com)

As Nova, Sam has cosmic powers that he gets from a helmet he inherits from his father. But in this reality, he trains with Squadron Supreme member Doctor Spectrum, who is more like Green Lantern. Actually, aren’t the Green Lanterns and the Nova Corps almost the same thing anyway? I guess this makes him the Kyle Renner of the Heroes Reborn event?

Kamala Khan, Girl Power

(Image: ComicBoom.Com)

Finally, we have the former Ms Marvel, Kamala Khan. In the real Marvel Universe, it’s Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) who inspires Kamala. However, in the Heroes Reborn event, Danvers never becomes a superhero. Instead, Kamala gets her powers from an artifact she finds in Utopia, the magical world where Princess Power (a mirror of Wonder Woman) comes from.

So, in this book, the Squadron Supreme are inspirational heroes. Oh, also, Deadpool is the villain! Now, let’s see how the team looks in the next tie-in.

Magneto and the Mutant Force is the Darkest Book of the Heroes Reborn Event…So Far

(Image: AINT Comics)

Think the Squadron Supreme of America is just the JLA of the Heroes Reborn event? Well, they aren’t. Why? Because the Justice League would never commit a massacre. Yet, in Magneto and the Mutant Force, instead of Mister Sinister orchestrating the Mutant Massacre, it’s the Squadron Supreme. As the solicitation reads:

Years ago, Magneto and Professor X led Earth’s mutants in a final push for independence against the Squadron Supreme of America. What followed was the Squadron’s Mutant Massacre, a violent rebuttal that left Mutantkind forever wounded, and Xavier dead…or so Magneto thought. Years later, Magneto discovers Xavier clinging to life in the astral plane and gathers his allies for a first-of-its-kind rescue mission. Too bad the same mission puts the Mutant Force back on the Squadron’s radar! Failure means the last gasp of Mutant-kind, but success means the first breaths of something even more elusive to the mutants of Heroes Reborn: HOPE.

Not bleak enough? Hang on a moment. “I didn’t expect Magneto & The Mutant Force, and those unexpected moments are where some of the most exciting stories are found,” Steve Orlando said in a statement to AIPT, also indicating that “for Magneto and his Mutant Force, the fight for mutant freedom is deadlier than ever.”

If you’ve been reading X-Men comics since at least 2006, you know that the word Hope isn’t just a word—it’s a name. In fact, it’s the name of the most important mutant of all time: Hope Summers. Not only did she bring Mutants back after the events of House of M, but she’s also the glue and power that makes the Five’s resurrection ability possible in Krakoa. It’s not a word an X-Men writer would throw around lightly, let alone put in all caps.

Is This One Event Too Many?

Personally, I’m torn on this one. Everything looks awesome and exciting. However, not only did Marvel already have three major events in a row, but DC followed Dark Nights: Death Metal with DC Future State right away. In less than a year, we’ve already had five major events between the big two. We also don’t know what or when the next DC event will be, but generally, when one company has an event, the other one does too. Sure, comic book events are vital for the industry, but when does burnout start? And why do they have to be so much fun?!

What do you think? Are you excited for the Heroes Reborn event, or do you want a break? Tell us below!

(Featured Image: Marvel Comics)

Roman Colombo finished his MFA in 2010 and now teaches writing and graphic novel literature at various Philadelphia colleges. His first novel, Trading Saints for Sinners, was published in 2014. He's currently working on his next novel and hoping to find an agent soon.