It’s become commonplace over the last decade or so for Marvel Comics to incorporate a huge crossover event into the storylines of a number of their most popular titles. ‘Civil War’, ‘Secret Invasion’, ‘Fear Itself’, and ‘Avengers Vs. X-Men’ are just a few of the major events to change the lives of our beloved Marvel characters fairly recently, and now it looks like the House of Ideas is gearing up for another one this summer involving the cosmic corners of the Marvel Universe.
According to Bleeding Cool, “a big cosmic crossover event” possibly written by Brian Michael Bendis is in the works for late summer 2013. Starting in Jeph Loeb’s ‘Nova’ #1 coming out next month, the foundation will continue to be laid in Bendis’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, Jason Aaron’s ‘Thanos Rising’, and potentially Kieron Gillen’s ‘Iron Man’. The currently untitled event will be connected to the long-awaited ‘Age of Ultron’ story, which is also by Bendis, that finally sees the light of day in March and “will be all encompassingly cosmic, on an ‘Avengers Vs X-Men’ scale”. In addition to penning the event involving one of the Avengers’ greatest foes, he’s said to be tackling this galactic tale as well.
It’s not much of a surprise that Marvel is looking to do more with their cosmic cast of characters as of late. After including Thanos in post-credits scene of ‘The Avengers’ and announcing the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film as a part of Phase Two, the company is likely trying to get their fans more acquainted with the relatively obscure characters entering the mainstream within the next few years. It’s already begun in the pages of ‘Avengers Assemble’ where the Avengers team up with the Guardians to face Thanos and a fake Cosmic Cube and in ‘Iron Man’ where Tony Stark is preparing for a tour of duty with Star-Lord and his intergalactic peacekeeping force.
I feel as though I’m in the majority of fans whose knowledge of Marvel’s cosmic characters is limited to the ones that the Fantastic Four has encountered like the Inhumans or the Skrulls, or Thor’s ally Beta Ray Bill, but we know there’s a copious amount of other characters out there spread out among the stars. With the Marvel NOW initiative currently in effect, there’s no better time for the spotlight to shift to these largely unknown characters so that they’re more closely associated with the Captain Americas, Thors, and Hulks of the Marvel Universe.
As details are revealed about this upcoming crossover event, we’ll be sure to keep you updated on the latest. Until we hear more, who do you think will be involved in this cosmic event? What do you think will happen in ‘Age of Ultron’ that will lead to this? Share your predictions in the comments below!
