Despite reports, Kevin Feige did not tell Marvel to kill Kamala Khan. The new Ultimate Universe seems to be happening in real time. Marvel launching Annihilation 2099. All on Comic Book Club News for April 18, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
Kevin Feige did not tell Marvel to kill Kamala Khan.
Ultimate Universe happening in realtime?
Annihilation 2099 coming.
This is Comic Book Club News for April 18, 2024.
Kevin Feige Did Not Tell Marvel To Kill Kamala Khan In Amazing Spider-Man:
Despite reports, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige did not tell Marvel Comics to kill Kamala Khan. But we’re going to have to take a big step back to explain this one, first.
In 2023’s Amazing Spider-Man #26, Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, was killed while trying to save Mary Jane Watson. She was quickly resurrected by mutants, and going forward is now part of the X-Men family of books, with a secret mutant power as well as her Inhuman power to stretch. Though not quite there, the general presumption was this was to bring the comic book version in line with the big screen version, one of the MCU’s first confirmed mutants.
Then, earlier this week, Miles Morales: Spider-Man and She-Hulk TV show writer Cody Ziglar went on the Amazing Spider-Talk podcast and claimed that ASM writer Zeb Wells was asked to bring Kamala in line by Kevin Feige himself. Said Ziglar on the podcast: “It was funny watching when the whole Kamala stuff was going down. [Zeb Wells] had told me months before the plan, which was, Feige was like, ‘Hey, I don’t do this very often but, can you please do this to make things in line with Marvel because we have some stuff we want to do with Kamala.'” Ziglar continues to recount how Wells was upset he drew the “short straw” and “People are going to be very mad that I have to kill Ms. Marvel.”
However, as confirmed by multiple outlets, that is not the truth, Ellen. The determination to kill Ms. Marvel came from Marvel editorial staff, not Kevin Feige. Or at least, that’s according to unquoted statements from both Marvel Studios and Marvel Comics.
Is it possible the truth is somewhere in between, though? Wells also wrote for the She-Hulk TV show, as well as co-writing Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Zombies, and is an uncredited co-writer on The Marvels. So could Feige have floated the idea at some point of bringing Kamala in line, versus an outright edict? And could Marvel Editorial have been thinking in that direction anyway, ultimately making the decision to kill her as a way of juicing sales, and bringing her back as a mutant?
The world may never know. At least until Cody Ziglar goes on a podcast again.
Ultimate Universe Happening In Real Time:
Is Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe playing out in real time? That certainly seems to be what’s happening, as either a month is passing during issues, or between issues for each of the new series.
The hat tip here belongs to Bleeding Cool, which noticed that each new issue of Ultimate Spider-Man takes place in the month it’s published. Meanwhile, Ultimate X-Men #1 kicked off in March, the month it was published. And Ultimate Black Panther noted that 30 days passed between issues #1 and #2, while weeks passed between issues #2 and this week’s #3.
So, good catch, but this also makes logical sense given what writer Jonathan Hickman and company set up right at the beginning of the new Ultimate Universe: the heroes of this world only have a limited amount of time before the evil Reed Richards, called The Maker, breaks out of the prison they trapped him in and takes on the rest of the globe.
Marvel has further clarified this timeline thanks to the upcoming The Ultimates, written by Deniz Camp with art by Juan Frigeri. In a press release provided to Comic Book Club by Marvel, they say, “Months ago, Tony Stark sent Peter Parker a radioactive spider to set him back on the course to become Spider-Man. Since then, Iron Lad (Stark), Captain America, Doom, Thor, and Sif have begun to do the same for other lost heroes, building a network of super-powered heroes hungry for change… Over two years, they must band together to destroy the Maker’s Council and restore freedom and free will to a world ruled from the shadows.”
So there you go: the Ultimate Universe has a ticking clock behind it that officially starts counting down two years from Ultimates #1, which debuts on June 5. But what will happen in 24 months? Will Marvel reboot the Ultimate Universe, yet again? Stay tuned.
Annihilation 2099 Coming:
And just to make this a triple Marvel podcast, Annihilation 2099 is coming! Running over five issues, writer Steve Orlando will introduce new cosmic characters to the rapidly approaching future of Marvel’s 2099.
Those characters including Nova 2099, Starlord 2099, Red Hulk 2099, and Silver Surfer 2099, and the return of Dracula 2099. Because honestly you can’t go wrong with Dracula in space.
The new five issue mini, which seems to be more of a series of one-shots, runs every week in July.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And that’s actually why there aren’t any manned space missions anymore. Draculas.
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