Marvel celebrates 50 years of What If. Marvel introduces new Wonder Man. Robert Kirkman launches new superhero book.
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Episode Transcript:
Marvel celebrates 50 years of What If.
Marvel introduces new Wonder Man.
Robert Kirkman launches new superhero book.
This is Comic Book Club News for February 26, 2026.
Marvel Celebrates 50 Years Of What If:
Okay, here’s a hypothetical for you: what if Marvel celebrated 50 years of What If…? What would that be like? Turns out you don’t have to imagine as starting this summer the House of Ideas will publish eight all-new one-shots imagining things like “What if Thor Got Spider-Man’s Symbiote Suit?” or “What If Cyclops Had Stayed With Madelyne Pryor?” or “What If The Punisher Was Allergic To Picnics?”
Okay, maybe not the last one. But there will be the first two stories, and plenty more, starting in June. First up is Uncanny X-Men with the Madelyne Pryor story from Gerry Duggan and Jan Bazaldua, then Thor going Venom mode from Torunn Grønbekk and Sergio Dávila. Then in July, Alex Paknadel and CAFU take on what if the Ultimate Universe survived Secret Wars, Justina Ireland and David Messina imagine what if the radioactive spider bit Jessica Jones, and J.M. DeMatteis and Yildiray Cinar posit what if Kraven survived his last hunt.
Rounding things out in August, Marc Guggenheim and Ron Lim unfreeze Captain America in 2099, Ashley Allen and Sumit Kumar go dark for X-Men with what if Cassandra Nova killed Professor X, and maybe the most exciting in the lineup: Rainbow Rowell and Zulema Lavina are on Runaways, and imagine what if… They didn’t run away?
The What If one-shots kick off bi-weekly on June 3, and all will sport covers by Lucas Werneck.
Marvel Introduces New Wonder Man:
The end of the Ultimate Universe might be delayed until (at least) June, but Marvel is powering ahead with the impact anyway. Or at least, the Reborn: Ultimate Impact, as the five-issue miniseries previously touted as the fallout from Ultimate: Endgame is still beginning to hit stores in May.
So, what to expect from the upcoming title by Chris Condon and Stefano Caselli? How about so many new characters? While we don’t know the full scope yet, thanks to “Origin Boxes” taken back from the Ultimate Universe, new characters in the main Marvel Universe will come away with powers and abilities eerily similar to those of other characters. And that means four whole months after the TV show hit Disney+, we’re getting a new Wonder Man.
Yes, the Wonder Man in the MCU is Simon Williams, and this guy is named Vin Lerner. But presumably it’s a bit of a Nick Fury Jr. situation, where while he’s not the original, he’s in line with the MCU character and then they’ll be like “you’re not Simon Williams, you’re Vin Lerner, a different guy” every time we see him instead of just running with it. Cool!
Far more mysterious is Hostilicus, called “Scourge of the Negative Zone.” It’s unclear whether he gets the powers of Annihilus from an Origin Box, or is just wearing Annihilus’… Costume? Skin? I was never clear on that. Anyway, he’s there, too.
Reborn: Ultimate Fallout #1 hits on May 20 because you can’t stop the event train (this is setting up Armageddon as well).
Robert Kirkman Launches New Superhero Book:
As announced last week at ComicsPRO during his keynote address to appreciative retailers (I was there, I know), Robert Kirkman is teaming up with Joe Casey, as well as a powerhouse stable of artists on the new Skybound and Image Comics series Terminal.
Those artists? Andy Kubert, David Finch and Art Adams, on a rotating basis. And good news as those aren’t the fastest folks ever: as Kirkman teased in the speech, they’ve already got a frickin’ 18 issues in the can.
So, what is Terminal about? Per PR, “There is a secret war being waged across the world by two violent forces with superhuman abilities who blur the lines between good and evil. When Marilyn Howe’s search for her missing sister Alessandra puts her in the center of this conflict, she’ll learn that the power to save the world comes from unlocking your genetic code and giving up everything you thought you knew about yourself…if you survive the experience.”
Terminal #1 will hit stores on July 22, 2026, and will have — shocker — blind bags. Those blind bags are more in line with what Kirkman did with Invincible Universe: Battle Beast, meaning in addition to variant covers there will be “three exclusive surprise items” that could be anything from other issues of the book to other comics entirely.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And they should have called him Simon Williams, Jr, that would have been fun.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
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