by Jesse Hudgins
On the heels of ending their latest “Ultimate” line of books, Marvel has announced its follow-up, the “Midnight Universe.” Over the past few years, Marvel has been putting out multiple titles under the revamp of its Ultimate universe, which started in 2000 and ended in 2015 with their Secret Wars event. Though it didn’t last as long—barely three years—the most recent revival of the universe proved to be extremely successful. Titles like Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate Spider-Man, Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men, and Deniz Camp’s The Ultimates all sold well during the revamp. Marvel’s announcement that the universe was going to be ending with an event came as a shock to many due to the success of the universe. The company revealed that the ending events would bleed over into a mainline event.
The overall reaction to the news was confusion. People were really liking the Ultimate Universe and what was being accomplished within it. Many thought the universe could have gone longer, giving us deeper and richer storytelling within the universe and its characters. Some were frustrated because they felt that certain titles had to rush their endings and stories just so they could wrap into the big event, Ultimate Endgame. Where the confusion increased was when Marvel suddenly announced a brand-new universe that, at least from first glance and the tagline announced with it, was supposed to be darker and more mature. Comparisons to DC’s “Absolute Universe” began almost immediately.
Only three titles have been announced for this new “Midnight Universe” thus far: Midnight X-Men written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Matteo Della Fonte, Midnight Fantastic Four written by Benjamin Percy and illustrated by Kev Walker, and Midnight Spider-Man Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and illustrated by Scie Tronc. Alongside this came a brief glimpse and description of the first issue of Midnight X-Men, as well as descriptions for the other two titles. While intriguing, especially with it being Hickman’s return to the X-Men, it’ll be interesting to see how these titles do on initial release.
As a fan and reader of the “Ultimate Universe,” I don’t know how to wrap my head around this news. I was bummed when I heard it was ending, especially since many people considered it one of Marvel’s best set of titles in a while. Suddenly after it’s over, an “edgier” and “darker” universe starts up. It feels like Marvel is capitalizing on the massively successful “Absolute Universe” from DC. Do I blame them for trying to jump on the “Absolute” train? Not at all. DC’s “Absolute” titles outsell most mainline books from Marvel and DC combined, and they’ve actively reinvigorated readers in DC and comics in general. Could I be giving Marvel less credit than they deserve? 100%. Like DC, Marvel has attached some high-quality creatives to the starting titles of the “Midnight Universe,” and that would get any comic fan excited. Sadly, this is one of those cases where we have to wait until next year to determine if Marvel hit a home run or not.
