Marvel appears to be using the Summer of 2023 months to set up the events that will define the latter half of the year. Specifically with the July 2023 solicitations Marvel is pushing several major events that will be taking place in the near future. The biggest of these events appear to be set around what is going on with the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises. The X-Men event is much clearer as Marvel is going all in on the Fall Of X event to be a dominant part of their 2023 publishing calendar. Let’s take a look at what else to expect from Marvel based on their July 2023 solicitations.
1) HELLFIRE GALA 2023 BEGINS FALL OF X
The Hellfire Gala has become a tone-setter for the X-Men franchise post-Jonathan Hickman. It’s been where we have seen the new line-up of the X-Men announced two years in a row. That likely won’t change as who is selected to become part of Cyclops and Jean Grey’s X-Men has become an annual tradition, especially with Gerry Duggan writing Hellfire Gala 2023 that will likely happen.
But the X-Men line-up announcement won’t be the biggest thing to go down in Hellfire Gala 2023. Because as we see with the solicitation there is a major focus on setting the stage for the Fall Of X event that will likely take up the rest of 2023 for the X-Men franchise. We’ve seen throughout all the X-Men comics in the first quarter of 2023 that there have been major developments across the board.
Those developments have led the X-Men to be on their shakiest ground since the Krakoa Era began. Now it appears all the developments from the last year, dating back to the 2022 Hellfire Gala, will come to a head in the 2023 one-shot. What that exactly will mean is anyone’s guess as the Fall of X event kicks off with the Hellfire Gala 2023.
2) BLADE IS BACK WITH NEW SERIES
Blade is a character that is set up to be bigger than ever with an upcoming movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe starring Mahershala Ali. We’ve seen over the last few years Marvel has been preparing for this future by having Blade as a key member of the Avengers and taking part in various big events. Now after Bloodline: Daughter of Blade introduced us to Blade’s daughter it is time for Blade himself to get a new series.
The new series is going to be written by Bryan Hill and drawn by Elena Casagrande. When it comes to Bryan Hill I am familiar with him through his work on the X-Men title Fallen Angels and the 2020 Batman & The Outsiders series. Both comics were solid. More importantly, they showed that Hill is able to work with characters with a ton of history. Blade is a character that feels like every story possible has been told makes what Hill will do with the character to modernize his adventures.
What I am more excited about this Blade series is the fact Elena Casagrande is the artist for the series. Casagrande is one of my favorite comic book artists working in the industry right now. Casagrande’s work on Black Widow was absolutely phenomenal. With Blade having a “Parental Advisory” included it does indicate that Marvel is going to let Hill and Casagrande go all out with the action. This is fantastic given Casagrande’s history of drawing incredible action sequences in Black Widow.
3) CAPTAIN AMERICA CELEBRATES 750 ISSUES
Captain America is going to be hitting a major milestone at Marvel. With the July issue, the Captain America series will be celebrating its 750th Legacy issue. To do so it looks like, unless Marvel announces otherwise, that Symbol Of Truth and Sentinel Of Liberty will be taking a break to make way for Captain America #750. This does at least create a focus so Marvel can put everything behind promoting Captain America #750 to be a top seller rather than two separate titles. This will ideally give both Captain America ongoings greater momentum to have a bigger audience when they return in the publishing rotation.
As for Captain America #750 issue itself, the comic book will have the typical collection of past Captain America creators to celebrate with dedicated stories in this anniversary anthology. More important to the future of the Captain America franchise is how the aftermath of the Cold War event sets the future for Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, and others.
We know that Sam is set to be the Captain America in the new Avengers series but how does the event that took place in Cold War shape his future? The same goes for Steve and Sharon Carter as they are also the focus of the main story. Then there is the mystery of if Bucky Barnes will be around as he is not mentioned at all in the Captain America #750 solicitation.
4) NEW SPIDER-MAN EVENT ON THE WAY
Amazing Spider-Man is sure in the headlines a lot each month. Given that it’s been reported that Marvel has told Zeb Wells not to attend any conventions and avoid social media after the release of Amazing Spider-Man #26 the headlines won’t be going away anytime soon. The fact Marvel had to give this type of warning to their creators because of a story they are working on tells you all about what to expect with upcoming issues of Amazing Spider-Man.
While hearing that does not breathe confidence from a fan’s perspective in the plans Wells has for Amazing Spider-Man it is not stopping Marvel from pushing ahead. Rather, whatever Wells is doing over the next few months appears to be laying all the groundwork for the next big Spider-Man event. That is something that is teased in a big way with Amazing Spider-Man #31.
While the lead story for Amazing Spider-Man #31 will be Randy Robertson and Janice Lincoln’s, Tombstone’s daughter, wedding that will just be set dressing. What is the big selling point of the issue is how the events that take place set up the next Spider-Man event. We’ll have to wait to find out.
5) ANN NOCENTI TAKES OVER CAPTAIN MARVEL
Kelly Thompson’s run on Captain Marvel is coming to an end in June with the 50th issue of the series. That immediately created the question as to what is next for Captain Marvel? We know that Carol Danvers is going to be the leader of the new Avengers series. But as for her solo adventures that was up in the air.
Marvel partially answered that by announcing a new five-issue mini-series titled Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest. The creative team features the legendary Ann Nocenti and artist Paolo Villanelli working on the title. Marvel is also positioning it as Nocenti being the one to take over Captain Marvel after Thompson completes her run. Though given that Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest is a mini-series if Nocenti will really be the new ongoing writer for Captain Marvel is unknown.
We know that Marvel is likely to announce a new Captain Marvel ongoing series with The Marvels movie set to release in November. Though given that The Marvels stars Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan the new ongoing Captain Marvel series could very well not be a solo series. Rather Marvel takes from what the MCU is doing and does a new ongoing comic book featuring Carol, Monica, and Kamala together.