Things aren’t slowing down as Marvel continues their summer 2021 plans. As we discover from Marvel July 2021 solicitations there are a lot of major events that will either continue or begin throughout the summer. That includes the X-Men dealing with the fallout of the Hellfire Gala, the Sinister War beginning with Spider-Man in the center, She-Hulk following her cousin’s path in causing a new World War, and much more. Let’s take a look at everything that is going down this summer after what Marvel announced in their July 2021 solicitations.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN SINISTER WAR
It was not a question of if but when we would get to the next big event after “Last Remains” in Nick Spencer’s Amazing Spider-Man run. Now we have that answer as July 2021 will see the start of a four part event involving Spider-Man titled “Sinister War.” This is a story that Spencer has been developing alongside Harry Osborn’s rise as Kindred as we’ve seen multiple Sinister Six groups created in the form of the Savage Six and Sinister Syndicate in Amazing Spider-Man #25. And in the most recent Amazing Spider-Man #64 we saw the return of Doctor Octopus into the series. With all these villains in play a Sinister War was the only outcome we would see.
As exciting as Sinister War sounds the one thing that gives me pause is the fact that Sinister War is taking place in a mini-series with the Amazing Spider-Man ongoing having tie-in issues. The reason I say this is because how time after time Nick Spencer has shown an overreliance on tie-in comics to tell big chunks of the stories he is writing. We saw that with the Amazing Spider-Man events “Hunted” and “Last Remains” as the tie-ins basically told half the story of the events that Spencer started only for everything from both the ongoing and tie-ins to come together in the final issue of said event. That leads to a lot of confusion if you aren’t reading the tie-ins and just uneven storytelling for the overall event.
And it looks like that will happen once again with “Sinister War” as the Kindred part of the event will all be told in the Amazing Spider-Man tie-ins. That is genuinely concerning given how Kindred has been such a key part in Spencer’s run and was just established as the driving force to Doctor Octopus’ return to the series. Hopefully Spencer can prove me wrong and actually tell a complete story within the Sinister War mini-series.
KING IN BLACK LEADS TO EXTREME CARNAGE
With the success of King In Black and Donny Cates’ overall Venom run there was no way that Marvel wouldn’t continue all the momentum Venom has now that its become its own franchise within the greater Spider-Man franchise. Given the fact that Eddie Brock has become the God of Symbiotes as Venom at the conclusion of King In Black there are a lot of questions as to what it means for other notable Symbiotes. Specifically, what happens with long-time Venom and Spider-Man villain Carnage. That is exactly what we will likely learn about in July 2021 as we see the Extreme Carnage event begin.
Based on the details we have of Extreme Carnage this event won’t just be about establishing Carnage in the post-King In Black world. Any notable Symbiote character from Flash Thompson’s Agent Anti-Venom to Scream are going to be taking part in Extreme Carnage. All of this seems to be further set-up for the greater plans Marvel has for Venom as we still don’t know what creative team will be taking over that series after Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman end their legendary run with Venom #200.
X-MEN RISE OUT OF THE HELLFIRE GALA
While we still have a little over a month before the Hellfire Gala begins we already know who the new X-Men in the post-House Of X/Powers of X and X Of Swords world is. As announced by Marvel the new Krakoan X-Men team will consist of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Sunfire, Rogue, Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Synch, and Polaris. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Rogue have long been attached to the X-Men. And we’ve seen in recent comics, like X-Men #18 and X-Men #19, that Laura Kinney has come into her own as Wolverine once again. The same goes for Synch in those same X-Men issues by Jonathan Hickman and Polaris over on X-Factor. And Sunfire for additional fire power and this is a powerhouse X-Men roster that I’m excited to see what the creative team of Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz have plans for.
Though one interesting thing to note is that while the Excalibur series will continue even with Rogue now shifting over to X-Men it looks like X-Factor, the series Polaris was a part of, is over. There is no official announcement of this since X-Factor #10, the final issue in the series that was solicited but titled “The Last Dance” as part of Hellfire Gala, the absence of the series is notable. It wouldn’t be surprising if X-Factor is indeed ending with X-Factor #10 since we know that series writer Leah Williams is working on new X-Men project alongside S.W.O.R.D. artist Valerio Schiti that will launch in August.
MOON KNIGHT RETURNS FOR NEW ONGOING
Moon Knight is finally back in his own ongoing series with the creative team of Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio. This isn’t all that surprising given several factors. One is that we just saw Moon Knight be a big part of a recent story arc in Jason Aaron’s Avengers series. Two, and more importantly, we know that there will be a new Moon Knight show as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four plans that will stream on Disney+ with Oscar Isaac playing the character.
With all of that Marvel needed to get ahead of the game by putting out new Moon Knight content before the Disney+ show debut. Tapping Jed MacKay for the new Moon Knight series is an excellent choice. Followers of the Comic Book Revolution will know that I’m a big fan of Jed MacKay’s run on Black Cat. So I have no doubt he will do well writing this new Moon Knight series.
THOR AND ODIN BEGIN WAR FOR ALL-FATHER TITLE
Things have certainly escalated in Thor’s life as it hasn’t been an easy transition to being the new All-Father of Asgard. The “Prey” arc that has featured the return of Donald Blake has made things even more difficult. The problems presented by Donald Blake look to be something that will have lasting effects on Thor and Asgard as a whole.
One of the things that Thor will have to deal with is the return of his father, Odin, to Asgard. We saw in Asgard that Odin passed the All-Father title to Thor. But since we last saw Odin things completely fell apart as he was not able to repair his marriage to Freyja. Now it looks like Odin may try to have some sort of presence on Asgard and still wants to be known as All-Father, as teased by Thor #14 solicitations. How this all factors into the bigger plans that Donny Cates has for his Thor run will be interesting to see play out.
THE LAST ANNIHILATION IS COMING FOR THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
There have been a lot of cosmic-level events that have been taking place throughout the Marvel Universe the last few years. We are just wrapping up both King In Black and Enter The Phoenix stories that dealt with major cosmic forces in the Marvel Universe. Things won’t be slowing down for the Marvel Universe as a new Annihilation event is about to begin.
Titled “Last Annihilation” it looks as though we are finally getting around to the Annihilus story that has been teased for a while now. This event won’t just be something the Guardians of the Galaxy will be dealing with. The X-Men will also be taking part as the S.W.O.R.D. series that Al Ewing is writing along with Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be part of the event. As “Last Annihilation” is sure to grow it would not be surprising if other comics such as Fantastic Four or one of the Avengers titles gets involved in the latest cosmic event in the Marvel Universe.
AVENGERS BEGIN WORLD WAR SHE-HULK
Speaking of the Avengers, there won’t be much time to rest following the events of Enter The Phoenix and Heroes Reborn for the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. That is all because Jason Aaron will doing his own version of World War Hulk as everything he has been doing to develop She-Hulk’s character will take a spotlight in World War She-Hulk.
More and more we have seen that Aaron’s Avengers run has been telling new versions of classic Marvel events that aren’t just solely Avengers related. What catches my interest with this take that Aaron is taking for the Avengers is what his endgame is for all of this. There are a lot of things he has put into play that is leading somewhere. What that endgame is a big question within the Marvel Universe.
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