Marvel is entering 2024 with several things in place to make this one of the more exciting years in recent memory on the comic book side. This year, more than ever it appears the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises will be a drivers for how 2024 will be going. Not just from the sales side but also the storyline front as we see with what’s been announced in the first half of the year. There are also other things such as the return of the Ultimate Universe that is going down. Let’s take a look at the five big things to follow from Marvel Comics in 2024.
X-MEN AFTER THE END OF KRAKOA ERA
The Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X crossover event just started. There is no telling how the event will turn out. What we do know is that the ending will be the conclusion to the Krakoa Era for the X-Men. How things will look in the aftermath will be seen in the relaunch for the X-Men franchise that’ll happen in the summer.
Our first look at the post-Krakoa Era relaunched direction will come from the Blood Hunt/X-Men #1 one-shot release as part of Free Comic Book Day 2024 on May 4th. An interesting note from that one-shot is that the X-Men story won’t be written by Gerry Duggan, Kieron Gillen, or Al Ewing. Instead it will be written by Gail Simone, with the story centering around Jubilee. So we may see Simone as one of the lead writers for the post-Krakoa Era X-Men directions.
In terms of what the X-Men could look like there have been a lot of hints that we could see the return of the X-Mansion with the School for Gifted Youngsters. While the Krakoa Era has brought a lot of cool new elements that has pushed the X-Men franchise to another level. One thing it has not done well post-Jonathan Hickman is with showing the non-military side of Krakoa. Having a direction that balances the political, business, superhero, and training next generation of mutants would be cool.
Whatever the direction will be we will likely see Charles Xavier take a step back. Xavier certainly burnt every bridge when it comes to his relationships with all mutants. Giving him full control of the mutants’ future led to more devastating destruction. That does open things even more for the likes of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Emma Frost, and Bishop to step up to build the new foundation for mutants’ future.
SPIDER-MAN FAMILY TEAMING UP MORE THAN EVER
Marvel has certainly gone all in with the whole “Anyone Can Wear The Mask” concept for the Spider-Man franchise that was made mainstream by the Into the Spider-Verse movie. But largely that direction has centered around consistently relying on the Spider-Verse to drive the narrative. We saw that especially be the case with Marvel pushing Spider-Verse, Gwenverse, and Venomverse throughout 2023.
Now the direction for the Spider-Man franchise does look like it’ll be shifting. It won’t be going away from the “Anyone Can Wear The Mask” concept. But rather than relying on the Spider-Verse to drive that narrative the focus will be going to building the franchise through Earth-616. To do that Marvel looks to be using the Marvel Team-Up concept Spider-Man has always led to be franchise specific, without saying so.
We already see that with the Peter Parker and Miles Morales-led Spectacular Spider-Men, Mary Jane and Felicia Hardy pairing up for a Jackpot and Black Cat mini-series, and Spider-Gwen officially permanently moving to Earth-616 in a new Ghost Spider series. That’s on top of Spider-Woman and Spider-Boy teaming up in the former’s title and all the big plans for Amazing Spider-Man and Venom books. Given that we get a yearly Spider-Man event all of these team-up books will open the door for a Spider-Man event in Fall 2024.
RETURN OF THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE
Jonathan Hickman set the foundation for the brand-new Ultimate Universe with the Ultimate Invasion mini-series at the end of 2023. Hickman certainly deliver the shocks with how Ultimate Invasion turned out, the biggest may be the fact he ended that story by removing the Ultimates from the equation. The Avengers characters that were expected to form the new Ultimates were erased by what happened in the Ultimate Universe one-shot. Instead it’ll be Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Black Panther who will be leading the new Ultimate Universe.
Now it is not surprising at all that Spider-Man and X-Men are big parts in the new Ultimate Universe launch. They both largely carried the previous version of the Ultimate Universe, especially Spider-Man. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how Ultimate X-Men sells considering the timing is when all the mainline X-Men comics will be going through a relaunch later this year. Though Ultimate Spider-Man appears to be a great alternative for fans who have not been digging the current Amazing Spider-Man direction.
Where we will really see the potential of the new Ultimate Universe is with the Black Panther series. Ultimate Black Panther will be an opportunity to have a completely fresh start will breathe new life to the presentation of all he characters and setting of Wakanda. It’ll be the best test bed for what being free from the restrictions of 60+ years of continuity looks like in the Ultimate Universe. Which could lead to an even bigger return for the Ultimates whenever they do return to the Ultimate Universe.
BLADE LEADS BLOOD HUNT EVENT
It’s been no surprise that since Mahershala Ali was cast as Blade that we’ve seen Marvel place more of a focus on the character in the comic books. Blade has had his comic book profile elevate more with how he’s been more connected to the Avengers the last few years. Now a lot of the build will get a payoff of sorts with the new vampire event that Blade is leading titled Blood Hunt.
Announced back at New York Comic Con 2023, Blood Hunt will be Marvel’s big summer blockbuster event. Given that Jed MacKay is writing the event it’s not surprising that while Blade will be a central character so will the Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Moon Knight. Of course, you can’t have a big Marvel event without at least one Spider-Man involved, which we see will be Miles Morales.
Showing how this vampire event will be a big deal is that in all the teasers Marvel has pushed the mystical elements of the event. That does give an immediate importance to characters like Doctor Strange, Clea, and Scarlet Witch to play as big of a role in this event as Blade. How big the event will actually become will be something we learn the closer we get to when it begins in May 2024.
CHIP ZDARSKY & DANIEL ACUÑA PRESENT AVENGERS: TWILIGHT
One of the more comic book specific Marvel projects that’s exciting to read is Avengers: Twilight. The series will be released during the first half of the year. What makes Avengers: Twilight so exciting is that it will be done by the creative team of Chip Zdarsky and Daniel Acuña. This an A-tier creative team that has been put together for this alternate universe Avengers story.
Based on the teaser for Avengers: Twilight it appears that it’ll be set in a alternate future Marvel Universe where the Avengers we know aren’t needed or wanted. The “not wanted” status appears to be based around how the vision Captain America and other classic Avengers had for he team has been warped by those came after them as their successors. The Avengers successors have built a system where people are happy in the illusion of freedom that they’ve built for the world.
With the story set in the far future it does give Zdarsky and Acuña to craft a Marvel Universe all their own. That does look like that is what they are doing with this concept that does give Kingdom Come sort of vibes.