Marvel Comics January 2025 solicitations are here! Unsurprisingly, Marvel is kicking off the new year with a load of new comic books. That continues the tradition of having fresh #1 comic books for fans to pick up. Many of them are timed with what is going on with the Marvel Cinematic Universe throughout 2025. With that in mind let’s look at the biggest takeaways from Marvel Comics January 2025 comic book solicitations.
ULTIMATE WOLVERINE MAKES HIS DEBUT
It was only a matter of time before Wolverine to make his appearance in the Ultimate Universe. Wolverine is arguably the biggest name that has not been mentioned at all in the new Ultimate Universe thus far. Now we have a good idea why Wolverine was a hidden character in the Ultimate Universe. That reasoning being that Ultimate Wolverine is a character that will be merging Logan and Bucky Barnes’ Winter Soldier origin.
How is that happening? Well none other than thanks to machinations of Rasputin siblings Magik, Colossus, and Omega Red as part of them maintaining control of Russia and other Asian countries. This is certainly a big twist to the Weapon X angle of Wolverine. It does hint at Bucky Barnes likely being permanently dead in this Ultimate Universe. Based on the covers it looks like Ultimate Wolverine not being around much is because it is very hard for Magik, Colossus, and Omega Red to completely control the animalistic rage of their Winter Soldier.
Ultimate Wolverine also shows that one talent Marvel appears to be investing in testing out is Chris Condon. He is already writing the upcoming Ultimate Universe: Year One In one-shot. That’s on top of having written a few Venom War tie-ins and Crypt of Shadows. Being trusted with Ultimate Wolverine is a big test to see if Condon can carry the strong momentum to build both the Ultimate Universe and his own name with Marvel fans. If Ultimate Wolverine does end up being a big sales success like other Ultimate Universe titles don’t be surprised if Condon gets more ongoing titles in the future.
NEW CHAMPIONS TRY TO CHANGE THE WORLD
The Champions are a team that Marvel is dead set on making into a team that fans are sold on. Thus far all their attempts have not worked out as the two most recent attempts resulted in both Champions comic books not getting passed ten issues. That is even with the fact that Marvel had their biggest next generation characters in Ms. Marval, Miles Morales’ Spider-Man, and Ironheart leading the team.
Now with this latest attempt Marvel is still keeping the idea of the Champions being their version of Young Justice. But unlike before where the focus was teaming up known next generation characters the New Champions are largely all new characters. That is certainly a choice because while Spider-Boy, the most well known amongst the cast, is on the main promotional cover it looks like the focus will be on all the new characters.
Having a superhero team led by new characters that readers aren’t familiar with is already going to be a big hurdle for the New Champions to climb. It is not made easier by the fact that most of the team members are derivatives of well-known Marvel characters. That includes what appears to be gender bent versions of Ms. Marvel and Magneto. Marvel’s creative logic must be that if they have a gender bent version of Ms. Marvel and Magneto balance out the complaints fans will have.
Though that may be the least of the New Champions concerns in getting over with fans given that most Marvel fans have their fill of superhero teams with the X-Men and Avengers at the moment. And if a title with Ms. Marvel and Miles Morales’ Spider-Man, two characters who have had movies and TV show appearances, couldn’t help a Champions comic book sell it is tough to imagine this version of the team doing much better.
SPIDER-MAN AND BLACK CAT TRY AGAIN
The Spider-Man offices are certainly not keeping it a secret that they will be revisiting the Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy romance. That relationship is front and center of the Amazing Spider-Man #66 main cover with Peter and Felicia kissing. That is certainly one way to sell fans on the direction.
Though Joe Kelly and Justina Ireland will have an uphill battle in front of them if this is a relationship that they are looking to sell readers. One of the many things damaged by Zeb Wells run on Amazing Spider-Man was the idea Peter Parker could move on to have a committed relationship with Felicia Hardy. The way they ended things was not the cleanest and just further pushed the idea that Peter should be in a relationship. That’s something that Wells has driven home by shifting complete focus to Peter’s dynamic with Norman Osborn.
Now, it is not impossible to repair things and truly sell readers on the idea that Peter and Felicia are ready to try a committed relationship. Though that puts into question Felicia’s own relationships as in her recent appearances as Black Cat she has appeared to move on from Peter to other relationships. We’ll just have to wait and see with hope this new Amazing Spider-Man creative team can wash away all of the bad after tastes they were left behind with.
SAM WILSON GETS NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA SERIES
With Captain America: Brave New World releasing in February it is no surprise Marvel is going to be releasing a new Sam Wilson series. Though unlike before, Sam Wilson: Captain America is going to be a mini-series rather than ongoing. It does appear Marvel has learned their lesson that the Captain America franchise can’t carry more than one ongoing series at a time. It is neither Steve Rogers or Sam Wilson’s fault. At this moment only Spider-Man and Wolverine are capable of carrying more than one solo series at a time.
That said, Sam Wilson: Captain America being a mini-series will be a good test to see how much of a desire for more new Sam Wilson content there will be during and after Brave New World releases. It’s an approach that can be a big positive move by Marvel. Because it is much better news to announce that because of the success of Sam Wilson: Captain America as a mini-series they are turning it into an ongoing series. And if it doesn’t hit as intended they can continue trying until they find the right hook for Sam Wilson as Captain America.
Tapping Greg Pak and Evan Narcisse as the creative team is a combo that is unexpected. They are both talented though we don’t know what they will end up producing. Which may be where Sam Wilson: Captain America being a mini-series can work even better. It will force Pak and Narcisse to tell one complete story rather than worrying about building a bunch of different plot threads that cause the first story arc to balloon out of control with chapters, as we see with so many modern ongoing comic books.
X-MEN CONTINUE TO EXPAND SOLO OFFERINGS
Spinning out of the Krakoa Era and into the X-Men: From The Ashes direction we’ve seen Marvel invest in solo mutant titles, particularly for their female mutant characters. We’ve already seen that with Storm, Phoenix, Mystique, Psylocke, and Laura Kinney getting their own solo titles. The solo X-Men titles is a trend that appears to be continuing in 2025 as Rogue, Magik, and Cable are getting their own titles.
If anything, this trend of solo titles for the franchise does show the impact that Krakoa Era had was elevating so many other characters. Whether it was making them into Omega-level mutants or giving them prominent roles on Krakoa, it was a benefit for many characters. Seeing the characters picked you can see that as Rogue, Magik, and Cable were heavily featured during the Krakoa Era like Storm, Jean Grey, and Mystique were.
Moving into more solo comic books all published at the same time will be a real test for the X-Men franchise. While Storm, Phoenix, and Wolverine are selling well the more solo titles you add the more the fanbase pull list budget is stretched. It is a problem we see with the Spider-Man and Batman franchise. How many of these solo titles along with the team based ones that the X-Men brand can carry will be interesting to see.
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE RETURN AS MARVEL’S ODD COUPLE
With the massive success of Deadpool & Wolverine there was no doubt that it would trickle down to the comic books. Throughout this past summer we saw various team ups between Deadpool and Wolverine. From how Marvel did that it appeared they were testing the waters to see what the hunger was for a new ongoing comic book with both of them as leads. To no one’s surprise Deadpool and Wolverine passed that test as their recent three issue mini-series was a Top 25 selling comic book during the start of the new X-Men era.
Now simply calling the series Deadpool/Wolverine, Marvel has tapped Benjamin Percy and Joshua Cassara as the creative team. The creative team alone shows that Marvel is targeting Deadpool/Wolverine to be a consistent top seller for them. The names on the title can only carry the series for so much, as we’ve seen with many Marvel titles.
This won’t be the first time Percy and Cassara are working together on a comic book. They worked together both on X-Force and X Lives of Wolverine. That experience alone gives them a leg up to start the series running. This is a series that Deadpool needs especially. Marvel has had very little success in recent years with Deadpool comic books. Pairing Deadpool and Wolverine back up for an ongoing series can very well be what the former needs.
BLACK CAT JOINING THE AVENGERS
Black Cat is getting some more attention to kick off 2025. Along with the possibility of her relationship with Spider-Man being renewed she is also in line for becoming an Avenger. Unlike Storm’s recent membership there appears to be questions about where Black Cat will be a permanent member of the current Avengers roster. She has never been a big team player and when she has its because she is leading her crew.
That said, Jed MacKay being the writer of The Avengers could be an indicator that Black Cat will be a full-time team member. MacKay spent years writing Black Cat comic books and modernizing her character to stand on her own as a solo hero. MacKay had success with those comic books and there is no doubt that he could further develop Black Cat to be a key member of The Avengers. It would certainly add a wild card to the team that they need in a roster of more traditional Marvel heroes.
GALACTUS TAKES OVER WHAT IF…?
The impact of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is felt throughout Marvel Comics January 2025 solicitations. One way is the renewed interest in building up Galactus. With the Fantastic Four movie scheduled for release later in 2025 Galactus is likely to play some sort of role in the movie.
Teasing Galactus’ entry into the MCU is the fact that Marvel is publishing a line of What If…? one-shots with Galactus turning various heroes into his new Heralds. These heroes are Hulk, Spider-Gwen, Rogue, Gambit, and Moon Knight. Those are certainly fresh choices for Galactus’ Heralds.
While we can’t expect the What If…? one-shots to lead to anything it does set-up Galactus to appear in other comic books in the future. Galactus appearing in Fantastic Four or Avengers is something that’s likely to happen the closer we get to the Fantastic Four MCU movie.
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