Marvel is going to be continuing their 2024 with a heavy reliance on the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises. The X-Men will continue to be busy with the Fall of the House of X and Rise of the House of X event along with getting their own Ultimate Universe title. Spider-Man meanwhile is getting a ton of new comic books launching in March to go along with its current ongoing title slate. What else do we join the ranks of all the Spider-Man and X-Men titles? Let’s see by breaking down the biggest takeaways from Marvel’s March 2024 comic book solicitations.
ULTIMATE X-MEN FRESH START FOR MUTANTS
The X-Men have by far the most complicated history for any franchise. And that was even before the Krakoa Era relaunch for the X-Men. That’s meant the X-Men titles have really just been about jumping in and learning as you go. This will even be true with whatever the relaunch post-Fall of the House of X and -Rise of Powers of X will entail.
That makes Ultimate X-Men standout even more as a true entry point for the franchise. While there will likely be some elements about mutants from Ultimate Invasion integrated, Ultimate X-Me will be a chance to create a whole new history for the team. Further differentiate it from the mainline Marvel Universe by having Armor as a series lead will add to how refreshing Ultimate X-Men will be. This provides the opportunity for other mutants beyond Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Storm, and a few other of the traditional X-Men roster members to shine.
Adding to why Ultimate X-Men is one of the most anticipated comics of 2024 is Peach Momoko handling both the writing and artwork. Momoko’s Demon Days Marvel Universe was absolutely phenomenal. With that series Momoko she is able to build a distinct Marvel Universe that sticks true to the spirit of the heroes, specifically X-Men characters, while creating something completely new. I’m sure Momoko will do a lot of imaginative stuff that will help Ultimate X-Men separate itself from its mainline counterpart.
PETER PARKER & MILES MORALES FORM NEW DYNAMIC DUO
While Miles Morales has been around for well over a decade now he and Peter Parker hardly team-up. The best we got are the two Spider-Men mini-series. Aside from that they only have brief interactions, that includes their involvement in all the Spider-Verse story where they usually lead two different missions for the Spider heroes.
This makes the announcement of The Spectacular Spider-Men that more interesting to finally see happen. Now we will finally get to see how Peter and Miles interact as partners on a long-term bases. That should lead to exploring their dynamic in a much more in-depth way than we saw in Bendis and Pichelli’s Spider-Men.
Greg Weisman and Humberto Ramos being brought on as the creative team for The Spectacular Spider-Men is an excellent choice. Weisman has a long history of writing comic books and being involved in creating some of the best animated series of the last 40 years. This will also be Weisman’s chance to possibly work in some ideas for stories he and his team planned for the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series they didn’t get to do.
FELICIA HARDY & MARY JANE WATSON CONTINUE THEIR DYNAMIC DUO
March is a time for Spider-Man Family duos pairing up for new comic books. We see that with Felicia Hardy and MJ Watson reuniting for a new Black Cat & Jackpot mini-series. Marvel certainly has enjoyed the pairing of Felicia and MJ. Especially considering Zeb Wells is more focused on exploring Peter’s relationship with Norman Osborn than with either Felicia and MJ.
Black Cat in particular seems to be a character who has grown in popularity to be consistently be given her own comic book series. Whether its in ongoing or mini-series form, Black Cat is at least getting to that Spider-Gwen level of consistency in the comic book front. Now MJ as Jackpot is getting set-up for that with her recent string of comic books.
Celeste Bronfman also appears to be writer Marvel is going to be investing in more in 2024. While Bronfman is coming from working in television she has been building her comic book portfolio the last few years. Starting with several licensed comics for My Little Pony and Star Trek she has been done a few Spider-Man one-shot stories, including a Jackpot one-shot comic book. Giving her more experience through one-shots and mini-series will help in how she crafts stories in comic book format before working on an ongoing.
X-MEN ’97 DEBUT IN COMIC BOOK FORM
The X-Men ’97 animated series is by far the most exciting project coming on Disney+. How can we all not be excited about the return of the iconic X-Men: The Animated Series? The series brought many of us into the X-Men franchise. Though we still don’t have a firm release date other than its supposed to premiere sometime in “early 2024.”
To build up the anticipation we are getting a X-Men ’97 mini-series. The series will be acting as a prelude to where the upcoming animated series picks up from the original series. This comic book should clear up some questions from time gap between the two series. Especially if we do get the X-Men ’97 comic book at the same time as this comic book release we can see a deeper dive into character specific stuff. That or Marvel could be either spoiling X-Men ’97 story beats if the animated series doesn’t debut by March or they delay this comic book until the show premieres.
DAREDEVIL VS WOLVERINE MAIN EVENT
If you want to sell comic books placing Daredevil and Wolverine on the same cover is certainly one way to do that. Showing Daredevil and Wolverine fighting each other adds to the eye catching nature of the cover. That is exactly what makes Daredevil #7 stand out right away when you see John Romita Jr’s cover.
The story of why Daredevil and Wolverine will be clashing looks to involve the Seven Deadly Sins story that the series has been dealing with since Matt Murdock’s rebirth. Wolverine’s involvement does set-up the possibility for other Daredevil superhero allies to be infected by the demons looking to kill him. Now Spider-Man, She-Hulk, and others can be brought in to the story without feeling just like a tie-in to something else.
STEPHANIE PHILLIPS WRITING BLACK WIDOW & HAWKEYE
When it comes to a writer that can a major name in the industry Stephanie Phillips is one of those names. Phillips has built an impressive resume of comic book work with her creator owned series Grim for BOOM! Studios being a must read. She’s also proved she can work in the superhero space with the consistent quality she delivered for DC Comics through her work on Wonder Woman: Evolution, and Harley Quinn. And starting in 2023 Marvel has hired her to work on Cosmic Ghost Rider, Rogue & Gambit, and several Contest of Chaos one-shots.
With that resume of work its clear Phillips not only brings a lot of comic book experience but also a catalogue of delivering quality. Marvel appears to recognize this as in March 2024 Phillips will be working on a Black Widow & Hawkeye mini-series. Along with that today it was also announced she would work on Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider series in April. Announcing both titles the day the latest solicitations drop shows Phillips is someone Marvel is investing in.
MS. MARVEL GIVES FIRST LOOK AT NEW X-MEN DIRECTION
While we won’t be getting the new X-Men direction until July 2024 we could be seeing our first hints at what that could be in the newest Ms. Marvel series. Based on the solicitation for Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace it won’t be a tie-in to the Fall of the House of X and Rise of the House of X. Ms. Marvel will continue to be using the X-Men branding while still doing her own thing.
While it is normal to see individual X-Men get solo titles its an eye catching choice that Ms. Marvel isn’t being sold more as being part of the team. Right now it definitely looks like Marvel is using the X-Men brand to help Ms. Marvel’s sales numbers rather than be an equally beneficial development. The hope is that we will at least see some X-Men characters as part of the supporting cast at the very least.
JOHNNY BLAZE RISES AGAIN AS GHOST RIDER
Ghost Rider is a character that Marvel is always invested in getting over. The question is always which version of Ghost Rider Marvel is investing in each year. Ghost Rider is by far the character we see the most mantle swaps of any hero on either the Marvel and DC front.
Now it looks like Marvel is finally cycling back to Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider again. They are certainly trying to make Ghost Rider a big deal by assigning Wolverine writer Benjamin Percy on the series. Percy has been build his cache with Marvel fans with the X-Men franchise. Now it’ll be interesting to see if fans follow him into Ghost Rider to build on that franchises fanbase. Or will we see Ghost Rider fall to the back of the pack sales wise?
ONLY EDWIN JARVIS CAN SAVE THE AVENGERS
What happens when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes aren’t enough to save the day? What else than to turn to the greatest Marvel hero: Edwin Jarvis.
Jokes aside it is cool to see Jed MacKay bringing in more classic Avengers elements by having Jarvis be part of the cast. Jarvis has built a dynamic with all of the Avengers members throughout his history. The recent Wasp series shows that he is a valuable supporting cast member. With things getting even more intense with Kang’s prophecy they’ll need a rock like Jarvis to help ground them and watch out for them.