Marvel's New Reboot Universe Officially Begins On October 7th With Dark New X-Men Series

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A new Marvel universe launches the first week of October, and three series have already gotten a first official glimpse, including the new X-Men. The infinite expanse of the Marvel multiverse is populated by strange characters who rarely appear in most realities. For example, the Spider-Girl Mayday Parker only exists in versions of the future where Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's relationship survives and they have a daughter who inherits her father's superpowers. Meanwhile, the Living Tribunal doesn't have multiversal variants, as he's the same entity across all existence.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are many characters who are almost guaranteed to appear in every timeline. Spider-Man is a constant across the Marvel multiverse and is at the center of the Spider-Verse, the most concentrated corner of the multiverse. The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and key Avengers like Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man almost always exist in alternate realities, whether they coexist as heroes during the same era or not. Hence, universes like Marvel 1602, Marvel 2099, Earth-1610, and Earth-6160 have their own parallel versions of Marvel's most famous heroes and teams.

Folllowing the success of the second Ultimate Universe, Marvel is launching a new timeline where the most famous superheroes and superhero teams are reimagined through a dark, horror-inspired lense.

Marvel's Midnight Universe Launches On October 7 With Three Major Titles

Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, And X-Men Spearhead The Midnight Universe

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Naturally, the launch of Marvel's new universe is led by Marvel's most famous characters, writers, and artists. Midnight X-Men is written by Secret Wars and House of X mastermind Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Nova Centurion artist Matteo della Fonte, opening with the most mystifying hook of the three Midnight titles: a vampiric Storm biting Jean Grey's neck as the narration hints at mutants and humans' conflict being nothing compared to what's about to come. Even more puzzling is that, unlike Midnight Spider-Man and Midnight Fantastic Four, Storm and Jean Grey look pretty much like their Earth-616 counterparts in these panels.

Written by The Punisher's Benjamin Percy and illustrated by Radioactive Spider-Man artist Kev Walker, Midnight Fantastic Four takes a much more patient approach as Reed Richards is thrown out of his university research role while a crow dies ominously outside the window. Lastly, Midnight Spider-Man is written by The Infernal Hulk's Phillip Kennedy Johnson and illustrated by ScieTronc in his first collaboration with Marvel. In issue #1, a toddler Peter Parker returns home only to find his pet dog decomposing and with a spider crawling out of its corpse.

Midnight X-Men #1, Midnight Fantastic Four #1, and Midnight Spider-Man #1 are available October 7 from Marvel Comics