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Runaways' Alex Wilder and Jolt Return, Bucky vs. Miles Morales, and More: Marvel's Divided We Stand Panel

20161007_121148Whenever the Fantastic Four would take an excursion into the alternate universe known as the Neutral Zone, they first had to traverse a transitional region called the Distortion Zone; a chaotic, messy place where the positive and the negative crash together. It always made for a bumpy ride at best.

With its mixed critical and fan reception, Marvel's Civil War II can perhaps be considered the Distortion Zone for the greater Marvel universe. A bumpy, if brief ride that must be endured while passing into the new and different universe on the other side. This universe, of course, being the newest-new status quo dubbed "Divided We Stand" and published under a rejiggered "Marvel NOW!" shingle, complete with a new set of Issue #1s, intended to signal another jumping on point for new, younger readers.

The Marvel Universe has always been a place of fractured relationships going back to Avengers #2 (the first one) when the Hulk stomped off in a huff. The new lines of delineation though, are (broadly speaking) generational. Friday at lunchtime, a panel of Marvel professionals took the podium to discuss what's coming. The panel moderated by Tom Brevoort, included writers and artists Ryan North, Greg Pak, Natacha Bustos, Brandon Montclare, David Walker, Jim Zub and Al Ewing.

Among the revelations that got crowd attention:

Walker reports that the mysterious figure manipulating the underworld behind the scenes in the Power Man-Iron Fist title will be revealed to be Alex Wilder from the Runaways, back after spending six years in hell. Walker compared Wilder to the original Dr. Doom concept.

Also, after Ulysses has a vision of Steve Rogers dying at the hands of Miles Morales, Winter Soldier tracks him down and confronts him, which will eventually lead to a confrontation of some sort between Bucky and "Agent of Hydra" Steve Rogers.

Moon Girl will be established as one of, if not THE, top intellect in the Marvel Universe.

Also discussed at the panel:

Squirrel Girl's 25th anniversary (#16), brings back original writer Will Murray for a story.

As previously reported, Jeremy Lin co-stars in Totally Awesome Hulk #13. Writer Pak called it the meeting of the "two things I love most in the world put together." Pak also discussed issue #15  "Big Apple Throwdown" kickoff, with a collection of Marvel's Asian American characters in a 4-issue arc.

Walker framed Occupy Avengers as a story coming out of Clint Barton's soul searching after the killing of Bruce Banner. Walker was mum on naming other team members besides Barton and Red Wolf, but promised they will be at least as obscure as Red Wolf and that none would have  superpowers. The team will be riding around in an A.I. van.

Building on the success of the Netflix series, Power Man and Iron Fist will see the return of 70's Cage villains  Black Mariah and Cottonmouth coming back.

Songbird will return in December's Thunderbolts. Also, Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley contribute a back-up story for Thunderbolts #10 (the 20th anniversary issue) to return Jolt into active continuity as the "Rise of the Masters" arc begins.

Ewing promises U.S. Avengers will bring "fun…hope…joy", and "a lot of thinking." He added that the new Ultimates relaunch – "Ultimates -squared" brings new fife-bringer Galactus front and center, recruiting the heroes to find out who chained up Eternity (and what to do about it).

Brevoort also answered a playful "maybe" to the prospect of a new Cloak and Dagger series when asked.

Bringing on younger readers has been the Holy Grail of the comics industry for more than a generation, and the wider saturation of the genre into pop culture, as well as the developing technology has done plenty to offset the structural impediments in the marketplace to getting that product into customer's hands easily and efficiently. Marvel hopes these storylines build on its broadening and increasingly diverse content to make the most of that momentum.


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Mark SeifertAbout Mark Seifert

Co-founder and Creative director of Bleeding Cool parent company Avatar Press. Bleeding Cool Managing Editor, tech and data wrangler. Machine Learning hobbyist. Vintage paper addict.
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