Marvel's Time Runs Out Event Teases Possible Universal Reboot

[Fanghawk]

Marvel's Time Runs Out Event Teases Possible Universal Reboot

Marvel's Avengers books are jumping ahead eight months in time for an event bearing some similarities to DC's universal shake-ups.

Although Marvel Comics plays down the effects of aging, its characters have been part of a mostly continuous universe since its creation in the 1960s. It's a major distinguishing factor from competitors at DC Comics, who tend to reboot the universe and tells some new origin stories every few years. So far the arrangement has worked well, but according to the rumor mill Marvel might be setting up a very similar redesign. Heralded by various reality-breaking shenanigans within Jonathan Hickman's Avengers books, Marvel's Time Runs Out event will shake-up the entire company in May 2015. The exact nature of the change remains to be seen, but the similarities with DC's New 52 means that a reboot could very well be in the cards.

Jonathan Hickman's run on Avengers and New Avengers introduced alternate realities threatening to break into the Marvel Universe, raising the possibility that one world might need to end so another could survive. In DC Comics, these kind of events are guaranteed to at least alter the backstory of a few heroes if not an entire canon. Crisis on Infinite Earths, for example, merged countless realities into a single timeline, while Flashpoint's time-traveling premise gave birth to the New 52 universe.

At the Diamond's Retailer Summit in Las Vegas, Marvel teased that this storyline would come to a head in Avengers #35 and New Avengers #24 when both books jump forward in time by eight months. It's probably worth noting that DC is gearing up for its Five Years Later event in September, which is itself expected to impact stories in the current DCU timeline. With all the similarities, retailers are wondering whether Marvel intends to just give in and reboot, but we'll probably have to wait a real-time year before finding out what's planned.

Personally, I'm not certain a Marvel reboot is being planned, but it wouldn't exactly surprise me either. There are a lot of inherent problems when maintaining a massive continuity across hundreds of books, making it far easier to simply <a href=www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134569-Spider-Man-Learning-To-Crawl-Harkens-Back-to-1960s-Origins>retell origin stories or <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134175-Brian-Michael-Bendis-Talks-Race-Sexism-and-Ultimate-Spider-Man>dabble in parallel universes. That being said, breaking the core continuity now would be a bold move requiring the utmost of care, especially since <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127144-DC-Comics-Reboots-Lobos-Reboot>similar reboots turned out to be problematic at best.

But since we're at the rumor stage and rampant speculation isn't going to make a difference, let's just pretend that Time Runs Out is building to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131985-Marvel-And-Star-Wars-Heroes-To-Appear-In-Disney-Infinity>a merging of the Marvel and Star Wars universes. Make it happen, Disney.

Source: Bleeding Cool

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[Gizmo1990]

They are teasing a possable universe wide reboot and yet they have been making a big deal about the fact that they are going to kill off Wolverine?

I think most people are already rolling their eyes at that due to the fact popular characters never stay dead long but if they kill him off only to reboot the entire Marvel universe, if this happens then it would be the quickest character revival in comic history.

 

[RealRT]

Oh fuck my life, no, please don't do this.

 

[Nowhere Man]

I know this centers on the Avengers but can we get a Guardians of the Galaxy/Star Wars cross over?

Nah just kidding, don't.

 

[Baresark]

A reboot would get rid of all my interest in the books. It's like erasing history. DC can't go a decade without a reboot because they fear the continuity they let their writers constantly play with. If Marvel is worried about lagging sales, they should look in the mirror because it's them that is killing them. Book prices are outrageously expensive. If sales are dropping, that is precisely why

 

[Mr. Q]

I wouldn't take too much stock into it. The source is from Bleeding Cool, a site that is more rumor mill than actual news. The Outhousers actually called them out on this crap.

http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/news/127456-time-runs-out-an-avengers-event-a-marvel-reboot-and-a-rich-johnston-video-game.html

Hopefully this is not true cause the last thing Marvel should EVER do is play DC's dumb-fuck game of "hit the reset button on our universe". If your writer or editor is too lazy to adhere to the continuity or lacks the actual talent to maintain the past, DON'T HIRE THEM! It's not that hard to catch up on the past. There is a reason wiki's exist and there are compassionate fans who can lend a hand (we exist, we just need to perform a final solution to the knuckle-draggers that give this hobby a black eye). Also, Moviebob pretty much covered this issue waaay back in a Big Picture episode. Continuity is not the issue, lack of marketing outside the comic book industry is!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/4132-Continanity-Rebooted

 

[Sniper Team 4]

No. Keep Star Wars away from the Marvel Universe. Keep Star Wars away from everything. I don't want super heroes or villains showing up that carry the ability to destroy a planet with their pinkie. Plus, there's also the fact that when a character dies in Star Wars, they stay dead (with only one exception that I can think of). I know this was meant as a joke, but I must squish the idea before it even has a chance. I'm sorry. Moving on...

I don't know...DC hasn't been having much luck with their reboot from what I've been hearing. And plus, didn't they just announce that Wolverine was going to actually die? That's a huge move, and I applaud them for doing it if it turns out to actually be him dying and dead. But this? This would cheapen the entire thing. If you want to shake up the Marvel Universe, then keep it going, but start doing what you plan to do to Wolverine: let long-running characters die, or retire. Start bringing in new blood and new heroes without constantly falling back on the old ones. Like what was done with the alternate Sipder-Man universe where Miguel (is that his name?) is Spider-Man now. Do that, don't reboot the whole thing.

 

[Makabriel]

Yeah, if Feige saying they have 28 years of movies planned, I seriously doubt Marvel is going to be rebooting much of anything without horribly messing with movie continuity...

 

[Zontar]

Didn't they JUST do this with Marvel NOW? They may have a serious shakeup in the Status Quo (for a few years) but this is way too fast for a reboot, even DC waited longer then that. I mean hell, NOW just started, the Issue #1 of a lot of comics are still up on the shelves of comic book stores. This is either a massive misinterpretation of an event crossover or the biggest misstep Marvel has done since letting the writers do whatever they wanted during Civil War and forgetting that no, you need to keep things consistent when dealing with something like that.

 

[Zontar]

Yeah, if Feige saying they have 28 years of movies planned, I seriously doubt Marvel is going to be rebooting much of anything without horribly messing with movie continuity...

They have plans to make movies in the MCU until 2028, which would make it 20 years of continuity, but the comics don't effect the MCU anyway so it's not a big deal in that regard.

 

[faefrost]

Now was not so much a complete retcon of continuity as it was a starting or jumping on point. The point was to basically simplify the referenced continuity and frontload information in order to make jumping on easier for someone who hasn't been reading comics for 30 years.

The last thing Marvel needs to do is do a DC style burn it all to the ground and start over. Marvel has always been a little more accepting of smaller moving retcons along the way to keep things reasonably current and yet not mess with core stories. (ie Tony Stark's origin shifting from Vietnam / Southeast Asia to Afghanistan). Just jetison some of the true crap in a quick painless way and move on. 'Hey Spiderman didn't you used to have a bunch of clones?" "Nope it was all just a bad dream caused by a late night burrito meal from a truck." DONE! You could wipe out most of the 90's this way. Better yet don't bother retcon'ing anything... just never mention or reference the 90's ever again... you know, kind of like they do now.

 

[Queen Michael]

No. No, just no. This won't make it easier for new readers, it'll make it harder, since any old stories they want to pick up won't mesh continuity-wise with the new ones that -- provided the reboot worked as it should -- got them into Marvel in the first place.

 

[MCerberus]

You know, I'm kind of wishing this is a continuation of the Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe series.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Why? I hate reboots with a passion, if you want make up new stuff and see if it can out sell the old fine but no reboots please....

 

[vid87]

Just replace "paint" with "industry franchise" and you'll understand my position on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6kAfGw6LGU

 

[Redd the Sock]

Reboot = years of not having to come up with new ideas as you can spend a lot of time just re-inventing old ones. It's like fanfiction, potentially interesting, but you know goes nowhere.

Doubt it's the case though. The Avengers have been playing alternate timeline / future a lot lately, so it's probably al that crap coming to a head.

 

[Ieyke]

Not gonna happen.
Marvel isn't stupid enough to reboot.

CAPTCHA: vorpal sword

Snicker-snack. THROUGH AND THROUGH

 

[ShirowShirow]

Don't do this!

I JUST GOT INTO MARVEL COMICS.

I'm JUST starting to get used to the status quo. I just got to know what the Civil War was all about, and what the initiative was and who Kamala Khan is.

DON'T hit the reset button now! I've just gotten invested, dammit!

 

[Something Amyss]

They are teasing a possable universe wide reboot and yet they have been making a big deal about the fact that they are going to kill off Wolverine?

Sounds just about like Marvel.

Yeah, if Feige saying they have 28 years of movies planned, I seriously doubt Marvel is going to be rebooting much of anything without horribly messing with movie continuity...

Really? I think the opposite. Just imagine how they could mold continuity to the cinematic universe.

Not that it's necessarily a good thing....