New York Comic Con 2024 kicked off with a bang today with Marvel’s Next Big Thing panel. We’re blessed with the announcement of a new Ultimate Comics, a futuristic Luke Cage, and 2025’s big event, The Rise of Empire Doom.
Ultimate Wolverine will be released in January by writer Chris Condon and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. “I grew up dressing up as Wolverine…I was all about Wolverine,” Condon said, joking about the DC All In ad that ran before the panel began. “It’s going to be pretty violent. And it’s pretty good.” He teased that more Ultimate characters would appear in the Wolverine books, but wouldn’t say who, and later said that We talked about Wolverine’s legacy. “Writing a Wolverine book means you’re standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Tom Brevoort then jumped into his new X-Men line. “I’m going to have to clap loudly to read the ‘X-Men’ books, because I need affirmation,” he joked. “All the creators of X-Men have worked together very well. So far, I haven’t tainted it.”
Previews for The Raid on Gray Malkin showed the internal destruction of both the Beast and the Cyclops.
“I love the way Ryan (Stegman) draws the Beast, and I love the way Ryan draws the Beast getting punched in the face,” said Ryan Penagos, vice president of digital media and creative strategy. He then commented that Cyclops also had a punchable face. “We’re all punching Cyclops! We know what everyone wants to see,” Brevoort added. And this year, watch as the assault on Gray Malkin begins.
“Power Man Timeless” was also announced, in which Luke Cage, powered up from last year’s “Timeless”, appears in the current Marvel Universe and finds his place in the world. “This is Luke Cage amplified to the Nth degree,” said Tom Brevoort, vice president and editor-in-chief. “Every fight in Powerman Timeless should be like a Dragon Ball fight.”
The biggest announcement came from Ryan North and his Fantastic Four series. Marvel has big things planned for Doctor Doom, and not just the movie. Rise of Emperor Doom tells the story of Doctor Doom conquering the world overnight. “This is a very personal story about Doctor Doom and what he wants…and how that doesn’t work out for people not named Victor von Doom,” North said. Few plot details have been revealed yet, but we do know that it will be a nine-issue, 10-month series that will have an impact on the entire Marvel series.
North said writing Doom is much like writing the lead, but you have to add theatricality to it. “Everything he says sounds like he wrote that line to say it to himself.” He commented that Doom is the only character who speaks in the third person and makes it sound cool. “A lot of what he says I say out loud to make it more theatrical.”
Fantastic Four #28 serves as a precursor to events, seeing Marvel’s First Family team up with the Black Knight on an adventure through time and space. A special version of Fantastic Four #13 was distributed to attendees introducing Emperor Doom. North also hinted at the possibility of a future battle between Squirrel Girl and Dino Doom. He had an idea for a Fantastic Four issue with Squirrel Girl as a guest star, and pitched it to Brevoort on stage. We’ll have to wait and see if that happens!
