Welcome to the weekend edition of Comics Relief! This week, we have some news about Marvel’s possible plans to deport the X-Men off the planet, a whole new comics line devoted to the zombie apocalypse, and much more. To start things off though, Marvel has finally revealed the latest version of Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s origin story, and let’s just say that there may be a little bit of corporate synergy at work here…
SCARLET WITCH & QUICKSILVER’S LATEST ORIGIN REVEALED
Despite recent teases that longtime Marvel villain the High Evolutionary was really the father of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, a.k.a Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, the preview for the latest issue of Uncanny Avengers reveals the truth: the twins’ parents are….(drumroll please…..) exactly who they were way back when the twins were introduced in 1964 in the pages of X-Men, the gypsy couple Django and Maya Maximoff!
It turns out that they were kidnapped as infants from the High Evolutionary, then experimented on and given powers, and finally returned to their birth parents “disguised” as common mutants. Of course, the reason for this change has to do with the movies more than anything; now the Maximoff twins’ origin lines up more with the MCU now, as both the movie versions and the comics versions now got their powers through genetic experimentation, rather than mutation or Inhumans-style Terrigenesis. Does this mean no Quicksilver in future X-Men movies? He’ll probably get grandfathered in, but don’t hold your breath for the Scarlet Witch to show up in a Fox mutant movie anytime soon. [HitFix]
Are The X-Men Being Banished By Marvel To Planet X?
Marvel’s Secret Wars has finally arrived, but already the rumors are swirling about what happens to the Marvel Universe after. There have been hints that the X-Men would be sent to a separate universe from the rest of the Marvel U, keeping the worlds of Spidey and the Avengers mutant-free. Well according to the latest buzz, that’s not exactly what’s going to happen, but the effect will more or less be the same.
According to the latest rumor, it turns out the Terrigen bomb that was unleashed over the Earth in the Inhumanity event, which unleashed the powers of all latent Inhumans on the planet, is actually lethal to mutants. This means that the X-Men, and all other mutants too, are going to have to hightail it off of Earth and find a new planet on which to live. Luckily, the X-Men have friends and family with spaceships on their speed dial. This could lead to a Harry Potter-like set-up where, say, a young mutant receives his gifts, then is whisked away to another realm where everyone is like him or her…except in this case, they can’t ever return to the muggle human world, because staying behind equals death. I actually kinda like this premise, and if handled right, could be an interesting shot in the arm for the X-Men franchise. [Bleeding Cool]
Bill Jemas Is Banking On Zombie Fever For His Double Take Imprint
Bill Jemas, along with Joe Quesada and Brian Michael Bendis, helped save Marvel in the early 2000s with the creation of the Ultimate line of comics, modern takes on the classic characters that, for a while, outsold and were far more popular than the regular 616 Marvel universe versions. Jemas left Marvel a long time ago, but is now resurfacing with the launch of an all-new company called Double Take.
The line of Double Take titles launches in September with ten ongoing monthly series based on the classic George Romero movie Night of the Living Dead, which they are publishing under the banner of Ultimate Night of the Living Dead. (Jemas sure loves that Ultimate name.) Double Take also launched a Kickstarter campaign coinciding with the debut of their Ultimate Night of the Living Dead titles. For more details click on the following link: [Newsarama]
DC Rolling Out Hardcover Collections With DVD’s & Blu-rays This September
For the past decade or so, Warner Animation has been making a series of direct-to-video animated films based on DC Comics characters, many of which are based on seminal DC stories, even if only loosely so. Now DC Comics has announced new hardcover editions of some of their most famous stories in hardcover format, along with DVDs and Blu-rays of the movies they inspired.
Among the first batch: Batman: Black & White, packaged with the DVD/Blu-ray of Batman: Gotham Knight; Batman: Year One along with the animated version; The Death of Superman along with Superman: Doomsday; Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals with the animated 2009 Wonder Woman film; and JLA: Earth 2, along with Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths; and Justice League: Origin, paired with Justice League: War. Strangely absent are possibly the most faithful adaptations, New Frontier and The Dark Knight Returns. All are priced at $26.99 and should be out in all stores on September 1st. [Bleeding Cool]
Is This The Final Fate Of ’90s Green Lantern Kyle Rayner? (SPOILERS)
One of DC’s new post Convergence books is going to be a revival of their 1980s spacefaring team The Omega Men, and based on the previews images provided this week by DC, it looks like the first issue of the new series has former Green Lantern Kyle Rayner brutally executed on camera. Kyle Rayner was one of those characters who somehow snuck into the New 52 continuity, even if most of his adventures were erased (two of his more serious girlfriends didn’t even exist in the New 52, and other “third generation” heroes like Wally West and Connor Hawke just vanished). While this might be the last we see of Kyle Rayner in the New 52 Earth-0 continuity, I have a feeling a version of Kyle still exists out there in the Multiverse, somewhere where he’s hopefully not overshadowed by Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner. [Comic Book Resources]
James Tynion IV & Ming Doyle Leave DC’s Dark Universe Before It Even Comes Out
Batman: Eternal writer James Tynion IV and artist Ming Doyle have left the yet-to-debut DC Comics’ series Dark Universe, a rebranding of the Justice League Dark book, which was revealed by Tynion through a series of tweets. “Unfortunately, @mingdoyle and I had to step away from Dark Universe because of a few more pressing matters,” Tynion wrote via his Twitter account. “We ended up folding a lot of our ideas into our Hellblazer run which we are still very excited about and committed to. We look forward to seeing what DC does with the rest of the Dark line. And for fans to see what else the two of us have in store for 2015 and beyond!”
So does that mean Dark Universe is still a go, or will it quietly be shelved? Part of the reason that Justice League Dark relaunch was even going be given the title Dark Universe is because that was Guillermo del Toro’s name for his mystical DC heroes movie, but with that on the back burner (like most del Toro projects) the comic might be too. [Comic Book Resources]
The CBLDF Announces Comics Connector For Educators And Creators
Long gone are the days when educators frowned on comic books, and now many of them seeing them for that they are: a valuable teaching tool for kids. With that in mind, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has just announced Comics Connector, a resource that will help schools and libraries find comics creators who are willing to make appearances. According to the official description, “CBLDF’s Comics Connector is a directory resource that connects educators and librarians with creators, editors and other comics professionals who are able to provide classroom or library visits. More than 50 comics professionals in 12 states and one Canadian province have signed up with the Comics Connector so far, and more will be added each week.” Educators can view participating creators and creators can sign up for this free resource by visiting http://cbldf.org/
