What Is Marvel Comics’ Upcoming ‘Armageddon’?

The Marvel Universe is about to face a war to end all wars, and it begins next summer.

Announced last week with a teaser by the event’s writer Chip Zdarsky, Armageddon hits the Marvel Universe next June. Yeah, that seems like a long ways away, and it is. But it’s kind of nice to see Marvel saying “all these parts are building to something specific.”

But what is Armageddon? Here’s some educated guesses.

The Origin Boxes

Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion ended. The Ultimate Marvel Universe is ending in April. Armageddon picks up in June. And the through line between those three is the Origin Boxes — the Maker-curated, Stark-designed technology that empowered characters like Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Hawkeye and more in Earth-6160.

From the looks of it, someone gets their hands on an Origin Box (or several) and endangers the Marvel Universe. That’s bad.

Now, I’m not going to get too deep into the supposed ending of the Ultimate Universe. Yes, that’s what Marvel is saying, but remember when they said that Otto Octavius was permanently going to be living in Peter Parker’s head, no take-backs?

However, the Origin Boxes are a fascinating bit of Marvel Universe tech. Each box contains some sort of catalyst that “creates” the heroes we know and love, as well as relevant gear, equipment and other technology that the different heroes use. The fact that we’ve seen so few of them sort of points to limitless options for what they mean for the Prime Marvel Universe.

So far, only about ten have been confirmed used: Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Power Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, Falcon, Cloak, USAgent and maybe Shocker (I can’t think of a tech-based hero with similar powers and would to re-read the first arc of Ultimate Spider-Man to remind myself if they stated whose powers Shocker stole). From what we saw on-panel in USM: Incursion Miles brought at least eight back into the Prime Universe, and they’re not those ten, or any of the eight or so superhero catalysts that Emmanuel DaCosta used at the climax of Incursion (which honestly all such generic powers that they could be anyone).

That means there will be anywhere from one to about ten superpowered individuals with the powers, equipment and abilities of Marvel’s greatest heroes and none of the history. And there are some scary abilities in play, such as the Nega-Bands, Quantum Bands, Bruce Banner’s blood, Dagger’s abilities, Scott Lang’s Ant-Man suit, variations on the supersoldier serum and much much more.

Assemble

Reading the press release, this is clearly an Avengers-centered event. Even if it didn’t say it was changing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes forever, there’s multiple references to the catchphrase of Avengers Assemble, pointing to Avengers Disassembled as a comparison, and talking about Zdarsky setting the stage in his current Captain America.

All that points to this being the launching point for the next era of Avengers after the upcoming conclusion of Jed MacKay’s Avengers volume coming next spring. And just like Disassembled, it appears that the event’s writer is in the driver’s seat for this new era.

Honestly, that tracks. Zdarsky’s Avengers Twilight was extremely well received, and he’s clearly being elevated into an architect type role for the Marvel Universe with his upcoming work. Also, let’s be real, his Captain America is the best the title has been since Ed Brubaker was writing the title. Who wouldn’t love to see that touch on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? And you just know that Zdarsky would bring some creativity to the team’s line-up not seen since Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers World.

Just who is the masked silhouetted man anyways?

The Marvel Universe simply does not have many capes. There’s Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, the Vision, sometimes Scarlet Witch … But none of them match the silhouette of the mystery figure in the teaser.

That narrows it down significantly.

There’s only two characters I can think of that matches that silhouette, and honestly, they’re both a very interesting possibility: Hyperion and the Sentry (though Sentry often has longer hair or a cowl … it still matches). Hyperion — a Superman pastiche from Squadron Supreme — has popped up in multiple different versions all over the Marvel multiverse. It’s a distinct possibility that would be a fun as hell mega-villain for the Marvel Universe. And Sentry, also a Superman pastiche, is typically a good guy with a dark other called the Void (who in his MCU debut was literally a silhouette come to life). Also, a very interesting possibility, though currently dead.

The other possibility is someone new, granted incredible power by an Origin Box. And that’s scary.

KIMOTA!

Look, Marvel Comics has been teasing Mickey Moran coming to Earth-616 since they bought the character. Whether he’s coming from the multiverse or is an Earth-616 version, eventually we’re going to see Marvelman/Miracleman pop up. Is it going to be here? I don’t know. Zdarsky hasn’t shown any particular affinity for the character. But I can’t look at a universe redefining story without considering the possibility.

Armageddon begins in June 2026, but the countdown begins now. Watch for more news about this event over the next … eight months!