Heroes Reborn and Future State Expose Marvel and DCs Biggest Problem

Heroes Reborn and Future State Expose Marvel and DC’s Biggest Problem

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Marvel and DC love their alternate universe stories, but they point to a huge problem with the Big Two: are comics companies afraid of change?

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Heroes Reborn and Future State Expose Marvel and DCs Biggest Problem

Both Marvel and DC’s premiere events of 2021 have revolved around massive alternate universes: Marvel’s Heroes Reborn, itself a quasi-reboot of a similar 1997 event, and DC’s Future State, which depicts various possible futures of the DC Universe. These stories and many similar tales offer writers (and readers) a way to explore characters in a way that would be impossible in mainline continuity — and therein lies the problem. Why are these stories — the ones that are set in alternative universes, timelines or are otherwise designated as separate — taking precedence over the main universes?

To be precise, this is not referring to one-shots or single-issue universes akin to Marvel’s What If? series, although those are a symptom of the larger problem. These are entire worlds created to tell large-scale stories, in particular Heroes Reborn, Future State, Flashpoint, and the entirely of Marvel’s Ultimate universe. These and other alternate universe stories let the writers run wild with hyper-imaginative ideas…but in many ways, these stories can and should be set in the mainline books. But that itself is another issue altogether — are comic books shackled by their own continuity?

Holy Convoluted Continuity, Batman!

Heroes Reborn and Future State Expose Marvel and DCs Biggest Problem

Comic books characters are infamous for their long histories that span decades in the real world, but somehow only a few years in-universe. Every so often, continuity is “reset” to bring the stories more in line with current events. Iron Man in his 1963 debut issue, for example, escaped from a Communist warlord in Vietnam; his origin was changed to the Gulf War in the ’90s and finally to Afghanistan a decade later. These different origin stories didn’t take place in different timelines or alternate universes — it was a “soft” reboot to update the character. Unfortunately, readers who grew up with Tony Stark in the ’60s would be confused whenever they saw a modern comic from the 2000s. This is just one example of characters with decades-spanning arcs that collectively point to another problem: how could characters grow if their origin kept resetting their ages as well?

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It’s no secret that maintaining the status quo in comics is necessary for comic characters to maintain their generation-spanning appeal. One fan’s Batman uses a rotary phone, another uses a cellphone, but both will always be roughly 25-30 years old. This is an unfortunate obstacle that stands in the way of any writer whenever they desire to change a character without years of growth behind them (and without said change being “reset” later). A solution (of sorts) would come in the alternate universe story — essentially giving the writer the chance to play in a large narrative sandbox of their own design. Over time, this device has only become more and more popular.

The Alternate Universe: Letting Writers Off The Leash

Heroes Reborn and Future State Expose Marvel and DCs Biggest Problem

The Marvel and DC concept of the Multiverse allows writers to create any story they desire, without the restrictions of decades of continuity — but more importantly, without expectations from readers. In the Ultimate Marvel imprint, characters’ origins were laid in stone, and editors made an admirable effort to have dead characters stay dead. This let writers explore a world in which Peter Parker had died and a new Spider-Man, Miles Morales, took over. Miles became a popular character in his own right — even 2019’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was pointedly his story — and he eventually transferred over to the “main” Marvel universe. But of course, in the main universe, Spider-Man had never died, and thus the “world without a Peter Parker” storyline was relegated to the “alternate reality” pile.

This leads to Heroes Reborn and Future State, universes that allow writers to take heroes in bold new directions. In Heroes Reborn, many Marvel heroes have drastically-changed stories: the Scarlet Witch has absorbed Quicksilver’s powers; Peter Parker was never bitten by a radioactive spider, and Stephen Strange, Carol Danvers and Tony Stark never became heroes. As such, the Marvel Universe in Heroes Reborn develops quite differently from the main titles. While Heroes Reborn revisits Marvel’s past, DC’s Future State jumps into the line’s future, or at least a set of potential futures ranging from 2025 to the end of time itself. In various issues of Future State, Gotham is run by a totalitarian police force, Shazam and Billy Batson become separate entities, and Superman is imprisoned on Warworld — and that’s just a sample. Unfortunately, readers are under no illusions that these futures are set in stone and that, for example, the dystopian Gotham of 2027 will be revisited six years from now. It’s not a promise of change. Future State and Heroes Reborn are full of changes…but the mainline books are not.

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The Alternate Universe: Change Without Change

Comic books, more than any other medium, thrive — nay, depend — on status quo. This narrative continuance makes sense if one views superheroes through the context of modern-day mythological figures: as no Greek god has ever permanently usurped Zeus’ position, so too will Bruce Wayne always be seen as the ur-Batman, no matter how many times he dies, retires, or is otherwise incapacitated. In currently DC Comics continuity, Superman’s son Jonathan Kent has taken up the mantle of his famous father; again, this is most likely temporary, because part of the power of myths (and perhaps comic books) stem from their seemingly-ageless and unchanging heroes. However, as much as popular convention demands the comparison, superheroes are decidedly not modern-day gods, at least not after the sea change of the Bronze Age of Comics in the 1970s.

Modern-day superheroes struggle with doubt, depression, guilt, sadness and loss — and they’re not any lesser for it; their ability to rise above those feelings is what makes them all the more powerful and admirable. If the characters in superhero stories are allowed to change, why not the stories themselves? This is perhaps the biggest problem with the proliferation of alternate universe stories: they ultimately change nothing in the main books. The larger continuity is entirely unaffected — and within that larger continuity, world-changing events (like Spider-Man’s public unmasking during the events of Civil War) are retconned barely a year later.

There is nothing inherently wrong with an alternate universe story. But Marvel and DC are making too many of them at the expense of meaningful change in the main comics. Heroes Reborn and Future State are only the latest two stories out of many. If readers desire change and growth from their characters, let it be seen in the main universes, where it counts.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/heroes-reborn-future-state-marvel-dc-alternate-universes/

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