The Marvel multiverse enters a new cycle as its biggest conflict begins once again. Anticipation for Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars grows with every new update. A little over a year before Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters, Marvel fans the flames with a new multiverse-themed comic book event that synergizes with the MCU’s most ambitious movies so far.
Written by Christos Gage, Battleworld #1 sees a new version of Secret Wars’ iconic patchwork universe take shape. Like its predecessors, it brings together heroes from various continuities, along with parts of their home worlds. Battleworld #1 arrives forty-one years after Marvel Comics’ original Secret Wars crossover and ten years after its critically acclaimed 2015 reboot.
Marvel Comics’ Battleworld isn’t a franchise-wide crossover event like previous Secret Wars crossovers, but it does take place somewhere in the Marvel multiverse, affecting several unconnected timelines.
A New Battleworld Is Created In The Marvel Multiverse
Battleworld #1; Written by Christos Gage; Art by Marcus To & Rachelle Rosenberg
Marvel Comics presents Battleworld #1 through the eyes of an older Hank Pym, who gets to meet a younger Janet van Dyne who’s the leader of her universe’s Avengers. Battleworld seems to be placing focus on long-overlooked eras of certain heroes, as Luke Cage sports his 1970s outfit and Carol Danvers wears her old Ms. Marvel costume. The most familiar face might be Spider-Man, who’s only months into his superhero career.
Hank Pym appears to be the only character who’s aware of all previous Battleworlds, acknowledging the multiversal crises created by the Beyonder, the Stranger, and Doctor Doom. However, Carol Danvers also seems to have experienced the events of at least the original Secret Wars given that she also addresses the Beyonder. Hank and Carol’s knowledge might become important later down the line.
Marvel’s New Battleworld Places The Spotlight On An Underrated Supervillain
Korvac Joins Doctor Doom & The Beyonder As A Multiversal Supervillain
In June, writer Christos Gage confirmed Battleworld’s main villain is Korvac, a cosmic supervillain who has gained godlike power but has never gotten close to achieving what the Beyonder, the Stranger, and Doctor Doom accomplished in Marvel’s Secret Wars events. After several deaths and resurrections, Korvac finally appears to set his sights on multiversal chaos, only with less prominent versions of iconic Marvel heroes as his victims.