Marvel 2099
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Marvel 2099 is a Marvel Comics imprint, begun in 1993, that explores one possible future of the Marvel Universe. It was originally announced by Stan Lee in his Stan's Soapbox column as a single series entitled The Marvel World of Tomorrow which was being developed by Lee and John Byrne. This later changed to a line of books under the banner Marvel 2093 (the date being one hundred years from the year in which the titles launched) before finally being published as Marvel 2099. Futuristic versions of many existing characters were featured in titles that began with Spider-Man 2099, The Punisher 2099, Doom 2099, and Ravage 2099. While the former three titles were futuristic revamps of existing Marvel characters, the latter, Ravage 2099, was about an all-new superhero, scripted for several months in a rare, latter-day effort by Stan Lee. The 2099 line soon expanded to include X-Men 2099, Ghost Rider 2099, Hulk 2099, Fantastic Four 2099, and X-Nation 2099.
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[edit] Setting and publication history
The world of 2099 is a cyberpunk dystopia, similar to the world of Blade Runner. North America is a corporate police state ruled by a few huge megacorps, most notably Alchemax, which owns the private police force Public Eye, which primarily punishes criminals' bank accounts. There are, prior to the launch of the comics, no super-heroes in this world, and the previous heroes are mythologized; there is even a Church of Thor. The present-day Marvel continuity is referred to as an "Age of Heroes" that abruptly ended in a catastrophe a century before (and apparently set society back as well).
The initial universe began with Spider-Man 2099, Ravage 2099, Doom 2099, and The Punisher 2099 being launched in subsequent months. Peter David wrote Spider-Man for the bulk of the series, and it was consistently the most popular series; it satirized corporations, with Spider-Man constantly clashing with Alchemax, which employed him and was run by his father. Stan Lee wrote the first eight issues of Ravage as an extremely political story about corruption, corporate pollution (Ravage also worked for Alchemax), and the environment; after Lee left, he was replaced by a series of writers, who failed to provide consistent direction for the book. Doom, believing himself to be the true Doctor Doom, began a lengthy quest to re-conquer Latveria. The Punisher largely dealt with corporate crimes and people who were rich enough to buy their way out of any other punishment.
Fans requested further titles, and Marvel provided X-Men 2099. They also introduced a Hulk 2099 in the series 2099 Unlimited, which featured occasional Spider-Man stories, as well as early work by Warren Ellis. The comics have a strong degree of innerconnectivity that reminded readers of early Marvel Comics. Much of this was due to Joey Cavalieri, the editor. The only explicit crossover of the 2099 universe detailed a plot by the corporations to ressurect the god Thor, now a religious icon, to divert attention away from the anti-corporate super-heroes.
The 2099 series expanded to include Ghost Rider 2099, about virtual reality, seemingly owing a great debt to William Gibson's work. Hulk 2099 was also given a brief chance at his own series. As sales began to flag on all titles besides Spider-Man and X-Men, Marvel commissioned ideas from various writers, including a proposal by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, before accepting Warren Ellis's bold idea. Based on the recent revelation that Doom 2099 was, in fact, Victor Von Doom, Ellis proposed that Doom take over the United States. Each title was adjusted, with "A.D." ("After Doom") added after 2099. Doom's iron fist allowed Marvel to clean house; Hulk, Ravage and The Punisher were all cancelled under this reign. In-universe, Doom killed the first two, and sent The Punisher into exile in space (after briefly putting The Punisher in charge of all crime prosecution and punishment).
When Marvel, during a cost-cutting exercise, fired Cavalieri in 1996, many of the 2099 creators (including Peter David and Warren Ellis) quit the line in protest. Floundering, two additional titles were launched: X-Nation 2099, to capitalize on the sales of X-Men 2099; and Fantastic Four 2099, featuring characters who were apparently just the present day Fantastic Four accidentally sent into the future.
Around this time, Doom 2099 became the only 2099 comic to crossover with a present-day Marvel comic when he travelled back to 1996 and met Namor, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four, in a story partially told in Fantastic Four #412. Spider-Man 2099 met Spider-Man in a special one-shot issue, making them the only characters to meet their counterparts.
After sales sunk, the 2099 world was largely destroyed in a flood. Every title was cancelled, replaced by a single comic entitled 2099: World of Tomorrow, featuring surviving characters from all the titles. This lasted only eight issues before being cancelled.
The 2099 line was concluded with a one-shot, 2099: Manifest Destiny (Mar. 1998), in which Captain America was found in suspended animation and, with Miguel O'Hara, assembled various 2099 heroes into a new team of Avengers. The story summarised the years from 2099 to 3099, with humanity transforming the corporate world of 2099 into utopia and then expanding into space.
The 2099 world has been seen occasionally since, most notably in Peter David's "Future Tense" storyline in Captain Marvel, which revisits both Spider-Man 2099 and the alternate future of the Maestro that David created in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, explaining a plot point which had been left dangling since David had abruptly left Spider-Man.
In 2004, writer Robert Kirkman wrote a series of one-shot comics for the fifth anniversary of the Marvel Knights imprint, under the heading Marvel Knights 2099. The future portrayed in this series is unconnected to the original 2099 Universe, complete with a different Punisher 2099.
In 2005, the Exiles visited a reality similar to 2099 in Exiles #75-76 as part of their "World Tour". This future had split apart from mainstream 2099 fairly early, as Doom 2099 has not yet met Spider-Man 2099. In this 2099 approximation, the Exiles picked up Spider-Man 2099, who has now joined the Exiles in a surprise return to mainstream Marvel comics.
In 2005, the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe one-shot involving alternate universes designated the Earth of 2099 as Earth-928, with Marvel Knights 2099 designated as Earth-2992. A cover of a second printing from the Spider-Man crossover The Other: Evolve or Die features the Miguel O'Hara Spider-Man.
[edit] Series and 1-shots in the 2099 imprint
| Title | Issue 1 date | Final issue # | Final issue date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2099 A.D. | May 1995 | 1 | May 1995 |
| 2099 A.D. Apocalypse | December 1995 | 1 | December 1995 |
| 2099 A.D. Genesis | January 1996 | 1 | January 1996 |
| 2099 Manifest Destiny | March 1998 | 1 | March 1998 |
| 2099 Sketchbook | September 1999 | 1 | September 1999 |
| 2099 Unlimited | July 1993 | 10 | October 1995 |
| 2099 Special: The World of Doom | May 1995 | 1 | May 1995 |
| 2099: World of Tomorrow' | September 1996 | 8 | April 1997 |
| Doom 2099 | January 1993 | 44 | August 1996 |
| Fantastic Four 2099 | January 1996 | 8 | August 1996 |
| Ghost Rider 2099 | May 1994 | 25 | May 1996 |
| Hulk 2099 | December 1994 | 10 | September 1995 |
| Punisher 2099 | February 1993 | 34 | November 1995 |
| Ravage 2099 | December 1992 | 33 | August 1995 |
| Spider-Man 2099 | November 1992 | 46 | August 1996 |
| Spider-Man 2099 Annual | 1994 | 1 | 1994 |
| Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man | November 1995 | 1 | November 1995 |
| Spider-Man 2099 Special | November 1995 | 1 | November 1995 |
| X-Men 2099 | October 1993 | 35 | August 1996 |
| X-Men 2099: Oasis | August 1996 | 1 | August 1996 |
| X-Men 2099 Special | October 1995 | 1 | October 1995 |
| X-Nation 2099 | March 1996 | 6 | August 1996 |
[edit] Heroes
[edit] Solo protagonists
- Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara)
- Doom (Victor Von Doom)
- Punisher (Jake Gallows)
- Ravage (Paul-Phillip Ravage)
- Ghost Rider (Kenshiro "Zero" Cochrane)
- Hulk (John Eisenhart)
[edit] X-Men 2099
- Xi'an Chi Xan
- Cerebra (Shakti Hadad)
- Skullfire (Timothy Sean Fitzgerald)
- Bloodhawk (Lemuel Krugg)
- Krystalin (Krystalin Porter Ogada)
- La Lunatica
- Metalhead (Eddie Van Beethoven)
- Meanstreak (Henri Huang)
- Junkpile (very brief membership)
- Serpentina
[edit] X-Nation 2099
[edit] Fantastic Four 2099
- Mister Fantastic (double of Reed Richards)
- Invisible Woman (double of Sue Storm)
- Human Torch (double of Johnny Storm)
- Thing (double of Ben Grimm)
[edit] Other heroes
- Captain America (an impostor posing as Steve Rogers)
- Freakshow (Mama Hurricane, Breakdown, Rosa, Metalhead, Psyclone, Contagion, Tantrum, and Dominic)
- Galahad
- Lachryma 2099
- Metalscream
- Net Prophet (John Roger Tensen, aka Justice)
- Shield 2099
- Steel Rain
- Thor (Reverend Cecil McAdams)
[edit] Villains
- The Architect (Ryu Kobolt)
- Avatarr
- Brimstone Love
- Discord
- Fearmaster (Darryl Smith)
- Fever
- Flipside
- Goblin
- Glitterspike
- Gearbox
- Halloween Jack (a.k.a. Loki; later traveled to the present in the pages of X-Force)
- The Lawless (Xi'an Chi Xan, Victor Ten Eagles, Junkpile, Haiku, and Preacher)
- Master Zhao and the Chosen (Jack, Psycho-K, Frosbite, Wingspan, and Monster)
- Multi-Fractor/Jig-Saw
- The Norns (Felicity, Bliss, Euphoria)
- The Rat Pack (The Dealer, The Suicide Master, Mister Entertainment)
- The Shadow Dancer
- The Specialist
- The Synge Family (Noah, Lytton, and Desmonda)
- Thanatos (Aaron Delgato possessed by an alternate-reality version of Rick Jones)
- Tyler Stone
- Venom (Kron Stone)
- Venture
- Vulture
[edit] Mega-Corporations
- Alchemax (Avatarr is CEO and Tyler Stone is VP)
- Stark-Fujikawa (formerly Tony Stark's Stark Enterprises)
- Synthia
- D/MONIX (Data Manipulation and Organization Networks)
- ECO Corp. (Ravage is CEO)
- Nevada Syndicate
- Cyber-Nostra
- Ninja-Nostra
[edit] Marvel Knights 2099 heroes
- Black Panther
- Daredevil (Eric Nelson)
- Mutant 2099 (Chad Channing)
- The Inhumans
- The Punisher (Cassondra Castle)
