Marvel Is Redefining Its Timeline, Revealing the 85th Century of the Marvel Universe

Summary Marvel 85th Anniversary Special will reveal the Marvel Universe's 85th century, where iconic heroes have passed into myth.

A cosmic museum will be the focus of a series of anthology stories, revealing the legends that Marvel heroes left behind.

Kaare Andrews' cover suggests Ms. Marvel, Nightcrawler, Deadpool, Spider-Man, Captain Britain and Wolverine will feature.

To celebrate 85 years of its massive shared universe, Marvel is publishing the Marvel 85th Anniversary Special, revealing the far future of your favorite superheroes. Coming this August, the one-shot comic will be an anthology issue showing how Marvel's heroes are remembered in the distant future, while also setting up major plot beats for upcoming stories.

In a recent reveal, Marvel has announced the giant-size comic, coming this August. The publisher confirms that stories will expand the Marvel mythos and include a story featuring Ms. Marvel, with Kaare Andrews' cover also depicting X-Men's Nightcrawler, Deadpool, Spider-Man, Captain Britain and Wolverine.

Marvel 85th Anniversary Special (2024) Release Date: August 28, 2024 Writers: Ryan North, Alan Davis, Christopher Priest, Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, Steve Skroce & More Artists: Alan Davis, Steve Skroce, Josh Cassara, Stephen Byrne, Kaku Yuji, & Carlo Pagulayan Cover Artist: Kaare Andrews In the far future, exploits of the heroes of the Marvel Age are the stuff of legend - half remembered, but still celebrated! Come with us now on a tour of the greatest museum in all the cosmos, in which the few surviving relics of those bygone days have been assembled. Each piece tells a unique story - about the Contest of Champions and how it wrought an end to the Age of Heroes, about the greatest triumph of Ms. Marvel, and the final, secret exploit of Excalibur! And more!

One thing that's likely to excite fans is that Marvel 85th Anniversary Special will place a huge amount of prominence on a future version of the Contest of Champions - an iconic, repeated event where all Marvel's heroes compete in gladiatorial combat. Setting this event up as the end of the 'Age of Heroes' (Marvel's current era, following 2008's Dark Reign) suggests that fans could be getting a Contest of Champions IIII sometime soon.

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Marvel Exposes the Secrets of the 85th Century

The Marvel Universe Celebrates 85 Years with Anniversary Issue

Marvel is no stranger to looking ahead in its timeline, with imprints like Marvel 2099 revealing one path the future could take. However, the 85th Century is a gigantic jump forward, and a great opportunity to seed ideas for upcoming stories. Marvel compares the upcoming anthology to the recent Marvel Age #1000, which set up plot threads leading to some of Marvel's best stories of the past few years. It's likely that Marvel 85th Anniversary Special will not just do the same, but also signal which characters and franchises Marvel is focused on emphasizing to readers in the next few years.

To that end, the inclusion of Captain Britain on Kaare Andrews' cover will be exciting to fans of Brian Braddock, who hasn't held the title in years, having passed it to his sister Betsy. Rumors have constantly swirled that Marvel has plans to introduce Captain Britain in the MCU, and it seems Marvel 85th Anniversary Special will only add fuel to that fire.

It's always fun to see one of Marvel's possible futures, gaining a new perspective on the epic adventures and final legacies of its heroes. Marvel has long celebrated its past by looking to the future, but this time it's taking that to the extreme, revealing the mind-blowing reality of the 85th Century.

Marvel 85th Anniversary Special is coming from Marvel August 28.

Source: Marvel