The Marvel Mangaverse is a series of comic books published by Marvel Comics from 2000 to 2002, with a sequel, New Mangaverse, released in 2006.[1]
The series is set in an alternate universe to the Marvel universe, where its characters are drawn and portrayed in a manga-like style. Four volumes were published, with Volumes 1 and 2 being connected by a story arc featuring multiple Marvel characters and Volumes 3 and 4 having stories focusing on Spider-Man and an alternate version of Jean Grey, respectively.
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 has given the numerical designation of Marvel Mangaverse as Earth-2301. Most of the artwork for Volume 1 was shared between different artists, each of whom contributed to one issue, with book-ends by Ben Dunn, who also did the artwork for Volume 2. The artwork for the five issue miniseries New Mangaverse: The Rings of Fate was done by Tom Hanks.
Volume 1
The Avengers transform their Iron Avengers into the Ultimate Iron Man robot.
Three years prior to the story's events, Dr. Banner discovered the Negative Zone, a dimension containing vast amounts of energy, and was tricked by the terrorist organization HYDRA into building the Energy Well, a means of harvesting the energy to power a weapon of mass destruction. When the weapon was fired, it created a massive EMP that caused a twenty-four hour global blackout, killing thousands. During the crisis, Prince Namor of Atlantis led an invasion of the surface, but was stopped by Iron Man, who disappeared soon after. Tony Stark rescued Dr. Banner, who has gone insane, and suppressed his memories of his involvement in the incident using a Cerebral Driver. Various forces conspire to create a second Energy Well, resulting in the emergence of Dormammu on Earth, but he is defeated by the combined power of Thor and the other heroes. Serving Dormammu is a massive, Godzilla-like incarnation of the Hulk, separate from Banner, who Thor destroys after incarnating using Banner as a focus.
Tony Stark later returns, having been reduced to a head, in an advisory role to the Mangaverse incarnation of the Avengers. Iron Man also appears in the form of several large robots that combine into a larger mecha, which he calls Ultimate Ironman. Ultimate Ironman reappears in Volume 2, where it is destroyed in combat with T'Channa, sister of Black Panther and the second Mangaverse character to be known as Dr. Doom.
Characters
Iron Maiden (Antoinette "Toni" Stark) - A former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, sister of Tony Stark, and current owner of Stark Industries. Unlike her brother, Toni has made her identity public and opened defense contracts with the U.S. military. She is revealed in the final issue of Volume 1 to be in love with Bruce, and, along with him, ascends to another plane of existence at the conclusion.
Bruce Banner - A physicist who built the Energy Well, a portal to the Negative Zone, and was possessed by the Hulk after it malfunctioned. He is in love with Toni Stark, which she reciprocates, and, along with her, ascends to another plane of existence at the conclusion.[2]
Wasp - An employee of Stark Industries and the creator of W.A.S.P. (Winged Amplification Surge Plasma), which allows her to fly.
Hank Pym - A boy genius and rock star who helped Banner construct the Energy Well. He can control ants with his guitar.
Black Panther - The king of Wakanda, and a shaman who uses mystic arts to transform into various animal forms. Tigra is in love with him. In New Mangaverse: The Rings of Fate, he is implied to have been killed by the villains.
Storm - A weather-manipulating witch and leader of the X-Men. The villainous mutant Amanda Sefton was her friend until she attempted to resurrect the evil spirit Magnus. In X-Men: Ronin, she is briefly in a relationship with Forge, who is killed by Jean Grey. In New Mangaverse: The Rings of Fate, she and all other mutants, except for Wolverine, are stated to have been neutralized, implying that they were killed.
Doctor Strange - The Master of the Mystic Arts, whose assistant is Tigra. He watches over the world while researching new spells and has a rivalry with Baron Mordo. He is younger than his main counterpart, appearing to be in his 20s, and, like him, is implied to be trained as a medical doctor. He is killed in the first issue of New Mangaverse: The Rings of Fate.
Tigra - Doctor Strange's assistant, who was cursed into the form of a were-tiger and must perform a thousand good deeds for the curse to be broken. She is in love with Black Panther. In New Mangaverse: The Rings of Fate, she is encased in ice and dismembered.
The Hulk - Unlike other incarnations, where he is an alternate personality of Bruce Banner, he is a mystical spirit and servant of Dormammu who possessed Banner via the Energy Well. He is over 70 feet (21m) tall and resembles Godzilla.
Daimon Hellstrom and Johnny Blaze - Brothers who are Ghost Riders and sons of Satan. They become monster hunters and battle their evil sister Satana.
Omar Medina - A creation of Doctor Doom whose primary purpose was to assassinate Doctor Strange and bring his body to Alpha Labs.
Volume 2
Volume 2 continued the stories of the original series, which were later collected as the first graphic novel. It brings back the Mangaverse version of the Fantastic Four while introducing versions of Galactus, as a parasitic life form created by the Skrulls, The Watcher, a 13-year-old Captain Marvel, gigantic versions of four heralds of Galactus, and the Inhumans. An armored individual resembling Doctor Doom appears in the first few issues before becoming the main villain for the remainder of the series. Revealed to be the sister of Black Panther, he overwhelms the Avengers before being defeated by the combined efforts of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Tigra, and the Scarlet Witch, the sole surviving member of the Mangaverse Avengers.
The X-Men first appeared in the first series of one-shots, which were later compiled in Volume 1 of Marvel Mangaverse. Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Mirage and Jean Grey form the core of the group, with Rogue living with them but seemingly not being a member. In this version of the X-Men, Wolverine, who is Cyclops' brother, gathered the team rather than Xavier. He has white hair and a tattoo on his face as well as a set of metal claws, most likely adamantium, on his right hand, and a set of claws made of energy on his left hand. Wolverine caused Cyclops to lose one of his eyes, while it is implied that Cyclops caused Wolverine to lose one of his hands. Wolverine is also implied to have been in a relationship with Jean Grey, who began to favor Cyclops. Other X-Men characters appear in the story, most as forces for evil, including Beast, Amanda Sefton, Mystique, and Nightcrawler.
X-Men: Ronin
The story follows the X-Men and the Hellfire Club, who are battling due to the Hellfire Club's attempts to abduct Jean Grey and bring her into their group. During the story, Storm, who is not a witch but a mutant with power over weather like her main counterpart, falls in love with Forge. The Phoenix Force, which was briefly seen when Rogue tapped into it in Volume 1 of Mangaverse, becomes more important as Jean begins to develop Phoenix powers or is possessed by them. Charles Xavier is depicted as the leader of the Hellfire Club, putting him into direct opposition to the X-Men along with his daughters, Sage and Emma Frost. The X-Men are also opposed by the Sentinels, mecha piloted by humans that are later destroyed by Jean Grey's Phoenix powers. They are aided by Toad, who, as a former close friend of Xavier, is determined to destroy the Hellfire Club and bring him back to the X-Men.
The Punisher Mangaverse
In the story, written by Peter David and pencilled and inked by Lea Hernandez, The Punisher is a woman named Sosumi Brown who is the principal of a private school in Tokyo and operates from her base of operations hidden within the school. She fights against the Korean Skang Kee crime family, led by Skang Kee Ho. The Skang Kee family uses an oni named Oni Yew to try and stop her, but her sister, Hashi Brown, learns of her secret and obtains a cursed weapon that she uses to kill the oni and save her. In the story, it is explained that they were orphaned following the death of their parents in "a tragic pogo stick accident".
The Punisher of Marvel Mangaverse was part of the stories collected into Volume 1 of the Marvel Mangaverse graphic novels.
New Mangaverse: The Rings of Fate
MJ as Spider-Woman (with Peter). Cover to New Mangaverse #1. Art by Tommy Ohtsuka. This image also appears on the cover of the novel sized New Mangaverse graphic novel which collects the entire miniseries.
New Mangaverse: The Rings of Fate is the third sequel series to Volumes 1 and 2 of Marvel Mangaverse, and takes place some time after the events of Volume 2, Legend of the Spider-Clan, and X-Men: Ronin. Direct references are made to both Legend of the Spider-Clan and Mangaverse Volume 2, meaning that the series ignores the events of Spider-Man Family Featuring the Spider-Clan. The continuity of the story is later ignored in Spiderverse #2, which takes places after the events of the aforementioned single issue. This implies that the series is its own universe adjacent to the original Mangaverse series or to the Mangaverse Spider-Man series.
In the story, The Hand makes their first appearance in the Mangaverse, being responsible for the deaths of approximately 99% of the superhuman population of the Mangaverse and armed with the rings of The Mandarin. Elektra and Daredevil also make appearances; Elektra kills Daredevil before being killed by Carol Danvers, who takes a costume and shield that once belonged to Captain America.
Tony Stark returns and once again becomes Iron Man. He, along with Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Black Cat, Wolverine, Iron Man, the Human Torch, and the new Captain America, form a new group of Avengers and battle and defeat the Hand, along with a mind-controlled Sharon Carter. At the end of the series, the Black Cat is revealed to have been working alongside Nick Fury, who is implied to have orchestrated the decimation of the super-powered population. However, whether she is truly loyal to Fury or if he is actually Fury, who is assumed to be dead, is not confirmed.
New Mangaverse, though left open-ended, appears to have been intended as the finale for the Marvel Mangaverse, as most of its superhuman population was killed.
The Phoenix Force is a fictional entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, the Phoenix Force is famous for its central role in The Dark Phoenix Saga storyline, and is frequently linked to Jean Grey.
Cyclops is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and is a founding member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the comic book The X-Men. Cyclops is a member of a subspecies of humans known as mutants, born with superhuman abilities. Cyclops emits powerful beams of energy from his eyes and can only control the beams with the aid of special eyewear, which he must always wear. He is typically considered the first of the X-Men, a team of mutant heroes who fight for peace and equality between mutants and humans, and one of the team's primary leaders.
Wolverine is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, often in association with the X-Men. He is a mutant with animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, a powerful regenerative ability known as a healing factor, a skeleton reinforced with the unbreakable fictional metal adamantium, significantly delayed aging and a prolonged lifespan and three retractable claws in each hand. In addition to the X-Men, Wolverine has been depicted as a member of X-Force, Alpha Flight, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. The common depiction of Wolverine is multifaceted; he is portrayed at once as a gruff loner, susceptible to animalistic "berserker rages" despite his best efforts, while simultaneously being an incredibly knowledgeable and intelligent polyglot, strategist, and martial artist, partially due to his extended lifespan and expansive lived experiences. He has been featured in comic books, films, animation, and video games.
Sebastian Hiram Shaw is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He has been frequently depicted as an adversary of the X-Men.
Toad is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in The X-Men #4.
Emma Grace Frost is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne, the character first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #129. She belongs to a subspecies of humans called mutants who are born with superhuman abilities. Her mutation grants her high-level telepathic abilities and the power to turn into organic diamond. Emma Frost has evolved from a supervillain and foe of the X-Men to becoming a superhero and one of the team's most central members and leaders. The character has also been known as the White Queen and the Black King at various points in her history.
Laura Kinney is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Wolverine, whose codename she has also used, and the X-Men. The character was created by writer Craig Kyle for the X-Men: Evolution television series in 2003, before debuting in the NYX comic series in 2004. Since then she has headlined two six-issue miniseries written by Kyle and Christopher Yost, the X-23 (2010) one-shot and the 2010 X-23 ongoing series written by Marjorie Liu, the 2015 All-New Wolverine ongoing series by writer Tom Taylor, and the 2018 X-23 ongoing series by writer Mariko Tamaki. She will next headline in the ongoing series Laura Kinney: Wolverine, scheduled for release in December 2024, by writer Erica Schultz. Laura has also appeared in several team books such as Avengers Academy, New X-Men, X-Force, X-Men Red, X-Men, and NYX. The character also appears in other media from Marvel Entertainment.
"House of M" is a 2005 comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics, consisting of an eight-issue comic book limited series with a number of crossover tie-in books written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel. Its first issue appeared in June 2005 as a follow-up to the events of the Planet X and Avengers Disassembled storylines. The Scarlet Witch, her twin brother Quicksilver, and their father Magneto play major roles in the series. Like the Age of Apocalypse (1995–1996) storyline, House of M replaced the Earth-616 as the main reality for a brief time until Scarlet Witch reverted it to normal. The events of the storyline were later indicated to have occurred on Earth-58163.
The New Avengers are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The title has been used for four American comic book series. The first two were written by Brian Michael Bendis and depicted a version of Marvel's premiere superhero team, the Avengers. The third was written by Jonathan Hickman and depicted a group of characters called the Illuminati. The fourth is written by Al Ewing and depicts the former scientific terrorist group A.I.M., reformed as "Avengers Idea Mechanics", whose field team has appropriated the name "New Avengers" for itself.
Earth X is a 1999 comic book limited series published by American company Marvel Comics. Earth X was written by Jim Krueger with art by John Paul Leon. Based on Alex Ross' notes, the series features a dystopian version of the Marvel Universe.
The Hood is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Brian K. Vaughan, and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell, the character was introduced in his own self-titled limited series, which started with Hood #1. Robbins was originally a petty criminal, until an encounter with a Nisanti demon, which he defeated and robbed of its hood and boots, gaining superpowers in the process, such as levitation and invisibility. As "the Hood", he became a well-known figure in the New York City criminal underworld, and eventually formed his own crime syndicate.
"Ultimatum" is a 2009 comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics under its Ultimate Marvel imprint. It consists of a core five-issue eponymous miniseries written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by David Finch that was published from January to September 2009, and a number of tie-in books. The storyline deals with Magneto's attempts to destroy the world following the apparent deaths of his children, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in The Ultimates 3.
Old Man Logan is an alternative version of the fictional character Wolverine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. This character is an aged version of Wolverine set in an alternate future universe designated Earth-807128, where the supervillains overthrew the superheroes. Introduced as a self-contained story arc within the Wolverine ongoing series by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven, the character became popular with fans. After the death of Wolverine, Laura Kinney took the Wolverine mantle but an Old Man Logan from the similar Earth-21923 was brought in to serve as an X-Man and featured in his own ongoing series.
Dark Reign is a 2008 to 2009 comic book branding used by Marvel Comics. It deals with the aftermath of the "Secret Invasion" storyline, which resulted in a shift of power in the Marvel Universe toward Norman Osborn. The title refers to Osborn's rise to national power and the ramifications thereof. Joe Quesada, then-editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, stated that "Dark Reign is not really an event, it's what's happening in the Marvel Universe." He believes that "Dark Reign leads to an interesting place in the Marvel Universe. I think you'll see a pulling back at the end of Dark Reign, but you'll understand at the end of it what we were trying to get to."
Marvel Anime is a 2010 Japanese superhero anime television series by Madhouse and is based on the Marvel Comics universe. It is an anthology collection consisting of four twelve-episode animated series and two direct-to-video films. The entire series notably depicts Iron Man, Wolverine, Blade, and the members of the X-Men going to Japan.
Wolverine and the X-Men is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics between 2011 and 2015. The title features the character Wolverine in his role as the headmaster of Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, the students of the school, and various members of the mutant superhero team, the X-Men, who serve as professors of the school.
Avengers vs. X-Men is a 2012 crossover event that was featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The event, consisting of an eponymous limited series and numerous tie-in books, involves the return of the Phoenix Force and the subsequent war between the Avengers and the X-Men. The 12-issue twice-monthly series was first published in April 2012, and features a storyline by Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman and Matt Fraction, with a rotating team of artists including John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel and Adam Kubert.
All-New X-Men was a comic book series published by Marvel Comics that debuted in November 2012, with the launch of Marvel NOW! The series centers on the five original X-Men, brought from the past to the present to confront their future counterparts. The series replaces Uncanny X-Men vol. 2 as the flagship book of the X-Men franchise.
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