Posted in: Comics, Current News, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man, X-Men | Tagged: hellfire gala, marvel, mary jane watson, spider-man, x-men

Mary Jane Watson Looks Very Much Alive In July's X-Men's Hellfire Gala

Wwe note that on the Hellfire Gala cover for Amazing Spider-Man in Julywe have Felicia Hardy and a very-much-alive Mary Watson.

Published Thu, 20 Apr 2023 05:57:13 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Tue, 25 Apr 2023 03:25:29 -0500

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In his Substack newsletter, Gerry Duggan talks about the origins of the X-Men's Hellfire Gala, the annual X-Men event that drives both fashion and storylines forward in one fell swoop. And they're doing it for a third time in July. And we note that on the Hellfire Gala cover for Amazing Spider-Man in July we have Felicia Hardy and a very-much-alive Mary Watson. Which does seem to fight against Marvel's teasing of a Mary Jane Watson death in May…

"In the wake of House Of X and Powers of X a lot changed for the X-Men very quickly. Emma Frost has found herself holding almost every position in the soap opera. In the Krakoan age of mutant solidarity she had real power. A telepath, a captain of industry and she was a member of the ruling council of the young mutant nation. It made good sense that Frost would not hold a typical state dinner for Mutantdom's coming out party. No, something more fabulous would be in order. The Hellfire Gala was, I thought an original idea. And we were amazed to find that of course, Chris Claremont and John Bolton had an eight page story in Classic X-Men at a Hellfire Gala. (It was too good not to reprint in Marauders 21) When we have ideas that we can "blow out" we need to bring them to the editorial retreats. The Hellfire Gala was going to happen in the pages of Marauders, the question was — did it make sense for the rest of the line to stop what they were doing and attend a party."

"In February of 2020 the entire X-Office attended C2E2 in Chicago and afterwards we stayed a few days to hold a summit. It was a great summit, and our only summit with an omelette bar. We cemented a lot of plans, many of which saw print unchanged. Planet Size X-Men and the Hellfire Gala as a line wide "event" were both ratified. Asking our artists to dunk on human fashion was easy to do when you're working with the best artists. Russell Dauterman took the simplest prompt "Storm wears a weather system?" and then took off from the free-throw line, dunked and took the backboard down. It was good business for the writers to give our artists the wheel in a fashion-forward event. The designs became covers, those became cosplay, and the rest is X-Men history. We knew in the room before anything had even been sketched that we had a winning idea. The cosplay actually arrived before the comics, and in the years since Hellfire Gala has become something of a phenomenon."

"The Hellfire Gala wasn't just a chance to let the artists flex, for me it was very effective camouflage for Planet Size X-Men, one of the in-world reasons for the party. Mutants had an announcement to make. Mars was terraformed and claimed. Almost nobody asked what PSX # 1 was because the art for the rest of the books was outrageously good. It was perfect, we hated talking about story anyway. If we're asking you to pay money, we don't want to tell you a thing, or we'll lie to you to make you go away. The shape of X Of Swords would more or less be remade after the retreat, but that's because the world was being remade by COVID-19. X Of Swords was reshaped after the retreat and it remains one of my favorite collaborations. At the end of the event there would be millions more mutants on Earth, and the terraforming of Mars was actually an act of love by the Omega Mutants. Love for their mutant cousins coming home from war, and love of humanity. Adding millions more mutants to Earth would not exactly make Earth more livable."

"The Hellfire Gala was also conceived to nourish the other parts of the business that need our sweet comic book R&D. The designs set new land speed records as they made their way into the toys and games. This summer Disney's even throwing a Hellfire Gala at San Diego Comic Con. We're about to solicit the 2023 Hellfire Gala for stores to order. So, what's this one about? We're not saying. But I will threaten you:"

"You're going to need to pre-order this comic, and the ones that spin out from it. I think folks will be hard-pressed to pick their most shocking moment. You're also going to want to add The Invincible Iron Man to your pull-list."

This summer's Hellfire Gala will be a night of shocking revelations, stunning betrayals, horrifying tragedy… and of course, the most glamourous looks of the year! Super hero high fashion will once again be on full display as the biggest players in the Marvel Universe gather to see the debut of this year's X-Men lineup and witness mutantkind's bold next steps. Throughout July, fans can see some of this year's most stylish looks in all-new HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVERS! The new collection of covers feature the industry's hottest artists flexing their talents with jaw dropping designs that combine real fashion trends with classic super hero aesthetics, powers, and personality! Year after year, these dazzling covers prove that when it comes to best dressed, Marvel's heroes top of the list!

While the Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, and more may look their very best, the slaying won't be limited to the Green Carpet this year… Written by Gerry Duggan alongside an all-star lineup of artists including Kris Anka, Joshua Cassara, Russell Dauterman, Adam Kubert, Pepe Larraz, R.B. Silva, and Luciano Vecchio, X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA 2023 #1 will be a giant-sized one-shot that propels mutantkind into an unpredictable era known as FALL OF X. What deadly shockwaves are in store this year and how will it lead to Krakoa's possible doom? Stay tuned for more news about X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA #1.

On Sale 7/5

CAPTAIN AMERICA #750 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY CF VILLA
CAPTAIN MARVEL: DARK TEMPEST #1 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY JEN BARTEL
DAREDEVIL #13 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY JAVIER GARRÓN
DOCTOR STRANGE #5 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY DUSTIN NGUYEN
FANTASTIC FOUR #9 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY OSCAR VEGA
SPIDER-MAN #10 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY STEPHANIE HANS
THOR ANNUAL #1 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY DAVID MARQUEZ
VENOM #22 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY JOSHUA CASSARA
X-MEN #24 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY MAHMUD ASRAR
X-MEN: BEFORE THE FALL – SINISTER FOUR #1 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY MICHELE BANDINI

On Sale 7/12

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #29 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY DAVID NAKAYAMA
IMMORTAL X-MEN #13 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY LUCIANO VECCHIO
MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #8 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY BERNARD CHANG
MOON KNIGHT #25 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY W. SCOTT FORBES
X-FORCE #43 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY CARLOS GÓMEZ
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST – DOOMSDAY #1 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY ERICA D'URSO

On Sale 7/19

BLACK PANTHER #2 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY MATEUS MANHANINI
GHOST RIDER #16 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY GERALD PAREL
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #4 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY LEE GARBETT
WOLVERINE #35 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY MAHMUD ASRAR
X-MEN RED #13 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY JAMIE MCKELVIE

On Sale 7/26

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #30 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY BETSY COLA
AVENGERS #3 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY DAVID BALDEÓN
DEADPOOL #9 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY NICK DRAGOTTA
HALLOWS' EVE #5 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY BENGAL
INCREDIBLE HULK #2 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY BRYAN HITCH
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #8 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY KRIS ANKA
STORM #3 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY RUSSELL DAUTERMAN
ULTIMATE INVASION #2 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY LUCAS WERNECK
X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA 2023 #1 HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY MASHAL AHMED