Posted in: Comics, Comics, Comics Publishers, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: tom brevoort, ultimate

When Tom Brevoort Planned His Own Ultimate Universe – Brave New World

When Tom Brevoort planned his own Ultimate Universe as a result of John Byrne's Spider-Man: Chapter One and called it Brave New World

Ultimate Marvel was an imprint of comic books featuring reimagined and modernised versions of the company's superhero characters. It was launched in 2000 with Ultimate Spider-Man and was run by Marvel publisher Bill Jemas. It did rather well. But it seems that Marvel editor Tom Brevoort had already pitched something similar a few years earlier to EIC Bob Harras, who was also EIC when the Ultimate line began. Posting on his Substack newsletter yesterday, Brevoort recalled that it;

"probably had something to do with John Byrne's either upcoming or then-being-published SPIDER-MAN: CHAPTER ONE and the conversation surrounding it."

That series retold Spider-Man's origins and made a few changes along the way, including Doctor Octopus working the same lab, now owned by Norman Osborn, that saw Peter Parker get his radioactive spider-bite. Tom continued;

"I know for a fact that my suggestion about creating a story that would wind up with a 'Great Divide" that would establish a new parallel continuity was an attempt on my part to insure that the classic Marvel Universe that I loved was not impacted by sweeping retcons in the manner of that CHAPTER ONE project. Regardless, it's interesting to see this after all this time, especially given that what I suggest here came to pass a short while later in the form of Bill Jemas' Ultimate Universe (though without an Event to set things up.)"

And he includes the memo sent to Harras…

From: TOM BREVOORT

To: BOB HARRAS
Re: BRAVE NEW WORLD
After our meeting last Friday, I kicked around a few more ideas over the weekend. Here's what I came up with:
We begin with a major Marvel Universe event, which I've dummy-named GREAT DIVIDE. This would be a large scale Crisis/Zero Hour type storyline, in which the whole of the Marvel Universe is imperiled. (We could even use this event to clear away some of the deadwood that the MU has accumulated over the years, such as the Marvel UK stuff or the Ultraverse.) At the conclusion of this event, a secondary continuum would be formed, sheared off from the regular Marvel U. (Perhaps in some manner involving whatever is left of the HR pocket universe, if there's any mileage to be gained by that.)
Following this event, we'd premiere four to six new titles set in this new universe, featuring new but more classic versions of those characters who may have drifted the furthest from their roots: AMAZING FANTASY, featuring Spider-Man, AMAZING ADVENTURES, featuring the X-Men, TALES TO ASTONISH featuring the Hulk, TALES OF SUSPENSE featuring Iron Man, STRANGE TALES featuring Doctor Strange, and perhaps one new title devoted to an all-new character.
The take on these characters would be that they would gain their powers in 1998/1999, and we would follow their adventures from this point forward, without the cumbersome continuity the main books have built up over the years. The core concepts and names would be the same, but everything else would be up for grabs. So, the Hulk is scientist Bruce Banner who transforms into a green-skinned creature when enraged, but everything else is up for grabs. Iron Man is Tony Stark, who must wear his iron armor to survive. Spider-Man is a teen-ager blessed and cursed with his spidery powers. And so forth.
These versions would be updated for the 90s in terms of the visual look of the strip, and the environment, but would retain the classic elements that made the characters human and identifiable in their 1960s incarnations. But in this way, we could play both to and against expectation. Perhaps it's Aunt May, rather than Uncle Ben, that the burglar kills. And so forth. If there's any "get" to it, we could invite big-name artists to redesign the core visuals for these concepts, much in the same way Marvel Vision has been doing with its Timeslip feature. So our new X-Men team could be visualized by Jim Lee, etc.
These titles would represent a self-contained universe aimed at our 9-13 year old core audience, similar to the smaller-scale Marvel Universe of the 60s. The mandate for these books would stress single issue and two-part stories over long-running epics. We'd employ a graphically-distinct cover design to differentiate these titles from the other, classic Marvel Universe books.
Eventually, this universe could be a spawning ground for follow-up events, such as inevitable crossover between the two universes (similar to the JLA/JSA crossovers of the 60s)

It was not to be… but then it was. And it now may be again…

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