Marvel Celebrates 50,000th Comic With 85th Anniversary Special (Exclusive)

Get a preview of Marvel’s greatest heroes set in the year 50,000.

August 22, 2024, 4:49pm

Cover of Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1

Marvel Comics is going big for the publication of its 50,000th comic book. The first comic tied to Marvel actually goes back to 1939 and the release of Marvel Comics #1 from pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman’s Timely Comics, which is the predecessor of today’s Marvel Comics. Since then, fans have been amazed by the adventures of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Avengers, and many more. We’re coming up on the 85th anniversary of the comic’s release, and Marvel has assembled an all-star cast of creators to tell stories set in the far future of the year 50,000.

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ComicBook has the exclusive preview of Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1 featuring sneak peeks at six stories: an opening featuring Deadpool and Wolverine by Ryan North, Joshua Cassara, and Dean White; “The Herald of Tomorrow” by Ms. Marvel actress and writer Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, and Stephen Byrne; an Excalibur story “Is the Lighthouse Haunted or Are We at the Nexus of an Infinite Multiverse?” by Alan Davis and Rachelle Rosenberg; “Rush Hour” Spider-Man story by Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, and Morry Hollowell; “The Moon Warrior” by Yuji Kaku and Ken Kunita; and “The Contest of Champions” by Steve Skroce and Bryan Valenza. The special one-shot is lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna with a cover by Kaare Andrews.

The exclusive preview opens in the future, where an un-aged Wolverine is joined by the floating head of Deadpool as they tour an alien museum. The tour is centered on holographic reconstructions of stories based around artifacts such as Ms. Marvel’s scarf, Captain America’s shield, Thor’s hammer, the Infinity Gauntlet, and more. This then sends readers to each of the individual stories.

What is Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1 about?

CELEBRATE MARVEL’S 50,000TH COMIC-BOOK RELEASE! In the far future of the year 50,000, the 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! Marvel’s greatest storytellers gather to commemorate the whole of Marvel history in a once-in-a-lifetime celebration!

The exclusive preview of Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1 is below. The issue goes on sale Wednesday, August 28th.