Is All-New, All-Different Marvel Really Shooter’s Big Bang?

Has Marvel finally decided to embrace Jim Shooter's vision?

For those who don't know the infamous Jim Shooter, he was once editor-in-chief at Marvel comics for a period in the 70's and 80's. According the Sean Howe's book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Shooter's stint was controversial. While he is partly responsible for iconic Marvel moments like the death of Jean Grey and the original Secret Wars, he was also responsible for much angst and frustration within the company's bullpen as well as some of the unpopular ideas of Secret Wars II and the failed "New Universe" or "Shooter-Verse" line of comics that stood apart from the traditional Marvel-verse that we all know and love, which Shooter headed.

In addition to all of these contributions, Shooter had another idea for a "Big Bang" that would take place within the Marvel Universe. At the time, he believed that the superhero comics had a continuity that was far too complex and lengthy, which made it difficult to tell new stories. The idea Shooter had at the time was to essentially wipe away the roughly 20 years of continuity stretching back to the birth of the Marvel Universe and start over.

The catalyst for this change would be represented by a light in the sky that would lead to this Big Bang, an ending of the previous slate of Marvel characters. This would allow the Marvel Bullpen to then roll out new versions of all the characters that had already existed.

Howe provides the following examples as recalled by Dough Moench: "Donald Blake would be killed, but someone else would find the walking stick and become the new Thor. So instead of Thor being a doctor, now Thor would be a plumber or whatever. Steve Rogers would die, but an investment banker would become the new Captain America… Peter Parker would be killed, and someone else would get bitten by another spider, and so on". Basically everyone's favorite characters would die because of the Big Bang and be replaced by new characters taking up the mantles of Marvel's heroes.

There was then another pitch by Shooter that went along a similar path with the same Big Bang concept, but this version would end the Marvel Universe entirely and end all of the series that were running at the time. There would then be a re-launch of many characters and titles. When the idea leaked to the fandom, the reaction was unsurprisingly vitriolic.

Obviously this Big Bang did not come to pass and the idea faded away into comics legend, but it does raise an interesting question. Could Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars event series be the modern embodiment of Shooter's vision? While it is too early to tell in what direction Secret Wars will take the Marvel Universe and the many characters comic fans have grown to love, it has been clear for months that Marvel is touting an "All-New, All-Different Universe" to come in their marketing. This also brings to light some interesting parallels that exist between the proposed Big Bang and Secret Wars (2015).

Cataclysmic Game-Changing Event:

Looking at both plans, they each entail a major event that changes the entire landscape of the Marvel Universe. Shooter wanted a Big Bang to essentially wipe out all of the characters that readers knew and start from a blank slate with new people assuming the identities of the iconic heroes.

With Secret Wars, this event is in the form of a collision of various Universes that effectively wiped out many of the heroes from alternate realities and brought the surviving characters into a single plain of existence.

Arguably, the ending of the Marvel Multiverse could be described as its own Big Crunch and Big Bang cycle, not unlike the way the death and birth of universes was described in Larry Niven and John Byrne's DC Comics story Ganthet's Tale. Although taking different forms, both plans are essentially mass exterminations of the existing characters, which leads to the hitting of a gigantic "reset" button.

With Marvel touting "All-New, All-Different" and literal death of the Marvel Universe while simultaneously deliberately calling this a "relaunch" rather than a "reboot," the nature of this reset remains dubious but it cannot be doubted that Secret Wars is a turning point for Marvel.

Chance to Start Over:

With Shooter's vision, as stated, he wanted the series that were running at the time to end, which would then lead to them re-introducing the characters one-by-one. This would give them the opportunity to start over and work on a blank slate with new characters, new continuities, and new stories.

As far as Secret Wars is concerned Marvel seems to be working under a similar premise. Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso has even stated that this event has given them "a big white canvas" to work with and serves as a "chance for us to tell new stories across all titles with new number ones." Nothing says fresh start and new continuity like a fresh batch of #1s.

New Identities for Popular Characters:

Secret Wars also seems to be following an element of Shooter's idea to replace existing characters with new ones inhabiting their previous identities. This way we can still have our Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, but give readers a new person to focus on by phasing out Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, and James "Logan" Howlett.

This can already be seen with some of Marvel's recent announcements of their "All-New, All-Different" line-up and the recent events leading up to Secret Wars.

Captain America – Steve Rogers has already been phased out as Captain America with Sam "The Falcon" Wilson stepping in full-time. Rogers has been rapidly aged to his chronological age of 90 as a result of having his Super-Soldier Serum neutralized.

Thor – Like Captain America, Thor has been replaced in his role with Jane Foster taking the reins as a result of his being declared "unworthy" to wield his signature weapon, Mjolnir.

Ms. Marvel – Ms. Marvel has not historically been as visible a character as Thor and Cap. However, the changes made recently still represent a shuffling of identities with Kamala Khan taking over Carol Danvers' old moniker and Carol assuming the role of Captain Marvel.

Spider-Man – It is hard to say just what is going on with Spider-Man. The image Marvel released yesterday seems to include both Peter Parker and Miles Morales slinging web in the new Marvel Universe with Spider-Woman and Spider-Gwen backing them up.

However, based on interviews and cryptic messages from those in the industry Peter Parker may not be present as there is talk of an entirely new Spider-Man existing.

The Hulk – This is another confusing one as not much has been said about the Hulk.

It has been mentioned though that there will be an "All-New Hulk," which will also apparently be controversial.

Wolverine – It is said that Wolverine will be in the new Marvel Universe, but not in the way people expect. Looking at the second teaser released by Marvel it shows what looks like James Howlett as Old Man Logan standing next to a female Wolverine in the classic yellow and blue ensemble. It has been confirmed that this is X-23 taking over as the new Wolverine.

These are just a few examples, as other character changes seem to be noticeable in the teasers representing the new Universe. Admittedly, these are a far cry from a random plumber taking up Thor's mantle but the parallel still stands.

What the final version of this "All-New Marvel" will look like remains to be seen, but one cannot help but think back to Shooter's Big Bang. It also raises the question of whether or not decades later could Shooter have finally gotten a version of the Marvel Universe he wanted?

Contributing Writer Michael Brown also provided research and editing for this piece.