Heroes Reborn: is Marvel resurrecting its infamous’ 90s reboot?

For those unfamiliar with the original Reborn Heroes, the crossover was Marvel’s short-lived attempt to reboot the Avengers and Fantastic Four franchises. Following the events of the Onslaught crossover, the world believed that both teams had sacrificed their lives to stop the all-powerful villain. But in truth, Franklin Richards used his powers to create a new pocket universe where his friends could lead new lives with no memory of the world they left behind. Relaunched titled as Avengers, Fantastic Four, Captain America, and Iron Man effectively rebooted their respective characters’ stories from square one, sometimes introducing significant changes to established origins. Heroes Reborn was also notable because Marvel – which was bankrupt at the time – had outsourced production of the various books to Jim Lee’s Wildstorm Productions and Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios.

Naturally, that change didn’t last and the various heroes were folded back into the regular Marvel Universe the following year with memories restored. Marvel has revisited the Heroes Reborn universe a handful of times since, most notably in 2006. Onslaught Reborn.

It remains to be seen how the new Heroes Reborn is supposed to connect with the original, if at all. The teasers seem to suggest that it will be a brand new story that doesn’t have much in common with its predecessor other than the name. Rather, this Heroes Reborn seems to take place in a world where the lives of many heroes and villains have taken different paths. For example, we see what appears to be a helpless Peter Parker photographing Spider-Woman for the Daily Bugle, a version of Alpha Flight with Wolverine still a member and Shaman playing the role of Sorcerer Supreme, Presidential candidate Phil Coulson and Ben Grimm. and Reed Richards as members of SHIELD. Although in other cases it looks like this project will combine multiple characters into one (Infinity Wars at the 2018), with Doctor Doom using the powers of Juggernaut and an apparent hybrid of Scarlet Witch and Enchantress.

Marvel is promising full details on the new Heroes Reborn next week, so we’ll keep you posted as we learn more. Whatever new project is, it will most likely start in April 2021.

We already have at least one Marvel alternate reality story to look forward to in April. Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow is a What If-style limited series that explores a world where Peter Parker becomes Venom instead of Eddie Brock. It’s also the month Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman end their Venom run with the Venom anniversary special # 200. Be sure to check out IGN’s full breakdown What to expect from Marvel in 2021.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by follow @jschedeen on Twitter.