Marvel Sets Single Launch Day for Midnight Universe Titles
Marvel updated fans with news that the three debut issues of its Midnight line, Midnight X-Men #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Matteo Della Fonte, Midnight Fantastic Four #1 by Benjamin Percy and Kev Walker, and Midnight Spider-Man #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and ScieTronc, will now all debut October 7th as the only new Marvel comics released that day.
This shifts the rollout Marvel first announced for this new universe, which had the three titles staggered across separate months beginning in August. Now they share one launch date. Retailers have also been advised to watch out for Marvel Mailers for launch promotions, including promo items, orderable incentives, an enhanced Midnight Variant Program, and exclusive variant offers.
Alongside the date change, Marvel revealed Kev Walker's Midnight Fantastic Four #1 cover and Steve Beach's Midnight Spider-Man #1 cover. These main covers will use a cloaked cover trade dress, hiding the full artwork until the reader turns to the first page, and you can check them out below. On every issue after the debuts, that art stays shrouded on the shelf.
Each story within the Midnight Universe takes a familiar Marvel corner somewhere darker. Midnight X-Men sets vampires and mutants on a collision course as a fragile peace gives way to war. Midnight Fantastic Four follows an obsessive scientist whose reach into forbidden corners of the universe leaves him and three others horribly warped. Midnight Spider-Man centers on a young man turned into a spider hybrid by Oscorp's hunt for eternal life, forced to embrace his monstrous form once the company starts making more hybrids.
"I was very excited when Marvel told me the revamped plans for the Midnight launch because when I read both Ben and Phillip's first scripts—and even more than that when the art started rolling in—I knew that this line was going to be something special," Hickman shared. "As for me personally, I haven't been this excited about a book in a very long time. There are certain kinds of projects that I, and I think most fans, prefer for me to be working on: Ambitious stories with intricate plots and long-form payoffs, which is exactly what MIDNIGHT X-MEN is."
“I have an epic, rich storytelling blueprint for this series, and I don't know that I've ever felt so...in the zone...when writing comics,” Percy shared. “Let's be honest: any other circumstances, Marvel wouldn't let me write the Fantastic Four. Because I'm too mean and evil for the first family. But this is the dark continuity of the Midnight Universe—a fresh origin story for the characters that channels cosmic, Lovecraftian terror—which makes it a perfect match for me. Mad science and cults and hidden realities await. The pacing is patient and full of dread and mystery and rich with a mythology that will feel both familiar and uncanny.”
“Marvel’s putting a TON of trust in ScieTronc and me on this project, and we’re using that trust to make big asks and take big creative risks. I want to see a Spider-Man that was conceived by H.R. Giger, directed by David Cronenberg, adapted for the comic page by Junji Ito. I want Peter’s origin to be so upsetting it haunts me, and to see the Lizard and Doctor Octopus through the lens of a John Carpenter movie or a Resident Evil game. I’m so stoked for readers to see what we’re making.”
MIDNIGHT X-MEN #1
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Art by MATTEO DELLA FONTE
The shadows of New York City are stalked by vampires and the mutant empyres. The sword of Damocles hangs over the peace between these two species and the factions within them. An outright war is brewing and the unturned will be caught in the crossfire.
MIDNIGHT FANTASTIC FOUR #1
Written by BENJAMIN PERCY
Art by KEV WALKER
An obsessive scientist delves into the secrets of the universe perhaps best left unknown to humankind, leaving himself and three others warped in strange and horrifying ways. What horrible secrets lie in the new dimensions they have discovered? And can humanity survive the discovery?
MIDNIGHT SPIDER-MAN #1
Written by PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSON
Art by SCIETRONC
A young man is transformed into a hideous spider hybrid by the ruthless Oscorp Corporation in their pursuit for eternal life. When Oscorp begins to use the secrets unlocked by his mutation to create more human-animal hybrids, he must embrace his grotesque new form to fight back.
