Marvel 2099

Marvel 2099 is a Marvel Comics imprint, started in 1992, that explores one possible future of the Marvel Universe. It was originally announced by Stan Lee in his "Stan's Soapbox" column as a single series entitled The Marvel World of Tomorrow, which was being developed by Lee and John Byrne. This later changed to a line of books under the banner Marvel 2093 (the date being one hundred years from the year in which the titles launched) before finally being published as Marvel 2099. The three of the initial four titles launched — Doom 2099, Punisher 2099, and Spider-Man 2099 — starred futuristic takes on pre-existing characters. The fourth, Ravage 2099, featured an all-new superhero, scripted for several months by Stan Lee. The 2099 line soon expanded to include 2099 Unlimited, Fantastic Four 2099, Ghost Rider 2099, Hulk 2099, X-Men 2099, and X-Nation 2099. The reality this takes place in is designated as Earth-928.

Publication history

The initial universe began with Spider-Man 2099, Ravage 2099, Doom 2099, and Punisher 2099 being launched in subsequent months. Peter David wrote Spider-Man for the bulk of the series, and it was consistently the most popular series.^{[citation needed]} It satirized corporations, with Spider-Man constantly clashing with Alchemax, which employed him in his secret identity and was run by his father. Stan Lee wrote the first eight issues of Ravage as an extremely political story about corruption, corporate pollution, and the environment. After Lee left, he was replaced by a series of writers who failed to provide consistent direction for the book.^{[citation needed]} Doom, believing himself to be the true Doctor Doom, began a lengthy quest to re-conquer Latveria. The Punisher largely dealt with corporate crimes and people who were rich enough to buy their way out of any other punishment.

Growth and decline

Fans requested further titles, and Marvel provided X-Men 2099. They also introduced a Hulk 2099 in the series 2099 Unlimited, which featured occasional Spider-Man 2099 stories, as well as early work by Warren Ellis. The comics had a strong degree of interconnectivity that was similar to comics published by Marvel in the 1960s due to the imprint's editor Joey Cavalieri. The only cross-title crossover within the 2099 universe, The Fall of the Hammer, detailed a plot by the corporations to technologically recreate the Norse pantheon, along with a new Thor, to divert attention away from the anti-corporate superheroes.

The 2099 series expanded to include Ghost Rider 2099, about a hero whose consciousness had been downloaded into a robotic body. Hulk 2099 was also given a brief chance at his own series. As sales began to flag on all titles besides Spider-Man and X-Men, Marvel commissioned ideas from various writers, including a proposal by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, before accepting Warren Ellis's idea that Doom 2099, revealed to be, in fact, Victor Von Doom, would take over the United States.^{[citation needed]} Each title had the modifier "A.D." ("After Doom") added on the logo to reflect the change. The new storyline allowed Marvel to cancel several low-selling titles (Hulk, Ravage, and The Punisher).^{[citation needed]} The in-universe reason for the heroes' deaths was that Doom sent Ravage into exile in space, and President Rogers (an impostor Captain America who was instated after Doom was violently ousted from office) ordered the execution of the Punisher, Hulk, and a handful of low-tier heroes who had appeared in 2099 Unlimited.

In 1996, when Marvel, during a cost-cutting exercise, fired Cavalieri, many of the 2099 creators (including Peter David and Warren Ellis) quit the line in protest. With the line floundering, two additional titles were launched: X-Nation 2099, a spin-off of X-Men 2099, and Fantastic Four 2099, which featured characters who were apparently the present day Fantastic Four accidentally sent into the future.^{[citation needed]}

Around this time, Doom 2099 became the only 2099 comic to crossover with a present-day Marvel comic when he traveled back to 1996 and met Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, and Namor in a story partially told in Fantastic Four #413. Spider-Man 2099 met the original Spider-Man in a special one-shot issue, making them the only characters to meet their counterparts.

Ending and future revisits

After sales slumped, the 2099 titles were canceled and replaced by 2099: World of Tomorrow, a single title featuring the surviving characters from all the titles. The series lasted only eight issues before being canceled.^{[citation needed]}

The 2099 line was concluded with a one-shot, 2099: Manifest Destiny (March 1998), in which Captain America was found in suspended animation and, with Miguel O'Hara, assembled various 2099 heroes into a new team of Avengers. The story summarized the years from 2099 to 3099, with humanity transforming the corporate world of 2099 into a utopia and then expanding into space.

The 2099 world has been seen occasionally since, most notably in Peter David's "Future Tense" storyline in Captain Marvel, which revisited both Spider-Man 2099 and the alternate future of the Maestro that David created in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, explaining a plot point which had been left dangling since David had abruptly left Spider-Man 2099.

In 2004, writer Robert Kirkman wrote a series of one-shot comics for the 5th anniversary of the Marvel Knights imprint, under the heading Marvel Knights 2099. The future portrayed in this series is unconnected to the original 2099 Universe, which included a different Punisher 2099.

In 2006, the Exiles visited the Marvel Universe 2099 in Exiles #75-76 as part of the "World Tour" arc. This future had split apart from the mainstream 2099 fairly early, as Doom 2099 had not yet met Spider-Man 2099. Spider-Man 2099 joined the Exiles and left with them.

In 2005, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe one-shot, involving alternate universes, designated the Earth of 2099 as Earth-928, with Marvel Knights 2099 designated as Earth-2992. A cover of a second printing from the Spider-Man crossover The Other: Evolve or Die features the Miguel O'Hara Spider-Man.

Setting

The world of 2099 is a cyberpunk dystopia, similar to the world of Blade Runner. North America is a corporate police state ruled by a few huge megacorps, most notably Alchemax, which owns the private police force the Public Eye, which primarily punishes criminals' bank accounts. There were, prior to the launch of the comics, no active superheroes in this world, and the previous heroes are mythologized through religion, as with the Church of Thor. The present-day Marvel continuity is referred to as an "Age of Heroes" that abruptly ended in a catastrophe a century before that also set back society (This catastrophe was averted in the present when Miguel O'Hara- Spider-Man 2099- temporarily swapped places with his past self shortly before the cataclysm, turning Miguel's world into an alternate future of the Marvel Universe rather than the future).

Card system

In the 2099 Universe, the monetary currency system uses implants commonly known as cards, which are credit ID implants. There are aluminum cards, gold cards, and platinum cards. Another type of card are black cards, which give the owner unlimited funds and law immunity. There is also a status known as decred, which denies access to many public places, such as hospitals, hypermarkets, and shopping malls.

Characters

Heroes

Solo protagonists

• Doom (Victor Von Doom)
• Ghost Rider (Kenshiro "Zero" Cochrane)
• Hulk (John Eisenhart)
• Punisher (Jake Gallows)
• Ravage (Paul-Phillip Ravage)
• Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara)

X-Men 2099

• Bloodhawk (Lemuel Krugg)
• Cerebra (Shakti Hadad)
• Junkpile (very brief membership)
• Krystalin (Krystalin Porter Ogada)
• La Lunatica
• Meanstreak (Henri Huang)
• Metalhead (Eddie Van Beethoven)
• Serpentina
• Skullfire (Timothy Sean Fitzgerald)
• Xi'an Chi Xan

X-Nation 2099

• Cerebra (Shakti Haddad)
• Clarion (Hayes Isaacs)
• December (December Frost)
• Metalsmith
• Nostromo
• Twilight
• Uproar
• Willow
• Wulff

Fantastic Four 2099

• Human Torch (double of Johnny Storm)
• Invisible Woman (double of Sue Storm)
• Mister Fantastic (double of Reed Richards)
• Thing (double of Ben Grimm)

Other heroes

• Matt Axel (the Punisher's armorer)
• Barrio Man
• Captain America (imposter posing as Steve Rogers)^[1]
• Daredevil 2099
• Dr. Apollo (Dr. Nikolai Apolonio)
• Freakshow (Mama Hurricane, Breakdown, Rosa, Metalhead, Psyclone, Contagion, Tantrum, and Dominic)
• Galahad
• The Ghostworks
• Goldheart
• Lachryma 2099
• The Lawless (Xi'an Chi Xan, Victor Ten Eagles, Junkpile, Broken Haiku, Mongrel, Auntie Maim, and the Reverend)
• Metalscream
• Moon Knight 2099
• Net Prophet (John Roger Tensen, also known as Justice)
• S.H.I.E.L.D. 2099
• Steel Rain
• Thor (Reverend Cecil McAdams)
• Vendetta

Villains

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• Adonai (leader of LA "locusts")
• False Aesir (Thor/Cecil McAdams, Hela/Tiana, Loki/Jordan Boone, Balder, Heimdall)
• Anti-Hulk
• The Architect (Ryu Kobolt)
• Avatarr (CEO of Alchemax; secretly an alien)
• Brimstone Love and the Theater of Pain
• Captain America (an impostor posing as Steve Rogers)
• Coda
• Dethstryk and the Mutroids of Hellrock
• Discord
• Draco
• Exodus
• Fearmaster (Darryl King)
• Fever
• Flipside
• Goblin
• Glitterspike
• Gearbox
• The Golden One
• Halloween Jack (Jordan Boone, also known as Loki; later traveled to the present in X-Force #92)
• Heartbreaker
• Anderthorp Henton (Director-General of ECO)
• Hotwire (Dean Gallows, son of Jake Gallows)
• Multi-Fractor/Jigsaw
• Dyson Kellerman (CEO of Transverse City Security)
• L-Cypher
• The Norns of the Theatre of Pain (Felicity, Bliss, Euphoria)
• Public Enemy (Saber Hagen)
• The Rat Pack (the Dealer, the Suicide Master, Mister Entertainment)
• The Shadow Dancer
• The Specialist
• Tyler Stone
• The Synge Family (Noah, Lytton, and Desdemona)
• Technarchy/Phalanx
• Thanatos (Aaron Delgado possessed by an alternate-reality version of Rick Jones)
• Tiger Wylde
• Vengeance 2099
• Venom (Kron Stone)
• Venture
• Vulture 2099
• Walker Sloan
• Master Zhao and the Chosen (Jack, Psycho-K, Frosbite, Wingspan, and Monster)

Mega-corporations

• Alchemax (CEO Avatarr; VP Tyler Stone) and its subsidiaries
  • ECO Corp. (CEO Ravage; Director-General Anderthorp Henton)
  • Public Eye (Director Fearmaster)
  • R&D Department (Director Tyler Stone; employees include Miguel O'Hara, Jordan Boone, and Aaron Delgado)
• Cyber-Nostra (controlled by Fearmaster)
• D/MONIX (Data Manipulation and Organization Networks) (CEO Dyson Kellerman; employees include Harrison Cochrane [Ghost Rider's father])
• Greater Nevada Syndicate (controlled by the Synge Family)
• Green Globe PLC (founded by the Ravage family)
• Ninja-Nostra
• Stark-Fujikawa (formerly Stark Enterprises) (CEO Hikaru-sama)
• Synthia (CEO Darrius Rush; employees include Mannix Dunn, Dana D'Angelo [Spider-Man's fiancée], Alain Gris [Group Manager for Sky Plantations])

Marvel Knights 2099 heroes

Main article: Marvel Knights 2099

• Black Panther (K'Shamba)
• Daredevil (Samuel Fisk)
• The Inhumans
• Mutant 2099 (Chad Channing)
• Punisher (Cassondra Castle)

2099 series and one-shots

Title	Issues	Date
2099 A.D.	1	May 1995
2099 A.D. Apocalypse	1	December 1995
2099 A.D. Genesis	1	January 1996
2099 Manifest Destiny	1	March 1998
2099 Sketchbook	1	September 1993
2099 Special: The World of Doom	1	May 1995
2099 Unlimited	10	July 1993 – October 1995
2099: World of Tomorrow	8	September 1996 – April 1997
Doom 2099	44	January 1993 – August 1996
Fantastic Four 2099	8	January – August 1996
Ghost Rider 2099	25	May 1994 – May 1996
Hulk 2099	10	December 1994 – September 1995
Punisher 2099	34	February 1993 – November 1995
Ravage 2099	33	December 1992 – August 1995
Spider-Man 2099	46	November 1992 – August 1996
Spider-Man 2099 Annual	1	1994
Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man	1	November 1995
Spider-Man 2099 Special	1	November 1995
X-Men 2099	35	October 1993 – August 1996
X-Men 2099 Special	1	October 1995
X-Men 2099: Oasis	1	August 1996
X-Nation 2099	6	March – August 1996

In other media

Video games

• Spider-Man 2099 is an unlockable costume in Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
• Ghost Rider 2099 is an unlockable costume in the Ghost Rider movie tie-in game.
• The Marvel 2099 reality appears in the Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions video game as one of the four realities that is affected by the shattering of an ancient artifact, the Tablet of Order and Chaos. Madame Webb contacts the Spider-Men of the four realities to re-asemble the tablet, or else all four worlds would be destroyed. Spider-Man 2099 appears with a few free-falling parts of the game and an Acelerated Vision which makes everything seem slower. In the game he goes up against the Timestorm 2009–2099 version of Scorpion, a female Doctor Octopus, and an insane Hobgoblin. The Nintendo DS version also has a 2099 version of Silvermane. The player can also unlock three alternate costumes for 2099 (Flipside, the Spider-Armor and Iron Spider).
• The Marvel 2099 reality reappears in Spider-Man: Edge of Time. In the game, a scientist from 2099 named Walker Sloan goes back in time to start Alchemax in the 1970's. As a result, the world of 2099 gets turned into a world where Alchemax rules Neuva York. Spider-Man 2099 is aware of this- having escaped being affected by the altered history as he was inside the portal when the change took place-, and learns that because of this action, the Amazing Spidey will be killed at the hands of a brainwashed Anti-Venom. Spidey 2099 contacts Amazing Spidey to let him know about this, and the two team up once again to try and correct the timeline. During the game, a 2099 version of Black Cat appears as a boss- initially claiming to be the original using anti-aging drugs but later confirmed to be a clone-, and the Alchemax CEO is an insane future version of Peter Parker attempting to control the quantum power of the portal to change history. Also, the Nintendo DS version has 2099, high-tech versions of Shocker and Big Wheel.

See also

• Timestorm 2009–2099
• Marvel Comics multiverse

References

1. ^ Ghost Rider 2099 #18-19 (October–November 1995)

External links

• 2099: Un vistazo artístico y comercial a los cómics cyberpunk de Marvel Comics (Spanish)