Marvel's Midnight Universe: New Series Already in Discussion

Marvel's Midnight Universe is set to launch with three comic book series this October, but the publisher's new horror-themed line is already being planned as a much larger project. In a recent interview on the AIPT Comics podcast, writers Benjamin Percy and Phillip Kennedy Johnson revealed that the universe is designed to grow well beyond its initial trio of titles.

The Midnight Universe officially begins on October 7 with three books: Midnight X-Men by Jonathan Hickman and Matteo Della Fonte, Midnight Fantastic Four by Percy and Kev Walker, and Midnight Spider-Man by Johnson and ScieTronc. Marvel is putting significant weight behind the launch, making these the only comics released by the publisher that week.

Long-Term Planning and Creative Collaboration

Behind the scenes, the writers are already treating the line as a long-term project. Percy explained that the creative team meets regularly to coordinate their plans. "We get together for a Zoom call once or twice a month," he said. "We have had summits together, just the three of us as writers, with other people involved in the room, editors and other folks from Marvel." The writers also maintain a Slack channel for ongoing discussions, and Percy revealed he has mapped out around 24 issues for his corner of the universe.

The initial approach is to let each series develop its own identity without immediate crossovers. Percy noted that the books are designed to be "totally distinct" at first, with no overlapping elements. However, this separation is temporary. "The whole idea is that we are indeed building a universe," Percy said. "The idea is this is gonna keep growing and keep growing. And not only are we going to interlock, but also there's gonna be more series that eventually crop up. And there's a lot of discussion about that as well."

Johnson added that these discussions often involve identifying elements in one book that could potentially feed into another series. "Whenever there's any kind of an element that might be of use in Jonathan's or Ben's stories, I try to bring it up in the meetings," he said. This could include a mutant element, something originating off-world, or a character who becomes important enough to support another title. "Potentially plant seeds that'll turn into a new character or a new title maybe down the line," Johnson explained. "It's all just a discussion. We shouldn't spoil it, but it's definitely being actually discussed."

Percy was quick to add a note of caution: "It's patiently discussed. We're not in a rush." This patience also extends to introducing familiar Marvel characters. The creators are being careful about who they bring into their books, as using a character casually could rob another creative team of the chance to build a proper Midnight origin around them. "I think we're all being pretty careful because we want to give other writers and artists the opportunity to create origin stories within the Midnight Universe," Percy said. For now, Marvel's Midnight Universe begins with three books on October 7, but the doors are already open for more. Fans can expect the line to expand as the creative team continues to discuss and plan for the future.