Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, commonly known as Secret Wars for short, is a 12-issue American comic book crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Jim Shooter, with art by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton. It was tied-in with a toy line of the same name from Mattel.
Publication history.
The series was conceived by Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. In the 11th issue of the "Marvel Age" news magazine, published February 1984, a news column announced the series as "Cosmic Champions". One month later, the 12th issue of "Marvel Age" featured a cover story on the series, now with the revised title of "Secret Wars".
Shooter stated:
Shooter further explained Mattel's input for the series:
Crossover titles include "The Amazing Spider-Man" #249–252, "The Avengers" #242–243, "Captain America" #292, "The Incredible Hulk" (vol. 2) #294–295, "Iron Man" #181–183, "The Thing" #10–22, "Fantastic Four" #265, "Marvel Team-Up" #141, "Thor" #341 and 383, and "The Uncanny X-Men" #178–181.
Plot summary.
A cosmic entity called the Beyonder observes the mainstream Marvel universe. Fascinated by the presence of superheroes on Earth and their potential, this entity chooses a group of both heroes and supervillains and teleports characters against their will to "Battleworld," a planet created by the Beyonder in a distant galaxy. This world has also been stocked with alien weapons and technology. The Beyonder then declares: "I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all that you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!"
The heroes include the Avengers, (Captain America, Monica Rambeau, Hawkeye, Iron Man, the She-Hulk, Thor, the Wasp, and the Hulk), three members of the Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Mister Fantastic and the Thing), solo heroes (Spider-Man and Spider-Woman) and the mutant team the X-Men (Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, and Lockheed the Dragon). Magneto is featured as a hero, but immediately becomes non-aligned when the Avengers question his presence. In 2015, "Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars" revealed that Deadpool was also a chosen hero, but the Wasp accidentally caused the other characters to forget his involvement.
The villains include the Absorbing Man, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Enchantress, Kang the Conqueror, Klaw, the Lizard, the Molecule Man, Titania, Ultron, Volcana, and the Wrecking Crew. The cosmic entity Galactus also appears as a villain who immediately becomes a non-aligned entity.
The heroes (the X-Men choose to remain a separate unit) and villains have several skirmishes. There are several significant developments in the series: villainesses Titania and Volcana are created; the second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter, is introduced; Spider-Man finds and wears the black costume (in the story inspired by Carpenter's costume) for the first time, initially unaware that it is actually an alien symbiote (the symbiote would subsequently bond with journalist Eddie Brock, giving birth to the villain known as Venom); Doctor Doom temporarily steals the Beyonder's power; having fallen in love with the alien healer Zsaji (who sacrifices her life on Battleworld to save the heroes), mutant Colossus ends his romantic relationship with a heartbroken Kitty Pryde; and the Thing gains the ability to revert to his original human form of Ben Grimm at will and chooses to remain behind on Battleworld and explores the galaxy for a year, with the She-Hulk temporarily joining the Fantastic Four as his replacement.
The next issues of series tie-ins with "Secret Wars" open right after the return of the Marvel combatants. Immediate developments include: the Thing replaced by the She-Hulk in the FF, Spider-Man has a new costume, and the Hulk has an injured leg and the savage side is re-emerging (to culminate in a totally animalistic, inarticulate and mindless Hulk in #299–300). Readers would have to read "Secret Wars" all the way through to find what caused these changes.
Reception.
"Secret Wars" was a best-seller when it was published in 1984, selling more copies than any other comic in the previous 25 years. While it was a financial success, it was not well received by critics when it was published, being criticized for its uninspired and juvenile content. An announcement of a sequel series, "Secret Wars II", from Carol Kalish, Marvel's Direct Sales Manager at the time, was first met with boos. Kalish was even quoted saying, "Let's be honest. "Secret Wars" was crap, right? But did it sell?"
In 2011, IGN listed "Secret Wars" as one of the best comic book events. Their writers found the action and goofiness of the story to be enjoyable. They also highlighted the effect it had on the Marvel Universe by introducing the symbiote and new characters. In 2011, Alex Zalben of MTV News ranked "Secret Wars" as the second biggest comic event ever, after only DC Comics' "Crisis on Infinite Earths" event. Zalben praised "Secret Wars"' story and lasting effect on the Marvel universe, as well as honouring the storyline as the "semi-official first Event Comics ever."
Sequels.
One year later, "Secret Wars II" was published, with the Beyonder visiting Earth and having a tie-in with almost every Marvel comic book written at the time.
Marvel also published a third "Secret Wars" tale written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Keith Pollard within two issues of the "Fantastic Four" series (the "Secret Wars III" story in "Fantastic Four" #318–319 (September–October 1988)).
In 2010, a Marvel Adventures all-ages non-canonical miniseries titled "Spider-Man & the Secret Wars" was released. It tells the story from Spider-Man's perspective and features major discrepancies with the original event. These tales include him receiving the Beyonder's power and creating "New Parker City", Spider-Man and the Thing spying on Dr. Doom, and a story featuring Spider-Man's suspicions concerning the Hulk. It was released in conjunction with "Avengers & The Infinity Gauntlet" and "Captain America & The Korvac Saga", similar self-contained, all-ages re-imaginations of past events, that appear to take place in their own separate continuities in the standard "Marvel Adventures" manner.
In 2015, as part of the modern day Secret Wars event, "Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars" was released. This four-issue miniseries retold the events of the original miniseries from Deadpool's point of view and fixed inconsistencies with the original and later events. Among these was the Wasp and Magneto's sudden one-night stand, and the purpose of the Secret Shields from the original toy line. It was ultimately revealed that the Wasp, out of either disgust or regret for seeing Deadpool's cancer-ridden body, accidentally caused everyone to forget his involvement in the storyline, creating the inconsistencies.
Spoofs.
The IDW Publishing six-issue comic miniseries "Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War" featuring various characters from Cartoon Network is a spoof of both Marvel Comics' "Secret Wars" and DC Comics' "Crisis on Infinite Earths" with its title taken from those two books.
Other versions.
"What If?".
Some issues of "What If?" revolve around the Secret Wars:
"Secret Wars" (2015).
In May 2015, Marvel published a new "Secret Wars" miniseries, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Esad Ribić, that picked up from where the "Time Runs Out" storyline running in "Avengers" and "New Avengers" at the time had ended. The storyline involved the Marvel Universe combining with other alternate universes, including the Ultimate Universe, as well as the 2099 Universe, to form Battleworld, a world which exhibits aspects of the various universes. The core limited series was nine issues long, and ran for eight months, ending in January 2016. One of the core miniseries, "Ultimate End", had ended the Ultimate Marvel imprint after 15 years at the time. "Ultimate End" is written by Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley, the team that began the Ultimate Marvel universe with "Ultimate Spider-Man".
"Spider-Man: Life Story".
In "Spider-Man: Life Story", which depicts an alternate version of the Marvel Universe (designated Earth-2447) where characters aged in real time and debuted in the same year as their first issue publications, the Secret Wars began in 1984 when a number of United States-based superheroes were transported to Battleworld during "the Russian War" (the World War III of this reality). Among them was Spider-Man, who received the Venom symbiote/black costume like his Earth-616 counterpart.
In other media.
Video Games.
A promotional flyer for Marvel Super Hero Squad Online was a pastiche of Secret Wars #1.