By Ben Morse
Every week, a secret cabal of Marvel staffers gathers to discuss the best of the best when it comes to the House of Ideas.
You never know what the future will hold, but when it comes to the Marvel Universe, it usually holds a dystopian helping of awesome.
This week, WOLVERINE #66 kicks off "Old Man Logan," the latest tale of a far out Marvel future courtesy of CIVIL WAR creative team Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. In honor of this new milestone, the Secret Cabal gathered and put on their collective shades to select the brightest—and darkest—tomorrows of the Marvel U.
For each future, you also get a special spotlight comic courtesy of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
As always, these picks reflect the personal choices of the Secret Cabal, not the official opinion of Marvel or Marvel.com, and can be considered subjective at best. Enjoy!
10. KANG'S FUTURE
First Appearance: AVENGERS v1 #23 (1965)
The Basics: The 40th century where Nathaniel Richards grew up had become a virtual utopia thanks to scientific advancement, but the young scholar found it to be dull and lacking the primal thrills of the past he studied. Uncovering time travel technology belonging to his supposed ancestor
Dr. Doom, Richards becomes
Kang the Conqueror, travelling to past eras and dominating them before eventually returning to his own time and plunging it back into a constant state of civil war and uprising under his rule.
Why It Makes The List: "It's the 40th century and Kang the Conqueror has, well, conquered the entire world. The epitome of 'the future,' you can feast your eyes on futuristic architecture aplenty. For heaven's sake, there's even a whole city dedicated and entirely devoted to time traveling called Chronopolis!" –Secret Cabal member HeartOfOak
Spotlight Comic: AVENGERS v1 #23—Kang drags the
Avengers to his future to serve as his reluctant allies!
9. BISHOP'S FUTURE
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #283 (1991)
The Basics: Lucas
Bishop grew up in a future where a traitor within the
X-Men had led to that group's destruction and the rise of human-mutant tensions in the United States to a point where most homo superior were locked in concentration camps before eventually rebelling. Bishop trained to be a member of the militant Xavier Security Enforcers before being flung back into the past and joining the legendary X-Men.
Why It Makes The List: "Mutants just can't catch a break. In ol' Lucas Bishop's future, they're hunted and killed or hunted and imprisoned and slapped with big, mean M tattoos on their faces. Not cool. What could have been just another sick, depressing alternate future was instantly made intriguing and cool by the mysterious demise of the X-Men. With hints at a traitor in their midst, witnesses and 'the last X-Man,' Bish kept the allure of his time alive for years." –Secret Cabal member Agent M
Spotlight Comic: ONSLAUGHT: X-MEN #1—The truth behind the X-Men traitor who sparks Bishop's future revealed!
8. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
First Appearance: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES v1 #18 (1969)
The Basics: In an alternate timeline's 31st century, four surviving members of extinct species—
Vance Astro, Martinex, Charlie-27 and Yondu—unite as the
Guardians of the Galaxy to save Earth and its solar system from the alien race known as the Badoon. In the aftermath of the war, the group chooses to stay together and adds new members as they explore and protect the Marvel Universe of the future.
Why It Makes The List: "Plenty of Marvel characters have visited the future, but what sets the Guardians of the Galaxy apart is that they actually
live there. With the Guardians' adventures, we've gotten to see a detailed, elaborate and just plain cool roadmap of the Marvel Universe 1,000 years past the exploits of our favorite familiar heroes. Whether it was a cosmic-powered
Ghost Rider or Dr. Doom stealing the skeleton of
Wolverine, the Guardians' future took the expected and turned expectations on their ear." –Secret Cabal member Annihilator882
Spotlight Comic: AVENGERS v1 #167—The manipulations of
Korvac pit the Guardians against the Avengers!
7. CABLE'S FUTURE
First Appearance: CABLE: BLOOD AND METAL #1 (1992)
The Basics: As a boy, Nathan Summers, the son of
Cyclops and
Madelyne Pryor, had to be taken into the far future to save his body from a techno-organic virus unleashed by the villain
Apocalypse. Raised to become the freedom fighter
Cable, Nathan would train under various mentors—including his time-displaced father and Cyclops' wife,
Jean Grey—in the hopes of freeing that time period from the rule of Apocalypse and his own clone,
Stryfe.
Why It Makes The List: "Apocalypse has always been one of the coolest X-Men villains, so obviously a reality in which he actually won—like the 'Age of Apocalypse'—would be similarly cool. Know what makes an idea like that yet cooler? Put it in the future! Amidst the crazy weapons and shiny future tech, the struggle between Cable and Apocalypse, with Stryfe thrown in for good measure, has always had a neat 'Star Wars' vibe to it—sci fi soap opera at its finest." –Annihilator882
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #294—Cable's future comes back to haunt him as the "X-Cutioner's Song" begins!
6. HULK: FUTURE IMPERFECT
First Appearance: HULK: FUTURE IMPERFECT #1 (1992)
The Basics: When nuclear war devastates most of the planet, a bitter and hardened
Hulk, made more powerful by the massive amounts of airborne radiation, conquers Earth, crushing any opposition in his way, including all super heroes and villains who step up to challenge him. A small resistance pocket led by
Rick Jones reaches into the past and pulls that era's Hulk forward in time in hopes of liberating their world.
Why It Makes The List: "It seems as though we write about how awesome HULK: FUTURE IMPERFECT is every week. Fortunately, the two-part Hulk tale deserves all the kudos it gets, even in terms of being one of Marvel's best alternate futures. And by best, we mean one of the worst, scariest, drop-dead coolest. The frickin' Hulk has killed just about
everyone. Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Gone. Dangerous despots such as Dr. Doom? Toast. Horrifyingly scary, yet full of those all-important fanboy future moments." –Agent M
Spotlight Comic: GIANT-SIZE HULK #1—Peter David and Dale Keown flash forward to the end of the Hulk's existence!
5. THE LAST AVENGERS STORY
First Appearance: THE LAST AVENGERS STORY #1 (1995)
The Basics: Working from the notes of
Ultron, Kang finally succeeds in annihilating the Avengers, striking at them during their most vulnerable period, killing most of the team with a nuclear bomb, then conquering the world. Years later,
Hank Pym must gather a rag tag band including former Avengers Hawkeye and the
Wasp as well as new faces like
Cannonball and many children of his old allies to make a final stand.
Why It Makes The List: "Comprising one of the coolest line-ups of assembled Avengers—Cannonball an Avenger?!—blind Hawkeye still married to
Mockingbird, kids of the past Avengers, and a mind-blowing twist all add up to one of the shortest-lived but
greatest future timelines ever introduced!" –Secret Cabal member RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: AVENGERS FOREVER #12—An all-star team of Avengers battles other teams of Avengers from across the multiverse!
4. EARTH X
First Appearance: EARTH X #0 (1999)
The Basics: The actions of one man change the Marvel Universe forever when a mysterious plague transforms every normal human on Earth into a mutant. This universe-altering domino kicks off a chain of events that include the activation a sociopathic boy's near omnipotent telepathic powers and his transformation into the Skull, an
Absorbing Man powered by Ultron killing the Avengers, and Dr. Doom destroying half the
Fantastic Four at the cost of his own life—and that's just the beginning.
Why It Makes The List: "There was so much going on in the Earth X saga—Alex Ross' character designs have become iconic apocalypse chic, the tale of metamorphosis and mutagenesis brought previously unimaginable changes to stalwart characters, bottom-rung characters such as
Machine Man and
Gargoyle received just as much face time as Captain America and
Mr. Fantastic and remained engaging throughout. And it was all done in this very dirty, nasty, scary future that seemed completely possible. Heck, who says it isn't?" –Agent M
Spotlight Comic: EARTH X #0—X-51 learns the secret history of the Marvel Universe, setting the stage for the Earth X saga!
3. 2099
First Appearance: SPIDER-MAN 2099 #1 (1992)
The Basics: By the year 2099, the heroic figures of the Marvel Universe have become nothing more than legends in a world ruled by faceless corporations and digital cyberpunks. However, when an experiment turns scientist Miguel O'Hara into this era's incarnation of
Spider-Man, the world changes forever, with future versions of the
Punisher, Dr. Doom, the X-Men and more sprouting up to usher in a new landscape.
Why It Makes The List: "The coolest alternate futures in comics tend to be vicious dystopias, but few go for the full-on cyberpunk route. However the '
Blade Runner' motif suited the 2099-verse well. While SPIDER-MAN 2099 stood head and shoulders above the initial slew of books, the high water mark for the 2099 titles came when the Doom of that era was revealed to be the classic Victor Von Doom and effectively took control of the world. A world in which Doom wins? Count me in." –Agent M
Spotlight Comic: SPIDER-MAN 2099 #1—Miguel O'Hara becomes the Spider-Man of 2099 and kicks off a new heroic age!
2. MC2
First Appearance: WHAT IF? v2 #105 (1998)
The Basics: On a world where Spider-Man and wife Mary Jane had a daughter who grew up to become
Spider-Girl, many other heroes have followed suit, retiring and allowing their children to take up their mantels. Among this new generation: a team of Avengers that includes the son of Thunderstrike, an expanded Fantastic Five led by the
Human Torch,
Juggernaut's heroic son J2 and Wild Thing, the daughter of Wolverine and
Elektra.
Why It Makes The List: "What started out as a simple WHAT IF? storyline has proven to be one of the most successful and long-lasting universes based on a future timeline ever. Anchored for the past
ten years by Spider-Girl, this universe isn't as dark as most of the future storylines, proving that sometimes the good guys
can win." –RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: LAST HERO STANDING #1—The MC2 Universe goes to war as generations clash!
1. DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #141 (1981)
The Basics: In a timeline where the X-Men failed to prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly at the hands of
Mystique's
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the government reinstitutes the Sentinel program, and it's not long before the killer robots take over the United States, exterminating mutants and superhumans alike. Only a small group of surviving X-Men led by
Magneto stand against the
Sentinels and hope to alter their fate by changing the past.
Why It Makes The List: "The granddaddy of all Marvel alternate future stories! Really, was there any doubt this was No. 1?
Bleak as all get out, this classic Chris Claremont/John Byrne two-parter comes correct with death, pathos and story points that continue to reverberate throughout Marvel. Try to find just one coolest, scariest moment: the mutant graveyard, Magneto's team-up with the X-Men, the final Fastball Special, the intro of
Rachel Summers…you can't pick just one!" –Agent M
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #141—In a world where the Sentinels rule, the X-Men have one final, desperate shot at salvation!
