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Marvel 2099
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Marvel 2099 is a Marvel Comics imprint, begun 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.
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Encyclopedia
Marvel 2099 is a Marvel Comics imprint, begun 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 first three titles launched, Doom 2099, The Punisher 2099, and Spider-Man 2099 starred futuristic takes on pre-existing characters while the latter, 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.
Setting and publication history
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 which also set back society.
The initial universe began with Spider-Man 2099, Ravage 2099, Doom 2099 and The 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. 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. 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.
Expansion and shrinkage
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, and would take over the United States. 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). 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'd 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.
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 title lasted only eight issues before being canceled.
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 an 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.
In 2004, writer Robert Kirkman wrote a series of one-shot comics for the fifth 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.
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.
Series and one-shots in the 2099 imprint
| Title | Issue 1 date | Final issue # | Final issue date |
|---|
| 2099 A.D. | 1995-05May 1995 | 1 | 1995-05May 1995 | | 2099 A.D. Apocalypse | 1995-12December 1995 | 1 | 1995-12December 1995 | | 2099 A.D. Genesis | 1996-01January 1996 | 1 | 1996-01January 1996 | | 2099 Manifest Destiny | 1998-03March 1998 | 1 | 1998-03March 1998 | | 2099 Sketchbook | 1999-09September 1993 | 1 | 1999-09September 1993 | | 2099 Unlimited | 1993-07July 1993 | 10 | 1995-10October 1995 | | 2099 Special: The World of Doom | 1995-05May 1995 | 1 | 1995-05May 1995 | | 2099: World of Tomorrow | 1996-09September 1996 | 8 | 1997-04April 1997 | | Doom 2099 | 1993-01January 1993 | 44 | 1996-08August 1996 | | Fantastic Four 2099 | 1996-01January 1996 | 8 | 1996-08August 1996 | | Ghost Rider 2099 | 1994-05May 1994 | 25 | 1996-05May 1996 | | Hulk 2099 | 1994-12December 1994 | 10 | 1995-09September 1995 | | Punisher 2099 | 1993-02February 1993 | 34 | 1995-11November 1995 | | Ravage 2099 | 1992-12December 1992 | 33 | 1995-08August 1995 | | Spider-Man 2099 | 1992-11November 1992 | 46 | 1996-08August 1996 | | Spider-Man 2099 Annual | 1994 1994 | 1 | 19941994 | | Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man | 1995-11November 1995 | 1 | 1995-11November 1995 | | Spider-Man 2099 Special | 1995-11November 1995 | 1 | 1995-11November 1995 | | X-Men 2099 | 1993-11October 1993 | 35 | 1996-08August 1996 | | X-Men 2099: Oasis | 1996-08August 1996 | 1 | 1996-08August 1996 | | X-Men 2099 Special | 1995-10October 1995 | 1 | 1995-10October 1995 | | X-Nation 2099 | 1996-03March 1996 | 6 | 1996-08August 1996 |
Heroes
Solo protagonists
Other heroes
- Matt Axel (The Punisher's armorer)
- Barrio Man
- Captain America (imposter posing as Steve Rogers )
- 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, aka Justice)
- S.H.I.E.L.D. 2099
- Steel Rain
- Thor (Reverend Cecil McAdams)
- Vendetta
Villains
- 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 (a.k.a. Loki; later traveled to the present in the pages of X-Force)
- 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 Desmonda)
- Technarchy/Phalanx
- Thanatos (Aaron Delgado possessed by an alternate-reality version of Rick Jones)
- Tiger Wylde
- Vengeance 2099
- Venom (Kron Stone)
- Venture
- Vulture 2099
- Master Zhao and the Chosen (Jack, Psycho-K, Frosbite, Wingspan, and Monster)
Mega-Corporations
- Alchemax (Avatarr is CEO and Tyler Stone is VP) and its subsidiaries
- ECO Corp. (Ravage is CEO, Anderthorp Henton is Director-General)
- Public Eye (Fearmaster is director)
- R&D Department (Tyler Stone is director; employees include Miguel O'Hara, Jordan Boone, and Aaron Delgado)
- Cyber-Nostra (Controlled by Fearmaster)
- D/MONIX (Data Manipulation and Organization Networks) (CEO is Dyson Kellerman; employees include Harrison Cochrane [Ghost Rider's father])
- Greater Nevada Syndicate (Controlled by the Synge Family)
- Green Globe PLC (Founded by Ravage family)
- Ninja-Nostra
- Stark-Fujikawa (formerly Tony Stark's Stark Enterprises) (CEO is Hikaru-sama)
- Synthia (CEO is Darrius Rush; employees include Mannix Dunn, Dana D'Angelo [Spider-Man's fiancée], Alain Gris [Group Manager for Sky Plantations])
Marvel Knights 2099 heroes
See also
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