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Having fundamentally transformed the X-Men franchise and debuted a brand new incarnation of the Ultimate Universe, writer Jonathan Hickman is gearing up for his next great Marvel epic. Today Marvel Comics revealed new details about Imperial, a four-issue event series that promises to reshape the fabric of the wider Marvel Universe.
Similar to how 2023’s Ultimate Invasion paved the way for the ongoing Ultimate Universe line, Imperial is designed to shake up the status quo for Marvel’s cosmic characters and lay the foundation for a new line of comics. In this series, many of the traditional power players in the Marvel Universe will be destroyed or overthrown, leaving room for new empires to rise in their place. The series will specifically center around the Hulk family, Black Panther, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Nova Corps, and other cosmic kings and queens.
Imperial will be written by Hickman and drawn by Federico Vicentini (Miles Morales: Spider-Man) and Iban Coello (Venom). Hickman’s Ultimate Spider-Man collaborator Marco Checchetto is drawing the covers for the series.
“I’m very excited about this project as I’m obviously a huge fan of all things Marvel Cosmic,” Hickman said in a statement. “The goal here is to kind of do what we did with the recent Ultimate line for all of our space titles, except having the setup book (Imperial) be more of an event than a world-building exercise (like Ultimate Invasion). The art team is killing it, and we’re all just very excited for what’s happening in this special corner of the Marvel Universe.”
Based on the cover and concept art revealed so far, we can infer certain things about the big changes coming in Imperial. It seems the Nova Corps will be decimated (again), while Star-Lord looks to play a central role in the conflict. It also appears that an entire family of Hulks will take control of the bloody world of Sakaar. And given Black Panther’s presence in the story, it’s a safe bet that the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda has a part to play in this conflict.
Imperial #1 will be released on June 4, 2025. Let us know your theories about the book in the comments below.
In other upcoming Marvel news, we’re getting a new Thunderbolts team that includes Wolverine, Hulk, and Carnage, and we got an exclusive look at Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
