10 Marvel Comics That Should’ve Been Hits But Had Impossible Competition
Marvel Comics have been publishing content for a long time and have created many memorable and lasting characters. Being the House of Ideas, creating new stories was always on the agenda. They’ve had great ideas, and they’ve had ideas that did not take off like they wanted.
However, that does not mean failed comic books are bad or successful comic books are good. Oftentimes, it comes down to timing. The audience can only pay attention to so many comics at once, meaning some titles fall by the wayside, no matter the quality. Even when Marvel thinks they have a hit on their hands, the comic book can be overshadowed by another.
10 The New Universe Could Not Compete With Major Crossovers
In 1986, Marvel created the New Universe, a shared universe of titles separate from the Marvel Universe. Under Jim Shooter, a lot of talent worked on the books to create a cohesive universe with rules never seen in superhero comics before.
Marvel’s first major crossover Secret Wars had just finished up the previous year, and DC’s continuity-shaking event Crisis on Infinite Earths was still on the shelves. As ambitious as the New Universe was, it did not have the kind of draw that brought together the biggest names in superhero comics did.
9 Emma Frost Was Buried In Solo X-Titles
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Emma Frost started out as the villainous White Queen menacing the X-Men and teaching her own students the Hellions until she became a hero teaching Generation X. Emma Frost later joined the main X-Men cast and was featured in New X-Men spirit Astonishing X-Men.
Emma was given her own series in 2003, which delved into her pre-X-Men background. The X-Men were hugely popular, and so was Emma. Despite her popularity, Emma’s series lasted only 18 issues as the market became oversaturated with similar titles starring X-Men like Rogue and Nightcrawler.
8 The Champions Were No Defenders
The Avengers proved that characters with their own titles could make a team book work, and the Defenders proved that characters who had their own titles but hated each other could make a team book work. The Champions had no hook.
Taking Avengers Black Widow and Hercules plus X-Men Angel and Iceman and adding Ghost Rider should have brought in many readers. The Champions had neither the epic scope of The Avengers nor the charm of The Defenders, and thus the book was canceled after issue # 17 without a true finale.
7 A-Force Lost Characters To Civil War II
Marvel uses big events to spin-off new books, but a lot of the time, a big event can kill a title as well. A-Force was a book born from Secret Wars and killed by Civil War II.
Secret Wars introduced the world of Arcadia, inhabited by a team of female Avengers. New character Singularity emerged from that event and brought together big name female heroes like She-Hulk, Medusa, and Captain Marvel as A-Force. The book had buzz, but it quietly ended since Civil War II needed to use those characters.
6 Astonishing Ant-Man Didn’t Keep The Movie Audience
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the perfect gateway to the comic books, and 2014’s Ant-Man movie prompted Marvel to give Scott Lang a book in 2015 called Astonishing Ant-Man.
Ant-Man has never managed to hold a solo book for long, but Astonishing Ant-Man respected Scott’s history and included movie villain Darren Cross as a major antagonist. It was not enough to attract a large enough audience, as Marvel also launched multiple books to capitalize on Guardians of the Galaxy characters, splitting the readership.
5 The Loners Could Not Compete With Other Teen Teams
Marvel has a long history of forming teenage superhero teams. Every decade or so, there seems to be a new X-book with young mutants, and in 2003, Runaways was launched featuring young heroes whose powers come from various corners of the Marvel Universe.
Runaways introduced a support group of young heroes who would become The Loners and receive their own series in 2007. The Loners had to compete with Runaways as well as the latest young X-Men book New X-Menand Young Avengers. The Loners did not last long.
4 Nextwave Had No Place In A Serious Marvel Universe
In 2006, Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen took Marvel characters nobody was using and put them in Nextwave, an over the top superhero comedy book. It had great acclaim, but it could not keep up with the Marvel Universe.
Poking fun at comic book conventions, Nextwave featured a Nick Fury parody named Dirk Anger. While government agencies were mocked in Nextwave, Civil War took the idea of SHIELD and government oversight on superheroes seriously. Civil War touched on every Earth-based Marvel character, and there was no room for a book like Nextwave.
3 The Silver Surfer Was Outdated
The Silver Age was an explosion of creativity from Stan Lee, whose memorable characters defined Marvel. Stan passed his titles on to other writers, but after co-creating the Silver Surfer in the pages of Fantastic FourStan wrote his spin-off book in 1968.
Like the best Stan Lee characters, the Silver Surfer was burdened by his powers. Stan infused the book with humanity and introspection, but the title was not a hit. Marvel audiences had already moved past that type of storytelling, and the Silver Surfer title ended with issue # 18.
2 Uncanny Inhumans Proved Fans Still Side With The X-Men
The Inhumans and the mutants of the X-Men have always had a similar concept, but Inhumans were isolationists and mutants were everywhere. As a result, X-Men titles multiplied, but books with Inhumans never did until the Terrigen Mists spread through the world, creating new Inhumans.
New Inhumans books were launched including a book called Uncanny Inhumans, an adjective usually reserved for the X-Men. The two groups clashed in Inhumans vs. X-Men, which did not do the Inhumans any favors. As Uncanny Inhumans ended, so did hopes for an ongoing Inhumans book.
1 Ultimate Marvel Team-Up Was Ignored
Spider-Man launched the Ultimate Comics line, and Brian Michael Bendis was the driving creative force. After the Ultimate Spider-Man spirit Ultimate X-Men books were launched came Ultimate Marvel Team-Upwritten by Bendis and drawn by various artists who teamed Spider-Man up with new characters.
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up introduced characters like Iron Man and Hulk, but when they became main characters in The Ultimates, they were essentially new characters with different backgrounds. As the Ultimate line continued with more popular books like Ultimates spirit Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up became irrelevant.
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