Horror has been stitched into superhero comics several times, and the two genres often go hand in hand. It immerses the characters in terrifying and testing circumstances, pits them against mindless enemies, and establishes menacing atmospheres. From Ant-Man to Zatanna, all superheroes work with horror. The Midnight Universe from Marvel Comics is something very different.
What is The Midnight Universe?
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
The Midnight Universe is a whole new imprint, a world where horror comes first. The Midnight series retells the origins of Marvel’s most famous heroes, using the horror genre to build a world. Legendary world-building and horror creators are brought together to reinvent a universe, with all three comics releasing simultaneously for maximum impact.
What comics and characters are included?
Midnight: Fantastic Four transforms a wholesome story of space exploration and a fiercely loyal family into an Eldritch cosmic-horror nightmare. Reed Richards is a pill-addicted scientist obsessed with trying to breach into another dimension, no matter the consequences. On the other side of the gateway, there are forces beyond comprehension. It’s a comic that is violent, dark, and not really filled with heroes. The family is not particularly nice, and there is an overhanging feeling of dread.
Writer Benjamin Percy has been a creator who brings horror-adjacent enemies to his work for years. Hyper-violence is common, as seen in Punisher and in a complete set of Predator vs. the Marvel Universe titles. But Midnight: Fantastic Four brings something new. It uses the likes of megalophobia, astrophobia, and more specifically Lovecraftophobia to really cause unease. All crafted by the masterful art of Kev Walker.
Midnight: Spider-Man is definitely the most surprising of the three. Phillip Kennedy Johnson had already been telling a mainstream horror comic, from Hulk to Infernal Hulk, and now takes it to the Friendly Neighborhood. The comic draws on influences from The Fly and other body-horror stories, pushing them to extremes.
The gore within the first issue is indescribable in its terror and detail, throwing Peter Parker and the reader into the deep end. Scietronc, the artist in Midnight: Spider-Man, really explores the inside of the body once it has been ejected. It’s interesting that the character often used as an entry-level figure in stories is the most dramatic and intense. Of the three, this will be the most polarising purely because of how viscerally gruesome it gets.
Midnight X-Men is very different to the other two comics, in that it is not exactly an origin story. The X-Men are not just fully grown, but a vampire plague has infected most of the population, and we begin the story in peacetime after a violent war. The mutants are either scattered or blood suckers.
World-building extraordinaire Jonathan Hickman leads this book, with Matteo Della Fonte on art, and that shows in how rapidly a world is crafted and expanded. It’s not as outwardly shocking or frightening, but it turns a concept on its head. The X-Men are the monsters; they’re the hunters, and that is a terrifying idea. It makes the heroes the horror.
Which characters could be next?
These three Midnight Universe projects are the only initial series announced by Marvel. However, based on the interest and spectacle surrounding the release, there will surely be more to come. And let’s be honest, it’s not long before Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Thor, and more are also brought into this sadistic universe. This world is so fresh that anything is possible—maybe a Wolverine slasher story, or an underwater Subnautica-esque tale with Namor at the helm.
The three Midnight Universe comics highlight how varied horror can be and why they are so different from regular takes that may feature horror elements. Things can happen in these books that would never be possible in the mainstream. Faces can melt off, flesh can decay, and characters can be entirely recreated. The Midnight Universe allows creators’ darkest thoughts to come to life.
All three Midnight Universe comics are available now wherever comics are sold.
