Wondercon 0 Marvel Panel news on Skaar,Rulk,UncannyXmen1stClass, DR Zodiac + more

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from Newsarama

Marvel held its catchall Mondo Marvel panel Saturday afternoon at WonderCon, with Senior Editor Mark Paniccia hosting. Panelists for the presentation included Joe Casey, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Senior Group Editor Axel Alonso, Rick Remender, and Ron Lim.

Paniccia began the panel by showing trailers for The Stand, a Marvel Hotline trailer with Marc Guggenheim talking about the latest development in “Character Assassination,” Marvel Super Heroes “What The-?,” and a second Marvel Hotline trailer featuring Jeff Parker talking about Agents of Atlas #1.

With the trailers out of the way, Paniccia began the Power Point presentation, which began with the slide of upcoming projects, many of which were addressed at Marvel’s Mondo Marvel panel at New York Comic Con, and allowed creators to speak about their various titles. Highlights included:

Brubaker on The Marvels Project, which begins in June. “It’s me and Steve Epting retelling the early days of the Marvel Universe,” Brubaker said. “It’s The Right Stuff for the Marvel Universe.”

Joe Casey announced that he will be writing Dark Reign: Zodiac, a new miniseries which will feature a new Zodiac team that reject the idea of Norman Osborn telling them what to do. “Norman Osborn in this situation is just like Tony Stark telling everyone else what to do,” Casey said desiring the series. Looking at the first issue’s cover, Casey pointed out that the dead bodies are 100 H.A.M.M.E.R. agents. The series kicks off with the torture and death of 100 H.A.M.M.E.R. Agents, and runs from there.

“It does have some ties to the ld version of Zodiac,” Casey said. “In the first issue, you’ll see all their heads in a sack. Buy it – it’s family entertainment!”

Paniccia then announced the new Uncanny X-Men: First Class, a new series which follows the original five X-Men from X-Men: First Class as well as the new X-Men who joined in the John Byrne/Chris Claremont era. Written by Scott Gray, the new series, like its predecessor, “will dance between the raindrops” when it comes to continuity, allowing new stories to be told while not stepping on any past events.

Issue #5 of Agents of Atlas features a battle between the Avengers and the Agents.

Paniccia opened up the floor to questions...

When will readers find out who the Red Hulk is? Paniccia: There will be a special with issue #600 which will get readers much closer to the answer. The reveal will come sometime in 2010, Paniccia said.

Will there be more What Ifs? coming? Paniccia said that, even though he is no longer the editor on them, Marvel is looking to bring them in to focus on more current events in the Marvel Universe, rather than historical events.

Will there a crossover between Captain America and Iron Man, given that Brubaker and Fraction have worked together before? “One’s dead and the other is trying to lobotomize himself,” Fraction joked. “It would not be a particularly dynamic event.”

Will there be more Howard the Duck? Fraction: Not as much, as Leinil Francis Yu, who slipped him in to crowd scenes in Secret Invasion isn’t working with Brian Bendis anymore.

Incredible Hercules is safe for the foreseeable future, Paniccia said, as the switchover retained readers, and the book’s sales have not suffered with the change from Incredible Hulk.

Will the Hulk persona from Planet Hulk and World War Hulk be seen again? Paniccia – that version of the Hulk may be seen again...soon. Paniccia noted that there’s a reason for the apparent memory loss the Hulk seems to be exhibiting in the current series.

Asked about the influence of the films on the books they write, Fraction said that he’s had absolutely no requests or mandates to make the Iron Man in Invincible like the film version or to change anything in his story because it contradicts what happened in the movie. “My job with Iron Man is to make it accessible,” Fraction said, adding that he’s aiming at a wide audience, from regular readers to those who are new to the character who’ve come to the series via the film.

Alonso said that goal of Invincible as well as Jason Aaron and Ron Garney’s upcoming Wolverine: Weapon X is to make accessible titles for both characters to both stand within the Marvel Universe and be there for readers coming to the character from the films.

There are plans in place for a Skaar Son of Hulk: War of Kings with Editor Bill Rosemann, who, Paniccia said is very meticulously building up Marvel’s cosmic line of books.

How much involvement does Brubaker have in Captain America joining the New Avengers? “I’ve been begging [Bendis] to do that – that’s been the plan post Secret Invasion,” Bendis said, noting that he has to remind the writer that Captain America lives in Brooklyn, rather than the Bronx. Brubaker said that he and Bendis are in frequently in contact about Captain America and their others stories.

Are there future plans for the Warbound characters? Paniccia – Yes, they will be in the Planet Skaar: Prologue coming up, and will play a roll in Skaar moving forward.

Will Iceman play a bigger role in the Marvel Universe outside of the X-Men? Fraction – no, but definitely inside the X-books.

Will the original Champions appear again? Fraction – Those people may join together and be seen again, but they may not call themselves The Champions.