A few days ago Marvel released a mysterious teaser image reminiscent of the Pop Art movement of the 60's titled Either It's In You Or It's Not with a December 2011 date, but what on Earth was it all about?
A few days ago Marvel released a mysterious teaser image reminiscent of the Pop Art movement of the 60's titled Either It's In You Or It's Not with a December 2011 date and whilst it looked very nice and was certainly eye-catching, the image drags audiences in to a series of mysteries. The first being: Who is it and what on Earth is it about... Well, if you couldn't tell from the glowing fist, then perhaps the words and phrases that form the shape of this hero will give you more clues. It is of course Iron Fist made up of facts about who he is and the experiences that the Marvel writers have put him through of the decades. What is even stranger about this teaser are the spattering of different coloured letters throughout. Even when put together these letters make no sense. And then Marvel put out this image: Now this one is no tough mystery. Any Marvel fan should know the silhouette of Doctor Strange well enough. Again he is formed from words that describe him and his adventures. And yet again there are coloured letters that seem to have no purpose. Yesterday Marvel released this one: Slightly less obvious for those of us who have drifted away from the ever-expanding and more confusing world of the Hulk franchise, but this is the outline of Betty Ross, the Red She Hulk. Same word-body. Same coloured letters dotted throughout. But what does this all mean? First off, these images do come with a slight explanation. Marvel posted this message:
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"Find out more at the Fear Itself Panel (Sunday, July 24th at 12:30PM PST) during Comic-Con International in San Diego!" So we know that it has something to do with the culmination of the Fear Itself comics event. It is also clear that these three are all members of The Mighty; the heroes who will be given special powers to defeat the seemingly unstoppable The Worthy.
But what does it all mean? Well the wonderful comic book fans over at the Comic Book Resources forum have been colluding to solve this mystery once and for all. What they do know is that the four colours of letter can be scrambled together to create four different phrases. They have managed to work out the following: Orange message -- "Thus (or Shut) the engines" Yellow message -- "The universe will" Red message -- "Everyone you love" Maroon message -- "Fight to save" Clearly Marvel are going to continue to send us more word-people full of cryptic clues over the next week. What is it that they are hinting at? Your guess is as good as mine. But I doubt that it is as simple as showing us who The Mighty are. They already did that (sort of). Mix into this the fact that Fear Itself is supposed to round out in 3 issues or 3 months time (whilst the teaser posters proclaim 'December 2011'), and it seems that the Fear Itself story arc is going to have some lasting effects on the Marvel Universe. My guess is that one of these heroes will not make it out alive. If they kill Hawkeye off again I will be pissed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE July 15 2011 Two new images released by Marvel: Okay, so that adds Silver Surfer and the Hulk (which one I am not sure. It could be good ol' Bruce Banner, but seeing as the Red She Hulk seems to be here as well, perhaps it is Red Hulk). But more importantly it gives more letters to flesh out the clues. As the Hulk ha no coloured letters we can assume that the code has come to its end, and possibly this teaser promotion as well. This is what the crazy fans across the internet have decoded: Yellow: The Universe Will Break Orange: Shut The Engines Down Red: Everyone You Love Dies Crimson: Fight To Save Everything Now those are not premonitions of lollipops, Care Bears and fluffy puppy dogs' tails. All I'm seeing is doom, gloom and bad times ahead for some of our favourite heroes. There has been a lot of buzz suggesting that Fear Itself will result in a new Defenders team up. This is justified by the inclusion of Defenders mainstayers Doctor Strange, Hulk and the Silver Surfer. I only know one thing for sure. In this era of one-ups between Marvel and DC, and the marketing phenomenon that has been created by both comic juggernauts through their constant universe-wide 'events', we can guarantee that this secret is going to be about more than just one new comic series being released. Secrecy, hype and mystery. Sounds a lot like the months before Secret Invasion.