captain marvel

Of all the books announced by Marvel during this week's big All-New, All-Different unveiling, one of the surprise titles that generated the most buzz was Ultimates, by Al Ewing and Kenneth Rocafort. Though the name echoes back to the Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers, this is a very different team, comprised of some of the Marvel Universe's major powerhouses and most brilliant minds as they tackle cosmic threats on the scale of... well, Galactus. ComicsAlliance spoke to Ewing to learn about the big idea behind this big team and the sort of threats they'll be facing, and to discover what drew him to put characters like Black Panther, Captain Marvel and America Chavez on one team --- besides the fact that they're all obviously the best characters.

We've covered the X-Men, and the Avengers teams. Now we're into potentially the biggest group, the Avengers solo titles, which includes some heroes getting their own ongoing books for the first time. In fact, this group is so sprawling, we've held a couple of characters who are technically Avengers for a later post. Everyone is an Avenger now. Jonathan Hickman made it unwieldy. So here are just eight of the infinite solo Avengers titles.

Yesterday we learned that Kelly Sue DeConnick will not continue on Captain Marvel when the title returns after Secret Wars --- an unsurprising move given her creator-owned successes and her increasing involvement in movie and TV production through her Milkfed Criminal Masterminds shingle. Today we've learned who'll replace her on the next iteration of Captain Marvel; the writing team of Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, best known to Marvel fans as the showrunners on the Agent Carter TV show. They're joined by artist Kris Anka, who also worked with the writers on a tweaked costume design for the captain.

Sad news for those who loved Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel tenure: the end is in sight. “Captain Marvel” has been a number of people. Only two of them, Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau, have been women, and only one of those has been blessed with such auspicious circumstances: when Carol Danvers became Captain Marvel, her title benefited from both a new, quite obviously more considered costume, and a woman writing the adventures, with a social media platform that permitted no obstacles. Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel inspired the Carol Corps: when you’ve got your own highly visible, economically dedicated grassroots fan club, you have arrived.

Q: You've mentioned it a few times now; what makes the idea of Captain Marvel an even better idea than Superman to you? -- @dispenserotruth A: The thing about Superman and Captain Marvel --- or Shazam, as the kids are calling him these days --- is that you can't really talk about one without talking about the other. I mean, you can, but the histories of those two characters and how they evolved over the years are so tied up together, both on and off the page, that they couldn't really have happened the way they did about without each other.

Captain Marvel is kind of a big deal for the Marvel Cinematic Universe — it’s the studio’s first solo woman superhero movie, and as such, it’s attracted the attention of a few leading ladies. Emily Blunt told us last year that she’d love to play the superhero, while Jessica Chastain has also expressed interest. And now Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard is throwing her name out there, too.

Marvel and director James Gunn have already started looking at actors for the sequel to last year's surprise hit Guardians of the Galaxy, due for release in May 2017. It may be too soon to expect any immediate announcements, but the coming months should give us a better idea which new characters will be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the second installment. At least one more member is likely to join the team, and Gunn has said he hopes to have "at least two women in the next iteration of the Guardians." That would be a welcome change for a team with just one woman right now, Gamora, and four characters that present as male --- but which women from Marvel's roster of cosmic characters would fans like to see join the team? Here's your chance to weigh in!

Marvel is definitely not messing around right now. In addition to hiring a pair of talented ladies to script their upcoming Captain Marvel solo film, the studio has their eye on one very awesome woman of color to take on one of their “diverse” upcoming movies: Selma director Ava DuVernay is reportedly being courted by Marvel for either Captain Marvel or Black Panther, and either film could benefit from having DuVernay behind the camera.

Who is the greatest Avenger of all time? You probably have your personal favorites. You probably also have a pretty good idea who the popular favorites might be. We wanted to know for sure, so to mark the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron we conducted a giant-size poll to give you the chance to choose between more than 100 Avengers members, and rank them from least to best. Now the results are in. And we think there are a few surprises.

Although cosplay has been present for decades within the comics, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, social media has played an integral role in the thriving communities of costuming that exist, such as Cosplay.com and the Superhero Costuming Forum. Over the years, the cosplay community has evolved into a creative outlet for many fans to establish and showcase some impressive feats of homemade disguise, craftsmanship, and sartorial superheroics at conventions. In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.