…it’s gonna be big. Next May sees the release of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s limited series, Secret Wars, which is a spiritual sequel to the 1984/1985 mini-series, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.

In the original series, a being of godlike power transported numerous Marvel heroes and villains to an artificial world and pitted them against one another in an attempt to understand the concept of desire. The series was the first big event series by Marvel Comics and paved the way for pretty much everything that’s come since.

The 2015 series, announced at 2014’s New York Comic-Con is the culmination of the story Jonathan Hickman has been writing in Avengers and New Avengers.  With its debut in May 2015, there isn’t much known about the series beyond the title, creative team, and a vague idea that it will center around battles between characters from alternate realities, as seen in the promotional image.

Over the course of the last several weeks, Marvel has released a series of cryptic images, with the tagline ‘Summer 2015’:

Most of the images showcase major storylines of the Marvel Universe with slight changes as well as drastic ones. This has led to speculation that the images are glimpses into alternate universes that diverged from the mainstream Marvel universe at some point. With the tagline ‘Summer 2015’, it is further speculated that they will play some role in the May 2015 debut of Secret Wars.

Turns out, that speculation was correct:

With the release of a new video, Marvel Comics has confirmed that yes, every teaser it’s released for Summer 2015 is related to its “Secret Wars” event. In addition to that, it shows us exactly how each teaser fits into the new Battleworld, with each reality essentially forming its own country.

Of course this teaser video raises a host of questions:

• Who will team up with whom and who will oppose whom?
• How did this Battleworld form, who did it, and why?
• What are the stakes of this battle?
• How will characters from each reality react to their dopplegangers?
• Will this be the last gasp of the Ultimate Universe?
• Will there be lasting repercussions on the Marvel Universe? If so, what will they be?
• Will the Beyonder play a role?
• Why were certain realities chosen (such as the 1990s animated X-Men world)?
• Will Marvel-contrary to their assertions over the years-use this opportunity to reboot their universe?

I guess we’ll find out once the story is over, which won’t be until 2016.  I’ll say this: Marvel has me highly interested in this. I’ve been following the story Jonathan Hickman has been writing, and I’d never have guessed he was going this cosmic. I can’t wait to see the story, as well as the aftermath. Here’s hoping it’s a good one.