70 Years of Marvel - 1993

The line had kicked off at the tail end of the previous year, but 1993 was the year that the Marvel 2099 line really kicked off. Set in a dystopian future world run by mostly evil corporations, 2099 dealt with the introduction of super-types to that world. Notably, the line featured Ravage, a character created and written by Stan The Man, in what I'm pretty sure was his most recent, and at this rate, probably last, creation for Marvel. Other books in the line featured future incarnations of Spider-Man and the Punisher, and a version of Dr Doom about whose true identity there was some mystery.


Subsequently, these initial books were followed up by X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Hulk titles, as Marvel attempted to squeeze every last buck out of their cyberpunk / dark future fans. By the time the Fantastic Four arrived in the world of tomorrow, the 2099 cash cow had pretty much been bled dry. To be fair, this was 1996, so the concept had had a good innings.


Finally killed off in 1998, with the arrival in the future of Captain America, there have been occasional attempts to revisit the 2099 line, most recently this year with the Timestorm book, and who knows, we may yet see the line spring back into life, sometime in the next 90 years.

1993 also saw the Avengers get a new member, the Shi'ar, Deathcry, and also saw the arrival of yet another Captain Marvel. This one was Genis-Vell, the son of the original Kree hero, and used the title, Legacy, before eventually taking over the mantle of his father. Genis-Vell first appeared in an annual, as did Adam-X, who for a while, was nearly someone important in the X-Books.

Finally, this was also the year in which, after keeping the same outfit for almost all of the 30 years of his existence, the Powers-What-Be decided to give Daredevil a new costume, one that only a blind man could love.


Yes, folks, it really is that hideous. Thankfully, this was kicked into touch pretty swiftly, banished to the land of Nineties Nightmare Costumes, where it belongs.

In the real world, 1993 saw Slicky Willy Clinton take over as President. On TV, the X-Files were out there, Frasier Crane was moving to Seattle, and Andy Sipowicz was becoming the best loved cop on telly.