Miles Morales had quite the journey in Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion. Now we know what that journey will result in as Marvel has announced what their 2026 summer event will be. This new event is titled Armageddon with the Avengers branding as part of the announcement.
At the conclusion of Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5 we got a teaser of this event with the Ultimate Universe’s Origin Boxes being brought into Earth 616’s Marvel Universe. There will be further clues in the upcoming Captain America storyline by Chip Zdarsky and Valerio Schiti. Now, we are still seven months away from when Armageddon is set to start but can look into what we know, and the major implications Marvel’s 2026 summer event will have.
WHAT ARE THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE’S ORIGIN BOXES
Given that Marvel called out the Origin Boxes that Miles Morales received at the end of Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5 it is safe to say they will play a big role. The teaser includes a caped figure holding one of the Origin Boxes. So, what are the Origin Boxes?
The Origin Boxes was first introduced in Ultimate Spider-Man #1 with late-30s Peter Parker finding the spider that would give him his powers and Spider-Man suit inside it. This and other Origin Boxes were created by Ultimate Iron Lad and Doctor Doom in Ultimate Universe #1. They created them to contain catalysts and other items that are key to classic Marvel character origin stories. These catalysts were things that the Maker collected to reshape Earth-6160 into an Ultimate Universe built in his image.
As we’ve seen across all the Ultimate Universe titles these Origin Boxes were originally made to send Earth-6160 characters down their destined paths. While it worked out for Peter Parker to become Spider-Man it didn’t work for everyone. Due to the Maker altering the timeline some characters like Clint Barton rejected his Origin Box while others like Captain Marvel blew up due to being unable to control the massive power.
This led to some of the discarded Origin Boxes to be picked up by other people. An example of this is Charli Ramsey becoming Ultimate Hawkeye after picking up Clint’s Origin Box. This showed that the catalysts in the Origin Boxes aren’t necessarily tied to the DNA of a character.
ORIGIN BOXES KEY TO UNLOCK MARVEL UNIVERSE ARMAGEDDON
Towards the end of Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5 we got a hint at how the Origin Boxes will come into play in the Marvel Universe. Towards the end Miles accidentally touched the catalyst supposedly meant for Earth-6160 Miles Morales. This showed us the true potential the Origin Boxes have outside the new Ultimate Universe. By touching the catalyst Miles gained all of his memories from the original Ultimate Universe that were rebooted at the end of Secret Wars.
Miles getting his original memories back shows that the Origin Boxes can be activated by anyone in any universe. Not being tied directly to Earth-6160 means that anyone on Earth-616 can gain powers or key items to do something with. That means these Origin Boxes can be the catalysts for a new age of not just heroes but villains.
As we saw with the Ultimate Captain Marvel example, this is a very dangerous thing. If anyone can utilize these boxes than it can very well be an unknown that will lead to the Armageddon event living up to its name.
AVENGERS ARMAGEDDON OPENING DOOR TO MIRACLEMAN
The name of Armageddon is enough to know that Marvel’s 2026 will be dark. That is further hinted at with Chip Zdarsky and Marvel invoking Avengers: Disassembled as part of the announcement. Avengers: Disassembled reshaped the path the Marvel Universe took over the last 20 years. If Marvel is mentioning that important story we know this can be what kick starts the next 20 years of stories.
With the Origin Boxes being so important to the Armageddon event it possibly opened the door for something Marvel’s been trying to do for a while. That is using this event to finally bring Miracleman into the Marvel Universe. Marvel bought Miracleman back in 2010. Other than the 7 issue mini-series in 2022 that completed Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham’s unfinished “The Silver Age” storyline, we haven’t gotten any other new Miracleman content.
That said, in the 15 years of ownership Marvel has made sure to keep Miracleman collections in circulation. Other than the revenue Marvel has done this with the purpose of eventually doing something more with the Miracleman franchise. What would be bigger than having Miracleman be a key part of a game changing event?
The hint of Miracleman could possibly be seen in the Armageddon teaser artwork. While Miracleman doesn’t wear a cape Marvel was clearly trying to invoke Superman with the silhouette image. An Earth-616 Miracleman would fit the bill for someone to appear thanks to the Origin Boxes. If that is the case Marvel will have plenty of content to integrate into their universe, and would be especially helpful for the Avengers.
Credit: Marvel.com
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