Marvel Pitches its Own Absolute Universe With the Midnight Universe

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. One of the big two comic book publishers is launching a new imprint, one that puts a dark spin on existing characters. Living in a world driven by a fundamental evil, these heroes lack some of their defining features. And yet, the contrast only gives the heroes a chance to restore hope.

Up until recently, that description fit only the Absolute Universe, DC Comics‘ wildly successful spinoff. But yesterday, Marvel announced the Midnight Universe, a new take on some of their most important heroes. “The Midnight Universe draws in longtime fans and newcomers alike to enter a terrifying new world where anything can happen,” reads a press release from the publisher. “Interconnected by rich lore-building, Marvel’s most definitive modern creators are given free rein to reimagine heroes with shocking twists and chilling transformations in boundary-less, creator-driven storytelling that will keep readers on edge issue after issue.”

The release goes on to identify the heroes in the first batch of Midnight comics: “The X-Men no longer fight for acceptance, they hunger for blood. The Fantastic Four venture into the unknown not to save the world—but to unleash terror upon it. And Spider-Man discovers that with great power… comes something monstrous.”

Written by Jonathan Hickman and penciled by Matteo Della Fonte, Midnight X-Men takes place in a New York City ruled by secret empires of vampires and mutants, giving Marvel a chance to once again turn Storm and Jubilee back into bloodsuckers. Writer Benjamin Percy and artist Kev Walker take on Midnight Fantastic Four, in which Reed Richards is a scientist whose obsessions have horrifying effects on his family. Midnight Spider-Man, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and illustrated by Scie Tronc, imagines Peter Parker as a hybrid creature created by Oscorp.

Although the release gestures toward a type of shared lore between the two books, it’s not clear if there’s an in-universe explanation for the spinoff, as exists in DC. The Absolute Universe came about from an explosion of Darkseid’s energy after a battle with the Justice League, spawning a reality in which evil is the defining force. Thus, Superman loses Krypton as an adult, Batman grows up without his fortune, and Wonder Woman is separated from the Amazons. Moreover, the new conceit has given creators such as Scott Snyder, Jason Aaron, and Kelly Thompson carte blanche to make extreme storytelling decisions, which have paid off with top-sellers.

So successful is the Absolute line that it’s hard not to dismiss the Midnight Universe as a rip-off. Which, it probably is. But one must remember that the Absolute line is just the latest attempt by DC to replicate Marvel’s Ultimate line, a spinoff that reset the continuities of its most popular characters. And the Ultimate line was Marvel’s attempt to untangle continuity like DC did with Crisis on Infinite Earths. And Crisis was a maxi-series in the vein of Marvel’s Secret Wars. But the Marvel heroes only exist because publisher Martin Goodman saw the sales numbers on DC’s Justice League and told his nephew-in-law Stan Lee to try superheroes again, leading to the creation of the Fantastic Four.

In short, the companies cross-pollinate and borrow from each other all the time. And as long as the comics are good, who cares who got there first? If the Midnight Universe is half as compelling as the Absolute Universe has been, then Marvel’s nightmare will be a dream come true for comics fans.

Midnight X-Men arrives in stores in August 2026.