Secret
Wars (full title Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars)
is the name of a twelve-issue Marvel Comics' comic
book limited series produced between 1984 and 1985,
and a Mattel toy line that reflected the series.
The
series, which was conceived to launch the toy line,
was written by Marvel's then-Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter
and primarily pencilled by Mike Zeck. The story was
a large scale crossover, in which many of Marvel's
most popular super-heroes and super-villains were
transported to an alien planet and pitted against
each other in an all-out battle.
Opposing
factions were formed of super-heroes and super-villains.
The two sides went on to engage in several battles
on the planet. At one point, the X-Men left the side
of the heroes to form a third faction on stand-by
for the other heroes. The planet-consuming Galactus,
largely indifferent to the actions of the lesser-powered
characters, represented his "own" side.
The phrase "secret war" was first used by
Captain America.
Each
group had its victories and losses. Even the Beyonder
found itself caught up in a struggle for its existence
when Doctor Doom temporarily stole its vast power.
In the end, the Beyonder, Doom and the villain Klaw
vanished to parts unknown. For the most part, the
heroes returned to Earth by reversing the effects
of the machines that had brought them to Battleworld,
while the villains (and a chunk of Denver that had
been used in Battleworld's assembly) returned to Earth
using the vast powers of the Molecule Man. The Thing
elected to remain on Battleworld because he found
that he was able to revert to his human state there.
The character spent a year's worth of stories away
from Earth and the She-Hulk took his place on the
Fantastic Four.
The
series had several immediate consequences for a number
of Marvel Universe characters. Spider-Man encountered
a symbiotic creature on the planet that enveloped
him and expressed itself as a new black costume which
produced its own web supply. Spider-Man initially
thought that the creature was an advanced synthetic
costume produced by an alien machine; it wasn't until
after almost a year of continuity in the Spider-Man
comics that Peter Parker discovered the true nature
of the creature, as it tried to take over Parker's
body and bond permanently with him. Spider-Man was
able to rid himself of the creature with the help
of Reed Richards, and when the creature subsequently
escaped from the Fantastic Four's headquarters, it
bonded with Eddie Brock to become the supervillain
Venom. A new Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter was introduced,
Colossus had an affair with an alien on battleworld
which led him to break up with Shadowcat when he returned
to Earth, and two new supervillainesses - Titania,
a bullying powerhouse and her friend Volcana - were
created.
