Marvel fans are still puzzling over the decision to wrap up the wildly successful Ultimate Universe line after just three years. But there’s good news, as we now know Marvel has a brand new alternate universe project ready to fill the void this year, and Ultimate architect Jonathan Hickman is once again heavily involved.
Marvel has revealed the Midnight Universe, a new line of books that reinvents familiar characters and teams with a distinctly horror-flavored angle. The tagline for the Midnight Universe is “The light had its turn.”
The Midnight Universe line will consist of three books initially. The line launches in August 2026 with Midnight X-Men, from writer Jonathan Hickman (Secret Wars) and artist Matteo Della Fonte (Nova: Centurion). That series will be followed in September by Midnight Fantastic Four, from Benjamin Percy (Wolverine) and Kev Walker (Infernal Hulk), and in October by Midnight Spider-Man, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Infernal Hulk) and Marvel newcomer Scie Tronc.
Much like the Ultimate line or DC’s Absolute Universe, this is an alternate universe free from the continuity constraints of Marvel’s traditional publishing line, leaving the creators free to introduce some pretty radical changes to the formula. For example, Midnight X-Men revolves around a war between mutants and vampires, while Midnight Spider-Man sees Peter Parker transformed into a terrifying half-human, half-spider monster.
“I’m so enthusiastic about this project—it’s the most excited I’ve been in years,” Hickman said in a statement. “The conceit of Midnight X-Men aligns perfectly with the kind of stories I like to tell. It has a rich, open-ended mythology that equally mixes old and new ideas into something that feels both familiar and original.”
“If you’ve read my work, you know that I see the world through a dark, disturbed lens. To me, it’s always midnight,” Percy said. “When Hickman called me, it was from a landline in the basement of an abandoned house with the wires cut. Blood poured from the receiver into my ear. I said yes.”
Percy continued, “When I imagined this other version of Marvel—a terrifying, poisoned universe—my mind immediately went to the Fantastic Four. This is a title I have always loved, but would never be allowed to write otherwise. Now I could lean into my worst instincts and reimagine their story as one of cosmic, Lovecraftian dread. I am joined in this by the visionary Kev Walker, who is hard at work bringing a new origin story for Marvel’s ‘first family’ to screaming life. I can’t wait to share our nightmares with you.”
“The work we’re doing right now on the Midnight line feels like history being made,” Johnson said. “We’re all bringing creator-owned sensibilities to our projects, we’re redefining boundaries, we’re reinventing these timeless characters in a way that’s never been done. Midnight is nothing like the main line, nothing like the Ultimate line. You will see things in these books that shock you.”
Midnight X-Men will be released on August 5, 2026. You can preorder a copy at your local comic shop.
For more, get the full scoop on Marvel’s X-Men: Outback series and see an exclusive preview of X-Men ’97: Season Two #1.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
