Ok, I have to say I am not into Marvel's creative direction.

What the heck is happening? Steve isn't Cap AGAIN. Nick Fury was an entirely different guy and original sin is there only as an excuse for Fury to die. The "Superior" Iron Man is actually a thing. Thor is a woman because it seems Thor is a mantle now... We learned from November's solicits that Doc Strange will AGAIN lose his Sorcerer Supreme status something that happened less than a decade ago! There are rumors that get stronger by the days that Marvel is gonna drop the FF until they get the movie rights back AND marvel just killed one of their oldest most iconic supporting characters who has been a member of many versions of the Marvel universe with the most disrespectful way in Original Sins.

What the actual frak? Who is taking these decisions? Ok, I can see the out with the old in with the new kinda thing but they are coming out of nowhere and they are so overwhelming. Most of those don't make sense and they aren't born from long running character development but from publicity stunts or mediocre events.

/End rant.

Does'nt seem to be a lot of cohesion at Marvel at the moment, they're even trying to do a "Crisis"-like event with all the mutliverses coming together in various storylines, Spidey included. No points for originality.

There's a reason only the Ultimate 'verse and the Spidey newspaper strip keeps me a fan of this stuff nowadays, I don't have to deal with any of this with those

Yep that's Marvel NOW........No Original Wisdom.

Just gimmick after gimmick.

Marvel are just trying to do what they think will make the most money...

They have been doing this stuff for decades. It never changes. American super hero comics inevitably stagnate unfortunately and this how they keep things fresh.

If you would have come on this site 3 or 4 years ago you would have seen people complaining about the same kind of stuff....

"ZOMG, Doc Ock is Spidey"

"WTF, The X-Men are splitting up??"

"Crap shoots!! Captain Americ is dead??" "F*ck you Marvel"

If you want to go back even further there was a point in time when Peter Parker thought he was a clone and a dude named Ben Reilly was Spider-Man for a while.

Just saying, Marvel has been do this same stuff for a long time. Nothing new.

Have you liked any of the arcs?

because things like this always happen. if its not huge battles its personal changes.

h3ck

Lol.

BB

So many bad choices in one year.Plus killing one of my favourite Marvel characters Wolverine.

This is the idea of Marvel being inovative and bringing something new up the table for their fans.

#MarvelFTW

Nothing lasts forever in comics in more ways than one. Things will eventually change and then turn back to normal like a Futurama episode. Cap died before. He came back to life and took the mantle again. Spider-Man just died not that long ago and came back in time for his film. Rogers will eventually be Cap again once Cap 3 is ready to come out.

Fury should die. He's been MIA for a while now and besides I never liked him. XP

Nobody complains that Thunderstrike was once "Thor." The mantle of Thor is based off of Thor's name. Thor Odinson will be "worthy" again once his film is ready to go.

Strange will be Sorcerer Supreme again once his film is good to go. He actually needs something to do after New Avengers aka Illuminati are done. What better trials should Strange go through than reclaiming/earning his title again.

Marvel will not drop FF. They will start promoting them again once their movie comes out.

Marvel is a corporation. Corporations are all about making $$$. They know what they are doing. Plus, none of these changes will last. Rogers will always be Captain America. Thor Odinson will always be worthy and etc. (+)

@yung_ancient_one: I see why you call yourself the ancient one.

Beata

You know you can say heck right/

You left out one thing , to summarize just say screw it all and read a comic story other than the Marvel ones being made into a movie. I had the same idea of following the Ultimate Universe comics , but I've decided just to read DC , Marvel is just to f3cked up "NOW".

Businesses and corporations are comprised of human beings.

Human beings are known to be less than perfect and make mistakes, even terrible mistakes.

Some businesses and corporations are not really interested in making money.

Making money is a cool benefit of some of these corporations' activities, but not their primary goal.

Sometimes businesses and corporations want to change the world.

Hype/publicity.

I don't mind marketing gimmicks; let's face the fact that they often work and do help revitalize a character, appeal to new readers, boost sales and promote new characters. Sometimes, they can even be pretty darn exciting and well written.

Tha being said, it seems half of Marvel's ideas these days are gimmicks and it just seems transparent especially in the Cap, Thor and Iron Man departments. It makes it difficult to see past the silliness of it all.

That being said, everything Marvel has done can and will be reversed. DC wiped out a much superior continuity for a sales boost, and I've given up hope that they will ever return to it.

RIP Tim Drake

@squalleon: Are you a Mormon?

@allaric: I don't think Marvel is "**** up" right now. I feel like Marvel's products are fairly well done. I think fans are just being uptight about changes that will eventually return to normal later. People hated a lot of previous creative decisions were others enjoyed them. I am enjoying what Marvel is doing for the most part. However, I do agree, if you don't like their product there are more than just two big comic book corporations. Image, BOOM! Studios, Valiant, and many more exist. (+)

Exactly. Plenty of variety to go around. Some of us have been around too long to be surprised or angered by any of this progressivly lamer and lamer cycle which only appeals to fans who have lowered their standards to such a level they don't care about the quality of the books as long as they have esapism

There is nothing innovative or new about any of this.

#MarvelsDiminishingReturns

@zarius: That's their idea and view of new and inovative.

Reboot everything.

THOR is the latest in the ever-growing and long list of female-centric titles that continues to invite new readers into the Marvel Universe. THOR will be the 8th title to feature a lead female protagonist and aims to speak directly to an audience that long was not the target for super hero comic books in America: women and girls.

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/comics/2014/7/15/22875/marvel_proudly_presents_thor#ixzz3BWPSvXIu

In that excerpt you will find Marvel admitting that changing Thor to a female is just an attempt pander to women.

Black cap is likely the same

Not sure what's up with iron man.

I posted this in the Thor forums , .http://www.comicvine.com/thor/4005-2268/forums/the-real-reasons-for-the-new-thor-cap-america-and--1586928/#16

but here's an abbreviated version.

So what do these 4 characters , she Thor , ex-Thor , Captain America and Ironman all have in common ? They all got a dramatic new IMAGE !!!

So in the business this is called re-imaging or re-branding , which leads to remarketing , DING ! Yes with all these new images of Marvels top comic book characters Marvel can now sell new licenses of new toys and games and make more money off essentially the same characters with little to no real work done. Hey do your kids already have Thor/Cap/Ironman toys and games , well guess what thanks to re-imaging they are the Old Thor/Cap/Ironman so now you can buy them all over again , and Marvel gets even more money !!

So there you have it comic fans our favorite super heroes have becomes victims of their own success/popularity.

I guess now what happens to your characters and their story is dependent on how Marvel can market toys and games to kids. When the market is saturated with one image they can just change the equipment , or gender or race to make it a new character , and the comic writers create an appropriate story line for the changes. I'll say it does kinda suck now for Marvel fans that the comic book characters stories are now driven by the guys in the Toys and Games marketing department and not the writers anymore.

For the doubters ...

Hasbro and Disney Expand Strategic Merchandising Relationship for Major Entertainment Properties

Agreement Extends Hasbro's Global Toy and Game Merchandise Rights for Marvel Characters Through 2020

link...http://investor.hasbro.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=779213