LordOfLore
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A few weeks ago, the assembled heroes of the Marvel Universe took on the Hydra-aligned Captain America with the fate of all reality at stake, in the final issue in Marvel Comics controversial Secret Empire event.
The series and the stories leading into it have been subject to much debate about the responsibility of storytelling within the superhero genre. Now that everything is officially over with the publication of the events epilogue issue, Secret Empire: Omega #1 its a good time to reflect on the events both in and outside of the comic, and to assess whether Secret Empire was worth all the hubbub.
While the lead-in to Secret Empire seemed like the event itself was going to have something to say about the nature of American fascism, the actual series focused more on being a standard superhero romp without much to say. Over the course of eighteen months, the story of Captain Americas turn towards outright fascism has caused pain, anger and outrage and ultimately just wasnt worth the the offense, the excuses or the effort.
Theres also the matter of the other Captain America, Sam Wilson. Since donning the red-white-and-blue, Sam has lead sidekicks to their death, let billionaires off the hook, stood on the sidelines while private police terrorise minority communities and eventually decided it was all too hard and quit to go camp out in Montana. While its hardly the characters fault he deserved much better Sam Wilson was a terrible Captain America. And now that the real Steve Rogers is back, hes heading back to becoming the Falcon. Its a missed opportunity to have him to actually live up to the name and mantle of Captain America in the wake of Hydras takeover.
A glance at Marvels schedule for the next few months shows a surprisingly meagre amount of Secret Empire fallout, especially for a publisher that usually ends events with line-wide branding, like The Initiative after Civil War and Dark Reign after Secret Invasion. The X-Men books are going straight into a crossover event in the Mojoverse; the Punisher is taking over the War Machine armor, after working with Hydra of his own free will; and the Avengers are going straight into a crossover with the Champions featuring the High Evolutionary.
Secret Empire is the second worst selling event comic in Marvels history. Furthermore, it failed to bolster sales of its tie-in issues series launched out of Secret Empire, such as Secret Warriors, were already hovering around the cancellation line just a couple of issues in. Marvel has spent a lot of time and money on this event, and has come out of the other side with lower sales and lower confidence from readers and retailers alike.
No one comic or story is going turn things around for Marvel. Itll take some really good stories and a sincere sign that things will change for the better to regain the trust of those driven away from Secret Empire. At the end of this month, Secret Empire will be a distant memory in the Marvel Universe or at least that seems to be the hope but whether fans can forgive and forget remains to be seen.
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