Marvel has unveiled the title and contents of the previously announced mystery finale of its summer 2021 Heroes Reborn crossover, now revealed as Heroes Return #1 from writer Jason Aaron and artist Ed McGuiness.
As predicted, Heroes Return #1 (which borrows its title from the aftermath of 1996's Heroes Reborn, likewise the namesake of this year's event) is predicated on a clash between the returning Avengers, who never formed in the world of Heroes Reborn 2021, and the Justice League pastiche antiheroes of the Squadron Supreme of America.
Interestingly enough, 1996 is also the anniversary of Marvel Vs. DC, so Marvel basing an event around characters and concepts that resemble and pay purposeful homage to DC, culminating in a throwdown may be Marvel's way of lighting some birthday candles for that cross-company crossover.
"This June, the saga of Heroes Reborn will come to a startling end in Heroes Return #1, an oversized finale issue that will reveal the fate of Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness's new vision of the Marvel Universe," reads Marvel's description of Heroes Return #1, which has a cover forms the final piece of a series of four-way connecting covers from artist Leinil Yu (seen below).
"Heroes Reborn presents a world without Avengers where the Squadron Supreme took their place," it continues. "Now, a group of otherworldly heroes have assembled and are ready to fight for the mantle of Earth's Mightiest Heroes in a glorious superhero slugfest that will shake the Marvel Universe to its core."
Writer Jason Aaron, whose Avengers run gives rise to the May-launching event and who spearheads Heroes Reborn 2021, spoke up about the creative process that led the story to grow from an Avengers tale to a Marvel Universe wide event.
"Maybe the wildest story I've ever put on paper," Aaron states. "I got to cut loose on this and release my inner comic-reared child in a really profound way, and together with a cadre of immensely imaginative artists, we built a world that I'm pretty confident in saying is quite unlike any version of the Marvel Universe you've seen before."
"It grew out of the pages of my Avengers run, but kept getting bigger and bigger as it went, and the more pieces I put in place for this Reborn world, the more gleeful and excited I became," Aaron concludes. "This project really stoked the fires of my love for comics in all the right ways."
Heroes Reborn 2021 launches in May, running for four weekly issues. In June, Heroes Reborn continues on a weekly pace, with Heroes Return capping off the story on June 23.
Marvel also announced this week that June will bring a kind of line wide mini-event for the X-Men, as well as a weekly Spider-Man story featuring the Chameleon. Watch for Marvel's full June 2021 solicitations later this month on Newsarama.
The original Heroes Reborn was one of the most impactful Marvel Comics events of all time.
