The Marvel Universes as we know them are coming to an end.

Marvel made the announcement today at the Secret Wars press conference at Midtown Comics in New York City where Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso and Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort discussed Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s Secret Wars.

In place of the current universes we will have Battleworld which will set up the new Marvel Universe moving forward.

Click here to see an interactive Battleworld map from Secret Wars

Behind? Wondering where to start?

Secret Wars #0 will be available on Free Comic Book day (May 2nd) and will be a great primer for Secret Wars. Want to be a bit more familiar with the events leading up to Secret Wars? Check out Avengers: Time Runs Out Volume 1 [HC]

As for the series itself, it’s going to be HUGE!

All 8 covers for Secret Wars will be done by the legendary Alex Ross! Here are the covers for #1 and #2:

Secret-Wars-1-Cover

Secret-Wars-2-Cover

Watch the entire Secret Wars Live Kickoff:

Marvel promises plenty more announcements in the coming weeks.

What’s your reaction? Excitement? Anger? Could care less? Sound off in the comments below!

Coming later this year we will see Thor: God Of Thunder the relaunched title from Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative. Take a look at Ribic’s cover for issue #1 below as well as a few excerpt from the interview with Jason Aaron.

Aaron on what to expect story wise:

“I do flash back and show a young Thor in action, but he’s actually just one of three Thors that I want to focus on. This first story is an epic tale that plays out over the course of thousands of years. So we spend time with young Thor in the Viking age — the young, hotheaded god of the Vikings, who loves to come down to Midgard and get into trouble. In the present, we see Thor the Avenger on a journey that takes him to the far corners of space, interacting with all sorts of new space gods and wondrous new locations. And then we also see old King Thor, who’s the last king of Asgard, thousands of years in the future, where something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Linking all these eras and Thors together is one villain, an all-new character [Gorr, the God Butcher], who is basically, at least initially, a serial killer of gods. He’s a guy with a serious axe to grind against all immortal beings in the cosmos, and he’s going around doing his best to kill them all off, one at a time, as brutally as possible. That villain’s story unfolds over the course of all these different eras. He starts as a serial killer of gods, but by the end, he has become something even more frightening.”

Aaron on Esad Ribic’s artwork:

We’re a few issues in at this point and it’s looking terrific. Just look at the first two covers, which fit together in one big image. I think once people see those two covers, it’ll be obvious that this is a special moment for Thor, art-wise. Esad is doing what I think will be a defining take on this character for a long time to come. The pages have been just amazing. All I do is get out of the way and let him go. It’s jaw-dropping work. I’m just trying to give him enough stuff to go wild with. He’s getting to design new locations, new sorts of cities of the gods, obviously a whole new villain, and new creatures swirling around him. Esad has been sinking his teeth into all that stuff and making it his own.

Most people in the last couple of years have seen Esad’s stuff on Uncanny X-Force, I think. He contributed a lot to the look and feel of that book, just with those first several covers. And then he and I previously worked together on the Wolverine: The List one-shot from a few years ago, with Fantomex and Marvel Boy. I think the covers and the pencils for these first few issues of Thor are some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen from Esad.

Source: Newsarama

Marvel has released another teaser announcing the teams behind one of their upcoming Marvel NOW! relaunches. Jason Aaron (Incredible Hulk) and Esad Ribic (Uncanny X-Force) will be the team behind Thor’s new title! Look for more new Marvel NOW! teasers throughout this week.