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The Marvel Universe is set to finally introduce a new superhero who has been beset with controversy and legal issues in the real world.
They’ve owned his publishing rights for almost a decade now, but Marvel Comics is now doing something huge with the character of Miracleman. The British Fawcett pastiche has been controversial legally and creatively, making his recent Marvel Universe introduction rather ironic.
Miracleman was created to take the place of another character in the 1950s, but Alan Moore eventually gave him a deconstructive life of his own. The result was blood, guts and courtroom gore, with the hero’s trademark issues eventually finding him at Marvel Comics. Here’s the story of how Micky Moran finally made his way into the universe of the House of Ideas.
The Creation of Miracleman
Created by Mick Anglo in 1953, the British comic book hero who would become known as Miracleman started out as Marvelman. His debut came in the confusing Marvelman #25, which highlighted the rather loose nature of his “creation.” Marvelman’s book began as mere reprints of Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel, which this distribution model ending following Fawcett’s lawsuit with DC Comics. This stemmed from the supposed similarities of their Captain Marvel with DC’s Superman.
Instead of Billy Batson becoming Captain Marvel by speaking the name of the wizard Shazam, the hero Marvelman, a boy named Micky Moran, took on his form by saying “kimota,” a backwards corruption of the word atomic. He and his Marvelman Family would gain the same incredible cosmic powers of strength, flight, speed and durability by learning this word from a space wizard. Using their powers, they would fight the evil Gargunza as well as foes like Young Nastyman, who were obviously based off of Fawcett’s Doctor Sivana and Black Adam.
After being forgotten as a relic of the Silver Age, Marvelman would be revived and heavily rebooted by Alan Moore. This version of the character learned that his old comic book adventures were mere simulations, and that he was part of a government experiment. What came next was a series of increasingly dark and bleak deconstructions of superhero comics, but Marvelman’s darkest days had yet to spawn.
The Legal Issues Surrounding Miracleman
The Alan Moore reboot would be published in the anthology comic book Warrior, and the use of the Marvelman name, especially for such a dark book, drew the ire of Marvel Comics. At the time of Marvelman’s creation, Marvel had been known as Timely and weren’t nearly as big. With the tables turned, however, they soon objected to another publisher having their own “Marvel” character, as DC would learn with their reintroduction of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel.
The material from Warrior was eventually licensed to Eclipse Comics, who changed the character’s name in reprints and new material to Miracleman to avoid further scuffles with Marvel. They would also split the ownership of the character with the series’ current writer, meaning that once Neil Gaiman took over for Alan Moore, he owned the character, as well. Image Comics founder Todd McFarlane didn’t realize this, however, when he purchased Eclipse Comics and their properties/assets in 1996. He assumed that this included all of the rights for Miracleman, a mistake which Gaiman would insist on settling in court.
McFarlane briefly dabbled with the idea of introducing Miracleman in the pages of his popular Spawn comic book, portraying him as the shapeshifting Man of Miracles. Once legal issues made him realize the tenuous legality of this, however, the character was dropped. Through Neil Gaiman’s legal battles, it was revealed that Mick Anglo was the one who actually still owned the character’s rights, rendering McFarlane’s supposed ownership illegitimate.
From there, Marvel Comics would eventually purchase the rights to the character wholesale, clearing up any copyright issues or other problems with him being called “Marvelman.” His being introduced into the Marvel Universe raises all kinds of questions and has tons of potential, with the biggest thing to be excited about being that it might inspire Gaiman and Marvel to finally finish the original series before fleshing out what’s sure to be a new version of the character. He’ll also likely interact with The Sentry, a character who is to him what he is to DC’s Captain Marvel, as well as several other immensely powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. It’s been a tumultuous road from the courtroom to the Marvel Universe, but Miracleman seems to have, in a way, come full circle.
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