Line #14 ComicBook/TheNewUniverse


1	%%NOTE - there's a separate Creator page for the New Universe imprint. Whereas this one covers the 'New Universe' shared world setting and concepts, including the various alternate and reboot versions, regardless of which part of Marvel published the stories.
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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b55e66dc695f75469f572fefa488e7c3.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:The cover of ''Marvel Age'' #47, showcasing the New U cast.]]
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6	->''"The world outside your window."''
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8	In 1986, which was hailed as the 25th anniversary of Creator/MarvelComics, Marvel decided to mark the occasion by launching a new, very different, line of superhero comics.
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10	The New Universe was launched as a new imprint, with its new heroes operating in a new shared world. It aimed to be more realistic than (and completely separate from) the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, with harder science and lower power levels. The premise, summarised by the line's [[{{Slogans}} slogan]], was "The World Outside Your Window" - the New Universe was just like the real world until a single PointOfDivergence, a MassEmpoweringEvent called "The White Event", gave extraordinary powers to ordinary people scattered across the planet.
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12	However, not every creative team followed this approach, so some early New Universe comics also contained things such as pre-existing magic realms, aliens, and suits of powered armor. This led to a range of [[{{retcon}} retcons]] to bring those storylines back into line with the setting's established rules.
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14	After the first year, four of the initial eight titles were cancelled and the New Universe started to pivot from "The World Outside Your Window" to a new approach, showing how the presence of superhuman 'paranormals' had changed the normal world. This led to big shake-ups in the setting, such as "The Black Event", in which a paranormal accidentally destroys UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}, plunging America into war.
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16	Sales continued to drop, the remaining titles switched to a new 'direct market only' format that was only sold in specialist comic shops (which also allowed the titles to run short back-up stories in each issue) and, eventually, in 1989, all New Universe titles were cancelled. The line (and the Creator/NewUniverse imprint itself) ended with ''[[ComicBook/TheWarNewUniverse The War]]'', a miniseries in which tensions over the destruction of Pittsburgh lead to WorldWarIII.
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18	Although ''The New Universe'' no longer existed as an imprint, the setting and characters were eventually connected to the Marvel Universe and revisited in the pages of ''ComicBook/{{Quasar}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}''. In early 2006, Marvel also published several ''ComicBook/UntoldTalesOfTheNewUniverse'', one-offs and back-up stories, telling new tales set before the Black Event.
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20	In December 2006 Creator/WarrenEllis and Creator/SalvadorLarroca launched a single-title reboot of the New Universe concepts, ''ComicBook/{{Newuniversal}}''. It kept the concept of the White Event empowering people in a seemingly mundane world but was also set in an AlternateHistory rather than "The world outside your window".
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22	Concepts from ''newuniversal'' and the original New Universe were later also reused in ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman'' with a Nightmask and a Starbrand appearing in that title as part of the 2013 storyline ''ComicBook/{{Infinity}}'', where a new White Event happens on Earth-616[[note]]The 'main' earth of the shared Marvel Universe[[/note]]. They eventually got their own title, ''ComicBook/StarbrandAndNightmask''. Several reimagined New Universe characters also appeared as supporting case and antagonists in Al Ewing's ''ComicBook/TheUltimates2015''.
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25	[[AC:Titles that lasted until the end of the New Universe imprint]] (All of these titles were launched - and cancelled - at approximately the same time):
26	* ''ComicBook/DP7'': Seven newly empowered paranormals seek help from the Clinic for Paranormal Research, but flee after discovering that the management have their own sinister agenda.
27	* ''ComicBook/{{Justice\|NewUniverse}}'': Tensen is a superhuman vigilante from a magic realm... or so he thinks. He's actually a powerful paranormal who's been telepathically brainwashed. Once he recovers his memories, he becomes judge, jury and executioner for paranormals who are misusing their gifts.
28	* ''ComicBook/PsiForce'': Five teenagers with psychic powers are brought together by a rogue [=CIA=] agent with telepathic powers of his own. After their mentor dies, the teens find that they can combine their abilities to summon a hugely powerful psychic being - the Psi-Hawk - that seems to contain part of his spirit.
29	* ''ComicBook/StarBrand'': Ken Connell, a Pittsburgh mechanic, is given vast cosmic powers and attempts to become a superhero, finding that it's more complicated than he expected. A later attempt to rid himself of the powers has horrible consequences for the wider world, after which the series pivots to focus on his successors.
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31	[[AC:Titles cancelled prior to the Black Event]] (All four titles were cancelled at approximately the same time)
32	* ''ComicBook/KickersInc'': Professional football player Jack Magniconte gains increased strength and speed after the White Event (although he doesn't initially link the two things) and no longer feels he can compete fairly, so bands together with some teammates to help those in need.
33	* ''ComicBook/MarkHazzardMerc'': Hazzard's not a paranormal, he's just a highly-skilled mercenary with a conscience. His series doesn't actually contain ''any'' references to paranormal characters or hi-tech gadgets, so purely tells 'real world' war and action stories.
34	* ''ComicBook/{{Nightmask}}'': The White Event wakes Keith Remsen from a coma, completely healing him and granting him the paranormal power to enter other people's dreams.
35	* ''ComicBook/SpitfireAndTheTroubleshooters'': When her father is murdered, Jenny "Spitfire" Swensen steals the experimental powered armor he'd developed and tries to avenge his death. She's assisted by five engineering students, the titular Troubleshooters. The series later changed direction and became ''Codename: Spitfire'', with Jenny joining the [=CIA=].
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37	[[AC:One-shots and miniseries]] (Listed in chronological order):
38	* ''ComicBook/ThePitt'': A one shot special detailing the destruction of Pittsburgh and its immediate aftermath.
39	* ''ComicBook/TheDraft'': A one shot special in which the American military responds to the destruction of Pittsburgh by reintroducing the draft for paranormals.
40	* ''[[ComicBook/TheWarNewUniverse The War]]'': The final story published under the New Universe imprint, a miniseries released after the cancellation of the other titles. Blaming the destruction of Pittsburgh on a known group of Soviet paranormals, the United States and the USSR spiral into World War III.
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43	!!"The tropes outside your window":
44	[[foldercontrol]]
45	[[folder:Tropes for the New Universe concepts as a whole]]
46	* CanonImmigrant:
47	** Peter David evidently liked using Justice so much he brought him through to Marvel's later ''2099'' range via time-travel.
48	** Blur of ''D.P. 7'' got brought into the Marvel universe proper in ''Squadron Supreme'', after the events of Jonathan Hickman's ''Avengers''.
49	* CanonWelding: The New Universe was originally intended to be entirely separate from the continuity of the main Marvel Universe and its alternates. Eventually, after the New Universe ceased publication with ''The War'', it was connected to the Marvel Universe after all (initially via ''ComicBook/{{Quasar}}'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099''), then entirely absorbed into the Marvel multiverse via ''ComicBook/{{Newuniversal}}'' and a story arc in ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'',
50	* {{Capepunk}}: One of Creator/MarvelComics' other attempts to do realistic superheroes, which was intended to be more grounded in reality than the mainstream Franchise/MarvelUniverse. The setting was explicitly stated to be the real world until a MassEmpoweringEvent provided a PointOfDivergence. Several of the super-powered "paranormals", instead of fighting criminals, were on the run from people who wanted to exploit their abilities. A few of the protagonists were {{Jerkass}}es who didn't want to help anybody. Star Brand briefly tried to be a traditional superhero, but it didn't work; in one memorable scene, he met an AuthorAvatar of writer Creator/JohnByrne, who explained to him that it would be easy for someone to learn his SecretIdentity.
51	* ComesGreatInsanity: The ''newuniversal'' one-shots ''Conqueror'' and ''1959'' strongly suggest that whoever has the power of Justice will end up AxCrazy.
52	* ComicBookTime: Intended to be averted but it ended up ZigZagged. Each issue was supposed to occur in "real time" in that a month passes between issues. However, Creator/MarkGruenwald ignored the memo. He decided that the chase story of ''D.P. 7'' was important, so all 12 issues of the first year took place over the course of a few weeks, followed by a TimeSkip to the next year as of issue 13.
53	* {{Irony}}: In ''Newuniversal'', Jenny Swann is the engineer of the Spitfire armor, designed to hunt and kill superhumans... which she happens to be. And she's only able to complete it because of said superpowers.
54	* MassSuperEmpoweringEvent: The White Event, the source of all the super powers. Although in the original books the Star Brand is the ''cause'' of that event, not a consequence.
55	* MythologyGag: A number of characters large and small from the main Marvel universe are shown to have counterparts in ''newuniversal''. To name a couple, a General Thaddeus Ross goes after the first confirmed superhuman sighting with GeneralRipper tendencies that equal the main universe version going after [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]]. One of the NYPD officers looking into another superhuman incident is named Manolis. NYPD Lieutenant Nick Manolis was a significant character in ''ComicBook/BornAgain''.
56	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
57	** Averted with ''New Universe''. Two of the people given powers by the White Event are UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and Ayatollah Khomeini. Several other real celebrities appear (Music/{{Madonna}} performs at a "Pitt Aid" charity concert) or are mentioned (John Tensen tells someone that Justice is his actual first name, "like Judge Reinhold"; a character in a ''Nightmask'' story notes that someone is "deader than Music/TheBeeGees' career!").
58	** The unnamed President of the United States ''newuniversal'' is a woman who looks a lot like UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton.
59	** Another ''newuniversal'' example [[ZigZaggedTrope zig zags]] this trope. One of the first indications the series takes place in a ParallelUniverse is a news report saying that Music/JohnLennon is celebrating his 66th birthday -- and Music/PaulMcCartney was [[Music/TheBeatles the Beatle]] assassinated by a LoonyFan.
60	* PapaWolf: Ken Connell's problems in ''Newuniversal'' start when the White Event kills his girlfriend, whose father already hates him and assumes Ken did it. Did we mention said father is the local sheriff, and tries to murder a traumatized Ken in his cell?
61	** The ''Newuniversal'' version as well. In that version, the ''Star Brand'' is a planetary defense system, meaning if Ken got upset he could do a tremendous amount of damage.
62	* PowerTattoo:
63	** The Star Brand, literally.
64	** Applies to all the superpowers in ''Newuniversal'', with each character (Star Brand, Justice, Nightmask and Cipher) getting a unique glyph.
65	* {{Precursors}}: The source of the superpowers in ''Newuniversal'', later retconned to be the source of all similar such powers. They straddle the line between BenevolentPrecursors and NeglectfulPrecursors. The glyphs are meant to help mankind in periods of transition... but they never give anyone an instruction manual, and oftentimes their choices aren't terribly thought out, such as giving the Justice glyph to a man in a coma, who comes to the conclusion he's now in Hell, or giving the Star Brand to a drunken redneck, causing it to incinerate the guy's girlfriend.
66	* RealTime: At least originally intended to run in this, but the end result varies. Notably when the Exiles visit New Universe, it's still 1987 in there.
67	** The Exiles visited a counterpart to the New Universe (along with a range of other settings), one that existed in the actual Marvel Multiverse (New Universe was canonically set outside the normal multiverse).
68	* {{Teleportation}}: In ''Newuniversal'', the Nightmask can use the superflow to travel across vast distances easily.
69	** Another character, Blow Out, has a different version of this power.
70	** And nastily subverted in ''The Draft'' and ''The War''. Sometimes the therapist makes mistakes...
71	* ThisIsMyNameOnForeign: Used in ''newuniversal'' and subsequent Marvel Universe stories. The glyph names for key paranormals are translations from an alien language and there are multiple alternatives used in some conversations. The Nightmask of Earth-616 is initially named as Blackveil, for example.
72	* TranshumanTreachery: A major topic of ''Newuniversal'', where that universe's version of Phil Voigt thinks this applies instantly, and will take any method necessary to avert it, either not noticing or not caring that the people he's hunting are all too human. For added irony, the person he outlining this to is one of those post-humans.
73	* UltimateUniverse: ''newuniversal''.
74	[[/folder]]
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76	[[folder:Tropes that only apply to the original New Universe]]
77	* AllDeathsFinal: Played with. It's the default rule for the setting, but the Star Brand (and, seemingly, ''only'' the Star Brand) can break it in some circumstances.
78	** Even then, the exceptions are limited to reviving the Star Brand's own wielders and bringing back someone who's recently died and still has a body that can be repaired.
79	** The Star Brand does have much, ''much'' greater scope to stop death claiming people in the first place, if used in time, but that's not quite the same thing.
80	* AuthorAppeal: Writer Creator/MarkGruenwald apparently loved his home state Wisconsin -- which was the setting for much of ''D.P. 7''.
81	* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: ''The War'' plays this trope pretty straight--The Star Child stops the fighting by disabling every weapon on Earth.]]
82	* TheFirstSuperheroes: When the line was created in 1986 by then editor Jim Shooter, the premise was that the world was like our own, until a strange astronomical happening called "The White Event" occurred on July 22, 1986. The White Event is a giant, blinding flash of light that irrupted somewhere on Earth and causes the origin of many of the superbeings of the setting. In ''Star Brand'' #12, it is revealed that the White Event was caused by a former wielder of the titular Starbrand, who tried to get rid of his powers by channelling them to an asteroid near Earth's surface.
83	* FiveManBand: The Troubleshooters, until most of them were either crippled or killed.
84	* ForbiddenZone: "The Pitt", the huge crater which is all that's left of Pittsburgh after The Black Event.
85	* FullyAbsorbedFinale: Two of them -- ''The War'', intended to be the GrandFinale and, later, the ''ComicBook/{{Quasar}}'' storyline ''Starblast''.
86	* IJustWantToBeNormal: Ken "Star Brand" Connell, Kathy Ling of ''Psi-Force'' and Stephanie Harrington of ''D.P. 7'' , among others.
87	* {{Jerkass}}: Kenneth Connell in ''Star Brand'', Dennis "Scuzz" Cuzinski in ''D.P. 7'', Wayne Tucker in ''Psi-Force''.
88	* PresidentEvil: Philip Nolan Voigt, a [[TheSociopath sociopath]] hungry for power of any kind, [[Series/{{Heroes}} uses his ability to absorb other paranormals' powers to become President]].
89	* PresidentSuperhero: An attempt to assassinate UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan fails because the White Event has given him [[HealingFactor regenerative powers]].
90	* RetCon: Used to explain away the MagicalLand in ''Justice'' and the aliens in ''Star Brand'', both of which were originally intended to be taken at face value.
91	* SelfReferentialHumor: When the last four New Universe titles were cancelled (''D.P.7'', ''Justice'', ''Psi-Force'' and ''The Star Brand''), a banner across final issues' covers joked that they'd been a limited series all along. A very ''long'' limited series.
92	* SuddenlySignificantCity: After the battle between Psi-Hawk and Rodstvow trashes UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC in ''Psi-Force'', UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} becomes the American capital. Possibly a ShoutOut to a similar plot point in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheDoorIntoSummer''.
93	* SuperStrength: Several paranormals had some form of it, most notably David "Mastodon" Landers from ''D.P. 7''.
94	* TakeThat: Marvel Comics's "Whu-huh?!", a more comical version of their "What If...?" line. Apparently, the New Universe was created when Galactus ate a bad planet and promptly shat it out.
95	* TheWatcher: The Witness, a character who dies as a result of the White Event, but continues to exist as an [[{{Intangibility}} intangible ghost]]. He is drawn to places where people are manifesting paranormal powers, but can only watch what happens, unable to intervene in any way.
96	[[/folder]]

Context ComicBook / TheNewUniverse