YMMV / Marvel NOW! (2016)

• Broken Base: Much like its predecessors, Marvel fandom has been torn about yet another seasonal relaunch and the changes it'll bring:
  • U.S.Avengers has been met with mixed reaction; some trust writer Al Ewing to transcend the possible gaudiness of its patriotic fervor concept, while others aren't so confident. The team itself has also been contested, mainly because it seemingly pulls Sunspot, Squirrel Girl, and Toni Ho (as the new Iron Patriot) from away Ewing's New Avengers while Hulkling, Wiccan, Power Man, and White Tiger remain unaccounted for.
  • Mosaic has been a little dicey among fans. For starters, he's yet another Inhuman getting a high profile launch with their own ongoing series, which actively irritates those who still believe Marvel is trying to sabotage the X-Men. There's also his skill set of transcendency and body possession, which many feel is an effort to minimize the character's African-American identity — probably not the case, since his book is being written and drawn by two black men.
  • The idea of the Marvel Universe being divided by Civil War II (read: again) hasn't been an especially popular prospect for many, who feel Marvel already dabbled with similar subject matter during Dark Reign. It also doesn't help that 2016 has been an especially heavy year for superheroes fighting one another in other media (Captain America: Civil War, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Daredevil season two), but some feel an unresolved event could lead to interesting stories and a unique status quo.
  • Though Marvel's attempts at diversifying their line in recent years have been well-received, many believe they're still not pushing diversity as far as they could; while their efforts to bolster their supply of female-led titles have been successful, they're not especially notable for their representation of queer people, people of color, etc.
  • On the other end of the spectrum, many people are tired of the usage of Affirmative-Action Legacy and would rather have marvel create new superhero identities instead of making so many Legacy Characters and shafting their old characters for it, as is the case with Thor, Hulk, and Iron Man. They argue that replacing these old characters makes the diversification feel forced, with some of the more hardcore opposers even accusing Marvel's writing board of Political Correctness.
  • Reaction to the new Champions series is quite mixed, mostly due to the list of characters. While many are happy to know that at least Viv will survive the events of The Vision series, the other characters are seeing a mixed reaction, especially towards the teenaged Cyclops and the three former All-New, All-Different Avengers - they feel that Kamala, Sam and Miles aren't experienced enough to form their own team just yet and there's the feeling that pulling Cyclops away from All-New X-Men will hurt his character.
    • Cyclops turned out to be doing double duty.
  • The new Nova series brings back Richard Rider and has him team-up with Sam Alexander. Many fans are overjoyed that Richard is finally back from the dead and back in the limelight. Many are also happy that the book will focus on both Novas working together. However the "broken" part of this news comes from the fans of each specific Nova. Fans of Sam are worried that Richard's return means that Sam will be phased out of the series in favor of the original. Die hard fans of Rich are simply pissed that Sam's in the book at all.
    • As a result, too many fans didn't buy the book, and it got cancelled. Whoops.
  • The simple fact Marvel are launching the initiative has some people divided, as some believe it's too soon after All-New, All-Different Marvel to do any other big relaunches and are annoyed at the idea of renumbering any books. However, others point out that it's not a full, line-wide relaunch like ANADM (which was a year ago now), making this clearly more akin to Marvel's previous All-New Marvel NOW! and ''Avengers NOW!' initiatives (which saw several books that had reached a climax be relaunched, creative teams switch out, and cancelled books replaced, while the vast majority of their books continued on as normal), as well as DC's New 52's multiple 'Waves' and the DC You initiative (which, again, saw new comics launch to replace cancelled ones and some creative team and story changes). In other words, some hate the fact that it's happening, while others don't see it as that big of a deal.
  • The Unstoppable Wasp being about Nadia and not Janet. Nadia is already divisive for various reasons, but giving her an ongoing after she's had only two appearances so far when Janet, one of Marvel's oldest heroines and a founding Avenger, has never had her own book, feels to many fans like Marvel are unfairly pushing a character no one wanted at the expense of one of the most beloved characters in the comics. However, some fans have expressed interest in the series due to the fact that, while Nadia is the one being pushed, nothing indicates that Janet won't be involved in the book somehow.
  • Fans of Venom are divided over the symbiote leaving Flash Thompson and returning to villainy. Some are happy that Brian Michael Bendis's Heel–Face Brainwashing was undone so quickly and are still hoping that Eddie Brock will finally return to being the symbiote's host; while others liked Flash and the redeemed symbiote as heroes and believe that the Space Knight series had a lot of missed potential, citing Mac Gargan's lacklustre tenure as a host to illustrate the downside of making Venom an outright villain.
  • Fans of She-Hulk are also divided over her new series. Some are interested in seeing where this will go, with Jennifer broken after the death of her cousin Bruce. However, there are many who are rolling their eyes at this, feeling that they're missing the point of who Jennifer is and that cramming angst on top of a usually fun-loving character is completely missing the point of the character. Many of them also see parallels towards Speedball, who had an equally-moody period thanks to the original Civil War, with many fans calling this era of She-Hulk's life "Penance-Hulk". Others are claiming that this was Marvel going "Oh, crap! Totally Awesome Hulk didn't sell! Bring out a recognizable female character as a Hulk!"
  • The X-Men line-ups for the Ressurxion storyline have divided people by how "white" they are. While nationality-wise the teams are quite diverse, there are very few people of color, which has annoyed fans. Others point out that these teams are supposed to hearken back to the earlier days (X-Men Gold, for example is one part Giant Size X-Men, one part Excalibur)
• Fan Nickname: Marvel NOWer.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Turns out 'Ironheart' has been used previously in other properties.
  • 'Ironheart' was the title of a 2014 JAV that features a genderbent Iron-Man expy.
  • Also, among other things, an obscure 2000 AU Marvel character and a 90s martial arts movie, but those wouldn't make even half as click-baity, or hilarious, headlines.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Spider-Man #12's cover reveals, or at least implies, that Miles Morales from Earth-1610 and Gwen Stacy from Earth-65 become romantically involved despite not having interacted with or even met each other during prior interdimensional crossover events like Spider-Verse and Web Warriors.
• Unexpected Character: Nobody saw the Champions, Great Lakes Avengers or Man-Thing making a comeback. Thanos getting his own ongoing is out of left field as well as utilizing anything from Renew Your Vows. Also, the three Mercs for Money solo books.
  • Richard Rider coming back from the dead and teaming up with current Nova Sam Alexander in a duo series, too, to a lesser extent. There was tease with Richard's Nova Helmet released, but no context to speak of, and no one saw him actually returning coming before then.
• WTH, Costuming Department?:
  • Elektra's costume for her new series has divided the fan base a good bit, complaining about the fact that they dumped her classic look for something more geared to "MCU synergy". However, many are quite liking the look, as they feel it falls into Boring, but Practical.
  • Ben Reilly's new Scarlet Spider costume. The two biggest detraction to the costume is the hood and the creepy mouth on the mask. Many think the hood looks like it's trying to imitate Spider-Gwen and looks silly on him and the mouth just looks ridiculous if not just outright creepy.