SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Marvel Legacy #1 by Jason Aaron, Esad Ribić and Steve McNiven, on sale now.


With Secret Empire now in the rear-view mirror and fading into the distance, Marvel Comics looks down the road to its future, kicking off with the supersized Marvel Legacy #1 by Jason Aaron, Esad Ribić and Steve McNiven. While planting the seeds for at least a dozen upcoming storylines, the one-shot plots the course of Marvel's current roster of characters, a path that includes the pending return of several heroes that have recently gone unused, as well as the definitive return of another. Like the title of the issue implies, the familiar characters inserted throughout the issue show that Marvel has not forgotten its own legacy, and that the potential integration of its past franchises alongside the current ones heralds a reason for both longstanding and newer fans to anticipate what's coming.

RELATED: Marvel Legacy One-Shot Features A Second, Very Different Return

When Captain Americas Throw Their Mighty Shields

While Secret Empire left a bad taste in the mouths of some readers, it also gave those fans the return of the Steve Rogers they know – not as the Hydra-fied Captain America, not as an old man, and not as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but instead as the true Steve Rogers, who can one day reclaim the role as the Captain America. The return of Mark Waid to Captain America – and with his one-time Daredevil artist partner Chris Samnee, no less – is reason enough for many fans to rejoice, aside from Steve Rogers' eventual presumed return to the role of Cap.

Sam Wilson also returns to his signature role as The Falcon is his own upcoming series by Rodney Barnes and Joshua Cassara, but it should be kept in mind that Sam did find that extra shield at a S.H.I.E.L.D. storage facility this issue. This points to the all-too obvious possibility that Sam or another hero will eventually take on the role of Captain America alongside Steve.

What To Do With All Of These Classic Heroes?

While Marvel has brought on newer, younger, or simply different characters to fill classic superhero roles, it's somewhat danced around what to do with the legacy characters who traditionally filled those roles. Tony Stark has appeared prolifically as an A.I. construct while he himself lies in a coma, giving a non-committal feel to his place in the Marvel Universe. Amadeus Cho has called himself a totally awesome Hulk, while Bruce Banner lies dead. And Laura Kinney has taken on the role of Wolverine, but in an era where death in comics is akin to a temporary illness, the Logan-less Marvel Universe – old man variety notwithstanding – never really carried any sense of permanence.

Unless a storyline entitled "The Search for Tony Stark" ends with "Sorry, we couldn't find him," Tony, and Iron Man, are ultimately likely to return to the Marvel Universe, as precedent has long been established for multiple Iron-types simultaneously co-existing. Amadeus Cho is set to star in a new "Planet Hulk" arc starting when Greg Pak and Greg Land reunite in Incredible Hulk – another reunion anticipated by many – with Amadeus himself set up to be the one true Hulk, complete with Banner-type hang-ups. And the return of Logan (yes, he's back!) stands to set up a pseudo-father/daughter dynamic duo of Wolverines.

Can Marvel's Classic Legacies Truly Be Preserved?

Each instance sets up a unique dynamic integrating the legacies of both new and old – Iron Man and Ironheart as allies, Amadeus Cho who now sees The Hulk as a burden, just as Banner did, and Logan and Laura as a family unit. The legacies of the traditional heroes are being given a formal place in the modern Marvel Universe, rather than just scooting aside to make room for their young successors who don't want to sit at the kids table any longer.

The assimilation signals genuine growth with little pruning required, and stands to walk that fine line between alienating older fans and drawing in newer ones. Readers who have grown attached to the new generation of heroes will continue to see their adventures, and those who felt put out to pasture with the heroes they read growing up have hope that Marvel's Legacy initiative will welcome them back.

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The Return of …

There was a time when removing a character like Logan from the Marvel Universe was considered unthinkable – Marvel once nixed a story that longtime Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont had proposed that involved killing Wolverine, which reportedly led in part to the writer's departure after 17 years on the title. Similarly, the thought of Marvel ever existing without the title that launched the Marvel Universe – The Fantastic Four, self-proclaimed as "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" – was hardly imaginable. Yet, the Logan we all knew has been absent for three years, and the FF have been gone since Marvel's last Secret Wars series.

RELATED: Marvel Legacy: [SPOILER] is Back From the Dead, And They Have…

That is, until now. A one-page scene in Marvel Legacy shows Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm atop the Baxter Building, discussing the need for a Fantastic Four as Ben symbolically fires the flare bearing the team's iconic logo into the nighttime sky. The overlaying narration throughout the issue is ultimately revealed to be spoken by Valeria Richards, daughter of Reed and Sue, the other half of Marvel's first superhero team. Closing out the one-shot, Valeria narrates, "...I am closing my eyes now, imagining my way home. I'll see ya when I get there." It most certainly looks like Fantastic Four fans have cause to rejoice, although they might have to be patient a little while longer.

Meanwhile, the God of Mischief Loki has dispatched a squad of second-rate frost giants to Earth to retrieve a weapon that, coincidentally or otherwise, is being kept at the same S.H.I.E.L.D. facility as Cap's spare shield. One of the creatures evade capture and makes off with the weapon, only to have a literal run-in with none other than the original Logan, apparently healed from his apparent demise via molten adamantium. Decapitating the frost giant and claiming the weapon as his own, Logan now finds himself in possession of a weapon he didn't expect to find – one of the highly-coveted Infinity Stones. The former Wolverine's return is enough to bring joy to his fans, but the possibilities of what he might end up doing with the mind gem makes it even more enticing.

A World With All Heroes

When talking to Ben, Johnny remarks that there's little room for the Fantastic Four with the current glut of superheroes, because there could be "a whole team just out of Thors and Hulks." Johnny's comment addresses the modern status quo of the Marvel Universe, where characters who were once unique can now be referred to in plural. That's the challenge that Marvel Legacy #1 has set itself up to address: trying to find a place at the table for all: new heroes bearing the names of the originals, the heroes who were the originals, and those who have been cast out are being invited back.

Will it work? Is the Marvel Universe big enough for multiple generations of heroes? Can all these legacies be preserved? As with any initiative, success can only be determined in retrospect. But fans have a reason to be optimistic, as Marvel Legacy #1 is at least making an attempt to preserve what's come before, instead of simply jettisoning it, and make it work for all audiences, instead of a few.

Johnny also asks Ben at one point, "You think they even remember us?"

To the fans welcoming the return of the heroes they've missed, they most assuredly do.