May 2018 will see the release of Invincible Iron Man #600, the final Marvel comic to be written by Brian Bendis before he takes up a new role helming DC Comics' Superman. Since his first Marvel work was published with the release of Ultimate Spider-Man #1 in 2000, Bendis has been at the heart of Marvel. Writing almost every major character, he helped shape the Ultimate Universe, redefined the Avengers and has been the guiding hand behind numerous line-wide crossovers.

Yet the departure of Bendis is about more than the legacy of one man; it signifies the end of an era for Marvel, one that saw familiar concepts upended, often drastic changes to the comics, and the emergence of the crossover as King.  Three of the four architects behind this Marvel revolution - Mark Millar, Axel Alonso and Bill Jemas - have left the company (Joe Quesada remains on, and is taking an active role in the current 'fresh start' initiative), with the departure of Bendis seemingly marking the end of this eventful chapter in Marvel's history. Yet the decisions of these men helped shape the Marvel that fans know today, both for better and for worse, with Bendis and Millar being key players in this transformation.

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With the Marvel of 2018 firmly established as a multimedia colossus, it's sometimes hard to remember that only twenty years ago, things were very different. The Marvel of the late '90s may have seen the release of some great comics but behind the scenes the company faced editorial and executive conflict, with investors fighting over the company and the threat of bankruptcy in the air. On the comic side of things, the Heroes Reborn experiment of 1996-1997 saw Marvel outsource many of its classic heroes to the care of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, but neither sales nor critical acclaim were what Marvel had hoped for.

Heroes Reborn Avengers

A more successful endeavor - certainly in the creative sense - was the launch of the 'Marvel Knights' line in 1998. Learning from its mistakes, Marvel again placed key titles under the direction of new creators (in this case Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti), but this time kept the characters within the body of the Marvel universe. The resulting comics were a great success, praised for both their impressive sales figures and the caliber of their creators. Kevin Smith writing Daredevil captured mainstream attention, while both Black Panther and Inhumans were praised for their quality.

Quesada's subsequent elevation to Marvel's Editor-In-Chief saw him form a close partnership with Marvel's vice-president, the outspoken Bill Jemas. Together the two men had a good cop-bad cop relationship that often saw them thinking outside the box and challenging comic book orthodoxy. One of their most significant moves was the establishment of the Ultimate Marvel line. For generations of fans, the involved continuity of Marvel's heroes was part of their charm, but new readers could find themselves confused by complex backstories and tangled relationships.

The Ultimate line was different. Aimed at new readers, the titles were designed to be accessible and remove the fear-factor of decades of complex continuity. They would feature recognizable characters and concepts, but reimagined for a new reader and - hopefully - a wider readership. It was therefore fitting that the task of launching the first Ultimate titles, Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, went not to established Marvel writers but to two left-field choices: Brian Bendis and Mark Millar.

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At this time, Bendis was primarily associated with independent comics, both as a writer and artist, while Millar had worked for 2000AD, DC Comics and on superhero critiques such as Wildstorm's DC-published The Authority. From the very first issue so their Ultimate Comics runs, they showed readers that they were in for a very different take on their favorite characters. Bendis' take on Spider-Man was a slow burn, complete with dialogue-heavy scenes and a gradual build up to Peter assuming his costumed identity. Millar's take on the X-Men was more frenetic than the classic version of the team's adventures, with explosive action sequences, quipping characters and an atmosphere that suggested anything goes.

Ultimate X-Men Cyclops blasts through rubble and debris.

This "anything goes" atmosphere was increasingly evident across the entire Marvel line during this period. Creators such as Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis and J. Michael Straczynski were lured to Marvel and given a substantial amount of freedom, while Axel Alonso used his editorial experience of DC's 'Vertigo' line to help launch the Marvel Max imprint, featuring Marvel characters targeted at mature readers.

It would be wrong to suggest that every concept was a hit, of course. The supernatural revamp of the Punisher under the Marvel Knights imprint was a notable flop, while the tongue-in-cheek depiction of the Rawhide Kid in a Marvel Max series left fans similarly underwhelmed. Regardless, the willingness to try throwing new concepts at the wall to see what stuck was impressive. Alongside the Marvel U's experimentation, the Ultimate line continued to go from strength to strength, with Millar's reinvention of the Avengers in the pages of The Ultimates exciting fans, and Bendis and Millar teaming-up to launch Ultimate Fantastic Four.

Considering the success that greeted these efforts, it's not surprising that both Bendis and Millar made the leap into the mainstream Marvel titles. What perhaps couldn't have been predicted at the time was the ramifications of this move, and the long-term effects on the Marvel Universe. Bendis had taken over Daredevil in 2001 and had co-created Jessica Jones in the pages of Alias, debuting that same year. But it was in another superhero property that Bendis would make his greatest mark on the Marvel universe. In 2004 he brought Marvel's Avengers comic to a close in brutal fashion, killing several members and disbanding the team.

Hawkeye's Death in Marvel Comics

This set the stage for the team's relaunch as New Avengers, for the first-time bringing characters such as Wolverine and Spider-Man fully into the Avengers roster, mingling with left-field choices such as Luke Cage, one of Bendis's favorite characters. A sales juggernaut, the success of the book brought Bendis even greater plaudits, even as some fans complained that his stories were often slowly-paced, or that once effective dialogue tics were becoming cliched.

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Not to be outdone, in 2006 Mark Millar entered the Marvel mainstream in dramatic fashion with his Civil War miniseries. Years after the fact, it's perhaps easy to underestimate the impact that this series had on Marvel and the industry as a whole, but in addition to being a sales juggernaut, it had significant repercussions for the Marvel line. It established the hero vs hero concept that would run through Marvel's titles for years, and firmly established the line-wide crossover and multiple satellite spin-offs as a core part of the Marvel brand.

Civil War was exciting and there was undoubtedly something of a thrill in seeing longtime Marvel allies square up against each other. But it also showcased the best and worst of Millar as a writer. An intriguing central concept was reduced to a series of - admittedly impressive - set pieces, with characterization often sacrificed for a cool visual or sarcastic quip. In some cases, these heroes seemed to have more in common with their Ultimate counterparts rather than the characters that fans had followed for years.

Such concerns, as well as multiple delays to the story's conclusion, didn't stop the series selling like hotcakes, but Marvel seemed to take its success as confirmation that what fans wanted most was heroes beating lumps out of each other. For the next few years all of Marvel's heroes were fighting each other as much as the bad guys, riven by internal conflicts.

While Millar continued to take on Marvel projects, including reunions with Bryan Hitch on Fantastic Four and Steve McNiven on the acclaimed "Old Man Logan" story in Wolverine, it was Bendis who became the driving force of the post-Civil War Marvel Universe. He launched another Avengers title in Mighty Avengers, following it with Dark Avengers in the aftermath of his line-wide crossover, Secret Invasion. Norman Osborn's position of power was brought to an end in the Seige crossover, while Age of Ultron would be a later addition to Bendis' impressive collection of Marvel events.

All-New X-Men teams standing on a rocky mound

It's interesting to compare the expansion of the Avengers books under Bendis to the cull of X-Men books when Joe Quesada first started as Marvel Editor-in-Chief, arguing that too many series were counterproductive and distracting to readers. It seemed Bendis could do no wrong, occupying a senior position among Marvel's writers and maintaining a truly herculean workload.

Despite the faith that Marvel continued to show in Bendis, it's undeniable that he became something of a divisive figure among fans as his Marvel tenure lengthened. His stint at the helm of the X-Men titles controversially introduced the time-displaced young X-Men, and attracted scattered criticism that some plot points were never properly fleshed out and cast members acted out of character. Similarly, his take on Guardians of the Galaxy never fully stepped out of the shadow of the fondly remembered Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning era, while his work on Iron Man - and the replacement of Tony Stark with Victor Von Doom - attracted both praise and ire. In perhaps the greatest example of how times had changed, the Civil War II event that Bendis wrote again saw hero pitted against hero but attracted greater criticism than its predecessor and, unfortunately for Marvel, greater apathy.

Civil War II

In such circumstances, after having tackled almost every Marvel property during his long tenure, it's easy to understand why the prospect of new opportunities at DC was enticing to Bendis. His departure will mark the end of this Marvel era, one that saw traditional concepts reinvented while Marvel itself was reinvented, from a comics publisher into an entertainment brand. Not all of the changes have been successful, something that Marvel seems to have recognized as it moves towards yet another rebrand. However, what can't be denied is that Marvel took risks, with Bendis and Millar leading the charge, and it's in no small measure due to that anything goes attitude that the company not only survived into the new millennium, but prospered.