Marvel is starting up a massive crossover involving its 2099 timeline, starting with 2099 Alpha #1. The 2099 timeline, for some time, was somewhat obscure to modern readers, but in very recent years the timeline has exploded in prominence, becoming the canon future timeline for the 616-Universe. For a long time, though, the timeline was in limbo, a well-remembered but neglected relic of the '90s, collecting dust in a long box.
Something critical brought the 2099 timeline back into prominence. But how did 2099 fade into obscurity in the first place? Who brought it back and for what purpose? And how has 2099 transitioned from a period of waning interest to obscurity to front and center in the Marvel Universe?
Along Came a Spider
While there are numerous characters in Marvel 2099's continuity, it all starts and ends with Spider-Man. Miguel O'Hara has a fittingly cyberpunk origin story in a distinctly futuristic city. The appeal of an all-new Spider-Man drew in fans immediately, but the appeal of a whole new world of heroes kept them interested. After all, if Spider-Man looked this cool in the future, what about the X-Men? What about Punisher? Doom?
Well, fans were in luck, because while Spider-Man 2099 (written primarily by Peter David during the comic's run) was the most popular of the early books, it launched in 1992 alongside Doom 2099 and Punisher 2099, establishing this universe as an edgy, sci-fi alternative to the 616-Earth. The '90s were all about extreme aesthetics; The guns were bigger and the characters were more technologically advanced. However, at the center of it all stood Miguel O'Hara, whose comic consistently carried the 2099 brand into prominence.
Soon to follow the initial line was Ravage 2099 (a totally original character written by Stan Lee), Hulk 2099, X-Men 2099, Ghost Rider 2099.... The list went on and on. A new Venom, Venom 2099, proved one of the more popular villains to emerge from the imprint. Warren Ellis, in particular, had the brilliant idea to make Doom 2099 the same Doom from our modern timeline, now on a course to finally take over America.
Like most fads in the '90s, however, after exploding in popularity, it soon withered.
The Decline
With so many titles, not all of them sold well. Comics like Hulk 2099 and Ravage 2099 weren't quite up to Marvel's standards, so in order to justify cancelling them, the company decided to kill several key characters. President Rogers, a new president installed after Doom is overthrown, executes several key heroes in order to purge the 2099 line of low-selling characters.
However, this seemed to start a downward trend. Perhaps the titles just lost their luster. Comics were cancelled and consolidated, one by one. The launch of Fantastic Four 2099 (the original team, like Doom, transported into the future) and X-Nation 2099 did little to bring new life to the imprint, nor did a one-shot crossover between Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099.
The most likely problem was that the 2099 brand was just over-extended. What started as a few key popular series became a big sprawling behemoth that was too big for its own good -- especially after the Speculator Bubble of the '90s. Before, people were willing to buy brand-new premiere issues because they suspected they might be worth a ton one day. But as time went on, they realized that wasn't the case.
It didn't help that many writers (Ellis and David most notably) left the projects after Marvel fired the 2099 editor, Joey Cavalieri, in an effort to consolidate their editorial staff and cut costs. With most of the creative talent that carried the 2099 imprint gone, Marvel had little manpower left to keep the line going.
This led to a finale of sorts -- a send-off to the whole 2099 universe. Marvel cancelled all their titles and started up 2099: The World of Tomorrow, an eight-issue series that culminated in the one-shot finale, 2099: Manifest Destiny. The series focused on surviving heroes, leading to the discovery of Captain America, frozen in ice. This would result in the assembling of a new Avengers team and a new glorious and advanced vision of the future , that saw society reaching the stars.
The Period of Irrelevance
For awhile, that was it. No new 2099 titles. The line faded into memory, with fans often talking about the old 2099 heroes -- most notably, Spider-Man 2099 -- and wondering if Marvel might bring them back. With every passing year, there would be occasional Easter eggs both in the comics and in video games. Spider-Man 2099, for example, proved a popular alternate costume for Spider-Man games. And in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, the 2099 world appeared in its entirety.
The most notable appearance of the 2099 timeline, however, came in the form of Peter David's Future Tense storyline. In this arc, Maestro, a time-traveling evil Hulk from an apocalyptic future, encounters both the mainstream 616 heroes and Spider-Man 2099. For David, this was an opportunity to tie up loose ends for the character he helped create, putting a final button the character.
Still, outside of dimension-hopping stories like the Exiles, the 2099 timeline remained mostly a relic of the '90s between 1996 and 2013. It was taken off the shelf from time to time, but rarely given much thought.
Along Comes That Spider, Again
But then Dan Slott started writing Spider-Man. Slott's now-legendary run on Amazing Spider-Man brought a ton of big events to the web head's story, such as Spider-Island. However, the two biggest events during his tenure would help re-establish Spider-Man 2099 as a reoccurring character in the Spider-Man cast: Superior Spider-Man and Spider-Verse.
Throughout the Slott run, hints were dropped that Spider-Man and his cast were founding the company that would become Alchemax. During the Superior Spider-Man, however, a time-traveling Miguel O'Hara returns to the past yet again to encounter the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man... only now with Otto Octavius in control of Peter's body. The potential of multiple Spider-Men appealed to readers and Slott so much that it led to the creation of the Spider-Verse storyline. That storyline has proven so successful that it no doubt needs no introduction.
However, one interesting thing is that at the end of Spider-Verse the future of the 2099 timeline is entirely diverted, creating a new open end to the continuity, which leaves room to explore the future in new and exciting ways. The possibilities for 2099 were increased further during the Secret Wars crossover event, which featured Miguel O'Hara quite prominently.
From there, more and more Marvel comics capitalized on the renewed interest in the 2099 storyline. Spider-Man 2099, naturally, got a new title. So did Deadpool. With writers adding new and exciting ideas to the 2099 universe, drawing on their own nostalgia for the imprint, the 2099 storyline returned from the dead.