There's a lot of buzz building around Marvel Comics' upcoming G.O.D.S. miniseries from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Valerio Schiti, which debuts on October 4.
The series has been teased to reveal the nature of a mysterious force that lies beyond the likes of cosmic Marvel entities such as Eternity, Infinity, and the Living Tribunal.
Speaking to Popverse, Hickman revealed that the concept for G.O.D.S. actually started out as a television series.
"I was tasked with doing Black Mirror for the Marvel Universe. That’s what the origin was," Hickman stated. "When I came back [to Marvel], one of things I was going to do [was] micro-content that was also video stuff. But Marvel underwent changes, and obviously Marvel Television used to be handled by publishing, but that all changed and that went over to Marvel Studios.”
Hickman returned to Marvel in 2019 and reset the X-Men universe with Dawn of X and it seems he was originally set to work on G.O.D.S. as a television series. But at the end of 2019, Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios and the production of standalone Marvel TV shows that existed outside of the MCU became a thing of the past.
As such, G.O.D.S. as a television show would never come to be, but Hickman continued to work and refine the project into what's set to be released this fall.
Hickman confirmed, "[That initial idea] obviously, has really transformed over the years. That [Black Mirror] element is still there — there are one-and-done issues that feel like that, that feel like a weird exploration of the Marvel Universe — but there’s this other thing as well. There’s a lot packed in there, but that was the origin."
From what we can piece together from interviews and character profiles from Marvel Comics, the series appears to be a high-concept conflict between science and magic, with The-Powers-That-Be representing magic and The-Natural-Order-of-Things representing science.
It seems these two factions have an agreement to never directly influence the Marvel Universe, instead working through their servants who represent them in all earthly matters.
A rogue agent named Cubisk Core has shattered the pact between these two factions, resulting in the threat of a Babylon Event occurring, an apocalyptic event that results in a dark period of upheaval, death, and loss of knowledge.
The main protagonist of the series is Wyn, a powerful magic expert who’s operated in secret for thousands of years and is now forced to come out of the shadows. He's joined by Dmitri the Science Boy, a reckless partner who has a secret mission of his own to discover the dark truth of his past.
Other well-known Marvel characters confirmed to appear in the series include Doctor Strange, Clea, Mister Fantastic, Doctor Doom, Brother Voodoo, and more.
What lies at the crossroads of science and magic? A modern myth of the Marvel Universe arrives this fall in Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti's ‘G.O.D.S.’!
What happens when THE-POWERS-THAT-BE meet THE-NATURAL-ORDER-OF-THINGS? The infinite détente between THE-NATURAL-ORDER-OF-THINGS and THE-POWERS-THAT-BE nears an end. Old acquaintances are reunited during a Babylon Event. The Lion of Wolves throws the worst parties. Don’t look under the table. There’s a John Wilkes Booth penny on the ground.