Posted in: Avengers, Comic Spoilers, Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: Avengers: Armageddon, Classified, David Colton, ebay, Michael Cho
SCOOP: Official Confirmation Of *THAT* Avengers: Armageddon Spoiler
SCOOP: Official Confirmation Of *THAT* Avengers: Armageddon Spoiler, with the Michael Cho Classified Variant Cover
Article Summary
- Avengers: Armageddon spoiler appears officially confirmed
- Michael Cho’s classified Avengers: Armageddon #4 variant strongly points to Colton’s shocking new identity.
- Marvel’s solicits tease a major debut in Avengers: Armageddon #4 that reshapes the Avengers and the wider MCU.
- The reveal ties David Colton’s Origin Box powers setting up Marvel’s next Avengers era.
I initially heard it on the wind. Then I looked for confirmation in the tea leaves. I may have stretched a little far, maybe it was confirmation bias, but it looked legit to me. Then I saw there was a Classified variant cover for Avengers: Armageddon #4 byMichael Cho, and no matter what was inside, it would be seen much sooner once retailers started listing it on eBay. Which has not quite happened yet, but will very soon, I am sure. So, yes, this is the big spoiler for David Colton’s true new identity, in the Marvel Universe, after taking the powers from the Origin Box, in Avengers: Armageddon and possibly in the new Avengers series starting later this year. I am sure that there is much, much more to come, possibly even today, as Marvel Comics realises that the origin is out of the box. So, below, I will run the official main cover and the Classified notice, I will run the solicits for #4 and #5, I will run a big spoiler warning, a quote from Michael Cho, another spoiler warning, and then, after a small preamble, I will run the Classified Variant Cover to Avengers: Armageddon #4 by Michael Cho, out next week. If you don’t want the spoiler, you have lots of time to turn away. If you then share the spoiler, I ask that you do it in a fashion that preserves the spoiler warning for those who don’t want it. Okay, here we go.
Avengers: Armageddon #4
Avengers: Armageddon #4
- AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #4
(W) Chip Zdarsky (A) Delio Diaz, Frank Alpizar
A KEY MOMENT IN MARVEL HISTORY AS A NEW CHARACTER TAKES THE STAGE… The Marvel Universe changes forever right here and right now! The Avengers are torn apart as a shocking character makes their debut, setting the stage for November’s AVENGERS #1! $4.99 Sep 16, 2026
- AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #5
(W) Chip Zdarsky (A) Delio Diaz, Frank Alpizar
DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN: THE FALL OF THE AVENGERS… The point of no return! After the cataclysmic events of AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #4, the world is torn asunder. Humanity turns against super heroes. And for David Colton, what is the price of all that great power? See where the pieces fall in preparation for Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto’s AVENGERS #1! $4.99 Oct 21, 2026
Back in 1999, Michael Cho said “I was a fan of the character in the late 80’s when a friend lent me all 15 (or so) issues of Alan Moore‘s superb take on the character. Seriously, I read all those issues in like, 1 night because I just couldn’t stop. Anyway, I hadn’t really read or heard much about Marvelman since that one time, but I still kept a fondness for the character based on Moore’s writing”
Okay, you have no excuses now. The Michael Cho cover to Avengers: Armageddon #4 out next week.
There we go. David Colton is Miracleman. Or Marvelman. Whichever they go with. I’ll try to find out. And if anyone wants a recap?
Marvelman was created in 1954 by London writer/artist Mick Anglo for publisher L. Miller & Son as a direct substitute for Fawcett’s Captain Marvel. Fawcett had stopped publishing Captain Marvel after a lawsuit from DC Comics. Anglo created Marvelman (secret identity Micky/Mike Moran, who transforms by saying “Kimota!”), along with Young Marvelman and later Kid Marvelman. The strip debuted in Marvelman #25 (continuing numbering from Captain Marvel reprints) and ran for hundreds of issues until it was cancelled around 1963. In 1982, former Marvel UK editor Dez Skinn revived the character in the black-and-white anthology Warrior. Alan Moore wrote the series (initially with artist Garry Leach, then Alan Davis).
It was one of the first major deconstructed superhero stories, revealing that the original adventures were a fabricated reality created as part of a Cold War British government weapons programme involving Nazi scientists. The story introduced darker themes and alien technology that would later transform the world. Publication ended on a cliffhanger amid legal, sales and financial problems. An American version followed under Eclipse Comics, renamed Miracleman to avoid trademark issues with Marvel. Moore’s run continued and concluded with artists including Chuck Austen, Rick Veitch and John Totleben. Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham took over around 1990, planning arcs including “The Golden Age” and “The Silver Age.” Eclipse Comics went bankrupt after only the early issues of the second arc. Eclipse’s assets, including claimed rights to Miracleman, were later bought by Todd McFarlane, leading to further legal complications involving Gaiman.
In 2009, I reported that Marvel Comics acquired/licensed the rights from Mick Anglo for a reported significant seven-figure sum. Marvel reprinted the classic Mick Anglo material, then the Alan Moore run, with Moore later requesting his credit be changed to “The Original Writer”, followed by the Gaiman/Buckingham material. After further delays, Marvel published remastered, complete editions of Miracleman: The Silver Age starting in 2022, with new artwork by Mark Buckingham, whoredrew his original pages from scratch and took over writing the series. However, despite promises made in 2024, I ran the news that the planned Dark Ages storyline conclusion would no longer happen, after widely reported stories regarding Neil Gaiman.
And now there is David Colton, introduced as a post-9/11 Captain America, who fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, before Steve Rogers came out of the ice and became the current Captain America, and was created byChip Zdarsky and Valerio Schiti. As a teenager in Manhattan, Colton witnessed the 9/11 attacks. Inspired in a way that mirrors Steve Rogers’ own origin, the previously scrawny Colton signed up for military service through sheer willpower. He later received the Super Soldier Serum and served as Captain America during those wars, including events such as the toppling of Saddam Hussein‘s statue. Then, when Steve Rogers was pulled from the ice, he finds himself working alongside, and at times under the command of, Colton. David Colton has operated as a government-sponsored Captain America with a more modern, military-structured outlook shaped by the post-9/11 wars. Stories explore tensions between him and Steve Rogers, including clashes over methods, American foreign policy, such as revelations about US involvement in Doctor Doom’s rise, and who truly represents the mantle of Captain America.
In 2026, Colton became a major player in the Avengers: Armageddon event by Chip Zdarsky and artists including Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar. After a period away, he returns with vastly enhanced powers gained from an Origin Box. These Origin Boxes originated in the New Ultimate Universe, created by Tony Stark to recreate heroes deleted by The Maker, the evil Reed Richards from the original Ultimate Universe, who had all but created this new Ultimate Universe. But The Maker made some Origin Boxes of his own, and it was Miles Morales, also from the original Ultimate Universe, who brought some of them from the New Ultimate Universe into the main 616 Marvel Universe for safekeeping. Colton received one, granting him Superman-level abilities including immense strength, speed, invulnerability, flight, super senses, and more.
Avengers: Armageddon #2
Avengers Armageddon #3 by Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz, Frank Alpizar
Avengers Armageddon #3 by Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar
He joined the Avengers forces, defying United Nations orders against General Ross / Red Hulk, and then went up against the Avengers, who tried to contain him. I ran the word that these were powers derived from an Origin Boix intended to create a Marvelman/Miracleman in the Ultimate Universe. And it looks as if that might be bang on the money. Has any retailer ordered enough of the Michael Cho cover of Avengers Armageddon #4? Maybe those who read Bleeding Cool might have…
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