Earlier this month, Marvel launched its much-anticipated Midnight Universe, a new shared universe line of books reinterpreting the publisher’s iconic superheroes through the lens of horror, a genre that certainly has been experiencing newfound success in the entertainment in the past year. Considering that horror often thrives in times of uncertainty, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. During New York Comic Con, we had the chance to sit down with the writers of the inaugural Marvel Midnight titles- Jonathan Hickman (Midnight X-Men), Benjamin Percy (Midnight Fantastic Four), and Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Midnight Spider-Man) to discuss that very topic and much more.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Taimur Dar: I’ve heard comic creator Brian Michael Bendis recently stress the importance of creators not repeating themselves or retreading old story beats when they return to characters they’ve previously written. Was that something you kept in mind when you signed onto Midnight X-Men?
Jonathan Hickman: I feel exactly the same. Brian Michael Bendis is my mentor. I love that dude. I don’t think he’s ever given any advice that was bad that I have heard. I agree with him 100%. The important thing here is I’m not doing Krakoa stuff which I’m not. I have a completely different story to tell.
Taimur Dar: The X-Men are no stranger to vampires. I remember back in 2010 writer Victor Gishler launched a new X-Men title. At the time, vampires were in the zeitgeist again thanks to Twilight so I think most people assumed it was jumping on the bandwagon.
Jonathan Hickman: There was more going on with that. That was in the middle of all the Fox stuff. So Marvel publishing and Marvel Studios didn’t really control all of that and the Fantastic Four. We were always looking for ways to tell X-Men stories where we could juice it in a way to put another thing up alongside the word mutant in the same kind of stories. That was an example of that. But those were fun.
Taimur Dar: Do you have any concern about being compared to previous X-Men/vampire stories?
Jonathan Hickman: Even though this is a different universe, we’re still playing with those ideas and people’s preconceptions. The idea that it’s going away or that it doesn’t matter I don’t think is true. You’re always building strata on top of strata. There have been vampire X-Men stuff before. I’m not worried about comparisons.
Taimur Dar: Some of the mutant vampire designs have been revealed. The one that definitely stood out for me is Beast and the extra set of arms so I have to ask what inspired that?
Jonathan Hickman: That showed up in the drawing and we were like, “That’s so cool. We’re going to keep it.” I wish it was more complicated than that. We tasked R.B. Silva with doing a bunch of character designs and he came up with a whole bunch of stuff. We knew we wanted Beast to have a different form and that’s what came out. It’s fantastic.
Taimur Dar: After your recent revelations that the Ultimate Universe was not meant to be finite, I have to ask about the long-term game plan for the Marvel Midnight Universe?
Jonathan Hickman: One of the reasons why I agreed to take the job is we get to do this as long as we want to and as long as it sells. I think we’re in good shape on both fronts.
Taimur Dar: Vampires have traditionally been metaphors about our fears and anxieties regarding the aristocracy and wealthy which seems very relevant, particularly with data centers basically serving as modern vampires as they suck the life out of communities. Is that any
Jonathan Hickman: I think that’s a very interesting that may or may not dovetail into some stuff that we’re doing. I’ll say I like where your head’s at.
Taimur Dar: How did you pick the roster of X-Men for the book?
Jonathan Hickman: Another reason I took the job is because it’s pretty much the only X Book so I can use whatever X characters I wanted to, kinda like how it was in the good old days. While those are the people they showed on the panel, there’s no Top 50 X character that I don’t have some kind of idea where they fit in. I’m not promising we’re going to get to their story but it’s a pretty extensive plan.
Taimur Dar: Anything you can tease for fans?
Jonathan Hickman: I would say every six issues is kind of a complete thought. The end of every twelve issues is kind of a paradigm shift. I’ll kind of keep that model for the first three years. There’s a big thing that I’m doing that may or may not radicalize change what I’ve built.
Taimur Dar: Most would assume the team would get their powers at the end of the Midnight Fantastic Four. That’s not the case, so I’m curious how you came to that creative decision?
Benjamin Percy: I think if I game them powers in the very first issue it would have been a huge mistake. It’s not a slow burn in terms of the way the plot is unfolding but in the way the characters are going to change, internally and externally. What I’m doing is trying to show you the monsters within them already so they can better face the monsters without. They’re going to become grotesques but we have to first understand who they are as human beings. These powers, as you call them, are curses that will infect. If you watch a werewolf or vampire movie, the lead character isn’t typically infected until the end of the first act. So I’m taking that approach but even then it’s not going to be instant.
Taimur Dar: Though still recognizable, you do tweak the characters somewhat such as Ben Grimm not having a prior friendship with Reed Richards. How did you go about shaking up the team dynamics?
Benjamin Percy: One reason I did that is because Ben Grimm is a big guy. Big guys aren’t pilots. It never made any sense to me, with respect to the elders. I wanted to make Ben the bruiser and Johnny the pilot. Johnny’s powerset is flight and he’s got the hotshot sensibility. That’s just one example of looking at legacy but also trying to revise it.
Taimur Dar: It goes without saying Marvel has been pushing Doctor Doom immensely with the release of Avengers: Doomsdayon the horizon. Did you have any fear of the potential oversaturation of Doctor Doom?
Benjamin Percy: I wanted a Universal Monsters vibe to inform the Fantastic Four. Castle Doom immediately gives you that with lightning strikes and shadow soaked interior and scientist in a laboratory. I wouldn’t rush to say Doom is a villain or what you think you see is even what you see. Question everything.
Taimur Dar: I loved the reimaging of Galactus as a Lovecraft Cthulu Loveraft inspired creature.
Benjamin Percy: He’s an eater of worlds and I wanted to play with monsters that were already in the Fantastic Four sandbox but give them a totally new spin. So think of the Negative Zone as some version of the Upside Down.
Taimur Dar: In which case, I have to inquire about Mole Man!
Benjamin Percy: There is a plan but it will defy your expectations. We saw an underground in the first issue so we’ll see what’s in that underground.
Taimur Dar: Anything you can tease for readers?
Benjamin Percy: Issue #2 raises the stakes and the craziness. Issue #3 kicks it up a notch. There’s a lot of gunpowder packed in in issue #1 and #2 so everything blows up.
Taimur Dar: Uncle Ben seems either divorced or estranged from Aunt May. Anything you can say at this point?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: Nothing. [Laughs]. I don’t want to spoil the situation. I’m sorry. Aunt May is a crucial part of Peter’s mythology. There’s stuff coming up I’d really hate to spoil. But I wanted to focus on the relationship between Peter and Ben in the beginning. There’s only so much space in the first issue so it made the most sense to keep it clearly about Peter and Ben. As far as Aunt May’s role in the story, keep reading.
Taimur Dar: I have the ask, is there some sort of Nightcrawler connection in naming Peter’s cat Bamf?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: There’s no lore connection to Nightcrawler. It’s just a fun name for a cat. I have friends with actual cats named Bamf. I just liked it and put it in there as an homage.
Taimur Dar: It’s interesting to see all the Marvel Midnight Universe creaotrs play with expectations. For instance, most readers are assuming we can expect to see some incident involving Doctor Connors losing his arm and eventually the Lizard.
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: I want people to be surprised. Did you watch The Walking Dead when it first aired?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: There was a moment I think in Season 2 where they open a barn and a character comes out who had been turned. It was a beloved and long-lived character in the books. To me that was a statement, “You do not know what’s coming.” That’s how I took it. The showrunners were trying to communicate to us that this is its own story. It is not the same as the one you know. Expect the unexpected. I do not feel behold to chop Curt Connors’ arm off. I love that character. He’s so sympathetic. When he’s human, he’s not a villain at all. He’s just trying to regain what he lost. I can promise readers they don’t know what’s coming with Curt Connors.
Taimur Dar: It’s no exaggeration to see that our fears and anxieties in regards to the ultra elite and big tech have only grown in recent years. From the first issue, I’m tempted to assume that’s a big theme in the book?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: Oh my God, yes. We have to get through our days and lives and everyone is doing their best. But the world is scary right now. And in trying to get through our days we kind of mull over how inherently terrifying the world is right now. We have armies of autonomous drones that could us at any time or reading our license plates wherever we go. We got billionaire oligarchs that steer public policy for sovereign governments all over the world. There are people invested in our failure. This book is about my fear for my own kid. I’m raising a young song and I get through my own days but I feel guilty for the world he has to grown up in. It’s about my rage at the situation that he’s in and my powerlessness to protect him. That’s all over the page.
Taimur Dar: When Marvel Midnight Universe was first proposed did you have any sense that horror would be big as it would be?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: I’m not really thinking about things like whether something will be popular. This is a story that just like it had to be told. We are in a Golden Age of horror right now like you said. But even if we weren’t, I like to think we’d be telling the story regardless because it means so much to me.
Taimur Dar: Finally, anything you can tease readers?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: I’ll just say that all the most iconic Spider villains will be getting their time in sun. I want them all to appear and blow everyone’s minds with them. The one I am most excited about I will not even be revealing for several years. When they show up it will be worth it.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from NYCC ’26.
