This post is a guide to Marvel’s Battleworld….
Marvel’s interactive map features 41 named land areas. Suprisingly, the oceans are untitled—no Namor? Some of the “places” are ones you’d expect, and we can easily guess what they will hold. Others are less clear. And there are a few glaring omissions: Nothing for Rom the Spaceknight? No Microverse? I know, it’s all about the licensing issues…
Let’s look at what we know:
1. THE “GIMMES.” These are areas that are obvious, and we pretty much know who will be there:
- Manhattan is a combo of both the 616 and Ultimate Manhattan, so it will probably house the usual gang, like Peter Parker and Miles Morales. The shock is that it will share space with Attilan (land of the Inhumans), which hasn’t been true since the days of John Byrne’s Fantastic Four (when they went to the blue area of the moon), and underneath new Manhattan will be “Monster Metropolis,” which I’m guessing is either Mole Man’s world or the monster hideout last seen in FrankenPunisher (or both).
- King James England. It’s gotta be the 1602 world, right?
- The Eye of Agamotto. A place housing Dr. Strange stuff—he’s getting a movie, so its time to up his profile.
- Higher Avalon. All the Captain Britains will chill here.
- The Valley of Flame (this is where Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur lived).
- Hala Field and New Xandar. Why will the Kree and Nova Corps homeworlds come to Earth? Movies! And this way Marvel can bring the Guardians to Earth so they can cross-exploit the crap out of them until they’re meaningless, like they did for Wolverine!
- Based on name alone—and/or the promo video-0these are also obvious: The Deadlands (Marvel Zombies), Perfection (Age of Ultron), The Wastelands (Old Man Logan), K’Un Lun, 2099, Monarchy of M, Hydra Empire, Domain of Apocalypse, and New Quack City.
2. THESE SEEM OBVIOUS, BUT THERE COULD BE A TWIST:
- Greenland. There have been promos of tons of Hulks, all green, so I’m betting they’re hanging out here.
- Dystopia. This will be one of Marvel’s evil futures. It’s adjacent to Greenland, so signs point to the world of Peter David’s “Future Imperfect”, but it could also be any number of similar places (Age of Ultron’s future, Old Man Logan’s world, etc.).
- Sentinel Territories . Odds are it’s the “Days of Future Past” futureworld, but it could just be a place that’s kept mutant-free—better living through genocide!
- Spider-Island. This is probably the Manhattan where everyone has Spider Powers, but it may be that Superior Spider-Man (aka Doc Ock) was so popular that Marvel’s bringing him back to be a king—along with anyone who survives the current “Spider-Verse” story in Amazing Spider-Man, which has brought together every Spider-Man ever known (and many never known before as well). But there’s also an “Arachnia” territory marked off, so…Is Marvel just going to have tons of Spider-Man worlds?
- Technolopolis. Probably Tony Stark’s “utopia” he’s building out of San Franciso in Superior Iron Man.
3. MAYBE THIS?
- Bar Sinister probably has something to do with Mr. Sinister.
- Egyptia–maybe Kang back when he was Immortus?
- Weirdworld-A collection of old Kirby characters? The world from the 1970s fantasy comic of the same name?
- Utopolis. I don’t think it’s Utopia, because the map also has “Mutopia,” but that seems like a possibility.
- Marville. This one’s a shocker. The miniseries from 2002 is universally reviled. Why would they bring it back?
- Limbo. Although this could be the world of the Dire Wraiths from ROM, I don’t think Marvel has the rights to that character anymore. So maybe it’s the place Illyana “Magik” Rasputin went to way back in X-Men #160, when she grew up overnight?
- The City. It sounds like a generic town, so it’s probably where the Marvel Noirverse will end up.
- The War Zone. I’d guess that the Secret Wars happen here, but what about after the event is over? Remember, after the original Secret Wars, Thing stayed behind—so maybe some folks will continue to live there? Frankly, though, I’d love it if this was 1970s New York and Punisher was going nuts in it (i.e., if it was named after the long ongoing Punisher War Zone comic)
4. AND, FINALLY, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE’LL SEE IN: The Regency, Killville, Arcadia (could this be an Arcade world, like from Avengers Arena?), New Mars, The Far East (Manga? That Spider-Girl from India?), and the several “Classified” areas.
What are your guesses?
INTERACTIVE MAP