Having already announced the apocalyptic end of the Marvel Universe in its Secret Wars event (see “Secret Wars Will End the Marvel Universe”), Marvel Comics today announced that it was bringing back a revised version of the world created for the 1990s X-Men crossover Age of Apocalypse, which Marvel SVP David Gabriel cited as an important influence on the upcoming line-wide Secret Wars event (see “Marvel Names 33 Comic Titles Ending With Secret Wars”). 

Fabien Nicieza, who wrote Gambit and the X-Ternals and Amazing X-Men for the 1990s Age of Apocalypse event, has returned to write a new Age of Apocalypse title launching this summer that will take place in a portion of Battleworld ruled by Apocalypse and will feature the former New Mutant Cypher, who may have exactly what the beleaguered mutant rebellion needs to end the tyrannical reign of Apocalypse.

Nicieza, who is collaborating on the new Age of Apocalypse title with artist Gerardo Sandoval, told IGN: “In many ways, the world I am writing is very different than the original, but in other ways it is exactly the same.  I feel like I am getting a chance to have my cake and eat it too, regarding the positives of the original story world while still doing something very new.”

According to Nicieza, the alternate world created for Age of Apocalypse has been destroyed, but the new Battleworld realm that Apocalypse rules is even more daunting: “The original world of Age of Apocalypse was intended to be a fractured reality that had to be 'rewoven' back into the normal timeline. So anyway, the Secret Wars: Age of Apocalypse is, in nearly all ways, an even WORSE world than the original -- if you happen to be human or an X-Man!"