This was rumoured to be in the works, and it's now been confirmed that David Colton, Steve Rogers' one-time replacement as Captain America, will become the new Miracleman/Marvelman in Avengers: Armageddon #4.
Colton, who suffers from PTSD, became Captain America after September 11—when Steve was still in the ice—and was recently granted additional powers from an Earth-6160 Origin Box. Now, we know that The Maker somehow got his hands on Miracleman's abilities, which will transform David into one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful heroes.
Bleeding Cool has shared a first look at the new Miracleman on a piece by Michael Cho, which seems to confirm that David will join the new Avengers roster alongside Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Captain Marvel.
David will seemingly don the character's classic costume, and should be a game-changing addition to this world in the same vein as The Sentry in the mid-2000s.
Miracleman has one of the most complicated histories in comics. Before he was Miracleman, he was Marvelman, the UK's answer to Captain Marvel, created by Mick Anglo in 1954 for L. Miller & Son.
After Fawcett stopped publishing Captain Marvel following its legal battle with DC Comics, L. Miller hired Anglo to create a replacement. The result was Marvelman, the alter ego of Micky Moran, who transformed into a superhuman by saying "Kimota!" Marvelman was revived in 1982 by former Marvel UK editor Dez Skinn for Warrior, where Alan Moore and artists including Garry Leach and Alan Davis completely reinvented the character.
Moran discovers that his seemingly innocent Marvelman adventures were actually artificial memories. The truth is far darker: the British government had used alien technology in a Cold War super-soldier programme, with former Nazi scientist Dr. Emil Gargunza involved. Moran and the other subjects were kept in a dream state while their powers were studied.
Moore's story continued after Warrior and later Eclipse Comics' Miracleman series after Warrior folded in 1985. Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham subsequently took over, but the biggest twist came in 2009, when it emerged that Mick Anglo had actually retained the underlying rights to the character.
Marvel subsequently acquired those rights and began reprinting the original material before eventually bringing Moore's and Gaiman's stories back into print. In 2022, Timeless #1 ended by teasing the character's existence, but nothing has really happened since.
Here's an official look at what's to come in Avengers: Armageddon #4 and #5.
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!
AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #4
Written by CHIP ZDARSKY
Art by DELIO DIAZ, FRANK ALPIZAR
Cover by DIKE RUAN
On Sale 9/16
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!
AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #5
Written by CHIP ZDARSKY
Art by DELIO DIAZ, FRANK ALPIZAR
Cover by DIKE RUAN
On Sale 10/21