By Rachel Maurer

With the end of Secret Empire in sight, Marvel gathered creators from a variety of upcoming titles to discuss what’s next for our favorite superheroes – and drop a couple of exciting announcements!

Editor Nick Lowe first took us through Generations: a 10-issue weekly series that will lead readers into the next phase of the Marvel universe. Each issue will revolve around a different character sent to the Vanishing Point and will follow their interactions with their “predecessor”. As we later learned during Q&A, the writers wanted Generations to explore the meaning of each mantle, and to allow younger heroes – Amadeus Cho, Miles Morales, and Kamala Khan, to name a few – to see another side of the heroes they’ve looked up to, while simultaneously putting them on the same footing.

Other team-ups we can expect include time-displaced Jean Grey and iconic Jean Grey (Cullen Bunn, The Phoenix) and Carol Danvers and Mar-Vell (Margaret Stohl, The Bravest). Stohl was especially excited when describing The Bravest, explaining that the book was guided both by her personal motto (“Girls are amazing”) and one simple rule: “No sidekicks, just butt kicks”.

Next we dove into Legacy: the period following Secret Empire, teed off by Generations. The concept is straightforward: Who can be brought back? In fact, Legacy will bring dozens of “artifacts” back to the universe, making it rewarding for old fans while still accessible to new readers.

Bunn touched on Mojo Worldwide, an X-Men Blue & Gold crossover that sees Mojo actually enter Earth’s reality, saying that classic moments from X-Men history will play out again with new characters. In discussing Captain Marvel: Dark Origins, Stohl explained that she drew inspiration for an inverse dimension from Dragonfly 44, a galaxy comprised of 99.9% dark matter.

Rodney Barnes and Joshua Cassara were on hand to talk Falcon, Sam Wilson’s first full solo series. Barnes said he wanted to bring Falcon’s story back to street level, exploring how he’s dealing with such deep betrayal post-Secret Empire while also introducing a “mystical aspect”, taking the character to “an interesting place we’ve never seen him go.” Falcon #1 will be available in October.

Next we got a glimpse of Doctor Strange, including a fantastic cover depicting the new Sorcerer Supreme: Loki. According to Donny Cates, the story finds Stephen in a dark place, and shows the lengths he is willing to go to set things right. He also teased a major reveal/return in the second issue.

Cates then announced that he and Geoff Shaw will be taking over Thanos in November (#13). The team talked excitedly about the brutal approach they’ve taken to the story, how they’ve been allowed to do some surprising things, and noted that everyone knows Thanos is going to win, and that when he does “it’s going to be really, really bad”.

Other Legacy highlights: All New Guardians of the Galaxy, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur (complete with Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm team-up), and the continuation of Ms. Marvel in August. When asked by an audience member whether we can expect any new Black Widow titles, Lowe responded, “There’s stuff coming up”.

The most surprising announcement came in the form of The Immortal Iron Fists, a 6-issue biweekly series and the first exclusive digital series, available today on Comixology and Kindle (and free for Comixology Unlimited subscribers). Written by Kaare Andrews with art by Afu Chan, the series will follow Pei, a female monk from K’un-Lun training to be the youngest Iron Fist in history.

The last (and by far, most well-received) announcement was that of X-Men Grand Design, with script and art by Ed Piskor. The 6-issue series will encompass Uncanny X-Men issues 1 – 280, condensing a decade’s worth of story into each issue. Grand Design #1 will be available in December.