This week was an important one for Thor fans, as writer Jason Aaron finally addressed a mystery that's been dangling since his 2014 mini-series Original Sin. The Unworthy Thor #5 finally revealed what Nick Fury said to Thor that made him no longer worthy to wield Mjolnir. No sooner was that mystery solved than another began, but such is the way of superhero comics.
While Aaron left readers waiting and guessing for the better part of three years, this is hardly the first time a Marvel series has played the long game. Here are nine other cases where fans had to wait years to learn the answer to a huge Marvel mystery.
Wait time: 1.5 years
A lot changed when Secret Wars paved the way for the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe in 2015, but perhaps no character was more profoundly affected than Daredevil. Before, Matt Murdock was living in San Francisco, enjoying an uncharacteristically stable romance and finally coming to terms with the fact that his secret identity was no longer secret. After, suddenly Matt was back living in New York, enjoying a revived legal career and the fact that nearly everyone in the Marvel U. had forgotten who wears Daredevil's mask.
Writer Charles Soule showed little interest in addressing those abrupt, fundamental changes right away. In fact, it's only in the current Daredevil story arc, "Purple," that fans are beginning to learn how Matt put the genie back in the bottle and reclaimed his stolen privacy. Writer Charles Soule sure knows how to keep a secret.
Wait time: 2 years
Peter Parker first encountered his greatest foe in 1964's Amazing Spider-Man #14, but readers didn't learn that the Green Goblin was secretly millionaire industrialist Norman Osborn until issue #39. Considering how uncommon it was for comics to tell long-form stories of any sort in those days, the fact that Marvel stretched out the mystery over the course of two years was pretty groundbreaking.
Of course, a big part of the reason it took so long is that writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko couldn't agree on the reveal. Lee was dead-set on Osborn, while Ditko was adamant that Green Goblin should be a random criminal with no personal connection to Spidey. Obviously, Lee won out, and the big twist came once Ditko departed the book and artist John Romita, Sr. took over.
Since then, it's been standard practice for Spider-Man creators to play up the mystery angle whenever a new Green Goblin or Hobgoblin is introduced. Most recently, we saw the Goblin-themed Menace revealed as Harry Osborn's girlfriend, Lily Hollister, and Phil Urich become the new Hobgoblin.
Wait time: 2 years
Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness 2008 Hulk series introduced a new adversary for Hulk in the form of the mysterious Red Hulk. This super-strong villain emerged in the aftermath of World War Hulk and cut a destructive path through the Marvel Universe, wrecking Iron Man's gold-plated Helicarrier, stealing Silver Surfer's board and generally acting like the world's most obnoxious schoolyard bully. And for a long time, neither readers nor the Avengers had any clue as to the human identity of this new Hulk. The mystery only deepened when Red Hulk was joined by Red She-Hulk.
It wasn't until 2010's World War Hulks crossover that the answers finally came. There Loeb revealed that Red Hulk was none other than Bruce Banner's perpetual nemesis, General Thunderbolt Ross (ironically becoming the very monster he always hated). Loeb even took pains to throw readers off the scent by having Red Hulk interact with a Life Model Decoy of Ross.
As for Red She-Hulk? She was revealed to be Ross' daughter, Betty. At this point, there are few people in Bruce Banner's life who haven't been given the opportunity to Hulk out for a while.
Wait time: 3 years
Marvel delivered what may well be its most controversial story ever with 2007's One More Day, which saw Peter Parker sacrifice his marriage to Mary Jane Watson in order to save a dying Aunt May and reclaim the secret identity he foolishly abandoned during Civil War. That paved the way for the Brand New Day status quo, where Peter was back to his roots as a struggling bachelor.
While Mephisto was the architect of this retcon, One More Day left a lot of unanswered questions regarding what the demon lord did to alter Spider-Man's history and how exactly the relationship between Peter and MJ changed as a result. In fact, it wasn't until 2010's One Moment in Time that readers finally learned the new, revised history of that relationship. OMIT revealed that Peter and MJ almost got married, but Peter inadvertently left his bride at the altar after a superhero adventure went awry (with a little push from Mephisto). Their romance continued, but MJ decided that she couldn't marry Peter until he finally put aside his superhero career for good.
In this new continuity, the two finally broke up for good in the aftermath of Civil War, with MJ realizing she and her family would never be safe as long as she stayed with Peter. So basically, all the old Peter/MJ stories still happened; they just weren't ever married during their time together.
OMIT also revealed that Peter turned to super-geniuses Tony Stark and Reed Richards for help putting the secret identity genie back in the bottle. With help from Doctor Strange, they managed to cause a worldwide case of amnesia, wiping Peter's secret from the minds of everyone but Peter and MJ themselves. That's why even the majority of the Avengers no longer know Spider-Man's identity.
Continues
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