Writer Charles Soule and editor Nick Lowe recently held a press call to discuss the upcoming Marvel comic book series Inhuman. Originally this series was going to be written by Matt Fraction. However, as the story evolved the bigger picture of the story did not mesh with Matt’s vision so he gracioutsly stepped aside for Charles to come aboard.
In the recent Marvel event, Infinity, it was revealed that there are people on earth who are decedents of the super-powered race called the Inhumans. These seemingly normal people become superpowered due to a mist that covers the earth as a result of the events of Infinity. Charles said about the premise that, “The Inhumans are almost a mythological creation. Just the idea of being an ordinary person until you’re exposed to this catalyst is neat. You can be a random person walking along the street when a cloud comes along and changes your life forever.”
Discussing why the Inhumans are the focus of a new book editor Nick Lowe said, “”Every few years, we like to put the focus on characters who haven’t gotten as much. You saw it years ago with New Avengers, you saw it last year with Guardians of the Galaxy, and you’re going to see it again now with the Inhumans.”
With the Inhuman home world destroyed and thousands of new Inhumans on earth, there is a lot of story to tell. The original humans are adjusting to their new home while the new Inhumans are adjusting to their new powers. Of course this situation allows Inhumans with less than noble intentions to find opportunities to cause some havoc.
The antagonist of the story is Lash. Describiing him Charles Soule said, “Lash is a hidden Inhuman who did not live in Attilan [the Inhuman home world] and is emerging now. He lived in the town where Thane was found in Infinity. That society is one of the things I’ve been developing. That city could not do the Terrigenesis ritual, they could only grant it to some people who they thought would have useful powers. It was almost religious. Lash finds Inhumanity to be heretical. He’s a tough dude. His power allows him to change energy from one form to another, like fire to light. He’s dedicated and believes he is right.”
When we first learned about the book through a promotional image, we saw Inferno. Here is what Charles had to say about him: “Inferno was a regular dude who everything changes for. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. Inferno has powers like the Human Torch, but no control over them. He could burn himself to a cinder and die unless he figures this out.”
Due to the nature of the story, this series will take readers around the globe, not just the United States. That being said, it was revealed that Captain America will appear early on in the run. How the world reacts to these new super-powered individuals should be interesting as Charles says, “Public perception of Inhumans is a large part of the series. As far as what that perception is, it’s interesting. Mutants appear at puberty; if you’re not a mutant when you’re a teenager, you won’t be. If you’re an Inhuman, you could be 90 and your life could change. Some people are terrified by this, others see it as an opportunity. Some people want to be Inhumans.”
Many have conjectured that this story allows Marvel to create an X-Men like race that the studio controls the film rights to. I have no clue if that is the case of not, but to me the difference between the two groups makes this an exciting story. The X-Men have been around for a while. The world knows what mutants are and while they may not be universally loved they are a known element. Suddenly having these thousands of Inhumans activate allows you to tell a wide-ranging story of how different types of people would react to the global event. It also allows you to tell how the world would react. That being said, I would love to see a Marvel Studios film tell their version of the Inhumans.
You can check out the next exciting chapter in this saga when Inhumans comes out April 2nd. For more on the s