The most game-changing artifact since the Infinity Gauntlet just hit Marvel’s Earth-616, and nothing will ever be the same. Marvel just began a new era in comics lore, with a change that’s about to hit like an atom bomb – here’s what you need to know.
The Origin Boxes Have Arrived in Earth-616
Marvel Is Getting Some Unstable New Heroes
In today’s Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5 (from Deniz Camp, Cody Ziglar, Jonas Scharf, Edgar Delgado and Cory Petit), Miles Morales ends his tour of Earth-6160. As he works alongside the Ultimates, the team discover a cache of ‘Origin Boxes.’ These devices contain powerful catalysts that will transform anyone who opens them into superhumans. With Earth-6160 under threat from the villainous Maker, Miles agrees to take the boxes to his own reality, beyond the villain’s grip.
Over in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39 (from Cody Ziglar, Luigi Zagaria, Bryan Valenza and Cory Petit), Miles arrives home with the Origin Boxes and shows them to Misty Knight, who works for the Aberrant Crimes Division of the FBI. It’s likely the ACD will use the Origin Boxes to introduce a slew of new superhumans to Marvel lore.
What makes the Origin Boxes so impactful is that these are the powers of heroes who already exist in Earth-616 – no franchise will go untouched by the fallout.
What Are Marvel’s Origin Boxes?
The Greatest Powers of the Marvel Universe, Giftwrapped
Over in Earth-6160, the Maker restructured reality by traveling back in time. He removed the threat of every hero who could have stopped his rise to power, either killing them, corrupting them, or stealing the catalyst of their powers. While Maker started by stealing the spider that was destined to bite Peter Parker, he also acquired artifacts including the Inhumans’ Terrigen Crystals, adamantium, and various Super-Soldier Serums.
When Tony Stark discovered the Maker’s crimes, he ransacked his storehouse and started assembling ‘Origin Boxes’ to reempower the heroes who should have protected his world. However, the project was a disaster – only Peter Parker’s Spider-Man was considered a success, with disasters like Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel leading to innocent deaths. Reluctantly, Tony gave up on using the Boxes for good.
However, the Ultimates just discovered the Maker’s ally Emmanuel Da Costa acquired many of the catalysts, using them to empower himself and his servants. The team entrust the remaining Origin Boxes to Miles, but warn him that the only powers left are those so unstable, the villains chose not to risk unleashing them.
Our Take on Marvel Introducing the Origin Boxes
This Is a Great Way to Introduce a Slate of New Heroes
The Origin Boxes essentially promise to introduce new superheroes and villains or to gift existing characters new powers. However, what makes them so impactful is that these are the powers of heroes who already exist across Earth-616. It’s likely that pretty much every franchise is about to get multiple new characters out of this revelation, each with incredibly unstable and powerful abilities. No artifact has been as far-reaching in its consequences since Marvel introduced the Infinity Gauntlet itself.
In 2024, Marvel’s The Sentry series granted the hero’s powers to new character Solarus, who is currently training under Misty Knight. Given the Origin Boxes end up in Misty’s hands, it’s likely she’ll be at the vanguard of choosing the people who are granted new powers, and may even be putting together a team of new but godlike heroes.
The Marvel Universe just entered a new era – one in which a whole bunch of powerful new characters are about to be introduced at once. Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39 instructs fans to “Discover the secrets of the Origin Boxes in 2026”, setting the stage for next year to blow the roof off the Marvel Universe.
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5 and Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39 are available now from Marvel Comics.