Last month at New York Comic-Con, Marvel announced their massive new Secret Wars crossover with a teaser image featuring characters from various universes clashing in an epic battle. Today via CBR , Marvel debuted the cover for Secret Wars #1. This image is rendered by Esad Ribic, who will also be handling the interior art for the 12-issue maxi-series.

This particular image focuses on two universes - the regular Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe. We can see both the regular and Ultimate versions of Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic, as well as the regular versions of Captain Marvel, Black Bolt, Star-Lord, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Black Panther, Namor, and the new female Thor. Doctor Doom and Thanos also appear, offering the first sign that Secret Wars will involve Marvel's villains as much as its heroes.It's interesting to see how this cover focuses on characters who will be making their cinematic debuts in Marvel's recently announced Phase 3 movie lineup - Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Black Bolt, etc. No doubt one of the goals of Secret Wars is to introduce these characters to a wider audience ahead of their respective films. On the other hand, the appearance of the two Mister Fantastics and the X-Men characters should put to rest any rumors that Marvel is keeping the X-Men and FF franchises out of this event.Secret Wars #1 will be released in May 2015.

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