In 1992, writer Peter David and artist Rick Leonardi brought a new Spider-Man into the world with Miguel O’Hara in Spider-Man 2099. Miguel quickly became a popular character in his own right and starred in three volumes of Spider-Man 2099, including one that just ended earlier this summer with Miguel experiencing life in present-day.
But the Miguel O’Hara that we’ve read for a quarter-century could have looked very different.
Twenty-five years after Miguel’s introduction to the world, current Amazing Spider-Man scribe Dan Slott revealed he had his own pitch when Marvel was looking for a Spider-Man set in the future.
“Back in 1992, the *original* concept for Marvel’s 2099 universe was that they would always take place 100 years in the future,” Slott wrote in a series of tweets. “It was going to be Spider-Man 2092, Punisher 2092, etc. That went away. During that window, I got artists Kevin Kobasic and Mike Harris to do some promo art for me and I threw in a pitch for Spider-Man 2092.”
In hindsight, they were NEVER gonna assign that book off a blind pitch from the (then) REN & STIMPY guy.?
But that said, here’s the art.4/4 pic.twitter.com/f66a9B4o08
— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) August 18, 2017
Slott added that Marvel originally planned to update the title each year to be 100 years in the future, but settled on a permanent 2099 brand for trademark reasons.
Slott also wrote that he “stick-figured-out” the basics of the suit, which hardly resemble either Peter Parker’s traditional costume or the one that Miguel eventually donned in David and Leonardi’s Spider-Man 2099. The version from Slott, Kobasic and Harris has a familiar Spider-Man mask, but puts the character in a karate-like outfit with oversized sleeves. The front wraps around the character with a belt to keep it tight, and has a large collar that goes down the chest and includes a Spider-logo.
From the waist down, the character has some resemblance to Captain America — he has high boots and a pouch, probably for some sort of weapon.
It’s a very 1990s-inspired design, so perhaps Slott should have offered the design for an X-Force character and it would’ve been approved. However, the writer said he also made an Alpha Flight suggestion that was so bad he still gets teased about it over two decades later.
Wrote up TONS of blind pitches for early Marvel 90’s stuff. All cringe-worthy. @TomBrevoort STILL gives me grief over my ALPHA FLIGHT pitch.
— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) August 18, 2017
Scott did incorporate the 2099 universe into Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) a few years ago, but alas, there was no sign of his original pitch for the future Spider-Man.
Comments