UPDATE II: Marvel has now confirmed that the first teaser, "Dead No More," relates to a story kicking off in its other Free Comic Book Day offering, FCBD Captain America #1, kicking off the new Steve Rogers: Captain America series.

And if you're thinking, "Wait, Steve Rogers wasn't dead. Did Marvel forget?", then no-one could blame you. But "Dead No More" actually refers to people being given the chance to resurrect dead loved ones. Marvel is calling it a "blockbuster," but it also sounds like a really handy way to bring a bunch of characters back from the dead.

UPDATE: No Slingers revival for you; Marvel has confirmed that the most obvious answer (at least to that second teaser) is the correct one. An All-New Wasp will debut in an All-New Avengers story by Mark Waid and Alan Davis as part of Marvel's Free Comic Book Day offering, FCBD Civil War II.

The "mysterious new character" will presumably be Marvel's way of introducing the Ant-Man movie's Hope Van Dyne to Marvel's rebooted 616 comic universe. Perhaps she'll somehow be the adult daughter of original Wasp Janet Van Dyne, but that may take some time travel, or at least a solid punch at the walls of reality. How does this new Wasp tie in to the 'DEAD NO MORE' teaser? Um... we'll keep you updated.

Original story continues below:

Marvel released a bafflingly oblique teaser image on Tuesday, the words 'DEAD NO MORE' against a black background, prompting fans to speculate which of Marvel's heroes is next in line for a resurrection, even as they're debating which hero will die (for a while) in the pages of Civil War II.

Before any kind of consensus could be achieved, Marvel released a second teaser today, 'BEST BEWARE MY STING', against a black and yellow background. A quote from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, the line and colors both suggest the character Wasp, aka Janet Van Dyne. But Janet already came back from the dead; surely the first teaser can't be about her? So what other theories do we have? Well... is it possible that Marvel is hinting at a relaunch of Slingers?

 

Mike Wieringo, Richard Case & Tanya Rich
Mike Wieringo, Richard Case & Tanya Rich
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Bear with me here. Slingers was a late '90s teen team book about four heroes who took on identities and costumes that had been adopted and abandoned by Peter Parker, who had quit being Spider-Man for a while because Spidey was wanted for murder. Created by Joe Harris and Adam Pollina, the characters Dusk, Hornet, Ricochet and Prodigy had a short run of 13 issues (actually, that might be considered an achievement today), and have rarely been seen since. Four versions of the series' first issue were published, each from a different character's point of view.

One of the members, Dusk, dressed all in black, and had shadow-manipulation powers, and died in her first appearance before being supernaturally resurrected. 'Dead No More'. Another member, Hornet, had power armor that fired darts that he called "stingers", and his costume included a yellow symbol on a black background. 'Best Beware My Sting'. The remaining members were Prodigy, whose costume gave him basic Superman powers, and Ricochet, an agile mutant who hurled throwing discs. Hornet was actually killed by a brainwashed Wolverine, but presumably his armor is still out there, as are the other members of his team. (They'll just make Ricochet an Inhuman.)

OK, so the chances of a Slingers revival seem extraordinarily slim --- unless Marvel and Sony have a TV show or a movie deal in the works. The teasers could as easily be hinting at the line-up for a seventeenth Avengers book, or Deadpool reforming and marrying the Wasp, or a new line of Marvel adaptations of Shakespeare. Really, any of those is as plausible as a Slingers revival. Only three people are demanding a Slingers revival.

But you have to admit, the clues line up!

We'll see what Marvel's next teasers reveal. If it's a quote about excellence against a yellow background, you heard it here first.

 

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