Intergalactic Society Restructures in the First Look at Marvel’s Imperial

By Dustin Gebel

on March 16, 2025

After months of speculation, Marvel revealed details about the next cosmic epic from Jonthan Hickman. Imperial, which will be written by Hickman with art by Federico Vicentini and Iban Coello, is a four issue event miniseries that’s set to reshape the cosmic status quo for the House of Ideas.

Much like Ultimate Invasion, Imperial is intended to kick off a new section of books reeling from the deposing of major cosmic leaders. The press release teases the involvement of the Hulks, the Nova Corps, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Black Panthers.

Hickman discussed the intent of the miniseries, stating:

“I’m very excited about this project as I’m obviously a huge fan of all things Marvel Cosmic. The goal here is to kind of do what we did with the recent Ultimate line for all of our space titles, except having the setup book (IMPERIAL) be more of an event than a world building exercise (like Ultimate Invasion). The art team is killing it and we’re all just very excited for what’s happening in this special corner of the Marvel Universe.”

Imperial features cover art from Hickman collaborator Marco Checchetto. Vicentini and Coello are providing interior artwork for the miniseries and new designs for the characters mentioned above. Both artists were previously selected as Stormbreakers, Marvel’s class of up-and-coming artistic talents.

In the press release, Vicentini spoke about about working with Hickman, stating:

“Working with Hickman is a great challenge. I love his scripts. He writes really brilliant dialogue and puts incredible attention to details when it comes to the story’s setting. I had only knew Hickman as a reader, so it was incredible to be approached to work with him and Iban, who is a phenomenal artist! I’m working hard to produce my best work, and I’m certainly having a lot of fun!”

Coello discussed the opportunity to redesign iconic Marvel characters, stating:

“Being involved in this project is incredible. Creating all these new characters and costumes is really fun. Working with Hickman is something I never expected to be able to do, and it’s both cool and intimidating at the same time because of the magnitude of what he’s doing in the scripts. I look forward to being able to rise to the challenge and do a great job!”