Marvel's Most Disturbing Comic Was Buried For a Reason

In 1995, Warren Ellis created Ruins, a two issue prestige format comic that asked one terrifying question: what if the science behind Marvel superheroes actually worked the way real science does? The answer destroyed everything fans loved about the Marvel Universe.

This video breaks down the complete story of Ruins, following photographer Phil Sheldon as he documents a world where every superhero origin went catastrophically wrong. Steve Rogers became a tumor covered nightmare instead of Captain America. The X-Men are dying in government quarantine from genetic disease. Peter Parker is slowly dying of radiation poisoning from a spider bite that never gave him powers. The Fantastic Four died screaming as cosmic rays tore their bodies apart.

Ruins was Marvel's response to the success of Marvels, using the same photographer protagonist to explore the opposite premise. Where Marvels celebrated superhero wonder, Ruins systematically dismantled it. Warren Ellis applied real world consequences to comic book science and created one of the bleakest stories Marvel ever published.

This video covers both issues of the 1995 series, examining the fates of Captain America, the Avengers, the X-Men, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and more. We analyze why Marvel has never reprinted this comic and what it reveals about the superhero genre itself.
Topics in this video: Ruins Marvel comic, Warren Ellis, Phil Sheldon, Marvels sequel, darkest Marvel comic, Spider-Man death, Captain America, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, 1995 comics, Marvel prestige format, Cliff Nielsen, Terese Nielsen, superhero deconstruction, grimdark comics, forgotten Marvel, banned comics, comic book horror, realistic superheroes, Marvel alternate universe

#Ruins #WarrenEllis #Marvel #DarkComics #SpiderMan #CaptainAmerica #XMen #FantasticFour #ComicBooks #MarvelComics #ForgottenComics #90sComics