Word of Marvel’s next try at a massively multiplayer online game (having tried before in a game that would eventually become Champions Online) started last week when they launched an official twitter feed and tumblr account [Read: Marvel Teases Details Of New MMO On Twitter & Tumblr]. Throughout the week, they have been dropping hints as to who would be writing the game, and it should come as no surprise that the game’s producers have tasked Marvel’s biggest writer. It was announced on Thursday at an event in San Francisco that Brian Michael Bendis, writer of The Avengers, Moon Knight, and Ultimate Spider-Man, would be writing the game. That was not the biggest announcement of the event though. No, the big news would be that the Marvel MMO will not only be a free to play game, but will also allow you to play as your favorite Marvel super.

Bendis revealed that the game will allow players to take the roles of their favorite characters including Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, and even Squirrel Girl, among many many others. This alone will already set it apart from DC Universe Online, which relies on characters to make their own characters and only allows users to play the big DC characters in very limited areas. Bendis also revealed that the main villain of the game will be Dr. Doom.

Marvel has released the first image of the character who will be taking over for Peter Parker after his “death” in Ultimate Spider-Man #160. The image shows a decidedly different costume for Spider-Man, and it looks like Marvel is putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to the “Death of Spider-Man” event currently running in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and Ultimate Comics Avengers vs New Ultimates.

“We called this story ‘Death of Spider-Man’ for a reason. This is a huge story that will have fans around the world talking for a long time as we set the stage for the debut of our new Spider-Man,” Marvel Editor In Chief Axel Alonso said in a statement released by the publisher. Alonso also said via the New York Post, “That’s not Peter Parker. There’s going to be someone new wearing the costume.”

See the new image here below.

So Marvel’s big Summer event Fear Itself is underway and it’s blowing up all over the Marvel Universe. We’ve got early looks at some of the biggest issues this Summer.

It all starts in May when Fear Itself #2 of 7 hits store shelves. Award-winning writer Matt Fraction and artist Stuart Immonen continue the mystery of who the Worthy are. Seven hammers have fallen to Earth each capable of seemingly endless power. The race is on to see who the Worthy will be and without the Asgardians who have left Earth, will the Avengers be able to save the day? Covers for this installment if the series were done by Steve McNiven and variant by Stuart Immonen. Early images from Fear Itself #2 and previews for other Fear Itself releases are waiting for you after the jump.

In July Fear Itself hits the shores of Utopia in Uncanny X-Men #540 & #541. Writer Kieron Gillen and artist Greg Land bring fear to the unsteady balance between humans and mutant-kind.

Rumors have been getting passed around about these two titles for the last few days, but Marvel officially announced the new creative teams for The Punisher and Daredevil during Saturday’s Cup o’ Joe panel at C2E2 2011.

Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, and Marcos Martin will be taking over on Daredevil, while Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto will be taking over The Punisher. (See Checchetto’s Punisher promo art here above.) The two new series will be released in July and August respectively, with new #1 issues for each series.

FX is one of those networks that are easy to forget about, but pay attention they are doing some interesting stuff over there. Currently the network has a couple of fantastic shows, Justified and Sons of Anarchy, and one odd but entertaining animated series, Archer. Now it seems that they are getting into the superhero game and they may actually be getting some talented folks behind the camera. Sure that sounds snarky but when you look at shows like The Cape and you read everything that’s happening with the upcoming Wonder Woman series, it’s easy to get a little jaded when it comes to “superhero” shows or adaptations of comics to TV.

FX has greenlit a pilot for an adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis‘ amazing comic book series called Powers. FX Senior Vice President of Public Relations John Soldberg made the official announcement on Twitter.