Marvel has announced their summer event, Original Sin! The eight part series comes courtesy of writer Jason Aaron and artist Mike Deodato Jr.

On the moon, the dead body of Uatu, the Watcher is discovered. His home destroyed. Looted of its valuable alien technology. Now, the manhunt is on. And the biggest heroes of the Marvel Universe – Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, Black Widow, and more are on the hunt for his murderer.

But no one is ready for the secret knowledge the Watcher held. Secrets that will shake the Marvel Universe and its heroes to their very core!

Aaron gave some details on the story, saying:

…it’s basically a crime story. A murder mystery. A manhunt. But with the entirety of the Marvel Universe as its backdrop. We’re taking all the toys out of their packaging for this one. Everyone and everything is in play. For some characters, life will never be the same again. And it’s only a matter of time before more bodies are popping up.

The question is, what did the Watcher see and who would want him dead because of it?

We also got more details through a live Q&A today hosted by Marvel.

The idea came from Joe Quesada at a Marvel retreat. It all started with the idea of a murdered Watcher, which would put all of his most treasured secrets up for grabs. At first no one wanted it and it remained out there for a few retreats. About three retreats ago, Aaron became intrigued by the cosmic crime story aspect and was tasked to figure out the story, who killed the Watcher and why, so he stepped up to take a crack at it.

Nick Fury is the main investigator with Captain America, the Avengers, Thor, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Punisher, Emma Frost, Moon Knight and a few others getting involved. Each chosen for a specific reason. Those characters head in different directions and parts of the Marvel Universe as they attempt to solve the mystery through different investigations. There’s action in space, the Punisher and Dr. Strange head to other dimensions, some unusual places are involved. Gamora, Moon Knight and Winter Soldier head into space. Another team-up is Emma Frost and Ant-Man (the Scott Lang version). There are some villains too, but that remains a secret for now. Aaron is certain folks won’t guess who is involved.

The death of the Watcher isn’t the only issue, all of his belongings are up for grabs as well with some major consequences. Imagine all of his recordings falling into the wrong hands. Some items and secrets do indeed go missing. Those secrets and how they got out are revealed in the first two issues.

While the main series is eight issues, Aaron did hint there’ll be tie-ins much like other events of year’s past, though with no specifics. The main series tells the story of the murder and investigation. The tie-ins will deal with the fall-out of that murder and the secrets that come out because of it.

We can expect consequences out of this that will affect the Marvel Universe, especially for certain characters. Towards the end of the chat Aaron laid it out there that Uatu won’t be the only casualty of the event.

The event starts in April with a #0 issue by Mark Waid and Jim Cheung.