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multiverseforger · 4 years ago

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Selene is the oldest known human mutant. Functionally immortal, her millennia-long life is attributed to her ability to drain the life essence from other beings to extend her own existence indefinitely. Her name derives from the ancient lunar deity Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Claiming to have already been old when modern mankind was just emerging, Selene was born over 17,000 years ago somewhere in what is now Central Europe, "after the Oceans swallowed Atlantis and before the rise of the Aryas". Her tribe's elders recognized her for what she was and commanded the entire tribe, including her own mother, to sacrifice their lives to feed her.[3]

Hyborian AgeEdit

Selene was revealed to have been an old enemy of the sorcerer Kulan Gath.[4] Kulan Gath was active during the Hyborian Age (before any recorded civilizations) and is known to have faced both Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja. In fact, Sonja reportedly managed to kill him and his spirit would not manifest again until the modern era.[5] Thus, Selene was active at least as early as the Hyborian age.

Rome and EliphasEdit

Selene came to reside in Rome during the height of its empire. She approached Eliphas, a well-respected senator whose wife had left him for a general named Mascius. Selene offered him immortality in exchange for helping her kill and absorb every soul in Rome. Eliphas went about drawing pentagrams and performing rituals at several locations in the city, but warned a small girl to get her family out. The girl's father alerted the authorities and Eliphas and Selene were captured before the spell could be carried out. Just before they were burned at the stake Selene killed the guards. She then cursed Eliphas for his perceived betrayal with an eternal life of torture, transforming him into a vampire-like creature. Eliphas was buried alive for 700 years until a farmer discovered him in his field.[6]

Nova RomaEdit

In relatively recent times, Selene was trapped for centuries in the Amazon in the Romanesque town of Nova Roma. She was worshipped as a goddess and worked to maintain the isolation of the town so she could maintain control. Eliphas, having at some point in time changed his name to "Eli Bard," finally locates Selene in Nova Roma. Still in love with her despite her curse, Bard realizes that he must make an offering to her before he approaches her. She also was able to marry several times and have descendants, including Amara Aquilla. Her most recent known husband was Marcus Domitius Gallio, a senator of Nova Roma.

In Nova Roma, Selene attempted to kill Amara Aquilla. She knocked Amara into a lava pool, thereby releasing her latent mutant powers, as Magma. Selene fought and defeated Magma, and plotted to turn Danielle Moonstar into a psychic vampire like herself and conquer the world. Selene fought the New Mutants, and was cast into lava and buried alive.[7]

Becoming the Black QueenEdit

Selene directed her worshippers to undertake tasks that eventually allowed her to leave Nova Roma. She made her way to New York City, where she encountered Juggernaut at a bar. Selene planned to seduce and murder him, but was prevented when Wolverine manipulated a bar-room brawl between Juggernaut and Colossus. She then discovered the existence of Rachel Summers, whom she sought to turn into a slave only to be defeated by the X-Men. Prior to the X-Men saving her, Selene had tracked Rachel down to the home of a young man named Nicholas Damiano who had let the homeless Rachel spend the night at his place. Selene savagely murdered the young man, resulting in Rachel swearing revenge against Selene.[8]

With help from one of her worshippers, Friedrich Von Roehm, Selene made contact with the Hellfire Club and forced the group to take her on as the new Black Queen. She became critical in the X-Men's attempt to stop Kulan Gath, after he conquered New York City with a reality-altering spell though she ultimately attempted to doublecross the X-Men in order to steal Gath's talisman of power.[9]

Selene's time with the Hellfire Club was a turbulent time, due to her contempt for Sebastian Shaw and quite open desire to rule the Hellfire Club as its sole leader. This led Shaw and Emma Frost to conspire to kill Selene by manipulating and training the young mutant Firestar to assassinate her. This failed when Firestar realized what their plan.[10]

Selene and the Hellfire Club's relationship with the X-Men came to a head with Rachel Summers making an unauthorized assassination attempt on Selene. Wolverine felt honor-bound to prevent Rachel from becoming a murderer, and so, saved Selene's life by severely injuring Summers. Selene herself was enraged, and used the incident to force the Lords Cardinal to agree to hunt and kill Rachel. A battle over this issue immediately commenced between the X-Men and Lords Cardinal, but it was unexpectedly halted when it drew the attention of Nimrod, the super-sentinel who had murdered Selene's assistant Rhoem,[11] and was as bent on killing the X-Men and the Lords Cardinal. The Lords Cardinal and the X-Men hastily agreed to a truce, fighting well-enough to cause Nimrod to flee.

After this battle, in the pages of New Mutants, much was made about Selene having secret plans involving Nova Roma and Magma. Due to her love for Empath, Magma left the New Mutants to join the Hellions, only to be called home by her father to enter into an arranged marriage with a resident there. Magma's escort back home to Nova Roma turned out to be Empath, who ultimately decided to stay in the city with her. The two became lovers and Magma was freed from her arranged marriage plans so that she could be with him.[volume & issue needed]

Writer changes and the book's transition into X-Force caused the storyline to be aborted.[citation needed] Furthermore, it was revealed in New Warriors #31, via Empath, that Nova Roma was nothing more than an elaborate lie, concocted by Selene several decades prior. In a desperate bid to relive happier days in which she lived in ancient Rome, Selene arranged for hundreds of people to be kidnapped and taken to the jungles of the Amazon, to a city constructed per her designs. There she was somehow able to utterly brainwash her prisoners to believe themselves descendants of ancient Romans living in the Amazon. Magma was one of these kidnapped and brainwashed souls, according to Empath. The city was disbanded and the residents returned to their regular lives across the globe.

Years later, due to Chris Claremont wishing to undo writer Fabian Nieciza's dismantling of the concept of Nova Roma,[citation needed] Claremont ignored said story and wrote Magma as she had been originally. He later had Magma make cryptic references to having been manipulated into believing Nova Roma was a lie by parties unknown that sought to hurt Magma. Furthermore, the five-issue mini-series "New Mutants Forever" revealed that Claremont originally planned on revealing Magma to be Selene's granddaughter. This family connection would be stated as well (with no build-up) in New Mutants V3 #6-8, which had Selene resurrect Magma's teammate Cypher to try to kill Magma. Furthermore, it was strongly implied during "Necrosha" that Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost manipualted the Empath/Magma relationship in order to get Empath inside Nova Roma.[volume & issue needed] In the event that Selene struck first and eliminated both, Empath would then use his powers to dismantle the city via convincing the residents that their lives were lies concocted by Selene.

Selene ultimately was the deciding vote to vote Sebastian Shaw out of the Hellfire Club, when tension between Shaw and the newly recruited White King Magneto came to blows.[12] Unknown to Magneto or Emma Frost, however, Selene had decided that she no longer had any need for the Club and began plotting its destruction by gathering an army of young mutants, with help from the mutant omnipath known as the Gamesmaster, calling them the Upstarts. Under her authority, the Upstarts engaged in a killing spree that led to many presumed deaths (Magneto, Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, and the Reavers), mortal injuries (Emma Frost), and outright deaths (the Hellions). Selene manipulated her young followers with the promise of a game, where each murder committed would land them points that would ultimately lead to them being granted a prize, described as "being the next best thing to immortality" by the Gamemaster. However, with another writer change, Selene's involvement with the Upstarts was cut short as she herself was betrayed by Trevor Fitzroy. Selene was kept in a torture device that repeatedly ripped her flesh from her body (to attract the attention of the Gamesmaster, who took advantage of the situation to proclaim himself the new leader of the Upstarts). She would be freed by Amanda Sefton, though the torture left her weak and scarred.[volume & issue needed]

Needing to replenish her power, Selene first attacked and killed the other surviving Externals. Though she was opposed by X-Force, she managed to complete the slaughter and knock out the mutants, until Cable arrived. Selene's attempt to absorb Cable's life backfired when she touched his techno-organic arm and she was forced to flee to maintain her power. Shortly afterwards, she tried to access the power of a mystical convergence using a Runestaff made from the roots of Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree. She came to the Exploding Colossal Man festival in New Mexico, but was again opposed by X-Force, who managed to wrest the Runestaff away from her and destroy the Colossal Man mannequin it activated. Selene missed her opportunity for ultimate power and vowed vengeance on X-Force.[volume & issue needed]

She next appeared back in Brazil, where she had tracked Sunspot, along with Deviants posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. She lured Sunspot to her defense, and offered him a position of power in the Hellfire Club, which he refused, regardless of the illusions with which she tempted him. However, Sunspot went along with Selene to stop the Deviants in the Damocles Foundation from activating a Celestial Gatherer. Selene herself was attacked by the Sword strike team, but she managed to cast a spell that devolved them back to lizards. Along with the rest of X-Force, Selene was able to usurp control of the machinery that activated the Gatherer, but Moonstar and Arcadia destroyed the Celestial artifact before Selene could access its power.[volume & issue needed]

Selene then returned to her post as the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, after striking a deal with the demon Blackheart and seemingly throwing out the rest of the Inner Circle. She offered Sunspot the position of Black Rook, which he initially refused but then accepted when Selene and Blackheart revealed that his doing so would allow them to resurrect the spirit of Juliana Sandoval, the girl who died saving Sunspot's life when he first joined the New Mutants. Sunspot had no choice to accept and become Selene's protégé.[volume & issue needed]

However, with Sebastian Shaw's return to the Hellfire Club, Selene was somehow trapped inside the catacombs under the Club. However, she gained limited mobility from an alliance with Donald Pierce. When the X-Men, including Rachel Summers arrived, during a membership change in the Hellfire Club, Selene plotted to use Rachel to completely free herself. She followed Rachel to Hong Kong via a transport portal and saved her from being corrupted by a telepathic agent of Courtney Ross, who was trying to become the next White Queen. This move was only a prelude to Selene taking over Rachel's mind, but Marvel Girl was too strong for Selene and expelled her, keeping Selene trapped for a time beneath the Hellfire Club headquarters.[volume & issue needed]

After M-DayEdit

Selene was one of the few mutants to retain her powers after the events of M-Day.[13]

Selene, disguised as an old woman, befriends Wither and they live together in Mutant Town.[14] She encourages him to use his powers and not be afraid of his natural gifts. She then asks him if he would use his powers to save his or her life. She had been killing a large number of people by draining their life-forces, and during her last feeding her disguise was spotted by a witness. She reveals to Wither that Laurie has died, while he was away. Later she is attacked by the police and managed to kill two of them before being shot multiple times. Wither arrives and kills the other two officers, only for Selene to drop her disguise, telling him she is immortal and that they are two of a kind and should be together. She tells Wither that she will be his queen if he agrees, then kisses him, and he consents.[15]

Eli Bard's offeringEdit

Selene's relationship with Eli Bard is explained by Warpath to the other members of X-Force. It is revealed he had originally planned to sacrifice the Purifiers to Selene but changed his plans upon seeing Bastion reprogram an offspring of Magus. Using the Technarch transmode virus he reanimated the corpses in the burial grounds of the Apache tribe that he had decimated decades earlier along with Caliban. He presented them to Selene for the purpose of finding other dead mutants and resurrecting them by the same means, so that Bard can sacrifice them and their powers to her.[16]

NecroshaEdit

Main article: Necrosha

One week before the event of Necrosha, Selene has the recently resurrected Destiny brought before her where she asks what her future holds.[17]

Selene returns to the place of her birth in central Europe, accompanied by new Inner Circle, consisting of Blink, Senyaka, Mortis, Wither, and Eli Bard. She sets her plan into motion of becoming a goddess with her Inner Circle; they go to the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, where they slaughter everyone present. Selene then targets others who she feels have obstructed, or otherwise failed, her in her quest for divinity, namely Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Emma Frost (against whom she especially holds a grudge because of Frost's use of the "Black Queen" codename when working for the Dark X-Men), the X-Men, and Magma. Caliban and Thunderbird then lead her to the ruins of Genosha. Selene dubs the ruins Necrosha and swears that her journey will end here.[18] While most of the resurrected mutants attack the X-Men and Utopia, Selene is seen with Eli Bard resurrecting the massacred residents of Genosha, with Cerebro detecting the rise of mutant numbers in millions (the first life-signs detected by Bastion's computers include Spoor, Katu, Unus, REM-RAM, Static, and Barnacle).[19] There is a major problem though: a lot of the deceased have been depowered, despite having been killed BEFORE M-day. Wither and Mortis explain what happened and the Coven begins to set up base at Necrosha. It turns out that Selene can't do the ritual yet, because Eli Bard lost the knife that was required to do it. She then dispatches her crew and they end up taking the knife back, capturing Warpath in the process. Once Bard gives Selene the knife and proclaims his eternal love for her, Selene stabs Eli, killing him (much to Wither's delight). Warpath is eventually rescued by the Vanisher but Selene absorbs the many souls around her, turning light blue and growing in size. She finally becomes the goddess she had sought to be for so long. Turning to her followers, she commands them to get her more souls.[20] Warpath was able to destroy Selene by plunging his dagger into her chest, after teaching X-Force the Ghost Dance, a ritual meant to kill evil spirits such as Selene. Shocked that her moment of godhood was taken away so quickly, Selene explodes into rays of light.[20]

Sometime after Selene's death, Blink attempted to resurrect the Black Queen. Blink was eventually stopped by Emma Frost and a small team of X-Men (consisting of Blindfold, Pixie, Husk, Warpath) along with former Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange who managed successfully to purge Blink of Selene's corrupted influence.[21]

ReturnEdit

It was later revealed that Selene's body and soul had been preserved as airborne particles and somehow stored in stasis in a vault located somewhere in New York City. Lady Deathstrike and the Enchantress gained access to the vault and through the newly enhanced magic granted to her by the sentient virus, Arkea, she was able to fully restore Selene to physical life for the purpose of adding her to the newly formed Sisterhood of Mutants.[22]

Power EliteEdit

In the aftermath of the "Secret Empire," Selene has publicly become head of the White House's "Task Force of Faith-Based Initiatives", and joined the "Power Elite", an alliance of powerful people including Thunderbolt Ross, Baron von Strucker, and Alexa Lukin.[23] She also assisted in the resurrection of Alexa's husband Aleksander Lukin who also joined the Power Elite. Though the side-effect also revived a remnant of the Red Skull's mind that was in Aleksander.[24]

Dawn of XEdit

Selene was eventually welcomed to the new mutant island of Krakoa, created by Xavier, Magneto and Moira. She entered through the teleportation gateway alongside other villainous and fractious mutants, who had been invited to join the nation in order to heal mutantdom and start over as a whole species together.[25]

Selene alongside Emplate, had been tasked by Xavier with measuring the amount of psychic energy that Krakoa would take from its inhabitants. A similar protocol was put in place for them both as they also need to nourish on mutants for survival.[

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years ago

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I’m reading and so far enjoying Absolute Carnage a whole heck of a lot and I’m thinking to myself why is that? Why in fact is this story working for me when most other crossover event stories don’t? This inevitably led me to think about what those few event stories I do like even are.

Off the top of my head Contest of Champions II, World War Hulk, Annihilation, Annihilation Conquest and at the tippy top Infinity Gauntlet (the main book not all the tie-ins) and Secret Wars 1984.

I started to notice some things.

a) Almost all of these stories are built upon a fundamentally simple premise (Annihilus invades space, the heroes fight in a tournament, Thanos becomes God, etc)

b) A lot of them are event crossovers that don’t characters from multiple franchises in big ways in the stories. That is to say lots of heroes show up in Infinity Gauntlet but the number of really truly central characters in it is relatively small and don’t include like half a dozen people from X-Men, F4, Spider-Man, Midnight Sons, etc

c) Most of them are very action heavy

Why is it these factors contribute to making an event crossover successful?

Well to the first point, it’s simply put because by having a clear cut hook it allows all the tie-ins and such to not veer too far off course for that premise and allows the main book to keep it’s eye on target as it were.

The second and third points are I think interconnected.

See when you really break it down, it takes a whole heck of suspended disbelief to make the Marvel universe work.

And I don’t mean because you have to accept the conceit of radioactive spiders or lizard formulas. I mean because you have to accept that stuff and mutants, high tech suits, confirmed aliens, confirmed deities of every religion, confirmed parallel timelines, dimensions and universes, time travel, etc.

Consider for a moment how Lord of the Rings or Star Wars actually demand less suspension of disbelief of audiences because the fantastical elements are all mostly cut from the same cloth and if they aren’t there aren’t THAT many to juggle, so making them mesh together and create a sense of verisimilitude isn’t that hard.

For Marvel though an awful lot of the time to make a Spider-Man or Daredevil story work demands you outright ignore every other Marvel series out there. Look at Aunt May’s current situation dealing with cancer. If you were being realistic within the context of the Marvel Universe there would be at least 3 or 4 obvious solutions to her problem and that’s a very conservative estimate.

This is why I think making good crossover event stories is so difficult, because you need to find a way to balance vastly different concepts and characters, some of which aren’t even tonally on the same page. The X-Men are metaphors for prejudice because they have super powers, but the F4 are wacky superhero celebrity explorers from the Space Race and Thor is a Shakespearean God figure and Captain America is a politically charged figure from propaganda.

This is a fundamental problem with the Avengers. I’ve talked about this before but one of the biggest problems with the Avengers is that their stories tend to be about little beyond just BEING the Avengers. Occasionally it’s more than that, but usually it’s just they are the Avengers and they are Big Damn Heroes who kick ass on a Big Damn Scale. The X-Men in contrast might do that but they also have the idea of adolescence and prejudice to fall back on to give their stories substance. The F4 can do the same as an exploration of technology, weird sci-fi concepts, celebrity and above all else, family. Part of why the Avengers have this problem is because they were intentionally built from characters never designed to work together or in team environments. Neither were some of the X-Men but if you know Wolverine will be on your team then you know he’s fill a certain role and you can sort of tailor the other characters in response to that.

Most comic book event crossovers have the Avengers problem but magnified because now you got dozens of characters not designed to work with all these other characters.

That’s why having a simple hook for an event (like Carnage is going to try and kill everyone who’s worn a symbiote) works so well because it’s something that can easily be applied to any comic as a tie-in.

It’s also why stories like Annihilation or Absolute Carnage work more effectively because they aren’t crossing over everyone, but rather a subset. Annihilation used cosmic characters. Cosmic characters aren’t a monolithic group but there is a certain greater cohesion between all of them collectively as opposed to having Punisher, Doctor Strange, Super Skrull and Conan the Barbarian. The same is true of Absolute carnage which thus far is concerned with Spider-Man characters or street level characters.

Alternatively you can feature large groups of characters who do not really jive together but utilize them as secondary or tertiary characters whilst you instead focus upon a more select cast of figures, preferably with a clear cut central main character to make sure the story remains focussed whilst still having scale.

This is exactly what both Infinity Gauntlet and the film Infinity War did. Neither would have worked if the lead characters were the heroes trying to stop Thanos rather than Thanos himself trying to BE stopped by the heroes.

Finally if you are going to throw all these disparate characters together and make them the point of view focus, not only does having a simple story help a whole hell of a lot, but having an action story first and foremost sells it.

Let’s be real, that’s why the concept of the crossover is enticing. Seeing heroes fight together or one another is the box office draw and by simply making it a fight comic you side step clumsy attempts to have substance that will fall apart when you have literally dozens of characters to juggle who are all conceptually vastly different to one another.

This is the key to Secret Wars’ success. I know it sounds nuts to say having little substance worked in favour of a story, but in this case it really did. By having Doom be the main character and the events be beautifully drawn and paced out action set pieces (set outside the regular books so as not to disrupt them) the story worked like a charm. No fuss, no muss, pick it up enjoy characters hanging out, bouncing off of one another or cool battles and you are done.

It’s a whole heck of a lot better than promising to be about something substantial but falling flat as a pancake like civil War did.

#Absolute Carnage #Carnage #Thanos #Infinity War #Infinity Gauntlet #Secret Wars

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weirdsciencecomics · 5 years ago

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Here is the weekly release schedule for all the new releases of Marvel Comics appearing throughout the enchanting month of love, also known as February. This is brought to you by the fine folks at Weird Science Marvel Comics to help in your comic endeavors at your Local Shops for the month. So, let’s look and see what’s coming out each week!

ON SALE 02/05/20

ANT-MAN #1

BLACK CAT #9

CONAN: BATTLE FOR THE SERPENT CROWN #1

DAREDEVIL #17

DARK AGNES #1

DOCTOR DOOM #5

MAGNIFICENT MS. MARVEL #12

MARAUDERS #7

MARVEL’S AVENGERS: HULK #1

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #15

SAVAGE AVENGERS #0

SPIDER-MAN & VENOM: DOUBLE TROUBLE #4

SPIDER-VERSE #5

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER #1

STRIKEFORCE #6

SWORD MASTER #8

TRUE BELIEVERS: IRON MAN 2020 — PEPPER POTTS #1

X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #1

YONDU #5

ON SALE 02/12/20

AERO #8

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #39

BLACK PANTHER AND THE AGENTS OF WAKANDA #6

DOCTOR STRANGE #3

EXCALIBUR #7

GWEN STACY #1

HAWKEYE: FREEFALL #3

IMMORTAL HULK #31

IRON MAN 2020 #2

JESSICA JONES: BLIND SPOT #3

MARVEL TALES: WOLVERINE #1

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: THE BLACK CAT STRIKES #2

MARVELS X #2

MORBIUS #4

NEBULA #1

NEW MUTANTS #7

SAVAGE AVENGERS #10

SPIRITS OF GHOST RIDER: MOTHER OF DEMONS #1

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF KYLO REN #3

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: ALIEN REALITY #3

THOR #3

TRUE BELIEVERS: IRON MAN 2020 — ALBERT & ELSIE-DEE #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: IRON MAN 2020 — ARNO STARK #1

VENOM #23

WOLVERINE CLAREMONT & MILLER #1 FACSIMILE EDITION

X-FORCE #7

ON SALE 02/19/20

2020 MACHINE MAN #1

AMAZING MARY JANE #5

ATLANTIS ATTACKS #2

AVENGERS #31

CAPTAIN AMERICA #19

CAPTAIN MARVEL #15

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #13

DAREDEVIL #18

DEADPOOL #4

FANTASTIC FOUR #19

GHOST-SPIDER #7

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #2

MARAUDERS #8

MARVEL’S BLACK WIDOW PRELUDE #2

MARVEL’S VOICES #1

REVENGE OF THE COSMIC GHOST RIDER #3

RUNAWAYS #30

TRUE BELIEVERS: IRON MAN 2020 — JOCASTA #1

VALKYRIE: JANE FOSTER #8

WOLVERINE #1

X-MEN #7

ON SALE 02/26/20

2020 FORCE WORKS #1

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #40

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: THE DAILY BUGLE #2

ANT-MAN #2

AVENGERS OF THE WASTELANDS #2

BLACK PANTHER #21

FALCON & WINTER SOLDIER #1

FANTASTIC FOUR: GRIMM NOIR #1

GHOST RIDER #5

GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: JEAN GREY AND EMMA FROST #1

JESSICA JONES: BLIND SPOT #4

NEW MUTANTS #8

PUNISHER: SOVIET #4 (MAX)

RAVENCROFT #2

SCREAM: CURSE OF CARNAGE #4

SPIDER-HAM #3

STAR #2

STAR WARS #3

TAROT #3

TRUE BELIEVERS: IRON MAN 2020 — WAR MACHINE #1

WOLVERINE: CLAREMONT & BUSCEMA #1 FACSIMILE EDITION

X-FORCE #8

X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #2

Check out our other Reviews HERE

Check out our other Previews HERE

Marvel Comics February 2020 Weekly Releases Here is the weekly release schedule for all the new releases of Marvel Comics appearing throughout the enchanting month of love, also known as February.

#comic book previews #comics #marvel #marvel comic previews #marvel comics #marvel comics previews #Marvel Previews #Preview #Previews

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fantomcomics · 6 years ago

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What’s Out This Week? 5/1

Free Comic Book Day is THIS SATURDAY! We’ll see you there, right?

Savage Avengers #1 - Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato

The most savage, most unkillable team of characters in the Marvel Universe is assembled! Wolverine! Venom! Elektra! Punisher! And in their midst - Conan the Barbarian! Conan has returned to the Marvel Universe and his new adventures begin here. What is the City of Sickles? Who is the Marrow God? How is the Hand involved? The roughest and most dangerous characters rumble through this new title starting with...Conan vs. Wolverine? 'Nuff said.

Year Of The Villain #1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Jim Cheung & Various

Evil is winning! Lex Luthor and The Legion of Doom conspire with Cosmic Gods, bending mankind toward a dark destiny. Elsewhere, the scourge of Leviathan spreads unchecked, seizing power in every corner of the world. And all the while the Batman Who Laughs busies himself in the shadows, aligned with no one-yet with sinister plans for all. The carnage starts here as the bad guys take center stage in "The Year of the Villain," the most treacherous event in DC Comics history. Some act with united goals, others with plans selfish and secret, every one of them on a monstrous collision course against Batman, Superman and the heroes of the DC Universe. And our heroes will fail us.

Nobody Is In Control #1 (of 4) - Patrick Kindlon and Paul Tucker

When Richard sees a man run through his yard, he follows him out of concern. This deep in the woods, he must be lost... must be in trouble. Bust soon it's Richard in peril, as this stranger drags him into a deep, twisted web of conspiracy going back hundreds of years.

Descendent #1 - Stephanie Phillips and Evgeny Bornyakov

WANTED: Information as to the whereabouts of JACKSON E. MILLER, Son of Senator Carter Miller. The child was kidnapped from his home in Washington, DC between 4 and 6 a.m. on Tuesday, March 1, 2018. Address all communications to FBI representative Joanna Hernandez, writer Stephanie Phillips (Devil Within, Kicking Ice), artist Evgeny Bornyakov, colorist TBD, or letterer Troy Peteri. All communications will be treated in confidence. Please, no more calls about secret government conspiracies or ancient cults. Conspiracy theories, government corruption, and a really good mix of Prince drives David Corey to help solve the mysterious disappearance of a famous politician's son. When David realizes that the truth is much more dangerous than a kidnapping, he must battle ancient secrets that have endangered the lives of children for centuries. This conspiracy-fueled adventure story looks at the darker side of American history through the eyes of an unlikely team of heroes. If they fail, the American government and its people may not survive.

DCeased #1 - Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine & Various

"I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was Death, and Hades was following close behind him."-Revelation 6:8 A mysterious techno-virus has been released on Earth, infecting 600 million people and turning them instantly into violent, monstrous engines of destruction. The heroes of the DCU are caught completely unprepared for a pandemic of this magnitude and struggle to save their loved ones first...but what happens to the World's Greatest Heroes if the world ends?

#DCeased #Descendent #Nobody Is In Control #Year Of The Villain #Savage Avengers #comic #comics #comic book #comic books #WOTW #What's Out This Week?

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eddycurrents · 5 years ago

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For the week of 24 June 2019

Quick Bits:

Action Comics #1012 keeps a number of plates spinning with the Invisible Mafia, Leviathan, and tying in events in Superman, while bringing back a character who we’ve not seen for some time in the DCU. Some great layouts and art from Szymon Kudranski and Brad Anderson.

| Published by DC Comics

Age of X-Man: X-Tremists #5 is the explosive conclusion to this mini from Leah Williams, Georges Jeanty, Roberto Poggi, Jim Charalampidis, and Clayton Cowles. We get Jubilee’s perspective on the end, as they all collectively remember what came before, what was taken from them, and the nightmare that they’ve been placed in and forced to participate. Damn good stuff.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #24 is a lot of Peter avoiding dealing with things in a rational adult manner and some weird stuff with Mysterio and the new villain who has been haunting the series for a while. My guess is that it’s Ned Leeds, but his true identity is still hidden for the moment. Pretty good for a buffer issue.

| Published by Marvel

Angel #2 is another entertaining issue from Bryan Edward Hill, Gleb Melnikov, Gabriel Cassata, and Ed Dukeshire. There’s another nice split as we see a bit of Angel’s past as he reforges a slayer as his “axe” and then a dive into the current evil plaguing the kids in social media. Wonderful reveal of Lilith’s “true form” as well, great design by Melnikov.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Ascender #3 is harrowing and breathtaking. While Andy and Mila try to run in the present, we get more information on what happened with them and Effie in the time between Descender and now. Gorgeous, stunning artwork from Dustin Nguyen.

| Published by Image

Bad Luck Chuck #4 concludes what has been a fun, but weird, series from Lela Gwenn, Matthew Dow Smith, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Frank Cvetkovic. And it ends with a pretty epic battle between cops and nuns.

| Published by Dark Horse

Black Panther #13 begins the next arc of “Two Thousand Suns” and T’Challa’s attempts to contact anyone back on Earth. Daniel Acuña returns to provide the art and it is beautiful. The effects as T’Challa attempts to calculate a communication path to Earth with the various planets and such are amazing.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics #1006 begins a new arc guest-starring the Spectre, with art from Kyle Hotz and David Baron. The Corrigan/Spectre joining sure works different than it used to. Interesting mystery with the Spectre cult and great art.

| Published by DC Comics

Ghost Tree #3 takes a few nice moments of quiet introspection and reflection from Brandt and Arami, as well as exploring more of Brandt’s grandparents life, before ramping up the tension with the demon. Beautiful artwork from Simon Gane, Ian Herring, and Becka Kinzie.

| Published by IDW

Justice League Dark #12 has huge ramifications as “Lords of Order” rages on. Stunning artwork from Alvaro Martínez Bueno, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson. Also Tynion gives us a fascinating rumination on magic between Batman and Wonder Woman.

| Published by DC Comics

Killer Groove #2 continues this excellent crime drama. The little pieces of interaction and tiny character stories throughout this issue are wonderful. Ollie Masters’ approach to the narrative reminds me a lot of Robert Altman.

| Published by AfterShock

Road of Bones #2 leans hard into the brutal survival aspect of travelling across Russia in winter, without much idea or sense of where you’re going. Wonderful art from Alex Cormack.

| Published by IDW

The Silencer #18 concludes this series with a kind of stock-taking story from Dan Abnett, V. Ken Marion, Sandu Florea, Mike Spicer, and Tom Napolitano. There’s some bits about the reconciliation between Blake and Honor, but a large portion of this is Honor trying to find out information on what’s happening with Leviathan.

| Published by DC Comics

Stranger Things: Six #2 continues to flesh out the time before the first season at Hawkins Labs as we continue to follow Francine through her past and experiences there. There’s a wonderful feeling of dread with the glimpses of the Upside Down.

| Published by Dark Horse

Thor #14 builds on events in War of the Realms #6 with a story that is concurrent with what happens in that book diving into the younger Thor’s perspective. Great art from Scott Hepburn and Matthew Wilson.

| Published by Marvel

Transformers/Ghostbusters #1 is a great debut from Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Tom B. Long beautifully integrating the two properties here. Cybertron as destroyed by Gozer is just wonderful, and there’s a nice bit of humour that fits well with Burnham and Schoening’s other Ghostbusters work.

| Published by IDW

War of the Realms #6 is the conclusion to this event with Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson, and Joe Sabino giving us a “storm of Thors”. It’s fairly epic as Thor and Malekith meet in the final confrontation, capping off one of the longest narrative arcs in Marvel that began back in Thor: God of Thunder #1 years ago. There’s more to come, but this is a very satisfying end.

| Published by Marvel

The Weatherman #1 is a welcome return for the second volume of this series from Jody LeHeup, Nathan Fox, Moreno Dinisio, and Steve Wands. The story shifts as the team search for the clue to unlocking Bright’s memories on the one place we thought previously was all dead...Earth. Great stuff.

| Published by Image

Wolverine: Exit Wounds #1 is another of Marvel’s 80th Anniversary one-shots, this one presenting three stories from some of the luminary creators that have worked on Wolverine before. The standout for me is the Wolverine/Venom story from Sam Kieth and Ronda Pattison. It’s a simple Vs. story, but the artwork is gorgeous. Larry Hama, Scot Eaton, Sean Parsons, and Matt Milla & Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca, and Val Staples provide the other two stories giving a glimpse into other stages in Logan’s past. Joe Sabino provides letters for all three stories and it’s nice to see how he adapts for the tone and style of each tale.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Woman #73 is a fill-in from Steve Orlando, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau giving us a story of Diana’s past in an alternate reality. It’s a decent tale on its own, giving a hint at something important for the ongoing story.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Avengers #20, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #5, The Beauty #27, Bone Parish #10, Books of Magic #9, Canto #1, Conan the Barbarian #7, The Crow/Hack/Slash #1, Dark Red #4, Deadly Class #39, Diabolical Summer, Dial H for Hero #4, Dick Tracy Forever #3, Doctor Strange #15, Eve Stranger #2, Fantastic Four #11, Fight Club 3 #6, The Flash #73, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #8, GLOW #3, The Goon #3, Head Lopper #12, High Level #5, Invader Zim #44, Isola #8, Kick-Ass #15, KISS: The End #3, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #4, Major X #5, Marilyn Manor #1, Martian Manhunter #6, Marvel Comics Presents #6, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #40, Mr. & Mrs. X #12, Punk Mambo #3, Punks Not Dead: London Calling #5, Redneck #21, Rick & Morty #51, Runaways #22, Spawn #298, Spider-Man Annual #1, Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Darth Vader #1, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #3, Steel Cage #1, Stone Star #4, Summit #15, Superior Spider-Man #8, Teen Titans: Raven, Thanos #3, Thief of Thieves #43, War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #4, War of the Realms: The Punisher #3, War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #3, X-Men: Grand Design - X-Tinction #2

Recommended Collections: Breakneck, Coda - Volume 2, Fearscape - Volume 1, Hardcore - Volume 1, HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness - Volume 1, Interceptor - Volume 1, Joe Golem: Occult Detective - Volume 3: The Drowning City, Man of Steel, Old Lady Harley, Outcast - Book 3, Relay - Volume 1, Shock - Volume 2, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - Volume 5: Worst Among Equals, Starjammers, Tony Stark: Iron Man - Volume 2: Stark Realities, Usagi Yojimbo - Volume 33: The Hidden, Wasted Space - Volume 1, West Coast Avengers - Volume 2: City of Evils

d. emerson eddy enjoys frozen cheesecake bites.

#This Week in Comics

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ramajmedia · 5 years ago

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Wolverine Just Delivered His Most Memorable Kill EVER

Warning: SPOILERS for Savage Avengers #5

The Wolverine has delivered some incredible attacks, unforgettable fights, and unparalleled kills... but his latest mission has ended in what can only be described as a Marvel fan's most gruesome dream come true. Forget Mutants or monsters: Wolverine just slayed an honest to goodness GOD. With some help from his Savage Avengers, of course.

If any X-Men fans missed Logan's recruitment onto the deadliest Avengers team in history, now is the time to get reading. Because no fan of Wolverine should miss out on this. This thing of brutal beauty, arriving in the latest issue of Savage Avengers #5. The story to this point has seen Conan the Barbarian join the Marvel Universe, along with his sorcerer nemesis Kulan Gath. But to foil the magician's latest scheme of conjuring a world-ending demonic God, Conan needs the help of Wolverine, the Venom symbiote, the Punisher, Elektra, Brother Voodoo, and a centuries-old symbiote sword.

RELATED: Wolverine Finally Meets His Secret Daughter, SPOILER

If that sounds like an incredible battle waiting to happen, don't worry: the gigantic Marrow God is successfully brought into the world, giving the heroes a chance to kill it in unforgettable fashion. Writer Gerry Duggan and artist Mike Deodato, Jr. enjoy every single panel of this outrageous battle, making the earlier scene of Wolverine bleeding his healing factor into Voodoo's chest cavity seem positively tame by comparison. Especially once Wolverine gets his chance to battle an otherworldly Marrow God his own size. Or at least, lowered to it.

We'll spare readers the details and simply say that Kulan Gath is not playing around, conjuring a demonic centaur the size of a building and growing fast--otherwise known as The Marrow God, consumer of entire planets' worth of sentient beings. To prevent this deity from destroying all of Earth, these so-called Savage Avengers need to come up with a plan true to their name. Or, failing that, hit the thing hard enough to knock it over and onto the ground so its throat winds up at perfect slashing height. At least, that's 'Plan A.'

Proving just how spontaneous and improvisational a problem solver he can truly be, Wolverine quickly realizes that the hide of a Marrow God is too enchanted to fully succumb to the slashes of adamantium claws. But remembering what he learned in school--that even mystical demonic centaur gods need a brain to do anything else--Logan resorts to his back-up plan, consisting of plunging both of his claws into The Marrow God's head. Unfortunately, the bone of a building-sized god is even thicker, lodging Logan's claws in the creature's skull. And that is the EXACT reason to have some bloodthirsty teammates by your side at all times.

Just to avoid confusion, fans shouldn't mistake the symbiote sword/hammer being wielded by Conan the Barbarian as the same one from Marvel's aforementioned War of The Realms. That weapon was formed when the Venom symbiote was claimed by Malekith--while Conan's symbiote-powered arm is actually a friendly companion. Who is perfectly matched with the mighty warrior.

As part of Kulan Gath's summoning ritual (to which all these Savage Avengers were first drawn), the spells demanded the an alien symbiote--this sad specimen seen above, after being trapped in a small jar for a century at least. So when these Avengers smashed it free in their battle with Kulan Gath's forces, and Conan the Barbarian was fatally impaled... the symbiote saw its chance to pay back the debt. Merging with Conan, it stopped the bleeding before being subconsciously drawn to his right arm, and the sword he clutched.

After some early confusion (Conan believed this black symbiote to be some treacherous genie) the pair came to an understanding. A complex symbiosis whose nuance can be witnessed perfectly when Wolverine calls for assistance: sensing Logan needs help killing The Marrow God, the symbiote expresses its wish to "SLAY." A desire Conan the Barbarian is all too eager to satisfy, jumping to Wolverine's aid. And finally, we arrive at the moment in this story which could only be referred to as breathtaking in its brutality, in the best way possible.

Having driven his adamantium claws into the skull of a world-ending dark God and met resistance from the foul beast's skull, Wolverine is assisted by Conan the Barbarian and his symbiote hammer, striking Logan's elbow to hammer his arm through the bone and into brain matter like a hammer driving a nail. Never one to miss out, and likely sensing this nightmare is only a clawed fist away from ending, the Savage Venom symbiote follows suit. Forming its mass into a hammer of its own, Venom delivers blows to Wolverine's other elbow in tandem, driving the three blades (six total) through The Marrow God's skull.

Ordinarily such an incredible feat would lead to a somewhat anticlimactic victory, as logic would dictate the massive demonic being simply cease fighting and die (assuming demonic gods have brains that work the same way as any flesh and blood creature). But this being the Savage Avengers, the result is far more... explosive. The trio of Conan, Venom, and their improvised awl Wolverine are sent hurtling clear of the corpse. And while it isn't said explicitly on the page, it's obviously The Marrow God's own way of celebrating, having earned himself a place in Marvel Comics history--as a necessary part of the most gory, gruesome, and satisfying team kill Wolverine will ever be a part of. Fastball Special? Please.

Even if Kukan Gath suggests their victory was all part of his actual plan, it doesn't make the issue or those preceding it any less enjoyable. Convinced you need to add Savage Avengers to your comic book pull list? Check out the full solicitation details and plot synopsis below:

SAVAGE AVENGERS #6 (2019)

Written by: Gerry Duggan

Art by: Mike Deodato, Jr.

Cover by: David Finch

The Marrow God has eaten the sentient population of entire planets, but he never had to dance with the Savage Avengers. Kulan Gath is on the verge of defeat...or is that what he wanted the entire time? A Pyrrhic victory lights a fuse that will only burn more of the Marvel Universe. Plus, the Punisher is curious about Crom...

Savage Avengers #5 is available now from your local comic book shop, or direct from Marvel Comics.

MORE: Wolverine Learns His TRUE Creator is... Captain America?

source https://screenrant.com/wolverine-best-kill-savage-avengers-comic/

#screenrant

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aion-rsa · 5 years ago

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The Many Different Versions of the X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga

http://bit.ly/2WDULrd

X-Men: Dark Phoenix isn't even the first time they've tried to do this story in the movies, so imagine how many other versions there are!

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There are a lot of beloved and classic X-Men stories throughout the years and I’d say that the three biggest (not best, but most prominent) are Days of Future Past, Age of Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix Saga. And while Giant-Sized X-Men #1 is arguably the most important tale, it’s not the one that everyone keeps going back to the well for as much as these three giants.

The last three major X-Men movies have been trying to fit around that in a way. X-Men: Days of Future Past allowed them to retell the classic story while mixing the casts of both eras. Age of Apocalypse wasn’t going to be viable so soon after doing a time-travel/reality-altering movie, but they were at least able to finally introduce said villain. Then there’s Dark Phoenix, which is such an odd choice because they already did it just over a decade ago with the generally reviled X-Men: The Last Stand.

X-Men’s true epic gets a lot of play and for good reason. Here’s a look at the original story and the many attempts to adapt it, for better or worse.

THE ORIGINAL DARK PHOENIX SAGA

Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s groundbreaking and lengthy run on Uncanny X-Men hit a big high in 1980 with the original Dark Phoenix Saga. The meat of it takes place in X-Men #129-138, but it’s a follow-up to a story where Jean Grey sacrificed herself during a space mission in order to bring everyone home. Empowered with kickass flame powers, she returned from the dead as Phoenix.

Meanwhile, at the Hellfire Club – the kinky evil mutant clubhouse – OG X-Men villain Mastermind decided to help out his standing in the team by manipulating Phoenix into joining their ranks at his side. He gradually messed with her head and turned her into the Black Queen, where the proper girl-next-door member of the X-Men was transformed into a black lingerie-wearing villainess who was constantly standing in dramatic poses.

Seriously, 95% of her appearances as Black Queen have her standing with like a foot of distance between her knees. Cosmic entity or not, it can’t be comfortable.

The X-Men fought the Hellfire Club and got their asses handed to them. While this story was the first appearances of Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, and Dazzler, it’s also remembered for the first appearance of Wolverine going from the team’s resident grouch to, “OH MY GOD HE JUST CARVED OUT THAT DUDE’S ENTRAILS!” Thanks to Cyclops being wounded, Jean freaked out and turned the tide.

read more: X-Men Movies Watch Order

Jean returns in Last Stand, where she proceeds to accidentally disintegrate Cyclops for the crime of his actor sneaking off to be in a Superman movie. It comes to light that “Phoenix” is a dark personality that Xavier walled off in Jean’s psyche years earlier and the movie doesn’t really do much to do anything but vindicate Xavier’s actions. Even Magneto goes, “No mutant should be able to hold back at all and they should all be as dangerous as possible! ...oh, wait. Scratch that.”

Jean vaporizes Xavier (he gets better) and a ton of army dudes (they probably don’t). It takes a determined and constantly-healing Wolverine to weather her onslaught and stab her to death. An emotional death where the only remaining character she has a meaningful connection with has to do the unthinkable and take her out.

Probably would have hit harder if it wasn’t competing with other plots, but there are worse story arcs.

X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX

After the initial trilogy, the Fox X-Men movies went on this insane trek where they would do prequels and time travel reboots in order to explain or fix continuity, only to make things worse. Sophie Turner is introduced as a younger version of Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse and does very little compared to the rest of the cast. She mainly unleashes her true power in the climax to destroy Apocalypse, where she lets loose with a big, fiery bird explosion. The story being told here is that, again, an act of desperation leads to Jean breaking her limits and creates a threat that the X-Men will have to face down the line.

Then X-Men: Dark Phoenix pretty much ignores all that. Nine years pass, Jean and the rest of the cast don’t age, and her path towards destruction is more brought on by a space rescue mission where a “solar flare” ends up absorbing into her body. Outside of Cyclops, everyone just takes this in stride. These guys witness this harrowing, monumental moment and treat Jean like she’s come down with a slight case of the hiccups. Then they let her get drunk minutes later. Come on, now.

read more - X-Men: Dark Phoenix Ending Explained

The movie tries to have its cake and eat it too by bringing up Xavier’s mental blocking from years earlier, but also shoehorning aliens and saying that Jean is absolutely possessed by a cosmic force of pure destruction. Even though she kills some cops, kills Mystique, and makes everyone forget that Quicksilver is in the movie, Jean goes on to conquer the Phoenix Force thanks to the power of love and hope. Then she goes Iron Giant and blows up in space, taking out the alien boss with her.

But she survives because of course she does. It’ll never be mentioned again. Thank you, Disney.

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and remembers how the comic adaptation of X-Men: The Animated Series ended with the universe exploding and reality restarting into Marvel 616. Read more of his articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

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The Lists

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Gavin Jasper

Jun 13, 2019

Marvel

X-Men

Dark Phoenix

from Books http://bit.ly/2XdpUG4

#aion-rsa #Books

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gokinjeespot · 6 years ago

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off the rack #1260

Monday, May 6, 2019

I don't tweet or instagram but I am on facebook. I joined a facebook group 613fishing where fellow fisher folks post stuff. Fishing season in zone 20 on the Saint Lawrence river opened on Saturday and the pictures of peoples' successes got me excited for zone 18, where my lake is, to be open this coming Saturday. I can hardly wait.

Domino: Hotshots #1 - Gail Simone (writer) David Baldeon & Michael Shelfer (art) Jim Charalampidis (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Cold War part 3. Just when you think the team can't win against some giant robots a surprise twist helps out. The search for the Creation Constellation continues.

Savage Avengers #1 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Mike Deodato Jr. (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Now that the dearly departed light-hearted West Coast Avengers is gone off the racks I have room for a new Avengers book. So the rumour that Conan the barbarian was going to be in the Marvel U are true. His appearance in Avengers: No Road Home was a surprise and it leads to this story where Conan in stuck in the Savage Land. Makes sense, doesn't it? We meet 5 of the six members in this debut and with the Hand as villains the sixth member should show up soon. I like 4 out of the 6 so I'm going to see what happens next.

DCeased #1 - Tom Taylor (writer) Trevor Hairsine & Stefano Gaudiano (art pages 1-6, 15-26) James Harren (art pages 7-14) Rain Beredo (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). The cover blurb of this 6-issue mini says "the end of everything starts here". What, again? Darkseid's obsession with the anti-life equation sparks a world wide epidemic turning people into zombies. The Justice League is up against what the heroes of Winterfell were defending themselves from in the Game of Thrones. I don't think (spoiler alert) killing patient zero will win the day this time. I would normally give the rest of this story a pass because fighting zombies doesn't thrill me much but I do like what Tom Taylor has written in the past so I'm going to keep reading to see what interesting things might be in the future.

War of the Realms: Strikeforce, the Dark Elf Realm #1 - Bryan Hill (writer) Leinil Francis Yu (pencils) Gerry Alanguilan (inks) Matt Hollingsworth (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). One of the things that the good guys need to do is to destroy the Black Bifrost that Malekith is using to win the War of the Realms. Lady Freyja assembles a team to do that. This one-shot shows us how she recruits Blade, Ghost Rider, She-Hulk and the Punisher. I liked how this issue ended with the team nearing the end of their mission.

Year of the Villain #1 - The cover blurb of this 25 cent one-shot says "the most dangerous summer event starts here". You can pick your poison, it's either this or DCeased. I'm having a déjà vu moment as I remember that DC did a big villains event a few years ago. That one involved Lex Luthor and this one does too. There are two new villains this time around to make things different. We've got the Batman Who Laughs and Leviathan to boost interest. You sure get your money's worth with three chapters in this comic book.

Chapter one is called "Doom" by Scott Snyder (writer) Jim Cheung (pencils & inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) & Tom Napolitano (letters). Lex Luthor and his Legion of Doom kick things off.

Chapter two is called "Leviathan" by Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Alex Maleev (art) & Josh Reed (letters). Batgirl features prominently and she meets Leviathan who makes her an offer.

Chapter three is called "Justice" by James Tynion IV (writer) Francis Manapul (art) & Tom Napolitano (letters). The Justice League must gather every hero in the Multiverse to fight against the Batman Who Laughs and Perpetua, DC's new Dark Goddess.

As you can see, they've got some big time creative teams telling this story so it should be entertaining. I think I'll hang around for a while.

War of the Realms #3 - Jason Aaron (writer) Russell Dauterman (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Well geez, if it was that easy to get the Rainbow Bridge going again why didn't they do it sooner? The war is happening on many fronts here. The War Avengers are still defending Midgard. Lady Freyja sends Captain America to Jotunheim, Realm of the Frost Giants, to find Thor. Cap's got Power Man, Iron Fist, Spider-Man and Wolverine with him. We get to see what we missed in War of the Realms: Strikeforce, the Dark Elf Realm #1 as Lady Freyja and her team battle towards the Black Bifrost and find out why their mission changed. When Thor is finally found it doesn't look like he's in any condition to help his friends. I am in awe of the art in this series so far.

Batman #70 - Tom King (writer) Mikel Janin & Jorge Fornes (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). The Fall and the Fallen part 1. Now that Batman has awakened from his Knightmares it's time to confront Bane. But first he goes home for a nap. I found it hard to slog through all those Knightmares. I'm so glad we're back to reality. There's a bonus 6-page sneak peek at "Batman: Last Knight on Earth" that looks very promising. The creative team of Scott Snyder (writer) Greg Capullo (pencils) Jonathan Glapion (inks) FCO (colours) & Tom Napolitano (letters) certainly makes the first issue a must read.

The Amazing Spider-Man #20.HU - Nick Spencer (writer) Cory Smith (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This Hunted supplement features Adrian Toomes/Vulture and tells us how Arcade helps him rally the super villains. I wouldn't trust Arcade as far as I can throw him. Then there's the back-up story by Nick Spencer (writer) Tyler Crook (art) Jim Campbell (colours) & VC's Joe Caramagna (letters) that features the pathetic Vermin. It will explain why there's a pack of rats in the next issue.

Young Justice #5 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) John Timms, Kris Anka & Evan "Doc" Shaner (art) Gabe Eltaeb (colours) Wes Abbott (letters). This may be part 5 of "Seven Crises" but if you can't find the first four issues because they're sold out you can catch up quite easily once you read the first page. I appreciate when writers do a recap. It jogs my memory and helps me keep track of stories. One of my biggest turn offs is feeling confused when I'm reading a comic book. I need to be reminded that this title is in an alternate reality where Tim Drake is Robin.

Marvel Action Spider-Man #3 - Delilah S. Dawson (writer) Fico Ossio (art) Ronda Pattison (colours) Shawn Lee (letters). The three Spideys fight the Lizard and do some genetic engineering to save the city. These kids are unbelievably smart. That's what's so great about comic books. Anything is possible.

Marvel Team-Up #2 - Eve L. Ewing (writer) Joey Vazquez (art) Felipe Sobreiro (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). This story where Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man swap bodies is a lot of fun but it made my head hurt when they switched back and forth a couple of times. Kamala talking as Peter and vice versa freaked me out. Thank Thor for word balloon tails.

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the-gershomite · 1 year ago

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What If...Wolverine Battled Conan the Barbarian

Volume 2 #16 -August 1990

Cover art by Gary Kwapisz

written by Glenn Herdling

colors by Daniel Vozzo

pencil art by Gary Kwapisz

inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey

lettered by Janice Chiang

#marvel comics #comic cover #what if #what if wolverine battled conan the barbarian #wolverine #conan the barbarian #Gary Kwapisz #Daniel Vozzo #Ian Akin #Brian Garvey

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the-gershomite · 1 year ago

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What If...Wolverine Battled Conan the Barbarian

Volume 2 #16 -August 1990

"What if Wolverine Had Lived During the Age of Conan the Barbarian?" (22-28 of 28)

written by Glenn Herdling

colors by Daniel Vozzo

pencil art by Gary Kwapisz

inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey

lettered by Janice Chiang

#marvel comics #comics #what if #what if wolverine battled conan the barbarian #conan the barbarian #wolverine #red sonja #glenn herdling #daniel vozzo #gary kwapisz #ian akin #brian garvey #janice chiang

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the-gershomite · 1 year ago

Text

What If...Wolverine Battled Conan the Barbarian

Volume 2 #16 -August 1990

"What if Wolverine Had Lived During the Age of Conan the Barbarian?" (12-22 of 28)

written by Glenn Herdling

colors by Daniel Vozzo

pencil art by Gary Kwapisz

inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey

lettered by Janice Chiang

#marvel comics #comics #what if #what if wolverine battled conan the barbarian #conan the barbarian #wolverine #glenn herdling #daniel vozzo #gary kwapisz #ian akin #brian garvey #janice chiang

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the-gershomite · 1 year ago

Text

What If...Wolverine Battled Conan the Barbarian

Volume 2 #16 -August 1990

"What if Wolverine Had Lived During the Age of Conan the Barbarian?" (1-11 of 28)

written by Glenn Herdling

colors by Daniel Vozzo

pencil art by Gary Kwapisz

inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey

lettered by Janice Chiang

#marvel comics #comics #what if #what if wolverine battled conan the barbarian #wolverine #conan the barbarian #glenn herdling #gary kwapisz #daniel vozzo #ian akin #brian garvey #janice chiang

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weirdsciencecomics · 5 years ago

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Here is the weekly release schedule for all new releases of Marvel Comics appearing throughout the month of jokes, tricks, and magically large rodents with floppy ears, which is otherwise known as April. Now, with the outbreak of COVID-19, we have no idea if these issues will still be released or if they will be released “digitally only” instead. As of right now, everything is still in the air. So, this is the original release scheduled. As soon as I find out what’s happening in more detail on the Marvel side of things, I will let you know. Either way, here is a list for you to order from your shops. Call in, email, DM your store and tell them what you’d like now. It’s a way to show them some love and support during this difficult time. All of this is brought to you by your AMAZING friends at Weird Science Marvel Comics. Let’s take a look and see what’s “coming” out each week!

ON SALE 04/01/20

EMPYRE #0: AVENGERS

EMPYRE #0: FANTASTIC FOUR

ANT-MAN #4

AVENGERS OF THE WASTELANDS #4

BLACK CAT #11

BLACK PANTHER AND THE AGENTS OF WAKANDA #8

BLACK WIDOW #1

DAREDEVIL #20

DOCTOR DOOM #7

DR. STRANGE #5

EMPYRE HANDBOOK #1

EXCALIBUR #10

MAGNIFICENT MS. MARVEL #14

MARAUDERS #10

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #17

SPIDER-MAN NOIR #2

STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #1

STRANGE ACADEMY #2

STRIKEFORCE #8

SWORD MASTER #10

TASKMASTER #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW – RED GUARDIAN #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: INTRODUCING THE BLACK WIDOW #1

X-MEN: GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS EXTENDED EDITION #1

ON SALE 04/08/20

2020 RESCUE #2

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #43

AVENGERS #33

CAPTAIN AMERICA: MARVELS SNAPSHOT #1

CHAMPIONS #1

CONAN: BATTLE FOR THE SERPENT CROWN #3

GHOST RIDER #7

IMMORTAL HULK #34

IRON MAN 2020 #4

MARVELS X #4

NEBULA #3

NEW MUTANTS #10

POWER PACK #1

RUNAWAYS #32

SPIDER-HAM #5

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS #3

THE PUNISHER VS. BARRACUDA #1

THOR #5

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW & DAREDEVIL #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW & THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1

VENOM #25

X-FORCE #10

ON SALE 04/15/20

CABLE #2

CAPTAIN AMERICA #21

CAPTAIN MARVEL #17

CHILDREN OF THE ATOM #1

DARK AGNES #3

DEADPOOL #6

EMPYRE #1

GHOST-SPIDER #9

GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: NIGHTCRAWLER #1

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #4

GWEN STACY #3

HAWKEYE: FREEFALL #5

HOW TO READ COMICS THE MARVEL WAY #1

MARVEL FANFARE #10 FACSIMILE EDITION

MARVEL TALES: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL ZOMBIES #1

MORBIUS #6

NEW WARRIORS #1

REVENGE OF THE COSMIC GHOST RIDER #5

SAVAGE AVENGERS #12

SPIDER-WOMAN #2

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER #3

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: ALIEN REALITY #5

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW – AMAZING ADVENTURES #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW – DARKSTAR #1

ON SALE 04/22/20

2020 FORCE WORKS #3

AERO #10

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #44

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: THE DAILY BUGLE #4

BLACK PANTHER #23

BLACK WIDOW: WIDOW’S STING #1

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #15

FALCON & WINTER SOLDIER #3

FANTASTIC FOUR #21

HELLIONS #2

LORDS OF EMPYRE: EMPEROR HULKLING #1

MARVEL #2

RAVENCROFT #4

SCREAM: CURSE OF CARNAGE #6

STAR #4

STAR WARS #5

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW – TASKMASTER #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW & THE AVENGERS #1

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #1

X-FACTOR #1

ON SALE 04/29/20

2020 IRONHEART #1

AMAZING MARY JANE #7

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: SINS RISING PRELUDE #1

ATLANTIS ATTACKS #4

EMPYRE #2

EMPYRE: AVENGERS #1

EMPYRE: SPIDER-MAN #1

IMMORTAL HULK: THE THRESHING PLACE #1

MARVEL ZOMBIES: RESURRECTION #1

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: THE BLACK CAT STRIKES #4

STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #2

STAR WARS: THE ACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVERS #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW – YELENA BELOVA #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW & THE THING #1

VALKYRIE: JANE FOSTER #10

WEB OF VENOM: WRAITH #1

WIDOWMAKERS: RED GUARDIAN AND YELENA BELOVA #1

WOLVERINE #3

X-MEN #10

X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4

X-MEN: MARVELS SNAPSHOT #1

If shops are continued to be closed AND new comics aren’t produced this month, why not buy a trade? Click HERE for links to Top Amazon Graphic Novels/ Trades.

If you’re interested in catching up on the X-MEN, click HERE for a link to the article of every big X-event since 1976 with a brief description and where to find it!

Check out our other Reviews HERE

Check out our other Previews HERE

Marvel Comics April 2020 Weekly Release Schedule Here is the weekly release schedule for all new releases of Marvel Comics appearing throughout the month of jokes, tricks, and magically large rodents with floppy ears, which is otherwise known as April.

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weirdsciencecomics · 5 years ago

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#gallery-0-21 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-21 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-21 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-21 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Here is the weekly release schedule for all new releases of Marvel Comics appearing throughout the month of luck, laughs, and green beer, which is otherwise known as March. All of this is brought to you by the your AMAZING friends at Weird Science Marvel Comics. Let’s take a look and see what’s coming out each week!

ON SALE 03/04/20

2020 RESCUE #1

BLACK CAT #10

BLACK PANTHER AND THE AGENTS OF WAKANDA #7

CONAN: BATTLE FOR THE SERPENT CROWN #2

DAREDEVIL #19

DARK AGNES #2

DOCTOR DOOM #6

DR. STRANGE #4

EXCALIBUR #8

IRON MAN 2020 #3

MAGNIFICENT MS. MARVEL #13

MARAUDERS #9

MARVEL #1

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #16

SAVAGE AVENGERS #11

SPIDER-MAN NOIR #1

SPIDER-VERSE #6

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS #1

STRANGE ACADEMY #1

STRIKEFORCE #7

SWORD MASTER #9

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE — MANTIS #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – MAR-VELL #1

X-MEN: GIANT-SIZE – MAGNETO #1

ON SALE 03/11/20

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #41

ANT-MAN #3

AVENGERS #32

AVENGERS OF THE WASTELANDS #3

CABLE #1

GHOST RIDER #6

GWEN STACY #2

HAWKEYE: FREEFALL #4

IMMORTAL HULK #32

JESSICA JONES: BLINDSPOT #5

MARVEL TALES: SILVER SURFER #1

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: THE BLACK CAT STRIKES #3

NEBULA #2

NEW MUTANTS #9

PUNISHER: SOVIET #5 (MAX)

SPIDER-HAM #4

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER #2

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF KYLO REN #4

SUB-MARINER: MARVELS SNAPSHOT #1

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: ALIEN REALITY #4

THOR #299 FACSIMILE EDITION

THOR #4

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – ANELLE #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – HULKLING #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – QUOI #1

VENOM #24

X-MEN #8

ON SALE 03/18/20

2020 IRON AGE #1

2020 MACHINE MAN #2

AERO #9

AMAZING MARY JANE #6

ATLANTIS ATTACKS #3

CAPTAIN AMERICA #20

CAPTAIN MARVEL #16

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #14

EXCALIBUR #9

FANTASTIC FOUR #20

GHOST-SPIDER #8

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #3

MARVEL’S AVENGERS: CAPTAIN AMERICA #1

MARVELS X #3

MORBIUS #5

OUTLAWED #1

RUNAWAYS #31

SPIDER-WOMAN #1

STAR WARS #4

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – GALACTUS #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – SWORDSMAN #1

VALKYRIE: JANE FOSTER #9

X-FORCE #9

ON SALE 03/25/20

2020 FORCE WORKS #2

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #42

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: THE DAILY BUGLE #3

BLACK PANTHER #22

DEADPOOL# 5

FALCON & WINTER SOLDIER #2

FANTASTIC FOUR: MARVELS SNAPSHOT #1

HELLIONS #1

IMMORTAL HULK #33

INCREDIBLE HULK #182 FACSIMILE EDITION

JESSICA JONES: BLINDSPOT #6

MARVEL’S AVENGERS: BLACK WIDOW #1

PUNISHER: SOVIET #6 (MAX)

RAVENCROFT #3

REVENGE OF THE COSMIC GHOST RIDER #4

ROAD TO EMPYRE: THE KREE/SKRULL WAR #1

SCREAM: CURSE OF CARNAGE #5

STAR #3

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS #2

TAROT #4

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – LYJA #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – SHE-HULK #1

TRUE BELIEVERS: EMPYRE – VISION #1

WOLVERINE #2

X-MEN #9

X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #3

Marvel Comics March 2020 Weekly Release Schedule Here is the weekly release schedule for all new releases of Marvel Comics appearing throughout the month of luck, laughs, and green beer, which is otherwise known as March.

#avengers #captain america #daredevil #guardians of the galaxy #Hulk #iron man #March 2020 Marvel Comic Solicits #marvel #marvel comic books #marvel comics #Preview #Previews #Ravencroft #spider-man #Spider-Woman #Thor #venom #x-men

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aion-rsa · 8 years ago

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Captain America’s Strangest Transformations

When you think about it, right from the very beginning of his first appearance, Captain America has been about transformation. Steve Rogers was a scrawny reject from the United States Army who instead volunteered to become the test subject for a Super Soldier Serum that literally transformed him from a weakling into a superhero.

RELATED: Superman’s Weirdest Transformations

With an origin like that, it is no surprise that writers have consistently re-visited the idea of transforming Captain America over the years, as you have a lot to work with via aging and de-aging the character and messing with the serum in his body. Of course, that does not explain all of Captain America’s transformations over the years. Some of them are so offbeat that you never could have predicted them. Note that we’re not getting into alternate timelines, like “What If…?” comics or “Marvel Zombies.” That would be too easy. Now altered timelines? That’s a whole other story. Here, then, are Captain America’s strangest transformations (in chronological order).

OLD LADY CAP

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby managed to wait for an entire two issues of “Captain America Comics” before having Captain America and Bucky disguise themselves as an old woman and her foppish grandson. It was part of a plan to travel into the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe to rescue a powerful American businessman, who was about to pledge millions to the British war coffers before he was kidnapped by Nazi agents.

Watching Granny Cap walk around Paris and noting that they could have stuck around and fixed the problems in France, had they not been too busy on their mission, was a weird sight to see; as was seeing Cap lounge around in his hotel in his dress. In the end, it turned out that the Nazis had replaced the financier with a doppelganger, who was going to pledge support for the Axis. Luckily, Cap and Bucky travel to Berlin to save the financier. Bucky even gets a chance to kick Adolf Hitler and Herman Goerring’s collective butt along the way.

RED SKULL CAP

For years, one of the biggest thorns in Captain America’s side has been the Cosmic Cube, the reality-altering object created by A.I.M. that has frequently been stolen by the Red Skull and used against the world in general and Captain America in particular. In “Captain America” #115 (by Stan Lee, John Buscema and Sal Buscema), the Red Skull used the cosmic cube to mess with Cap by switching their bodies, so that the Avengers and Sharon Carter both believed that the Skull was Cap and that Cap was the Skull. Cap had to evade both his teammates and the police to keep himself free to stop the Skull’s plans. Meanwhile, in Cap’s body, the Skull severed the recent partnership Steve had formed with Rick Jones (who had become the new Bucky).

The Red Skull then sent Cap (still in Skull’s body) to Exile Island, where the Skull’s former allies, the Exiles, lived. He had betrayed them in their last adventure, so he thought it would be hilarious to see his former friends get their revenge on him while actually killing Captain America! Luckily, Cap used some clay to fashion a brand-new face for himself (yup) and ended up befriending another man on the island, Sam Wilson, to help him take down the Skull. Wilson became Cap’s new partner, the Falcon, who helped get Cap back to his proper body.

WEAKLING CAP

“Captain America” #225 (by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito and John Tartaglione) is perhaps best known for the strange origin that Gerber gave Captain America in the issue. As Nick Fury subjected him to intensive hypno-therapy, Cap recalled his real origins, which included his older brother, who died in the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. This is what drove Steve Rogers to enlist in the Army and then volunteer to become a test subject once he was rejected from the service (this was later explained to be a false set of memories, primarily because Cap debuted before Pearl Harbor). The trauma from the experience, however, left Cap somehow reverted to his weakling status.

Gerber was off the book with this issue, so incoming writer Roger McKenzie quickly abandoned the storyline in the following issue and had Cap return to his normal state by the end of “Captain America” #226. It also turned out that the Nick Fury in the story wasn’t really Nick Fury, but all part of an overly-complex plot by the Red Skull against Captain America. The real Nick Fury had been transformed into the Red Skull in the hopes that Cap would kill the “Skull” while really killing his good friend, Nick.

OLD MAN CAP

John Marc DeMatteis’ classic run on “Captain America” came to a close in “Captain America” #300, although in a much different manner than he initially intended. Originally, he was going to have Cap become a pacifist after the issue and continue writing the adventures of this new take on Cap. Rogers would have ultimately been assassinated due to his new views and replaced by the Native-American hero, Black Crow, who DeMatteis had recently introduced into the title.

Alas, we never found out, as DeMatteis was replaced on the title and his final storyline re-written, with the Red Skull successfully poisoning Captain America and making him age rapidly. The Skull then seemingly killed Cap’s closest friends. This was all to make Cap so angry that he would kill the Skull, who was aging rapidly himself due to the effects of the suspended animation that kept the villain alive after World War II breaking down. The Skull wanted to be killed in battle by his oldest foe, but in the end, Cap wouldn’t do it (that part of DeMatteis’ story remained). The Skull then died in his arms. Cap, too, seemed ready to die, but then Black Crow showed up and cured Cap.

BARBARIAN CAP

In “Uncanny X-Men” #190-191, Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Dan Green put together one of those small little company-wide crossovers that you would often see in 1980s Marvel Comics, where the interconnected nature of the Marvel Universe would be used to great effect (like the Fantastic Four staying in Avengers Mansion or Thor being involved in the “Mutant Massacre”). In the story, the old Conan villain, Kulan Gath (who years earlier had accidentally transformed Mary Jane Watson into Red Sonja) transformed New York City with a powerful spell that threw everything in the city back to the era of Conan.

This included all of the superheroes within the city, including the Avengers. So, Captain America and the other Avengers were now, in effect, barbarian heroes without any memory of their past lives. However, whomever they were, personality-wise, before the spell, they remained. So, being that the Avengers were still heroes, Cap and his crew helped fight back and return things to normal. It was a lot of fun to see characters like Spider-Man and the Avengers given such a prominent focus in an “Uncanny X-Men” story.

TEENAGE CAP

In “Captain America” #355 (by Mark Gruenwald, Rich Buckler and Al Milgrom), Steve Rogers had only just begun to settle back into his life as Captain America (after getting the title back in “Captain America” #350) when he was contacted by his former girlfriend, Bernie Rosenthal, who was desperately trying to find her missing teenage sister. Cap discovered that there was a recent rash of teenagers going missing in the area, so he visited the Eternal known as Sersi (who would soon join the Avengers following this team-up) and had her use her powers to transform Captain America’s body back to what it was like when he was a teenager for 48 hours. Her practically-magical powers did so, but that meant that he no longer had the Super Soldier Serum in his body!

After hanging around New York City, pretending to be a runaway, the undercover teenage Cap was soon kidnapped and taken into a camp designed to turn teenagers into killers. Among the “counselors” was the Red Skull’s own teenage daughter! Luckily for Cap, what Sersi didn’t tell him was that her spell would revert after 48 hours or after the 50th body blow that Cap received, whichever came first (the 50th body blow came first, of course).

LADY CAP

In a six-issue storyline from “Captain America” #387-392 (by Mark Gruenwald, Rik Levins and Danny Bulanadi), Captain America’s girlfriend, Diamondback, and her friends, Black Mamba and Asp, were taken aboard what appeared to be a cruise for female super villains. As it turned out, it was all part of a plan by the villain Superia to essentially sterilize every woman on Earth except the women on her ship, which would both cause stronger future women due to the super-powered breeding, and also allow them to hold the world hostage.

Captain America and Paladin tried to rescue Diamondback, but ended up captured and put into a device that would transform them into women! Luckily for them, Black Mamba and Asp saved them before the process fully kicked in. Still, Cap and Paladin had to go undercover among the female villains as just two new female supervillains… with “underdeveloped chests.”

CAP-WOLF

Captain America’s pilot, John Jameson, had disappeared and Captain America went to go find him in this six-part storyline from “Captain America” #402-407 (by Mark Gruenwald, Rik Levins, Danny Bulanadi and some other fill-in inkers). Enlisting the help of his former Avenger teammate, Doctor Druid, Cap soon ran afoul of a town that seemed to be made up entirely of werewolves! Feral characters from around the Marvel Universe were also being drawn to this town, including Wolverine! Also ,Feral of X-Force showed up, which drew Cable in, as well.

The villainous Nightshade had teamed up with Desmond the Druid to draw in Jameson, who had the Moonstone. Desmond planned to merge with the moonstone to become the ultra-powereful Star-Wolf! First, Nightshade used a mesmerized Wolverine to capture Cap and then use a special serum she was working on to transform Captain America into a werewolf, as well! Cap soon took control of his “pack” and led them in a rebellion against Nightshade and Druid. With the assistance of Cable (who, again, was there to find Feral), they were able to save the day and Cap was turned back into a human.

ROBO CAP

In the year-long storyline, “Fighting Chance,” (by Mark Gruenwald, Dave Hoover and Danny Bulanadi), Captain America discovered that the Super Soldier Serum powering his body was never intended to last forever. It was always meant to eventually break down, but as it turns out, in breaking down, it would also end up killing Captain America! So, Cap decided to devote his last months to finding and training new heroes to take over for him when he died. This story arc introduced two young heroes, Jack Flagg and Free Spirit.

As time went by, Cap’s body began to turn on itself, so he had to eventually turn to his friend, Tony Stark, to build him a special armor so that he could keep up the good fight for as long as he could. Things took a dark turn after “Fighting Chance” ended, though, when Superia managed to find a cure for Captain America’s affliction, but the Red Skull (who was also dying because he was then-currently in a cloned Captain America body, so the same degeneration was happening to him) took it for himself. In the end, Skull decided to share the cure because he needed Cap’s help on a mission.

HEROES REBORN CAP

After being cured by the Red Skull, Captain America had a number of other adventures before he, along with most of the other heroes of New York City (except for Spider-Man, who literally got lost on his way to Central Park for the final battle) sacrificed their lives to stop the evil power of Onslaught, the nearly all-powerful psionic being. They essentially trapped the psionic energy of Onslaught by using their physical bodies to soak up his energy (it had to specifically be non-mutants, as mutant bodies would just enhance Onslaught’s power). Once they anchored Onslaught with their bodies, the remaining X-Men destroyed what was left, killing the heroes and Onslaught.

As it turned out, Franklin Richards (the powerful mutant son of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman who had been kidnapped by Onslaught to amplify his powers) used his reality-warping powers to create a second Earth and re-created all of the dead heroes into new bodies based on how he remembered them (which is how the Wasp went back to a human body after being horribly mutated, and how Iron Man became an adult again after being replaced by a teenage version of himself). So, Captain America was also put into a new body for his new series, drawn by star artist Rob Liefeld. Eventually, the heroes returned to their Earth.

MEDIEVAL CAP

Once the heroes all returned to Earth, they began to reform the Avengers in “Avengers” #1-3 (by Kurt Busiek, George Perez and Al Vey), but before they could formalize things, they were caught up in a plot by the evil Morgan Le Fey. A variety of powerful mythological objects were up in the air, so all of the available Avengers assembled to collect them. Instead, Le Fey got her hands on both the Twilight Sword and the Norn Stones and used them, along with the Scarlet Witch’s reality-altering powers, to power her Celtic magic to alter Earth into a new medieval era based on Le Fey’s life in the time of King Arthur.

The Avengers were transformed into Le Fey’s personal guard, with Captain America now called Yeoman America. However, the Scarlet Witch (kept captive by Le Fey) kept trying to get her teammates to break free of the spell and eventually managed to release Cap, as his spirit was so strong that he was able to remember who he was. He then recruited other Avengers whose sense of being an Avenger were especially strong (Hawkeye, Wasp, Monica Rambeau and Quasar) and they eventually helped Scarlet Witch turn the tide (along with a resurrected Wonder Man).

HOUSE OF M CAP

The Scarlet Witch was at the center of yet another time that Captain America (and the world) was altered by her reality-shaping powers. Following the events of “Avengers Disassembled,” the Scarlet Witch snapped due to her trauma over losing her children (who were just creations of her own powers) and turned on her own teammates, killing a few of them. Her alleged father, Magneto, showed up and brought her to Genosha to take care of her. The Avengers and the X-Men then got together to debate how to handle the Scarlet Witch situation. Some even suggested that she was too powerful to let live. This sent Scarlet Witch’s brother, Quicksilver, to her side, where he convinced her to alter reality so that mutants were the ruling class.

In this altered reality (as presented in “Captain America”#8 by Ed Brubaker, Lee Weeks and Jesse Delperdang), Captain America was now suddenly an old man, having never entered suspended animation during World War II. Instead, he lived to see the war finish, but also long enough to be ostracized by his willingness to stand up to Senator McCarthy on his anti-mutant hearings. Rogers also was an astronaut. He also spoke out against Magneto when he rose to power. In the end, he was just a lonely old man in a world ruled by a tyrant, which is not how he thought things would work out when he took down a different tyrant back in 1945.

SPIDER-CAP

The main villains of the “Spider-Man” crossover, “Spider Island,” were the Jackal and the Queen. The Queen was a mutant who was experimented on by the United States government to try to find a successor to Captain America. She and Cap grew quite close to each other during this time. However, after he was seemingly killed at the end of the war, the government pretty much forgot about her. She escaped custody, though, and went into hiding.

Her powers could alter anyone with the “spider gene,” and she teamed up with the Jackal to alter the genetics of the people of Manhattan Island in New York City (hence “Spider Island”) and slowly give them first Spider-Man’s powers, before then mutating them into giant spiders loyal to the Queen. However, her old love, Captain America, got special treatment and in “Amazing Spider-Man” #666 (by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos and Stefano Caselli), he was transformed into a giant spider creature that was forced to obey the Queen’s commands.

SERUM-LESS CAP

Ran Shen was one of the very best agents in the early days of S.H.I.E.L.D., competing with Nick Fury for those honors. However, after a mission against the Soviets and their Winter Soldier went horribly wrong, Shen’s faith was lost in S.H.I.E.L.D. Meanwhile, a female scientist who Shen had fallen in love with lost her faith in her evil cause and the Winter Soldier lost his in his Soviet masters. Shen was going to work out a deal where all three of them could get out of their lives, but then Fury showed up and fulfilled the mission (kill or capture the scientist). Once his new love was tragically killed, Shen fully broke away from S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury’s attack also sent Winter Soldier back to the Soviets, who were able to re-program him and keep him from escaping.

Shen merged with an alien dragon (one of Fin Fang Foom’s people) to become the Iron Nail. He had tentacles that could drain both the effects of the Super Soldier Serum and Nick Fury’s Infinity Formula. The Iron Nail began a plan to take down S.H.I.E.L.D. and though Captain America stopped him, in the process he had the Super Soldier Serum sucked out of him, leaving him just a really fit 90-something-year old man. Serum-less Cap was still a hero, of course, and continued to serve with the Avengers. He just let his friend, Sam Wilson, take over as Captain America.

HYDRA CAP

During a battle against a group of supervillains led by the Red Skull, who had been altered by a S.H.I.E.L.D.-controlled Cosmic Cube to keep them out of the way of the rest of the world, Steve Rogers was returned to his fully-powered self. He returned to the name Captain America, although he insisted that Sam Wilson continue his good work as Cap, even insisting that Sam keep using the famous shield, with Steve getting a new one. Things seemed back to normal… but appearances can be deceiving.

What few people knew was that the now-sentient Cosmic Cube had bonded with Red Skull and she wanted to do whatever she could to please him, looking up to the Skull as a father figure. So, when she transformed Captain America back to his youthful self, she also altered reality so that Captain America was now a life-long follower of the same beliefs as the Red Skull, and a fully-fledge member of HYDRA! That was how the Cube believed things were supposed to be! So, Cap was now a secret agent of Hydra, and has been for his whole life. This series, at the time of this list’s writing, is still ongoing, but it’s definitely one of the most controversial moments in the long history of the character.

What’s your favorite Captain America transformation? Let us know in the comments section!

The post Captain America’s Strangest Transformations appeared first on CBR.com.

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