Chaos War

"Chaos War"
Cover of Chaos War 1 (December 2010 Marvel Comics), art by Ed McGuinness, pencils and inks, and Morry Hollowell, color
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Publication date	December 2010 – March 2011
Genre	Superhero Crossover
Title(s) Chaos War #1-5 Chaos War: Alpha Flight #1 Chaos War: Ares #1 Chaos War: Chaos King #1 Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1-3 Chaos War: God Squad #1 Chaos War: Thor #1-2 Chaos War: X-Men #1-2 Incredible Hulks #618-620
Main character(s)	Hercules Thor The Incredible Hulks X-Men Captain Marvel Amatsu-Mikaboshi
Creative team
Writer(s)	Greg Pak Fred Van Lente

"Chaos War" is a Marvel Comics storyline scheduled to begin in October 2010.

It brings back the God Squad from Secret Invasion that has been reformed by a resurrected Hercules to battle the Chaos King who has amassed an army of alien slave gods and is attempting to become the master of life and death.

The series is a conclusion to stories that have built up since World War Hulk and will involve Thor, Silver Surfer, Galactus, Son of Satan, Sersi, Venus, Ares, the X-Men (with Banshee, Thunderbird, some of Multiple Man's clones, and two of the Stepford Cuckoos returning from the dead), Alpha Flight (consisting of Aurora, Northstar, Sasquatch, and Snowbird with Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, and Marrina Smallwood back from the dead), a resurrected team of "Dead Avengers" (consisting of Captain Marvel, Deathcry, Doctor Druid, Swordsman, Vision, and Yellowjacket), Amadeus Cho and the Incredible Hulk and his family fresh from their battle against Hulk's other son Hiro-Kala.

Publication history

The core limited series is written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente.

Plot summary

In the Dream Dimension, Nightmare sees that Hercules has been returned, and plans to use Hercules' visions of Amatsu-Mikaboshi's army to horrify the world, only for Amatsu-Mikaboshi (now naming himself "King Chaos") to arrive and kill Nightmare himself. Hercules has been reborn. He assembles a group of heroes ranging from Amadeus Cho, Thor, Doctor Voodoo, Agents of Atlas (Gorilla-Man, Namora, Uranian, Venus), the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Spider-Woman), the New Avengers (Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Ms. Marvel, Mockingbird), the Secret Avengers (Captain Steve Rogers, Beast, Black Widow, Moon Knight, Valkyrie), the Avengers Academy staff (Henry Pym, Justice, Quicksilver, Tigra), the Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Thing), the X-Men (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Archangel, Colossus, Storm), X-Factor Investigations (Multiple Man, Strong Guy), Black Panther, Quasar, Stature, Stonewall, Nova and other heroes. He tells them that Amatsu-Mikaboshi is coming to Earth and has taken down many of the alien pantheons and is adding to his army. He gives the assembled heroes a fraction of his power in order to help fight Amatsu-Mikaboshi, leading them through the skies and opening a portal to the Dream Dimension to challenge Amatsu-Mikaboshi, they see Nightmare's hordes fleeing, and Nightmare's corpse, realizing that the Chaos King has slain him and claimed his power to destroy the minds of all the mortal heroes.

Amadeus, Hercules and Thor manage to return to Earth with the dozens of defeated heroes, reaching the Olympus Group headquarters where Hebe attempts to embrace Hercules, but is unable to due to his unstable new powers. As Hebe and Venus attempt to revive the fallen mortal heroes, the other three prepare for the inevitable conflict with Amatsu-Mikaboshi while trying to fight his chaos around the Earth. After seeing Hercules preventing the death of millions, an enraged Pluto is assuaged by his wife Persephone, who tells him that "one day", all life will be his. Hela suddenly breaks into his throne room, warning him of the Chaos King's assault on the realms of the dead. Pluto begins to threaten her only for an all-out assault on his Underworld led by the thousands of alien gods he enslaved from world to world to begin. Pluto releases the souls of the dead, both blessed and damned, to fight for his realm, freeing Zeus, Hera, Ares, various mortal heroes (consisting of Banshee, Swordsman, and Yellowjacket) and various mortal villains (consisting of Abomination and Iron Monger) only for Amatsu-Mikaboshi himself to arrive amidst the chaos of the colossal invasion and brutally tear out the heart of Zeus yet again, his armies already threatening to overwhelm the domains of Earth's death deities with ease in the first few moments of the conflict. Hercules, sensing this, is distracted long enough for him to stop his time-freeze over the planet and next summons Eternity who refuses to aid them against Amatsu-Mikaboshi. Rejecting Cho's demands that he summon other cosmic beings such as Infinity or the Living Tribunal to their aid, Hercules instead summons Sersi, revealing to her that Athena had fled when he returned to Earth. Upon her suggestion for more power, Hercules summons Galactus and the Silver Surfer, who violently attacks them in fury that they had teleported them to Earth just when Galactus was about to satisfy his hunger on an alien world. Hercules strikes him down and Venus next uses her power to enthrall him. Daimon Hellstrom next arrives from Hell itself, telling them that Death had fled their reality. The Chaos King had triumphed over the Underworld and that all the souls of the deceased were now unleashed on Earth.

Hercules, Thor, Amadeus, Sersi, Hellstrom, Venus, the Silver Surfer and Galactus battle Zeus, Ares, and Hera (now enslaved by the Chaos King). Zeus easily downs Galactus with a massive bolt of lightning with even the World-Devourer's power seemingly unable to defeat them. The Council Elite seals the Throne Room of the Council Elite in an attempt to conceal themselves from Amatsu-Mikaboshi. After Hercules uses his omniscience to pierce the veil hiding the Council, the Chaos King and his alien deity army (bursting out of the dying Zeus's chest) invades the realms of Earth's pantheon until only he and his army remain, easily destroying many of the gods, including the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu (despite her promises that the gods of Japan will best him as they did ages past) and decimating their twilight realms with brutal ease. His void seemingly consumes everything including the Upperworld, Avalon and even Ama falling him to him in quick succession. Amadeus Cho at last admits that it is simply not possible for the Chaos King to be defeated, pleading with the other members of the Squad to retreat from Mikaboshi (now a colossal being of pure darkness greater in size than even entire planets and towering over Galactus himself) and the God Squad joins their powers in a last desperate attempt to shield themselves from the forces of primordial chaos. Athena (with her owl Pallas) at long last appears to Amatsu-Mikaboshi and reminds him that none of this would have been possible without the wisdom of his greatest servant.

As Amatsu-Mikaboshi's army attacks Earth, Thor ends up engaged with the alien god Glory where he beats Glory. So drained from the fight Thor crashes back to earth reverting to an amnesiac Blake form. He is nurtured by a woman living alone. Alien swarms released by Glory follow Thor and eventually materialize into a many headed monster which attacks Blake and the woman.

The gods of Zenn-La (homeworld of the Silver Surfer) gather together after one of them, Thrann: Saint of Science, tells his fellow deities that, just as the Universe had been given "orbit, organization, and order", its cosmic fire lighted from a beginning of primordial darkness and chaos by the Prime Mover, the Prime Mover had also extrapolated that the Nil Star would herald the end of times. Amatsu-Mikaboshi, in a colossal monstrous form, leads his army of enslaved gods, from which he has leeched their powers from to bolster himself, invades the Cosmic Plane of Zenn-La's gods, and is able to swiftly annihilate most of them with ease, with the gods and mortals of Zenn-La estranged for eons, especially due to their inaction when Galactus threatened their planet. Thrann, remembering that a mortal, Norrin Radd, not Zenn-La's gods, had delivered their world from doom, musters his last strength against Amatsu-Mikaboshi. Despite his best efforts, Thrann is consumed and enslaved, his last words a warning to Amatsu-Mikaboshi that Earth had not just one hero, unlike Zenn-La, but a multitude. The Impossible Man confronts Mikaboshi, trying to humor and reason with him while shapeshifting in various forms to divert him, but the Chaos King tires of him and brutally dispatches him. Impossible Man's last words were "I thought we were just playing around..." Amatsu-Mikaboshi designates the netherworlds of Hell as his next target while Satan tells Amatsu-Mikaboshi that the damned choose their own paths and fates through free will, Amatsu-Mikaboshi counters that his void would be a release for them, and unleashes his power against the forces of Hell, including the Ghost Rider, Daimon Hellstrom, Satannish, and Pluto. As Hela screams that Hell's fires begin to dim, Satan urges Hellstrom to flee and warn the mortals to prepare to meet not their Maker, but their Unmaker, and vows to hold Mikaboshi off as long as he can. Even empowered by all Hell's fire, Satan is overpowered and devoured by the Chaos King who seizes control over many of the dead souls of the Underworld only to face the combined forces of the living including every single hero of Earth led by Hercules and his reunited God Squad.

After Mikaboshi gains dominion over Earth's Council of Godheads and decimates the various pantheons and their realms, the God Squad (with Hercules, Thor and Amadeus diverted elsewhere with their own struggles) manage to form a shield against the darkness of Mikaboshi by joining their powers. The God Squad, finding themselves in a dark tunnel between realities, come upon Inari, messenger of the Kami, with his sacred fox pet; Inari, having been grievously wounded by the Chaos King, charges the four members of the God Squad to seek out the Amatsu-Kami at their final stronghold: The temple above Yomi's gates. The God Squad, led by Inari's fox, enter the realm of the Panther God, Bast, and though she threatens to devour them for their sudden intrusion into her domain, senses Mikaboshi's growing darkness and agrees to join them on their quest to reach the remaining Kami. Eventually, upon reaching Tagamakahara, greeted by Susanoo (who is revealed to have known Venus centuries past), Japanese god of the sea, and Tsukuyomi, Japanese god of the moon. Tsukuyomi tells the God Squad that Izanagi released Mikaboshi because he thought he could restore his honor if he served alongside noble gods, and that if such was indeed possible, the Kami themselves could break their own eternal cycle of death and rebirth. However, as they reach the gates to Yomi, where both Inari and Amaterasu await them, all the Kami betray the God Squad, revealed to have been under Mikaboshi's control all along, and attack them ruthlessly. Eventually, the God Squad manage to overpower and slay most of the gathered Kami, but a survivor breaks Yomi's seal, releasing hordes of Japanese demons; Venus summons the Kraken to their aid, and Hellstrom, unable to re-enchant Yomi's stone seal, instead uses its remaining power to open a portal to an unknown place elsewhere, while Bast, urging them to flee, makes a final stand against Yomi's demons to hold them off.

Because of what happened in the death realms, Yellowjacket II, Captain Marvel, Doctor Druid, Deathcry, Swordsman I, and Vision I are back from the dead. They also discovered that a resurrected Grim Reaper has allied himself with Amatsu-Mikaboshi.

Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, and Marrina Smallwood return from the dead and reunite with Aurora, Northstar, Sasquatch, and Snowbird. They come together again as Alpha Flight when the Great Beasts return.

Silver Surfer, Daimon Hellstrom, Venus, and Sersi are fighting the forces of Amatsu-Mikaboshi where they are assisted by Bast.

Issues involved

• Chaos War #1-5
• Chaos War: Thor #1-2
• Chaos War: Chaos King #1
• Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1-3
• Chaos War: Alpha Flight #1
• Chaos War: God Squad #1
• Incredible Hulks #618-620
• Chaos War: Ares #1
• Chaos War: X-Men #1-2

External links

• Chaos War at the Grand Comics Database
• "Chaos War" at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Chaos War at the Marvel Database Project

Reviews

• Review: Chaos War #1, #2 and #3, Comic Book Resources