Necrosha

"Necrosha"
Cover to Necrosha One Shot. Art by Clayton Crain
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Publication date	October 2009 – March 2010
Genre	Superhero Crossover Zombies in comics
Title(s) New Mutants vol. 3, #6- X-Force vol. 3, #21- X-Men: Legacy vol. 1, #231- X-Necrosha #1 X-Nerosha: The Gathering #1
Main character(s)	X-Force New Mutants X-Men Deadpool Selene
Creative team
Writer(s)	Craig Kyle Christopher Yost Mike Carey Zeb Wells
Collected editions
X-Necrosha	ISBN 0-7851-4674-1

Necrosha is a comic book crossover story arc published by Marvel Comics. The crossover takes place in Marvel's main shared universe, the Marvel Universe.

Publication history

Necrosha had been slowly building in the pages of X-Force. However, the big event began with the one-shot X-Necrosha, released on October 28, 2009, and continued in X-Force, New Mutants, and X-Men: Legacy.

Plot synopsis

Through her servant Eli Bard, Selene, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, had gained access to the Technarch transmode virus which she uses to resurrect a variety of deceased mutants to set her plans into motion of becoming a goddess.

One week prior the big event, Selene orders her minions to bring Destiny, who was resurrected by the Techno-organic virus, to her. The Black Queen wants to know what the future holds for her; Irene tells her she will achieve what she's set out to do and is put back in her cell again. Destiny insists she needs to do something, that otherwise will end badly. Somehow, Irene is able to contact Blindfold in Utopia and asks the girl to deliver a message. All by herself, Destiny believes she has made a mistake. Selene, however, gets something she didn’t plan for when another major villain is brought back to life along with the resurrected Destiny, Proteus.

Selene returns to the place of her birth in central Europe, accompanied by her new Inner Circle, consisting of Blink, Senyaka, Mortis, Wither, and Eli Bard. They then travel to the New York branch of the Hellfire Club where they slaughter every person there. She targets others who, according to her, have failed her in her quest for godhood, such as Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, and Emma Frost (with whom she holds a particular grudge for having taken the "Black Queen" moniker when working for the Dark X-Men) as well as the X-Men because they have opposed her many times, and Magma for her betrayal in Nova Roma. Caliban and Thunderbird lead her to the ruins of Genosha where she claims this is where her journey will end and welcomes them to what she now dubs Necrosha.^[1] She sends most of the resurrected mutants to attack the X-Men on Utopia, and Cypher to kill Magma.

With Eli Bard, Selene resurrects the massacred residents of Genosha, with Cerebro and Bastion's computers detecting the rise of mutant numbers into the millions.^[2] 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.

Meanwhile, Cypher sneaks into Magma's room and knocks her out; however, he cannot complete his mission of killing her due to the intervention of his former teammates and the arrival of Warlock. Sensing that something isn't right, Eli Bard reports to Selene what is happening prompting the Black Queen to send the Hellions to help and retrieve Cypher. The former members of the New Mutants team manage to defeat the Hellions, while Magik finds out that her Soulsword can damage the mutants revived by the Techno-organic virus. Warlock, apparently killed by Cypher, returns and manages to free his friend from the Techno-organic virus.^[3]

Amidst the chaos, a squad of resurrected Acolytes have come for the former White King of the Hellfire Club, Magneto, fighting Loa and temporary X-Man Deadpool, who finds out Loa's powers can damage the people revived by the Techno-organic virus.^[4]

While the X-Men battle Selene's troops in Utopia, Hrimhari the Wolf Prince finds out that his beloved Wolfsbane, who is into a coma, is pregnant with his child (who is neither mutant nor human), and Dr. Nemesis reveals that the unborn child is threatening her health and her life.^[5] Hrimhari gave his soul to the Asgardian goddess of the Underworld, Hela, in exchange that she restore Elixir (who was also into a coma) to life. Hela does so and they return to the Asgardian Underworld together, the Wolf Prince's final words being "that he would somehow find his way back to Rahne and their unborn child." Elixir then heals Rahne and when he realized that she was pregnant with the Wolf Prince's child and that she would not the survive the birth of such an hybrid creature, he transfers some of the baby's strength to Rahne.^[5]

Meanwhile, in Muir Island, Proteus used Destiny's body to send the message to Blindfold in order to lure the X-Men to there. After Blindfold delivers Destiny's message to the X-Men, Cyclops sends her to Muir Island alongside a team composed by Nightcrawler, Rogue, Psylocke, Colossus, Husk, Trance and Magneto.^[6] Proteus manages to leave Colossus unconscious and take mental possession of all the team except Rogue and Magneto. After a hard battle, Magneto finally manages to disperse Proteus's form, while Rogue (and later Psylocke) frees her teammates and Destiny from Proteus's possession, although Magneto recognizes that Proteus is still alive and it is only a matter of time before he returns. Destiny recognizes that the Techno-organic virus in her body is fading and she will soon die again, saying her farewells to Rogue before departing.^[7]

In Utopia, Selene’s plan leads to the X-Men and X-Force fight for their lives while the island is consumed by the Black Queen's forces. However, in order to perform the ritual that would turn her into a goddess, Selene needs the mystical dagger that Eli Bard had previously lost when attacked by the spirits of Warpath's deceased tribe, so Selene sends her Inner Circle to Utopia to retrieve it. During the fight against the X-Men and X-Force, Blink shatters Archangel's wings, Meld is fatally injured by Senyaka, and Utopia residents Diamond Lil and Onyxx are killed by Mortis and Wither, respectively. The Inner Circle then teleports back to Genosha, taking an unconscious Warpath with them.^[8] 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.^[9]

Selene finally becomes the goddess she had sought to be for so long (In the process, incapacitates sorcerers Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange and Brother Voodoo). Turning to her followers, she commands them to get her more souls. Warpath prepares the X-Force by teaching the Ghost Dance, a ritual he learned from Ghost Rider meant to kill evil spirits such as Selene, and they engage in battle against Selene's Inner Circle. During the fight, Thunderbird, Senyaka and Wither are killed, while both Mortis and Blink are defeated and run away.

Warpath was able to kill Selene by plunging her own dagger into her chest. Shocked that her moment of godhood was taken away so quickly, Selene explodes into rays of light, apparently dying and thus ending the effect of the corrupted Techno-organic virus in the bodies she revived. The X-Force, however, is fractured, with most of its members leaving the team, even though Cyclops states that soon the X-Force will be more necessary than ever.^[10]

Resurrection List

Selene has resurrected the following characters in her quest:^[11]

Banshee Barnacle Beef Berzerker Bevatron Siena Blaze Bolt Caliban Catseye Fabian Cortez Cypher Darkstar Deadbolt Marco Delgado Destiny Feral Firefist Hemingway Hurricane Jetstream Katu Harry Leland Lifeforce

Maggott Leon Matheson Seamus Mellencamp Negasonic Teenage Warhead Proteus Pyro Rem-Ram Risque Roulette Scaleface Shinobi Shaw Skin Spoor Spyne Static Stonewall Super Sabre Synch Tarot Thunderbird Tower Unus the Untouchable All of the members of John Proudstar's tribe 1 million mutant inhabitants of Genosha as well as 15 million depowered inhabitants (the total of 16 million died before M Day).

Chronological reading order

• Necrosha: The Gathering
• X-Necrosha #1
• New Mutants #6
• X-Force #21
• New Mutants #7
• X-Force #22
• New Mutants #8
• X-Men Legacy #231
• X-Force #23
• X-Men Legacy #232
• X-Force #24
• X-Men Legacy #233
• X-Force #25

Issues involved but not listed

• X-Force vol. 3 Annual #1^[12] - between 'New Mutants #7' and 'X-Force #22'
• Dazzler One-Shot - after the end

Collected editions

The story has been collecting into a number of volumes:

• X-Necrosha (collects X-Force #21-25, New Mutants #6-8, X-Men: Legacy #231-233, and X-Force/New Mutants: Necrosha one-shot, 336 pages, hardcover, July 2010 ISBN 0-7851-4674-1)
• New Mutants, Volume 2: Necrosha (collects New Mutants #6-11, and X-Force/New Mutants Necrosha one-shot, 160 pages, premiere hardcover, May 2010, ISBN 0-7851-3993-1)
• X-Force, Volume 4: Necrosha (collects X-Force #21-25, 144 pages, softocver, April 2010, ISBN 0-7851-3541-3)

See also

• Major events of the Marvel Universe

References

1. ^ X-Necrosha #1
2. ^ X-Force #21
3. ^ New Mutants #8
4. ^ X-Force (2009) Annual #1
5. ^ ^{a b} X-Force #22
6. ^ X-Men: Legacy #231
7. ^ X-Men: Legacy #233
8. ^ X-Force #23
9. ^ X-Force #24
10. ^ X-Force #25
11. ^ 'Returning Mutants', Comic Book Resources, retrieved December 30, 2009.
12. ^ www.bscreview.com/2009/11/x-force-annual-1-preview

External links

• Necrosha at the Comic Book DB

Interviews

• Richards, Dave (July 24, 2009). "CCI: Kyle, Yost, Carey, and Wells Talk "Necrosha"". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22196. Retrieved December 7, 2009. 
• Ekstrom, Steve (July 31, 2009). "SDCC Aftermath: The Marvel X-Dead Shall Rise in NECROSHA". Newsarama. http://www.newsarama.com/comics/090731-sdcc09-xmen-necrosha.html. Retrieved December 7, 2009. 
• Strom, Marc (November 24, 2009). "X-Men Legacy: Welcome to Necrosha". Marvel.com. http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.10437.X-Men_Legacy~colon~_Welcome_to_Necrosha. Retrieved December 7, 2009.