Atlantis Attacks
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| "Atlantis Attacks" | |||
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 In-house ad for "Atlantis Attacks" | |||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||
| Publication date | 1989 | ||
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"Atlantis Attacks" was a comic book superhero crossover storyline which ran through most of the summer annuals published by Marvel Comics in 1989.
The storyline regards the return of the seven-headed Elder God Set the Old Serpent at the hands of the various underwater empires of the Marvel Universe. The title is misleading, as Atlantis and its then-leader Attuma only play minor roles in the story as flunkies for the real masterminds: the Lemurians and their leader Llyra.[1]
In 2020 Marvel Comics published another Atlantis Attacks miniseries with a different plot.
Atlantis Attacks continued and expanded the format created by 1988's The Evolutionary War crossover storyline, in which all of Marvel's superhero annuals were tied into one story. Where "The Evolutionary War" had had 11 parts, Atlantis Attacks had 14, as Marvel revived the annual format for Daredevil, Iron Man, and Thor (which were not given annuals in 1988) as part of the storyline. The Daredevil Annual is mistakenly numbered "4", the same as the previous annual in the series. In an effort to minimize the resulting confusion, this annual is often numbered "4b" in price guides and retailer listings.
Also, unlike The Evolutionary War annuals, which were mainly standalone stories loosely connected by the presence of the High Evolutionary, Atlantis Attacks was a true serial, with many of the annuals ending on cliffhangers that would be resolved in the next installment.
Every annual contained a back-up story called "The Serpent Crown Saga", written by Peter Sanderson with pencil art by Mark Bagley. This story explained the history of the Serpent Crown and recounted all its previous appearances.
Plot
The disembodied Lemurian Deviant Ghaur baits the Silver Surfer into restoring his physical form by hijacking the Surfer's surfboard.[2] After a brief battle, Ghaur escapes and flees to Earth, where he convinces Lemuria's ruler, Llyra, to form an alliance to summon Set back to Earth.
Ghaur's plan for the serpent god's return is a fivefold plot:
1. Build a brand new, giant-sized Serpent Crown, via gathering a large amounts of mystic artifacts and melting them down into building material for the new Serpent Crown.
2. Forge an alliance with Attuma, ruler of Atlantis, and convince him to declare war on the surface world as a means to render Atlantis defenseless (due to Attuma devoting all of the city's military resources towards a surface world invasion), so that Ghaur and Llyra's forces could launch a massive military assault on Atlantis, slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians as a sacrificial offering to Set.
3. Transform the human population into mute serpent men; using a serpent formula conceived by the terrorist known as the Viper, with the deposed underground tyrant Tyrannus injecting recovering drug addicts with the chemical.
4. Kidnap seven super-powered heroines for the purpose of becoming brides for Set, ultimately for the purpose of becoming pregnant with the seven-headed serpent god's children.
5. Use the super-heroine Dagger (one of the women selected as a bride for Set) and a special magical magnifying glass to magnify the potency of a portion of Set's life-force into a viable amount of life energy, to give life to the giant Serpent Crown, allowing Set's exiled essence to possess the now-mindless seven-headed serpent body and return to Earth.
However, their plans are countered at just about every turn by Earth's heroes, culminating with the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Namor (who is believed dead for the bulk of the storyline during a skirmish with Iron Man and Attuma's military forces) defeating Ghaur and Llyra and stopping them from bringing Set to Earth.
Cast of characters
Bibliography
- Marvel Comics Presents #26 (Mr. Fixit [the Hulk] battles a killer whale)
- Part 1: Silver Surfer Annual #2[2]
- Part 2: Iron Man Annual #10[3]
- Part 3: X-Men Annual #13[4]
- Part 4: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23[5]
- Part 5: The Punisher Annual #2[6]
- Part 6: The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9[7]
- Part 7: Daredevil Annual #5 (mislabeled as Annual #4)[8]
- Part 8: Avengers Annual #18[9]
- Interlude: New Mutants #76 (return of Namor, consumption of tuna fish sandwiches and intro of the monster summoning horn)
- Part 9: New Mutants Annual #5[10]
- Part 10: X-Factor Annual #4[11]
- Part 11: Web of Spider-Man Annual #5[12]
- Interlude: Avengers West Coast #56
- Part 12: Avengers West Coast Annual #4[13]
- Part 13: Thor Annual #14[14]
- Part 14: Fantastic Four Annual #22[15]
Collected edition:
Atlantis Attacks Omnibus (2011; collecting the above issues), Atlantis Attacks Paperback (2021, same as before)
Alternate versions
What If... ? (vol. 2) #25 (May 1991), by Jim Valentino and Rik Levins, explored the question "What if the Marvel Super Heroes had lost Atlantis Attacks?" (interior title "What if Set Had Come to Earth?"). In the story, only a handful of Earth's heroes (as well as villains Doctor Doom and Sabretooth) have avoided being turned into serpent men. After they dispatch numerous transformed former allies, they are massacred by Set and his brainwashed brides, who Set has impregnated with his evil spawn. Only the Silver Surfer and Quasar survive, and with the help of Thor (who is horribly burned and placed in stasis to keep him alive), they destroy two of Set's heads before Quasar, backed by the power of Captain Universe, sacrifices his life to exile himself and Set inside Doctor Strange's Eye of Agamotto. The Silver Surfer gives the Eye to the Watcher for safe keeping, as Set's children are born; they then consume their brainwashed mothers and countless mindless serpent men and women before leaving to terrorize alternate universes.