Annihilation Conquest Villain Revealed

Annihilation: Conquest is upon us and the preview copies are making the rounds for the upcoming first issue and with that comes the identity of the villain behind the Phalanx and big bad for Conquest.

Is the villain a 'fan favourite' as the solicits say? Yes he is. Is he who anyone thought he would be? Not a chance and, to be honest, I'm not even sure how this even works based on what is going on in other books.

Be forewarned. There are MAJOR SPOILERS for the first issue of Annihilation: Conquest after the break.

DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED.

If you're still determined to know who the villain is though, hit the jump for the big reveal.

Behold, ULTRON! Yes, I'm as confused as you are. The Phalanx were more advanced than anything on Earth technology-wise. How does a Hank Pym invention supercede the Phalanx? And how the hell does this sync up with Might Avengers and naked female Ultron?

A while back I posted my 5 Potential Villains for Annihilation: Conquest and I didn't even have Ultron on that list. What's everyone elses thoughts on this? Love it? Hate it? Waiting until you read it before you have an opinion? I'm just completely shocked and not really sure what to think at this point in time.

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5 Potential Mystery Villains For Marvel's Annihilation: Conquest

We all know that there is a mysterious villain driving the Phalanx in Marvel's Annihilation: Conquest event. Similar to my recent Usual Skrullspects post, which speculated who might be a Skrull in the Marvel Universe, I decided to speculate who might be the major villain behind the Phalanx. With the basic concept of the Phalanx and the recent savior appearance in Quasar, along with the various clues scattered throughout interviews and the issues themselves, I think I may have discovered just who that person might be. Check out the list of potential candidates and reasons behind those choices after the jump.

5 - TYRANT

Tyrant is an obscure villain for most people, but was a major cosmic villain at one point in time. Originally the 'son' of Galactus, he sought to conqueror the universe before Galactus finally defeated him in a galaxy shattering battle and stripped him of most of his powers.

Returning eons later with renewed powers, he sought to continue his plans for universal domination. His powers seemed to be renewed and even Galactus gave pause to fighting him again. He easily took out Silver Surfer, Terrax, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill and several other cosmic powerhouses with relative ease. In the end, the only way to stop him was for Galactus' herald, Morg, to use the Ultimate Nullifier on him and Galactus while they battled on his ship. As Galactus survived by escaping to a parallel dimension, it is not too far fetched to believe that Tyrant escaped his ultimate demise as well.

As Tyrant has near limitless cosmic powers, he could easily be responsible for shifting Kree space out of reality and that could even explain his ability to survive the Ultimate Nullifier in his last appearance. The biggest connection to Annihilaion: Conquest Tyrant has is his bio-mechanical physiology and his technopath abilities, which allow him to psionically control any and all technology he comes in contact with. With the Phalanx at the center stage of this event so far, Tyrant's abilities and former ambitions could easily lead him to controlling the Phalanx in his bid for universal conquest. However, he is a rather obscure figure in relation to the rest of the potential villains and the Phalanx are more well known than he is at this point in time. I think Marvel would opt for a more high profile choice, but that does not dismiss Tyrant from the list of suspects, so he gets the number five spot.

4 - THANOS

Thanos has made several attempts at galactic domination and he's never let death stop him before either. Having returned from the dead once already, can this character really be dead? A true cosmic fan favourite, it would be odd to have a huge cosmic event and no Thanos. He had planned to overthrow Annihilus in the original Annihilation. Could he have decided to spearhead his own attempt with Conquest? While I don't think this fits Thanos' previous motif operandi, I would not put it by him to try something like this either. Death can be a fickle mistress. Maybe she has put him up to another universe conquering scheme. Thanos is the definitive cosmic baddie in the Marvel Universe. Maybe they'll give him a break this time and let some lesser knowns, like Tyrant, take center stage. My bet is we see him show up in one form or another in Conquest, either as a savior or conqueror.

3 - KANG THE CONQUEROR

The original Annihilation event caught everyone by surprise when they revealed Annihilus as the big bad. Few pieced together Annihilation and Annihilus from the Prelude or series title leading up to the event. Is Marvel planning a second attempt at this with Kang the Conqueror? Conquest. Conqueror. Seems like a pretty good fit and he would match up with the 'fan fave' moniker Marvel has tagged the villain of Conquest with in the Conquest #2 solicitations released earlier this week. As is always the case with Kang, time will tell.

2 - ANNIHILUS / RAVENOUS

Annihilus was reborn at the end of Annihilation and Ravenous was left in command in his stead. It is not unthinkable that Annihilus, being bug like, could have a faster rate of growth than typical beings and be back for Round 2 in Conquest. It could be possible, if highly unlikely, that he, or Ravenous, is also behind the second Annihilation event. The methods seem completely different from the first Annihilation though, so it appears to dismiss Annihilus as the villain. I was caught with my pants down the first time he was revealed as the main villain. Fool me once Marvel, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The hivemind structure of Annihilus' army could easily lead to a Phalanx offshoot or a partnership of some sort. I wouldn't put it past Marvel to throw this curve ball our way, so Annihilus is still on my radar for the Conquest villain.

1 - MAGUS

My personal pick for Annihilation: Conquest baddie is Magus. He is a long time villain and easily could be considered a fan favourite by the longtime cosmic faithfuls. Magus is the evil part of Adam Warlock cast out when Adam obtained the Infinity Gauntlet. He has vast cosmic powers and has bested Thanos in physical combat. He could easily be responsible for the ability to shift the entire Kree section of space out of reality, much like Adam Warlock has been able to live outside of our universe.

As Magus believes he was created to battle the forces of Nihilism, a belief that Thanos once embraced, he may have decided to take advantage of the Mad Titan's death and make a play for galactic conquest. This would fall in line with Magus' previous goals in which he wishes to give all lifeforms in the universe something to worship, mainly Magus himself.

All his followers were fanatically devoted to him and were ordered to kill all living creatures that did not worship Magus or convert to their faith. Furthermore, non-humanoid creatures were considered demons and to be purged on site. This is very similar in structure to the Phalanx's goal of assimilating all life forms into the Phalanx hive structure. As revealed in Nova, the Phalanx are utilizing Selects, beings with more free will than usually allowed in the Phalanx, which would be more fitting in the Magus led faith based Phalanx.

Finally, in the most recent Quasar issue, the Super Adaptoid was assimilating a cocoon-like structure in which the 'savior' character was held. This is very similar to Adam Warlock's previous appearances as the one known as Him. Adam has played the role of savior before and could easily be the counterpoint to Magus in this event. The original Quasar also had a recent encounter with Magus, which could be the corruption affecting the Quantum Bands if he has indeed returned.

Incredible and vast cosmic powers? Check. Previous big bad for other cosmic events? Check. Fan favourite? Check. History with several main characters in the event? Check. Similar goals and vision as the Phalanx? Check. There's a lot of coincidences lining up pointing towards Magus and I'm inclined to believe he will be the villain leading the Phalanx come the main Annihilation: Conquest series later this year.

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