As the King in Black crossover envelops the Marvel Universe, one of the heroes on Marvel’s newest super-team feels at home with the symbiote god.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Union #2 by Paul Grist, Andrea di Vito, Le Beau Underwood, Nolan Woodard and VC’s Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Marvel’s King in Black has seen the entire Marvel Universe upended by the dark god of the symbiotes and his armada of symbiote dragons. After arriving on Earth, it only took minutes for Knull’s reach to expand over the entire globe. While the thick of the action is situated in the heart of New York City, things aren’t looking much better across the pond. For the Union, Britain’s premiere (and only) superhero team, things are downright devastating. Britannia, the heart of the Union, is dead, and the team has been shattered.
To make matters worse, one of the team’s strongest members, the Choir, has decided to embrace the living darkness wholeheartedly in The Union #2.
During a publicity event, the Union were set upon by one of Knull’s dragons, and although Britannia was more than capable of slaying the beast in miraculous fashion, doing so cost the hero her life — all while her entire country watched on in horror. The beast may have been dead, but the sinewy ooze inside it was still very much alive and found new hosts in the soldiers who had gathered alongside the Union for the cameras. The team is, for the most part, able to handle the threat, but the Choir panics in the moment and attempts to flee. The symbiote possessed soldiers catch up with her, taking her to the ground. Before they can do any real harm, Choir unleashes a superpowered scream that sends the entire battlefield on its back. When the dust has settled, Union Jack rushes over to make sure that she is alright, and the now symbiote afflicted Choir informs him that she is feeling better than ever.
When Union Jack awakes from having been knocked out by Choir, he’s astounded to see that it’s night already. Of course, it’s only been a few minutes, but the skies have indeed gone black with Knull’s living darkness. Believing that the symbiotes will head for the most heavily populated area, the team makes their way up the coast to confront their transformed teammates. Once the team has caught up with their quarry, Union Jack and Choir take a moment during the fight to discuss what is happening. Jack tries to persuade Choir to come back with them, but she is seemingly uninterested in anything other than being part of Knull’s Hive, even stating outright that things will be better once the dark god has completely taken hold of the Earth. It’s easy to assume that this is just Knull’s influence speaking, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
With an electrified sword and a battlefield covered in water, Union Jack is able to make quick work of the symbiote that has bonded to Choir. When he thrusts the blade into the ground, the electricity makes its way through the bodies of nearly everyone around, including Choir. The symbiote burns away from her flesh as the hero writhes in pain and she pleads for Knull not to leave her. Choir was, sadly, telling the truth when she said that Knull’s control of the world would be good for the world, at least in her own mind.
Now that her recruiter, Britannia, is gone, it’s understandable that she would want to leave the team alongside Snakes and Kelpie, leaving Union Jack to deal with the government on his own, but the idea that she would sincerely rather be assimilated into Knull’s forces is maybe one of the scariest things that has happened so far across all of King in Black.
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