Guardians of the Galaxy #11 just dealt the team a massive blow thanks to a brutal attack by Marvel’s most ruthless cosmic gods.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #11 by Al Ewing, Juann Cabal, Federico Blee & VC’s Cory Petit, on sale now.
In the current Guardians of the Galaxy run, Peter Quill’s gone from a Star-Lord to the far more powerful Master of the Sun. While he and his teammates try to process his return to the cosmos and their role in saving it, those questions will have to wait for bigger problems that are even more pressing than Knull’s King in Black invasion. Those problems are the Dark Olympians, the Greek Gods who Quill blew up earlier on in the series using a singularity bomb. Since returning, they’ve broken bad and have started feeding off of planets.
As Quill tries to get all hands on deck for the battle against the gods in Guardians of the Galaxy #11, Zeus’ crew operates in a proactive manner and deals them a massive blow by incinerating the Bowie spaceship, seemingly killing several key Guardians.
Guardians #11 opens with Quill worried about what’s to come as the Olympians are more focused and fierce than ever before. He and the reticent Nova/Rich Rider are basing the fight on Daedalus-5, a planet they left to rot after Annihilus used Galactus to raze the place in Annihilation, but they know they’re not ready. It’s a dead, emotional space and the perfect barren battleground, but the team isn’t where they need to be mentally for such an overwhelming fight.
It doesn’t help that an incensed Gamora returns with Drax and their team to smack Quill across the face for abandoning her and living a whole life without her. Meanwhile, there’s also turmoil between the likes of Moondragon and Phyla-Vell. As Rich notes, it’s the worst possible time to be imploding.
Before everyone can patch things up, sadly, time runs out and the Olympians arrive. However, as Groot tries to pilot the Bowie, he, Rocket Raccoon, Marvel Boy and the heroic Hercules, go up in flames when an energy bolt strikes it. Their alliance is already low on numbers, and Hercules would have been invaluable in the fight against the other gods, so Quill is especially taken aback by the carnage.
Considering their family ties, Hercules might have even held the key to their redemption, but now that’s seemingly off the board. Taken with Groot’s powers, Rocket’s weapons and aerial expertise and Noh-Varr’s prowess as a Kree soldier, the loss of these heroes is huge for the team. While all these members will likely return in the next issue for the team’s new Avengers-like roster, it remains to be seen how they survived or otherwise returned to active duty.
Luckily, Quill has the powers of the sun in him, as well as new abilities, and Nova isn’t exactly a pushover, either. But given the might of Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Hermes, Athena and the other gods, they really could have done with help. Still, Rocket’s sneaky enough to fake the heroes’ deaths, so this quartet could be playing possum, ready to make a grand entrance and ambush the evil Greek pantheon.
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