Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing pits Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against an opponent with a strong connection to some recent X-Men foes.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1, by Steve Orlando, Francesco Mobili, Guru-eFX and VC’s Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Over the past few years, the X-Men have made some strange new enemies. The very existence of Krakoa has produced a some odd foes for Marvel’s Mutants, ones who have threatened the broader Marvel Universe as well. Recently, one group of new villains, Hordecultutre, indirectly set the world on fire.
The X-Men’s latest foes produced a major threat to the Earth in Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1, by Steve Orlando and Francesco Mobili. The villain of this story is the Harrower, whose primary focus is on plants. The Harrower wants to wipe out all of humanity in order to make plant/animal hybrids the dominant species on Earth.
A big part of Harrower’s plot involves Ted Sallis, the Man-Thing. The Harrower carries out this plan by tearing Ted Sallis away from the Man-Thing’s physical form. This way, Harrower can use the Man-Thing’s flesh to create a doomsday weapon. The Harrower produces giant plants across the globe which burn humans at the touch, based on their own fear. Moreover, these plants produce bat-like creatures and pollen which go out of their way to burn humans.
This whole plot takes a catastrophic, devastating toll on humanity. However, everything the Harrower does is partially caused by the X-Men’s recent foes, Hordeculture. This group of elderly botanists has an agenda to make plants the dominant species on Earth, which brought them into conflict with the X-Men in X-Men #3, by Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu. The most threatening aspect of Hordeculture is their ability to travel through Krakoan gates, which only mutants should be able to do.
Harrower has a direct connection to Hordeculture, since her great-aunt Augusta is a member of this group. Hordeculture is said to have taught the Harrower to keep humanity at a manageable size by trimming their numbers down. Both Hordeculture and the Harrower believe that humans are an invasive species, ruining the Earth’s original splendor.
Of course, there are some major differences between Harrower and Hordeculture which lead them to part ways at the beginning of Avengers: Curse of the Man Thing #1. The main difference between Harrower and Hordeculture is the degree to which they’re willing to go in order to make plants Earth’s dominant species.
Harrower clearly wants to wipe out humanity as quickly as possible, but Hordeculture simply wants to trim humanity down in a slow, deliberate manner. In this way, Hordeculture believes that they’re more focused on natural selection and helping nature take its course. The Harrower, on the other hand, is far more radical than her mentors.
Hordeculture went so far as to label the Harrower’s plan as mass-murder and said that she was perverting the natural order of things by taking natural selection into her own hands. The Harrower, as far as Hordeculture is concerned, is performing an unnatural act which is extremely dangerous.
Hordeculture’s concern shows that, while they aren’t major proponents of humanity, they’re not complete monsters. This explains why, in Empyre: X-Men #1, by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard and Matteo Buffagni, Hordeculture showed up to help the X-Men fight off the plant-like aliens, the Cotati.
Even though the Cotati were plants themselves, their invasion was still deemed wrong by Hordeculture. Rather than allow an alien lifeform to take over the planet, Hordeculture would want plant life to dominate the Earth more naturally. As they say in this issue, Hordeculture deals with the known and predictable.
By using science to make plants the dominant species, Hordeculture tries to gradually weed out humankind. The Harrower, by contrast, uses magic, turning herself into something truly dangerous and unpredictable. Hordeculture may have created the Harrower, but their methods are wildly different from their dangerous disciple.
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