In Marvel’s grimmest reality, the events of Atlantis Attacks resulted in the destruction of humanity — and the deaths of every hero in the world.
Atlantis Attacks was a major Marvel crossover in 1989, pitting the armies of Atlantis against the surface world in a secret plan to bring one of Marvel’s most dangerous threats to Earth-616. And although the day was saved in the core reality, there exists a world where the storyline turned against the heroes — and every single hero died in the ensuing battle.
In Atlantis Attacks, Gahur (one of the Deviants) was able to create a new body and endeavored to summon the destructive god Set into the core-Marvel Universe. Working alongside Llyra (Queen of Lemuria) and Attuma (then-King of Atlantis), he waged a war against humanity in part as an ultimate distraction towards his other goals: among them assembling a powerful mystic artifact known as the Serpent Crown, capturing Set’s Seven Brides (Jean Grey, Dagger, Storm, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Andromeda and the Invisible Woman) so they could be impregnated with Set’s children — and even sacrificing much of Atlantis. The heroes had few victories against Gahur, with one of the few actually coming at the hands of the Punisher and Moon Knight — who prevented the spread of a drug that turned humans into docile snake-men.
Ghaur is ultimately able to summon Set to Earth, but Thor, Doctor Strange, Quasar and the Thing are able to confront the beast head-on and hold him at bay as the other heroes rescue the Brides. The day is saved and Set is stopped from reaching Earth. But that wasn’t the case in one of Marvel’s single most tragic realities — which was revealed in What If? #25 by Jim Valentino, Rik Levins, Ralph Cabrera and Brad K. Joyce. In this reality, the key to defeat was the premature death of Namor, the failure of Punisher and Moon Knight to stop the spread of the drug, and ultimately, Atum’s refusal to empower Thor. The battle against Set falls apart quickly without Thor’s power boost — allowing Quasar to be blasted into the depths of Set’s dark dimension and for the dark god to consume the Thing.
Turning its full attention towards Doctor Strange, Set overwhelms and destroys the Sorceror Supreme. Set soon breaches Earth and forces the Avengers to retreat — promptly killing Beast, Wasp, Hank Pym, Gahur and Lllyra.The remaining members of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four try to storm Lemuria, but Set uses the opportunity to destroy the city — killing almost all the heroes present save for Thor. The Brides remain in his possession, who are fully under his control. Set soon turns his full attention to Earth, with the water supply poisoned so it can turn all of humanity into loyal snake-people for his rule. Thor is able to assemble the last heroes and villains who, thanks to their powers, are immune to the drug — Wolverine, Sabertooth, Hulk, Doctor Doom, Phoenix, Cloak and Aquarian.
The group embarks on a desperate final mission, hoping to at least bring about the end of Set and prevent the birth of its children — which could then go on to doom other realities across the multiverse. While most of the heroes race to New York, Thor — alongside Phoenix, Doctor Doom and eventually a returned Quasar and the Silver Surfer — confront Set head-on. Each of them falls in turn until Quasar — using Doctor Strange’s Eye of Agammoto — is able to trap himself and Set within a pocket dimension. They finally succeeds in defeating and containing the creature, albeit at great cost. However, the ground team is far less successful in its mission. Although they make quick work of the corrupted Spider-Man, Daredevil, X-Men and New Mutants, the arrival of the Brides turns the battle.
Storm uses lighting to reduce Sabertooth to a skeleton while Scarlet Witch turns Wolverine into anti-matter to use as a human bomb against Aquarian. Dagger, Storm and Scarlet Witch overwhelm Cloak and destroy him, while Scarlet Witch forces the Hulk to revert to (the far more mortal) Bruce Banner. The now docile humanity — all transformed into snake-people — can only wait as the Brides eventually give birth to Set’s sons — who in turn eat their mothers and the rest of humanity before venturing across the multiverse to conqueror other realities. This is one of the single darkest Marvel realities, with the on-page brutal demises of every single Marvel hero leading to a new and monstrous multiversal threat. It’s easily one of Marvel’s grimmest stories and a reminder of how close the heroes can always be to defeat.
