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Along with the rest of the Avengers, the X-Men were just defeated by an ancient villain, and it wasn’t the first time they lost everything to him.
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Savage Avengers #24, available from Marvel Comics.
The X-Men have faced dozens of would-be world-ending threats over the years, but one of their lesser know foes, the ancient sorcerer Kulan Gath, has consistently handed them some of their most catastrophic defeats whenever they’ve met. And after a devastating loss saw the world transformed years ago, the X-Men just lost to the wizard again, along with Marvel’s other heroes, in Savage Avengers #24, by Gerry Duggan, Patch Zircher, Java Tartaglia and Travis Lanham.
Having hunted him through the endless expanses of time and space, another Marvel team, the Savage Avengers, never came close enough to stop the unhinged sorcerer. But after defeating Shuma Gorath, Kulan Gath appeared to the team and used his newly acquired powers to defeat the team, then proceeded to conquer the world in a move reminiscent of the first time he decimated the Earth.
Savage Avengers #24 opens with Kulan Gath descending from the City of Sickles to greet Conan and Doctor Strange, who called the Avengers and the X-Men to his side in a last-ditch effort to defeat the magician. In an instant, Kulan Gath begins to cut down heroes ht. Captain America led the charge with his shield, only for the hero’s famously unbreakable shield to become Gath’s mid-battle snack. She-Hulk jumped at him, only to be killed when Gath’s eye beams tear through her chest. Just as the sorcerer has his hands wrapped around Conan’s neck, Doctor Doom arrives with the rest of the Savage Avengers. However, the cannibal wizard tears through all of them before reshaping the world in the image of his native Hyboria.H
High above the streets of Manhattan, Kulan Gath sits on his throne with the weapons and helmets of the numerous heroes he defeated scattered among him. Bruce Banner sits chained at the feet of the throne, with the Hulk forever imprisoned within him by a collar made of Wolverine’s bones. Across the rest of the world, the Sickle Priest has set himself the task of eradicating humankind. While this may seem like an unprecedented turn of events, it has a remarkable number of similarities to what happened after Kulan’s last battle with the X-Men.
Kulan Gath did something similar to New York in 1985’s Uncanny X-Men #190 and #191 by Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr., Dan Green and Glynis Wein. Kulan Gath used his sinister powers to transform New York into Hyboria, transforming everyone inside the city into medieval versions of themselves. Kulan Gath merged Professor Xavier with Caliban to better hunt his enemies and mystically warped Doctor Strange so that he could access his magic. The few remaining X-Men and Avengers joined together to rebel against the magician. The team managed to sneak into Gath’s castle, where they were able to free Strange. Knowing that the best way to counteract Gath’s spell is to make sure he never cast it in the first place, Strange united his powers with Magik’s to alter history so that Gath never rose to power in the first place.
Now, the Savage Avengers’ last hope to defeat Kulan lies in a similar approach. Before his death, Doom enchanted his armor to protect Conan at all costs. After one final meeting with Strange, Conan knew he had to find a certain sarcophagus that would bring an unlikely savior to his side, the time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror. Together, Conan and Kang will have to make one last stand for Earth’s survival. Given that the Avengers and the X-Men managed to defeat Kulan Gath before, they might still be able to turn back his transformation. But with Doctor Strange, Magik, and most of Earth’s heroes dead, they have their work cut out for them.
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