The cosmic invasion that nearly extinguished all life in the Marvel Universe
In short: In 2006, a massive armada known as the Annihilation Wave breached the boundary between the Negative Zone and our universe. Led by Annihilus, this fleet didn't just conquer worlds—it began converting entire planets into fuel, threatening to leave the cosmos a hollow, lifeless void.
The conflict began with a breach at 'The Crunch,' the volatile intersection of the Negative Zone and the known universe. The Annihilation Wave, an immense fleet of warships under the command of Annihilus, quickly annexed the Kyln and several neighboring star systems. The devastation was most profound on Xandar, the home of the Nova Corps. During a high-level briefing of Nova Centurions, the Wave invaded and destroyed the planet, leaving Richard Rider as the lone human survivor of the Corps.
As the invasion progressed, the scale of the catastrophe expanded. The Wave utilized the 'Harvester of Sorrows,' a massive vessel designed to render planets into fuel for the armada. This prompted desperate measures from figures like the Super-Skrull, Kl'rt, who attempted to use a virus to destroy the ship, though the cost was the loss of his son. Meanwhile, the cosmic balance shifted as Thanos allied with Annihilus, and the destruction of the Kyln potentially released the Proemial Gods, Tenebrous and Aegis.
The war reached a climax through the 'Galactus event.' After Thanos's betrayal and the subsequent release of Galactus by Drax and Moondragon, the entity unleashed an omnidirectional blast. This 'obliteration perimeter' wiped out much of the Annihilation Wave, vaporized a Watcher, and destroyed more than three star systems. Though the war ended with a treaty between the Kree and the remnants of the Wave, the cosmic landscape was permanently altered, leaving heroes like Nova Prime to lead the fractured survivors.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Annihilation (comics)
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