Last month, the Avengers discovered the existence of a superweapon even more powerful than the Infinity Gauntlet – now, fans know what it actually looks like. The Marvel Universe is full of powerful artifacts, but the newest and most powerful is essentially a self-destruct button for the multiverse.
Avengers Reveals the Grail, Marvel’s Ultimate Weapon
The End of Everything Is a Rotating Cube Lattice
In today’s Avengers #30 – from Jed MacKay, Farid Karami, Federico Blee and Cory Petit – fans get to see ‘the Grail’, as the weapon is claimed by major villain Myrddin. A rotating lattice in the shape of a cube, the Grail crackles with ‘Kirby energy’ – a common comic effect named for originator Jack Kirby.
Unlike the Infinity Gauntlet – which is strictly limited to use in its home reality, and powerless anywhere else – the Grail can destroy the entire multiverse, and is currently charging up in Myrddin’s hand. The villain and Kang the Conqueror have been competing to unlock this superweapon, which was discovered on Battleworld – a patchwork planet created from different worlds in the multiverse, soon to receive its own series.
Reed Richards Created Marvel’s Ultimate Weapon
In 2015’s Secret Wars, the entire multiverse was destroyed by the Beyonders and later recreated by Reed Richards and his son Franklin. The two did their best to recreate every reality as it had been, but couldn’t help making some errors and assumptions. This has had many effects on the cosmic level, with Reed’s scientific mind ensuring that every cosmic force has a specific opposite entity, even seemingly creating new gods of science and magic.
However, Reed is an adventurer at heart, and the idea of understanding the entire multiverse was something he couldn’t abide. He therefore subconsciously created the Grail – an object which can prematurely end the multiverse and begin the next cycle of creation, creating an entire new multiverse at the cost of every living thing in the current one. This is how Marvel’s cosmos naturally functions, but it’s usually a natural process, with reality winding down and most life dying off before the next cycle.
It seems that Myrddin plans to destroy the multiverse in an attempt to live on in the next, controlling its formation from the very beginning. While the Avengers are trying to stop him, the Marvel Zombies overrunning Battleworld have them pinned down, and Myrddin’s weapon is charging fast, setting up an epic ending to this era of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
In 1991, The Infinite Gauntlet confronted Marvel fans with the death of half of all life in the galaxy. That’s small fry compared to the threat the Avengers now face, as Reed Richards’ desire for adventure coalesces into the deadliest weapon they’ve ever faced.
Avengers #30 is available now from Marvel Comics.
