Where Everyone Ended Up After Marvel’s Imperial Cosmic Shakeup

Marvel Comics promised that its cosmic crossover series Imperial would shake up the entire Marvel Cosmic Universe and set things up for future storylines. That is precisely what happened, though its success as a story varies depending on readers’ opinions of certain characters’ actions. This was a series that saw two longtime Marvel heroes make some very questionable decisions, and other heroes take actions that almost seem selfish to better themselves. However, it was all done to try to create a peace that hasn’t existed for ages. It delves a little into political intrigue, where heroes and villains have no meaning because, in this world, everyone is fighting for what serves them best, save for one specific hero who sees the hypocrisy in these final decisions.

With the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe looking a lot like Game of Thrones in space, here is where all the major parties ended up by the end of the series.

10) The Galactic Union

The final decision made by many of the parties battling each other in the Imperial series was to form a new Galactic Empire called the Galactic Union. This happened after the Galactic Council fell, and this is what rose in its place to ensure peace among most alien races. Of course, this mentions that it includes “most” of the alien races because many others refused to take part, knowing the real reasons behind the Galactic Union, and how this was all manipulated by one man, with others becoming complicit after the fact. However, two alien races didn’t join this new governing organization. The Shi’ar wanted nothing to do with it, and the Galactic Union rejected the Skrulls outright.

9) The Shi’ar

The Shi’ar’s refusal to take part stems from two reasons. While the Shi’ar were notably absent from the final issue, Peter Quill revealed the reason, saying they were defectors who wanted to “go it alone, fight everyone.” The first big reason is that there was a coup, with Xandra being captured early in Imperial, only for her parents, Professor X and Lilandra, to show up to save her. This puts them in a spot where the Galactic Union means little as they try to recapture their kingdom after the coup, and Lilandra reforms her Exiles to continue this storyline after Imperial.

8) The Kree

The Kree are in the toughest spot of anyone after Imperial. They were part of the Kree-Skrull Alliance, ruled by Hulkling, the son of Captain Mar-Vell and a Skrull princess. However, that alliance has died as the Kree and Skrulls allowed the deception by Black Bolt and Maximus to tear them apart. That said, the Kree Alliance is not on the same page as the Galactic Union because they refuse to allow Black Bolt to take over as their ruler as he wishes. Instead, there is a Messianic Kree from another universe who is coming (maybe Grant Morrison’s Marvel Boy?), and there are also two mysterious Vell twins who might have a say in their race’s future and who might stand in Black Bolt’s way.

7) The Skrulls

The Skrulls are the second group, after the Shi’ar, not part of the Galactic Union. They took the breakup of the Kree-Skrull Empire the hardest, and the Galactic Union rejected the Skrull membership, making them a dangerous enemy. Super Skrull has even used Black Bolt’s subterfuge that Veranke is still alive to convince the Skrulls to follow the old religions that made them so dangerous for years. With Super Skrull keeping this lie to himself, he has his race ready to die for their cause. There was also one point in the final Imperial issue where he made it clear Hulkling would die if he ever returned to them.

6) Hulkling & Wiccan

This leads to Hulkling and Wiccan. They were left to die, betrayed by the Skrulls and Kree they had served loyally as their emperor and his consort. Wiccan almost died keeping them alive in space, and Hulkling saw that he no longer had an alliance to lead. Luckily for them, an old friend showed up again to get them to safety, just as America Chavez arrived to rescue the two. The best part of Imperial for Hulkling and Wiccan is that it brings them back to Earth, where they can take on a bigger role in the main Marvel Comics universe. They will next appear in Wiccan: Witches’ Road, a five-issue miniseries.

5) The Hulks

Hulk, She-Hulk, and Amadeus Cho were all brought into the story when Hulk’s son was murdered while serving as the ruler of Sakaar. However, Hulk and Cho left She-Hulk on Sakaar to keep the peace there, but they didn’t return when they said they would, leaving her in a very challenging situation with a restless populace. By the end of Imperial, Hulk and Cho were ready to go when they got a message from She-Hulk, using one of Hulk’s classic lines. She-Hulk won’t be leaving Sakaar for a while, as this story continues in Planet She-Hulk.

4) Star-Lord

Star-Lord made one of the toughest decisions at the end of Imperial, and it cost him his best friend. Peter Quill went to learn the truth with Nova and Shuri. They discovered that Black Bolt and Maximus had orchestrated the entire situation, manipulating all the alien races into a bloody war to create the Galactic Union and put Black Bolt one step closer to ruling the Kree. Nova wanted to expose everything, but Peter decided to keep it a secret and rule his kingdom after his dad’s death. Star-Lord is determined to make the Galactic Union work, and Nova left him alone to do so.

3) Nova

Nova is the only person who seemed to care about the truth at the end of Imperial. When Shuri blew him off and said she would stand with her brother in hiding the truth from everyone involved, and then Star-Lord agreed this was for the best, Nova lashed out, blasted Peter Quill in the chest, and said the two were no longer friends at all. Nova is the only person who feels the truth is more important than the peace the Galactic Union brings, since it is all based on lies. His story continues in Nova: Centurian, which finds Nova on his own, a gun-for-hire bearing the weight of knowing the universe’s biggest lie.

2) Intergalactic Black Panther

Black Panther’s decision seemed strange from the start. He has always been one of Marvel Comics’ most honorable heroes, and here he was more interested in deception and manipulation than anything. By the end, he was no longer a hero but was instead a politician. Shuri actually put it best when she said that Wakanda once tried democracy. However, the only form of government that works for them is autocracy, with Black Panther as the only word, and freedom no longer in the equation. Luckily, Black Panther will face some consequences of his own in Black Panther: Intergalactic. Here, he tries to clear his name of the murders Black Bolt and Maximus framed him for, only to find an even larger conspiracy leaving him alone in space.

1) The Inhumans

Finally, the alliance that caused all the problems to start with. The Inhumans Royal Family is who pulled off the assassinations, framed Black Panther, and helped shatter the Kree-Skrull Alliance. Black Bolt and his brother Maximus were the villains of this series, and they got away with it, too. Black Bolt’s entire goal was to take control of the Kree Alliance for himself, and he is now one step closer. The Inhumans also chose to exile Maximus after he helped his brother, which shows the level of deception the entire Royal Family is involved in. When Maximus told Black Bolt he was proud, and his brother smiled, it said everything. In the new Marvel Cosmic Universe, following Imperial, the Inhumans are one of the villains.

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