Marvel’s ‘Infinity Wars’ Opens With the Death of a Major Villain

Marvel Comics today kicked off its next big event in Infinity Wars: Prime. Infinity Wars spiritual successor to Marvel’s Infinity trilogy and a direct follow-up to Infinity Countdown. The event series introduces a new villain named Requiem and the mysterious foe makes quite the statement in this issue.

SPOILERS for Infinity Wars: Prime by Gerry Duggan, Mike Deodato, and Frank Martin follow.

After seemingly being destroyed, the Infinity Stones have reappeared in the Marvel Universe. Already, they have begun shaping the events taking place in the Earth-616 timeline. Wolverine, who had been dead, returned to the land of the living and came to possess the Space Stone, keeping it out of Loki’s hands. Meanwhile, a war raged in the cosmos over the Power Stone.

Eventually, through the events that took place in Infinity Countdown, the Infinity Stones came to be safeguarded by a makeshift new Infinity Watch. Captain Marvel holds the Reality Stone. The small-time criminal Turk Barrett has the Mind Stone. Doctor Strange is secretly in possession of the Time Stone. Drax remains the guardian of the Power Stone. Wolverine passed the Space Stone along to Black Widow. Adam Warlock took possession of the Soul Stone from Ultron.

Meanwhile, the mysterious Requiem has been preparing in the shadows. Little is known about this new character. She is apparently a woman with a reputation that is known throughout the multiverse, though not in the Earth-616 timeline. She has been described as an agent of death.

Where the Infinity Stones are involved, Thanos is usually not far removed. Thanos recently took an unexpected trip to his own future. Though he had won and ruled the galaxy, which was almost completely devoid of all life, he was disappointed to find that his older self, in victory, had become so desperate for Death’s embrace as to beg for it. Thanos returned to his own time, determined to change his fate. As he left his future behind, the timeline he had visited faded away.

Thanos has been busy since then. In addition to crashing an Asgardian wedding, Thanos conquered the Chitauri. From Chitauri Prime, Thanos was plotting to take the Infinity Stones for himself once more to again gain back the unlimited power he once wielded during the events of The Infinity Gauntlet.

Just as he was giving a galvanizing speech to his Chitauri horde, Requiem made herself known. Thanos indicated that he recognized Requiem, a relationship that will be explored further in the upcoming Thanos Legacy one-shot in September. Requiem wasted little time in doing what she came to do. She swings her broadsword and, in one quick cut, decapitates Thanos’ head from his body.

As Thanos’ head rolls to the floor, his final thoughts are that he finally knows the emptiness of the void and that, with his death, he has averted becoming the pitiful self that he saw during his trip to his own future.

By rights, the Chitauri are now Requiem’s to command, but she shows no interest in becoming a conqueror. Instead, she gasses the entire horde, seemingly wiping out the race.

The extent of Requiem’s plans remains unclear, but anyone who can kill the Mad Titan with a single blow is surely someone to be feared.

Infinity Wars: Prime is on sale now.