Conan the Barbarian Makes His Marvel Universe Debut

After years being featured in Dark Horse comics, Conan the Barbarian is now making his Marvel Universe debut. The milestone event occurs as a surprise cliffhanger ending — quite possibly one of the best we’ve seen in a while — to Avengers: No Road Home #5, which is out now.

To answer the obvious question: yes, Conan has been part of his own line at Marvel for a minute, but this is his first appearance outside said line and in regular Marvel continuity. The main thrust of the issue deals with Hercules, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Spectrum, and Voyager all trying to battle Nyx, Goddess of Night, and her children. Nyx has already destroyed Hercules’ family of Greek gods and blinded Scarlet Witch, but over the course of the issue Wanda shows a great combination of hero/former-villain skills. With some misdirection and help from her friends, Scarlet Witch tricks Nyx into giving up a shard of her soul, thereby keeping ultimate power out of the Goddess of Night’s hands. Trusting in her teammate, Wanda knows Voyager will teleport her away with the shard — and Voyager does just that!

However, Wanda goes from the proverbial frying pan into the fire, as Voyager’s rushed teleporting lands Wanda in a very precarious place: a desert wasteland setting, where some Zamoran ravagers happen about the injured Scarlet Witch, ready to savagely murder her. Luckily, Scarlet Witch gets a last-minute save from none other than Conan, who assures her that “This Cimmerian has enough strength for us both.”

Marvel Comics fans already know that Conan the Barbarian will be a part of the upcoming Savage Avengers team, after that book is spun out of the events of this No Road Home storyline. Where is this place Scarlet Witch ends up in with Conan? And how is it related to the main Marvel 616 Universe? These are now the two biggest questions filling the gap between No Road Home and Savage Avengers. Still, this was an exciting way to see Conan interact with Marvel Comics characters in canon, and the image of the Cimmerian hero holding Scarlet Witch is pretty classic piece of iconography. It’s hard not to get all tingly when you see it.

Now that Conan is here, this is what you can expect to see when the Cimmerian warrior hits the pages of Savage Avengers, according to Marvel:

“Following his critically acclaimed and sold-out SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN series, writer Gerry Duggan, along with his best-selling INFINITY WARS artist Mike Deodato, will embark on a new and epic adventure this May in Marvel’s all-new series SAVAGE AVENGERS! Spinning out of the events of AVENGERS: NO ROAD HOME, SAVAGE AVENGERS will find Conan fighting alongside an “unsanctioned team of heroes” in the Marvel Universe – including Wolverine, Venom, Punisher, Elektra, and Brother Voodoo!”

“SAVAGE AVENGERS is just what it says on the label–it’s all of the biggest badasses of the Marvel Universe brought together uneasily in one explosive series–and with Conan as a wild card,” SVP and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort told Marvel.com. “It’s big, it’s brash, it’s explosive, it never slows down–the only scenes in SAVAGE AVENGERS that involve a table is when somebody is being thrown through one.”

Avengers: No Road Home #5 is now out. Savage Avengers arrives in May.

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