Annihilation: Scourge is a Marvel Comics crossover story that ran from November 2019 to December 2019. Written by Matthew Rosenberg, the series is a sequel to the Marvel stories, Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest.
This comic, along with a concurrent Marvel 2099 event tested a new event format for the company which included an introduction, four one-shots focusing on each of the major characters, and a final "Omega" issue. Years after the Cancerverse's failed invasion of the Marvel Universe, the many angled ones launch a surprise attack in the Negative Zone, forming an alliance with the Sentry, whose Void persona had managed to separate from Bob Reynolds and take full control of his near limitless power. A handful of heroes band including Nova, the Fantastic Four, and the Silver Surfer band together to repel this invasion that infects the Negative Zone at a rapid rate before it could launch a second invasion of the main universe.
Tie-Ins
- Annihilation: Scourge Alpha — Written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art by Juanan Ramirez.
- Annihilation — Scourge: Nova — Richard Rider teams up with his enemy, Annihilus. Written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art by Ibraim Roberson.
- Annihilation — Scourge: Silver Surfer — The Silver Surfer returns in time to witness the Scourge's atrocities and must find a way to save the innocents around him. Written by Dan Abnett, with art by Paul Davidson.
- Annihilation: Scourge — Beta Ray Bill — Beta Ray Bill combats the Scourge and the Annihilation Wave. Written by Michael Moreci, with art by Alberto Albuquerque.
- Annihilation: Scourge — Fantastic Four — Marvel's First Family tries to assist as the Scourge from consuming all. Written by Christos Gage, art by Diego Olortegui.
- Annihilation: Scourge — Omega — There is no room for heroes in the face of the Scourge, only survival. Written by Matthew Rosenberg, art by Manuel Gracia.
Annihilation: Scourge provides examples of:
- Drowning My Sorrows: Scourge opens with Nova doing this after the new Nova Corp was all but completely annihilated once more by the Universal Church of Truth. Seeing Annihilus show up did not help things.
- I Choose to Stay: At the end of ''Annihilation: Scourge", The Sentry chooses to remain in the Negative Zone to contemplate the universe he almost destroyed. Understandably, no one who lives there is all too enthused, but he's too powerful to kick out.
- Reality-Breaking Paradox: After The Sentry's merger with the Void destabilizes in Agents of Wakanda, he goes to the Fantastic Four to get it purged — kickstarting the events of the story, when the Void separating from Reynolds rips open a hole in space-time to the Cancerverse.
- Sharing a Body: At the end of Annihilation - Scourge, The Sentry re-merges with the Void and they end up alternating control of their shared body.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Despite pretty much every other big league cosmic hero taking part in repelling the Cancerverse, the Guardians of the Galaxy are nowhere to be seen. Nova later confirmed that he actively kept them out of the conflict so that the universe would still have someone to protect it whether it's as a final line of defense if they others fail or while the other heroes recover if they succeed.
