Assassin's Creed: Uprising is a three arc comic series published by Titan Comics and set in the Assassin's Creed universe, continuing the storylines of Titan Comics' other series and Assassin's Creed: Templars.
It primarily follows present day Assassin Charlotte de la Cruz and Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg as they investigate the Phoenix Project and the Instruments of the First Will, but the second arc also goes into the memories of Charlotte's ancestor in the Spanish Civil War.
As of the end of the series in June 2018, it appears to wrap up the Phoenix Project storyline.
This series provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc:
- The comic concludes the arc of Juno, and the Phoenix Project, but doesn't answer what Juno was doing with the "samples" mentioned in Black Flag, or her searching through the Helix databases in Rogue and Unity.
- Downplayed with Violet and Otso Berg. Violet was shown to be one of the few people Berg trusted, and Violet continued to care for him even as she worked for the Instruments, asking that he be spared and insisting that he could learn to live in Juno’s New World Order. Logically, her betrayal should have rocked him to his core, but when they finally confront each other, Berg barely seems surprised by her betrayal and Violet immediately orders the Instruments to shoot him after exchanging only a few words, in contrast to her previous characterization.
- Action Girl: Galina and Charlotte. My’shell also qualifies.
- Anti Anti Christ: Juno and her Instruments of the First Will believe that Elijah, a Sage and reincarnation of Aita, will help them bring about their New World Order. However, Elijah rebels and helps Charlotte kill Juno.
- Apocalypse Cult: The Instruments of the First Will want to bring about The End of the World as We Know It by returning humanity to Juno’s rule.
- Big Bad Friend: Violet is Berg's right-hand woman and also a top-ranking Instrument.
- Body Horror: "Nobby Clarke" (actually Rufus Grosvenor) conceals most of his lower face with a scarf. It turns out it's because most of his nose and jaw have been removed.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Galina kills Jasdip in the finale.
- Car Cushion: Charlotte survives a thirty-story fall with only a few broken ribs by falling on a car.
- Continuity Nod:
- Otso Berg remains wary of Galina, recalling the last time he fought her in Assassin's Creed Syndicate.
- Jasdip Dhami notes that Otso Berg led the team that killed his sister, Siobhan, in Assassin's Creed: Brahman. He doesn’t bother to avenge her, though, as he’s become a fanatical member of the Instruments of the First Will.
- Arend confronts Berg about the time they fought each other in Rotterdam.
- The Corruptible: Ignacio’s Assassin cell, and any former Assassin or Templar in the Instruments of the First Will in general.
- Creepy Child: Elijah, Desmond’s son
- Damned by Faint Praise: Berg tells Violet he respects the Assassins, before adding he also respects antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Rufus Grosvenor, a high-ranking Templar and Instrument of the First Will, takes the identity of Assassin Nobby Clarke after compelling him to take his own life.
- Disappointed by the Motive: Berg is annoyed when Guernica rants about Juno, dismissing her as ultimately just another demagogue.
- Doesn't Like Guns:
- Kiyoshi personally dislikes using guns.
- Averted with Arend, who constantly gripes about this and is delighted when he eventually gets access to firearms.
- Due to the Dead: Galina snaps at Berg to show respect when they excavate a mass grave in Spain, and buries the guardians of the Koh-i-Noor after they’re killed.
- Enemy Mine:
- Charlotte's cell ends up teaming up with Otso Berg in order to deal with the far more dangerous Instruments of the First Will.
- During the Spanish Civil War, Templar Albert Bolden and Assassin Ignacio Cardona team up in order to battle the latter's corrupted Assassin cell, led by Templar and Instrument of the First Will Rufus Grosvenor.
- Final Solution: Flashbacks show that Juno advocated for exterminating humanity even before a human killed her father.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Discussed by Otso and Arend. Arend offers to forge a truce if they survive, but Otso rejects him out of hand and claims that as soon as the threat is dealt with he’ll go back to treating the Assassins as mortal enemies. As of the end of the series, it remains to be seen if he’ll follow through on his threat.
- Forensic Accounting: André Bolden and My’shell take this approach when investigating the Instruments in issue four.
- Friend or Foe?: A group of child soldiers in the Spanish Civil War mistakenly kills one of Ignacio’s comrades with friendly fire.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: The Assassins team up with the least-evil Templar, Otso Berg, to take down Juno and the Instruments of the First Will.
- Grand Finale: Of the Phoenix Project storyline, though not the franchise as a whole.
- Grand Theft Me: According to the Instruments, this was their plan for Ignacio Cardona, except for the fact he was born male, and was therefore not suitable.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Juno and the Instruments of the First Will have quietly been this for the entire series. When they finally step out of the shadows to strike, they catch both the Templars and the Assassins off guard.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Discussed and defied by My'shell. She has no Assassin ancestors, and, unlike Charlotte, can’t instantly gain skills from the Bleeding Effect even if she wanted to. However, she refuses to allow this to define her and works extremely hard to gain the skills herself and is a formidable fighter as a result.
- Hot Blade: Several Instruments wield these, especially former Assassins who’ve combined Abstergo technology with their Hidden Blades.
- I Choose to Stay: Albert Bolden remains in Spain during their civil war, partly because he can't stand the thought of the Templars working with Hitler, but also to guard the Koh-I-Noor.
- Identity Impersonator: André Bolden dresses as the Black Cross when crashing the Templar Inner Sanctum’s meeting so that they will not suspect Berg, the real Black Cross and a member of the Inner Sanctum present at the meeting.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: How Charlotte kills Juno
- It's Personal: Galina's brutal torture of Guernica is implied to be less about getting information and more about taking revenge on Juno for what she did to Galina and her family in any way she can.
- MacGuffin Guardian: Two elderly Spaniards have been guarding the Koh-i-Noor since childhood, having been trained by Albert Bolden (the Black Cross) and Ignacio Cardona (an Assassin) during the Spanish Civil War.
- Macross Missile Massacre: With T-2 days before Resurrection Day, the Instruments go for broke and launch a missile barrage when trying to procure the Koh-i-Noor.
- Made of Iron: All the characters shake off seemingly major injuries. Berg and My'shell immediately head into combat situations even after suffering concussions.
- Mad Scientist: Gramática isn't a member of the Instruments of the First Will but has absolutely no problem resurrecting a god and bringing about The End of the World as We Know It as long as he's the one doing it.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The Koh-i-Noor diamond
- Misanthrope Supreme: Some members of the Instruments of the First Will express this view, seeing humanity as one of the lowest life forms whose only hope for salvation is to be conquered by Juno.
- Mister Muffykins: Arend and Harlan discuss dogs like these over the phone, in the middle of a mission, much to Kiyoshi’s chagrin. Arend finds them annoying and pathetic at best, while Harlan seems to have willfully misinterpreted his husband’s pity as a desire to own one.
- Multinational Team: The Assassins' cell includes Galina (Russian), Kiyoshi (Japanese), Arend (Dutch), Charlotte, and My'shell (both Americans). They later join forces with Otso Berg, who's Finnish.
- Never Found the Body: Charlotte claims to have died when the First Instruments' base explodes, but it's left ambiguous as to whether or not she actually died inside.
- Nice Girl: My’shell is polite and nice to everyone. Even Galina likes her.
- Only Sane Man: My’shell calls out all the groups, the Instruments, Templars, and even the Assassins for their willingness to engage in “necessary evil” to solve the world’s problems, and eventually leaves in disgust.
- Retcon: Back in The Truth files in II, it was mentioned that Hitler was a member of the Templar Order. Here, it's only said that the Templars are making common cause with him (though there is the wiggle room of the Truth coming from Subject 16, who was nuts, and Nazi Germany not being depicted on-page, but via word-of-mouth from characters.)
- Sequel Hook: Elijah, Desmond Miles' son, manages to escape the Instrument base with the Koh-i-Noor diamond in hand.
- Shout-Out: Guernica's name is an allusion to Pablo Picasso's eponymous Cubist painting.
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: Guernica is revealed to be a member of the Instruments of the First Will in the fourth issue.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Galina when she stops Guernica from slitting Charlotte's throat.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While Charlotte's cell teams up with Otso Berg, no one's exactly happy about the arrangement and both parties make it very clear that they don't like or trust one another.
- Unholy Ground: “Nobby Clarke” massacres an entire village in the ruins of a church during the Spanish Civil War. Decades later, the site retains its disturbing aura and the corpses appear to be freshly killed due to the effects of the Koh-i-Noor.
- Villain Over for Dinner: Otso Berg invites the Assassins out for breakfast when negotiating an Enemy Mine truce.
- We Are Everywhere: The Instruments are everywhere in Abstergo, since their demand for unthinking obedience is right up Juno's alley.
- Worthy Opponent: Jasdip Dhami considers Otso Berg to be this.
