Warning: Revenge of the Brood is a direct sequel to stories in X-Men (2021), and Captain Marvel (Kelly Thompson) and Late Arrival Spoilers for those comics are unmarked. It also has spoilers for Devil's Reign
Revenge of the Brood is an 2023 comic book storyline from Marvel Comics, set in the shared Marvel Universe. The story is a Crossover between Gerry Duggan's X-Men (2021) and Captain Marvel (Kelly Thompson). It also serves as the Grand Finale of Thompson's Fresh Start-era run on Carol's book.
On the eve of Empyre, the New Mutants accidentally came into possession of a Brood King Egg, an ancient Kree-engineered bioweapon meant to give Hala a means of artificially controlling the Brood Hives and directing them towards their enemies — like the Shi'ar Imperium.
The ensuing cosmic free-for-all between the New Mutants, the X-Men, the Starjammers, and the modern Brood, Shi'ar, and Kree ultimately ended with the MacGuffin being consumed by Brood Mutant Broo. This simple act effectively brought the Brood Hives under Krakoa's de facto control vis-à-vis Broo.
Since then, Broo has kept his people off the board, ensuring they haven't been a threat to the X-Men or major players in the post-Empyre interstellar astropolitical status quo. Now, however, that 'recess' is finally, if inevitably, coming to an end.
Broo now finds himself beset by rogue Brood factions not under his control and the X-Men are his only hope. But the Mutants aren't the only Earth heroes with skin in this particular game. During their very first confrontation with the Brood years ago, the X-Men teamed up with Carol Danvers and the incident had lasting repercussions on her life and powers.
Now, Carol must once again team-up with the Mutants to take care of old business with the Hives — who likewise have their own scores to settle with Captain Marvel...
- Prelude:
- X-Men (vol. 6) #18
- Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #43-45
- Main Event:
- X-Men (vol. 6) #19-21
- Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #46-49
Revenge of the Brood provides examples of the following tropes:
- All According to Plan: X-Men #20 has Nightmare reveal that he's banking on the X-Men saving as many people as they can, as the people they're saving are already infected by the Brood and will help spread them across the stars, especially if they gain access to Krakoan gates.
- Angst Nuke: After the Brood kill Binary Carol is so seething with grief that she assumes her energized form seen in the alternate future of Captain Marvel: The End and starts building power to detonate and obliterate them all. She has to be talked down because her energy build-up is unstable and could implode into a black hole, consuming her and all her allies before they can get away.
- Bait-and-Switch: Just as Jean tells her team that they can't let the Brood gain access to Krakoan gates, we cut back to Krakoa, where Sage is telling Emma that the latter won't believe the monsters that just came through a Krakoan gate. However, it immediately reveals that Sage wasn't referring to the Brood, but to Typhoid Mary and Wilson Fisk, both of whom are claiming Krakoan citizenship.
- Big Bad: The person behind the Brood attacking once again is revealed in X-Men issue #20 to be Nightmare
- The Bus Came Back:
- Broo returns for the first time in over 2 years since the height of the Jonathan Hickman era (and barring a cameo in the Enter the Phoenix arc during Jason Aaron's Avengers).
- In X-Men #20 Wilson Fisk and Typhoid Mary return for the first time since the conclusion of Devil's Reign.
- Cooldown Hug: Done literally when Rogue successfully talks Carol down from an also literal meltdown, consensually absorbing some energy to help her power down safely.
- Crossover: Between Gerry Duggan's X-Men and Kelly Thompson's Captain Marvel.
- Didn't Think This Through: During a meeting between Krakoa's War Captains on the Brood, Psylocke and Magik accuse Bishop of this when he suggests creating a mindless clone of Wanda that could be controlled by a telepath and have the clone say "No More Brood.", as they think his idea is an incredibly bad one.
- Grand Finale: For Kelly Thompson's Fresh Start-era run on Captain Marvel.
- Internal Reveal: In Captain Marvel #46, Psylocke learns (from reading Carol's thoughts) of the events of The New World (and how she and Forge hooked up in this possible future and had a daughter).
- It's Personal:
- Carol Danvers has personal, ugly history with the Hives. It's reciprocated.
- Nightmare is pulling off all of this because Jean Grey dared to hit him all the way back in X-Men #4.
- While Cyclops makes a point about the Brood being an existential threat, a lot of his rage is likely coming from them almost killing his father.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: The Brood briefly trap the heroes in one when they go to free Binary and Rogue.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: The Brood that are the villains of the story are a fraction of the hive freed from Broo's control by Nightmare.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Emma's feelings on having Typhoid Mary and Wilson Fisk on Krakoa.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Forge's use of Time Travel to get a Krakoan Gate aboard Knowhere. It's implied this might end up being a bigger problem for the X-Men than the resurgent Brood.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The X-Men and Carol's team are both dealing with the resurgent Brood threat on their respective ends. According to solicitations, the twin narratives won't converge until Captain Marvel #49.
- Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": Averted. Cyclops is upfront about wanting to genocide the Brood for what they've done in front of Jean and Broo, both of whom disapprove.
