Warning: Contest of Chaos is a direct sequel to events in Darkhold, X-Men: The Trial of Magneto, Midnight Suns (2022), and Scarlet Witch (2023), so Late Arrival Spoilers for those comics may be unmarked on this page.
Contest of Chaos is a 2023 storyline from Marvel Comics, a crossover set in the shared Marvel Universe. It is written by Stephanie Phillips (and with a prelude written by Steve Orlando).
The event picks up the now recently-rejuvenated Agatha Harkness' storyline as she attempts to forge a new Darkhold following the original tome's recent destruction. Her quest will pit her not only against her former pupil Wanda Maximoff, but trigger a chaotic contest that will corrupt the entire Marvel hero community.
Contest of Chaos issues
- Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) Annual #1
- Spider-Man Annual (2023) #1
- Iron Man Annual (2023) #1
- Fantastic Four Annual (2023) #1
- Spider-Gwen Annual (2023) #1
- Venom Annual (2023) #1
- X-Men Annual (2023) #1
- Avengers Annual (2023) #1
Contest of Chaos provides examples of::
- Arc Welding: The Contest will pick up and merge threads from Ethan Sacks' Midnight Suns limited series and Steve Orlando's Darkhold and current Scarlet Witch run.
- Big Bad: Agatha Harkness.
- Crossover: Technically, it is a crossover storyline, although it's more of a Cross Through (akin to 2021's Infinite Destinies) than a traditional Crisis Crossover.
- Imperfect Ritual: Agatha's ritual to reforge the Darkhold gets interrupted before it can be completed but succeeds enough that a new Darkhold is manifested in the form of a child that sees Agatha as its mother in a way.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Agatha weaponizes this as part of her plan. She conjures a macguffin, draws two heroes to it, then forces them to fight over it.
- Spinoff: The crossover spins out of the events of Ethan Sacks' Midnight Suns and Steve Orlando's Scarlet Witch.
- Kansas City Shuffle: In the Scarlet Witch prelude, Agatha spends her visit to Wanda seemingly testing her magical abilities and personal focus, when in reality she slipped a piece of herself past Wanda's defences while Wanda was responding to the more obvious threat so that Agatha could claim a piece of Chthon for herself.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: In the Scarlet Witch prelude, Agatha Harkness sneaks Brood eggs into Wanda's tea as an object lesson of the risk she took on containing Chthon within herself. After settling the dispute from that, it turns out this was a feint to cover her slipping in a piece of her own soul so Agatha could get to Chthon within and steal his heart.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: Agatha is trying to create a new Darkhold (following the destruction of the original tome at Wanda's hands during Steve Orlando's Darkhold).
- Tournament Arc: Agatha is holding the contest as part of her plan to harness the Chaos Magic needed to reforge the Darkhold).
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Wanda's absorption of Chthon during Steve Orlando's Darkhold, which was never followed up on (likely due to Leah Williams' X-Men: The Trial of Magneto) is finally being (partially) resolved.
