The Avengers and Fantastic Four are arguably the two most important superhero teams in Marvel Comics. The Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creations feature some of the best characters and stories that have ever been written in comics. The team’s next adventure will see the two groups teaming up against one of their biggest threats yet: the Kree and Skrull empire.
Marvel has been teasing the upcoming EMPYRE event for the last few weeks. The event has been described as “Earth-Shattering” in teasers with plenty of hints the Kree and Skrull’s were going to be featured heavily in the book. Now, Marvel has unveiled their plans for EMPYRE in a full teaser announcement on Monday.
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Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski announced Empyre will be written by Al Ewing (Immortal Hulk) and Dan Slott (Fantastic Four) with art by Valerio Chiti (Tony Stark: Iron Man) and released on April. 2020. Cebulski confirmed the book will feature The Avengers and Fantastic Four teaming up against the Kree and the Skrulls. Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort said the event grows out of some of the key moments in Marvel history, including the Kree-Skrull War, the origin of the Young Avengers, and the Celestial Madonna Saga. Cebulski and Brevoort hyped the book as a “true interstellar epic,” and “one of the most incredible science-fiction sagas Marvel has ever put to page.”
Here’s the full synopsis from Marvel’s press release.
Just last week, INCOMING #1 planted the seeds for the earth-shattering event of 2020, EMPYRE! In this spectacular one-shot, readers witnessed the Kree and the Skrull unite under a new Emperor and set course for Earth. With a massive war fleet approaching, the Avengers and Fantastic Four team up for 2020 in April’s EMPYRE but will their combined strength be enough to save the day? Rooted in stories spanning throughout Marvel’s 80-year history, the massive build up to this story will only be rivaled by the enormous impact it has on the future of the Marvel Universe!
Marvel’s Incoming set the stage for Empyre by setting up the Kree and Skrull working together to invade Earth under Dorrek VIII the “King of Space” who brought the two empires together. Making matters more complicated, Dorrek VIII is Teddy Altman aka Hulkling – the former Young Avenger who has plenty of former allies on Earth. It’s unclear how Hulking was convinced to become the new king of the Kree/Skrull empire, but he’s clearly not messing around. It’s a sharp turn for the character, who was last seen in Incoming saying goodbye to his boyfriend Wiccan before flying off and joining the Skrull and Kree.
The Kree and Skrull have a long, tenuous relationship, so to see them working together is something the Avengers and Earth’s mightiest heroes should be worried about. Hulkling has seemingly banded together long-time enemies to fight against one common threat: Earth. Can The Avengers and Fantastic Four stave off the joint forces? It’s going to be an uphill battle. Marvel’s Empyre is going to have serious repercussions for heroes and villains across the galaxy.
