Black Priests (Marvel)
The Black Priests are a group that feature in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Black Priests were a race of sorcerers that inhabited the Multiverse. (New Avengers v3 #12) Doom revealed that the Black Priests emerged at the same time as the Mapmakers, and he theorized that they were some short of defense reaction by the multiverse to stop the Incursions. (New Avengers v3 #33) They came to be embroiled in a conflict that they had no intention of being a part of leading to them trapped in the battle between Rabum Alal and the Ivory Kings. (New Avengers v3 #27) This saw them destroying Earths in the Multiverse during an Incursion event in order to save one of the universes at threat. (New Avengers v3 #13)
They went about aggressively protecting their arcane Earths. (New Avengers v3 #13)
One day, an Incursion occurred between a world of the Black Priests and the Hidden City. Thus, it was known that the Black Priests came upon the homeworld of Yabbat Ummon Turru. This saw the black robed priests descending from the other world and began massacring the inhabitants of the City. All were killed except for Yabbat, who took the Great Key and unlocked the door of the world library. She managed to flee through a gateway into the Multiverse where she was found by the Great Ladies who were the Black Swans. (New Avengers v3 #5)
The Priests, however, followed the two Swans back to the no space from whence they had come and allegedly destroyed the great library in it. Years later, the Black Priests attacked Earth-23099 during an incursion with another universe and came into conflict with that Earth's Illuminati, whom the Priests were able to destroy with ease. After the fight, the Black Priests learned that they were being watched, and though they never identified who was watching them, the Priests declared that there would be war should anyone, be they Mapmaker, Ivory King or otherwise, attempt to interfere in their schemes. They then destroyed the two Earths without a second thought and left for parts unknown. They were seen again during two different Incursions that the Black Panther of Earth-616 had been monitoring via The Bridge.
During an Incursion, the Black Priests came upon an Earth that was in the grips of a new age of Inhumans where they confronted that world's version of the Illuminati. (New Avengers v3 #13)
The Illuminati of Earth-616 came to encounter the Black Priests during the Incursion events. (New Avengers v3 #2)
After the Illuminati's actions were made public, Doctor Strange joined the Black Priests' cause and became their leader called the Eye after having mastered the way in which they use their power. (New Avengers v3 #27)
Shortly before their encounter, Strange had convinced his fellow Black Priests of the need to attack their enemies, the Ivory Kings and Rabum Alal, so he offered to help the Avengers face them. In order to get to the Ivory Kings, it was needed to get hold of one of their Mapmakers, and in order to get to Rabum Alal, it was needed to get hold of one of his Black Swans. The Avengers would go get one of them, while the Black Priests tried to get the other. (New Avengers v3 #27)
Sunspot's Multiversal Avengers traveled across the Multiverse to find the source of its decay and found the base of the Black Priests. Both sides fought each other until Doctor Strange revealed himself and stopped the conflict. Back in his Sanctum, Stephen explained that the true intention of the Black Priests was to save the Multiverse, hoping that destroying enough Earths would stabilize the Multiverse and stop the early death of everything. (New Avengers v3 #27)
The Black Priests and Dr. Strange arrived at Earth-1903990 to invade the Library of Worlds to capture a Black Swan. While the Black Priests had the upper hand against the Black Swans, one of the sister activated a the Library's defenses, rendering the entire area within a vacuum, making the priests and Strange unable to speak their spells. The Black Priest were wiped out and Strange was taken captive by none other than Doctor Doom who was Rabum Alal. (New Avengers v3 #31) He and the Molecule Man clarified to Strange that they were also trying to save the Multiverse; the true enemies were the Beyonders. (New Avengers v3 #33)
Overview
In appearance, the Black Priests were humanoids that wore robes and ornate masks that were decorated with an eye underneath which they had featureless faces that had a symbol on their foreheads. (New Avengers v3 #13) A Black Priest were not alive in the way of living beings and thought to be more akin to animated things that feigned life. Despite their power, they were shown to be capable of being killed and destroyed. (New Avengers v3 #15) It was said that the Black Priests were the field surgeons of the Multiverse. (New Avengers v3 #27) They did not have a single mind where they worked collectively consisting of tens of thousands of minds that were unfathomable. (New Avengers v3 #13)
It was said that they were creatures of magic rather than science though they found any such distinction to be amusing. (New Avengers v3 #13) Through words, they capable of manipulating the base code of everything whereby they re-ordered the sequencing of matter. This was achieved by them building words in order to generate their effect. Individually, each priest contained a word where the addition of symbols changed the meaning behind it. In code-breaking terms, it was said to be akin to a replacement cipher. (New Avengers v3 #27)
As they could kill with a word, the main means of defeating them was to kill them before they could utter them. (New Avengers v3 #27)
It was said that the Black Priests travelled through space and time across the Multiverse. They were able to sense that they were watched by a Mirror, which was the Illuminati's Bridge, while not able to discern the identity of those watchers. They also indicated that they were able to sense the witnessing of Mapmakers and of Ivory Kings. (New Avengers v3 #13)
They resided within the nothing space of destroyed universes where they maintained the Temple of the Black Priests. (New Avengers v3 #27)
Members
- Doctor Strange : Doctor Stephen Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth-616 who came upon the Black Priests and became their leader where he was known as the Eye with him helping during in the Incursion crisis. (New Avengers v3 #27)
Notes
- The Black Priests were created by Jonathan Hickman and Simone Bianchi where they made their first appearance in New Avengers v3 #2 (January, 2013).
Appearances
- New Avengers v3: (2013)
External Links
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