Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Blood Hunt #4! The New York City skyline is an utterly iconic image, both in the real world and in the Marvel Universe, especially with the addition of the Avengers Tower in regard to the latter. However, the Avengers Tower isn’t the only addition to NYC in Marvel Comics, as the City That Never Sleeps just got a terrifying new landmark, one that stands as a pillar of perhaps the greatest evil ever to plague this world: vampires.

In Blood Hunt #4 by Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz, Blade (who’s secretly been replaced by a mysterious, dark entity) and his squad of superhuman vampires called Bloodcoven have successfully blotted out the sun with Darkforce Energy, and have unleashed countless vampires upon the human population. And now, Blade and his Bloodcoven have secured a fortress that they’ve erected in the heart of New York City, forever altering that iconic skyline in the darkest way possible.

This fortress is called the Temple of the First Blasphemy, and it was previously located in Atlantis. Blade and his Bloodcoven transport the Temple to New York City, from which they will control the many legions of vampires spread out all over the globe. Among those vampires are some of Marvel’s greatest superheroes, including Black Panther and the body of Doctor Strange – and they are assuredly the first of many heroes to fall to vampirism.

Blade’s Temple of the First Blasphemy is a Dark Reflection of the Avengers Tower

The Avengers Tower stood as a reminder to the citizens of New York City – and, indeed, the planet – that the world was under the protection of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Anytime someone glanced at the building from the street, or saw it along the NYC skyline from afar, they knew they were safe. While the building itself was just a building, one from which the Avengers rarely even operated, it stood as a pillar of hope for the entire planet.

Everything that is good about Avengers Tower and what it represents in the world is exactly why the Temple of the First Blasphemy is the exact opposite. If the Temple is a pillar of anything, it’s one of doom. It stands as a grim reminder that the inhabitants of Planet Earth will never see the sun again, and are destined to live the rest of their lives as vampire prey – lives of perpetual fear and violence.

The Avengers Tower’s Dark Opposite Represents the Avengers’ Greatest Defeat

Blood Hunt #1 by Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz

Not only does the Temple represent the opposite of what the Avengers Tower stood for, but it’s also something of a monument to the vampires’ greatest victory, and the Avengers’ greatest defeat. In the first issue of this Marvel Comics event, Bloodcoven viciously took down the Avengers after ambushing them within their own headquarters, the Impossible City. Even the likes of god-tier Avengers like Thor, Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel were defeated by the superhuman vampires, falling under the power of the undead just as the world soon would under the shadow of the Temple of the First Blasphemy.

Hopefully, the Avengers will rally following their gruesome defeat, and will topple the Temple of the First Blasphemy as they prove that everything it represents was never meant to last, and that good will still triumph in the face of seemingly insurmountable evil. However, at the moment, the vampires have effectively taken over the world, which is something everyone on Earth is reminded of when they look upon the sinister Temple of the First Blasphemy, as it stands as the dark opposite of Avengers Tower.

Blood Hunt #4 by Marvel Comics is available June 26, 2024.