Warning: potential spoilers for Nightcrawlers #1-3!As the cosmic threat of the Sins of Sinister looms over the Marvel Universe, the cover for the third and final issue of Nightcrawlers reveals that 1,000 years into the future the Great Devourer Galactus will become Marvel’s most powerful Ghost Rider of all time.
The villainous geneticist Mister Sinister has been planning the Sins of Sinister event for years, since before the X-Men’s current Krakoan Age even began. Having gained the ability to restart the timeline at will with knowledge of the ‘future,’ Sinister is poised to take over the Marvel Universe. Sins of Sinister will play out over 1000 years, showing the Sinister’s plans playh out 10, 100, and 1000 years in the future. In an exclusive preview shared by AIPT, it appears that by year one thousand, the terrifying entity Galactus will have been transformed into a cosmic Spirit of Vengeance.
Galactus Has A Fiery Hunger… For Vengeance
Nightcrawlers – written by Si Spurrier with art by Alessandro Vitti – is a 3-issue miniseries spinning out of Spurrier’s Legion of X that will follow “Wagnerine,” a chimera mutant created by Sinister combining the mutant DNA and abilities of Nightcrawler and Laura Kinney’s Wolverine. Solicits for the three issues of Nightcrawlers has revealed that Wagnerine will lead a team of brainwashed hybrids who are all chimeras of Nightcrawler and another powerful mutant, as they operate as Sinister’s private assassin league the Legion of the Night. However, it seems that Mother Righteous, a mysterious god-like astral being from Legion of X, is attempting to deprogram the League of the Night to join a fight against Sinister, which is where Galactus could come in. The issue’s synopsis reads:
LISTEN TO MOTHER! Now that we know who she truly is, it’s time to taste the horrific ambitions lurking in the heart of MOTHER RIGHTEOUS… The galaxy burns… The pieces are in place… The Storm System rages… The NIGHTKIN make a last, lethal leap…and the GREAT DEVOURER hungers only for vengeance. The experiment is over. The cosmic laboratory is on fire. At last, the Sinister Galaxy will feel the wrath of one seriously baaaad mother…
The synopsis for Nightcrawlers #2 reveals that Wagnerine and her team of “holy thieves” are stealing things from around the Marvel Universe to build “the sacred weapon,” which could very well turn out to be Ghost Rider Galactus. Leinil Francis Yu’s gorgeous cover for Nightcrawlers #3 displays Mother Righteous in front of a flaming skull Galactus, appearing to potentially be a Herald of the new Great Devourer, who apparently “hungers only for vengeance.” The X-Men have recently gained their own Ghost Rider in the form of Banshee, suggesting where Mother Righteous might get the raw ingredients to turn Galactus into a Spirit of Vengeance.
Mother Righteous Is Turning Galactus into a Weapon
Some fans have theorized that Mother Righteous is the yet-unrevealed fourth Mister Sinister clone, and the synopsis for Nightcrawlers #3 seems to back this up, hinting her true identity has relevance to the event. However, this Sinister might be fighting against the villainous Sinister clones, attempting to save the Marvel Universe from his sins by deploying the terrifying Ghost Rider Galactus against him and his allies.
Galactus was brutally killed by Thor in 2020’s “Herald of Thunder” story, but was recently resurrected by all of his past heralds to be used as a weapon in The Reckoning War, which eventually restored Galactus to full power and left his hunger finally satiated. It will be fascinating to see what happens to Galactus to cause him to go from being cured of his hunger to being so hungry for vengeance that he transforms into a cosmic Spirit of Vengeance. The Ghost Rider’s infamous “Penance Stare” is terrifying enough on a regular human scale, so it’s hard to even imagine the horror of Galactus using it while imbued with a Spirit of Vengeance, but hopefully the true power of the vengeful Great Devourer will be used to save the universe during the upcoming Sins of Sinister.
Nightcrawlers #3 from Marvel Comics debuts in stores on April 19, 2023.
