The upcoming Dark Ages limited series will bring a brand new villain to the Marvel universe: Unmaker. The colossal behemoth towers over everything around it, yet not much has been revealed. Thus far, all fans have to go on is an image, a name, and a synopsis that doesn’t reveal a lot about what or who this foe is.
The Marvel universe is full of villains and foes whom its heroes have faced on numerous occasions. Thanos and Galactus are some of Marvel’s biggest baddies, but this new foe is something unseen thus far. The most recent threat to Earth was Knull, god of the symbiotes, within the King in Black event. However, Dark Ages is going to be a limited series outside of continuity and this foe won’t have any continuity limitations preventing it from killing everyone or destroying everything.
Marvel’s Dark Ages will be six issues long, written by Tom Taylor with art by Iban Coello. Iron Man, Spider-Man, Vision, Apocalypse, and Miles Morales have all received new looks to go with their dark new era, though the images fail to present what the threat actually is. All they detail within the background is destruction. Beyond these images and a synopsis, the only other details to go on are the following image of a massive entity labeled simply as “Unmaker” from Marvel and a new uncolored page released by Bleeding Cool.
This September, New York Times best-selling writer Tom Taylor (X-MEN: RED, ALL-NEW WOLVERINE) will team up with Marvel’s Stormbreaker artist Iban Coello (VENOM, BLACK KNIGHT: CURSE OF THE EBONY BLADE) for a thrilling new vision of the Marvel Universe in DARK AGES. Last week, a series of mysterious teasers gave fans their first glimpse at what becomes of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Miles Morales after the world descends into darkness. Now, see more of what’s in store when the lights go out forever in three new teasers that include transformations for Apocalypse and Vision as well as your first look at a strange new threat…
The first image of Unmaker continues the theme of destruction and darkness. The name will likely be fitting if this gigantic machine or armored behemoth succeeds at unmaking the things that have been developed over hundreds of years, bonds between heroes forged, and life as it is known before “the lights went out.” Unmaker could be a completely new foe of a variety that fans have never seen before. If so, there isn’t a lot that can be surmised about it and only time – and the eventual release – will reveal exactly what Marvel’s greatest heroes will be facing.
Contrarily, if this is not a completely new foe, there aren’t very many things it could be. It lacks the standard visual characteristics of a Sentinel and only one mutant has been seen in promotional materials. However, with The Eternals set to make their MCU debut soon, it is very likely that this could be a Celestial. After all, the Watcher has been keeping an eye open for this threat and the Watchers are often locating extraterrestrial and universal threats – not necessarily ones local to Earth unless they have a broader potential reach. Celestials are usually depicted as immense, powerful beings within armor. That description would certainly fit the bill in this case, though this may be one that is new. There are already known Celestials, and in King in Black, it’s revealed that Knull killed three. While this story takes place outside of continuity, that information means that Celestials are known to be active in the universe. This is supported by the presence of the Living Tribunal in the preview page. The Living Tribunal is an ancient cosmic entity and it fighting Unmaker suggests that it is a major cosmic threat worth the attention of some of the most powerful beings in Marvel’s universe.
The synopsis also mentions a threat older than Earth itself. This would also support the idea of it being a Celestial, since they have existed long enough to destroy a universe that existed before the present one. Celestials have had titles attached to their names like Progenitor, Tester, and Prober, so it doesn’t seem like too much of a reach to suggest that the Unmaker could very well be a Celestial name. Regardless of what this foe turns out to be, Marvel’s heroes are going to be in trouble. The world’s about to become a dark place and it’s likely that no one will be prepared for darkness to hit. Marvel’s Dark Ages will reveal the true identity of the Unmaker when it begins in September 2021.
