The Avengers are Waiting to Strike the X-Men’s Worst Enemies

One of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is keeping the Avengers from saving the X-Men.

From within their new sentient, orbiting base known as the Impossible City, the eponymous heroes of Avengers #11 struggle to come up with their next course of attack in regards to the near-unstoppable threat of the Ashen Combine. Though currently imprisoned, the Ashen Combine is still a grave concern to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Unfortunately for them, so is Orchis, the anti-mutant fascists who have established a stranglehold over nearly the entire world. While Carol Danvers is ready to fight, Tony Stark is quick to remind her that he is the one calling the shots for now, and he has no plans on launching an attack just yet.

Written by JED MACKAY Art by IVAN FIORELLI Colorist FEDERICO BLEE Design by CARLOS LAO Letterer VC’s CORY PETIT Cover by STUART IMMONEN Variant Cover Artists CORY SMITH, RACHELLE ROSENBERG, EMA LUPACCHINO, DAVID CURIEL, MARK BROOKS, MARTÍN CÓCCOLO and JESUS ABURTOV

Introduced in 2019’s House of X #1 by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Pepe Larraz, the organization known as Orchis was founded due to the work of AIM agent Alia Gregor, whose early essay written shortly after the events of M-Day and the Decimation pointed toward the supposed threat that would be posed by mutantkind ever forming an independent nation of their own. Formed from the ranks of various governments and independent agencies, Orchis has waged war against mutantkind both from the shadows and in the open.

Orchis was behind the attack on the Hellfire Gala, which claimed the lives of hundreds if not thousands of mutants and largely displaced the rest of their population. Since then, Orchis have become a global superpower in their own right, with their members claiming positions within numerous world governments and other espionage organizations. Orchis has also become a sore spot for Tony Stark, who has lost control of his company and technologies to one of the group’s leaders, the villainous Fei Long.

While the Avengers have been hard-pressed to take any decisive action against Orchis, they have also been caught up in their own set of dire circumstances. This is largely thanks to the ongoing battle between Kang the Conqueror and the mysterious Myrddin, an enigmatic foe who commands his own army of superpowered knights. Both are in search of the fabled Missing Moment, a key point in time that has so far eluded both time-travelers, yet which is said to be defining for the entirety of the Marvel Universe.

Avengers #11 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics