The Empyre event was the culmination of years of narrative build-up, orchestrated primarily by writers Al Ewing and Dan Slott. It was officially announced in December 2019 as Marvel's flagship summer crossover for 2020. The core creative team consisted of Ewing and Slott as co-writers, with Valerio Schiti providing the main event's dynamic and detailed artwork, and Marte Gracia as the colorist. The narrative seeds for Empyre were planted across several key titles. The one-shot Incoming! #1 (December 2019) served as the direct prologue, depicting the murder of a mysterious Kree agent and ending with Teddy Altman, a.k.a. Hulkling, accepting his destiny by taking up the Star-Sword and uniting the Kree and Skrull fleets. This followed threads from Al Ewing's work on titles like The Ultimates and Royals, which explored the deep history of the Kree. The event was designed to be a modern-day sequel to two of the most foundational stories in Marvel cosmic history: the original Kree-Skrull War (1971-1972) by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, and John Buscema, and the Celestial Madonna Saga (1974-1975) by Steve Englehart. Empyre deliberately revisited the Cotati, the plant-like race introduced in Englehart's saga, and reframed them from peaceful victims into the story's primary antagonists. The event's release was notably impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a temporary shutdown of the comic book industry's distribution network. This led to a delay in its launch, with the main series eventually beginning in July 2020 instead of its originally planned April release. Despite the logistical challenges, the event ran through a six-issue core limited series, accompanied by a host of tie-in books, including one-shots and arcs in ongoing titles like Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men.
The in-universe origins of Empyre are a complex tapestry woven from galactic history spanning millennia. The central conflict is a three-way struggle between the Kree, the Skrulls, and the Cotati, with Earth caught in the middle. The story begins eons ago on the planet Hala, when the primordial Skrulls, then a peaceful exploratory race, discovered the planet was home to two sentient species: the warrior-like Kree and the telepathic, plant-based Cotati. To determine which race would represent Hala in their galactic union, the Skrulls proposed a test: they took groups from both species to Earth's uninhabited Moon (specifically the Blue Area of the Moon) and challenged them to create something of lasting worth. The Kree used their advanced engineering skills to build a magnificent, sprawling city. The Cotati, in contrast, cultivated a vibrant, lush garden. When the Skrulls declared the Cotati the victors, the enraged Kree slaughtered them and stole the Skrulls' advanced starship technology. This act of genocide was the inciting incident for the Kree-Skrull War, which would rage for countless generations, transforming both races into militaristic empires. Unbeknownst to the Kree, a small group of Cotati survived, as did their garden on the Moon. This group was later discovered by the Avengers during the Celestial Madonna Saga, where it was prophesied that a Cotati would mate with the “perfect human” to produce the Celestial Messiah, a being named Quoi. This child was born to Mantis of the Avengers and a Cotati who had reanimated the body of the deceased Avenger, the Swordsman. Centuries of war eventually decimated both the Kree and Skrull empires. The Skrull homeworld was devoured by Galactus, and the Kree were ruled by the tyrannical Supreme Intelligence. The key to ending the conflict was Dorrek VIII, also known as Teddy Altman-Kaplan or Hulkling. As the son of the Kree hero Captain Mar-Vell and the Skrull Princess Anelle, he was the only living being with a legitimate claim to both thrones. In the lead-up to Empyre, Kree and Skrull delegations convinced him to embrace his heritage, unite their peoples, and wield the mythical blade Excelsior, the Star-Sword, as the first ruler of the new Kree-Skrull Alliance. His first act as Emperor was to set a course for Earth, seemingly to finish the war his ancestors started. However, his true target was the Cotati, who, under the leadership of his half-brother Quoi, had used the Avengers' unknowing help to establish a base on the Moon, preparing to unleash a “Death Bloom” to exterminate all animal life and reclaim the galaxy for the plant kingdom.
The Empyre storyline has not occurred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and its direct adaptation would require the introduction of numerous core concepts and characters not yet present in the franchise. The MCU has established its own versions of the Kree and the Skrulls, but their history and nature differ significantly from the comics.
For an Empyre-like event to happen in the MCU, the following elements would need to be introduced:
While a future MCU saga could draw thematic inspiration from Empyre—such as a story involving a new generation of heroes dealing with the fallout of the Kree-Skrull conflict—a direct adaptation of the comic's plot is highly unlikely given the current state of the cinematic universe's lore.
The core Empyre event unfolds as a grand cosmic opera, filled with misdirection, epic battles, and crucial character moments.
Empyre left a significant mark on the Marvel Universe's cosmic status quo.
Teddy Altman's journey is the central pillar of Empyre. The story forces him to evolve from a hero and a Young Avenger into a galactic monarch responsible for trillions of lives. He is initially a reluctant leader, pushed into the role by the weight of his destiny. Throughout the event, he struggles to reconcile his compassionate, Earth-taught morality with the ruthless pragmatism demanded by his Kree and Skrull subjects. His defining moments include his decision to lead the war against the Cotati, his refusal to destroy Earth to win, and his ultimate, heartbreaking choice to execute the possessed Swordsman to save the universe. His arc solidifies him not just as a king by birthright, but as a leader who earned his crown through difficult choices.
While Hulkling is the story's strategic center, Wiccan is its emotional and magical heart. Initially absent while on a personal quest with his brother Speed, he arrives at a critical moment when the Alliance is on the brink of collapse due to Cotati psychic influence. Billy's immense power as the Demiurge allows him to purge their influence with ease, demonstrating his god-tier abilities. More importantly, his unwavering love and support for Teddy ground the entire cosmic epic. Their marriage in the finale is not just a personal victory but a political statement, symbolizing a union of magic and might, and a hopeful future for the new empire.
As the primary antagonists, Quoi and the possessed Swordsman represent a corruption of noble ideals. Quoi, prophesied to be a messiah who would bring peace, becomes twisted by his people's historical trauma and his own arrogance. He transforms a desire for justice into a campaign of genocide, believing he is the rightful savior of the universe. The Swordsman's role is even more tragic. A former hero, his body is merely a vessel for an ancient, vengeful Cotati. This robs him of his agency and turns a symbol of the Avengers' past into a weapon against them. His eventual freedom from the Cotati's control provides a somber, bittersweet resolution to his arc.
Both Sue Storm and Carol Danvers have critical sub-arcs that showcase their unique strengths and histories. Sue's compassion initially leads her to make a grave error in shielding the Cotati, but she quickly pivots, using her formidable power and intellect to devise a plan that saves Earth and decimates the enemy fleet. It's a powerful display of why she is often considered the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four. Carol's arc forces her to confront her Kree heritage more directly than ever before. By accepting the role of Supreme Accuser, she wields the power of her former oppressors to defend her adopted home, a complex and powerful statement about her identity.
This four-issue limited series, written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard, focused on a unique and horrifying front in the Cotati war: Genosha. A Cotati force lands on the island, the site of a mutant genocide, and uses its power to reanimate the 16 million dead mutants as a plant-zombie army. A small, eclectic group of X-Men are forced to fight not just an invading army, but grotesque, plant-infested versions of their fallen friends and allies. The series is noted for its dark humor and body horror, and for a particularly memorable subplot involving the resurrection of one of the original “exploding” zombies from the Genoshan attack.
The tie-in issues of the main Avengers title explored several key fronts of the war. One major storyline focused on the battle for the Savage Land, where the Cotati attempted to corrupt the unique, prehistoric ecosystem. This brought Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil, and the Black Knight into the conflict. Another plotline followed Doctor Nemesis as he worked to find a biological weakness in the Cotati. The series highlighted the global scale of the invasion beyond the primary battlefields shown in the main book.
This three-issue series by writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson provided a vital street-level perspective on the cosmic invasion. While gods and emperors clashed in space, Captain America worked on the ground, organizing civilian evacuations and fighting Cotati soldiers in the trenches of Washington D.C. The story emphasized Cap's role as a symbol of hope and his connection to the common soldier, contrasting sharply with the high-level strategic maneuvers of Iron Man and Black Panther. It featured the U.S. Agent and other members of the military fighting alongside Cap.
Empyre is, in essence, a direct sequel to this seminal 1970s epic by Steve Englehart. It was in the Celestial Madonna Saga that the Avengers first learned the true origin of the Kree-Skrull War, discovered the pacifist Cotati on the Moon, and witnessed the union of Mantis with a Cotati to conceive Quoi, the “Celestial Messiah.” Empyre takes this foundational lore and inverts it, turning the once-peaceful Cotati into aggressors and the prophesied savior into a villain, adding a layer of tragic irony for longtime readers.
Roy Thomas's original Kree-Skrull War defined the template for Marvel's cosmic events. It established the Kree and Skrulls as implacable, ideologically opposed empires and placed Earth squarely in the middle of their ancient conflict. Empyre serves as the definitive endnote to this storyline. By uniting the two empires under a single ruler who shares the blood of both, the event resolves the central conflict that has fueled hundreds of stories for nearly fifty years.
The entire premise of Empyre hinges on the backstory created for Hulkling by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung in their celebrated Young Avengers series. It was here that Teddy Altman was revealed not just as a Skrull, but as the hidden son of Captain Mar-Vell and a Skrull princess, making him royalty in both empires. Without this crucial piece of character-building from fifteen years prior, the political solution at the heart of Empyre would not be possible. The event serves as the ultimate payoff to Hulkling's long and complex journey of self-discovery.