Where were you when the lights went out?
Who were you when the lights went out?
What were you when the lights went out?
Who were you when the lights went out?
What were you when the lights went out?
Dark Ages is a six-issue mini-series published by Marvel Comics. It is written by Tom Taylor with art by Iban Coello.
A mysterious threat has awakened within the Earth and a gathering of Earth's mightiest heroes is assembled to save their planet. However, despite their best efforts, the heroes have failed and plunged the Earth into darkness. Now, the survivors set out to rebuild the world and deal with an old threat grown emboldened.
Has nothing to do with the 2014 comic by Dark Horse, or The Dark Age of Comic Books or the Dark Age Of Super Names.
Not to be confused with Marvel's Dark Agnes series.
Tropes involved with this series:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Unmaker was a cosmic living robot created to consume things like black holes, but was corrupted by the darkness it absorbed and went on a rampage, proving too powerful for even cosmic entities like the Living Tribunal to destroy.
- After the End: Issue #2 focuses on the world seven years after all technology failed: a majority of the heroes and villains rallied around to prevent Earth from falling apart at the seams, creating a utopia of sorts. Heroes like Blade, Elsa Bloodstone, Wolverine (Laura Kinney) and Honey Badger defend the cities from the supernatural beasts that have risen up since the lights went out. However, Apocalypse has complete control of Europe.
- An Arm and a Leg: When all technology fails, Tony Stark loses a leg when it gets sliced by a falling plane. He later fashions a steampunk prosthetic.
- Anyone Can Die: Hey, it's a Tom Taylor AU, of course people will drop like flies. The first issue has Thing, Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Vision and Viv Vision killed by the Unmaker and the actions needed to stop him. Issue #2 reveals that Taskmaster and Hawkeye (Clint Barton) also perished in the fallout.
- Apocalypse How: Class 2. Civilization has fallen back to about the 1800s in terms of technology, but they're rebuilding.
- Bait-and-Switch: When all technology fails, Spider-Man hits the ground and immediately worries for Mary Jane and young May. Despite Jessica Jones and Luke Cage warning him they may not have made it, Peter digs and digs until he stops, tears in his eyes. We see that young May has Spider-Strength and she saved Mary Jane and two other civilians.
- Big Damn Heroes: When the Helicarrier is under assault by a group of Ghost Rider-like pirates, the heroes are rescued by Giant-Man and a Heel–Face Turn Fin Fang Foom.
- Big Bad: Apocalypse. Quite fitting for this kind of story.
- Boom, Headshot!: Purple Man anticlimactically dies with a bullet to the head by Deadpool.
- Brought Down to Badass: Scott Lang was in his Giant-Man form when the power went out, and is stuck as a skyscraper-sized giant as a result. This, of course, doesn’t stop him from being a badass. He even gets to ride Fin Fang Foom!
- Cool Ship: The Helicarrier. No longer able to fly, it's become a massive sailboat that can traverse the oceans, mostly with Storm's power. Fury, Nightcrawler and Maddrox crew it.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover of the final issue shows Symbiote Spider-Man (Miles Morales) fighting alongside the other villains, but Miles is stripped of the symbiotes in the preceding issue, with them being unceremoniously killed off.
- Cozy Catastrophe: Peter Parker narrates how after the initial death and destruction, through the efforts and infrastructure of the surviving superbeings - rather than have a Mad Max scenario, the heroes have created a utopia despite the end of electric-powered technology.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: In the fourth issue, Symbiote Spider-Man (Miles Morales) easily defeats and maims Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Honey Badger, and Blade. When he goes after the rest of the heroes, Iron Woman (Pepper Potts) immediately burns the symbiotes off Miles with a flamethrower and Storm vaporizes them with a massive bolt of lightning.
- Deal with the Devil: Ghost Pirates are modern pirates who made a deal with Mephisto to turn them into Ghost Rider-like monsters, in return they hunt down ships and give their victims's souls. They're very dangerous and managed to kill Nick Fury jr.
- Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: Laura and Gabby Kinney combat vampires and werewolves by covering their claws in molten silver and wooden stakes.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Apocalypse informs Tony Stark that he has given up his mutant supremacist views in favor of just taking in anyone (willingly or unwillingly) who displays extraordinary talent.
- Face–Heel Turn: Issue #1 ends with She-Hulk, a gestalt of Venom and Carnage, Beast, Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic alongside Apocalypse. The second issue later elaborates that Apocalypse has been using the Purple Man to enthrall them into serving him.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: The Unmaker is an origin-less automaton who, while it did once have a purpose in the form of tidying up the cosmos by getting rid of things like black holes, at one point went haywire for some reason and started destroying everything before being defeated and sealed in the Earth by the Living Tribunal. It never speaks, so it is unclear if it is even truly sapient, as the only intelligence that it displays after waking up is assessing threats and reacting accordingly.
- He Knows Too Much: Doctor Octopus shares his concerns with Apocalypse over controlling the Unmaker in which doing so would break Earth apart and killing everyone on it. Apocalypse already knew it would happen and he tears Otto in half for figuring out his real plan.
- Heel–Face Turn: Dracula turns on Apocalypse after Doctor Doom told him about Apocalypse's real plan to take control of the Unmaker would destroy Earth.
- Horrifying the Horror: The Purple Man is uneasy around the Unmaker, only going near it because he is forced to by Apocalypse.
- How We Got Here: The first issue explains how everything fell apart before jumping seven years later.
- Mechanical Abomination: The Unmaker is a cosmic mechanical lifeform created to consume black holes, but it was corrupted by the darkness and began consuming everything — planets, stars, even galaxies. Even the Living Tribunal wasn't powerful enough to destroy it, sealing it into the core of the nascent Earth. It casually kills some of Earth's strongest heroes, and it takes Dr. Strange opening a portal to an EMP dimension to disable it.
- Living Battery: Apocalypse has managed to create a functioning Faraday cage that is powered by a captive Magneto.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: How all technology fails. Dr. Strange finds a dimension with a powerful EMP burst and opens it to destroy Unmaker, but Unmaker guts Strange in a Taking You with Me. Strange uses the last of his strength to save Susan Richards, but leaves the portal open.
- Off with His Head!: Dracula and a vampire-turned Apocalypse has their hearts impaled by Blade, who then decapitates them.
- Power Incontinence: When all power fails, Ant-Man learns he can't shrink back down, thus he's stuck as a multi-story giant.
- The Symbiote: At some point during the seven-year time skip, the Venom and Carnage symbiotes bonded to Miles Morales, and were brainwashed into serving as an enforcer for Apocalypse.
- Technology Erasure Event: In the prologue, during a battle with a technological monster at the center of the Earth, Doctor Strange opens a portal to a dimension where electricity doesn't function. The monster kills Strange before dying itself, and as a result the portal remains open and causes the laws of its reality to bleed over into Earth's and overlay it completely. This causes all advanced technology to cease functioning, destroys all synthetic lifeforms, and results in the collapse of civilization.
- Villain Team-Up: Apocalypse has Dracula, Mystique, Purple Man, Doctor Octopus, and a gestalt of Venom and Carnage working with/for him.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: Tony Stark has discerned how to turn lead into gold, which would be amazing if money still mattered.
- a two-folded trope since gold is an excellent conductor, but given the setting it can't even be used for that
