Darkhold is a 2021 miniseries by Marvel Comics written by Steve Orlando with art by Cian Tormey.
When Doctor Doom uncovers the Darkhold, the Scarlet Witch races to stop him from using it to cause chaos, but she is too late. Doom has accidentally woken Chthon from his slumber in the other-realm, and now he risks laying destruction to the Marvel Universe.
In an attempt to stop him, Wanda summons a ragtag group of heroes (Iron Man, Blade, The Wasp, Spider-Man, and Black Bolt) to act as the Darkhold Defenders. Having to read from the Darkhold itself to gain the power to enter the other-realm and defeat Chthon, the Darkhold Defenders must face their worst nightmares and corruption by the Darkhold to stand a chance of succeeding.
Issues
- Darkhold Alpha written by Steve Orlando, with art by Cian Tormey.
- Darkhold: Iron Man written by Ryan North, with art by Guillermo Sanna.
- Darkhold: Blade written by Daniel Kibblesmith, with art by Federico Sabbatini.
- Darkhold: Wasp written by Jordie Bellaire, with art by Claire Roe.
- Darkhold: Black Bolt written by Mark Russell, with art by David Cutler.
- Darkhold: Spider-Man written by Alex Paknadel, with art by Diogenes Neves and Jim Charalampidis.
- Darkhold Omega written by Steve Orlando, with art by Cian Tormey
Darkhold provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Darkhold: Omega ends with Wanda assimilating Chthon into herself and becoming the Goddess of Chaos, warning that if she dies Chthon will be unleashed... but Wanda dies in the lead-up to the X-Men: The Trial of Magneto and nothing of the sort happens. However, it's been subverted with the solicitation
for the 2023 event Contest of Chaos. Wanda's merging with Chthon is cited as one of the event's catalysts, as it's what brings her into conflict with Agatha Harkness. - Advertised Extra: Downplayed. Doctor Doom is featured heavily on the Darkhold Alpha covers, yet his role in the arc itself is miniscule: Doom is the one that uncovers the Darkhold, but spends all of Alpha boasting about taking Chthon down and shooting down attempts at an Enemy Mine; only contributing by getting curb-stomped in Chthon's world to demonstrate why recruiting other heroes is necessary. Doom is seen standing alongside Wanda in Omega against Chthon, but she takes the tyrant off the board herself to ensure Chthon is sealed before the villain can exploit his power.
- All for Nothing: The ending to Spider-Man's tie-in confirms that Darkhold!Peter's desperate solution of using Reed Richards as Human Resources to keep the city and its people together is doomed to fail.
- Anthology: Besides Darkhold: Alpha and Darkhold: Omega, each issue shows what each hero lived for
- Artifact of Doom: The Darkhold is a Tome of Eldritch Lore penned by Chthon to serve as a foothold in Earth's dimension after his banishment from it.
- Body Horror: The version of Iron Man created by the Darkhold intended to make his armor into a mobile hospital that could heal injuries, but the armor's programming goes wrong and leads to it trying to permanently bond with Tony; at one point he tries to remove the armor and ends up tearing off his own skin. Hoping he can protect people from all diseases, Tony proceeds to convert everyone by producing and putting them into the suits, akin to a Cyberman.
- The Bus Came Back: Black Bolt returns after three years of the Inhumans being essentially shelved after Death of the Inhumans.
- The Cameo: Blade's tie-in is the first introduction of B-Negative, a character created for the infamously canceled New Warriors relaunch that would have tied into the Outlawed event.
- The Corruption: The Darkhold twists everyone who reads it, and it's especially potent here because it's the original copy created directly from Chthon's own flesh. All the heroes who read it are corrupted into the absolute worse version of themselves.
- Depopulation Bomb: In Darkhold!Blade's world, reality was hit with the "V-Wave," a force that destroyed every race other than Humans and Vampires.
- Dissonant Serenity: Tony remains his cheerful, roguish self the entire time while he's affected by the Darkhold.
- Downer Ending: All of the stories of the heroes tainted by the Darkhold end on these:
- Black Bolt: Black Bolt was actually his traitorous brother Maximus the whole time; having been implanted his brother's memories and identity by Telegar to assist in his coup. The last panel sees Blackagar / Maximus and the now-deceased Telegar on the penal moon Teros. Black Bolt either resigns himself to death on the moon or lets himself be taken to a possibly-conquered Attilan.
- Blade: Deacon Host offered himself up as the host of La Magra twenty years prior to the story, unleashing a force that reduced this reality's life to two races only: Humans and Vampires. This causes Blade to pull a Face–Heel Turn and murder all opposition to replace the current Vampire King, proclaiming himself the king of what's left of the world.
- Iron Man: Tony's body is entirely destroyed and assimilated into his suit. His perception of reality is so warped that he decides everyone needs to be in a suit like his and kicks off an Assimilation Plot; the last shot being him guiding Pepper into a suit of her own.
- Spider-Man: Peter was unable to meet Gwen for their anniversary, the latter dying due to the effects of The Unraveling. Going mad, Peter uses Reed Richards' stretchy body as a new web-compound to once more put the city and its people back together. It's made abundantly clear that Reed Richards is in agony the entire time and that this is at-best delaying the inevitable.
- Wasp: Hank's abuse causes Janet to lash out and kill her husband Hank in retaliation. The ending dialogue implies she completely shuts herself away emotionally.
- Evil Costume Switch: A side-effect of having been mutated by the Darkhold, each of the Defiled have new, more sinister duds to match their newly-sacrificed sanity.
- Face–Monster Turn: Enforced. The Darkhold turns the heroes reading from it into abominations that embody each of their worst traits. The resulting abominations are just insane enough to enter and survive within Chthon's realm, allowing them to hold back the Eldritch Abomination's army. The Scarlet Witch reverses these mutations after she becomes the new Chthon.
- Gone Horribly Right:
- Wanda encourages the heroes she summons to read from the Darkhold to "temper them with madness" so they can survive in Chthon's realm and hold his army back. They all read too far into the book and have their souls corrupted too - Instead of the Darkhold Defenders she wanted, they become the insanely-murderous Darkhold Defiled. Thankfully, they more-or-less get the job done regardless and Wanda turns them to normal after becoming the new Chthon.
- Darkhold!Iron Man's attempt to preserve his life results in a self-adapting armor that's slowly bonding to him in an attempt to do its job of keeping him alive, expelling all of his matter to fuse him into a bio-mechanical abomination. Even worse, Tony's ambition to cure disease is warped into a need to turn everyone into suit-monsters.
- Humanoid Abomination: In contrast to his original grey-skinned blue-cloaked form and giant blue-skinned Cthulhumanoid-esque form from Carnage Vol. 2, Chthon takes the shape of a pale-skinned humanoid with long horns and a red cape.
- Human Resources:
- Spider-Man's tie-in ends with him using Reed Richards as the base for a new regenerative webbing to literally hold New York and its people together. Reed is still alive and pleading for Pete to release him.
- Iron Man's tie-in sees what was supposed to be an attempt to replace his heart transform into the creation of a self-adaptive suit that would give him a Healing Factor. It's immediately obvious that it's Gone Horribly Right; using al of Tony's skin, brain and even bone to achieve its directive of preserving him, resulting in him becoming the armor. This messes with his perception of reality and ends with Stark beginning the process of turning everyone into iron-suited monsters.
- In the Style of: The Iron Man tie-in is essentially a Doctor Who Cyberman episode in all but name, focused on an attempt to combat disease and extend the living condition of Tony Stark, whose attempts to keep himself alive have Gone Horribly Right and fused him to a self-adapting "hospital" suit that's using all of his organic matter as Human Resources to achieve its survival directive; ending with Tony deciding everyone needs to be immortal Iron Man monsters and kicking off an Assimilation Plot.
- Identity Amnesia: Black Bolt's vision in the Darkhold creates a timeline where he may be Maximus having been "programmed" to believe that he is the true Black Bolt after altering his body and memories as part of a plan to attack his brother.
- Obliviously Evil: Tony becomes this in his Darkhold form, believing that he's helping humanity and protecting them of all disease by shutting them into his suits and binding their flesh to steel.
- Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: In Darkhold: Omega, Wanda binds the True Darkhold to her soul and seals Chthon into herself, gaining all his powers for as long as she lives.
- Success Through Insanity: Invoked. Only the mad can enter and survive within Chthon's realm, necessitating the heroes enlisted by the Scarlet Witch to read from the Darkhold, inevitably corrupting them into an Evil Hero team. Once Wanda becomes the new Chthon, they get better.
- Technically-Living Zombie: In Darkhold!Spider-Man's world, an event called "The Unraveling" is slowly deteriorating all things, be it structure or life. Everyone in New York is a patchwork zombie that's slowly losing their limbs and faculties; mindlessly repeating actions and needing to be constantly put back together. Spider-Man and Reed Richards are The Immune and have been steadily patching people and things back together with their resources. These people are already Living on Borrowed Time and the ending heavily implies that Peter's cruel use of Reed himself as a stronger web-compound won't save them.
- The Starscream: The Darkhold Defiled are insane, monstrous versions of the people Wanda summoned to aid her; corrupted by the Darkhold. They make their intent to murder both Chthon and Scarlet Witch, as well as Take Over the World, known with every passing word. They're returned to normal by event's end, unable to follow through.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: The titular book is the typical example for the Marvel Universe but it's ramped up because it's the original copy. Reading it is likely to melt someone's face or possess them with eldritch power and make them thralls of Chthon.
- Title Drop: The name of the comic is also the name of the Tome of Eldritch Lore the heroes need to read from. It's dropped constantly.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Exploited. To fight in Chthon's realm, the recruited heroes need to read from the Darkhold; sacrificing some of their sanity so they can survive there. They read too far into the book and become a team of rabid psychos.
- Zombie Apocalypse:
- Blade's tie-in is about how the vampires managed to conquer the world and convert most of humanity.
- While not a conventional zombie apocalypse, Spider-Man's tie-in is about how a mysterious illness rendered everyone in New York City except Peter and Reed undead shells of their former selves.
