Annihilation III: The Scourge Is Scarier Than Marvel Zombies or The DCeased – CBR – Comic Book Resources

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Annihilation: Scourge Alpha #1, by Matthew Rosenberg, Juanan Ramirez, Cian Tormey, Federico Blee and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.

Annihilation: Scourge, the most recent cosmic event happening in Marvel comics, re-introduces a terrifying army of villainous creatures that threaten even the harsh and ruthless denizens of the Negative Zone. The Scourge hail from the Cancerverse, an alternate dimension infected by anancient deity who has turned the inhabitants into undead, tentacled nightmares. These zombie-like abominations resemble the swarms of flesh-eaters in series likeMarvel ZombiesandDCeased, but their cosmic horror origins make them even more terrifying than the standard superpowered legions of the living dead.

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First introduced in Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning'sRealm of Kingscrossover event and the focus of the story in the writers' follow-up work The Thanos Imperative, the Cancerverse is a place in which the balance between life and death is hopelessly skewed. It is where the Many-Angled Ones have eliminated death andconsumed the entire universe to sustain the life of all of its beings. These cosmic entities converted the world into a single hive mind and allowed living organisms to proliferate into hideous, swarming masses of tentacles and otherworldly growths, giving the Cancerverse its memorable name. Granting eternal lifemay not sound like the average villain's goal, but the Scourge proves that this conceptcan bejust astwisted and demented as mass death.

The Cancerverse also has its own versions of the mainstream Marvel universe's superhero teams. Instead of the Avengers, there exists the Revengers, who also make an appearance inAnnihilation: Scourge #1. Likewise, the X-Men are known as the Ex-Men. These and the rest of the Cancerverse army have the ability to convert living beings all across the multiverse into hordes of restless, savage creatures. It's a creative and haunting twist on the typical zombie story that incorporates cosmic and body horror, as well as a dose of existential dread.

Perhaps the element of theScourge that is most horrifying is the idea that the "infection" has taken over all life itself. The entire Cancerverse is an extension of the Many-Angled Ones' will, meaning that it's not just individuals who are at risk, but entire universes, as well.Plus, the tentacles spewing out ofcorrupted lifeforms is a more skin-crawling image than the gory, decaying zombies we're all already used to seeing.

The horror ofMarvel Zombiesand DCeasedcomes from the thought of beloved superheroes being reduced to bloodthirsty monsters. However, the premise of both of these series relies on their audiences' preconceived notions of the zombie genre. Thecauseofthe undead plague inMarvel Zombiesis vague, originating from a zombified version of The Sentry that crash lands into outer space. The ending ofAnnihilation: Scourge#1 seems to be a callback to this event as it also features an infected Sentry, but the sheer speed at which the Scourge cantake over life makes his presence more threatening.

DCeasedexpands on the zombie myth byintroducing the disease as a corrupted version of the Anti-Life Equation implanted within Cyborg. This manifests as a techno-virus which is able to quickly spread through computers and televisions, resulting in a hopelessly apocalyptic threat. However, the hordes of undead still operate and behave like typical zombies, feasting on flesh. The unique take on The Scourge as creatures straight out of the pages of aLovecraft-influenced weird fiction story gives them a sense of mystery and an aura cosmic dread.

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Because of the Scourge's all-encompassing goal of consuming the universe, the comic book threat that most resembles these villains is the Black Lantern Corps in DC's Blackest Nightevent. The Black Lanterns are a sort of inverse of the Scourge, seeking to destroy all life and, likewise, all emotion. Nekron, the head of the Corps, is the personification of death, much like the Cancerverse is the embodiment of life unchecked.

In addition, the Scourge and the Black Lanterns have similar missions of bending all life towards a single control. They don't just hunger for flesh, they crave the elimination of free will and humanity. This adds an existential compound to the already terrifying scenario of a zombie apocalypse. It's for this reason, alongside its atypical origin as a spawn of cosmic entities, why the Scourge is one of the scariest undead threats to emerge from superhero comic books.

Annihilation: Scourge Alpha #1 is available now.

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Annihilation III: The Scourge Is Scarier Than Marvel Zombies or The DCeased - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero