Warning: Spoilers For Iron Man #9 ahead!
The "Mad Titan" Thanos may have a fearsome reputation after his acquisition of the Infinity Gauntlet among countless other feats. But Marvel Comics' reptilian aliens the Badoon are an unmerciful empire that will only continue to gain strength and influence in the future.
Over the years the Badoon have had a well-established presence butting heads with Marvel's cosmic-based lineup, including the likes of Silver Surfer and the Fantastic Four. Though the Badoon may have had their sights set on the planet Earth for years, the race was never a credible threat on the same level of premier Marvel alien races the Skrulls, the Kree, or even the Shi'ar. While Thanos creator Jim Starlin's 2014 original graphic novel Thanos: The Infinity Revelation establishes a partnership between the titular villain and the Badoon, the race is portrayed as largely inferior to the might of the cosmic warlord. Once Thanos is no longer in need of their services, the Mad Titan does not waste any time in effortlessly laying waste to their vast defenses. However, the Badoon's inferiority would all change as the Marvel Universe set course into the future.
Writer Christopher Cantwell and artist CAFU's Iron Man #9 spotlights to the Badoon's greatest creation, the half-human/half-cosmic despot Michael Korvac. Korvac has served as the main antagonist of the Armored Avenger's ongoing series and the latest issue gives insight into the cosmic big bad's origin. Centuries in the future, Korvac is under the servitude of the Badoon, who have gradually risen up the ranks of Marvel's cosmic food chain. After failing to live up to the esteemed expectations of his principal rulers in the Badoon, Korvac is severely punished for his disobedience. The punishment leads to torture, with Michael Korvac's body dismembered by his alien rulers and left to be bonded with a floating machine; a well-defined form that may prove recognizable to fans of classic Marvel Comics. Korvac's transformation ultimately leaves the being with a form that would become the basis for his role as a supervillain.
Well into the future, the Badoon have transcended to a new level of threat in the cosmic hierarchy. Though the Badoon may be older than Marvel's primary alien races the Skrulls and the Kree, the race of reptilians' disadvantage has always been their lack of developing advanced technology capable of rivaling other planets. Once the Badoon are able to adapt with the times and evolve, the race arises to the point that sees their once ridiculed empire as the last remaining hostile race of alien beings in existence. Within their array of advanced technology, the Badoon are in possession of interplanetary space travel devices faster than light itself as well as handheld weapons and productive cloaking technology.
When the Badoon must utilize a last resort to deal with unmatched threats, the inhabitants may call upon their cybernetically-enhanced creatures known simply as the "Monsters of the Badoon." Enormous creatures produced in large quantities, each Monster of the Badoon is equipped with super strength, invisibility, speed, and ray blasts discharged from its fingertips. As the Badoon utilize their new technology and vast numbers to dominate Earth and its remaining superheroes in approximately 3007 AD, the only force left to oppose the forces of the Badoon are a future incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Badoon represent a threat that Thanos or other cosmic beings cannot conquer, in the inevitability of their dominance as a race. While the race may not present the greatest threat in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe as it currently exists, it is the Badoon that will endure and become the race that all other species fear.