The first battle of Agatha Harkness' upcoming Contest of Chaos has been revealed, with Spider-Man and Wolverine brutally fighting in a gorgeous new cover for the upcoming Spider-Man Annual #1.
The Contest of Chaos event will be taking place through several Marvel Comics annuals over the next few months. It will begin with Scarlet Witch Annual #1, which will seemingly see the newly young and power hungry sorceress Agatha Harkness attacking her former pupil Wanda. Agatha's goal is to recreate the dangerous Darkhold, which Wanda previously absorbed into herself.
The Spider-Man Annual #1 from writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Alberto Foche will follow the official beginning of Agatha's Contest of Chaos. The issue sees Peter Parker transported to a magical city where he is suddenly attacked by his good friend Wolverine, as depicted in a gorgeous cover by R.B. Silva. Check out the solicitation information for August's Spider-Man Annual #1 below:
SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1
STEPHANIE PHILLIPS (W) • ALBERTO FOCHE (A) • Cover by R.B. SILVA
VARIANT COVER BY GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
THE CONTEST OF CHAOS BEGINS! SPIDER-MAN VS. WOLVERINE!
Agatha Harkness is building a new Darkhold – and she’s pitting Earth's Mightiest Heroes against each other to do it! First on her list is Spider-Man, whose regular day is turned upside down when he involuntarily walks through a portal to a remote, magical city…and is attacked by Wolverine!
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Agatha Harkness Is Manipulating Heroes To Build A New Darkhold
Agatha Harkness was suddenly de-aged and brought back to full power at the conclusion of the recent Midnight Suns miniseries, and she now apparently learned about her former pupil the Scarlet Witch absorbing the dark elder god Chthon into herself in the finale of Darkhold Omega #1. Acting as a prelude to the full Contest of Chaos, the Scarlet Witch Annual #1 will see Agatha and Wanda engage in an "epic clash," one that will shape the future of dark magic in the Marvel Universe for ages to come. To rebuild a new Darkhold - a terrifying dark spell book originally created by Chthon - it appears that Agatha will need to absorb or utilize the chaos magic energies gained from various battles between superheroes. To kick things off, Peter Parker and Logan Howlett will be the first battle in her magically empowered Contest of Champions.
Spider-Man and Wolverine are longtime friends, with Logan even working with Peter's long-deceased parents many years in the past, so it will clearly come as a huge shock for Peter when he is attacked by Logan. The solicitation for Spider-Man Annual #1 reveals that Peter will unwittingly step through a portal into a magical city, but there are no reports on if it is a new magical city created by Agatha, or an existing one on Earth-616 like Iron Fist's K'un-Lun. A battle between Logan and Peter will undoubtedly be ferocious and bloody. While typically Wolverine would not ever attempt to fatally harm Spider-Man, if he is under the control of Agatha's chaos magic, there's no telling how far into berserker mode Logan will go. Peter and Logan have been on the Avengers together for many years, fought alongside each other in massive cosmic wars and intimate street fights, and Wolverine once even recruited Spider-Man to be a teacher at the Jean Grey School, so it will be tragic if either one is forced to seriously injure the other.
Spider-Man And Wolverine Have Had Brutal Battles Before
Even though Logan and Peter have a long history together, this will also not be the first time they fight with each other, particularly because Spider-Man is so ethically opposed to Wolverine's "kill first, ask questions later" style of heroism. The two actually faced off in a 1987 one-shot Spider-Man Verus Wolverine by Jim Owsley and Mark Bright, which saw Peter and Logan almost kill each other after Spider-Man stopped Wolverine from murdering an assassin, a battle that ended in real tragedy. Spider-Man once also threw Wolverine out of a Stark high-rise window after he insulted him in Amazing Spider-Man #522, although this was less of a battle and more Peter knowing Logan could take the hit.
Spider-Man is one of very few people whom Wolverine has ever fully trusted after a life of betrayal and heartbreak, so it will be heartbreaking and fascinating to see how the first battle in Agatha's Contest of Chaos plays out, one that is built on years of history and heroism.
Spider-Man Annual #1 from Marvel Comics will debut in August.