A Fan-Favorite Avenger Just Erased the Last Piece of One Villain’s Horrible Legacy

The Black Panther finally erases the last monument to Meridian Diadem's horrifying legacy.

Avengers #27 (by Jed MacKay, Andrea Broccardo, Farid Karami, Federico Blee, and VC's Cory Petit) opens to find the Black Panther standing atop a high ridge in the middle of the vast expanse that exists within the Tesseract, once controlled by the dreaded Meridian Diadem. There, T'Challa watches on as the last monument to the interdimensional villain's cruelty is toppled, marking the true beginning of a new age for the people who call this place their home. Of course, where one fight ends for the Black Panther, another is sure to begin, and T'Challa already knows that there is something worse than Doom waiting for him when he gets back to his own world.

Avengers #27

• Written by JED MacKAY
• Art by ANDREA BROCCARDO and FARID KARAMI
• Colors by FEDERICO BLEE
• Letters by VC's CORY PETIT
• Design by CARLOS LAO
• Main cover art by VALERIO SCHITI & FEDERICO BLEE
• Variant covers by LUCIANO VECCHIO, MIKE McKONE & MORRY HOLLOWELL, JACOB CHABOT, and CORY SMITH & EDGAR DELGADO

Introduced in the pages of 2023's Avengers #3 by Jed MacKay and Carlos Villa, Meridian Diadem was a member of the band of near-unstoppable villains known as the Ashen Combine. Comprised of interdimensional monstrosities including the Citysmith, Lord Ennui, The Dead, and Idol Alabaster, the Ashen Combine launched their all-out assault on Earth from their sentient space-faring cityscape known as the Impossible City. While the rest of the Ashen Combine were eventually defeated and imprisoned, the Impossible City ended up becoming one of the most memorable additions to the Avengers roster in years.

Since the Ashen Combine's defeat, T'Challa has worked tirelessly to figure out any way of reaching the people trapped within her and freeing them from their extradimensional prison. Rather than merely lording over others, Meridian Diadem was capable of absorbing her victims into the pocket dimension that exists as an extension of her very being. When the Black Panther finally broke through to this world, he found it ravaged by constant war, not to mention loomed over by dozens of towering monuments built in Meridian Diadem's imposing likeness.

While T'Challa has been dismantling the last pieces of Meridian Diadem's empire, his fellow Avengers have been facing off against and fighting alongside some of the worst villains the world has to offer. When Doctor Doom proclaimed himself the new supreme ruler of the world as a whole, Earth's Mightiest Heroes didn't waste any time sifting through their options in terms of fighting back. Surprisingly, the Avengers ultimately decided to put their faith in the Masters of Evil, who also see Doctor Doom's unchecked bid for power as the global threat that it is, though that doesn't mean they aren't willing to stab the heroes in the back if it gets them closer to what they truly want out of this loose arrangement.

Avengers #27 is available now from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics