During the House of M story, Quicksilver stole the Terrigen Mists from Attilan. This miniseries begins with Gorgon hijacking a meeting of high-level politicians and declaring war on the United States.
Despite Black Bolt’s instructions to keep this initial declaration peaceful, Jolen kills some humans—which draws in The Fantastic Four.
The FF capture Gorgon and turn him over the Valerie Cooper’s O.N.E. force. While so imprisoned, he is experimented on and mutated further by scientists using the stolen mists. Black Bolt and several others free him—and reclaim the stolen Terrigen Crystals—but SHIELD sends Marines who have been mutated by the mists to steal them back.
Meanwhile, Black Bolt has been manipulated by his brother Maximus and it causes him to behave erratically. Luna notices…
I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve seen Luna in an action role.
And of course the crystals that create the Terrigen mists was stolen by Quicksilver, so there’s a role for him here.
He, Medusa, Crystal and Luna visit with X-Factor to try to negotiate with Pietro, who believes he has foreseen the destruction of Attilan. Quicksilver can’t give them the Terrigen Crystals back because they are now a part of his body.
Pietro’s ability to foresee the destruction of Attilan ties nicely with Layla Miller’s own knowledge of the future. Layla reveals that Quicksilver is evil and must be stopped.
Layla Miller had a small role in House of M, but it’s really Peter David who has defined the character. This is the first time someone else has really worked her.
David Hine does a nice job.
At the end of the contentious meeting, Crystal tells Quicksilver that their marriage has been annulled and he will never see his daughter again.
Medusa and Luna end up freeing Maximus who, in the face of Black Bolt’s losing grip on sanity, becomes a warhawk hero to his people. This is the result of Maximus infecting them all with a madness. The Marines attack Attilan, but it turns out that they are living suicide bombers and Attilan is devastated, just as Pietro has predicted.
In the end, Luna goes to Black Bolt and confesses that she is the one who freed his mad brother Maximum. She asks him what to do and Black Bolt speaks…
The final page is dark, so we’re left not knowing what happens next.
Apparently, writer David Hine had planned another series to follow this one, but it never got made. Instead, this series basically gets written out of canon. During Secret Invasion, we see that Attilan isn’t destroyed and we’re told that the Black Bolt we see in this series was a skrull.
Grade: I would give this series a B+ because it’s really good, but since it never really gets an ending and later gets retconned, I dropped it to a B.
English (US) · 