Infinity Crusade

Infobox comic book title
title = Infinity Crusade


caption =
schedule = Monthly
limited = y
Superhero = y
SciFi = y
multigenre = y
publisher = Marvel Comics
date = June - November 1993
issues = 6
main_char_team =
writers = Jim Starlin
artists =
editors =
pencillers = Ron Lim
inkers = Al Milgrom
colorists = Ian Laughlin
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators =
TPB = Volume 1
ISBN = 0-7851-3127-2
TPB1 = Volume 2
ISBN1 = 0-7851-3128-0
subcat = Marvel Comics
sort = PAGENAMEThe Infinity Crusade was a fictional conflict over cosmic cubes in the Marvel Comics Universe. It was depicted in a 1993 six-issue limited series written by Jim Starlin, although major events also crossed over the two books featuring Adam Warlock that Marvel was publishing at the time. The primary antagonist is the Goddess. It wraps up a loose end from the events of "Infinity War", and was Jim Starlin's last work on Thanos until "Infinity Abyss".

The story is notable for establishing the religious affiliations and inclinations of many Marvel superheroes. There is also a brief moment of breaking the fourth wall, where the reader of the comic book itself seemingly becomes involved in the action.

Plot synopsis

The story of Infinity Crusade starts with the Goddess gathering 30 Cosmic Containment Units and merging them into the "Cosmic Egg", an artifact capable of fulfilling her wishes. The Goddess uses the Cosmic Egg to create a planet, "Paradise Omega", as her base of operations. The Goddess then recruited many superheroes to her side. The heroes she chose were either religious, spiritual or had a (near-)death experience. The Goddess told the heroes that she wished to banish all evil from the universe and that the heroes needed to defend her while she was meditating within the Cosmic Egg. The heroes swore allegiance to the Goddess, some seemingly brainwashed, though a few heroes had their doubts. Moondragon became the leader of the Goddess' troops.

Meanwhile Mister Fantastic, the Vision and Iron Man investigate the disappearance of their friends and allies and the sudden conversion of all criminals on Earth. When Aurora, one of the superheroes left on Earth, goes through her personality change to the religious Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, she also was called by the Goddess. The three superheroes followed Aurora and discovered the Goddess and Planet Omega. Moondragon and her allies turned out to be hostile and the trio retreated. Back on Earth, the gathered superheroes called a meeting to decide what to do about the Goddess. An attempt by Professor X to contact Moondragon ended with a telepathic attack, leaving him in a coma and the heroes of Earth determined to stop the Goddess.

At the same time, Adam Warlock had discovered the truth about the Goddess; she was his "good" side, just like the Magus had been his "evil" side. Adam Warlock saved Thanos, who had been attacked by the Goddess. Mephisto appeared to them and offered his knowledge in exchange for one of the Goddess' Cosmic Containment Units. Armed with Mephisto's information, Adam Warlock and Thanos planned to defeat the Goddess. Thanos sought contact with Earth's heroes and assisted them in their assault on Paradise Omega. He also recruited the Silver Surfer, who had been one of the Goddess' followers, but turned against her when he noticed that he was being manipulated.

The Silver Surfer absorbed dangerous amounts of energy and subsequently destroyed Paradise Omega's defense system, allowing the heroes of Earth to pass. Thor, one of the Goddess' followers, destroyed their spacecrafts, forcing the heroes to disembark in escape pods. Landing in various spots on Paradise Omega, the heroes rushed to their goals. They were confronted with the brainwashed heroes and multiple fights broke out. The Goddess' followers were especially brutal and almost killed some of the non-converted.

Thanos boosted his own telepathic powers with the comatose Professor X's and decided to attack the Goddess' directly, but the Goddess triggered her plan: the destruction of all evil from the universe with cleansing; which meant the destruction of all life, because sentient life couldn't exist without good and evil.

Every possible dimension is affected, including the one that the very reader of the comic book is in. One page of issue 6 shows the point of view of the reader actually "reading" said page, then bursting into flames. The comic book is shown aflame also.

However, it was all just a trick crafted by Warlock, as he has caused the illusion of the destruction of all existence moments before it would have actually happened. It is later explained that those affected perceived the moment as a passing flight of fancy, a momentary nightmare or other rationilizations.

Thanos, Warlock and a restored Professor X work together against the Goddess and finally absorb her soul into the Soulgem. Thanos returns the heroes to Earth and destroyed the Cosmic Egg and Paradise Omega, but takes a single Cosmic Containment Unit for Mephisto. Many of Earth's heroes blame Adam Warlock for the Goddess' actions. Meanwhile Thanos hands Mephisto his payment, but tricks the devil by giving him a non-functional Cosmic Containment Unit.

Promotional Poster

In 1993, a promotional poster for the mini-series was released into comic book stores [http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/JetsetJAK/1458_1.jpg] . The poster measured approximately 22" x 34" and featured a generic image of the characters battling each other (the "good guys" on the left vs. those under the influence of the Goddess on the right) against a background of the Goddess floating in space. The poster was framed by the various religious symbols featured in the story.

Despite the poster not featuring an actual scene from the story, there were still several inconsistencies between the poster and the actual mini-series.
* Firestar of the New Warriors is seen on the poster in her original yellow costume. However in the actual story she is wearing her second costume which debuted in New Warriors vol. 1 #31.
* Colossus of the X-Men is seen at the bottom of the poster with the other heroes under the influence of the Goddess, battling fellow X-Men member Beast. However Colossus does not actually appear anywhere in the Infinity Crusade story.
* Rage of the New Warriors was not one of the heroes under the influence of the Goddess, yet on the poster he is featured on the right with the characters that were.
* In the story, the Thing is wearing a helmet as a result of getting slashed in the face by Wolverine in Fantastic Four vol. 1 #374. However on the poster, he is not wearing the helmet and his face appears fine. This is also an error on the cover of the first issue of the mini-series, where Thing is seen once again with no helmet and no scars on his face.
* On the poster, Vision of the Avengers is seen in his colorless form. However in the story he is in his green, red and yellow costume. Like with the Thing, this is also a mistake that is repeated on the cover of the first issue of the mini-series.
* On the poster, Iron Man is seen in an outdated version of his armor than what he is wearing in the actual story.
* Thor is sporting a mustache and beard on the poster, but has none in the actual story.

Crossovers

* Alpha Flight v1 #122-124
* Avengers West Coast #96-97
* Cage #17
* Darkhawk #30-31
* Deathlok v2 #28-29
* Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #54-56
* Iron Man v1 #295
* Marc Spector: Moon Knight #57
* Silver Sable & The Wild Pack #16-17
* Silver Surfer v3 #83-#85
* Thor v1 #463-467
* Warlock and the Infinity Watch #18-22
* Warlock Chronicles #1-5
* Web of Spider-Man #104-106

Collected editions

The series and some of the tie-ins have been collected into two trade paperback:

*"Volume 1" (collects "Infinity Crusade" #1-3, "Warlock Chronicles" #1-3, and "Warlock and the Infinity Watch" #18-19, 248 pages, December 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3127-2)
*"Volume 2" (collects "Infinity Crusade" #4-6, "Warlock Chronicles" #4-5, and "Warlock and the Infinity Watch" #20-22, 248 pages, February 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3128-0)

References

*gcdb series|id=4703|title="Infinity Crusade"
*comicbookdb|type=title|id=648|title="Infinity Crusade"
*comicbookdb|type=storyarc|id=245|title=Infinity Crusade (storyline)