Atlantis Attacks
# Atlantis Attacks

"Atlantis Attacks" was a comic book superhero crossover storyline which ran through most of the summer annuals published by Marvel Comics in 1989 and 2020.

The storyline is a complicated, multi-layered crossover regarding the return of the seven-headed Elder God Set the Old Serpent at the hands of the various underwater empires of the Marvel Universe. The title is misleading, however, as Atlantis and its then-leader Attuma only play minor roles in the story as flunkies for the real masterminds: the Lemurians and their leader Llyra.

There is also a five-issue Atlantis Attacks miniseries in 2020 with a different plot.

## Publication history

Atlantis Attacks continued and expanded the format created by 1988's The Evolutionary War crossover storyline, in which all of Marvel's superhero annuals were tied into one story. However, where "The Evolutionary War" had had 11 parts, Atlantis Attacks had 14, as Marvel revived the annual format for Daredevil, Iron Man, and Thor (which were not given annuals in 1988) as part of the storyline. The Daredevil Annual is mistakenly numbered "4", the same as the previous annual in the series. In an effort to minimize the resulting confusion, this annual is often numbered "4b" in price guides and retailer listings.

Also, unlike The Evolutionary War annuals, which were mainly standalone stories loosely connected by the presence of the High Evolutionary, Atlantis Attacks was a true serial, with many of the annuals ending on cliffhangers that would be resolved in the next installment.

Every annual also contained a back-up story called "The Serpent Crown Saga", written by Peter Sanderson with pencil art by Mark Bagley. This 14-part story explained the complicated history of the Serpent Crown and recounted all its previous appearances for new readers.

## Plot

The disembodied Ghaur baits the Silver Surfer into restoring his physical form by hijacking the Surfer's surfboard. After a brief battle, Ghaur escapes and flees to Earth, where he convinces Lemuria's ruler, Llyra, to form an alliance to summon Set back to Earth.

Ghaur's plan for the serpent god's return is a fivefold plot:

1. Build a brand new, giant-sized Serpent Crown, via gathering a large amounts of mystic artifacts and melting them down into building material for the new Serpent Crown.

2. Forge an alliance with Attuma, ruler of Atlantis, and convince him to declare war on the surface world as a means to render Atlantis defenseless (due to Attuma devoting all of the city's military resources towards a surface world invasion), so that Ghaur and Llyra's forces could launch a massive military assault on Atlantis, slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians as a sacrificial offering to Set.

3. Transform the human population into mute serpent men; using a serpent formula conceived by the terrorist known as the Viper, with the deposed underground tyrant Tyrannus injecting recovering drug addicts with the chemical.

4. Kidnap seven super-powered heroines for the purpose of becoming brides for Set, ultimately for the purpose of becoming pregnant with the seven-headed serpent god's children.

5. Use the super-heroine Dagger (one of the women selected as a bride for Set) and a special magical magnifying glass to magnify the potency of a portion of Set's life-force into a viable amount of life energy, to give life to the giant Serpent Crown, allowing Set's exiled essence to possess the now-mindless seven-headed serpent body and return to Earth.

However, their plans are countered at just about every turn by Earth's heroes, culminating with the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Namor the Sub-Mariner (who is believed dead for the bulk of the storyline during a skirmish with Iron Man and Attuma's military forces) defeating Ghaur and Llyra and stopping them from bringing Set to Earth.

