Warning! Spoilers ahead forImperial#3!
“I won,” Black Bolt declares at the end ofImperial#3, asMarvel Comicsbrings back the Inhumans in a massive way, revealing that they are behind the current crisis among Marvel’s cosmic characters. Finally, the publisher is prepared to rehabilitate this powerful faction, aftera disastrous adaptation soured their reputation.
Imperial#3, written by Jonathan Hickman, with art by Iban Coello and Federico Vincentini, reveals the plotters who plunged Marvel’s interstellar empires into chaos: the Grandmaster and his Inhuman accomplice Maximus.
However, Grandmaster turns out to be yet another pawn, and he is blasted away by Maximus' brother, Black Bolt, who seeks to returnthe Inhumans to their prior glory.
Black Bolt Is Back, Signaling A Massive New Role For The Inhumans In Marvel Lore
Imperial#3, Written By Jonathan Hickman; Art By Iban Coello And Federico Vincentini; Available Now From Marvel Comics
When author Jonathan Hickman announced his intentions to revitalize Marvel’s roster of cosmic heroes and villains, many fans immediately assumed that thiswould include the Inhumans. Introduced fifty years ago as antagonists of theFantastic Four, the Inhumans played a consequential role in Marvel lore for decades, until thefranchise was derailed by the poorly receivedInhumansTV series.
Since the show aired in 2017, the Inhumans' comic book counterparts have largely been in creative limbo (as opposed to Marvel’s actual Limbo dimension) and appeared only sporadically. In fact, Marvel went as far as to publish aDeath of the Inhumansminiseries in 2018, which brought the group of spacefaring superpowered characters to an all-time low.
Now,Imperial#3 officially confirms that Black Bolt is back, and prepared to do anything to restore his powerand his people. In just a few short panels, the issue re-establishes Black Bolt as extremely dangerous, extremely calculated, and entirely ruthless. It sets him up as a major “Big Bad” for Marvel’s cosmic landscape moving forward.
Black Bolt Declares Victory And Takes His Rightful Place At The Center Of Marvel’s Cosmic Conflict
The Inhumans Are Back As Major Antagonists
Accompanied by the giant dog Lockjaw, Black Bolt reunites with Maximus at the end ofImperial#3, and after dispatching the Grandmaster, they move on with their ambitious plan. “Let’s go get you an empire,” Maximus says to his brother, making it clear they plan to forge their own new order out of the galaxy-wide destablization they’ve sown.
Given the incredible power of his voice, Black Bolt is necessarily a character of few words. When he tells Grandmaster “I win” inImperial#3, it is only a whisper.Imperialhad already totally upendedMarvel Comics’cosmic status quo in its first two issues, but with these two simple words, the new paradigm it is setting up just came further into focus.
