Let all the animal worlds fall -- and the Cotati rise anew! Masters of the Cosmos -- as they should always have been! For here we plant the seed of the Empyrean! On this planet -- we begin our Empyre! 
History
Origins[]
The Cotati were a pacifist race on Hala, chosen by the Skrulls to take part in a contest against the warlike Kree on Earth's Moon, with the race achieving the most using Skrull technology being declared the victor, earning the chance to become the rulers of Hala and join under the Skrull Empire. The Kree, upon realizing they were going to lose, proceeded to commit a genocide of the Cotati. The Cotati however survived on Hala for many millennia by hiding themselves from the Kree, who had created their own empire. They later contacted the pacifist Priests of Pama who planted them throughout the universe including Earth.[1]
Quoi, the prophesized Celestial Messiah, learnt what had happened to his race from his father Swordsman.[2] His father hated human beings, especially since his mind clashes with the remnants of the true Swordsman's consciousness and was boycotted by the Cotati conclaves since he had merged with animal life, even though Quoi wasn't due to being the prophesized messiah. Swordsman went along with Quoi, who was trying to convince him about mankind's goodness, to Vietnam to merge back to his original form in the Cotati grove at a temple of the Priests of Pama. They however found the Alchemax Corporation, who were trying to harvest the Cotati grove after witnessing trees erupting out of the temple, and confronted them. Things soon heated up but Quoi stopped his father from killing the guards and gave a Cotati vine to Alchemax so they could use its miraculous properties. This however wasn't enough for them and they cut down the whole grove, killing all of the Cotati except Swordsman whose merging with his original form wasn't complete. Quoi witnessed what they had done to the Cotati and his father, which created immense hatred in his heart.[3]
Having learnt what the meat-based life had done to the Cotati, Quoi decided to take revenge on all animal life. The other Cotati, still seething in hatred over what had been done to them by the Kree, joined his cause. The Cotati started attacking the facilities of the Kree Imperium and Skrull Empire to test their new weapons which could increase a Cotati mage's control over plantlife, and also tried preventing the two from allying. As they attacked the Kral System, the Skrulls detonated the Pyre which destroyed the whole solar system but the Cotati had already fled. The empires discovered their plan and managed to convince Teddy Altman in time to become the emperor so that he could unite the two empires into the Alliance.[4]
Empyre Rises[]
Quoi decided to trick the Earth's heroes in order to stop the Alliance and Swordsman gave him a drink before the coming war in order tp purge all doubt from his mind. Quoi's mother Mantis appeared in form of a plant before his son after he drank and tried convincing his father had gone mad. She showed him the memories of the real Swordsman she loved and saved from being a broken wreck, how his father who was an Elder Cotati struggled with his new form that had Swordsman's memories, how Quoi himself struggled to adapt to the human world but gained friends. Quoi however refused to accept what she said and probing her memory, found she has given in to Star-Lord's suggestion for psychologically influencing people. Grabbing her, he reminded her how he and his father had to suffer from trying to be men of two worlds, before destroying her plant body and severing the psychic link.[5]
The Cotati were also given mysterious weapons by the Reckoning,[6] created by the Watchers, which were far more advanced than those of the Kree/Skrull Alliance and powered by mysterious crystalline batteries.[7] The Alliance having discovered their true plans, decided to attack them on the Blue Area of the Moon. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four proceeded to battle the invaders, believing they had come to wipe the Cotati out. After Iron Man disabled all of the Alliance ships, the Cotati revealed the truth that they were creating a Death Blossom which amplified Quoi's control over all flora. He started killing all those on the ships and revealed that the Cotati planned to create their own empyrean over the whole universe, which he dubbed the "Empyre".[8] Unknown to the Earth heroes, they had also killed She-Hulk and infested her body with a Cotati, to use her as a sleeper agent.[9]
Sequoia offered to let the Avengers live if they stood aside, but was refused and fled before Thor, who freed himself along with his comrades, could attack him. Meanwhile, nearly everyone on the Alliance ships was killed, except those on the flagship due to Captain Marvel working with Teddy and absorbing his Excelsior's power, severing the Cotati's link with plant life there with the resulting burst of energy. The Avengers, Alliance, and Fantastic Four afterwards decided to ally in order to beat back the Cotati who had started attacking Earth.[2] A Cotati spaceship later attacked a lone surviving Alliance ship, but was destroyed by the new Accuser Marvel, who unwittingly killed all the Cotati onboard as Ronan's Universal Weapon proved too powerful.[10]
War Against Earth[]
The surviving Alliance soldiers later battled the Cotati on Earth, winning a battle in a Mexican village near Navojoa with the help of Wonder Man and Mockingbird. The two heroes along with Quicksilver tried to stop the Alliance soldiers when they started executing the Cotati captives, but were overpowered or made to surrender. The densely forested regions around the globe were however devastated, while Wakanda was able to avoid Cotati scouting parties due to its force-field. Shanna Plunder unsuccessfully fought the Cotati with her son Matthew in the Savage Land, but was defeated. Ka-Zar went along with Black Knight, Doctor Voodoo, and Scarlet Witch after learning of the invasion there and were attacked by a group of Cotati. They held them off, but were soon defeated by Man-Thing and Shanna, who were under Cotati control due to their bond with nature.[11]
On the Blue Area of the Moon, the Cotati readied the sunward node to launch on Earth's nations. They were discovered by Vulcan who went investigating after seeing plants growing on the Moon's surface near the Summer House, and tried dissuading them from attacking the planet. The Cotati instead attacked and subdued him, before proceeding to interrogate his mind. This triggered Vulcan's memories of him being altered by a trio of aliens and caused him to start raging, resulting in the death of every Cotati in sight as his powers caused a massive explosion.[12] The Cotati in retaliation launched an invasion of Krakoa itself, but all of the invaders were soon slaughtered by Magneto, who also discovered the Cotati were attacking globally. He later joined in the X-Men's counterattack on the Blue Area of the Moon.[13]
As a tree-like Cotati warship touched down in Mexico City, they started attacking it to use the humans as fertilizer and unleashed a giant flower on it. Conan, who was stranded in the modern era slayed many of them, but was knocked out by a poisoned arrow. Eddie Brock brought him back to his senses and together they fought the invaders. Conan attacked with Cotati warriors by running them beneath a combine harvester on Eddie's advice, allowing him to smash a fuel tanker into the flower, which resulted in its death as it exploded.[14] The powerful Cotati mage Shi Qaanth meanwhile attacked Fort Myer in Arlington County with his soldiers, so they could easily take Washington, D.C., but they were forced to flee after Captain America intervened and helped in turning the tide. Shi Qaanth lost his eye after being shot by an American soldier named Bennett, but secretly infected him before leaving. After Captain America met General Woodley, Shi Qaanth utilized Bennett to infect the general as well, while himself preparing to attack Mexico City.[15]
The Cotati also set up a base in the desolate Genosha as part of their plot to invade Wakanda. Their plans however were interrupted when they were attacked by Genosha's mutant inhabitants, accidentally revived by Scarlet Witch as zombies. Angel's group discovered this when they came to check up on the Genoshan gate, and encountered a group of Cotati fleeing from the zombies before destroying them both. The activities of the Cotati also attracted the attention of the Hordeculture, who wanted to take their samples.[16] The Cotati soon turned the tide everywhere in their favor and assaulted Wakanda in order to utilize its vibranium-rich soil for a more powerful Death Blossom. Mantis meanwhile arrived at Wakanda after having messaged Black Panther to convince her son to abandon the war, but he requested Teddy to allow him to use Excelsior for his war just in case, forcing the Alliance to abandon their plans to attack the Blue Area of the Moon by stabbing Marvel again.[17]
Lauri-Ell, Captain Marvel and Chewie beat back a Cotati invasion in a park in East Village area of Manhattan.[18] Marvel was later called by Lauri-Ell to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where she discovered the Cotati had taken abducted humans to. Marvel along with Hazmat, Spider-Woman, and War Machine came to her rescue. The four fought the Cotati with the pieces of the Universal Weapon Doctor Strange had split for them, however the spell soon started disintegrating and disorienting the heroes. As the Cotati surrounded Marvel, Lauri-Ell picked up the Universal Weapon she had dropped and merged all the pieces back. The weapon transformed her into a true Accuser and she used it to turn the tide against the Cotati. The four heroes then destroyed the building along with the Cotati nest, upon clearing it of civilians.[19]
Meanwhile in Central Park, Vision while investigating the mysterious plant growth came upon Plantman[20] and was attacked. Luke Cage and Doctor Nemesis fought against him and found that he was helping the Cotati after having been empowered by them. Meanwhile in the Savage Land, Ka-Zar freed Shanna from the Cotati control while the other heroes fought the Cotati alongside Matthew Plunder. Ka-Zar was however stabbed in the ensuing fight.[21] The Cotati in Genosha after realizing they couldn't win, decided to initiate the creation of the giant seed pod, trapping two of the Hordeculture members, Multiple Man and Monet St. Croix. Magik struck the pod in an attempt to free her them, it only made it bigger and caused it to partially burst. She then called upon the aid of other psychic mutants of Krakoa to fight the zombie mutants and the Cotati.[22]
The Cotati in Wakanda breached its defenses, but were unable to best its defenders. Mantis along with Invisible Woman, She-Hulk and The Thing arrived at Lake Victoria to convince her son to give up his war, but he rejected that animals were capable of peace, reminding her how the Skrulls had detonated the Pyre in the Kral system. She-Hulk then warned Quoi that the Alliance were going to deploy the Pyre in Earth's solar system and he should hasten their victory, before attacking the Terrans with a Gamma Blast. The Cotati implant inside her revealed she was already dead and had been corrupted during her time on the Moon.[23]
Captain America and the American soldiers fought the Cotati in San Antonio, before the arrival of Alliance soldiers who killed their enemies but also caused a lot of human deaths. Despite flaring tempers, they didn't come to blows and told them about Shi Qaanth massing an army for attack on Mexico City, including a giant creature called "Man of Earth" made of plant and stone, in order to create a seismic event that would wipe out all life on Earth. While they were resting, they discovered Bennett's infection and beat all those who were infected by the Cotati spores. Captain America realized that General Woodley must be infected too and hurried to Brussels to stop the Cotati from killing the NATO representatives. They succeeded by destroying his body, which had turned into plant-like because of Cotati spores and Captain America convinced NATO members to mount a joint defense of Mexico City.[24]
The Cotati who had been zombified meanwhile granted the others access into the pod's insides so they could eat the womb with the gestating Cotatinaught, a doomsday being created from the strength-sap of the Cotati. Magik took Hordeculture's Opal Vetiver to Beast so they could develop a bio-weapon that could be used to kill the Cotati. Meanwhile, the mutant zombie Explodey Boy made a deal to protect Multiple Man's group by blowing up the Empyrean soldiers, in exchange for letting him feast on the body parts of his duplicates. After Beast and Opal finished developing the bio-weapon, which Black Tom took to Genosha and the X-Men used to destroy the Cotati. The Cotatinaught however was infected by the zombies as he ate its pod.[25] It was destroyed soon after its birth by Explodey Boy, and the zombies dissipated due to the spell Doctor Strange had cast a month earlier.[26]
In Wakanda, the Cotati overwhelmed its defenders near the Great Vibranium Mound, while their forces elsewhere kept Earth's heroes and forces busy. As the Wakandan Air Guard fired in the direction of Black Panther to take down the Cotati surrounding him, one of the Cotati mages sacrificed himself to open a portal for Quoi and the Swordsman. The Swordsman caught Black Panther off-guard and utilized it to stab him with a sword. Presuming him dead, Quoi proceeded to plant the Death Blossom in the Vibranium Mound. Unknown to them, the former Skrull empress R'Klll had already launched the Pyre into the Sun.[27] In Central Park, Plantman used his new-found powers to create the Sprout Soldiers and trapped Luke Cage, who was freed by Vision. Luke and Doctor Nemesis destroyed all the Sprout Soldiers, before Vision heated up the water in the park so Plantman couldn't grow new ones.[28]
In the Savage Land, Shanna destroyed the Cotati protecting the mage Ventri who had been controlling her and Man-Thing, presuming they had killed Ka-Zar. Scarlet Witch however stated they could revive him since his soul was trapped in the Ebony Blade he was stabbed with, and called on Doctor Voodoo to help her. Having broken the Cotai control over Man-Thing, he agreed while the others held the Cotati off. Ka-Zar's soul was successfully put back in his body after it was healed by the land's waters and the Savage Land recognized the Cotati as a threat, since they tried taking its spirit. As the Cotati found themselves surrounded by dinosaurs, they were forced to surrender and imprisoned.[28]
Meanwhile, Shi Qaanth mounted his assault on Mexico City. The NATO forces fought the Cotati on ground, while most of the Alliance soldiers held back until the Man of Earth was taken down. Captain America told the defenders to destroy the cars around their location to slow the Cotati, while unknown to him the Alliance commanders were planning to level the city after killing the Man of Earth. As they fired their missiles at him, the Man of Earth smashed their flagship in anger to the ground, ripping open the fault line. Captain America after discovering Shi Qaanth was riding atop him, used an Alliance glider to get to the Cotati mage and destroyed his sceptre he was using to manipulate plant life. This caused the Man of Earth to be destroyed and most of the Cotati were teleported away, while Shi Qaanth apparently fell to his death.[29]
In New York City, the Dark Harvest, an elite squad of the Priests of Pama, abducted the genetically-engineered Kree child Jo-Venn, as he was imbued with the memories of the Kree-Skrull War. Probing his mind, they learnt how to build the Omni-Wave Projector and used it to broadcast his memories of the conflict, causing the Alliance soldiers to start fighting each other. N'Kalla, whom they had been unsuccessful in kidnapping earlier and was also filled with memories of the war, tried to rescue him but was defeated and used to create hate among the Alliance soldiers. The Fantastic Four replacements on Earth - Brainstorm, Powerhouse, Spider-Man, and Wolverine; however tracked her down and fought the Dark Harvest. Brainstorm and Powerhouse told Jo-Venn and N'Kalla to remember being made to constantly fight each other, but being the only ones who had anything in common and fighting together to win their freedom. Their thoughts caused the Alliance soldiers to fight in greater unison than before.[30]
Meanwhile, Captain Glory revealed the fake Teddy to be R'Klll out of guilt, with the real one retaking his throne and ordering the Alliance to assist Earth's heroes. Mantis used her powers to prevent Susan from feeling pain or exhaustion, allowing Susan to grab her. As the real She-Hulk came back to life with the help of the Leader, Grimm told her that he believed in her since they would always be family. This caused She-Hulk to burn the Cotati out of her system and regain control of her body. Reed Richards using a special suit built by Iron Man blocked Quoi's control over plants, as the combined Alliance-Earth forces stopped the Pyre from blowing up the Sun and attacked the Cotati in Wakanda. Thor, who had gained Gaea's powers, nullified their control over plants, while Black Panther revealed he only pretended to die and fought the Swordsman, stabbing him and the Death Blossom with the Excelsior. This caused the Death Blossom to be destroyed and the Cotati surrendered, with the X-Men having destroyed their base on the Moon as well.[9][31]
Exiled[]
Quoi and the surviving Cotati were later taken to a barren planet by Thor to an uncharted section in space under the watch of Powerhouse and Susan Storm. Thor covered the entire planet in plant-life so the Cotati could live there. Because the Cotati's new planet was in uncharted space and they no longer had access to starships, they could live out there in peace without posing a threat to anyone else.[7]Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Cotatinaught: A doomsday being created from the strength-sap of Cotati. In its grown form it is capable of causing great destruction.[25]
- Plant-based teleporters: Teleporters which work similar to Krakoa's Gateways.[20]
- Plant-based fertilizer machines: Cotati-made organic mechanisms which are able to convert flesh-based beings, such as humans into fertilizer.[14]
Weapons
- Death Blossom: A giant flower that can boost a Cotati mage's control over all plant life.[20]
- Sunward Node: Capable of causing mass-destruction in an area with its pods.[12]
- Giant flowers: Giant cannibalistic flowers that attack and eat people.[14]
- Microscopic spores: Allows the Cotati to remote-control any animal host.[24]
- Warships[10]
- Ancient Technologically Advanced Weaponry: Millenia old weapons created by the Watchers which despite being more ancient than the Elders of the Universe, were way more advanced than the Kree or the Skrulls' technology.[33]
Transportation
- Spaceships[32]
Notes
- The name "Empyre" is derived from the combination of "Empire" and "Empyrean".
See Also
- 28 appearance(s) of Empyre (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Empyre (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) of Empyre (Earth-616)
- 11 image(s) of Empyre (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by Empyre (Earth-616)
- 12 member(s) of Empyre (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Road to Empyre: The Kree/Skrull War #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Empyre #2
- ↑ Lords of Empyre: Swordsman #1
- ↑ Empyre #2–3
- ↑ Lords of Empyre: Celestial Messiah #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Empyre: Fallout Fantastic Four #1
- ↑ Empyre #1
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Immortal She-Hulk #1
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #18
- ↑ Empyre: Avengers #1–2
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 X-Men (Vol. 5) #10
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 5) #11
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Empyre: Savage Avengers #1
- ↑ Empyre: Captain America #1
- ↑ Empyre: X-Men #1–2
- ↑ Empyre #3
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #19
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 10) #21
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Empyre: Avengers #1
- ↑ Empyre: Avengers #2
- ↑ Empyre: X-Men #2–3
- ↑ Empyre #4
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Empyre: Captain America #2
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Empyre: X-Men #3
- ↑ Empyre: X-Men #4
- ↑ Empyre #5
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Empyre: Avengers #3
- ↑ Empyre: Captain America #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #22–23
- ↑ Empyre #6
- ↑ Empyre: X-Men #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #25