Conan The Avenger

In 2018, Marvel Comics announced that it had reacquired the rights to publish and print comic books based on the works of Robert E. Howard, namely Conan the Barbarian. Along with relaunching previous 70’s ongoing titles Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan, the Cimmerian made an official, canon jump to the mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth-616). First appearing in the event miniseries Avengers: No Road Home, Conan has continued to appear as the central character in both the Savage Avengers ongoing series and the Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown miniseries.

Avengers: No Road Home

Debuting at the end of Issue 5 of Avengers: No Road Home, Conan enters the story when Wanda Maximoff, The Scarlet Witch, was sent to the Hyborian Age by teammate Voyager to keep a shard of Nyx’s soul out of the Night Goddess’s hands. As Wanda is keeping her eyes closed so that Nyx can’t see through them to find her quarry, Conan acts as her bodyguard and guide to find the shard, for a hefty price. After tracking the shard to the City of Shadizar, where it was being used in a ritual by the Crow Cult, Wanda accidentally summons Nyx to the Hyborian Age. The Avengers follow, and a battle breaks out where Conan mistakes Vision and Spectrum for evil spirits and briefly attacks them, before being set straight and sicced on Nyx’s forces.

He does get taken out of the fight at one point, with Nyx’s child Oizys using the memory of his dead lover Bêlit against him. After Hercules kills Oizys and frees the heroes of her influence, the Avengers regroup and follow Nyx to the planet Euphoria, with Conan in tow. On Euphoria, Conan gives an impassioned speech rebuking Vision’s claim that dying is what makes one human, instead claiming that “being human makes you die”. He helps fight Nyx and follows her to The House of Ideas, where she can plunge reality into endless darkness. He, along with many of the other Avengers, gets teleported away from the final battle by the sheer power of the House. The future king of Aquilonia ends up in the Savage Land, a prehistoric jungle in Antarctica preserved by time, where he spends weeks slaying dinosaurs and cavemen in search of the riches needed to make him a king.

Savage Avengers

This quest lead to Conan discovering the hidden City of Sickles, home of ancient Hyborian wizard Kulan Gath. The dark magics of the City also attracted the attentions of mutant antihero Wolverine, ninja assassin Elektra, and former Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Voodoo. Conan and Wolverine run into each other and briefly fight, thinking each other are agents of Gath. After sharing a barrel of mead and clearing the air, the two warriors part ways to accomplish their goals. Conan eventually finds the long lost Third Eye of Agamotto…. Around a sleeping Kulan Gath’s neck.

In his attempt to steal it quietly, Gath woke up and began attacking Conan. Conan was forced to release a trapped alien Symbiote (that Conan thought was a genie) to distract Gath long enough to escape with the amulet. All the while Wolverine, Voodoo, and Elektra are busy fighting ninja assassins from the Hand clan and Hyborian wizards to stop them from summoning an ancient, world-destroying god named Jhoatun Lau. Eventually, Frank Castle, the vigilante known as The Punisher, arrives and starts slaughtering everyone he sees, as the bodies of his dead family were exhumed and brought to the City of Sickles. This was all part of Gath’s plan to fill the sacramental bowl with the blood of warriors to hasten Jhoatun Lau’s arrival. When Wolverine, Elektra, Voodoo, and Punisher are up against the ropes, Conan arrives with the amulet and tries to bargin it for the hero’s lives. His attempt is unsuccessful, and after briefly using an unconscious Wolverine as a weapon, Gath punches a hole through Conan’s chest and retrieves his amulet.

Conan isn’t finished, though, as the Symbiote he freed earlier comes to his aide, heals his wounds, and becoming a sword in his hand, commanding the barbarian to kill its captors. Conan mistakes the Symbiote’s voice for his god, Crom, and obeys the Symbiote’s commands. As Conan and Castle lay waste to their enemies, they unintentionally spill enough blood to successfully summon Jhoatun Lau, who opens a portal to Shanghai in order to consume enough people to rip Earth in two. Wolverine and Conan follow the Marrow God through the portal while Gath tries to incapacitate Castle by disguising monsters as his seemingly resurrected family. After saving Frank, Voodoo and Elektra take him to New York to find that former Spider-Man villain Venom has joined the fight against the Marrow God, while also chastising Conan for “enslaving” a helpless and dying Symbiote (this allows for a joke where Venom mistakes Crom for the former Hasbro/Marvel character, ROM the Space Knight).

Ultimately, the newly christened Savage Avengers manage to kill the Marrow God before it can destroy Earth. The warriors then teleport back to the City of Sickles to kill Kulan Gath, when Conan’s Symbiote dies, leaving him once again on the verge of death. Voodoo uses dark magic to save his life, draining the life of a Hand ninja to do so. After cornering Gath, he reveals that he always intended for these six warriors to defeat the Marrow God, as it’s blood will infect them, turning them into Gath’s loyal killers. Gath escapes to Egypt after this revelation, with Voodoo giving chase. Elektra, Wolverine, and Venom use a magic gateway to return to New York, which Conan refuses as he deeply distrusts magic. Castle, who has retrieved his family’s bodies, becomes curious about Crom, and decides to trek through the Savage Land with Conan to Halley Research Station in hopes of getting transport back to the Americas.

Not long into their journey, The Punisher and Conan are attacked by the various beasts of the Savage Land. The Punisher is almost killed by a pack of velociraptors until Conan takes up his companion's submachine gun, killing every raptor and nearly killing Castle himself. The warriors use the raptor’s hides to fabricate warm clothes for the upcoming cold of Antarctica. After suffering the bitter cold for almost a month, they eventually make it to Halley Station, where they book passage on a cargo ship bound for Brazil. Castle then books passage on another cargo ship headed to New York, whereas Conan decides to travel north towards Mexico on horseback to seek what Conan always seeks: wine, women, and treasure. Punisher asks Conan if Crom would think him weak for "carrying my dead family 'round for the last month". Conan shakes Castle's hand and tells him that he’s always been carrying his family with him, and that Crom doesn’t care either way. After they part ways, it’s revealed that long-time Marvel comics villain Doctor Doom has been watching them this whole time for reasons yet to be revealed. And so ends the first chapter of Conan’s sojourn in the modern-day Marvel Universe. Next time we’ll chronicle his adventures in the juggles of Central America.