Contest of Chaos

by Steve Orlando, Carlos Nieto (artist), Alberto Foche (artist)

Agatha Harknessholds a Contest of Chaos, and pits Marvel’s greatest champions against each other!

Agatha Harkness is building a new Darkhold — and she’s using Earth’s mightiest heroes to do it! First on her list is Spider-Man, whose regular day is turned upside down when he involuntarily walks through a portal to a remote, magical city…and is attacked by Wolverine! The Fantastic Four are drawn into the mayhem when the Human Torch is pitted against Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider! It’s flame versus hellfire when the two heroes face off — but who will emerge victorious?! Iron Man versus Storm is another clash of titans you won’t want to miss! But, as more of Agatha’s plan is revealed, who are those determined to stop her?

Spider-Man Annual (2023) 1, Iron Man Annual (2023) 1, Fantastic Four Annual (2023) 1, Moon Knight Annual (2023) 1, Spider-Gwen Annual (2023) 1, Venom Annual (2023) 1, X-Men Annual (2023) 1, Avengers Annual (2023) 1

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 8, 2024

Reviews

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun with this event. They paired up some interesting heroes I would not have thought to pair up. And having it all culminate with the Avengers throwing down with the team of victors is cool in theory but they don’t show much fighting. This is very much tied to last year’s Darkhold event and it definitely isn’t over yet. I’m excited to see where this story goes next.

[Francisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all the issues for this event. Honestly the first issue hooked me and I thought some of the fights were better than others. The standout issues for me were Spider-Man vs Wolverine, Cyclops vs Captain Marvel, and Deadpool vs Venom. Some issues were too silly so I didn’t really like them that much such as the Moon Knight issue. Overall kept me entertained but I wish it had been more tonally connected.

[Isaac Wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read these as individual comics. I like the concept. Love the characters. Biggest thing I struggled with is that they have an overarching writer who wrote the back up feature and framed the story, but had different writ tests for the individual issues. Because of this, some of the story lines don’t mesh as well as they could have.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agatha Harkness (young again like she was portrayed in the 'WandaVision' tv show) is on a mission to remake the Darkhold that the Scarlet Witch locked away. To do that, she needs to harvest chaos magic...

Etsium crystals? They can corrupt superheroes and make them greedy. They can also do a bit of 'What If?' reality manipulation. Enough chaos magic and Agatha can remake the Darkhold and 'protect the Earth from what's coming'

The heroes fighting...
(aren't they always? Contest of Champions...Secret Wars...AvX)

Spider-Man / Wolverine
Storm / Iron Man
Human Torch / Ghost Rider
Moon Knight / Taegukgi
Ghost-Spider / White Fox
Deadpool / Venom
Cyclops / Captain Marvel
=====
Felt like a 90s annual crossover, something like 'Atlantis Attacks' but smaller and less compelling(?). I still think that the Darkhold and Midnight Suns (even Ghost Rider) need a darker Marvel MAX imprint to get violent and filled with horror. The way things are now? It's a whitewashed 'horror' that you'd watch on a Disney Channel afternoon.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Agatha Harkness wants to bring the Darkhold back into existence so it can hold Chthon rather than all that power residing inside Wanda. To do so, she holds a "Contest of Chaos" to see which heroes will win in a fight, proving their ability to handle the chaos within themselves and allow it to be manipulated by her. Here are the face-offs:
Spider-Man vs Wolverine; Storm vs Iron Man; Ghost Rider vs Human Torch; Moon Knight vs Taegukgi of Tiger Division; Spider-Gwen vs White Fox; Venom vs Deadpool; Captain Marvel vs Cyclops.
The winners, united with chaos abilities, fight against The Avengers while Agatha tries to create the Darkhold again. An odd backlash happens and the Darkhold book exists, but all its power is in a boy who finds Agatha washed up on a beach. This will definitely continue soon, probably in the pages of Scarlet Witch.
Overall, a good read and match up, but its impact fails to be seen yet.
Recommend.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I pick this up mostly because I like Agatha Harkness? Yeah, yeah I did. But there's some fun to be had here.

Remember those old Marvel events where they'd crossover all the annuals? Contest Of Chaos is like that. Agatha's trying to rewrite the Darkhold after Scarlet Witch ate it (yes, seriously), and to do so, she needs different heroes to fight because...yeah, I got nothing. But it's fun, with some interesting match-ups (Venom vs. Deadpool was a favourite), and there's a back-up in each issue involving Spider-Man and Jessica Jones trying to solve the mystery that I really enjoyed too.

Not essential reading as far as I can tell (though I expect this whole Darkhold thing is going to blow up in Scarlet Witch's solo book at some point), but fun in a nostalgic way.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel has often had crossover stories set in the annuals of its series’s. Some are awesome and get you addicted to comics (for me this was Atlantis Attacks many years ago) and others are mediocre, like this one. Still, the art is good and there are some characters here that I don’t know well, (Spider-Gwen, Taegukgi) but the battles are tame and the story minimal. In fact, I’d recommend it to some younger comic readers-it just might be their Atlantis Attacks!

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was terrible. It just proves that when Marvel makes annuals these days, don't waste your money on them. Every annual is just a dumb fight between two heroes who through a magic macguffin are mad at each other. Then the winners work for Agatha Harkness while she tries to create a new Darkhold. Again it's awful and just plain dumb.

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved seeing everyone fight against each other in these different arenas, while trying to figure out what Agatha was up to!
The final issue could have been longer, but overall, a really good time!
TW for violence and mind control

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok enough but these never seem to work

[Gary Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 342

[Powerman61 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contest of Chaos Great Read

A very enjoyable read. All star cast of Heroes.
Introduced a few characters that I was unfamiliar with.
I would highly recommend Contest of Chaos.

[Mattia Fionda · Rating 3 out of 5]

‼️3.5/5🌟

[Andja · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as individual comics, ratings below:
Spider-Man Annual= 3 stars
Iron Man Annual= 3 stars
Fantastic Four Annual= 3 stars
Moon Knight Annual= 4 stars
Spider-Gwen Annual= 3 stars
Venom Annual= 4 stars
X-Men Annual= 3 stars
Avengers Annual= 4 stars

Overall rating of 3.5 stars