War of Kings Omnibus

War of Kings #1-1.2

by Ed Brubaker, Billy Tan (Illustrator), Marvel Various (Writer)

A cosmic epic connecting the Inhumans, X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy! The Inhumans leave Earth and take their destined place as rulers of the Kree Empire! Meanwhile, Cyclops and Havok’s power-mad brother, Vulcan, claims the Shi’ar Empire’s throne, bringing the galaxy to the brink of destruction! With the Nova Corps, Starjammers and Guardians caught in the middle, two empires make cosmic war — and the fallout might just tear the galaxy in half!

COLLECTING: Uncanny X-Men (1981) 475-486, X-Men: Emperor Vulcan (2007) 1-5, Secret Invasion: War of Kings (2009) 1, X-Men: Kingbreaker (2009) 1-4, War of Kings: Darkhawk (2009) 1-2, War of Kings: Warriors (2009) 1-2, War of Kings (2009) 1-6, War of Kings: Ascension (2009) 1-4, War of Kings: Savage World of Sakaar (2009) 1, Nova (2007) 23-28, Guardians of the Galaxy (2008) 13-19, War of Kings: Who Will Rule? (2009) 1, Marvel Spotlilght: War of Kings (2009) 1, material from X-Men: Divided We Stand (2008) 2

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes, Collections, Fiction

1304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2009

About the author

Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.

In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.

Reviews

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 1300 page omnibus is a lot of book - prepare for an arm workout if you ever pick up the War of Kings Omnibus. I have to say, though, I can't imagine reading this "event" in any other format. The "event" is actually a series of mini-series and tie-in regular series that, when jammed together, form a surprisingly coherent cosmic reckoning between two great and ancient alien races, the Shi-ar and Kree.

I think most readers look a bit critically on the cosmic Marvel stuff, especially the X-Men's long-running flirtation with the Shi-ar. i get it! Who the heck are these triangle-heads and why do I care? The War of Kings Omnibus does a great job of setting the stage for caring about them, showing how Vulcan takes control of the kingship and then proceeds to go on a conquering spree that eventually runs up against the Black Bolt-led Kree (we also see how the Inhumans gain control of Kree society, though in a much more truncated fashion). Ultimately, the Game of Thrones antics keep your interest, even as you're rarely seeing familiar Marvel heroes.

I actually really liked that I barely knew any of the main actors in the story. It allowed me to engage with them within the story, not thinking about their more recent or more famous exploits (2009 Professor X is very different from 2025 Professor X, although it's kinda funny that post-Krakoa, he's back with the Shi-ar). I found myself engaged with relatively silly heroes like Darkhawk, who is suddenly revealed to have a great cosmic burden here. There's a lot in the War of Kings Omnibus that I think reflects the comic book status quo of the times - that is to say, the story is often very "comic booky". The Nova Corps are housed inside Ego the Living Planet, for example, and super team-ups and backstabbing and even romances play out in an extremely soap opera fashion.

I could see how this isn't strictly a "great" Marvel event. For one thing, it's huge and roams widely. I can't imagine having attempted to follow this in real time. 1300 pages is probably too much for one event, and it's not even concluded here, going on into Realm of Kings and beyond. Additionally, some of the twists and re-twists get old (Gladiator sides with everyone) and the repeated battles become stale.

All that said, I had a ton of fun with the War of Kings. There's something to be said for setting an event in a corner of the Marvel universe that doesn't get a lot of action. You can really do wild things, and that shows in all the huge reveals, twists, and shocking deaths in the War of Kings Omnibus. Prepare to have a pretty good time for a pretty long time if you pick up this doorstop.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marvel cosmic saga continues

4.25 stars. I absolutely loved this!!! This book was massive! In short, most of it focuses on Vulcans rise to power as the Majestor of the Shi’ar and Black Bolt and the Inhumans rise to be the rulers of the Kree empire leading up to their big battle. But on that journey there is so much to enjoy. All the individual character arcs, all the side stories etc etc. the opening story, X-men Rise and fall of the Shi’ar empire was amazing! Helluva opener. The actual title arc, War of Kings 1-6 also was F’ing dope as hell!! I mean this book just kept giving me awesomeness. Stakes were high, characters that you got attached to died and you never knew what crazy mission or tragedy awaited you through the next few pages. I’m so glad I decided to track all of this cosmic saga down. Well worth it and highly recommended!!! Up next, Realm of Kings.

[Relstuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very solid story telling. This is a must read for fans of Cosmic Marvel. This storyline helps set the foundation for things still happening in the cosmic Marvel universe.

This features The Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, The X-Men, The Inhumans, and many others.

[Cameron H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Marvel, when will you do right by Darkhawk?

[Matt Quann · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I slowly work my way through the DnA run that laid the foundation for Marvel's cosmic corner, War of Kings presents my favourite event of the bunch. A massive Sh'iar vs Kree war that rolls in, or maybe shoehorns, the third summers brother and the Inhumans. For me, the heavies of the respective space empires are the least interesting thing about the whole story. Instead, the established world of Guardians and Nova clash against a cosmic battle of kings.

Good old fashioned space-based fun. Oh, the art is also choice! A small cosmic hiatus, then I'll get along with Realm of Kings.

[Mohamed Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Have to Admit that i Felt Stuck with this one and Was Struggling to Finish it Which is Never a Good Sign
I think the Event " War Of Kings " Doesn't really Deserve all that Preparations " a Whole Prelude Omnibus and Almost Half Of this One " .
Emperor Vulcan Didn't Deserve All that in My Opinion He is Really Overrated.
I Can Even Say that I Enjoyed Some of the Prelude Stories MUch More than the Main Event.
In this Omnibus I Liked the Guardians Of the Galaxy Story and Somehow Enjoyed the Uncanny X-men Story , Nova Story Was mediocre As Was War Of Kings , The Least Was Boooring.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most compilations this large, collecting a variety of titles, it's generally filled with some pretty good stuff and then just some average stuff.

First, it definitely helps to read the other books instead of just the main series. For me, the highlight of the crossover is that the Inhumans go from passive to proactive, which is an excellent move to get them out of their story rut of just trying to live in peace away from everyone.

Brubaker's run on the X-Men, detailing Vulcan's rise to power wasn't new to me, but I had never read what happened after that, so this filled in that gap of seeing just what happened next. And he is definitely portrayed as this spoiled and hurt child who wants revenge against the universe so it isn't hard to hate him and you can't wait for him to be spanked.

Darkhawk was interesting, and his "anger" issues were appealing to me, but this was short lived as the writers added some depth to his character by modifying the purpose of the Darkhawks to soldiers for psychohistory, from Asimov's Foundation series.

The War of Kings: Warriors series was pretty much a waste of time as was War of Kings: Savage World of Skaar.

The main War of Kings mini-series was a bombastic climax with a cinematic action movie feel.

The Nova issues wrap up his storyline although the art fell a little short for my tastes. It should be noted that these issues were after the main mini-series in the compilation, but some of the story takes place before and during the main mini-series. If you read this volume straight through, you basically see what happens overall, then jump back in time to see a few things that were going on in parallel. This is true for both Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Guardians of the Galaxy deals with some immediate repercussions of the War of Kings mini-series. For the most part it's fun, with one exception of the Inhumans' behavior seeming to be out of character, taking a stance simply to create conflict in the story. The result of these issues sets up presumably the Aftermath omnibus.

Afterwards many of the cosmic races are in different places than they were before. It'll be interesting to see if Marvel capitalizes on this in the last part of this trilogy.

[guanaeps · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Omnibus isn't layed out correctly. Don't get me wrong, there's some good comic-booking to be had here, but nearly all of it loses its power and luster in the confusing and baffling "reading order" they came up with for this omnibus.

I've read their reasonings behind the layout...but after reading through the omnibus itself, I cannot agree with their choices. They've stifled the magic of the run, ruined the gestalt nature of DnA's cosmic narrative. And for what? For convenience of the reader?????(?)??????

The Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning run that re-sparked the fire of Cosmic marvel came from their Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy runs. These are the main threads of the entire six year narrative, beginning in Annihilation...and yet here they are thrown at the very end of this omnibus, almost as an addendum. The true long-play narrative that Abnett and Lanning were building gets lost in this huge book.

The real crime here is the lack of a chronological reading order. What's the point of an event if it's not read piece by piece in successive order, seeing and feeling the size and scope of the Story?

A book read from front to end, chronologically, with all the pieces in their proper place...how is that such a radical idea, Marvel?

I could and probably will write an essay on why these Prelude/War/Realm of Kings omni's should have been built around the GOTG and Nova Runs, as they're the double helix threads that weave DnA's entire story together.

Still just entirely baffled by the layout, I can't get over it.

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5.
Do you like Nova? Well, he isnt Nova for most of this omnibus. Do you like Darkhawk? Well, he isnt Darkhawk for some of this omnibus and, when he is, he is pretty insufferable and his backstory gets retconned. Do you like the Inhumans? Well, they aren't in this a ton (even though the entire story revolves around them).

What does that leave us with? Space X-Men, which I dont really care for (your mileage may vary), Guardians of the Galaxy (which is EXCELLENT and easily the best part of this omnibus), and Vulcan, who is one of the most one-dimensional modern-era villains ever. He is mad at Professor X and so therefore wants to rule the galaxy (yeah, don't think about that too hard). His powers are flying and shooting fire out of his hands, and whatever the story requires from him at any given time. All of his dialog is either "I will rule the galaxy!" or "Doubting me is treason!" and his entire personality is made up of threatening/killing people for no reason and being the dumbest ruler in the history of rulership.

The other problem is that this story takes a long time to really get started. There are a lot of moving pieces here and most of them have nothing to do with any of the others until the end.

I will say, however, that when the Inhumans are on-screen they are always interesting and the ending is really good.

[Rob Schamberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweeping, epic and so much fun!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a war amongst the stars. The Inhumans/Kree vs The Shiar w/ Vulcan as their leader. The saga to end all cosmic sagas.

There's a lot of ups and downs to this book, highs and lows. The opening arc of UXM where Vulcan goes to become king of the Shiar while getting revenge, with a group of XM on his tail, is still solid. Going into space is practically a right of passage for the mutants, and minus some weird phoenix stuff with Rachel and a Shiar hunter, it's got great art and does good setup.

The middle chapters detailing Havok and Starjammers vs Vulcan and his new regime feel like padding in the grand scheme, as Havok almost has his brother twice but keeps getting yanked away, like the event must still happen. The supplemental material with Darkhawk, Skarr, and the side characters feels excessive, I skimmed a lot of it. It can't all be winners.

The main event itself is still a cosmic sized scope war of two civilizations, but it is a lot of talking about wars being raged and lives lost, but few characters of note are in danger, and poor Lilandra is basically thr magguffin, as Vulcan continues to scream and destroy stuff like the underdeveloped man child he is. The confrontation between him and Black Bolt in the final issue is a amazing back and forth of blue/orange energy, and it sets up the next major event to come.

The NOVA tie in issues lately are on the periphery, as Rich has to right the ship of the corps, as well as deal with Blastarr. The Guardians issues themselves has them trying (and failing) to get the two leaders to ceasefire, and Pylla just rising tensions.

Overall, this still is one of my favorite cosmic sagas at marvel, a true battle of kings and civilizations, excess and bloat included. They haven't reached these hights since.

[Paul Cocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel’s War of Kings Omnibus drops you into a galaxy already at war—with ambitions flaring, thrones toppling, and entire civilizations trembling under the weight of dynastic vengeance. The Shi’ar Empire is ruled by Vulcan, a mutant tyrant with a vendetta and enough power to reshape worlds. On the other side, the Kree find new leadership in the Inhuman royal family, who step from the shadows of Earth’s mythos to wage war across the stars. It’s a political chess match wrapped in supernova-level stakes, where strategy is written in starships and sacrifice. The result is one of the boldest and bloodiest space operas Marvel has ever produced.

This mammoth collection brings together a sweeping saga of interstellar war, as Vulcan—Cyclops and Havok’s long-lost brother—seizes the Shi’ar throne and goes full warlord, moving across the galactic chessboard like a volatile black king. Meanwhile, the Inhumans—long treated as side pieces in Marvel continuity—are finally promoted across the board to become rulers of the Kree Empire, led by the stoic and silent Black Bolt, who serves as both monarch and martyr in this deadly match.

With Nova, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and even Darkhawk drawn into the fray, the board is quickly flooded with pawns, rooks, and knights from every corner of the Marvel cosmos. Alliances shift like strategies mid-game, and what begins as posturing soon escalates into an all-out clash that leaves the board scorched.

Abnett and Lanning are the grandmasters of this conflict. Their work on the War of Kings mini and Guardians of the Galaxy is sharp, character-driven, and always aware of the stakes. Their narrative tactics draw from classical space opera, but each move is deliberate—trades are costly, sacrifices sting, and there’s always a new piece waiting in the wings. Brubaker’s earlier run on Uncanny X-Men lays the groundwork with Vulcan’s rise—essentially a dangerous pawn reaching the back rank and becoming something far worse.

Artistically, the omnibus is a showcase of different styles, but when the pieces align, the visuals sing. Paul Pelletier provides much of the event’s clarity and impact with fluid action and expressive layouts. Brad Walker and Wes Craig bring texture and motion to Guardians and Nova, where even the quieter beats have gravity. Mahmoud Asrar’s art in Kingbreaker and Darkhawk feels heavier and moodier, a fitting tone for those more fragmented storylines. If there’s a weak square on the board, it’s in the scattered one-shots—Warriors and Savage World of Sakaar—which feel like awkward side moves with little effect on the match.

The omnibus layout, unfortunately, isn’t quite checkmate. The reading order pushes the main War of Kings arc too early, with stronger narrative material from Nova and Guardians positioned as afterthoughts. Key developments unfold out of sync, robbing several major moments of their punch. It’s like watching a brilliant strategy unfold in the wrong sequence—you're still impressed by the game, but you can’t help but think it could’ve played out more cleanly with the right opening.

Still, even with a board this crowded, War of Kings manages to remain compelling. The character arcs resonate—Gladiator rises from loyal knight to king, Black Bolt plays his silent gambit, and Vulcan ultimately falls to his own unchecked aggression. Even Darkhawk, reshaped as a reluctant weapon, gets a fascinating subplot, though one that sometimes feels like it’s playing its own game on a different board.

If Annihilation was the opening salvo in Marvel’s cosmic resurgence, War of Kings is the mid-game—filled with gutsy sacrifices. It’s not perfect, and the structure might frustrate those hoping for a more streamlined match. But it’s a hell of a game, and the final moves leave the Marvel Universe forever altered. It's a must-read for fans of cosmic-scale comics. Flawed in layout, but elevated by sharp writing, cinematic art, and the sense that every piece on the board matters.

[Bram Ryckaert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm reading the 05-11 Marvel Cosmic run in one long go and if I were to summarize War of Kings in one term it'd be 'bait and switch'. All the fun aspects and heroes of Annihilation (Conquest) get pushed aside here for the X-Men, Inhumans and a very uninteresting arc involving Darkhawk. This is my first exposure to that character and it definitely wasn't a good one. His inclusion (and the other raptor) was just wasted space. The 'Ascension' arc is the weakest of this omnibus.

I actually love The Inhumans but I felt like their lead-up arcs in 'Road to WoK', Silent War and Secret Invasion: Inhumans, were a lot better. There's a one-shot here that focuses on them and also has one of the most satisfying moments in the story, but otherwise they serve more as chess/plot pieces and the character dynamics are not explored. That was pretty disappointing.

That's a general problem for the WoK story: it's all bombast, chaos and moving pieces, wasting a lot of time in the issues. It's a drawn-out conflict with a bunch of tie-ins that lacks a decent villain, since Vulcan's been terrible from his introduction til now. He's a flat character, a petulant child whose only motive is to rule the world and destroy all that oppose him. There's nothing even remotely interesting about him, so it boggles the mind why he was kept on for so long.
The heroes are not much better, I'd say the only character that grew on me over time was Gladiator.

Do you like Richard Rider and the Guardians? Well tough luck because they're operating mostly on the outskirts of this event, even though their arcs are once again the standouts compared to everything else. The issue ordering of this omnibus stresses this even more. This is such a problem that I'll have to expand on this.

This omnibus does not follow the chronological order you can find online. It's ordered more or less by series. Yeph York, responsible for the ordering, made his argument for that here

He says there that adding in tie-ins "ruins the pacing. None of those tie-ins add any plot information that's necessary for understanding the main series." Generally I'd agree with him. I don't like tie-ins and one of my complaints of the Cosmic run is that there's too many of them. However! In this series more than the others, events happen that come out of nowhere because you haven't read the tie-ins yet. There are 2 moments over the 6 part series where adding in the Guardians and Ascension series issues would've helped. Another factor is that you read the WoK conclusion halfway through the omnibus, which makes the series afterwards almost feel redundant, because you've already read the main event. Also it would give you some change of pace from the chaos of the main event with the Nova and GotG series.

There's also a blatant ordering mistake because the 'cliffhanger' of this omnibus gets resolved in an issue placed just before that. That's because the issue 'Who will rule' takes place before GotG 19, but it's placed after. I guess this entire rant could be seen as an incentive to read this event digitally and follow the more chronological order. I'm all for not mixing up series when it's not needed, but this order is just not helping the reading experience here.

Luckily this war is now done and I can move on to the next big chapter. Getting ready for it to end to be honest.

[Rob Marney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love cosmic events roping in the X-Men and Inhumans, who don't typically get to do this sort of thing. The whole "Roman Empire" vibe is fresh and fun, even though it gets abandoned halfway through just like Rachel's Tinder date. There's even a twist, to make up for how extraordinarily dumb Vulcan is. Unfortunately, this omni also has a bunch of random GOTG and Darkhawk tie-ins that only confuse the story. The biggest issue is a general fatigue at having 3 apocalyptic events in a row where everyone in the Galaxy ends up exploded except for the named characters. At the end of the event, there have been a lot of cool bits and splash pages, but the galaxy feels more like window dressing for action figures than a real civilization with rulers that don't know all the Earth heroes by name.

[Austen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was very mehhhh

Almost no payoff at any point throughout the entire book. Big fights are largely glossed over, Vulcan vs Black Bolt was the biggest let down.

All in all this book offered a lot of good stuff, but executed terribly on almost all of it. I enjoyed it, but wow I can see why this "massive event" went swept under the rug so to speak.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never expected to like Cosmic Marvel this much. As I kept on following the adventures of The Inhumans, I jumped into this area of Marvel. I had never explored it before and I couldn't be more excited.
BTW, Marvel Unlimited is the best way to read Marvel books.

[Judith Groen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annihilation is my favorite cosmic event... Well, I think it was. This book is amazing, the stories are compelling with great artwork. Yes, there are some stories that are less than others, but overall it is amazing. 5/5 for me!

[Sam Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[J Smo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
The first half was rough (not written by DnA). 2/5
The second half was great (written by DnA) 5/5
The second half makes up for the first with a great build-up and ending.