Atlantis Attacks

Atlantis Attacks was a comic book super-hero crossover storyline which ran through most of the summer annuals published by Marvel Comics in 1989.

The storyline is a complicated, multi-layered crossover regarding the return of the seven headed serpent god Set at the hands of the various underwater empires of the Marvel Universe. The title itself is misleading, as Atlantis and its then-leader Attuma only play minor roles in the story as flunkies for the real masterminds: Deviant leader Ghaur and Lemurian super-villainess Llyra.

Publication history
Atlantis Attacks continued and expanded the format created by 1988's The Evolutionary War crossover, in which all of Marvel's super-hero annuals were tied in to one large, singular storyline. However, where "The Evolutionary War" had had eleven parts, Atlantis Attacks had fourteen, as Marvel revived the Annual format for Daredevil, Iron Man, and Thor (who were not given annuals in 1988) as part of the storyline. However, due to a typo, the Daredevil Annual is mistakenly numbered with its previous annual number.

Also, unlike Evolutionary War annuals, which were connected loosely at best and were mainly written as stand-alone stories loosely connected by the presence of the High Evolutionary, Atlantis Attacks were written as a true serial, with many of the Annuals ending on cliffhangers that would be resolved in the next installment.

Also every annual contained a back-up story called "The Serpent Crown Saga" which was written by Peter Sanderson with pencil art by Mark Bagley. This 14-part story explained the complicated history of the Serpent Crown and recounted all its previous appearances for new readers.

Plot
The disembodied Ghaur baits Silver Surfer into restoring his physical form by hijacking Surfer's surfboard. After a brief battle, Ghaur escapes and flees to Earth, where he convinces Lemuria's ruler, Llyra, to form an alliance to summon Set back to Earth.

Ghaur's plan for the serpent god's return is a fivefold plot:

1. Build a brand new, giant-sized Serpent Crown, via gathering a large amounts of mystic artifacts and melting them down into building material for the new Serpent Crown.

2. Forge an alliance with Attuma, ruler of Atlantis, and convince him to declare war on the surface world as a means to render Atlantis defenseless (due to Attuma devoting all of the city's military resources towards a surface world invasion), so that Ghaur and Llyra's forces could launch a massive military assault on Atlantis, slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians as a sacrificial offering to Set.

3. Transform the human population into mute serpent men; using a serpent formula conceived by the terrorist Viper, with the deposed underground tyrant Tyrannus injecting recovering drug addicts with the chemical.

4. Kidnap seven super-powered heroines for the purpose of becoming brides for Set, ultimately for the purpose of becoming pregnant with the seven-headed serpent god's children.

5. Use the super-heroine Dagger (one of the women selected as a bride for Set) and a special magical magnifying glass to magnify the potency of a portion of Set's life-force into a viable amount of life energy, to give life the giant Serpent Crown, allowing Set's exiled essence to possess the now mindless seven-headed serpent body and return to Earth.

However, their plans are countered at just about every turn by Earth's heroes, culminating with the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Namor the Sub-Mariner (who is believed dead for the bulk of the storyline during a skirmish with Iron Man and Attuma's military forces) defeating Ghaur and Llyra and stopping them from bringing Set to Earth.

Heroes

 * Atum
 * Avengers
 * Black Panther
 * Captain America
 * Captain Marvel
 * Hawkeye
 * Henry Pym
 * Human Torch
 * Hulk
 * Iron Man
 * Mockingbird
 * Moondragon
 * Rick Jones
 * Scarlet Witch
 * Sersi
 * She-Hulk
 * Thor
 * Tigra
 * Vision
 * Wasp
 * Wonder Man


 * Cloak and Dagger
 * Daredevil
 * Doctor Strange
 * Fantastic Four
 * Mister Fantastic
 * Human Torch
 * Invisible Woman
 * Thing
 * Moon Knight
 * Namor
 * Namorita
 * New Mutants
 * Punisher
 * Quasar
 * Silver Surfer
 * Spider-Man
 * X-Factor
 * Beast
 * X-Men
 * Dazzler

Villains

 * Abomination
 * Attuma
 * Ghaur
 * Llyra
 * Lord Arno
 * Mister Jip
 * Serpent Society
 * Diamondback
 * Sidewinder
 * Set
 * Tyrak
 * Tyrannus
 * U-Man
 * Viper
 * Warlord Krang

What If...?
Finally, a postscript of sorts to the series came in What If... ? Vol.2 #25 (May, 1991) by Jim Valentino and Rik Levins, which explored the question "What if the Marvel Super Heroes had lost Atlantis Attacks?" (interior title "What if Set had come to Earth?"). The issue is a very downbeat tale, where all of Earth's heroes are massacred by Set and his brainwashed brides, who Set impregnates with his evil spawn. Only Silver Surfer and Quasar survive, and with the help of Thor (who is horribly burned and placed in stasis to keep him alive), destroy two of Set's heads before Quasar, backed by the power of Captain Universe, sacrifices his life to exile himself and Set inside Doctor Strange's Eye of Agamotto. Silver Surfer gives the Eye to the Watcher for safe keeping, as Set's children are born; they then consume their brainwashed mothers and countless mindless serpent men and women before leaving to terrorize alternate universes in the name of their evil father.....