WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #3 by Jim Zub, Lan Medina, Craig Yeung, Marcio Menyz, Federico Blee and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale Wednesday, Nov. 13.
The planet Earth recently found itself in the middle of a cosmic game of tug of war between two Elders of the Universe: The Grandmaster and The Challenger. The latter was enraged at having his brother steal his name and gimmick, thus putting Earth in a position where it was literally stolen out of orbit in the weekly event series, "Avengers: No Surrender." With the Black Order and Lethal Legion the chosen players for each Elder, a team of Avengers assembled to save the planet alongside a new hero named Voyager.
The Elders of the Universe have played a role in many events throughout the Marvel Universe, with their most prominent members including Collector, Grandmaster and Ego the Living Planet. Of course, moviegoers will be familiar with all three characters after their various appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But what if we told you during the events of "Avengers: No Surrender," a third Elder of the Universe was secretly playing his own personal game?
Marvel has released a preview of Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #3, which reveals the Elder of the Universe known as The Gardener conducted a secret experiment on the moon while the Earth was stolen. The preview appears to acknowledge the space madness Gardener suffered from in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy.
The preview shows Gardener with a green alien item in his hand, right before he drives it into the moon's surface. The item is either an alien plant or creature, but either way, it more than likely is placed for nefarious purposes. Since this is a preview, we never get to see if the Gardener succeeds in altering the moon. However, a space expedition by Broo and Gorilla-Man possibly gives clues that this will be a new threat for Black Panther's Agents of Wakanda to investigate.
When Broo begins to reposition a satellite to point at Earth instead of the moon, a lunar anomaly is detected. Of course, with the former student at the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning being one of the smartest aliens in the Marvel Universe, Broo is eager to investigate what could cause the anomaly.
The moon has served as a home base for The Watcher, Inhumans and most recently the Summers Family in the pages of X-Men. If it has been altered in any way, it could have massive repercussions for numerous groups and franchises in the Marvel U.