WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Empyre #1-2 by Al Ewing, Dan Slott, Valero Schiti, Marte Gracia, and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
The Swordsman, or Jacques Duquesne, is a lesser-known member of the Avengers with a checkered history. Originally introduced as a supervillain foil to the team of superheroes, the Swordsman is perhaps known best as being one of the few traitorous members of the team, as well as one of the few members to make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. And at the start of Marvel's latest crossover Empyre, the ghosts of the Swordman's past return to the forefront, tarnishing his status in the eyes of his teammates, permanently.
The Swordsman debuted in Stan Lee and Don Heck's Avengers #19, as a shady individual who tried to force his way onto the team first by kidnapping Captain America. When that failed, he worked with the Mandarin to trick the Avengers into believing he had been sent by Iron Man. When he was begrudgingly allowed to join the ranks of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he planted a bomb meant to destroy the heroes, only to heroically relent at the last moment. However, the Avengers only saw the Swordsman with the bomb and fought him, expelling him from their ranks.
The Swordsman continued acting as a villainous foil to the Avengers, particularly Hawkeye, in the years that followed before officially rejoining the team alongside Mantis in Steve Englehart and Bob Brown's Avengers #114. Although he was still looked at with distrust by Captain America, the Swordsman remained with the team for roughly a year before perishing in a battle with Kang while protecting Mantis, who he had fallen in love with. Mantis was then revealed to be the "Celestial Madonna," the human woman fated to mate with the plant-like Cotati and give birth to the "Celestial Messiah" who was believed to be the savior of the Cotati race. A member of the plant race resurrected and took control of the Swordsman's fallen body, and the Cotati Swordsman married Mantis, who eventually gave birth to a son.
In Al Ewing, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia, and Joe Caramagna's Empyre: Avengers #0, the Avengers were summoned to the Moon by the Cotati who requested their help in fending off the Kree/Skrull Alliance, who were rallying together in an effort to attack the plant aliens. The Avengers were met not only by Quoi, the now-grown Celestial Messiah but also by his father, the Cotati Swordsman hybrid who spoke of living down the legacy of betrayal that he had previously left behind.
This version of the Swordsman initially appears to be making good on his word, as he leads the Avengers into battle to destroy a Kree-Skrull sentry, and battles alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes when the armada finally arrives on the Moon. However, the situation takes a turn for the ominous at the conclusion of Empyre #1, when Quoi reveals that the true intentions of the nominally peaceful Cotati is to defeat the Kree, the Skrull and all other animal worlds and reign supreme as the masters of the cosmos. As Quoi states in Empyre #2, the Cotati Swordsman educated him about the various injustices committed to the Cotati, sending him down this villainous road.
Although this is technically a new character, this revelation places the Swordsman firmly back in the role of traitor to the Avengers. This time, it appears to be worse, however, as the former hero has thus far shown no remorse for his deception and has only encouraged the Cotati's subsequent brutal attack against their enemies. The Swordsman looks to have fallen back into his predecessor's old ways by leaving an even more disgraceful legacy than that the one the real Swordsman had. But now, the Swordsman isn't just a traitor to the Avengers, he's a traitor to all life in the galaxy. Through his resurrection as a plant-like member of the Cotati, the Swordsman may have just proven that his acts of villainy are literally in his roots.
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