WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Darkhold: Alpha #1, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
With the return of the elder god Chthon imminent, the Scarlet Witch is willing to do whatever it takes to stop him. Her desperation unfortunately led to the implementation of two poorly executed plans. First, she initiated an alliance with Doctor Doom that he broke off not even an hour after it was made. Second, she had carefully selected heroes read from the Darkhold, hoping to temper their minds with madness instead of breaking them entirely. Sadly, her plan backfired, and five of the Marvel Universe's greatest heroes were twisted into horrors that are worse than the Marvel Zombies in Darkhold: Alpha #1, by Steve Orlando, Cian Tormey, Jesus Aburtov, VC's Clayton Cowles.
After Doom entered the Other-Realm, despite Wanda's repeated warnings that such a choice was foolhardy, she and Victorious assembled a team of five to become the Darkhold Defenders, modern versions of the original team that defeated Chthon ages ago. But this team was assembled knowing that they would have to venture into the Other-Realm to battel Chthon and in the process lose their minds. But Wanda believed she had a plan that could save them from this fate.
Wanda believed that reading a small portion of the Darkhold could "temper" the minds of the heroes with madness, letting them gaze into the abyss, but not be consumed by it entirely. With the fate of the world in the balance the five heroes (Iron Man, Wasp, Blade, Black Bolt, and Spider-Man) agreed to read from the book. Unfortunately, they were not able to attain the desired results. Upon reading the book, all five were transformed into disturbing versions of themselves with their minds overtaken by the ancient tome they had read. What was meant to be the Darkhold Defenders had become the Darkhold Defiled.
Each of the heroes seems to have merged biologically with whatever theme they had as a part of their heroic persona. Spider-Man has acquired more pronounced spider-like traits. He grew extra eyes, his hands were replaced with claws, and there is coarse dark hair coating his body. Blade's vampiric traits have become more pronounced, with his fangs extending to an incredible degree as more of his humanity appears to have been left behind. Like Spider-Man, Wasp is more insectoid, and has a decidedly sinister appearance. Black Bolt appears to be in a straightjacket of sorts with a sadistic-looking muzzle on his mouth. And Iron Man's armor has fused with his skin, while pockets of flesh coat his exterior.
What's even more frightening than the physical transformation was how quickly it happened. Each of these heroes have been tempted before, and some have spent their entire lives wrestling against their darker impulses. But all it took was a few pages from the Darkhold to completely twist them into abominations that will more likely doom the world instead of save it.
Wanda's desperation to stop Chthon has led to the execution of two poorly thought out plans. What the Scarlet Witch believed to be the best plan to stop Chthon ended up corrupting five of Marvel's premier heroes and turning them into horrors that surpass almost anything seen in the Marvel Universe.