After 42 years, Marvel’s strongest character has his biggest secret exposed (turning his powers into nightmare fuel)

Warning: Contains spoilers for Wolverine Annual 2024 #1! Marvel Comics has no shortage of cosmically powerful characters, but of them all, one always stood above the rest in terms of raw, unadulterated strength. While this was always considered a pretty major achievement, it recently became clear that the character’s strength came at a secret price, and after 42 years, Marvel fans finally know what it is (and it’s nightmare fuel).

in Wolverine Annual 2024 #1 by Ezra Clayton Daniels and Yildiray Çinar, Logan is riding his motorcycle through Canada on his way to visit the grave of a dear, departed friend. On his way, he is attacked by two relatively new characters in the Marvel Universe: Ward and Apex. Both characters are the hosts of two separate Infinity Stones. Ward is associated with the Soul Stone, and Apex with the Power Stone – and they think Wolverine is also a stone bearer.

When multiple stone bearers are around each other, they make each other more powerful. So Apex and Ward approach Wolverine, but once they get close enough and Ward learns that Wolverine isn’t actually a rock bearer, he wants to back away. Apex, however, does not. Apex doesn’t care if Wolverine is a rock bearer or not, he won’t stop until he and Wolverine are engaged in an epic battle. In fact, Apex acts a lot like one of the original Power Stone bearers, one that was introduced 42 years ago: The Champion of the Universe.

The champion was corrupted by the power stone, that’s why he was a battle-crazed maniac

The first appearance of the champion of the universe: Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7

The Champion is an Elder of the Universe who was allied with the Power Stone long before Apex inherited the Gem, and upon his first appearance, the Champion showed everyone what he really was: a fighter. In his debut, the champion held a boxing-style tournament with all the strongest fighters on earth. He recruited them for this contest during his campaign to prove (to himself) that he was the strongest fighter in the cosmos, and in the end, the champion did just that.

From Thor and Namor to Colossus and The Thing, the Champion has beaten everyone who steps into the ring — and his first comic is far from the only time the Champion has challenged others to prove his supremacy. Previously, it was just assumed that the Champion was a battle-crazed maniac, going out of his way to fight the strongest beings the universe had to offer to prove he was stronger (sort of like a ‘Marvel Goku’). . However, after seeing Apex do the same thing, it’s clear that the champion is only driven to fight because of the power stone.

Apex and the Champion share another striking parallel through their power rock connection

It seems that the power stone not only drives whoever wields it to fight, but it also causes them to lose themselves completely to total destruction, resulting in the desolation of entire planets. In Thanos Quest, Thanos instructs the Champion to destroy the planet they’re fighting on when it becomes clear he’s losing, because that’s the only way Thanos can beat him. Similarly, when Apex first bonded with the Power Stone, he destroyed his entire planet in an uncontrollable burst of raw, cosmic energy.

The Power Stone doesn’t just call someone to fight, it forces them to desire destruction and domination in any and every form. Whether it’s traveling the universe challenging the strongest known warriors, harassing an A-list hero on his day off, or decimating an entire planet, the Power Stone always seems to corrupt its wielders. And that perfectly explains the secret behind the strength of Marvel Comics‘ Strongest character, the Champion, who is now exposed after 42 years (and it is completely terrifying).

Wolverine Annual 2024 #1 by Marvel Comics is now available.