Last Updated:
17th October 2013
The Rule of Viper
| Wolverine (2nd series) #125-128 |
Viper drugs several of Wolverine's closest companions and uses them to force Logan into her arms on Madripoor where he had no choice but to repay his debt of honor by taking her hand in matrimony. Though the ceremony was interrupted by Sabretooth, Viper was able to take advantage of the situation and used Sabretooth, Logan and Kitty Pryde to destroy plans by the Hand and HYDRA to take over Madripoor, which threatened her power. As Logan was highly regarded in Madripoor, the symbolic union left the people of Madripoor no choice but to kneel before Viper. Viper attempts to kill Sabretooth for his attack at the wedding, but Shadowcat saves him. A furious Viper places a bounty on all their heads as she takes over the role of Madripoor’s ruling power. |
| Wolverine (2nd series) #131 |
Viper requests wolverine assistance in retrieving a pure sample of a deadly virus that is loose on the streets of Madripoor. With Hydra's assistance, Wolverine is sent to the Namjagbarwa Feng Mountains to find the source. In her Hightown complex, Viper overlooks some of her scientists that are monitoring the virus as it kills some infected agents. Wolverine returns however he finds that Viper was lying and destroys the sample in front of Viper. |
| Amazing Spider-Man (2nd series) #5 | Jessica drew returns to her home, only to be attacked by an extremely fast mystery assailant, with links to her Spider-Woman identity. It later transpired that this was Charlotte Witter, the new Spider-Woman, who was capturing previous holders of the Spider-Woman name to absorb their powers. |
| Generation X #53-54 | The Generation X team head to Madripoor and help Paladin in retrieving the sword that killed Adrienne Frost's husband. The sword is in the hands of Noy, a local crimelord. The team unsuccessfully attempt to steal the sword and chase after Noy onto a high speed train. The team fight against the Rising Sons, a super powered team employed by Noy to protect him, however the team and Paladin are able to defeat them and return the sword back to America and Adrienne Frost. |
| Heroes for Hire #19 | Iron Fist, Shang-Chi, Colleen Wing & Jessica Drew are being held prisoner by Lionmane onboard his submarine. The submarine docks at his lair, an old government base upon the island of Madripoor. Lionmaine reveals that he and Shen Kuei aka Cat, have been performing acts of piracy in the name of Madripoor to raise funds and take over China. Lionmaine leaves the complex only to finds Wolverine and a large collective of angry citizens, wanting to shut down his operation. Lionmaine and Wolverine fight, while the Heroes for Hire overpower his guards. Lionmaine is finally stopped by Iron Fist and the Heroes for Hire leave the island, returning to New York. |
| Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #385 | In the bar of one of the many luxurious skyscraper hotels a crowd are surprised by a swirl of blue energy revealing Cable, Colossus, Psylocke, Gambit, Storm, Archangel, Thunderbird, as well as Beldame of the Goth and Bloody Bess of the Crimson Pirates. The group have arrived through a transmat portal, from a base in China to kidnap the crowd into slavery. Though the X-Men are only going along with this as part of a plan by Gambit, they appear to be enjoying it too much. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Jean Grey & Beast crash through the windows to confront them. Wolverine's team loses and are transported through the portal back to the Crimson Pirate's base. |
| Off panel - The Madripoor citizens are freed by the X-Men & arrangements are made to return them home by the proper authorities in China. | |
| Wolverine (2nd series) #167-169 | Wolverine gets a mysterious message to head to Madripoor to take in the Bloodsport Tournament. He is greeted by Jae-lo, his assistant for the tournament which is being run by Viper. 15 contestants enter the tournament, including the current champion, Mister X, who has a past with Wolverine and is responsible for the message. The final fight ends up being between Wolverine and Mister X. Wolverine realises that Mister X is a telepath and succumbs to his animal nature to win. Wolverine intends to leave Madripoor, but Viper tells him that Ogun has returned, so the pair work together to try and stop Ogun. After tracking him to the "Foxy Den" the pair chase him through the streets as he jumps from body to body, causing mayhem as he goes. Wolverine catches up with Viper at the docks, however Ogun has possessed her and attempts to possess Wolverine. The possession fails, and he returns to Vipers body, but Wolverine slashes Viper, forcing Ogun out, who disappears into the sky. Logan secures the promise of a divorce from Viper before getting her medical assistance. Viper is angry and vows revenge if Wolverine ever returns to the country. |
| X-Treme X-Men (1st series) #10-18 |
Shaitan teleports into the Ancient temple in the forests of Madripoor with Gambit and Lifeguard. Lifeguard is shackled and Gambit is tied to an altar surrounded by the gems of the Madripoor Set. A short while later, using his newly manifested powers, Slipstream brings Storm, Bishop, Rogue, Sage and Thunderbird to the island and are greeted by its ruler, Viper, who leads them to the temple. Upon arriving they Rogue attacks Shaitan, but not before he activates the gems and combined with Gambit's powers, opens a portal from which emerges an immense red energy-laced tower that eventually encompasses the entire island, sealing it off from the rest of the world. Alien combat troops arrive through the portal and immediately attack the X-Men. Bishop captures the leader and after freeing Lifeguard, at the behest of the still captive Gambit, they withdraw to High Town to regroup. After the X-Men leave, more troops and aircraft come through the portal to help with the invasion. Together with Shaitan, a batch of combat troops intend to rescue their lord, Khan. The Madripoor Air force struggle to repel the invaders but with the X-Men's help are able to take more captives. However an angry Viper starts executing the alien invaders. Storm stops her from killing Khan and Rogue disarms Viper. The team move to a casino to use as a safehouse, however Shaitan leads troops to attack them. Storm realizing they are only interested in Khan she splits the team, intending to take Khan elsewhere, however Viper double crosses her and attacks her from behind. Viper attempts to kill Khan, but fails miserably. rejoined with his troops, Khan takes storm back through the portal to save her life so she can become his queen. The X-Men help civilians to get to the safety of the catacombs that run under High Town. In the tunnels Viper hands out weapons to prepare the civilians for war while Rogue leads an attack by using her new mutant powers of illusion to confuse the enemy. Capturing a number of alien soldiers, the X-Men decide to disguise themselves using the soldiers' armor, to infiltrate the portal. Rogue asks Sage to jump start her powers so she can act as a one man army and with help from Slipstream destroy much of Khan's army on Earth. In an apartment building, Vargas, with his statue of Psylocke, watches Rogue fight. Bishop, Sage, Thunderbird and Lifeguard, pretending to be amongst the injured troops go through the portal to rescue Storm and hopefully bring down Khan's invasion. Rogue takes rest after wiping out the invasion forces but Vargas approaches, demanding to fight. Vargas wants to kill her to avoid a prophecy about his death. Slipstream tries to help, teleporting Vargas above the temple, but Vargas severely injures him in the process. Slipstream falls into a swamp, while Vargas crashes into the temple, and then proceeds to wipe out the invasion forces. He decides to kill Gambit, however Gambit using a piece of rock hidden in his hand, and charges it to destroy the portal. Rogue rescues Slipstream, and sees the temple collapse. Rogue flies into the collapsing temple to save Gambit. Luckily he is still alive but still trapped by the tight red beam and it’s forcefield. Rogue tries to free him, but ends up trapped as well. Disguised as Storm, Shaitan returns through the portal and faces Vargas but is easily defeated. Vargas then skewers Rogue and Gambit with his sword. With the portal collapsing and Khans invasion severely weakened, Bishop, Sage, Thunderbird, Lifeguard and a healed Storm return. Khan, in a last ditch attempt, navigates his warship through the portal but the X-Men use their powers to keep the ship from fully getting through as the portal implodes apparently killing Khan and his troops. With the threat of invasion over and the forcefield collapsed, Madripoor is no longer separated from the rest of the world and Shanna Cho reports to the world that the X-Men saved the day. Bishop removes the sword skewering Rogue and Gambit while Lifeguard goes for help. Rogue uses her powers to heal herself and leaves the rest of the X-Men to deal with Vargas. Lifeguard returns with Viper and medical support. Slipstream doesn't recognise his sister after her transformation on the other side of the portal. Storm enraged by Vipers earlier actions shoots her with Sage's gun. Luckily Viper is wearing armor, and they come to a mutual understanding. Vargas returns to his base with his two servants, but Rogue is waiting for them and after taking out his servants fights vargas. The fight is being recorded by Madripoor News Network. Rogue eventually defeats Vargas, but its unsure whether she kills him with his own blade, as prophesied. Rogue returns to the X-Men but collapses from her wounds. They all return to the temporary Medical unit in the catacombs where doctors work frantically to save the wounded. Storm, Rogue and Gambit are critical, but eventually heal after near death experiences. Slipstream, unable to deal with his sister now looking like an alien monster, runs away and doesn't want her to follow. |
| Off Panel - The X-Men return to America and Madripoor is rebuilt. | |
| X-Force: Shatterstar #1-2 | Shatterstar has spent a few months as a fighter in illegal matches held in a pocket dimension beneath the Lotus Cafe. He is confronted by a mysterious stranger (Spiral) who informs him that he needs to stop 'The Destroyer". Later that night, the Destroyer confronts Shatterstar and reveals the truth, that he is the protector of a weapon known as the five fingers of annihilation, which he gives to Shatterstar so that he can defeat the real enemy, the Skornn. They head to a building where Spiral is hiding and are confronted by her female body guards. Before they can claim victory, Spiral teleports them to another dimension. |
| Amazing Fantasy (2nd Series) #8-9 | Scorpion flies to Madripoor, where she was adopted, hoping to find clues about her mother that she hasn't met. She meets Troy Goddard on the plane and after some sight seeing at the Palace museum, they head back to the Sovereign hotel and agree to meet the following day to watch a funeral procession for the cousin of the old Prince. That night, she breaks into a squalid orphanage in Low Town to find files on herself only to find that the orphanage is actually a front for human trafficking. While trying to free some enslaved girls, she is given an overdose of Curare by the guards and stuffed into a funeral pyre. She wakes the next day and escapes just as the pyre is set alight. Believe her to be an assassin, the Royal Guards chase after her, but thanks to Troy, she escapes. After receiving a mystery note, the pair leave Madripoor on the next flight out to Prague. |
| Deadpool Team-up #891 | Deadpool visits the Princess Bar, which is being run by Tyger Tiger. Wade has been paid by Mister Y to kill Mister X who is in the bar that night. After a tussle with his body guard, Blok, Deadpool and Mister X fight, only for Wade to lose an arm in the process. The Headhunter gang interrupt, upset that Mister X killed their leader in the Bloodsport Tournament, so Deadpool helps Mister X kill them. Deadpool loses his other arm, and rats out Mister Y. Mister X leaves to kill Mister Y instead but promises to face Deadpool again. |
| Wolverine Origins Annual #1 | Wolverine returns to Madripoor looking for a box left by Seraph. He meets up with Police Chief Tai who agrees to help him find it. Tai gives Wolverine an encrypted cell phone so they can communicate, but after 2 days of not hearing from him, Wolverine fears that Tai is dead. Tai suddenly contacts him and tells him to walk away. Wolverine finds Tai at Seraph's grave. He has dug up Seraph's coffin and after explaining that he has been involved and planned to destroy the evidence, but could not find the box. Rather than face the consequences, Tai takes his own life. Wolverine knows Seraph would have left a message, so opens the coffin, revealing the name "Romulus" written on the inside. |