In this interview, Dan Abnett discusses his projects with Marvel, including Guardians 3000 and the upcoming Secret Wars tie-in, Korvac Saga. The original Korvac Saga was a late-70s Avengers plotline, and since they’re turning Civil War into its own universe I guess it makes sense to make it a universe too.
But, in fact, Battleworld is this extraordinary alchemical place where things have been blended together that shouldn’t necessarily fit together. Yet they seem to work really, really well. There’s this extraordinary blend of technologies. High tech, low tech, and all sorts of primitive elements as well. Societal structures might seem very medieval, but the language is very modern. The buildings might be modern, but some of the technologies might be low tech. So The Forest Hills, as Korvac’s kingdom is called, is both recognizable yet full of oddness.
In this story, the Avengers are the household guard of the charismatic Simon Williams, in a quasi-medieval mashup, while the Guardians are the household guard of the neighboring house of Korvac. “They’re sort of friends and rivals in sort of the same way neighboring lords in a feudal society would be. When they get together, there’s a big feast and all of their warriors drink together, but if war arose, they would be foes.”
The Avengers roster at the time of the Korvac Saga was just gigantic, and Abnett explains how he picked some of the characters who will appear in this retelling:
I looked to the roster there, and the obvious thing to do was pick all the key Avengers like Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. It occurred to me, though, that we’re going to see those characters in other places during “Secret Wars,” and to have repetitions or alternate versions was unnecessary. It was really nice to take some of the beloved characters who haven’t been in the forefront of the Avengers for a while, or are particularly redolent of the time period, and to use those to make those the team.
I went down the list of characters who were present during the original “Korvac Saga” and made my selection. So we have Hercules, who’s fantastic. We have Black Widow. We have Black Panther. We have Jocasta. We have the Vision. We have Yellowjacket. We also have Moondragon. She was part of the original “Saga,” but there’s Guardians connectivity there as well, which I thought was a nice touch.
So, if you like 70s Avengers or you’re interested collecting all the Black Widows Battleworld has to offer, Korvac Saga is something to watch.
