The Black Vortex

Prologue

Star-Lord (Peter Quill) is trying to avoid the Slaughter Lords and bounty hunters who are pursuing him. Since Mister Knife put a bounty on his head, he attempted to maintain his long-distance relationship with Kitty Pryde. Soon, he is eventually caught by ex-Spartax warriors who are trying to raise funds to rebuild the Spartax army. He discovers their captain turns out to be his half-sister Victoria. Together they concoct a plan to turn him in on the prison planet Viderdoom, collect the bounty, and then steal the remaining funds from their jailer, Bligh.

The Slaughter Lords approach Thane to join Mister Knife, however Thane has disavowed violence and is a minister with his own congregation. Unknown to him, Mister Knife kills his flock in a plot to enrage him into joining his cause. Mr. Knife later captures Star-Lord while he is teleconferencing with his girlfriend Kitty Pryde. He learns that Mister Knife is actually his father, J'Son the dethroned emperor of Spartax.

Kitty Pryde flies out to space and rescues Star-Lord by throwing herself from her ship, phasing through his flying fortress. She grabs Peter Quill while phasing both of them through the bottom of the fortress, and landing back in her ship. At first, she is angry that Quill is back to his pirating ways, but she learns that all his booty is sent to the orphanage on Spartax where he grew up. Pryde decides that she will help him steal the Black Vortex from Mister Knife.

Main event

Twelve billion years ago, an ancient race called the Viscardi were visited by a Celestial. He gifted them with a mirror known as the Black Vortex. Anybody that "submits" to the Black Vortex gains Celestial power, but as the Viscardi gained immense power they began to kill each other to the point of extinction. Only one survives, Gala, and the Black Vortex is lost.

Eventually Mister Knife is able to locate it after visiting a Celestial graveyard. Kitty Pryde and Star-Lord decide to steal it from Mister Knife before he uses it on himself and Thanos' son Thane. Unfortunately he uses it on his Slaughter Lords. Kitty and Star-Lord recruit the X-Men, Nova, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, to prevent the Slaughter Lords from retrieving the Black Vortex. They debate whether or not to use the power of the Vortex when the Slaughter Lords attack. Greatly overpowered, Gamora, Beast, and Angel submit and tip the balance of the battle. The team then fights among themselves. Distracted, Ronan the Accuser steals the Black Vortex.

Gamora, Beast, and Angel are enraged, so they attack Hala, the crown jewel of the Kree empire. The team split into three groups: one group battles Gamora, Beast, and Angel, one team stays on Spartax to distract the Slaughter Lords, and the third team speaks with the Kree Supreme Intelligence. The Supreme Intelligence is against further use of the Black Vortex and demands that Ronan stand down until their star fleet can return. Ronan disobeys and uses the Vortex anyway. He is successful in repelling Gamora, Beast, and Angel, but is banished by the Supreme Intelligence. The Slaughter Lords and Mister Knife uses this as an opportunity to sneak into Hala and try to steal the Black Vortex. Once they think they've secured it, Mister Knife's floating fortress unleashes a massive missile barrage that destroys the entire planet of Hala. The heroes narrowly escape and Nova is able to secure the Black Vortex from the Slaughter Lords. The Collector follows Nova back to Earth and attempts to steal the Vortex, but Nova runs back to Spartax and unknowingly returns it to Mister Knife who powers up Thane. Thane then uses his super-powered "Living Death" power and engulfs Spartax in amber. Mister Knife then allows the Brood to invade Spartax and use its citizens as hosts. His plan was to take out the two largest empires, Spartax and Hala, allowing the Brood to spread, and then, together, they will take over the galaxy.

Cyclops, Iceman, and Groot are captured by the Slaughter Lords, but are able to escape and steal the Black Vortex. They give themselves cosmic powers and pass the Vortex to Captain Marvel. She is confronted by a super-powered Thane and Mister Knife. She resists the temptation to use the Vortex, and instead uses the mirror surface to reflect Thane's Living Death blast at Mister Knife, encasing him in amber. Gala then returns, defeats Thane, and attempts to destroy the Black Vortex before it can corrupt anyone. Captain Marvel is able to return the Vortex to the team, and they debate who should use the power one more time to save Spartax. Jean Grey offers, but everybody is worried about a repeat of the Dark Phoenix. Star-Lord contemplates, but knows if he is super-powered he will waste his potential. Kitty Pryde volunteers to shoulder the burden. Gala agrees to it being used one last time.

Kitty Pryde now has cosmic powers and uses her phasing ability to phase out the entire planet of Spartax from the amber, except for the Brood, which are then destroyed. The Slaughter Lords retreat afterwards. Cyclops, Iceman, Groot, and Beast return their cosmic powers, but Gamora, Angel, Kitty, and Ronan keep theirs. Star-Lord then proposes to Kitty. Gala takes away the Black Vortex. The Collector collects the amber-encased Mister Knife. The Ebony Maw then attaches himself to the cosmically powered Thane.

In the aftermath, Ronan vows to rebuild the Kree Empire. Victoria, Star-Lord's half-sister, meets with the Collector. She strikes a deal with him in order to secure Mister Knife's body, but secretly steals the last remaining seed of the Kree Supreme Intelligence.

In other media

The Black Vortex storyline was added as an add-on mission in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance in June 2016.