Themes of Conquest, Part 3

So we're entering the final month of Annihilation: Conquest lead-in mini-series, before we get to the actual Annihilation: Conquest mini-series. When I look back over it, that sentence sounds really, incredibly stupid somehow. Oh well. I don't know why Marvel has shifted their schedule for shipping the issue around this month, but I guess I'll just pass the time by discussing what we know now, compared to what I knew the last time I did one of these.

So what do we know? We know the Phalanx have learned a few new tricks. Gamora told Rich that the Phalanx now allow the people they assimilate to retain their individual personalities, they're just loyal to the Phalanx. Furthermore, Gamora says the Phalanx were "taught" to value free will, if they were to succeed. Now, that could mean they learned this from their past failures, or it could mean that they've got a friend. I'm inclined to think it's the latter, and not just because I've seen solicitations mentioning someone being behind the Phalanx. There's also the matter of their plan to revive the Supreme Intelligence, and use him to emit some sort of psychic pulse that will bring all Kree under control. How would the Phalanx have known something like that was possible? It seems likely someone with more knowledge of the Kree has been informing them.

What's interesting is that in addition to this plan involving the Supreme Intelligence, the Phalanx are also releasing some sort of airborne virus to bring the populace under control, without them realizing it. In that way, Kree will travel the galaxy, spreading the virus to those they meet, subtly bringing the galaxy together as Phalanx. It seems like a waste of time offhand, but it always pays to have a back-up, in case the other strategy blows up in your face, which seems quite possible for a plan where you revive a previously braindead ruler, and expect them to psychically command all his subjects for you.

Honestly, I'm surprised at the tactics of the Phalanx. I expected an artificial being to have one main strategy, with others waiting in the wings if those fail. But the Phalanx are putting several plans into place at once. The Supreme Intelligence, the airborne virus, the continued assimilation of powerful beings (Nova, Drax, the Savior), and just their usual pattern of slowly conquering everything in their path. It's an attack on multiple, simultaneous levels, and it's pretty impressive to me.