So, They're Adding Those Amulets To The List?

The last page of Nova #33 had the younger Sphinx deciding the best way to counteract the old, crippled Sphinx' army of catspaws (Nova, Namortia, Black Bolt, and Mr. Fantastic) was to summon a team of his own. So he dusted off Man-Wolf, Moonstone, Ulysses Bloodstone*, and the Basilisk. Oh, and the evil Darkhawk that ambushed Nova at the beginning of this arc.

The first four all have something in common, with each other and the Sphinx. At least, they do if what I read in Thunderbolts #46 is still in continuity. That comic taught me that the stone that gave then Thunderbolt Meteorite (aka, Moonstone, aka Norman Osborn's Ms. Marvel), was a shard of some gem that was part of a 'lifestone tree' created by a group of advanced species. The plan was the gems would empower members of each of those species, and they'd serve as Guardians of the Galaxy**. It worked for awhile, until all the members were retired, dead, or whatever. The species decided to send the gems away someplace they'd be safe, which naturally didn't work. The ark was attacked, damaged and the gems were scattered and broken, with a bunch of shards just happening to land on Earth. Funny how that works out.

Point is, Moonstone, Man-Wolf, Basilisk, and Bloodstone all apparently derive their powers from shards of those various stones, whose abilities they've unlocked in different ways and to different extents. For that matter, the Sphinx' Ka Stone is also a shard of one of those gems***. So I'm guessing those four being summoned by the Sphinx is not a conincidence.

What about Evil Darkhawk? Back in the day, Darkhawk's amulet wasn't included in the list of shards which empowered humans. Of course, that was when the Darkhawk armor was still something designed originally for an interstellar crime boss. The origin's a bit different now, so Abnett and Lanning could be adding those amulets to those list. It would sort of fit. The Fraternity of Raptors was created to serve the Great Purpose, protect the Shi'ar Empire, which is sort of related to the original purpose of the Lifestone Tree (and the Shi'ar were involved in its design).

Or, Evil Darkhawk just tagged along. For some reason, Darkhawk's been invisible to the Sphinx and generally immune to the forces in play. Something to do with his amulet. Presumably, the same would apply for his counterpart. The Raptors have access to that Datasong, which seems to enhance their level of perception, so maybe Evil Darkhawk saw he hadn't killed Chris Powelll and Nova as he hoped, and saw that Young Sphinx was going to recruit some allies to help him accomplish that end, and so Evil Darkhawk got him/her/itself in the right place at the right time to hitch a ride to the big fight.

* Father of NextWave member Elsa Bloodstone.

** I think that was the job description, not the team name, but who knows? Maybe we'll learn that some iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy from the 30th Century went way back in time and inspired those various races to undertake the project.

*** Which considering his abilities to warp reality, makes you wonder how powerful the complete gems were. The Sphinx is strong enough that Reed Richards once asked Galactus to come to Earth and save them from Sphinx, and he just has a little piece of it.