The Brood’s 8 Baddest Battles

Take a look back at some of their most menacing attacks.

The Brood are a parasitic, insectoid alien race that reproduces by injecting eggs into living beings’ with their scorpion-like tails. The incubators eventually become a new Brood, gaining knowledge of the species thanks to the hive mind linking them all. In other words, all the Brood want to do is skewer you and bring you into the family. Pleasant, huh?

Take a look at some of their craziest crusades from years past.

DEATHBIRD’S DIRTY WORK

First appearing in 1982’s UNCANNY X-MEN #155, the Brood worked for Deathbird in her attempt to overthrow Queen Lilandra. The X-Men took to space where they encountered a Brood ship, rumbled with them plenty, but seemed to escape unscathed.

THE BROOD-X-MEN WAR

Not long after, Deathbird and the Brood got the drop on the X-Men again in the pages of UNCANNY #161-168. The team and their space-faring pals fight an all-out war with the Brood that sees Wolverine and Storm infected, a full-on space battle and Carol Danvers’ transformation into Binary who turned the tide in the conflict.

THE BROOD IS BACK

The alien menace returned in UNCANNY #232-234 to plague our favorite mutants. This time, they landed on Earth and immediately started reproducing before attacking their foes. The team had to go to great, bloody lengths to stop the threat this time around, but all for the safety of Earth’s inhabitants.

THE SPIRIT OF BROOD VENGEANCE

The Brood have taken over some scary, impressive people over the years, but they might have reached a pinnacle in 1992 when one of their number incubated the Spirit of Vengeance in the pages of GHOST RIDER #26, 27 and X-MEN #9! Luckily for the world, Psylocke and Bella Donna freed him so the Rider could team up with the X-Men to stop a New Orleans-based incursion with extreme prejudice.

CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS II

In CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS II, the Brood secretly pitted heroes against one another to see who reigned supreme. Instead of giving out trophies, though, they used a Queen-infested Rogue to absorb the powers of Spider-Man, Captain America, Scarlet Witch and more! Even with all that power, the Brood fail to overcome the might of the good guys, though!

PLANET HULK

Not all Brood are bad. When Hulk got blasted to Sakaar and made his way from gladiator to king, he befriended one by the name of No-Name. The only survivor of six Brood that landed on the planet, No-Name created a new hive with Hulk, Elloe, Korg, Miek and Hiroim, otherwise known as The Warbound.

S.W.O.R.D. SCREW-UP

After the Annihilation Wave nearly wiped out all of the Brood, S.W.OR.D. starting experimenting on them. Before long, one broke free and created more, infesting even Agent Brand. Through the hive mind she realizes that other, worse races continued to grow while the Brood died out meaning the Astonishing X-Men need to save the Brood! Of course, most of them get infected, but Kitty saves the day!

THE BELOVED BROO

The one good thing about the S.W.O.R.D. debacle was the discovery of a good, compassionate Brood who eventually appeared regularly in WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN and went by the name Broo. When not getting shot, reverting to more Brood-like nature and joining the Hellfire Club, he’s one of the more lovable young X-folks around.