Ashen Combine

Evil Organization

Full Name

Ashen Combine

Alias

Destroyers of Cities
Multiversal Desecrators

Origin

Avengers (Vol. 9) #3 (2023)

Foundation

Unknown (likely ancient)

Headquarters

The Impossible City (formerly)

Commanders

Possibly Idol Alabaster (de facto)
(No formal hierarchy shown)

Agents

Citysmith
The Dead
Idol Alabaster
Lord Ennui
Meridian Diadem

Powers / Skills

Multiversal-level threat
Individual powers vary:
– Reality manipulation
– Necromancy
– Psychic domination
– Entropy projection
– Dimensional imprisonment

Goals

Destroy civilizations across the multiverse (ongoing)
Subjugate and consume worlds through unique methods
Escape imprisonment (formerly)
Rule the Impossible City (formerly)

Crimes

Multiversal genocide
Mass destruction
Terrorism
Psychic assault
False godhood
Imprisonment and torture

Type of Villains

Multiversal Eldritch Destroyers

The Ashen Combine is a group of powerful multiversal villains in Marvel Comics, introduced in Avengers (Vol. 9) #3 (2023). Created by writer Jed MacKay and artist C.F. Villa, they are monstrous beings that travel the multiverse destroying civilizations and eliminating their defenders. The group serves as one of the most dangerous threats the Avengers have faced in their modern continuity.

History[]

The Ashen Combine emerged in Marvel Comics as a terrifying collective of godlike entities bent on erasing entire civilizations. Their origins remain steeped in mystery, but they are known to have traveled across the multiverse, targeting thriving cities on countless worlds and systematically dismantling societal structures through their unique and nightmarish abilities. Unlike typical conquerors, the Ashen Combine doesn't seek power, control, or resources — their goal is pure desecration, the dismantling of culture and identity through chaos, despair, and domination.

At some point in the distant past, the Combine was defeated by a now-forgotten coalition of heroes. These champions imprisoned the Combine within the Impossible City, a sentient, interdimensional structure engineered to contain vast cosmic threats. The Impossible City itself was abandoned after its creators vanished, and over time, its defenses weakened. Eventually, the Ashen Combine broke free from their prison, seized control of the city, and weaponized it as their mobile fortress and base of operations.

Now in command of the Impossible City, the Ashen Combine resumed their campaign of terror. They set their sights on Earth-616, the prime Marvel Universe. Their arrival was cataclysmic: the Impossible City appeared in Earth’s atmosphere, and the Combine launched coordinated attacks across major cities worldwide. Each member brought their own brand of psychological, spiritual, or physical devastation:

Citysmith twisted cityscapes into grotesque monuments of suffering and madness.
Idol Alabaster imposed himself as a god, commanding worship through sheer willpower.
The Dead flooded cities with spectral armies.
Lord Ennui drained populations of hope and meaning.
Meridian Diadem swallowed up victims, imprisoning them in never-ending labyrinths.

The Avengers — now operating as a strategic "response unit" with specialized assignments — were deployed to counter these threats. Each member of the team was dispatched to confront one of the Combine individually, demonstrating Marvel's new “Avenger-as-weapon” strategy. The battles were fierce, psychological, and often surreal, pushing the Avengers to their physical and mental limits.

Despite the Ashen Combine’s overwhelming might, the Avengers ultimately triumphed. Their counter-assault not only shattered the Combine's influence but also liberated the Impossible City, returning it to a state of independence. The Combine was either defeated or driven into retreat, their multiversal reign of terror disrupted — at least temporarily.

Members[]

Citysmith – A psychotic artist who can reshape cities like clay, warping urban environments into surreal landscapes of horror.
The Dead – A spectral entity who commands ghosts and the restless dead, using necromantic powers to haunt cities.
Idol Alabaster – A living god who forces mortals to worship him through divine compulsion and psychic domination.
Lord Ennui – The embodiment of entropy and despair, he spreads emotional and spiritual decay, draining all will to resist.
Meridian Diadem – A living dungeon that consumes and processes victims within its internal prison dimensions.

Powers and Abilities[]

Each member of the Ashen Combine possesses immense, unique powers:

Citysmith – Reality warping focused on architectural and city-scale transformations.
The Dead – Necromancy and ghost manipulation.
Idol Alabaster – Mind control through enforced worship and divine charisma.
Lord Ennui – Emotional and metaphysical decay, inducing apathy and exhaustion.
Meridian Diadem – Spatial manipulation and imprisonment within endless internal mazes.

Gallery[]

Navigation[]

Villains

Movies
Marvel Animated Features
Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2: Herr Kleiser | Chitauri
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow: Ultron | Iron Avengers