Malekith had no intention of charging blindly into war.
Thousands of years ago, the Dark Elves had paid a horrific price in their failed attempt to reclaim the universe through darkness. The warriors who still survived aboard the flagship were the elite remnants of an almost extinct race.
Malekith would not waste them carelessly.
That said, perfect preparation was impossible.
After sleeping for millennia, the Dark Elves possessed limited knowledge of the modern galaxy and its civilizations. Worse, the materials required to create Curse Warriors had become dangerously scarce.
Even so, Malekith made his preparations carefully.
Agents had already been dispatched toward Asgard to prepare for future chaos there.
At the same time, a vanguard force would head to Midgard first, gathering intelligence and adapting to the battlefield before the main assault began.
Naturally, Malekith possessed methods for tracking the Aether.
The three Curse Warriors sent ahead weren't just scouts. They were also tasked with identifying the unknown being who had extracted the Aether from Asgard's seal.
If the target proved weak enough…
Killing them immediately was acceptable.
A monstrous roar erupted through the darkness.
One of the Curse Warriors burst forward like a maddened beast, smoke pouring from its body. The creature slammed into the ground hard enough to fracture the earth before launching itself skyward again, molten patterns glowing across its oversized fists like cracks in volcanic stone.
Inside the flagship, Algrim suddenly frowned at the tactical display.
"My king," he said carefully, "there appears to be something ahead."
"Perhaps some form of defensive barrier."
Malekith's eyes narrowed.
"Then blast through it."
At this point, nothing mattered more than reclaiming the Aether.
Especially since their tracking systems showed the Aether moving closer toward them by the minute.
After thousands of years asleep, Malekith could feel his blood burning again.
The universe's return to darkness was finally within reach.
Still, he wasn't reckless.
During the ancient wars, Malekith had primarily served as strategist and commander. While Asgard's absurd Bifrost strike tactics had blindsided him in the past, his control over battlefield operations remained exceptional.
Unless, of course, the enemy was the type that ignored strategy entirely and simply rushed forward like lunatics.
From what the Dark Elves had observed, Midgard's technology was mediocre by galactic standards. Only its stealth systems were remotely comparable to Dark Elf capabilities. In every other field, humanity lagged far behind.
And according to their intelligence, Midgard possessed very few truly powerful warriors.
If the current wielder of the Aether represented the planet's highest combat level, then the rest of the planet's military forces amounted to little more than disposable infantry.
Even considering the Dark Elves' reduced numbers, Malekith saw no possibility of defeat against such a primitive world.
A stealth-capable interstellar flagship directly over the enemy's planet.
How could they possibly lose?
Still, caution remained necessary.
Malekith had no interest in sacrificing the last surviving foundation of his race before the Dark Elves reclaimed their place as rulers of the dark universe.
And above all else…
He had to remain wary of Asgard.
Those self-appointed cosmic police officers never knew when to mind their own business.
"Warriors," Malekith declared, "follow me and reclaim the darkness!"
The cloaked flagship slowly revealed itself.
A colossal black warship emerged over Earth's atmosphere, its massive frame casting shadows across entire cities. The vessel resembled a giant iron cross hanging in the sky like an omen of extinction.
Metallic gears rotated thunderously.
Rows of enormous cannons unfolded from the ship's underside.
Then came the bombardment.
Energy blasts screamed downward toward Earth.
Truthfully, Drex Valen could have destroyed the Dark Elf fleet the moment it entered orbital range.
One wave from satellite cannons would have erased them.
But after thinking it over, he decided against it.
Earth needed reminders.
Humanity had grown far too comfortable with the idea that alien invasions always ended in heroic victories.
Better to let them see how brutal the universe really was.
Besides, recurring extraterrestrial threats gave both S.W.O.R.D. and Umbrella Corporation permanent relevance.
In wartime, authority became wonderfully flexible.
Anyone trying to obstruct him could simply disappear.
And if direct execution became inconvenient?
Well.
Monster attacks happened every day.
Once the Dark Elves invaded Earth, they suddenly lost all tracking signals connected to the Aether.
After some deliberation, Malekith decided on a simpler approach.
Force the people of Midgard to surrender whoever possessed it.
Unfortunately for him, the moment the Dark Elves launched their assault, S.W.O.R.D.'s superheroes slammed directly into them head-on.
The result was… not what Malekith expected.
"This is impossible!" he snarled in disbelief. "How does Midgard possess warriors this powerful?!"
The massacre he envisioned never happened.
Instead, Dark Elves were the ones getting slaughtered.
Across the world, humans watched the battle unfold live.
"For once, these aliens actually seem weak."
"Seriously. Even these guys think they can invade Earth now?"
"About time humanity beat someone cleanly."
After so many invasions, this was the first time Earth appeared overwhelmingly dominant from the start.
The deployment of Zaku mobile suits only worsened things for the Dark Elves. Their ships rapidly lost aerial superiority against Umbrella's mechanized forces.
Left with no better options, Malekith finally gave the order.
Algrim would become a Curse Warrior.
There were two types of Curse Warriors.
Mass-produced Curse Warriors and elite Curse Warriors.
The mass-produced versions were the enhanced Dark Elf soldiers who fought against Bor's ancient Asgardian super-warriors thousands of years ago.
Even as expendable infantry, they had been terrifying.
Back then, ordinary Asgardian soldiers possessed combat abilities roughly comparable to an unarmed Thor.
And it still took five of them working together just to kill a single Curse Warrior.
By rough comparison, a standard Curse Warrior possessed around twice Thor's physical strength.
But Algrim was different.
The elite version.
The same monster from the original timeline that had completely overwhelmed Thor in direct combat.
According to external commentary from the battle records, this version of the Curse Warrior possessed approximately four times Thor's combat power.
Four times Thor.
That level of strength was monstrous.
Even an enraged Hulk would lose head-on.
The battlefield changed instantly.
One moment, Earth's superheroes were tearing through the Dark Elf invasion force.
The next, a nightmare entered the fight.
Algrim transformed.
Black smoke erupted from his body as his form expanded violently into something enormous and demonic. Molten cracks spread across his skin while raw power distorted the air around him.
Then he attacked.
The Green Hulk was sent flying with a single blow.
The Red Hulk suffered the same fate moments later.
Tony Stark barely avoided having his symbiote armor punched straight through by a fist that hit like a collapsing building.
"This thing is insane!" Tony shouted over comms as he watched Hulk get swatted through another structure hard enough to spit out teeth. "What the hell is that monster?!"
The Curse Warrior tore through the battlefield like an unstoppable siege weapon.
Its strength completely overwhelmed most superheroes present.
Its durability was slightly less absurd, but the regeneration compensated immediately. Wounds closed almost the instant they appeared.
Even concentrated attacks barely slowed it down.
Watching the battle unfold, Drex's eyes brightened slightly.
Interesting.
His mass-produced Hulk army probably wouldn't match even the standard Curse Warriors.
Still, the Curse Warriors possessed a fatal weakness.
Their power burned through life itself.
After all, they were super-soldiers created using fragments of the Reality Stone.
And every second they fought pushed them closer to death.