Lilandra in the MC2

 

I am thoroughly enjoying the X-Men ’97 animated series on Disney + which acts as a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series. Inspired by recent episodes, today’s post will be about Professor Charles Xavier’s long-time lover, Lilandra Neramani, the Majestrix of the Shi’ar Empire. This is Lilandra in the MC2.

 

First appearing in X-Men #97 as an unidentified mental projection, Lilandra’s dynastic surname of Neramani and royal status as a Princess is revealed in X-Men #103 with her first name revealed in her first full appearance in X-Men #105.

Princess Lilandra Neramani is coronated in X-Men #125, officially becoming Majestrix of the Shi’ar Empire. Her lover Professor Charles Xavier accompanies her during this time and is referred to as her ‘consort,’ which may or may not be an official title. Are they married? Well, that’s unclear as there is no on-panel confirmation nor ceremony but perhaps Shi’ar culture considers the role of consort as equivalent to a marriage. In the real world, a consort is generally the spouse of a monarch. Lilandra’s profile in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #7 lists her marital status as ‘Inapplicable. Charles Xavier is her consort’. Back in the first volume of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8, Xavier’s profile lists his marital status as ‘single’ but notes that he and Lilandra forged a telepathic bond and ‘later became romantically involved and engaged to marry’. In The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #10, Charles is again listed as ‘single’ and Lilandra is not among the list of his known relatives.

 

Regardless, the couple often spend significant time apart due to their sperate responsibilities and eventually ended their relationship in X-Men Unlimited #5. I bring this up because various sources online cite New X-Men #133 as the point that their marriage is annulled by the Shi’ar Empire. So, ironically the first time they are ever explicitly referred to as being married is when it is ended. The Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 2: X-Men from 2003 refers to Xavier as Lilandra’s ‘husband’ during the time after the Dark Phoenix Saga. Conversely, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men 2004 profile for Xavier refers to his marital status as ‘single, former consort to Princess-Majestrix Lilandra Neramani of the Shi’ar Empire’.  But these sources are all obviously past the point of divergence for the MC2 so let’s move on!

 

In the MC2, we witness Galactus’ latest herald Dominas the Wavemaster arrive in the area of space ruled by the Shi’ar Empire, effortlessly going through all their defensive satellites on his way to the Imperial Throneworld of Shi’ar.  Dominas is confronted by the Shi’ar Imperial Guard led by Gladiator as he gives the population it’s only warning to evacuate or die (Last Planet Standing #1).

 

With Galactus’ arrival, Lilandra is advised to flee upon her personal starship alongside the High Council. The Majestrix blames herself for not having enough ships to evacuate the entire planet nor foreseeing this eventuality. Despite the Imperial Guard’s efforts, Galactus activates his elemental converter, draining every precious quanta of biochemical and kinetic energy from the Throneworld, bleeding the planet dry in moments. Lilandra Neramani watches on helplessly while her planet is destroyed (Last Planet Standing #1).

 

While that’s the only appearance we have for Lilandra in the MC2, at the conclusion of the Last Planet Standing series the threat of Galactus is ended for good when Galactus and the Silver Surfer merge into a new being and reverse the destruction caused by Galactus. This newly birthed being uses a new form of energy- The Power Essential -to repair the damage wreaked during his former self’s plot. So, it’s possible -though again, not stated- that Lilandra’s Throneworld was restored afterwards at some point (Last Planet Standing #5).

 

Until I figure out if I should have included Lilandra and the Shi’ar Royal Family on Xavier’s Family Tree, I remain

 

frogoat

Lady Sif in the MC2

 

With Thor: Love and Thunder now in theatres I’d be foolish not to make a post or two tangentially related to a character or two from the film. So today, let’s take a very brief look at Lady Sif in the MC2.

 

Lady Sif first appeared in the pages of Marvel Comic’s Journey in Mystery #102 in 1964. As for the MC2, Lady Sif makes her first and only appearance on-panel in Last Planet Standing #2. It’s there that we see Sif assisting with the evacuating of Asgard just prior to its destruction at the hands of Galactus.

As I’ve discussed previously Thena, the daughter of Thor states she is the ‘daughter to the most honored Lord and Lady of Asgard’ and that during the events of Last Hero Standing she was on a quest with her mother and thus not present in Asgard when Earth’s heroes ended up there (Avengers Next #2). Furthermore, during the events of Last Planet Standing, Thena attempted to join her father against Galactus but was commanded by her mother to aid those fleeing the destruction of Asgard (Avengers Next #3).

Naturally, one of the major candidates for Thena's mother was Thor's long-time off-and-on love interest Lady Sif. The strongest evidence for this becomes clearer when the relevant pages and panels from both Last Planet Standing #2 and the flashbacks in Avengers Next #3 are viewed in sequence:

 

So, Sif was given the job of overseeing the evacuation of Asgard's most vulnerable subjects, the same task Thena was entrusted with by her mother. This strongly suggests Sif is Thena's mother, but obviously we don't have any definitive answers.

 

Anyway, sadly that’s all we have for Lady Sif in the MC2. I’d love to see her return, especially paired with Thena on an epic quest.

 

Until I stop thinking about the stories still yet untold in the MC2, I remain

 

frogoat

 

The Living Tribunal in the MC2

 

The Living Tribunal has appeared on the big screen very briefly thanks to the new Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness following a brief cameo on the small screen in Disney+ series Loki. So, as usual I’m going to detail the character’s MC2 counterpart: The Living Tribunal in the MC2.

During the events of Last Planet Standing, with Galactus poised to destroy the entire universe in an attempt to rid himself of his never-ending hunger, a gathering of the Great Powers of the Universe took place to discuss the threat posed to reality. The cosmic forces in attendance included Master Order, Lord Chaos, The In-Betweener, The Shaper of Worlds, The Stranger, The Gardener, The Collector and of course The Living Tribunal (Last Planet Standing #2).

 

The Great Powers of the Universe’s attempt to reason with the World-Eater one last time fails. Ultimately deciding they must destroy Galactus using a combined destructive bolt strong enough to wipe out the Earth and the entire Milky Way Galaxy, the Great Powers are halted in their attempt when Reed Richards is forced to use his Transdimensional Cannon's single shot on the cosmic beings (Last Planet Standing #3).

That’s all we glimpse of The Living Tribunal in the MC2. Presumably the form of the Living Tribunal that is hit by the Transdimensional Cannon is an M-Body or Manifestation Body or simply wasn’t destroyed but merely delayed. I say this because the Living Tribunal is multiversal in nature and exists across all universes as a single entity with various forms.

 

Anyway, let’s see what I cover next.

 

Until I find myself with three heads and maintaining celestial balance in the multiverse, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Thena: Who's Your Mama?! (Part 2)

 

A while ago, I took a stab at figuring out just who the Asgardian goddess Thena’s mother could be in the MC2. Well, now is probably the best time to dust off the topic and discuss another option, given that the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Eternals is in cinemas right now. Why? Let’s jump straight in and find out!

 

While we never saw any of the Eternals in the MC2, we nearly saw prominent member Thena in a perhaps less than unexpected place. If you’ve read the title, you may already know where this is going. Here are some extracts from Comic Shenanigans Episode 744: Interview with Ron Frenz on A-Next:

 

‘I was not lucky enough to be a part of the later A-Next mini-series and stuff. That was always something that I was all for, the roster changing just like it did in the original Avengers, you know. That there would be new characters introduced and all this kind of stuff. I played a much smaller role behind the scenes. I had originally conceived of a daughter for Thor in some of my sketches. So, when she finally did show up, Ron Lim was working off of those sketches. He made adaptations of his own which is only right since he was the one handling the character. Originally the name I had for her was Thera, T-H-E-R-A, which I thought was a nice kind of sort of Thor-sounding-but-not. Tom ended up going with Thena and I don’t know if at the time he realized that was already the name of a character in the Eternals. But in my head now I have this story we could tell at some point, if anybody cared, where Thor actually named his daughter after the leader of the Eternals upon the signing of some peace treaty or something like that.’

 

This idea could have made for a fun story and if it was canon, would have worked as a nice detail to add to the lore of the MC2. But Mr Frenz goes on to further add the following even more intriguing notion:

 

‘So when Tom did that, my brain immediately went to ‘now, why would he name his daughter after the leader of the Eternals?’ and there’s a story there. If you really want to be dirty about it, maybe Sif wasn’t her mother, I don’t know. Maybe Thena is her mother, I don’t know. I don’t know exactly how much we were committed to because as I said I wasn’t involved directly in Last Hero Standing or Last Planet Standing or any of those mini-series so I don’t remember what has exactly been established or not.’

 

So Thena, the Asgardian goddess and child of Thor, was nearly or could potentially be the daughter of Thena of the race of Eternals. I would love to see these story ideas explored in someway in the future, one way or the other.

 

Until I find more time to write these little tie-in posts, I remain

 

frogoat

The Collector in the MC2

 

The Collector aka Taneleer Tivan has returned to screens thanks to the new Disney+ series What If following his appearances in films such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War. So, as usual I’m going to detail the character’s MC2 counterpart: The Collector in the MC2.

 

During the events of Last Planet Standing, with Galactus poised to destroy the entire universe in an attempt to rid himself of his never-ending hunger, a gathering of the Great Powers of the Universe took place to discuss the threat posed to reality. The cosmic forces in attendance included Master Order, Lord Chaos, The In-Betweener, The Shaper of Worlds, The Living Tribunal, The Stranger, The Gardener and of course The Collector. Tivan argues they had failed to destroy Galactus in the past and would place Earth in jeopardy by attempting to again. (Last Planet Standing #2).

 

The Great Powers of the Universe’s attempt to reason with the World-Eater one last time fails. Ultimately deciding they must destroy Galactus using a combined destructive bolt strong enough to wipe out the Earth and the entire Milky Way Galaxy, the Great Powers are halted in their attempt when Reed Richards is forced to use his Transdimensional Cannon's single shot on the cosmic beings (Last Planet Standing #3).

 

That’s all we glimpse of The Collector in the MC2. It’s interesting to see Taneleer appear in his more alien form in Last Planet Standing, as this is apparently a more powerful form which fits with the seriousness of the threat of Galactus’ plot. Perhaps someday future writers will return to the MC2 and play around with the Great Powers of the Universe who reside there?

 

Until I finish my never-ending MC2 collection of posts, comics and products, I remain

 

frogoat

The Watcher in the MC2

 

With the new What If...? show now streaming away on Disney+ I figure now is the best time to talk about one of the series most iconic characters, everyone’s favourite observant extra-terrestrial in a toga, Uatu aka The Watcher in the MC2.

 

Despite May ‘Mayday’ Parker aka Spider-Girl making her debut in the pages of What If (vol. 2) #105, the comic series ‘host’ The Watcher doesn’t appear within to set up the tale nor play the narrator as he often did.

  Uatu actually first shows up in the pages of the mini-series Last Hero Standing with issue #1. It’s here he gives the reader a quick history of the MC2 reaching back to birth of Age of Heroes, clearly referencing the Main Marvel Universe’s beginnings. The Watcher notes he can see that a pivotal moment is coming which may end the modern Age of Heroes and bring a new era of darkness.

 

At the conclusion of Last Hero Standing, Loki is revealed as the antagonist and leaves Captain America dying. Uatu watches as Thor combines Asgardian magic with his friend’s spirit, transforming the hero into a new star in the sky. The Watcher informs the readers that it will shine until the end of time and ‘serve to inspire countless new generations of heroes!’ (Last Hero Standing #5)

 

Unfortunately, the next time we see Uatu is also the last time. The Watcher states ‘the time has come for me to witness one final critical juncture’ before he and half of the Earth’s Moon are blasted away by Galactus’ herald Dominas. Presumably The Watcher is killed in this attack, though this is not confirmed (Last Planet Standing #3).

 

 Fortunately, the newly birthed being composed of the combined Silver Surfer and Galactus uses a new form of energy- The Power Essential -to repair the damage wreaked during his former self’s plot. So, it’s possible -though again, not stated- that Uatu was restored also (Last Planet Standing #5).

 

That’s all we have for everyone’s favourite Watcher in the MC2. Brief, but surely true to form for the character. Perhaps he’ll narrate something momentous in the future?

 

Until I figure out how to look *that good* in a toga, I remain

 

frogoat