Death in the MC2

 

Hopefully you’ve been watching and enjoying the WandaVision spin-off series Agatha All Along on Disney+ as much as I have! In the spirit of the spooky season, lets take a look at the deadly deity Death in the MC2.

 

But first, we need to gain some context by looking at the personification of Death in the Main Marvel Universe. Following a debatable appearance in the main image of a text story in Marvel Mystery Comics #10 from 1940, Death officially first appearing in Captain Marvel #26 in 1973. Death is an abstract being embodying the concept of mortality, acting as one of the great cosmic forces of existence alongside Eternity, Infinity and Oblivion.

 

Often depicted in the form of a purple cloaked skeleton or pale woman, in modern times Death has had direct interactions and relationships with notable characters such as Wade Wilson aka Deadpool and Thanos, the Mad Titan who gathered the Infinity Gems and snapped away half of all life in the Universe in an attempt to win Death’s favour (Deadpool/Death Annual ’98, Thanos Quest #1-#2, Infinity Gauntlet #1-#6).

 

With the bare bones backstory out of the way, lets look at Mistress Death as she briefly brushed against 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).

With Galactus enacting his final solution on Earth, the combined forces of the super hero community work to penetrate his force field and combat his doomsday weapon’s launch. When Spider-Girl, Stinger and American Dream manage to reverse the polarity of the device’s flow, the resulting backlash causes Galactus to be overloaded with enough energy to kill him and destroy the entire galaxy. As his end approaches, Galactus perceives the presence of Death coming to embrace him. However, at the last moment, Galactus’ former Herald, the Silver Surfer encases them both within an indestructible ethereal force cocoon.  Soon after the assembled heroes of Earth witness the birth of a new gestalt entity composed of the Silver Surfer and Galactus which could harness a new form of energy known as The Power Essential (Last Planet Standing #5).

 

While it’s a brief appearance, it’s at least one in the flesh…so to speak. Death personified remains in some ways connected to Galactus which is fitting given their status as higher beings. That said, this is one character I don’t mind not seeing more often!

 

Until my live-action (no pun intended) counterpart is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas in Latveria

 

‘Tis the season! Once again, we near the end of the year, the time of decking halls, panic buying gifts and general chaos. To mark the festive season I wanted to take a look at the time the MC2’s Avengers went to Latveria for Christmas and found…Doom!

 

Our story opens with a prologue set in the ruins of Doomstadt, the former capital of the Balkan nation of Latveria. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents discuss the destruction wrought by the long-ago war between Namor the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom as they search for a lost little girl. The pair are forced to cut their search short when they are attacked by Killer Robot’s. As they flee, they catch a glimpse of a distant figure on a rampart. Has Doctor Doom returned? (A-Next #5)

 

A few days later at the Avengers Headquarters in New York, J2 aka Zane Yama finds Thunderstrike aka Kevin Masterson reviewing old files about his father Eric Masterson, the original Thunderstrike. Meanwhile, a frustrated Stinger (Cassie Lang) brushes off American Dream (Shannon Carter) before confronting Mainframe about the unconfirmed reports of the return of Doctor Doom. While the Fantastic Five have been tasked with investigating, Cassie and her father Scott Lang (the former Ant-Man) convince them to let a team of Avengers go instead. However, Cassie is surprised to learn from Mainframe she’ll be accompanied by the new additions to the team American Dream and her fellow Dream Team members Bluestreak, Freebooter and Crimson Curse (A-Next #5).

 

Attempting to patch things up with her new team mates, Cassie tells them her real reason for wishing to travel to Latveria so much; Kristoff Vernard, a young boy and ward of Doctor Doom who she met and befriended when they all lived in the Baxter Building with the Fantastic Four. The pair grew close over the years until Kristoff returned to his home country Latveria when he heard a war was brewing between Doom and Namor. With Latveria devastated in the ensuing conflict, Doctor Doom was missing in action and believed dead, while Cassie lost all contact with Kristoff Vernard (A-Next #5).

 

As Thunderstrike, Kevin Masterson visits his father Eric’s grave, thinking about how he is trying to make him proud. A nearby awkward J2, unsure of what to do eventually puts his hand on Kevin’s shoulder to show his support before unintentionally reverting back into Zane Yama. Kevin invites Zane to join him for pizza (A-Next #5).

 

Arriving in the city of Doomstadt, the Avengers team plan to search Castle Doom for the missing girl, but are attacked by the Killer Robots. The Avengers make short work of them, especially once Crimson Curse demonstrates her abilities. Uncovering underground tunnels, Stinger ditches the others, shrinking to make her way through a blocked passage (A-Next #5).

 

Back in New York, Zane is impressed by Kevin’s apartment, including his Stunt Master poster. While Kevin feeds his cat Alex, Zane noticed a bunch of unopened letters from Kevin’s stepfather, Bobby Steele. Kevin reveals the two aren’t on the best of terms and that his mother would often have to play peacemaker between them. Zane responds that he dreams about having a father in his life and that Kevin is lucky to have had two and encourages him to call Bobby for Christmas (A-Next #5).

 

Hearing a child’s voice, Stinger eventually finds the missing girl Greta is not alone and appears to be talking with Doctor Doom. Listening to the pair talk, Stinger hears the girl ask Doom about his scary mask but before she can get a look beneath, the rest of the Avengers bust into the room. Stinger flies between them, demanding they stop their attack. With American Dream trusting her, Stinger explains the masked figure isn’t the real Doctor Doom. Cassie removes her helmet as Doom removes his mask to reveal himself as Kristoff Vernard and the pair embrace (A-Next #5).

 

Kristoff reveals that he returned home to ensure that Doctor Doom’s vast arsenal of advanced weapons of mass destruction never fell into the wrong hands. As Doctor Doom’s heir, Kristoff alone was given full access to all of Doom’s creations and ideas and therefore he concealed his own existence to ensure they could not be exploited. Kristoff Vernard bids Cassie a sad farewell and disappears (A-Next #5).

 

Returning to the outer perimeter with young Greta, the Avengers tell S.H.I.E.L.D. they saw no one else within the area just as Castle Doom is destroyed in an enormous flash of green light. As snow begins to fall, Greta tells the disbelieving S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that Father Christmas destroyed the castle as a gift to the world. With the Avengers coming together as a team, American Dream backs up the girl’s story as Stinger wishes her a Merry Christmas (A-Next #5).

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful time over the holidays and lets hope the New Year brings us all something positive.

 

Until I stop believing, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Maria Hill in the MC2

 

With the release of Marvel’s Secret Invasion series on Disney+ prominently featuring former Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Maria Hill as portrayed by Cobie Smoulders’ who has played the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2012’s The Avengers, I thought now would be an opportune time to finally cover Maria Hill in the MC2.

 

Maria Hill made her debut in the pages of New Avengers #4 in 2005 though was apparently originally meant to first appear in the Secret War mini-series before lengthy delays saw it released far later. In either event, she replaced Nick Fury as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. during that period.

 

Meanwhile in the MC2, we see some familiar faces amongst the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. during the Carnage story arc, with Maria Hill making the scene in Amazing Spider-Girl #9. On behalf of her ‘superiors’ Agent Maria Hill tasks Special Agent Arthur Weadon and his team of former villains led by Kaine with safeguarding the transport of an item referred to only as 'Specimen 297' (actually a piece of the Carnage symbiote) through New York City. When the transport convoy is attacked by a faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents led by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (who will no doubt warrant her own post someday) and the Specimen accidentally let loose in the city by Spider-Girl, Carnage is reborn.

 

With the New York City Police Department on the scene (including Police Scientist Peter Parker), Special Agent Maria Hill obstructs Captain Ruiz’s investigation of the situation before chastising Special Agent Arthur Weadon and his team’s failure to protect the Specimen. Nick Fury makes his first on-panel appearance in the MC2 - albeit shrouded in shadow-when he assures President G.W. Bridge the situation would be resolved despite the complications as he has his best Agent on the case. After an attack by Carnage at Café Indigo, Hill dispatches S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Weadon’s team to track down Spider-Girl for questioning about her involvement (Amazing Spider-Girl #10-#11).

 

After evading both groups, Spider-Girl is reacquired during a battle with Carnage, with Maria Hill sending Weadon’s team and S.H.I.E.L.D. after her once more which results in Carnage attacking all of them. Fortunately, Spider-Girl manages to save everyone involved, but her baby brother Benjy, now merged with a part of the Carnage symbiote, is taken by the villain. Hill calls for emergency aid before following them to Midtown Medical Center (Amazing Spider-Girl #12).

 

 We learn through the investigative work of Kaine and Darkdevil the true plot: the United States was unwilling to destroy the Carnage symbiote despite the United Nations stance on the use of bio-weapons, G.W. Bridge and Nick Fury organised for the team of disguised S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to 'steal' the Specimen, setting up Weadon's team to fail.  This was all to demonstrate the dangers to the congressional committee wishing to keep the symbiote for bio-weapon research under the guise of finding a cure for cancer (Amazing Spider-Girl #12).

Maria Hill reports back to Nick Fury that Specimen 297 has been fully neutralized. Despite the operation not going as planned, the situation was salvaged thanks to Spider-Girl's intervention, providing the President with a sound rationale to convince the congressional committee to destroy the remaining Specimen (Amazing Spider-Girl #12).

 

As for where Special Agent Maria Hill next appears in the MC2, we turn to the American Dream mini-series. These appearances are tricky. Maria Hill shows up so you would think she was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. but dialogue and recap pages both state she is working for the National Security Force. I would be inclined to accept that Hill simply changed employers since her last appearance, except every issue after she shows up in American Dream #2 clearly depicts her in full S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform and leading other agents also clad in S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform.

 

Maria Hill calls into Avengers Compound to order Shannon Carter aka  American Dream to cease her inquiries into the crystalline creatures she had encountered. After some consideration and discussion with the rest of the Avengers, American Dream decides to continue her investigation while seeking a missing person (American Dream #2).  

 

Returning to Avengers Compound with a federal warrant to assume custody of a crystal creature, Hill proceeds to chastise American Dream, and tells her again to back off before she and the rest of the Avengers are charged with treason. This prompts American Dream to resign from the Avengers to protect them while she pursued the matter solo (American Dream #3).

 

For good measure, Hill angrily makes a third trip to Avengers Compound to arrest American Dream after she is spotted at a classified crime scene, only to be told by Edwin Jarvis that he does not know where the former Avenger has gone. After threatening to take Jarvis in as an accessory, Thunderstrike steps in to defend him, questioning why Hill is trying to stop the investigation. We soon learn that S.H.I.E.L.D. is attempting to discover how to destroy the crystalline creatures to prevent them falling into enemy hands, unaware they are actually illegal immigrants who’ve been unwillingly transformed by the villain Silikong. When the one in their custody reawakens, Hill finds herself shorthanded (American Dream #4).

While across town the Avengers locate and aid American Dream in her fight against the combined forces of Hope Pym aka The Red Queen, Ion Man, Silikong and his crystalline creatures, Maria Hill and her agents struggle against their single foe until the control over the creatures is stopped by Dream. This leads Special Agent Maria Hill to admit she has some grovelling to do and we later learn that Hill has arrested Silikong and will try to reverse the process used on the victims of his experiments (American Dream #5).

 

Maria Hill in the MC2 is a good example of a Main Marvel Universe character who debuted after the point at which the MC2 diverges, with very different events unfolding. Her appearance in the MC2 acts as a nice nod to the New Avengers era of the Main Marvel Universe in much the same way as references to Luke Cage established his membership on that team in the MC2’s own history.

 

Until I perform dual duties as an National Security Agent and an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., I remain

 

frogoat