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

 

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