Son of the Hulk

 

Today’s post will again be something a little different, a look at something we did not see in the MC2. For this entry in what I am still calling the Untold Tales of the MC2 which looks at costumes, concepts, story ideas and characters that never made it to the printed page, we first need to talk about someone who did make it into the MC2: the Son of the Hulk.

 

Making his first and only appearance in the pages of A-Next #3 is the young son of the Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk, David Banner. In this issue we learn that Bruce Banner has retired to Denver, Colorado and he indicates he is finally rid of his alter ego for good and has not seen Doctor Strange in years. When Strange appears unexpectedly to reform the Defenders, he takes complete mental control of Banner and forces Bruce to once more transform into the Hulk. Concerned for his son as he begins to change into the Hulk, Bruce shouts for his son to run but Doctor Strange assures him that David is in no danger. David Banner is left stunned and confused, and this is all we see from the boy in the published works of the MC2.

 

Now, let us take a look at the unpublished side of things for David, thanks once more to MC2 co-creator, artist and ideas man, Ron Frenz. On his official Facebook page, Ron shared the following image with this description:

 

Davey and (the Green) Goliath!

An un-used MC2 idea for Bruce Banner and his young son David involving an accidental gamma mind link and ensuing hi-jinks!

 

While it is just a concept that never saw publication, Mr Frenz evidently put some thought into this, going so far as to clarify why ‘Davey’ has green hair in his sketch when asked:

 

The “gamma mind link” turned his hair green.

 

It sounds like this unpublished story idea would have been a lot of fun. As I mentioned in my She-Hulk post, we don’t know who would have looked after David Banner after his father was sent to Limbo by Loki and it’s never mentioned who his mother is or even if she’s still alive. Perhaps that is a topic for another time?

 

Until I stop exploring every corner of the MC2 and finding more reasons to love it, 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

 

Professor Charles Xavier in the MC2

 

While I haven’t covered this character in detail for this blog, I have previously made two related MC2 Family Trees back before I began providing more detailed entries. For reference those were The Yama Family Tree and The Xavier-Marko Family Tree which should clue you into who today’s post is about: Professor Charles Xavier aka Professor X, the founder of the X-Men.

 

In the unlikely event you didn’t already know, Charles Xavier made his comic debut in the original X-Men #1 as the leader and mentor to the original five members of the titular mutant team. As for the first appearance of Professor X in the MC2, Charles only appears in flashbacks, with the first being J2 #7. These flashbacks show major events in the life of Cain Marko aka The Juggernaut, the step-brother of Charles Xavier. One such event shown depicts Marko’s origin, specifically the moment he and Charles discovered the lost temple of Cyttorak while serving in the military together and Cain transforms into The Juggernaut for the first time as originally recounted by Xavier in X-Men #12.

 

We also see Cain’s first clash with Xavier’s original X-Men team as seen in X-Men #12-#13 and a later clash with the All-New All-Different X-Men team from X-Men #101-#103. For comparison, here are the original relevant covers and pages:

 

The only other direct mention of Xavier comes in a back up story in Wild Thing #5 where his early life being bullied by Cain is recounted as depicted in the aforementioned X-Men #12 and later it’s stated that after his reformation, Cain Marko ‘made peace with Xavier and even joined his stepbrother’s team!’

 

What’s unclear is the fate of Professor Charles Xavier in the MC2’s present. We could infer from the recently rescued former Juggernaut Cain Marko’s throw away comment to ‘pull a Charlie Xavier’ that ol’ Chuck is still around but there’s nothing solid to be sure either way (Wild Thing #5). What is clear is that after the various sacrifices of the X-Men over the years, mutant kind is more accepted by the general public, meaning Charles Xavier’s dream remains alive in the MC2 (J2 #2).

 

Once again I find myself wishing we’d seen an X-People series published. Maybe there’s still hope for it someday?

 

Until I stop trying to tie-in to MCU movies to encourage readership, I remain

 

frogoat

 

      

Doctor Strange in the MC2

 

Now that Spider-Man: No Way Home has come and gone, the most anticipated Marvel Studios movie release is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness so now is an excellent time to take a look at Doctor Strange in the MC2.

 

While Doctor Stephen Strange first appeared in Strange Tales #110, his MC2 counterpart makes his debut in the pages of A-Next #3. Right off the bat, this appearance provides a number of insights into Stephen’s new status quo, starting with the issue’s opening page which pretty well confirms the Sorcerer still resides within the Sanctum Sanctorum located at 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village. We also learn that Doc Magus aka Dormagus has replaced Strange as the new Sorcerer Supreme (as Dormagus puts it) ‘ever since The Vishanti fired [Stephen’s] butt.’

 

Having foreseen a world-threatening tragedy that will unfold in the near future, Doctor Strange takes matters into his own hands and recruits his former Defenders teammates Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk in an apparent attempt to save the day using extreme measures. Doc Magus attempts to warn off Strange and when this fails, he takes his mentor Deacon’s advice and approaches the newly formed Avengers team for help. Soon enough the two teams clash in Arizona until Dormagus uses the Eye of Agamotto to uncover Doctor Strange’s true motives were three-fold: to make Namor proactive once more, ensure the Hulk is able to fulfill his destiny and provide the new Avengers team a ‘baptism of fire’.

 

While Doctor Strange himself does not appear, he is alluded to in J2 #4 While in an unknown dimension alongside the Avenger J2 battles a Darkling posing as the original Juggernaut, the dark lord Nemesus taunts Dormagus’ about the mystic’s strained and dysfunctional relationship with his own father. When he is thwarted and retreats, Nemesus’ parting words to Dormagus are ‘give my regards to your own dear father!’.

 

Ignoring a warning from Doctor Strange to wait for reinforcements, Dormagus and Zane Yama aka J2 make their way to a pocket dimension to rescue Cain Marko aka Juggernaut. Despite reuniting Zane with his father, Nemesus appears and reveals Doc Magus had fallen into his trap and closed the heroes gateway home, trapping them. Fortunately, Doctor Strange appears alongside his fellow Defenders the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner and aid in escaping from Nemesus’ dimension before they are all swarmed by legions of Darklings. This story makes clear some unexplored history between Nemesus and Strange (J2 #12).

 

Around this time, Doctor Strange made an appearance in Wild Thing #0 where in he is called upon by Wolverine to attempt to remove the cure of the Wendigo from the land around Hudson Bay. Meeting Wild Thing, Stephen makes a knowing comment to Wolverine: ‘Independent children can be such a trial, eh, Wolverine?’ With the aid of the Hulk, Wolverine and Wild Thing, Doctor Strange successfully lifts the curse.

 

When the demonically empowered vigilante Darkdevil is stabbed through the chest by the Venom Symbiote bonded with Normie Osborn, Doc Magus is called upon to save him. Struggling to save the hero, Dormagus admits he is out of his depth and accepts the help of Doctor Strange just as the demon Zarathos appears and warns the two mystics to leave Darkdevil’s body as he claimed it as his own. Unable to perform a conventional exorcism, the two are forced to journey into Darkdevil’s mindscape and restore the balance between the three vying avatars within the hero: the spirit of vengeance Zarathos, the ghostly spirt of the costumed hero Daredevil and the boy Reilly Tyne (Spider-Girl #83-#84).

 

With a string of superheroes going missing, Doc Magus sets out to find them on his own, once again rejecting the aid of Doctor Strange, only to wind up defeated in his astral form by a disguised Loki and fall under the villain’s thrall immediately afterwards when reunited with his mortal form and abducted (Last Hero Standing #2). 

 

While attempting to resolve the mystery of the missing heroes, Doctor Strange is instead attacked by the culprit Loki himself, who mentions Stephen’s ‘fall from grace is well-known to [him]’ before making short work of the Sorcerer. Still enthralled and falsely believing he knows who kidnapped him, Doc Magus leads the other heroes to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum only to be confronted by a Loki-controlled and enraged Hulk who makes short work of the assembled heroes indiscriminately. Upon finding that Doctor Strange was seemingly in a coma, Dormagus was unable to detect Loki’s handiwork thanks to the dark spell’s effect (Last Hero Standing #4). Asgard’s Grand Vizier reveals the truth to Doc Magus and Doctor Strange is shortly after present to witness the death of Captain America (Last Hero Standing #5).

 

Unless I’ve missed a cameo somewhere, that’s the last time we see Doctor Strange in the MC2. I find the still-unresolved mystery of how and why Doctor Strange lost the position of Sorcerer Supreme to be a most tantalizing plot thread. I sincerely wish we learned the details of this massive development.

 

Until I learn to master the mystic arts and become Sorcerer Supreme only to lose the job under unrevealed circumstances, I remain

 

frogoat