Why isn't Iron Man dead in the MC2?!

 

Is the title of this post clickbait-y? Not as much as you might think! So, let me try to explain why Iron Man isn’t dead in the MC2. Trust me, this will make sense by the end…well, sort of. Anyway, let us make a start!

 

As I have mentioned many times before, the MC2 shares the published history of the Main Marvel Universe up until the mid-to-late 1990’s after which events diverge in big ways. So, where was Tony Stark aka Iron Man at that point in the Main Marvel Universe, then? Short answer: dead. The long answer is a bit more complicated…

 

To lend some context, we must discuss a very poorly regarded Avengers crossover event story spanning from 1995 to 1996 known as The Crossing. Apparently having been manipulated by Kang the Conqueror, Tony Stark turned traitor and killed or nearly killed various people associated with the Avengers. The Avengers journeyed to the past to recruit the 19-year-old Tony Stark of Earth-96020, in hopes of countering Kang’s plan with a version of Stark free of the villain’s influence (Avengers: Timeslide).

 

The story comes to a head when the Avengers and their allies track the Main Marvel Universe (or Earth-616 for us older fans) Tony Stark to his Arctic bunker and his younger Earth-96020 counterpart (suited up in a prototype Iron Man armour) was nearly killed in the confrontation. Remorseful, the older Tony sacrifices himself to save the day, apparently thwarting Kang’s plan and as his final act provides Hank Pym with the necessary schematics to save the younger Stark. With that, technically, Tony Stark aka Iron Man of Earth-616 was dead (Avengers #395).

 

After this, the teenaged Tony Stark of Earth-96020 was saved with the implementation of a chest plate and assumed the mantle of Iron Man, including joining the Avengers. It was alongside the Avengers and Fantastic Four that this young Tony would soon after sacrifice himself to save the world from the threat of Onslaught (Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1).

 

Unbeknownst to the world at large, the heroes were saved by the subconscious efforts of a grieving Franklin Richards who created an entire pocket universe for them to live new lives in. Here, Tony Stark was again an adult, albeit with memories of living a different life (Iron Man vol. 2 #1-#13). When the truth of their situation was revealed, the ‘refugee’ heroes were returned to Earth-616, including the adult Stark (Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-#4).

 

You may be wondering which Tony Stark it is that returned from the pocket universe, and if so, you would not be alone. As I have mentioned in other posts, the Earth-616 Avengers history apparently diverges from that of the MC2’s Earth-982 Avengers prior to Avengers vol. 3 #1, most likely after the aforementioned Heroes Reborn: The Return #4. That said, many elements of this era are suggested to have occurred, and this next example appears to be one of them.

 Avengers vol. 3 Annual 2001 features a back-up story mostly used to clear up a lot of continuity issues and questions. Here we learn that when the adult Tony Stark returned from the pocket dimension, he remembered everything, ‘three lives, three childhoods.’ While this Tony seemed to retain more memories than others who returned, these began to fade. Investigating his own grave, Stark found the body gone and the grave itself vaporized by the same energy which had lingering traces with his own system. As best the Avengers could determine, Franklin Richards had ‘restored the heroes as he remembered them,’ meaning both the murderously manipulated Iron Man and the young Tony who replaced him are apparently in essence both dead now. Iron Man was also formally cleared of the murders during The Crossing as he was under the influence of Kang at the time.

 

And just to make it even more complicated, most of the events of The Crossing are revealed to have all been part of an elaborate scheme of Immortus disguised as his counterpart, Kang the Conqueror, to halt the Avengers continued forays into space and keep them earthbound, thereby preventing an unwanted future (Avengers Forever #8). There is far more to this story, but it is not relevant to today’s post. However, as an aside, some of the MC2 Avengers do end up involved in Avengers Forever’s ‘Destiny War’ (Avengers Forever #11-#12).

 

In summation, Iron Man aka Tony Stark of the Main Marvel Universe (Earth-616) died, was replaced by a younger counterpart from the alternate reality Earth-96020 who soon after also apparently died but was actually saved by the subconscious efforts of the powerful mutant Franklin Richards who sent him and various other heroes to a pocket dimension, in the process transforming the young Tony Stark into a new adult version with newly created memories. Either upon creating the pocket dimension or when the heroes returned the original Earth-616 Tony Stark’s body was also combined with the others and for some time retained all three sets of memories. Simple, right? The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 5 attempts to clarify this situation in the profiles for Tony Stark (Earth-616) and Tony Stark (Earth-96020):

 

“Upon returning, the still adult Tony found he had the collective memories and experiences of the original Tony Stark merged with those of the Earth-96020 Tony and the person he had been on Counter-Earth.”

 

“When Franklin Richards recreated these fallen heroes on the “Heroes Reborn” pocket-world, he recreated Tony Stark as he knew him – an adult tycoon, untouched by Immortus’ influence. When Franklin returned the heroes back to Earth, he restored Tony Stark as an adult with the combined memories of Earth-616’s Tony Stark, the teenage Tony from Earth-96020, and the Tony Stark from his own Counter-Earth. As time passed. Tony memories of his counterparts’ lives faded and merged into his own memories, leaving him with memories free of Immortus’ meddling. The teenage Tony Stark no longer exists in Reality-616 following restoration of Earth-616’s Tony Stark.”

 

 

So… I guess technically the teen Tony was erased or merged with his older counterpart? Anyway, that is the official story and Marvel Comics editorial has rolled with it ever since. Writer Kurt Busiek, responsible for launching the third volume of the Avengers title and Avengers Forever among others, had announced plans to publish a title called ‘Look Back in Armor’ that would explain the situation in detail. However, this never materialized and instead Busiek addressed the issue in the aforementioned Avengers Vol.3 Annual 2001 back-up story.

 

With all that said, hopefully I have made it (somewhat) clear(er) why Iron Man isn’t dead in the MC2. This appears to be another seemingly minor piece of Main Marvel Universe lore that applies to the MC2 post-branching off into its own path. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Until I die, get replaced by an alternate reality teen version of myself, then die again only to be aged into an adult and live out another life in a pocket reality before being returned to my predecessor’s original state, I remain

 

frogoat

 

   

 

When Thanos met Spider-Girl

 

Back in 2003, legendary comic writer and artist Jim Starlin, now best known for his creation of the Mad Titan Thanos, worked on a six-issue mini-series called Marvel Universe: The End. In short, the story details the Main Marvel Universe’s Thanos encountering the Pharaoh Akhenaten who was imbued with the power of Heart of the Universe by the Celestial Order and had targeted the Earth. Unable to defeat him head on, Thanos used the aid of the Defenders and Genis-Vell to stealthily acquire the Heart of the Universe for himself, time-travelling back to erase the Celestial Order and thereby stop the Pharoah’s attack before it began. In doing so, Thanos rendered the reality wherein Akhenaten was abducted by the Celestial Order and all the events that followed it into the divergent Reality-4321 (Marvel Universe: The End #1-#4, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 12 – Thanos Profile).

 

Now at one with this ultimate power source, Thanos discovered that the universe itself held an imbalance between the barrier between life and death which would eventually lead to its own destruction. When the Great Powers of the Universe including the Living Tribunal attacked Thanos, they summoned an army of heroes to battle the Titan. Amid this mighty assemblage of heroes, if you look ever so carefully, you can spot May ‘Mayday’ Parker’s alter ego Spider-Girl (Marvel Universe: The End #5). Considering every other hero seen in attendance appears to be from the Main Marvel Universe (or Universe-616) this does raise a few questions. But we’ll talk about that shortly.

 

Thanos easily bests all who oppose him and destroys the entire universe, absorbing even abstract and conceptual beings like Eternity, Infinity and the Living Tribunal into his very being in the process. With nothing but a void remaining where the universe had been, Thanos was convinced by a (previously out-of-reality) Adam Warlock and the manifestation of Death to sacrifice himself to recreate the universe as it was minus the Celestial Order’s influence, with the dangerous imbalance between life and death repaired. A side effect of this apparent sacrifice was the removal of any memory of Thanos’ actions (Marvel Universe: The End #6).

 

There is some debate about whether or not this story took place partly or wholly or at all within the Main Marvel Universe aka Universe-616, but the fact that we see an unparalleled power source (the Heart) used to rewrite time and diverge reality, and the fact that the events of this story are recalled by both Thanos and Adam Warlock of Universe-616 after the fact would seem to confirm this (Thanos (vol. 1) #1). Your mileage may vary, but my intention with this is to preference what’s on the published page as canon. Some would disagree.

 

But what does this all have to do with Spider-Girl? Well, the big question is why would she be present in the Main Marvel Universe (or even an alternate version of it at that point in time)? Well, I think the best explanation lies with the Living Tribunal, who is a vastly powerful multiversally-transcendental conceptual being and the one responsible for summoning the army of superbeing that briefly fought Thanos. Considering these factors, I think we could infer that the Tribunal simply pulled Mayday from her own reality -either the MC2’s Earth-982 or one very similar- into the Main Marvel Universe to participate in this assault. Additionally, as the entirety of the universe’s reality was erased by Thanos and subsequently restored with no one remembering (save Thanos himself and Adam Warlock as noted above) it’s impossible for anyone to know for sure.

 

This post was originally intended to be an extremely quick one mentioning that Jim Starlin once drew Spider-Girl but I felt the background and confusion attached to this entire mini-series warranted a bit more of an in-depth look. Hopefully I haven’t lost you all to the void! Anyway, Thanos and Spider-Girl in the very same comic, in a big battle, even!

 

Until I find a way to avoid deep dives into obscure stuff no one really cares all that much about, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Need To Clear Something Up

I just wanted to clarify something. I found this note on the Marvel Wikia page for the MC2 (more accurately under the alternate earth designation Earth-982 page):

In Amazing Spider-Girl # 19 (2008), Peter shows May a Daily Bugle headline. The paper clearly shows that the date is Tuesday, March 28, 1996 (a Thursday in our universe), meaning that the modern MC2 stories take place in the mid-nineties, ironic considering the MC2 universe was started, with Spider-Girl, in 1998.

Here's the image they are referring to from Amazing Spider-Girl #19 (2008):

'But wait!' I hear you say, 'clearly that proves the modern MC2 takes place in the mid-nineties!' Well, no. Not really. Why? Well for starters, there is this little wrinkle which comes from Spider-Girl #33 (2001):

No, you don't need to adjust your screen! It really does give the date as Saturday, February 19, 2017. WHA?! 'Well, what does that mean? Is the MC2 set in the future or the past?' I hear you ponder loudly. The answer is neither. The MC2 is happening right now.

 As I've covered before by deferring to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 7: 'Though the MC-2 features a sliding timescale similar to Earth-616, it is not set in the future, but rather in the present, in this world, the Heroic Age occurred nearly fifteen years in the past.' 

 Essentially, any mentions of real-world current events or particular dates that will someday become impossible to reconcile should be either ignored or 'updated' with a more relevant substitute. Did a 60's Spider-Man comic reference the Beatles? Nowadays that reference might be to a more current music group such as One Direction (I'm so sorry, Bertone). 

Hopefully I've cleared that up and not made everything even less understandable.

Until I figure out how to explain quantum mechanics without the use of a Flux Capacitor, I remain

frogoat