Another relatively short and sweet post today, but one that
I stumbled upon, delighted at having uncovered a sneaky link between another of
my favourite fandoms, Doctor Who.
In a long-ago History
of the MC2 post, I pointed out that the established history of the MC2
includes the events of Onslaught,
Heroes
Reborn and Heroes
Return as is confirmed via a reference to Franklin Richards
creating a pocket universe in Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #4. While it’s not exactly clear precisely when
the published history of the Main Marvel Universe (aka Universe-616)
branches off into what we know as the MC2 (aka Universe-982), it’s
evident they share a great deal in common from the 1960’s up to and
including the real-world published comics of the mid-to-late-1990’s.
This brings me to today’s tiny tidbit of confirmed comic
commonality: Pier Four. This was an apparently unassuming building
located on the docks which the Fantastic Four used as their temporary
home and headquarters following their return from Franklin’s Counter-Earth
pocket universe, having discovered the Thunderbolts had been given their
former home, Four Freedoms Plaza, in their absence.
Pier Four first appeared in Fantastic Four (vol.
3) #2 and we learn from Johnny
Storm that stored on the premises is a second hand ‘antique London Police
Call Box’ obtained by Reed
Richards from a ‘weird “Doctor” friend of his’, one which from the outside appears barely able
to fit a single person but once inside, the interior is near infinite, allowing
Reed to use it as a kind of warehouse (Fantastic Four (vol. 3)
#9) . While the exterior 'Police Box' is red in colour, this is no
doubt a reference to the iconic blue time and spaceship known as The TARDIS
owned by the time-travelling Doctor from the world’s
longest-running science fiction show Doctor Who.
Now, Pier Four is also canon to the history of the MC2’s
own Fantastic
Five, being utilized once more in the pages of Last Planet Standing
#4 as the team’s temporary base of operations during Galactus’ final
plan following the destruction of the Fantastic Five Headquarters.
Here is where I get to really geek out, because The
Doctor is not just a throwaway reference, he is an established colleague to
Mister Fantastic himself Reed Richards. Marvel held the comic
publishing rights to Doctor Who during the 1980’s in much the
same way they published other licenced works such as The Transformers.
In fact, it’s through the Transformers by way of Doctor Who that
the Freelance Peacekeeping Agent known as Death’s Head
would first arrive in the Main Marvel Universe proper, having once been shrunk
down to human size (Doctor Who Magazine #135) and later being deposited
atop the Four Freedoms Plaza, headquarters of the Fantastic Four,
by The Doctor (Death’s Head #8-#9).
Bringing this all back to the MC2, the established existence
of Pier Four in Earth-982 implies events following the Fantastic
Four’s return from Franklin Richards pocket reality transpired in a similar
manner to those on Earth-616. This means some version of
events depicted in those early issues of Fantastic Four (vol. 3) played
out in the MC2 also. On Earth-616 Pier Four was destroyed by
Diablo in Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #36, though it appears this was
not the case in the MC2. While I admit it’s speculation, we can also
assume that the MC2 Fantastic Four (later Five) at some
point returned to the former site of their most iconic headquarters and rebuilt
it into the Fantastic Five Building (first seen in What If #105
and more fully in Spider-Girl #3). This presumes in the MC2 the Four Freedoms Plaza was likewise
damaged significantly in Thunderbolts #10 and the remains teleported to
the Moon
in Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #13) as it was on Earth-616.
That is all for today, everyone. I truly live for these
little pieces of continuity that the MC2 incorporates into its
own unique history. The implications of Doctor Who and
Transformers being connected to the wider shared Marvel Multiverse (or Megaverse
if you prefer) are exciting to consider.
Until I stop delighting at these unexpected connections, I
remain
frogoat