Stinger in the MCU

This is a different kind of post, just something quick to talk about the news coming out of the San Diego Comic Convention. During the convention, Marvel Studios have released the first official look at upcoming movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The piece of concept art was produced by Andy Park and features not only the titular Scott Lang’s Ant-Man and Hope Van Dyne’s the Wasp but also provides a glimpse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Cassie Lang, depicted for the first time in full super heroic attire.

 

 

 

While it is not confirmed at this point what moniker Cassie will adopt in the film, judging by her costume’s purple colour scheme I think it is safe to venture a guess this is a version of the Stinger identity. The Stinger codename and costume first appeared in the MC2 with A-Next #1 and, many years later, the Main Marvel Universe version of Cassie would adopt both starting with Astonishing Ant-Man #6.

 

While all the Ant-Man related characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are required to wear a helmet that encases their head as mentioned in the first Ant-Man film, it is nice to see Cassie wearing one that retains at least some of the elements of her comic counterpart such as the coloured eye-pieces. Additionally, the costume also integrates the gauntlets used for offensive attacks. It is not comic accurate, but I must note the footwear, too.  I mean, look at them!

 

Since I started writing this post, it has apparently been confirmed Cassie’s heroic identity will in fact be Stinger, not Stature. I am going to be paying this movie more attention than other recent entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I find it amusing that the Ant-Man movie of all things was the first big screen adaption to use an MC2 character, and now its sequel is continuing the theme.

 

Until I stop giving a massive multinational corporation that does not care about my existence my disposable income, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Sony VS Marvel: How it affects the MC2

Some of you may recall that back in November 2014, Sony Pictures were the target of hackers, resulting in a large amount of confidential data being leaked online. Amongst the documents released were several detailing the Amazing Spider-Man film series and correspondence with Marvel Studios. It's fairly well known the backlash to the concepts and opinions leaked resulted in Spider-Man appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Which brings me to today's post. I hadn't given much thought to the exact details of Sony's contracts and agreements to produce films based on Spider-Man, which characters they could and couldn't use or anything like that until I saw this recent video by the YouTube channel Midnight's Edge:

Spider-man: The uncertain future with either Marvel's MCU or Sony's Venom

It was while watching that I noticed a familiar name in one of the screenshots of the Sony documents: Meagyn Brady. I'd always figured May 'Mayday' Parker was included in the package of characters for the film rights to the Spider-Man franchise, but it never really occurred to me such minor characters would be mentioned. So I did some digging through the leaked documents.

As it turns out, I found a lot of original MC2 character's names mentioned under various categories. I may have missed a few within this document which appears to be a more finalized version of these prior documents but I've attempted to include even some which may not, just for the sake of completeness. Let me know what I've missed or omitted. Here's the list of the characters quoted as presented under the various sub-headings in the document:

Alternate Versions of Spider-Man include all of the following

Spider-Man (IV)/Gerry Drew

Schedule 6

Named Characters

Black Tarantula (II)/Fabian LaMuerto
Buzz, The/Jack Jameson
Crazy Eight
Daze
Goblin God/Peter Parker
Green Goblin, The (VI)/Norman "Normie" Harry Osborn
Killerwatt
Misery/Melissa Carsdale
Mr. Nobody
Scarlet Spider (VII)/Felicity Hardy
Spider-Girl (I)/ May "Mayday" Parker
Spider-Girl 2020/May Parker
Spider-Man (IV)/Gerry Drew
Spider-Venom
Spider-Woman/ May "Mayday" Parker
Venom/Spider-Girl, May "Mayday" Parker

Teams/Groups/Gangs

Team Spider

Supporting Characters

Aftershock
April (first appearing in Spider-Girl #75)
Babbit, Mr

Barney – agent of Hobgoblin (first appearing in Amazing Spider-Girl #2)
Bitter Frost
Brady, Meagyn
Canis
Carlo, Mona
Claw
Desantos, Simone
Diana - Black Cat's love interest in MC2 Universe
Dragon King/Carlton T. Hackmutter
Drasco, Det. Vinnie
Duran, Courtney-May "Mayday" Parker's friend
Funny Face
Fury the Goblin Queen/ Elan DeJunae
Golden Goblin
Grief Machine
Groote, Leonard
Hardy, Felicity (daughter of Felicia)
Healy, Gus
Healy, Joyce
Healy, Sandra
Hicks, Ralphie
Hingle, Duane
Hingle, Cindy
Hingle, Sarah
Impact
Jade, Dr. Sonja
Kirby, Davida - May "Mayday" Parker's friend
Kodiak
Kurkle, Charlie
La Fantome
Ladyhawk/Regina Morgan
Ladyhawk/Rosetta Morgan

Lieber, Caitlyn
Lu, Nancy - May "Mayday" Parker's friend
Mansfield, Billy
Mansfield, Katy
Mansfield, Moose
Mansfield, Mr. - father of Moose
Miller, Brad
Mr. Abnormal
Parker, April - clone of May Parker
Parker, Benjamin "Benjy" Richard Parker
Phillip, Charlie
Pirouette
Quickwire
Ragone, Theodore "Turtle"
Raptor/Brenda Drago

Reverb / Rudolf
Spyral
Thompson, Gene (son of Eugene "Flash" Thompson and Felicia Hardy)
Tyne, Reilly
Weadon, Arthur
Westin, Wes
Yama, Jimmy
Yi, Spike

Business and Other IP

Café Indigo
Deacon's Den
"EVERYBODY'S HAPPY" - program
Hotel Caprice
Humanity First
Kingsley International
Spider Shoppe
Spidera
St. Andrew's -women's shelter
Zebra Patrol

SCHEDULE 7A

Frozen Characters

Hero or Villain

Spider-Man appearing as a member of the Fantastic Four (e.g., as a member of the Fantastic Five or Fatal Force)
Reilly Tyne as an alias for Darkdevil

Anthropomorphic Variations

Mary Porker

Schedule 8

Marvel Reserved Characters

Hero or Villain

Bluestreak (III) (first appearing in A-Next)
Coal Tiger/T'Chaka
Darkdevil
Dragonfist
Freebooter/Brandon Cross
Mad Dog Rassitano
Magneta
Stinger/Cassandra "Cassie" Lang
Stormtrooper/Eric Masterson
Thunderstrike/Kevin Masterson
Wild Thing

Teams, Groups, and Gangs

Sons of Serpent/Soldiers of the Serpent

There were many, many other characters that appear in the MC2 who I didn't included in the above list because I only transcribed characters who hadn't appeared anywhere prior to their MC2 appearances. So Phil Urich isn't listed above because he debuted beforehand, meanwhile Normie is listed only as a version of the Green Goblin. Make sense? Good. You'll have noticed a few odd spellings and the occasional character that might not be from the MC2, but I've listed some (such as 'Mary Porker') because I believe they may be typos, misreading or similar mistakes.

The most fascinating discovery was that a character named Reilly Tyne could be used by Sony, so long as he wasn't linked to Darkdevil, and Marvel Studios appears to be able to use the design and name of Darkdevil so long as his secret identity isn't Reilly Tyne. This is attributed to the Daredevil-related elements of the character's super hero identity. Being the son of Ben Reilly -a literal clone of Peter Parker- means he's a Spider-Man character while his super hero moniker, appearance and origin link him to Daredevil as well as Ghost Rider who's film rights were previously held by Sony.  In early versions, Sony Pictures recommended 'Darkdevil' be frozen, likely due to the aforementioned conflict of rights. The use of 'Reilly Tyne as an alias for Darkdevil' appears on the list of 'frozen' characters while 'Darkdevil' appears under 'Marvel Reserved Characters'. Poor Reilly, even in the real world he gets a raw deal, split between so many 'fathers'.

(This might also explain why The Buzz was licenced for the Spider-Man Unlimited mobile game but Darkdevil never appeared, despite actually having spider-powers and being directly related. Not strictly relevant, but I did often wonder!)

It's also worth noting that in earlier versions mentioned above, Meagyn Brady, Magneta and Dragonfist were among the list of characters Sony Pictures wished to have included in their licence agreement, in addition to requesting the spelling of 'Mona Carlo' be corrected. Sony Pictures also felt 'Bluestreak' had 'clear associations with Spider-Man and/or a subsidiary character' enough to request a rationale for exclusion. Regardless, other than Meagyn, all these characters appear on the Schedule 8 list for 'Marvel Reserved Characters'.

It's simple enough to see how and why Stinger, Thunderstrike, Coal Tiger and even Magneta and Dragonfist and other aren't considered a part of the film right for Spider-Man, and are listed as 'Marvel Reserved Characters'. With characters like Hope Van Dyne in the MC2 based on Hope Pym, it's safe to assume the MC2 characters are on the radar for Marvel Studios to mine for future films. My money is on Stinger being the next MC2 character!

I do wonder where a character like Bluestreak falls in the eyes of a legal team. Blue is a former member of the mutant team X-People who first appeared in the Avengers related title A-Next, which is mostly associated with the MC2, primarily known for Spider-Girl, a Spider-Man character. Presumably she counts as either an X-Men character or an Avengers character or both like her predecessor in speed, Quicksilver. This stuff is messy!

The introduction of Spider-Man into Marvel Studios' MCU while Sony Pictures retains several related characters such as Venom for their own 'Sony Marvel Universe' further splits up the available characters within the MC2. For example, would a symbiote character like April Parker aka Mayhem be retained by Sony for their Venom film series or would her clone nature mean she is loaned to MCU?

It would seem that Mayday and her family are all free and clear to appear in a future production (such as a Into The Spider-Verse related movie, for example) but only some of her rogues gallery, supporting cast and fellow heroes are free and clear to make appearances alongside her. Personally, I'd settle for a great Spider-Girl appearance in a future animated film from Sony if it was as well produced as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
I could cover this a bit more in future, if there's any interest. Let me know!

Until I stop being far too excited by legal documents, I remain

frogoat

History of the MC2: Heroes Reborn/Heroes Return

Usually I use the History of the MC2 to chronicle the past events of specific individuals and teams. This time, I'll be making a far more vague entry just to outline a few things I've been considering for some time.

Onslaught was a massive crossover event published in 1996 that saw the Avengers, Fantastic Four and even Doctor Doom apparently perish saving the world from the psychic entity known as Onslaught. It's revealed that Franklin Richards used his amazing abilities to create a pocket dimension to save his parents and all the other heroes. The reborn heroes would awaken in this pocket dimension to live out new lives, unaware of their pasts. This event was called Heroes Reborn.


In this new world, the Fantastic Four and Avengers came about under different circumstances, there doesn't appear to be any mutants, there's apparently two Thor's (one created by Franklin and the real Odinson) and iconic events play out differently. These were all published as the second volume of each of the titles; Fantastic Four Vol. 2 #1-12, Avengers Vol. 2 #1-12, Iron Man Vol. 2 #1-12 and Captain America Vol. 2 #1-12. Long story short, the heroes were all eventually returned to the Main Marvel Universe and things went back to some semblance of normality with Heroes Return. The Fantastic Four and Avengers reformed in their respective third volumes and that's where I want to point out a few things relating to the MC2.

Despite the common belief that the MC2 uniformly branches off from the Main Marvel Universe around the time the Spider-Man titles published the Gathering of Five storyline in 1998, the truth is far more complex and far less clear. For example, I've mentioned the Pym Twins once or twice but you'll notice I left out any mention of their birth in the History of the MC2: The Avengers because- given there is supposedly only a 15 year gap between the Main Marvel Universe and the MC2- they shouldn't be adults. Yet, they appear to be full grown adults in A-Next and subsequent appearances.


So, what's my point? Unlike comics published in the 1960's, 70's and 80's, the 90's aren't as clear cut. The heroes of MC2's history is almost entirely identical to that of their Main Marvel Universe counterparts when it comes to comics published from the 60's to the 80's but the 90's are where we start to see changes. So the MC2's Janet and Hank Pym must have conceived Hope and Henry Pym Jr while their Main Marvel Universe counterparts were experiencing the events published during the early 90's. Hopefully that didn't just confuse everyone. Additionally, despite these changes, events must have continued to unfold for MC2 Janet and Hank (and indeed the whole Avengers team) in very much the same way as they did in the Main Marvel Universe. In fact, the same could also be said assumed for the Fantastic Four of the MC2 as well. Why?

This seemingly throwaway line from Franklin Richards during a flashback in Fantastic Five (Vol. 1) #4 goes a long way toward confirming that the events of Onslaught, Heroes Reborn and Heroes Return occurred in the MC2 in some way, shape or form. Ergo, we can deduce that most of the events leading up to that point in the MC2 unfolded parallel to the Fantastic Four of the Main Marvel Universe. We can stretch this to other similar references in A-Next #7, which shows flashbacks to the original Avengers final mission in the MC2. As the team's roster and costumes are very similar to those of the Main Marvel Universe Avengers post-Heroes Return, we can reasonably assume both share similar histories up to that point, with events unfolding vastly differently afterwards.


Much as I'd like to continue pulling at this thread of thought, I think it best to leave things there for now. Needless to say, if you take away anything from this, it's that the 90's (and the very early 2000's) are up in the air and not as set in stone as the rest of the MC2 characters shared history with the Main Marvel Universe. Therein lies the fun of speculating.

Until I find another reason to ramble on about what I'm sure no one else cares about, I remain

frogoat

Why Can't Hope Pym Shrink?

While doing research for my post about the Pym Family Tree in the MC2, I noticed that various sources claimed Hope Pym aka The Red Queen appears to lack the ability to alter her size. At first, I doubted this claim because no references were cited, so I did my own investigation of all of Hope's appearances from A-Next #7 all the way through to her most recent appearances in Spider-Island. Here's a selection:

This is the first time we see Hope with wings but judging by the dialogue, it appears she doesn't possess the ability to shrink down in size like Stinger. In fact, the mention of size changing actually seems to anger her further with her saying 'Stop shrinking on me! That power is rightfully mine--' when Stinger questions why Hope isn't changing size (A-Next #12).

There are a few examples in the Last Planet Standing mini-series where we see Hope at full size in flight or simply using her wrist mounted blasters, but no instances of her shrinking or even growing in size. It's also worth noting Hope is sometimes depicted in flight without her wings.

Another example of (potential) wingless flight from American Dream #3.

And here we have more examples of winged flight with no apparent change in size from Hope. Except for the last page-I just really love the art! (American Dream #5) And last but not least we have Hope's appearances in the Spider-Island mini-series....

...Where I don't think Hope actually does anything super human at all. So, I think it's fair to say Hope lacks the ability to change size in any manner. So what's the deal? Obviously if there was a definitive answer on the page, there wouldn't be a need for all this, but I do have a possible theory.

In A-Next #12 and various other appearances we clearly see Hope's twin brother Henry Pym Jr aka Big Man demonstrating his super human ability to increase in size. Henry even mentions he usually grows to twelve feet in height but can grow significantly larger, similar to his father Hank Pym aka Giant-Man's own abilities. I propose that despite Hope and Henry being twins, only Henry was born with super human abilities from his parents frequent exposure to Pym Particles.

Hope may have developed an inferiority complex growing up in a super powered family. Perhaps Hope's lack of super human powers, coupled with the death of her parents led to her disproportional hatred for the Avengers and her desire to humiliate and kill the next generation of the team.  Hope notably focuses much of her rage on Cassie Lang aka Stinger and  clearly despises the hero's own ability to change size. Presumably this is because Cassie and her father Scott Lang utilize Pym Particles to change their size while Hope either doesn't have access to or does not understand her father's method or formula.

Given the fact that in her civilian identity she oversaw the project that granted Ion Man his abilities and that as Red Queen she maintains a rather sophisticated looking headquarters or laboratory, we can deduce that Hope has both money and intellect. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that what Hope lacked in super powers, she compensated for with high tech gadgets, such as her wrist mounted blasters and artificial wings. Given that we've seen Hope fly both with and without the wings, it's possible they are merely an affectation to honour her mother, and that the ability to fly is achieved through other methods.  

Of course, I could be completely wrong. Let me know what you think! Who knows, maybe one day this will be cleared up and I can move on....

Until I stop dwelling on obscure plot points in 20 year old comics at 3am, I remain

frogoat

   

The Pym Family Tree

Obviously, after having recently watched the Ant-Man and The Wasp movie, I've been doing a little digging into the history of both Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne so that I can present a (hopefully) complete and accurate Pym Family Tree for the MC2 Universe.

Dr Henry 'Hank' Pym first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27, becoming Ant-Man for the first time in Tales to Astonish #35. Over time, Hank's mental health and stability would fluctuate dramatically, causing several issues with his self-esteem, personal life and heroic identity. Through the years Hank would adopt various monikers: Giant-Man (Tales to Astonish #49), Goliath (Avengers #28), Yellowjacket (Avengers #59) and simply Dr Pym. Despite his many successes, Hank is usually only remembered for two things: the creation of Ultron (Avengers #54)and a scene of domestic abuse during a mental breakdown (Avengers #213) which has followed the character to this day. After hitting rock bottom, Hank attempted suicide but was talked out of it by fellow Avenger Firebird (West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #17). In the MC2, Hank is among the Avengers who perished while on the team's final mission (A-Next #7).

Janet Van Dyne became The Wasp when her father, a scientist named Dr Vernon Van Dyne, opened a portal to an extradimensional prison and was murdered by one of it's escaping inhabitants. To avenger her father, Janet sought assistance from Hank Pym, who granted her the ability to shrink in size, shoot bio-electric blasts and fly by means of insect-like wings implanted in her back (Tales to Astonish #44). Janet and Hank worked as crime-fighting partners for sometime before becoming founding members of the Avengers (Avengers #1) and after dating form sometime, were eventually married after Janet agreed to Hank's proposed while he was suffering a schizophrenic episode
(Avengers #60). The two would later divorce in Avengers #213 following the aforementioned spousal abuse. Janet would go on to successfully serve as Chairperson and leader of the Avengers and later joined the West Coast Avengers roster at which time she and Hank resumed a romantic relationship (West Coast Avengers vol.2 #42). In the MC2, Janet was among the few Avengers to returned from the team's final mission but was heart-broken and was later said to have died of a 'broken heart'.

While in university Hank met and fell in love with Maria Trovaya; a Hungarian woman who had immigrated to the United States with her father, Janos. The couple were soon married and Maria convinced Hank to take her back to Hungary for their honeymoon. Sadly, Maria was captured and  killed by some of Janos' political opponents. Hank later learned that Janos Trovaya was also killed in an a suspicious explosion while working in his lab in the United States around the same time. It was at this time that Hank suffered his first mental breakdown, ending up arrested and jailed during his unsuccessful attempts to find his wife. The US embassy negotiated his release and he returned to America as a widow. Upon meeting Janet Van Dyne for the first time, Hank notes she bares a strong resemblance to his deceased wife. (Tales to Astonish #44, Avengers #227).

In the MC2, we learn that Hank and Janet had two children: twins Hope and Henry Pym Jr. As a result of their parents deaths, the two are left orphaned (A-Next #7, A-Next #12). Hope makes her first cameo appearance as a pair of silhouetted legs in A-Next #7 and makes her first full appearance in A-Next #10 where she learns the new team of Avengers have re-activated the portal that led to her parents demise. Hope and Henry Jr under the guise of the Red Queen and Big Man respectively, formed and led the Revengers in an invasion of the Avengers Compound, using their parents old security codes to gain access.  After taking Edwin Jarvis, Tony Stark and Clint Barton hostage, the Revengers launched a surprise attack on the exhausted Avengers team upon their return from the parallel Earth.

Henry began to have major doubts when he witnessed Hope torturing Stinger (Cassie Lang, daughter of the second Ant-Man) and threatening to kill the entire team. While Henry only intended to prove the new Avengers weren't worthy of the title, it became clear Hope had far deadlier plans. Hope blamed the Avengers for the death of her parents, and believed Stinger in particular had tarnished their legacy. Hope was defeated by her own brother Henry, who turned himself over to the Avengers for his crimes (A-Next #12).

Henry Jr was next seen among a gathering of heroes who met to defeat the god Seth (Spider-Girl #58) before joining a government sanctioned team for reformed super villains led by Arthur Weadon to combat threats (Spider-Girl #62, #64-66, #73, #77-78, #93, #95-96 ). As of Amazing Spider-Girl #9, it appears Henry has 'graduated' the program and paid in full for his crimes. Depending on whether you want to count MC2 stories post-Spider-Verse, Big Man also appears in the Spider-Girl story published in Spider-Island #1-5.


Hope next appears in the Last Planet Standing mini series, leading a new incarnation of the Revengers against the Avengers, launching attacks on them despite the ongoing threat to the entire planet posed by Galactus and even resorting to looting during the chaos. The Red Queen returns to menace American Dream, this time only accompanied by Ion Man. The duo monitor American Dream's exploits and team up with the villainous Silikong to defeat the hero but were themselves defeated by American Dream and the Avengers. Depending on whether you want to count MC2 stories post-Spider-Verse, The Red Queen also appears in the Spider-Girl story published in Spider-Island #1-5.

The Pym Twins (that's so much fun to say) appear to be legally adults. For example, Hope's initial appearances suggest she is in charge of the company (Pym Laboratories, perhaps?)  that granted Ion Man his powers and Henry working for Weadon's government sanctioned team. If the twins are, in fact, adults then we must shift the point at which the MC2 diverged from the Main Marvel Universe back even further from the usually cited 15 years. This will be something I'll attempt to address in a later discussion.

Finally, some random bits and pieces I should mention lest I be accused of a mistake: Ultron and his entire kin will be covered in another Family Tree. A reference to Dr Pym's mother being killed is made in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 13, though I can't find any specific issue for this mention and it's not present in earlier entries to my knowledge; as such I have left it out. Apart from those seen above in the Pym Family Tree- stories published after the (likely) divergent point for the Avengers of the MC2- have mentioned or depicted other relatives. As these are most likely not relevant to the characters MC2, I will simply list them here for the sake of completeness:

• Hank references an Aunt Sally and Uncle Harry in Ant-Man's Big Christmas #1
• Janet also refers to an Uncle Bertram, an Aunt Ruth and a cousin named Sally in Ant-Man's Big Christmas #1
• Amelia Van Dyne and Blaine Van Dyne are potential relatives mentioned in the special 1939 Daily Bugle #1 special, though may have been mentioned earlier. Let me know.
• Hank mentions that Janet's Mother was left in a vegetative state following a car accident and eventually died (Avengers Academy #7)
• We learn that Hank's paternal grandmother (Angela Pym) encouraged him to pursue wild and creative inventions before her death, that his father and mother (Brad Pym and Doris Pym) tried to push him into more mundane fields such as engineering and medicine (Age of Ultron #10A.I.) 
• Nadia Van Dyne/Pym is the daughter of  Hank Pym and Maria Strovaya, introduced as the Main Marvel Universe's answer to Hope Pym from the MC2 after the release of the first Ant-Man movie (Free Comic Book Day 2016 Civil War II)

Well, I think that's just about it for now! I've attempted to cover everything in brief, but if you feel I've missed a Pym or Van Dyne somewhere along the line, please let me know.

Until I figure out the secret to Pym Particles, I remain

frogoat

History of the MC2: The Avengers

I was inspired recently to make a timeline of events covering the history of the MC2, spanning the nebulous 15 year stretch of time after the Main Marvel Universe (or Universe-616) split off and became the MC2 (or Universe-982) and before the next-generation of heroes began to emerge in J2 #1, A-Next #1 and What If #105.

Given that Avengers: Infinity War is tearing up box offices worldwide, I figured a good place to start would be with the MC2's original Avengers team. The final days of the original Avengers is a major mystery within the pages of the A-Next series. The storyline culminates in the next-generation Avengers team learning the fate of the original team and deciding to put an end to the threat that disbanded them over a decade prior.

While we don't know the exact point at which the history of the Main Marvel Universe Avengers stops being the same as that of the MC2 Avengers, we do know a few things about the teams past history. At an unknown point in the team's past, an Avengers team which included Captain America, Iron Man and Thor fought Ultron Extreme, a new model of the team's old foe. Iron Man eventually managed to erase Ultron's programming and the villain's indestructible body was sealed away for over a decade (Avengers Next #3).


The Avengers became aware of an alternate reality in which Victor Von Doom wielded a Universal Cube which would allow him to travel to other universes via portals to conquer them. With all of reality at risk, the Avengers held an emergency meeting. Many attended this urgent summons including (but not limited to) Captain America, Firebird, Firestar, Giant-Man, Hawkeye, Hercules, Iron Man, Justice, Living Lightning, Scarlet Witch, Tigra, Vision and the Wasp (A-Next #7).

With a team assembled, the Avengers headed into the breach between worlds on what would become their final mission. We learn through Jarvis that this was around a year and a half prior to the Avengers officially disbanding. Sadly, many of the heroes did not return, with only Hawkeye, Hercules, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch,Vision and the Wasp re-emerging from the portal (A-Next #7). Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Captain America had not died, instead choosing to stay behind and continue the fight (A-Next #10).

In the wake of the tragedy, Hawkeye was left blind (A-Next #10); Hercules went mad with grief and was held in facility in Mount Athena (A-Next #6); the Vision left to work in the White House and the Wasp died, leaving her twin children (Henry Pym Jr and Hope Pym) orphaned.

After mourning their fallen comrades, Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch worked tirelessly for months to seal the portal permanently against future attacks. Unfortunately, to achieve this the Scarlet Witch was sealed within a stasis pod, holding the aperture shut. Tony Stark retired as Iron Man, but continued to work to help the world (A-Next #7).

Around this time -though it's unclear whether it was before or after the team's final mission- Tony Stark developed Mainframe, a sophisticated robotic armour with Tony's own brain patterns, designed to ensure there would always be someone to answer the call to assemble (A-Next #7, Spider-Girl #95).

Designing and building a Nanite Agenda in an attempt to aid the Scarlet Witch, Tony discovered too late that his friend James Rhodes aka War Machine had tested it on himself to protect Tony. The Agenda proved harmful, caused a slow erosion of Rhodes' humanity, making him less and less human over time whilst also gifting him increasing superhuman abilities (Spider-Girl #95).

In the interim, a new group of heroes banded together to fill the role of the Avengers. Their roster included Nova, Jubilee, Speedball, Jolt and the Steel Spider. Over time, for various reasons, fewer members answered the call and eventually the team fell apart and the Avengers were officially disbanded (A-Next #7, Spider-Girl #32).

Fortunately, the day would come when a new team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes would answer the call and a whole new generation of Avengers would assemble....


Based on various comments throughout the series, the Avengers officially disbanded some 10 years prior to the events of A-Next #1 which, coupled with Jarvis stating the original Avengers final mission took place approximately a year and a half prior to this, we can form a rough timeline:

·  The Avengers fight Ultron Extreme, eventually erasing his program and sealing his indestructible body away

·  Tony Stark begins work on his Mainframe project to ensure there will always be Avengers

·  The Avengers become aware of the Universal Cube's threat and head to the alternate earth

·  Of all the Avengers who left for the mission, only six return. Captain America staying behind to help on the alternate earth

·  Iron Man and Scarlet Witch work to seal the portal between worlds

·  A new team of Avengers forms but struggles to stay together

·  Scarlet Witch is encased in a stasis pod, holding the portal shut

·  Tony Stark retires as Iron Man and finishes work on Mainframe

·  Tony Stark develops a Nanite Agenda, which James Rhodes tests on himself, gaining powers but slowly losing his humanity in the process

·  The interim Avengers team falls apart and the Avengers are officially disbanded

*At some point -either before or after the original team's final mission- Luke Cage served as a member (Avengers Next #1). Considering he's mentioned as being alive, we can assume he was not involved with the original team's final mission, but this fact does not preclude prior Avengers membership. It's equally possible Cage was a member of the interim Avengers team, as there is no evidence either way.*

Hopefully this helps shed some light on the final days of the original Avengers in the MC2. If I've missed anything or something isn't clear enough, please let me know.


Until I run out of Avengers to Assemble I remain,


frogoat