Galactus in the MC2

 

Eons ago, we were all hotly anticipating the release of Marvel Studios Fantastic Four: First Steps. Mere millennia ago, the movie debuted on Disney+ and now, just centuries late, I would like to finally deliver this post about everyone’s favourite planet-devouring, eternally hungry space giant. This is Galactus in the MC2.

 

The prerequisite backstory: Galactus made his debut in Fantastic Four #48 after being preceded by his herald Silver Surfer, a figure of fear among the shape-shifting Skrulls which causes even Uatu the Watcher to break his vow of non-interference by attempting to hide the entirety of planet Earth from Galactus and warning the Fantastic Four of the space titan’s threat. Fantastic Four #48-#50 form a trilogy of issues known colloquially as ‘The Galactus Trilogy’.

 

Galactus’ origin would be first detailed in the pages of Thor #168 and #169. This story would be largely reprinted in Super-Villain Classics #1, reworked and combined with material from other prior appearances, albeit with altered and additional panels which changed the original context to harmonise and update elements of the story. This version of the tale is the one consistently referenced in future retellings, establishing Galactus (formerly a scientist Galan) was a survivor from a universe before the current Marvel Universe came into existence before becoming a universal threat with insatiable hunger.

 

It's possible that Galactus’ last MC2niverse-relevant appearance in the Main Marvel Universe (prior to the two universes branching into divergent realities) is 1996’s Fantastic Four #414, wherein Galactus clashes with powerful foe Hyperstorm, leaving the two trapped in a dimensional void. Alternatively, Silver Surfer (vol.3) #144 which was published in 1998 depicts the space-god Galactus’ return from this void.

 

Now let’s look at the Galactus of Universe-982 aka the MC2. During the events of the Last Planet Standing mini-series, Galactus is poised to destroy the entire universe in an attempt to rid himself of his never-ending hunger, having stockpiled the energy from planets across various galaxies. 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 superhero 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).

 

Fortunately, the newly birthed gestalt being composed of Silver Surfer and Galactus harnesses The Power Essential to reassemble The Vision, resurrect others killed during the battle and repair the mass destruction before departing the Earth with a new mission of restoration (Last Planet Standing #5).

I think it is important to mention at this point that the concept of reforging Galactus into a kind of cosmic ‘life bringer’ first appeared in the Last Planet Standing series written by Tom Defalco, pre-dating by nearly a decade a similar storyline in the Main Marvel Universe in the pages of Ultimates (vol. 2) series by writer Al Ewing. Just another example of the MC2 being ahead of the Main Marvel Universe!

 

I’d love to read suggestions for new names for the new being birthed in Last Planet Standing #5, and here’s hoping we see the silver celestial sentinel again some day.

 

Until I satiate my own endless hunger, I remain

 

frogoat

  

 

 

 

 

Avengers Headquarters in the MC2

In my ongoing effort to delay returning to my Clones in the MC2 series, I am currently procrastinating by focusing my attention on the home of the MC2’s own Avengers team. I thought I might channel this hyper focused tangent into a little post looking at the history of the Avengers Headquarters with particular focus on Avengers Mansion.

What is later known as Avengers Mansion made it’s first appearance way back in 1963’s Avengers #2 where we see the interior, referred to simply as ‘the library of Anthony Stark’, with the exterior of Stark’s Mansion first glimpsed in Fantastic Four #26 when the Hulk emerges from the sewers nearby.

 

The Avengers’ stalwart butler Edwin Jarvis made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #59 before making his debut in the Avengers title itself with Avengers #16. The building is first identified as ‘Avengers Headquarters’ and ‘Avenger Mansion’ in Avengers #38 and aside from some pedantic variations (such as Avengers #51, Avengers #53, and Avengers #60) is referred to as the ‘Avengers Mansion’ from Avengers #61 onward. There is a two-page cutaway look at Avengers Mansion in Avengers Annual (vol. 1) #1 (or Avengers King-Size Special #1 if you prefer).

 The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol. 1) #1 features a fantastic profile detailing the history of the Mansion and includes a mention of several extensive remodels, including moving the Mansion 35 feet from the street. This is referenced in Avengers #230 where Hank Pym recalls Thor and Iron Man were responsible for the move. This write up also fleshes out details published previously, including that it was built in 1932 by Howard Stark (Avengers Annual #9) (though the sliding timeline may someday change this to an earlier Stark) in addition to confirming the address is ‘890 Fifth Avenue between 70^th and 71^st Streets in New York City’ which has remained almost entirely consistent since then with the exception of it being listed as ‘721 Fifth Avenue between 70^th and 71^st Streets’ in at least some reprints of this profile. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #1 has a few minor updates to details, and a new additional schematic of ‘Sub-Basement Level Two’. A correction for this profile notes the depth of lowest Sub-Basement was left blank and should read 110 feet.

 

During the iconic ‘Avengers Under Siege’ storyline, the Avengers Mansion is destroyed, leaving team demoralised and with no base of operations (Avengers #270-#277). After temporarily using an office suite in Four Freedoms Plaza the Avengers move their headquarters to the artificial floating island Hydrobase while plans for renovation of Avengers Mansion began (Avengers #278). The rebuilt Mansion itself would be moved to Hydrobase in Avengers #288 and the island was dubbed ‘Avengers Island’ in Avengers #301, though the whole island was soon after sunk during an assault orchestrated by Doctor Doom (Avengers #311).

 

Without a base of operations once again, the Avengers temporarily utilize the remaining Sub-Basements beneath the grounds of 890 Fifth Avenue, the location having been recently converted into ‘Avengers Park’ (Avengers #300, Avengers #312).

 

Eventually, construction would begin on a brand new ‘Avengers Headquarters’ with the help of architect Eric Masterson (Avengers #314 - #328, Avengers Annual #19, Thor #423, Thor #434). Construction on Avengers Headquarters was completed in Avengers #329 before an official opening was held in Avengers #332. This version of the Avengers Headquarters is wrecked by the Avengers team member and Eternal Sersi during in Avengers #373, when she was driven mad by the effects of ‘Mahd Wy’ry’ or ‘Eternal Madness’ and the manipulations of the evil alternate-reality version of Dane Whitman known as Proctor.

With the Avengers Headquarters ruined, the alternate reality Watcher known as Ute uses his dying moments to supposedly restore the Avengers Mansion in its place (Avengers #375). However, the team quickly noticed things were not as they seemed (Avengers #378) and soon Black Widow discovers something hidden behind a wall deep in the Sub-Basements, identified as a ‘chronal displacement field’ by Dr Henry Pym aka Giant-Man, which explodes when the Vision attempts to phase through the wall, revealing a strange door (Avengers #382). After further attempts to investigate this strange trans-temporal door (Avengers #385, Avengers: The Crossing), the Avengers make use of the strange door to time travel to the past and recruit the younger ‘Teen’ Tony Stark from Earth-96020, who was not yet corrupted by ‘Kang’ (in actuality a disguised Immortus) (Avengers: Timeslide). Following this time travel adventure, the mystery door disappears and is never satisfactorily elaborated upon (Iron Man #325).

Soon after this point, the events of Onslaught occur, and at its conclusion the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Bruce Banner and even Doctor Doom apparently perished saving the world from the psychic entity known as Onslaught, a massively powerful psionic manifestation of the combined consciousnesses of Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto (Onslaught: Marvel Universe One-Shot). Consequently, this replacement Avengers Mansion was the final headquarters prior to events branching into the MC2. Oh, and don’t worry! The Avengers are okay thanks to Franklin Richards using 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. Long story short, the heroes were all eventually returned to the Main Marvel Universe and things went back to some semblance of normality (Heroes Reborn: The Return #1 - #4). The Fantastic Four and Avengers reformed in their respective third volumes and that leads nicely into the MC2 portion of this post.

The MC2’s present day Headquarters first appeared in What If #105 when civilian Peter Parker visits hoping to recruit help. We get a much better look in the Avengers own MC2 series starting with A-Next #1. The Maria Stark Foundation runs tours with all gift kiosk proceeds going to charity. The property grounds still maintain a defensive grid with metallic restraining tentacles seen when Rock Trolls sent by Loki target Kevin Masterson. When Loki’s magical energy bolt is detected by monitors built into the Avengers Compound defences, they bring online a ‘long dormant program’. The program sends out an emergency call to assemble to over a dozen locations, but which is only received by two former Avengers; Jubilee and Jolt who would be joined by Stinger, Speedball and J2, while the program itself activates Mainframe.

 

It is worth noting it is referred to as ‘Avengers Mansion’ in What #105, though usually referred to as ‘Avengers Headquarters’ or ‘Avengers Compound’ (A-Next #1- #3). Characters such as Cassie Lang aka Stinger and even the narration calls the location ‘Mansion’ (A-Next #4, A-Next #8, Avengers Next #1) but it does not appear to be in common use by this point in time. I believe ‘Mansion’ is a colloquial and traditional term, while the building acts as the team’s ‘Headquarters’ and the grounds in their entirety are the ‘Compound.’ As Chief of Staff, Jarvis’ hires Scott Lang as a technical advisor responsible for upgrading and maintaining the team’s hardware (A-Next #3). The training room is located two floors below the ground level (A-Next #6) and the building has at least seven Sub-Basements (A-Next #6). The Avengers stylised ‘A’ logo is rendered on the roof (A-Next #7).

We know from Avengers Next #1 that there is a library, gym, and med lab as well as an armoury which is frequently updated by Tony Stark in areas restricted from the general public, in addition to many more areas. The Headquarters’ arsenal includes at least some of Tony Stark’s old Iron Man armours, the scythe once used by the villain Grim Reaper (Avengers Next #5). Some members of the Avengers take up residence within the Avengers Headquarters, such as Shannon Carter aka American Dream (American Dream #1)

 

This version of the Avengers Headquarters has strong visual similarities to the build designed by Eric Masterson, which raises some questions. Based on what we know of the shared history of the MC2 and Main Marvel Universe, the Avengers Headquarters designed by Masterson was destroyed and replace by a nearly exact duplicate from an alternate universe by Ute the Watcher. While this is most likely a case of artistic licence favouring Masterson’s design, I do have a theory to explain this. Given the interior of MC2 Avengers Headquarters retains many of the Mansion-style fittings and fixtures of old, it’s possible this is (at least in part) the ‘restored’ Mansion with various modifications and additions (such as a reinforced exterior modelled upon or inspired by Eric’s existing designs) made through the intervening years between what we know of the original Avengers team and the rise of the new Avengers in the present. This is partly supported by the mishmash of elements seen throughout, including the (at least) seven Sub-Basement levels.

 

Speaking of the Sub-Basements, there’s another (or possibly the same) mystery door behind which lies a cryogenic chamber containing the unconscious Wanda Maximoff aka The Scarlet Witch, who had been holding closed the mysterious portal to another universe following the original Avengers last mission which left many of them dead (A-Next #6- #9). I find the notion of their being a different doorway in the basement too similar to be merely a coincidence, though we never learn exactly where this interdimensional aperture originated, nor how the original Avengers first learned of the threat posed by the alternate reality on the other side. Just something to think about if you like to draw crazy patterns like I most certainly do.

 

That is about it for this post; the current Avengers Headquarters fortunately has not been destroyed in the MC2. Let us hope it stays that way.

 

Until I stop using these posts to dig deep into Marvel Lore, I remain

 

frogoat