Nick Fury in the MC2

So, my last post about Carol Danvers in the MC2 made me wish I had more to talk about. So today, I'm going to talk about Carol's co-star in the Captain Marvel movie, by discussing his counterpart on Earth-982: lets talk about Nick Fury in the MC2.

To begin with, Nick Fury does actually appear in the flesh in the MC2, but isn't mentioned by name for several years. Fury is first alluded to in A-Next #5 when, following the unconfirmed appearance of Doctor Doom in Latveria by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, the Fantastic Five are tasked with investigating. When Cassie Lang aka Stinger requests the Avengers conduct the investigation instead, Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch is initially reluctant, saying 'The Big Guy himself' had asked them.

A few issues later, while helping the hero Argo to find his father Hercules, the Avengers find themselves in the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility within Mount Athena. There they learn 'The Merchandise' (actually Hercules himself) is buried several miles within the mountain in a special Adamantium cell. Hercules identity as 'The Merchandise' is kept strictly need-to-know and none of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents at Mount Athena are privy to this information. However, Agent 33 receives orders from 'The Top Man himself' to allow the Avengers to take custody of 'The Merchandise.'

Unless I'm mistaken, we don't get any more mentions of Fury until Amazing Spider-Girl #9 when Maria Hill mentions her 'Superiors' tasking Special Agent Arthur Weadon with securely transporting 'Specimen 297' (actually a piece of the Carnage symbiote) through New York City. When the transport convoy is attacked by a faction of  S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents led by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and the Specimen accidentally let loose in the city by Spider-Girl, Carnage is reborn.

Nick Fury makes his first on-panel appearance - albeit shrouded in shadow-when he assures President G.W. Bridge the situation would be resolved despite the complications (Amazing Spider-Girl #10).

It's in Amazing Spider-Girl #12 that we finally see Nick Fury in full and learn the entire plot. As the United States was unwilling to destroy the Carnage symbiote despite the United Nations stance on the use of bio-weapons, G.W. Bridge and Nick Fury organised for the team of disguised S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to 'steal' the Specimen, setting up Weadon's team to fail.

 This was all to demonstrate the dangers to the congressional committee wishing to keep the symbiote for bio-weapon research under the guise of finding a cure for cancer. Despite the operation not going as planned, the situation was salvaged thanks to Spider-Girl's intervention, providing the President with a sound rationale to convince the congressional committee to destroy the remaining Specimen.

As you can see, Fury is still up to his classic spymaster shenanigans, though he appears to prefer to remain in the shadows (both literal and figurative) more than before.

Until I find a nice fitting eyepatch and retire to the darker corners of the MC2, I remain

frogoat

Carol Danvers in the MC2

So I was lucky enough to see the Captain Marvel movie last night and I had a great time. It got me thinking I should do a little post about Carol Danvers in the MC2. That's where my trouble began.

For those who don't know, Carol Danvers first appeared in the Main Marvel Universe in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 and eventually gained powers, becoming Ms. Marvel in Ms. Marvel #1. The MC2's Carol Danvers presumably shares the same published history as her Main Marvel Universe counterpart up to a point...more on that shortly.

The only time we see Carol Danvers in the MC2 is Spider-Girl #60 where she appears in her classic black Ms. Marvel costume on the cover amidst other superpowered women of Marvel (including the first female Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau- see here). However, Ms. Marvel only appears alongside various other previous superheroines in the thoughts of May 'Mayday' Parker as she compares herself to her predecessors. The real world reasons for these cameos was to acknowledge prior female heroes as the Spider-Girl title reaching it's 60th continuous issue, something only one other solo female superheroine title at Marvel had achieved, that being Sensational She-Hulk. The Spider-Girl title would go on to surpass this, reaching issue 100-a feat still unbeaten today.

Jumping into the world of speculation now, let's look at what we can guess at from other established facts. During her career as a superhero, Carol was known first as Ms. Marvel, then Binary during her time in space with the Starjammers team and -most relevantly- as Warbird following her return to the Avengers (Avengers vol. 3 #4). As this Avengers run was running concurrently with the first MC2 titles published in 1998 and 1999, some elements carried over into the flashbacks seen during A-Next #7, such as the costumes and team roster. Despite this, Carol does not appear. What this means is anyone's guess.

It's possible that if Ms. Danvers never rejoined the Avengers, she may not have taken on the moniker of Warbird, leaving it up in the air as to whether she stuck with Binary, went with Warbird or reverted to her Ms. Marvel identity or perhaps adopted the Captain Marvel title of her predecessor as in the Main Marvel Universe. Then again, as noted in my History of the MC2: Heroes Reborn/Heroes Return post, anything beyond Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 is completely up in the air!

Perhaps Carol is alive and well, albeit retired or elsewhere as she remains unseen. Alternately, given the large number of casualties during the Avengers final mission, it's also entirely possible that Danvers perished alongside so many of her teammates. Personally, I'm hoping for the former! Someone should ask Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman, as the two used to be friends...


Until I recover all my missing memories and piece together my damaged psyche, I remain

frogoat

Skrulls in the MC2

What a coincidence, I'm writing a post about Skrulls in the MC2 shortly before the release of the Captain Marvel movie which features Skrull prominently! In all seriousness, this post and a few others have been in the works for a while now. Without further ado, let's get started.

While the shape-shifting Skrulls have been menacing the Earth since they first appeared way back in Fantastic Four #2, the first time we see a Skrull in the MC2 is...the first appearance of the MC2 in What If #105. It's here we get a glimpse of the Fantastic Five, who's members include the Skrull Lyja Storm aka Ms. Fantastic.

We learn in Spider-Girl #3 that Lyja is married to Johnny Storm and in Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #2 we are first introduced to the couple's son, Torus Storm, a Human/Skrull hybrid. Torus possesses both his mother's Skrullian ability to shape-shift and his father's pyrogenic powers. Despite his (very) young age, Torus often attempts to aid his family in battle by altering his form into that of a muscular adult male while utilizing his flame-blasts.

Both Torus and his mother Lyja require far more attention than this write-up on the Skrulls as a whole can do justice, so look forward to me giving the them more focus in another post in the future. Needless to say, they are Skrulls and it would have been remiss of me to leave them out of this post.

We don't encounter any other members of the Skrull race until Apox the Omega Skrull is introduced in Spider-Girl #46. Apox a Skrull servant who was turned into a cyborg with the ability to access the Power Cosmic via a power nodule on his back. Apox killed the Skrull Genetech's who granted him this ability when they refused to worship him as a god. Making his way to Earth under the cover of a meteor swarm, making it past the Orbital Defense Grid and destroying the top of the Fantastic Five Headquarters on his mission to destroy the former Fantastic Four. When Spider-Girl removed the power nodule regulating Apox's Power Cosmic, the Omega Skrull nearly exploded due to the overload. Apox was defeated when the nodule was restored after Big Brain (Reed Richards) had made modifications to it (Spider-Girl #47).

Imprisoned within S.H.I.E.L.D.'s  secret Mount Athena maximum security prison, Apox is freed by a beam of 'coherent energy' sent by the Skrull High Command which restores him to power and eliminates the need for a command nodule. After leaving a trail of defeated heroes in his wake, Apox attacks the F5 Headquarters only to be delayed by the team's children and Spider-Girl (Spider-Girl #86-87). Meanwhile, a Skrull Worldship traps the F5 Headquarters within an 'extermi-field' which draws energy from the sun to create a bomb large enough to destroy the Island of Manhattan. It transpires Apox is merely a pawn for the Skrulls to exact their revenge on Earth, as they do not care if he succeeds or fails or even lives or dies (Spider-Girl #87).

Making his way into the Negative Zone via the Fantastic Five's portal, Apox heads to the Fantastistation to take out the original Fantastic Four, only to be defeated by the team when Reed Richards uses the Omega Skrull's Power Cosmic to seal the rift in reality and restore Susan Richards (Spider-Girl #87-88). Spider-Girl makes her way back out of the Negative Zone to deliver Reed Richard's solution to the solar bomb-reversing the polarity and sending the energy back to the Skrull Worldship. With the Skrull Worldship disabled and the mission a failure, the Skrulls chose imprisonment on Earth alongside Apox rather than face the Skrull High Command (Spider-Girl #86).

Finally, the Shaper of Worlds, the sentient Skrull-made original Cosmic Cube makes appearances in Last Planet Standing #2 and #3 alongside other Great Powers of the Universe who gather to discuss the threat to reality Galactus' final plan poses. 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.

As mentioned in my previous post the Orbital Defense Grid was commissioned following the events of the mysterious 'Skrull Incident' (A-Next #2) which was some years prior. This alongside Apox the Omega Skrull's out of date references to heroes such as Thor, Captain America and Iron Man strongly suggests the Skrull Empire has not had contact with Earth since - a fact the marvunapp entry for Apox pointed out (Spider-Girl #47). It's also worth pointing out that apart from Apox, no one from the Skrull Empire approached Earth directly, as evident from the Skrull Worldship's position far away from the planet at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy (Spider-Girl #87-88). It's also suggested that Apox may have attacked the Fantastic Five against orders as a result of his delusion of godhood. While we don't know much about the state of the Skrull Empire, we do know that it is currently led by an Emperor (Spider-Girl #88) who presumably presides over the Skrull High Command (Spider-Girl #86-88) in a regime that Lyja refers to as 'virtual slavery' (Spider-Girl #88).

And that's it, that's all I have to share about the Skrulls in the MC2. Clearly, there is an untold story in the history of the MC2 involving the 'Skrull Incident' and I believe it played a part in keeping the Skrull race from openly attacking Earth. Perhaps one day I'll expand on it in it's own post?

Until I can uncover Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz's unpublished scripts and plot ideas, I remain

frogoat

The Orbital Defense Grid

This is something somewhat different today, because unlike many of my recent posts which usually tie-in or are in someway tangentially related to upcoming and current movies and films or comic events....this one doesn't have much to do with anything outside the MC2. Unless I'm mistaken (and feel free to correct me) this is a wholly original MC2 concept: The Orbital Defense Grid.

 A collection of satellites positioned in orbit around the planet Earth, the Orbital Defense Grid comes equipped with long-range sensory instrumentation and offensive weaponry capabilities allowing it to detect and destroy incoming space debris, extraterrestrial spacecraft and various other threats to the planet from outer space (A-Next #2, Spider-Girl #34, #46, #86).

We learn a little history behind the Orbital Defense Grid in A-Next #2 when Mainframe off-handedly mentions the Orbital Defense Grid was erected years prior when the government was convinced by the events of the mysterious 'Skrull Incident'. We also learn in Last Planet Standing #2 that Reed Richards helped design the Orbital Defense Grid.

It's worth mentioning that on occasion the Orbital Defense Grid seems to be referred to using different names  and there is also one instance where the speaker may, in fact be referring to an entirely different satellite. The only potential reference to appear in either Fantastic Five series comes from Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #1 when Johnny Storm mentions having downloaded images from the team's 'new Safeguard Satellite'. However, aside from this one example, I believe all other mentions to defensive satellites protecting the Earth are referring to the Orbital Defense Grid.

With all of that out of the way, let's take a look at the various appearances and mentions of the Orbital Defense Grid throughout the MC2. The Orbital Defense Grid first appears to in A-Next #2 when it detects the approach of a Kree spacecraft and fires upon it, resulting in the craft splitting into two before crashing into the Washington National Park.

Following the return of hero spider-powers, May 'Mayday' Parker and her father visit the Fantastic Five for a full check-up. The check-up is interrupted when Lyja spots an alien vessel on long-range space scanners. Lyja calculates the unidentified alien spacecraft will be within range of the planet's Orbital Defense Grid. The team sets out to determine the alien's intentions and potentially avoid a misunderstanding (Spider-Girl #34).

The Fantastic Five are again involved when the Orbital Defense Grid destroys the meteor swarm concealing Apox the Omega Skrull on his approach to Earth. However, the Grid isn't powerful enough to prevent the Skrull from reaching the Fantastic Five Headquarters on his mission to destroy the team (Spider-Girl #46).

The Orbital Defense Grid detected the Skrull High Command's coherent energy beam as it passed on it's way to restore the Power Cosmic to Apox the Omega Skrull so that he could play a part in their revenge plans against the Fantastic Five (Spider-Girl #86).

In Last Planet Standing #2 we not only learn that Reed Richards helped design the Orbital Defense Grid but we also see it's destruction when the latest Herald of Galactus Dominas the Wavemaster uses his phenomenal power upon his approach to Earth.

The destruction of the Orbital Defense Grid is referenced in Avengers Next #1 by American Dream when she mentions Mainframe being called to Washington to consult on a 'new Space Defense Program'. The situation is also referenced by Nova and Earth Sentry when they recall their near deaths during the events of Last Planet Standing (Avengers Next #2). Notably, on both occasions Nova doesn't use the term 'Orbital Defense Grid', instead calling it 'Earth's Satellite Defense Program' in Last Planet Standing #2 and 'Space Defense Perimeter' in Avengers Next #2. Perhaps these are colloquialisms, as we see the likes of the more formal and intelligent Reed Richards, Mainframe and Vision use the term 'Orbital Defense Grid'.

This is the last time the Earth's Orbital Defense Grid is mentioned or seen in the MC2. It's unclear whether Mainframe's meeting in Washington yielded productive plans for a new and improved Orbital Defense Grid and related program. In the meantime, the MC2's Earth remains just a little more vulnerable.

I like the idea of an Earth that's frequently combated alien incursions and invasions developing a defense, particularly because it shows the veteran heroes are competent and didn't leave the world defenseless in their absence. It's a nice plot device.

Until I figure out a way to expand the 'Skrull Incident' into a full post, I remain

frogoat

Luke Cage in the MC2 *Update*

So, sometimes I get things wrong. When I first wrote about Luke Cage in the MC2 I said we only got one mention of the real (meaning not a magical zombie duplicate) Hero for Hire, and it was Avengers Next #1. I pointed out that the same issue made it canonical that Luke Cage was a former member of the Avengers, despite the MC2's history branching off from the Main Marvel Universe before he joined Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Well, as I said, I make mistakes at times. I was re-reading the Roger Stern penned Captain America Corps mini series recently and I discovered a detail I'd never noticed before. Throughout the series we see instances of American Dream using her extensive knowledge of Avengers history, such as recognizing Tath Ki aka The Contemplator from the Avengers Database and recalling critical points in the team's history. But the most intriguing piece of information Shannon Carter demonstrates is from this page in Captain America Corps #2, when the team find themselves on an altered reality surrounded by various imprisoned super-powered heroes and villains:

'Sam Wilson...The Falcon? And Luke Cage? Peter Parker. So very young...In my world's past, these men were heroes--Avengers.'

 
So, I think that further supports the idea of Luke Cage being a former member of the Avengers prior to the team re-forming in A-Next #1. The fact that American Dream recognizes Peter Parker as a hero and Avenger also raises other questions...but those are for another time!

Until I stop finding more threads to pull at, I remain

frogoat