Star Wars in the MC2

 

This might be a little late (it’s already the 5^th of May here) but I did want to put out something to celebrate Star Wars Day while, as always, trying to tie it back to the MC2. So here is a smattering of references to Star Wars in the MC2.

 

First for today, and probably the most well-known and oft-cited reference to Star Wars in the MC2 comes in the pages of J2 #12 where Doc Magus mentions he has tickets to ‘the new Star Wars movie.’ Given the issue was released in July 1999, it’s presumed this is a reference to Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace which was released mere months before. However, if we apply the Marvel sliding timescale rule, this could refer to a more recent film, perhaps even an upcoming future film.

 

Next up, on the cover for Spider-Girl #33 which features our heroine May  ‘Mayday’ Parker in a battle with the mysterious new Spider-Man accompanied by hyperbolic cover copy ‘Spider-Girl VS. Spider-Man!?! (That’s not true, that’s impossible!)’ This is an obvious reference to the iconic scene in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back where Darth Vader reveals himself as Luke Skywalker’s father, with Luke responding ‘No. No. That’s not true. That’s impossible!’

 

The last few for today are sneaky ones slipped into the background of Spider-Girl #92 while the Avengers are being briefed about the apparent return of Magneto. I’ll present the original pages first and you can try and spot the references.

 

Here, I’ve adjusted the colour saturation to help. While I was not able to identify all of the shots hidden in on the viewscreens, the image seen center-left is taken from Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones depicting the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett’s patrol and attack craft called the ‘Slave I’ on the planet Kamino.

 

Next to it we have another image lifted directly from Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones this time depicting a shot of the Senate Apartment Complex on the planet Coruscant.

 

If anyone wants to try and work out where the rest of the images are lifted from, please let me know!  Other than those mentioned above, it should go without saying that the brilliant Ron Frenz worked on the Marvel Star Wars comics during their original run. I’m sure there are more references to Star Wars in the MC2, but I’ll save them for a future date.

 

Until I work out the how in ‘somehow Palpatine returned’, I remain

 

frogoat

History of the MC2: Operation Zero Tolerance

 

Continuing with our run of X-Men ’97 tie-in content, today I’d like to turn your attention to the 1997 X-Men comic crossover event storyline Operation: Zero Tolerance and examine its effect and connections to the MC2 Universe. This entry is called History of the MC2: Operation Zero Tolerance.

 

At the conclusion of the massive 1996 Marvel crossover event Onslaught, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Dr. 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). In the fallout of this seismic event, Xavier voluntarily surrendered himself (X-Men (Vol. 2) #57) and was placed in a secret facility run by the mysterious Bastion (Onslaught: Epilogue).

 

Having allied himself with various well-placed government figures and anti-mutant groups, Bastion had quickly position himself into a place of power. To cover-up mutant-hating presidential candidate Graydon Greed’s history from the public, Bastion killed Daily Bugle reporter Nick Bandouveris (Uncanny X-Men #339).Shortly afterwards, Creed would be assassinated (by Mystique, as we learn in X-Men Forever), stoking anti-mutant sentiment and fast-tracking the implementation of Operation Zero Tolerance (X-Factor #130).

 

During the Operation Zero Tolerance event itself, Bastion captures and tortures Jubilee, orders his forces to shoot down a team of X-Men and invades the Xavier’s Institute for Higher Learning where he gains access to sensitive information on various mutants. With his government supported mutant-targeted initiative, Bastion had converted numerous humans into Prime Sentinel sleeper agents throughout the world using cybernetic nanotech implants, set to hunt down mutants when activated. During a confrontation with Iceman, Bastion is finally stopped when the government figures who approved Operation Zero Tolerance back out of their course of action and authorize S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to arrest Bastion and shut down the operation.

 

This brings us to the MC2, where we learn that Mr Woodhill, the social studies teacher at Upper Saddle River High was involved in a crash ten years prior, spending a year in the hospital as a result. While there Woodhill was transformed into a Sleeper Sentinel, including suppression implants to ensure he remained unaware he was a cyborg. Jubilee explains that the X-Men had years ago attempted to find all these Sleeper Prime Sentinels but some -such as Mr Woodhill- had gone undetected. Using a program devised by Dr McCoy and Forge, the Sleeper Sentinels would have their Sentinel activation nullified, allowing them to continue living out their lives believing they were ordinary humans (Wild Thing #3).

 

This acts to fill in more information about the history of the MC2. The most notable implication being that in the MC2, Bastion likely continued producing more of his Prime Sentinels using unwilling patients well after the events of Operation Zero Tolerance.

 

Furthermore, this could mean the fleshed-out (pun intended) origin for Bastion depicted in Cable/Machine Man Annual ’98 and Machine Man/Bastion Annual ‘98 is also valid in MC2.  After the strong hints in X-Men (Vol. 2) #69, we learn that Bastion is an amalgam of the Sentinel Master Mold and the future Sentinel prototype Nimrod resulting from a journey through the mystical portal known as the Siege Perilous during the events of Uncanny X-Men #247.

 

Operation Zero Tolerance also provides a few other connections to the MC2, with the Wolverine tie-in issues being the last written by MC2-alumni Larry Hama’s, bringing to end a nearly hundred issue run. The Generation X series tie-ins were followed by a fill-in issue written by MC2 co-create Tom Defalco. This adds some credence to the notion that these are the point at which these series diverge into the MC2’s own timeline. Notably, Jubilee continues to wear a version of her Generation X-era red costume beneath her iconic yellow coat in the MC2. 

It's always fascinating to me to look back and consider what elements from the Main Marvel Universe comics of the 90’s have an unexpected or surprising impact on the MC2. A huge thanks to arias-98105 for all the help on this and many other posts!

 

Until I go through a mystical aperture, merge with another being and emerge as something different, I remain

 

frogoat